Richard Louis Proenneke was a self-educated naturalist who spent nearly three decades of his life living out in the mountains of Alaska. If there were a perfect example of living off-grid, this would be it.

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Proenneke was famed for the log cabin that he built out near the shores of Twin Lakes, which stands out for its remarkable craftsmanship. He built the cabin during the summers of 1967 and 1968 using mostly local materials and hand held tools. While it’s not the first cabin to be built, it is significant due to the skill used by Proenneke to construct it.

Proenneke hunted, fished, raised and gathered his own food, and also had supplies flown in occasionally. He was one of the few people to document his activities on film, which is where this documentary comes in. The film below, ‘Alone In The Wilderness’, is Proenneke’s journey that shows him taking the viewer through the construction of his cabin, as well as his adventures out in the Alaskan wilderness. This man is a true inspiration of what it takes to survive. Thousands of people have had dreams of a stripped back, naturalist existence, but Proenneke actually lived them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNXFJ1AMHrM

Incredible. In case you were wondering, Proenneke returned to civilisation in 1999 at aged 82 and lived the remainder of his life with his brother Raymond “Jake” Proenneke in California. He died in 2003 at the age of 86. Not bad going. Of course, he left with a gift, as he handed his cabin to the National Park Service, and it remains a popular visitor attraction in Twin Lakes.

For more inspirational people, check out this blind skateboarder who is absolutely killing it. Legend.