Richard Proenneke

Richard Louis Proenneke, born on May 4, 1916, was an American self-taught naturalist, conservationist, writer, and wildlife photographer. From around the age of 51 until 1998, he lived alone in the Alaskan mountains, building his own log cabin near Twin Lakes. Proenneke sourced much of his own food through hunting and fishing, documented his experiences in journals and on film, and left his cabin to the National Park Service upon his death. His cabin is now a popular attraction in Lake Clark National Park.

Proenneke's early life included growing up with three sisters and four brothers. Though he left high school after two years, he worked on Iowa family farms until 1939, enjoying motorcycles as a teen. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy as a carpenter, but after contracting rheumatic fever and recovering, he was discharged in 1945.

After leaving the Navy, Proenneke trained as a diesel mechanic but later followed his passion for nature, working on an Oregon sheep ranch and eventually moving to Shuyak Island, Alaska, in 1950. He worked as a heavy equipment operator, repairman, salmon fisherman, and diesel technician throughout Alaska, earning a reputation for his skills. Proenneke's dedication to nature and self-sufficiency led him to spend nearly three decades living independently in the Alaskan wilderness.