Dick Proenneke's Cabin

I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Dick Proenneke's cabin and explore his backyard.  People around the world including myself are intrigued by his home on the Upper Twin Lakes.  Everyday in summer, his cabin is photographed and poked through.  We sort through his many tools, writings, contraptions, hand made furniture and cabin.  It was a remarkable experience to see firsthand what I had only seen in pictures, movies, or books.

I've often pondered on what is so exhilarating about Dick's legacy and have found myself feeling silly for admiring a man who built his home on a remote lake, then living there for some, thirty years.  A short period compared to how long the glaciers, mountains, lakes, and streams have been navigated by natives of long ago. 

I can't quite comprehend mine and the world's admiration for him, but I do know what he did is what most admirers of him, including myself, dream of doing.  Maybe all it is, is he had the courage and willingness to give up the sophisticated world that we live in, to simply live, in a cabin, on a lake.