” happiness is only real when shared” Christopher McCandless
Alaska’s slogan on its license plates reads “The Last Frontier” – and that’s exactly what it is. Because Alaska is part of the United States, it’s Western and modern. However, with its extremely difficult weather conditions and vast landscapes, Alaska attracts an interesting crowd – about 50% of its population was born elsewhere. Some of its inhabitants are people who wanted to get away from their families, society, or their old lives, while others are marginalized people who have been cast away by society. For a summer, I worked in Fairbanks at the world’s northernmost falafel stand, opened by a friend of mine from the army. On my days off, I would travel around and try to understand the secret charm of Alaska and its people. I hiked to the abandoned bus in which Christopher McCandless (of the book and film Into the Wild) used to live, and the hut that Dick Proenneke, a local Alaskan hero, built and lived in for thirty years. The two stories are very different from each other – while one of the men sought quiet, relaxation, and nature, the other was looking for a refuge from his family and society. Yet, both McCandless and Proenneke managed to realize the fantasies which most of us only dare to dream about – living alone in the wilderness.
In my lecture, you will hear about Alaska, people who live alone in isolated places, and my modest experience of hiking solo in Lake Clark, one of the most remote national parks in the world.
