2000 Days Building A Log Cabin Alone In The Wilderness

After 6 years my dream log cabin and lifestyle have finally been achieved, but it was not an easy journey. About seven years ago, I felt lost, even though society had clearly paved a path for me. I was 17 and living in Stockholm, Sweden. After seeing the documentary "Alone in the Wilderness" by Dick Proenneke, I became completely obsessed with the idea of packing a backpack full of hand tools and wandering off into the vast forests of Sweden to create my own life, live off the land, and build a log cabin.

I had found my vision, but I was still in high school. My grandparents owned forest land, so I started spending more and more time with them every weekend. Wandering out, dreaming of my obsession, and asking for advice. I had absolutely no prior knowledge of how to do any of this, only the obsession to learn.

When I turned 18, I told everyone my plans: I was going to leave for a year... and build my own cabin. I was very fortunate to have my parents' support in this strange and naive plan, but they let me go under one condition from my mom: that I at least film a little with my phone so they could see what I was up to. I had no real plan to film, but I figured it would be nice to have something to look back on.

I started by felling the trees and debarking them in the forest. One eight-meter log took me over eight hours to debark; later I got it down to under ten minutes. The right tools, technique, and conditioning were key. This is one example of how, with time, I improved and learned through my own experience. If you don’t know all the answers in the beginning, just start, mother nature will force you to improve naturally. It’s in all of us; you just have to endure.

I noticed that when you’re limited to very simple tools, you’re forced to become creative. Like the ramp I built to pull all the logs up, an idea I literally dreamt one night after thinking about it all day. I make it sound easy now because it feels easy when I look back on it, but in the moment there was a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and prayers that it would work. But in the end, it did. It doesn’t matter to me how long it took only that I completed what I started.

Later, I also became very passionate about filmmaking, and I have a lot to thank my mom for, since she insisted I film from the beginning. You can see the quality of the video improve over time. The whole journey was filmed by myself, using a tripod. Some people will doubt this and say I had a film crew or a construction team, which I take as a huge compliment. I know my journey, and I now hope to inspire others in the same way Dick Proenneke inspired me.

If you want one of the cutting boards from the video that I make myself, check out my website: 👉 http://www.grankvist-outdoors.com
I am now also selling my own hand-forged axe! After finally designing what I dare deem to be the best bushcraft/outdoors axe out there: 👉https://www.grankvist-outdoors.com/pr...

Thank you for supporting my lifestyle directly through my handmade goods. It truly means the world to me, because I was told that my dream wouldn't work in today's world where everything is mass produced. I want to prove them wrong. My goal is to expand into other handmade products. Making a series of lifetime quality handmade goods. Breaking free from mass production, supporting our environment.

So check out my website: http://www.grankvist-outdoors.com

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🌳🪵 A massive thank you to Revolution Race for the clothes that you know I am always wearing.
Get the same clothes here: https://bit.ly/4nkgMZw

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This is the gear that I use to make these videos possible:
My main camera: https://amzn.to/3D060lt
My second camera: https://amzn.to/3NHWWpZ
My lens: https://amzn.to/3JHDCbd
My drone: https://amzn.to/3rgvlEX

These amazon links are affiliate links. By using these links I earn a small fee from your purchase, it does NOT cost you anything extra. Thank you for your support and be creative with your new gear!

Thank you Stevie Antoniou for editing this video!