Spending six months in isolation in a cabin in Siberia might sound like an extreme way to get some peace and quiet, but that's just what French travel writer Sylvain Tesson set out to do in 2010.

From February to July, Tesson lived in a cabin on Lake Baikal, 75 miles from the nearest village and a few hours' walk from the next neighbor, according to The Economist.

"I wanted to experiment with the simple life and claim back time," Tesson wrote in an article for The Guardian. "I wanted to feel life, and understand how it would look just contemplating the landscape."

In addition to dealing with solitude, Tesson also faced temperatures that reached -22 F, with only a cast-iron stove to provide warmth, reported The Guardian. There was also the occasional bear to deal with once the temperature warmed up a bit.

Although the loneliness was challenging, Tesson had numerous books, vodka, cigars, and eventually two pet dogs to keep him company. According to The Siberian Times, Tessonalso had enough pasta to fill six shopping carts to survive the winter alone in a cabin on the frozen lake.

Tesson survived the experience and turned his adventures into a book, Consolations of the Forest.According to a book review by The Guardian, Tesson's reflections on life alone in the wilderness make him "the brainiest, daftest, sternest, funniest, most companionable hermit you'll ever meet."

Check out Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, where Tesson lived during his six months of solitude, in the slideshow above.

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Circa 1911: Norwegian explorer Captain Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, inspecting ice fields near a glacier in the Atlantic Ocean. (Keystone/Getty Images)