How many people are living in the wilderness?

[downthepipe]

I’m sure it could be done in the Frank Church without getting “noticed” / “caught”. I’m not aware of any modern day tales but there are plenty of legends from the early 20th century and prior living in the Salmon River basin. I imagine there is a strong correlation between how much money and supplies you start with with how long you last.

 

[Pro953]

The more you read more and more of the frontier/mountain man lifestyle you find that even these folks actively traded with others and had supply runs to town every few months or years.

The idea of living off the land with no contact to outside society is pretty much a pipe dream at this point, the depth of generational knowledge needed to survive that way is pretty much gone.

Even the book noted, the last hermit in the woods. He avoids contact with people but he pretty much survives off theft not any sort of great survival skills.

Most of these camps end up full of trash and junk as people hop from spot to spot “living off the land”. I would not romanticize it too much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[*zap*]

Dick Proenneke did it for around 20 years with a supply plane coming in a few times a year at a remote lake in Alaska. He built his place by himself from trees he cut down......he ate a lot of oatmeal. He also wore a tracker one year and walked 3000+ miles around his lake that year. Moved there at around age 50. ​

 

[MTtrout]

I’ve come across my share of camps in the woods but none that I thought were people truly trying to live off the land, guessing most probably didn’t even have the means to buy a weapon. We came across a camp 5+ miles back in that was abandoned but was still stocked with pans, propane tanks, and sleep essentials. It didnt seem like a likely hunting spot nor sheep herder camp so maybe someone tried making a go at it. While working back on the east coast at a WMA I found an active camp and my colleague and I decided to snoop around. It was full of cases of beer and a lot of ,somewhat, disturbing poems they wrote. Still someone not living off the land though. My childhood ambitions still hope a few are making it work in the lower 48

 

[MTtrout]

Dick Proenneke

One man’s wilderness is a good book, for sure

 

[*zap*]

 

[Marbles]

Kent Bonar in Arkansas.

Even in AK not to many people who live a solitary subsistence lifestyle and most subsistence living is a village affair.

 

[mtwarden]

Dick Proenneke is at the top of my list of people I'd like to meet in heaven! His homemade movies are some of the best I've ever watched. I couldn't make a movie like that as every other word would have to be bleeped out, not Dick, would just smile and move on

 

[Cedarsavage]

There's a few back to the landers here with solar panels and such. I've heard of a few that lived in teepees, don't know anyone personally though. We have a short growing season and pretty grey skies most of the year it'd be a tough place to scratch out a living. My wife and I are gradually working towards more and more self-sufficiency but I doubt we'll ever be completely off grid.

 

[Billy Goat]

Meth camps count?

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Probably not the same vein in which you are talking but I know a few people in West Virginia that don't have electric in their house and use a spring as their water source. They aren't necessarily hiding per say like alot of the examples here, but they own a farm, raise pigs, goats, cows etc. and hunt. About as close to "living" off grid as u can get, without being homeless i guess

 

[Trial153]

This country is full of bunch of wannabe Hank
Williams Jr fantasy land participants that’s wouldn’t last week after their lights went out.
I haven’t ran into too many wilderness dwellers

 

[IdahoElk]

I asked an Alaskan bush pilot the same question about 20yrs ago while flying into Fjords national park and his reply was "People are too soft these days"

 

[Ridge Hunter 83]

Meth camps count?

LOL!!! Mendocino, CA.? I hear the "weed" business is quite substantial there.

 

[Ridge Hunter 83]

Very few people left in today's society who are tough enough to actually survive living in the woods. The masses in this country are pathetically weak. Hell, half the men (or more) are part female now. It's laughable. I lived through the winter storms of the late-60's and all through the 70's. Those were winters. Today, people talk about "the storm" and it's nothing more than can be swept off of the sidewalk with a broom. Once upon a time, men were actual men...

 

[BLJ]

@tugrivercopper. Probably more than a few in WV,VA,KY area that live like that.

 

[WCB]

Besides some obvious supply and knowledge issues...places that are remote enough...like in Montana say the Bob Marshal...the winters most of the game migrates out of those areas due to weather/snow. Even most of the native tribes moved to wintering grounds out of the "remote" areas.

Just watching a show like the "Alone" T.V. show with some the granola "survival expert and teacher" nerds makes 99% of the idea laughable. Wonder what the average quitting time was on that show...a week maybe?

 

[coloyooper]

Sourdough is, just ask him.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Came across a tepee in deep Appalachia once. Took a peek inside after
saying "hello" about 10 times.
I dont know if somebody was living there but they had spent a great deal
of time there.
Had a fire put dug in the center and sleeping and sitting areas carved out
in the earth. I also remember seeing blankets, cookware and traps.
I didnt stick around long.

 

[Button]

Mrballen on YouTube has a story about a man that was living off grid, if I remember correctly he was doing it for 20+ years before getting caught.

Living down here without AC would be miserable.