Danger in the Forest

Dave said:
Difference was that he was not on drugs. No doubt he drank some but I think that overall, he kept his wits about him during those years “off grid”.
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Certainly not on drugs or alcohol but much of the "danger in the forest" are from those suffering from mental illness... and the duration of his survival was a heaping load of "serendipity", too. Kudos to human physiology and adaptivity.

Specifically, the bodies innate ability to adapt and compensate during those long winters and his serendipitous ability to essentially "build up" his "reserves" in the fall, and "hibernate" in the winter. Plus his ingenuity constructing shelters, use of camoflauge, observation, and escape routes. I'm sure this is already influencing @Gallowbraid to develop plans for his "disaster-dependent forest chalet". :D

Definitely a "whack-job", or unusual manifestation of Asperger's Syndrome, but certainly inspiration for those students of "post-apocalyptic survival". Now I'm left wondering which Hollywood producer has negotiated options on this story for future production...

Here's a link to the story, reprinted by GQ... https://www.gq.com/story/the-last-true-hermit

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We have one encampment that I know of here in Moore County NC. Located in the woods behind the local Walmart. There are 2 in Montgomery county that I know of, not far from where we hold ARV. Groups of mostly men, mostly vets, who the police seem to leave alone. I asked about it and the local officer I was speaking to (USMC vet and now retired NC Wildlife officer) and he said they are left alone because they are a self governing/policing society. Go in there and cause trouble... and you won't come back. His words and I have not tested it ;-)
I was amazed at the amount of homeless in Spokane when I was up there in December. Seems like a terrible location due to the winters.
 
jscusmcvet said:
We have one encampment that I know of here in Moore County NC. Located in the woods behind the local Walmart. There are 2 in Montgomery county that I know of, not far from where we hold ARV. Groups of mostly men, mostly vets, who the police seem to leave alone. I asked about it and the local officer I was speaking to (USMC vet and now retired NC Wildlife officer) and he said they are left alone because they are a self governing/policing society. Go in there and cause trouble... and you won't come back. His words and I have not tested it ;-)
I was amazed at the amount of homeless in Spokane when I was up there in December. Seems like a terrible location due to the winters.
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Kind of like Slab City... but with vets instead of.... wellllll.... the folks that live there....
 
^^^^We've been to Slab City a couple of times. We've had conversations with a few of the "locals". One girl in particular seemed like she really didn't belong there. She was making macramé trinkets for sale. We struck up a conversation with her while she was making us some bracelets. She said that she was there by choice. She was a hair dresser by profession. She was dressed like a frontier school marm, or at least how I would guess that a school marm would have dressed (it's how Tango told me they dressed back in the day). She told us that you don't have to be dirty/unkempt to be homeless. She and her boy friend had recently graduated from living in a car to moving into a trailer that someone else had vacated.

Slab City is certainly an interesting place, they really do have their own form of a town council, rules that they live by, etc. It used to be on the list of the "other 100 places you need to see". It was in a movie a few years back, "Into the Wild" or something similar, I don't watch movies, the crap that goes through my head on it's own is entertaining enough.
 
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bob91yj said:
^^^^We've been to Slab City a couple of times. We've had conversations with a few of the "locals". One girl in particular seemed like she really didn't belong there. She was making macramé trinkets for sale. We struck up a conversation with her while she was making us some bracelets. She said that she was there by choice. She was a hair dresser by profession. She was dressed like a frontier school marm, or at least how I would guess that a school marm would have dressed (it's how Tango told me they dressed back in the day). She told us that you don't have to be dirty/unkempt to be homeless. She and her boy friend had recently graduated from living in a car to moving into a trailer that someone else had vacated.

Slab City is certainly an interesting place, they really do have their own form of a town council, rules that they live by, etc. It used to be on the list of the "other 100 places you need to see". It was in a movie a few years back, "Into the Wild" or something similar, I don't watch movies, the crap that goes through my head on it's own is entertaining enough.
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How a school marm used to dress back in the day? What... did you lose the pictures of me and your mom? :D
 
That was nice of you and grandma to take a pic of mom with you while you handed Mom her high school diploma! Grandma always thought you were handsome for an older gentleman!:eek:
 
I just went back to see what thread I was posting in...sorry for the thread drift to Sean. The original topic is very real, certainly didn't mean to take away from that.
 
jscusmcvet said:
Back on topic. This is a book about the guy @TangoBlue mentioned. My daughter got it for me for Christmas... hmmm... what is she trying to say?
https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Woods-Extraordinary-Story-Hermit/dp/1101875682
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More specifically, the reviewer in the attachment chooses to romanticize the story of this character as one who chose to live a life on his own terms, like a modern day adventurer. I think the original article paints a picture of highly functional mental illness and his survival was dependent upon nearly 30 years of trespass and theft. Everything he "owned" was stolen. It would seem that Maine courts and mental health authorities agreed.

This application to the OP? Although a curious story, I doubt it's too unusual within this subculture, it's just one we are gratefully not acquainted with or accustomed to.
 
I camp on public lands every summer for six months. Traveling the west in most every state. I don't go to Colorado any more because of the failure of federal, state and citizens in that state to recognize and address what is happening there. When common sense has to step aside for acceptance and tolerance expect your life experience to suffer. Until the residents of Colorado wake up and demand the enforcement, and pay for it, they deserve what they get. I doubt if you frequent Aspen, Vail or Breckenridge you will see this sort of crap. Perhaps the Federal government should have strike teams to set up in National Forests to carry out enforcement and crush this behavior.
 
I’ve dealt with this issue in my professional life and homelessness is the most complicated local issue I’ve ever encountered. In my neck of the (proverbial) woods, homelessness is divided roughly into not exactly equal thirds. 1) people temporarily down on their luck, 2) people suffering from mental illness and/or addiction 3) people who simply choose to be homeless because they don’t want to conform to societal norms.

For category 1, these people readily accept help and can generally benefit from it and re-enter society.
Category 2, generally become dependent on social services to a varying degrees over time and there is little hope they will re-enter society.
Category 3 is an interesting discussion. Many people would lump them into category 2 thinking that they must be mentally ill to want to live mostly alone, outside of society, and free from interference. They don’t see it that way and to be honest, many of the people who would categorize them this way would categorize us similarly due to our desire to full time overland. Other than the vehicle, we all aspire to certain degree of homelessness, be it temporary or relatively permanent. These folks do t want help, some are actually very bright and display no signs of mental illness or irregularity, they just don’t want to live within societal norms. (Like many of us.)

The problem these categories can mix and portions of the population moves from one to another. They’re a problem when their lifestyle choice or whatever affliction causes them to infringe on the rest of us through theft, occupation of public spaces, or just visual blight. Good-hearted people enable these issues further daily and the population grows daily, especially so in California where we don’t lock up people we’re mad at anymore, just those we’re scared of. We could literally talk for hours about this and end up right where we started. I’ve done it.
 
My wife & I are loners when we disperse camp. We always go to places in the past that most folks wouldn't (average week-enders). We felt it was far more enjoyable w\o BS of drunk'n fools, loud music, profanity or physical & verbal altercations from degenerates or week-end power drinker. We've been scouting lately into the Ozarks, National forest here deeper into bear hunting country were we've been finding less past activity but still accessible by 4x4. It seems more the problems are off the main national forest dirt roads were trash, & vandalism is.
 
Hmmmm. I live in the area of this story. Seen it before and pisses me off still. Areas like West Mag and Gordon Gulch have become no mans land in the summer. In the last 10yrs this has become exponentially worse. There is a "fawk you, I'm in the mountains and do what ever I want" mentality growing. That coupled with some just stupid people (see Cold Spring fire) that should just stay home.

Yeah, my first post but seems to be a trend.

Rants from a newb.
 
Indian Peaks Explorer said:
Hmmmm. I live in the area of this story. Seen it before and pisses me off still. Areas like West Mag and Gordon Gulch have become no mans land in the summer. In the last 10yrs this has become exponentially worse. There is a "fawk you, I'm in the mountains and do what ever I want" mentality growing. That coupled with some just stupid people (see Cold Spring fire) that should just stay home.

Yeah, my first post but seems to be a trend.

Rants from a newb.
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That selfish mentality has been growing everywhere- folks just do not care about anyone but themselves and most are far too self absorbed to even think about how their actions may impact anyone other than themselves. Worse, they just don't care, even when it's pointed out to them. That retarded girl that drew crappy "artwork" on rocks at national parks is a prime example. People who carve up benches or leave litter or drive around barriers or feed wild animals or.... The list goes on and on.
 
Indian Peaks Explorer said:
There is a "fawk you, I'm in the mountains and do what ever I want" mentality growing.
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There sure is. I've seen it in the desert too (we clean up their mess every Desert Rendezvous...), and I'm even seeing some of that as I explore the Northwoods of Wisconsin and the UP.

You may enjoy an article I wrote about people not caring, bad actors, and our responsibility to try to make a difference.

LOCKED GATES AHEAD

Indian Peaks Explorer said:
Yeah, my first post but seems to be a trend.

Rants from a newb.
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Great first post - welcome to American Adventurist!
 
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