I’m curious to hear your stories. I had a group of 8 but after a 4 hour 15’ open bow boat ride in the ocean I was dropped off on the coast and spent a month in the rainforest living in a puddle. I liked it. Then after 3 more months in what I would call a ‘rustic cabin’ (drinking out of the river, no electricity etc) I found it much much harder to come back to society than to go in that direction.
Tell me about your experiences like this? Did you like it? Do you miss that sort of self reliance? Do you still do things like this?
I’ve been dropped of in the mountains for a week (that’s how long it took to find my way out) with nothing but the clothes I had on. No, I don’t want to do that again.
I spent over a year on a boat, alone, dropping in and out various civilizations over time, but basically just fishing for food and making water from the sea. I’ve never been the same since.
I’ll go back to that for the duration in about 10 years (if all goes well).
That’s pretty cool what you have done for yourself. Don’t worry about coming “back to society”. Society is vastly overrated.
Except flush toilets and toilet paper. Flush toilets are fantastic. I once spent a month with no toilet paper, wiping my ass only with snow and leaves. It’s fun for a while, but I vividly remember my first dump after that, on a real toilet, like I was emperor of the world on a golden throne.
not exactly the same - but in my youth I spent a couple of summers hoboing (hitch hiking) around the US - spent almost entire time alone, had a sleeping bag and tarp, camped in national parks, city parks, along the highway/interstate, empty houses, etc. - went hungry a lot, lived off the land, met a shitload of interesting people and saw up close a beautiful land . . . like ‘Into the Wild’ without Alaska. This was back in the 70’s - would not consider doing this now.(especially now I know folks like Chainpin are out there)
I’ve been living on my own providing my own food and shelter since 1986.
I just choose to use a sophisticated system of turning my labor into a method of exchanging value with other like minded individuals and groups so we can work together in a loosely cooperative fashion to provide food and shelter for all of us. We all specialize in different activities thus we are able to maximize the goods we have available for our individual survival.
I once spent a weekend at Excaliber in Vegas. Never again.
That’s about the extent of my “survival”. I couple of 3-day benders with nothing to eat but roomservice.
College was pretty much all about “survival”. How long can you make $20 last and still eat, get drunk and try to talk some girl into taking her clothes off in your dorm room.
Some of you dudes are HARDCORE. I like my house (kept at an artificially controlled 70 degrees at all times), my car, and clean clothes. I suppose I could catch a fish or kill a rabbit to eat if I really had to.
Of course, I was on a guided hunt, I talked my buddy into dressing and cleaning it for me and I got my wife to cook it so that probably doesn’t count . . . .
Call me crazy but I think rocks work best. I’ll admit though that snow is ‘enlightening’ but quite effective in getting the job done.
As an article I read said, snow has a significant yikes factor.
As for survival the closest I’ve come is a week long solo backpacking trip. My wife thought I was nuts until I dropped her off on Mount Ranier for 4 days on her own. That was 8 years ago and she still talks about that trip.
I haven’t been dropped off in the mountains or in a boat for long periods of time. But I have stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, just kidding. I’ve done spartan trail hikes on the appalacian trail over the course of a weekend. Intentionally carrying less than desirable amounts of food and water. I have gone on aimless hikes in the Florida and Virginia wilderness overnight without a tent or enough water and food to be comfortable. I also did organized scout hikes, but even then we were rationed food. I also have been snowed in an unfamiliar urban environment. Though it was a motel, I had to fend for myself. By walking short distances in the snow looking for stores that were open. That was a hungry weekend. Finally, that hurricane incident above. Ultimately I was evacuated by my company after midnight. But curfews were setup by the local authorities and for good reason. Food riots and drug addicts going through withdrawal started to create a dangerous environment.
When I was 16 I did a “Group”, probably ten of us or so, trip thru boundary waters. 60 mile canoe trip in all, 6 days. Dropped off at one spot, picked up in another. Lived off of fish we caught mixed with some provisions we brought. Drank the lake water, picked berries, slept in a tent…got routed by bears etc etc.
I can’t say it was “True survival” trip as we brought a bunch of stuff and going for 20 days would have been a lot rougher when we ran out of beef jerky, pancake mix etc.
None the less it was a blast and got to see a couple canoes with topless chicks going the opposite direction which was HUGE for a 16 year old
2 x 1-week survival courses with 4 other guys. Both times we were provided a rabbit, a chicken and a few other things. First in Colorado above 9500’ in late August and the second in eastern Washington in late October. Weather for the latter could have been much better. Not pure survival, but not something I want to repeat, either.
Some of you guys are definitely hard core…I don’t really even want to sleep in tents anymore.
