Finding a decent spot

Yes Ryan, that is the same Clam Gulch. That is where this guy with the extra cabin lives, but not the place I would care to set up camp in. Considering the size of AK, it was pretty unusual to me that he would at least be within a hundred or so miles from the general area that I was already looking at. 100 miles on foot might as well be 1,000 I know, but... he said he had a truck too. For a fair price, I'd bet he'd be willing to haul us and equipment pretty close to the right spot, if there truly is a right spot in the Anchorage area. To have a base only 100 miles away from the ultimate location is a whole lot better than 500, or even 3,000 miles (for me in PA) from where we all live now.

It wasn't really a huge excitement for me to meet him, but definitely food for thought...

John

DJJoko (John) wrote:Rachel, this is exactly where I think you could be of great assitance.

Who, other than someone who lives in AK, would know that the area is a huge sort of "tourist attraction" in the summer? This is why I said I was very interested in what you had to say. Those of us who live in the lower 49 wouldn't know this sort of thing, until maybe it was too late.

Rachel, if you were going too (and I know you aren't quite ready yet), where around this area would you be looking at the hardest? --or maybe a better way of asking, is there a place near here that you yourself would dare explore, if you knew you didn't want to be found?

John

John, if I were planning on squatting (Which, I'd like to address further on, but suffice it to say that I won't do it again,) I would buy a john/flat bottom river boat with a motor and enough gas to get me really far up river. I would pack it up with everything I need and some paddles just in case something happened and I needed to get back out alive. I would pick a river I could access fairly well by the road and knew to be navigable through talking with people in the area and I would go as far as I could, then find a tributary and go as far as I could, then pull off, stash the boat, and hike as far as I could off the river system (Keep in mind that up here a navigable river system is just as good and just as busy as a road system,) until I found a source of clean fresh water.

A few things I can not emphasize enough:

1) People live in Alaska because, like you, they love the wilderness, adventure, nature. Even the people that live in Anchorage live there because it is within easy access to wilderness, and they take advantage of it. The average person in Anchorage hikes/skis/hunts/rafts/boats/fishes hundreds, or even thousands, of miles per year. They are looking for the same things you are, namely a fairly temperate and beautiful environment, fresh water, shelter, and somewhere accessible but not TOO accessible.

That's why I wouldn't risk investing a lot of time in squatting anywhere around Anchorage unless you either fly or boat out, and even then you're running a risk.

Which brings me to 2)

I spent one summer squatting in a cabin down by the Nenana River with a motley international crew of unemployed Denali workers. We were within a five minute hike of the major tourist board walk with literally thousands and thousands of tourists threading through there daily behind us and several guided raft trips floating along in front of us on the river. Not a single one of them ever found us. We were set off in the trees so that nobody saw us or knew we were there, even on big party nights with a raging bon fire. Even people that we WANTED to find us often could not due to the way we were hidden.

However, one day, the owner showed up and left a note of the door while we were gone. They were pissed, even though we had been there for three months and had actually cleaned up the place and made a lot of improvements, and we had to constantly watch our back from that point on, even though we never saw them again, the sense of security was gone.

My point is that though it's not that hard to find a spot even in a fairly populated area where nobody will find you, the most likely person to find you is the least desirable--the owner.


And that's why I would never squat again or invest any great deal of time on building a structure that I had any attachment to or need of. IE; it wasn't a great risk squatting where we were even though the likely hood of being found was high because we didn't build the cabin and though we liked it, there were lots of other places we could go if they had really kicked us out.

If you get out in the wilderness and spend all summer long stashing fire wood (of which you need LOTS, probably at least 10 cords which could take you all summer alone,) and building a cabin, if the owner shows up in early September and tells you to get lost or they're calling the authorities, you're screwed. You would be completely shut down and your attempt at that lifestyle would be a failure and you would have invested a lot of time and energy and hope for absolutely nothing.

One other thing that raises the potential for being found no matter where you go is the amount of land you'll end up clearing in an effort to gather firewood and logs for a cabin.

Is that REALLY a risk you're willing to take?

Basically, John, to answer that last question, NO. There is no place that is temperate with fresh water that is even remotely accessible where you run no risk of being found. There may be places where you will be found and people won't care, but there's always the chance that they will.

The only way to guarantee nobody will bother you is to buy remote property and post it with no trespassing signs.

What you said is just another part of this society that I can't stand... and it just makes me so angry.

I don't want to claim any land for my own, I just want to live. The structure of our society has prevented this and I'm certain that it was very intentionally designed to keep us trapped in the machine and paying our taxes like good little citizens. All for the fat to get fatter.

Squatting is the only way I know to go. There are two issues... big issues... I have that keep me from buying land somewhere. 1) the yearly land taxes and 2) the time it would take to save up the money for the purchase. I'm out of steam, completely.

That being the case, I don't know what else to do, other than to take the risk? *heavy sigh*

Well, one thing that draws people like you and me to AK is the fact that there are boroughs (the very VERY large equivalent of counties) that have no property taxes. (It's a factor I consider strongly as someone on the verge of leaving the country because I'm so disgusted with it. I don't want to support our current government at all financially.)

The second thing is that if you come up here and establish residence, after one year you have the option of claiming your permanent dividend fund which for many very self sufficient types is enough to make it through the year on. (Generally, around $1500 per person, though this year it was nearly double that.)

Third, perhaps you don't have the money to put down now, but if you move up here, I swear to God our economy right now is so much better than throughout most of the country. In places like Anchorage and Fairbanks there is so much work available and it is possible to live simply and inexpensively and save up all the money you'll need to get started within a very short period of time while simultaneously being able to personally scout locations and gather first hand knowledge.

The only other thing I can think of is study carefully the cultures and lifestyles of traditional arctic nomadic cultures. This may sound lame, but...ever thought of living in an igloo? Or using caribou hide as a very warm and worthwhile tent structure?

You can not separate yourself from modern human society and expect to maintain the same kind of stability that you would have if you bought a house in the suburbs.