What would it be like to be a squatter.

What would it be like to be a squatter.

www.biology.wustl.edu

I wonder what it would be like to just move from one location to another.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I am talking about a life where you have a tent and you sleep under the stars every night. Where you travel from deserts to mountains to forests and nature is your home. No taxes, no bills, no responsibilities. Living just how God intended. I wonder if living like that would be good or bad. Could you imagine a picturesque location in the mountains of Washington in the opening of the forest you could lay down at night and watch the stars. Wouldn't that be the life?

www.biology.wustl.edu
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Misoir
It sounds like a great life until the local sheriff kicks you out because you're squatting on some wealthy land baron's land, or until you need to bathe, or to get into hardier shelter (a house) as the weather hits -40 with the windchill...

Personally, I wouldn't like that life.

Some areas it works, like warmer areas, some areas it's not safe during certain times of the year.

reply to post by Misoir


You are talking about a Nomadic life style: en.wikipedia.org...
Like the Bedouin of North Africa.

Squatting is living in an unoccupied property that you do not own: en.wikipedia.org...

Two very different lifestyles.

reply to post by star in a jar


I completely understand what you are saying but when you are a squatter you typically move from one place to another never spending the night twice in the same place. So in winter you would head south to Texas or Arizona and in the summer head north to Washington. I live in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania so if I walked 3 mph for 10 hours every day I could go from there to Seattle, Washington in about 96 days. So it would be easy to travel to warm areas in the winter and cool areas in the summer. As for bathing there are always streams I guess, of course before you leave you must learn how to make soap and other ways to take care of yourself. As for the land baron you just need to be sure there are no homes around and i guess that is the best it gets. But I still believe that it would be a great life.

reply to post by mrlondon


Thank you for correcting me.

It would be a great life! Well...in theory.

The problems are numerous and the rewards are few. For example, if you get sick and think you are just going to walk into your local hospital and walk out stocked with meds and medical supplies -- you are sadly mistaken. With or without healthcare reform -- so don't think that will change the above sentence.

As far as food, even if you plan on hunting and fishing for all of your food -- you will at some point require money to re-stock supplies. If you are talking about hunting with man-made spears and other organic, non-purchased products, then you will require a lot of training and practice before actually trying to survive solely on this method. The Indians and such pass down their traditions and way of life for generations -- I'm failrly certain that nobody in your family skinned a bear recently in order to make clothes and passed on how to do this.

Now, if you are currently fairly well-off, and have ample money to spend on "survival gear" and things, then this lifestyle may work for you. But as I've said in other threads, survival without ANY modern conveniences and ANY income is extremely difficult and would require a group/community effort. (raising animals, growing crops -- requires OWNED land and people to STAY PUT and work it).

As for water, even that is difficult to say you can manage. Most of the water that you could more easily come across (lakes, rivers, etc) are now polluted -- or potentially polluted -- so you would either need to be able to test/treat the water and/or face the possibility of getting sick. Our bodies are no longer conditioned to accept impurities in the water since 99% of what we drink has been cleaned, chlorinated, and has had flouride added. Don't get me wrong -- you could certainly find clean, natural water -- but it's certainly not as easy as it was, say, 200 years ago.

Lastly, keep in mind that most of the survival books, web sites, etc. focus on getting one to remain alive UNTIL help or rescuers come. For example, surviving a natural disaster, getting stranded or lost, etc. and are not made for lifelong survival. They make it sound more simple than it is in the books and stuff because the people that BELIEVE they can survive have a better chance -- but again, it's designed for short-term living and not a way of life. There is an enormous difference between stocking supplies and survivng "naturally" for thirty days versus thirty years.

reply to post by lpowell0627


I know there are many problems that would obviously arise with doing something as life changing as this but I have the money for clothes, fishing poles, tents, my family taught me how to hunt, scale, and cook fish. The regions that I would travel are mostly in the mountains of the northwest which is quite pristene and untouched so there would be less dangers in the water there. I would buy a tent, i know how to make a fire, and I think survival books are stupid and unhelpful. So I can fish, I dont want to hunt animals other than fish but I will if i have to, I know how to work a gun, and the final point is this would only last around 250 days, just enough to walk alot of the country and if I like it I will live like that but I think it is just a way to connect with the universe.

reply to post by Misoir


It was a great life. I lived as a "Trout Bum" for a year living in the camper on the back of my Pick up. Just fishing, drinking and playing guitar in the bars for money and tieing flies to sell in the tackle stores.

From the San Juan Is. to the Gulf Coast of Texas to the Florida Keys and fishing for Blues along the Entire eastern seaboard.

I still fish the Southern Rockies and I see young "Trout Bums" all the time.
Happiest people on the Planet.

reply to post by Misoir


Do you know how to do first aid with only the items on hand or natural items readily available? There are many, many, many ways to get hurt or worse along the way in addition to all the ways to get sick. If you are planning to do this then detailed planning is needed. I would think that you would need to map out your trail very precisely with points every week or so that you would call in to your family or someone (uh oh, see how that works? you'll need technology). That way if you got hurt or worse then someone would know that something was wrong and would know where to start to look. But you'd also have to be prepared to survive in case they couldn't find you. Very dangerous if you ask me, especially in the mountains.

I think it would be a lot more work than you are expecting also. Don't think that you are going to travel 30 miles a days for the entire 250 days... or even close to that... you'll have to hunt/find food and water, build shelters, etc. every day all over again. And that's on top of the traveling and sick/injured time is in lieu of traveling. I think you'll be so tired that you may not be able to enjoy the scenery that you are passing. Most nomads would move about every half year for these reasons.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


I still have a little more than 3 years before I could do this anyway so that would allow me alot of time to prepare and learn how and what too do in any rough situation, I would never leave unprepared that would be incredibly stupid. And that timeline was nothing more than an estimate most likely give more time than take.

Originally posted by Misoir
reply to post by lpowell0627

 

So I can fish, I dont want to hunt animals other than fish but I will if i have to, I know how to work a gun, and the final point is this would only last around 250 days, just enough to walk alot of the country and if I like it I will live like that but I think it is just a way to connect with the universe.

250 days is a little different than a life of living as a squatter. It sounds like you will be relying on money to get by, which for a specified amount of time is quite possible if you budget appropriately.

As for hunting with a gun, I don't know about the laws where you will be living, but here in NJ one can not simply start shooting at will. I would reccommend getting green trail maps of the area and finding out about the laws of hunting -- living on solely fish can be dangerous. Other types of sugars, carbohydrates, and proteins will have to be added into your diet.

If you do decide to move ahead with this, I hope you share your experience with ATS. I would be very interested in hearing how this turns out for you -- the reality of it. I do find myself a tad envious -- in theory anyway.

reply to post by Misoir
Oh yeah, I get what you're talking about I forgot that you were in America, but unfortunately for me I'm Canadian without a passport. I couldn't just go over the border and go way south for the winter.

I think nobody can go over the border unless they have an reason to go back ie: homes or jobs.

My of-age cousin tried to visit America but they rejected him because he didn't have a job or his own home.

That cousin used to travel across Canada in boxcars, so he was like a squatter, or a hobo lol.


[edit on 15-12-2009 by star in a jar]

reply to post by lpowell0627


When I do that I will definitaly let ATS know how it went, I will probably use a computer at a public library.

Living freely has been a dream of mine for years as well. Maybe someday, people will get to experience true freedom, but it doesn't seem likely in our present-day society. For anyone interested, I highly recommend reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau...the book illustrates that even in the 1850's it was hard to live completely freely in America.

I must admit though, prior to this post, I've never heard of a Trout Bum...but it definitely sounds like a lifestyle I would approve of !!!

The idea of a trout bum is a great idea for people who like warm humid weather and being on the water all of the time, it's not really for me. My reason for wanting to do this is to see nature and live free. No money is my number one priority. God did not intend for man to live according to money so I believe a long time without it would do everyone good. If every person took just 1 year of their lives out to live in the wilderness and accept the grace and majesty that God has given us but we just toss aside as nothing more than a great postcard. We need to wake up and be greateful for what God has given us. I believe independence with nature is the only way.

Misoir, I lived almost exactly the life you were talking about for about 5 years straight. When I first started out I was hitchhiking but quickly grew to prefer freight trains. I would say that the entire five years I paid for a place to sleep less than ten times. Under bridges, treelines, rooftops, fields, drain pipes, abandoned buildings you name it. I actually met my long term girlfriend in an abandoned apartment complex in west Philly. The entire building was empty, us and at any given time, 20-30 friends lived there. we made an obstacle course out of the bottom 6 floors to prevent possible intruders or pigs from finding their way to the top two floors that we had fixed up and were occupying. We still dont really know why but the place had electricity too.

It is completely possible to live a semi nomadic to nomadic lifestyle in the western world without hardly any money. I lived like this both in urban settings and in more wild or country settings. I certainly prefer the wilder or country areas but I have lived like this in every city you could think of in the U.S. and also many places in Europe.

Food is the thing that most people worry about when starting out but they quickly find that it is about the easiest thing to come by. Water is easy as well but a bit more caution should be paid.

Someone mentioned the 'pristine waters of the Pacific Northwest' possibly being drinkable. You may find a source of fresh, potable water out there but listen to what I have to say first

I have, at different times, spent periods of over a month to 2 months, deep in the bush at an pretty much an iron age level. My most extended periods of time spent like this have been in the Cascade Mountain Range. I have drank the water there without filtering and I definitely got Giardia. I thought I was far enough away from civilization to have good chances, but I guess not.So many people when first starting out make such a big deal and get so worried about their food before they leave, nobody ever seems to think about water. When it comes down to it, water is the only thing hat should ever really worry you while on the road.I dont want to discourage or make anyone scared, because water is easy to come by but, I do want to express caution....Be careful.

Weather is something you must deal with. The amount that you learn about yourself and the universe when you are stranded and getting poured on for 12 hours or when you are stuck on a freight train for four days while a below zero arctic blast is sweeping the nation is completely unmatchable and something I would not do different or trade in for anything.

adverse weather is something that will always be unavoidable but, if you are living a lifestyle that allows you to pick up and go, it is very easy to go south for the winter, and visa versa.

If you are Rubber Tramping it (traveling in an automobile) you can travel with a firearm. If you arent in a car there is no way in hell that you will get away with that.

I wont make it too long for now. I could tell more or answer questions if people are interested.

Oh, and by the way, there is actually a very large community of people doing this. So large in fact, that there are many subcultures even within it.

As long as you move your shelter/tent a foot every week or so it's perfectly legal to live on federal land like national parks.

Trouble is you cant harvest, cultivate or hunt without being brought up on charges.

reply to post by Misoir


You may not remember the Tocks Island dam project. It is what led to the creation of the Deleware Water Gap Recreation Area. They wound up building the dam off the river at Merrill Creek down river.
Those were hippy days. The government threw everybody out of a 30 mile area. During the early seventies.
Hippies squatted in the houses of the folks that were run out. There was no electric power or heating systems.
The hippies grew gardens and their pot in the woods and swam and bathed naked in the river. This was real squatting not the nomadic kind.
No rent, no bills, free love and HAIR.
I always fished from my canoe in site of the colonies bathing ares.
I even swung on the rope swing with the ladies one day.

When I am talking about living a nomadic lifestyle I mean living away from all of our buildings, transportation, and civilization that we have today. I am trying to get in touch with what humanity lost and by using civilized things such as trains or cars for transportation is not what was originally intended for man. I will have to learn how to check the water to see if its clean I will have to learn everything like that and I have pleanty of time to learn what I need to. I am talking about a 100% nomadic uncivilized lifestyle and staying away from all cities and surburbs. I mean in the wilderness all of the time. If anyone has done a ifestyle like what I am talking about please share your story no matter how long it is I would like to hear all of it.