View Full Version : Could I
RoosterTail
01-05-2010, 22:38
When I do walk the at can I live off everything the land can provide or will I have issues with that I know myself can do it but would it cause any harm did not see the general:datz
Jester2000
01-06-2010, 00:30
Hahaha! This is officially my favorite thread starter EVER.
RoosterTail
01-06-2010, 00:57
can someone just deleted this
No. It is not possible for you to subsist off of the land. Far from possible.
RoosterTail
01-06-2010, 01:08
No. It is not possible for you to subsist off of the land. Far from possible.
OK did not know if it was against any thing
Jester2000
01-06-2010, 01:55
can someone just deleted this
Why would we want to delete this? It's like a hilariously ugly baby that was just born.
The thing I like best about it is that you realized that something was wrong right away AND commented on it AND put an appropriate emoticon on it. It's like watching a trainwreck in slow motion.
But hey, you're new here. Everyone screws up something or other. If you REALLY want it deleted (and I urge you not to delete it!), just PM a moderator and they'll get rid of it for you.
Don't do it, though! I love it!
When I do walk the at can I live off everything the land can provide or will I have issues with that I know myself can do it but would it cause any harm did not see the general:datz
Have you thought of rewording the question? It is a bit jumbled.
But for what it may be worth, even if it were legal, which it isn't, there isn't enough edible stuff near the trail to keep anyone alive for very long. Nor, I suspect, would anyone trying to survive on food stuffs to be found along the trail, have much time left over for actual walking.
Killing most animals is illegal along much of the trail. Harvesting some plants is illegal in several places. Hikers are pretty much restricted by time constraints and laws to harvesting fruits and berries in season.
When I do walk the at can I live off everything the land can provide or will I have issues with that I know myself can do it but would it cause any harm did not see the general:datz
In word, No.
There's very little edibe along the trail.
Unless, you are a termite.
jersey joe
01-06-2010, 13:28
One might be able to subsist on shelter mice alone while hiking up the trail! And I doubt there are any laws against killing mice.
Jester2000
01-06-2010, 13:49
One might be able to subsist on shelter mice alone while hiking up the trail! And I doubt there are any laws against killing mice.
Maybe, but I was truly surprised at how many hikers got upset when other hikers killed mice. Weird.
Lone Wolf
01-06-2010, 13:55
When I do walk the at can I live off everything the land can provide
there's plenty of deer, bear, turkey and grouse to whack and stack
living by foraging is a full time job.
Hiking is a full time job.
Get it?
ChinMusic
01-06-2010, 16:46
I never saw the general either.......
it really wouldnt be that hard, you would just have to carry some extra gear... here's how you would approach it....
whenever it is legal, you hang out with your gun(that you are carrying) and kill a bunch of deer.... then you start up your gas powered generator(that you are of course carrying, who leaves home without one these days). the generator keeps the ice chest you are carrying on and you can stuff a couple hundred pounds of meat in it and you are good to go....
you don't have to take guff from these Negative Nancys
:) :) :)
^if you want to go ultralight you could leave the gun at home and kill your prey with rocks you find along the trail :)
ok.... now im done.... im sorry :)
When I do walk the at can I live off everything the land can provide or will I have issues with that I know myself can do it but would it cause any harm did not see the general:datz
NONONONONONONONONONONONONO -
and NO (and don't even THINK about begging food from a hungry hiker :)).
But for what it may be worth, even if it were legal, which it isn't, there isn't enough edible stuff near the trail to keep anyone alive for very long.
Except people. They're rather tasty.
The main problem with trying to live off the land is that you would have to give up alcohol. :eek:
Panzer
harryfred
01-06-2010, 17:58
Maybe, but I was truly surprised at how many hikers got upset when other hikers killed mice. Weird.
Hey! you gonna eat that?
The closest I've seen to this is folks that try to live off of what they find in hiker boxes ...
I did meet a fellow that planned to heavily augment his diet through foraging. I've never met anyone who successfully did so to any meaningful extent. The closest I've personally come is slowing my hike to gorge on huckleberries (different trail, I don't know anything about berry availability on the AT --- I would guess that right along the trail it's poor given the number of people that hike on the AT).
Jester2000
01-06-2010, 19:01
In 2000 a hiker named Screamer, who was actually a homeless guy, subsisted off of hiker boxes and dumpster diving in towns. He didn't beg money or food from hikers.
He made good progress up the trail, and the last time I saw him was in Gorham. So it's possible, I suppose, but definitely not for everybody. I wouldn't attempt it.
Lone Wolf
01-06-2010, 21:09
In 2000 a hiker named Screamer, who was actually a homeless guy, subsisted off of hiker boxes and dumpster diving in towns. He didn't beg money or food from hikers.
but i gave him both just because
Jester2000
01-06-2010, 21:21
but i gave him both just because
Yeah. He wouldn't take money from me, but he'd let me buy him coffee in town.
One of the funnier things I saw that year was Screamer, who had been given $100 by a tourist (!), offer Blister Sister money because she was momentarily low on funds. Priceless.
fredmugs
01-12-2010, 09:02
there's plenty of deer, bear, turkey and grouse to whack and stack
you forgot to mention the ponies...way more docile
Eat lots of Ramps. You can find these along the southern AT. Then when you get to a shelter. Well hikers will just seem to go away. Often times leaving food stuff behind. Thats how you do it!
Dude if you can find enough ramps you can sell them to big city chefs for $25 a pound, and you really won't need many to clear out a shelter.
A Patch of Ramps.
http://donwiss.com/pictures/F-2000-05-14/0058.jpg
It is definitely worth considering, because you can learn alot.
I think I managed to forage 100 calories once.
I can scare up a pretty mean cup of tea though.
...eat mice, great thread!
seriously, though, I just got a nice eBook The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide (http://www.ofthefield.com/html/learning_resources_0.html), a good read.
I wouldn't count on it. Although, I will try to have those plants on my own property.
I was told if you pick up a rock, a small rock, in the National Park it is an offense with a ticket and a fine.
Is this true?
I haven't tried it.
Jester2000
01-12-2010, 22:44
. . . I was told if you pick up a rock, a small rock, in the National Park it is an offense with a ticket and a fine.
Is this true?
I haven't tried it.
I've heard this as well, but have yet to have anyone quote an actual regulation regarding this. I suspect this is a bit of a myth with it's origins in a related actual event that was changed over time, or a misreading of the regulations.
Here's what's actually covered in that section of the rules:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the following is
prohibited:
(1) Possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging,
or disturbing from its natural state:
(i) Living or dead wildlife or fish, or the parts or products
thereof, such as antlers or nests.
(ii) Plants or the parts or products thereof.
(iii) Nonfossilized and fossilized paleontological specimens,
cultural or archeological resources, or the parts thereof.
(iv) A mineral resource or cave formation or the parts thereof.
(2) Introducing wildlife, fish or plants, including their
reproductive bodies, into a park area ecosystem.
(3) Tossing, throwing or rolling rocks or other items inside caves
or caverns, into valleys, canyons, or caverns, down hillsides or
mountainsides, or into thermal features.
I think it's possible that, say, throwing rocks in particular places was transformed into picking them up or moving them. It's also possible that the origins involved relic hunting or getting caught doing something like trying to take one of the rocks from the Devil's Postpile National Monument. Or maybe from some old, unenforced law that seems close, like the fact that it's illegal to mutilate a rock in a Colorado State Park. Whatever that means.
I think you can pretty comfortably pick up a rock in a National Park. Just don't throw it inside a cave.
Canada Goose
01-12-2010, 23:28
In 2000 a hiker named Screamer, who was actually a homeless guy, subsisted off of hiker boxes and dumpster diving in towns. He didn't beg money or food from hikers.
He made good progress up the trail, and the last time I saw him was in Gorham. So it's possible, I suppose, but definitely not for everybody. I wouldn't attempt it.
I was minding my own business, loafing away the afternoon at Clyde Smith shelter, when out of the corner of my eye I spot a guy with a passing resemblance to Charles Manson approaching the shelter carrying a plastic pail in one hand, and what appeared to be a "Grandma Gatewood" style kit in the other, slung over his shoulder. I think it was the vocal mumbling that caused me to think I should be on-my-way pronto, but before I could hightail it, someone gave me the heads-up that this guy was "Screamer", a homeless guy who was put on the trail at Neels Gap by state police as a means of getting him out of the state quietly. Starting with next to nothing, he made his way up the trail as discribed, accumulating his "gear" as he went. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so self-reliant as he was, and after the initial shock, grew to admire his fortitude and resolve to hike the trail. Hikers were travelling by foot, as he was; he had found his tribe!
He was on his own schedule, hiking his own hike, and fell behind me after camping together (with Blister Sister) at Overmountain Shelter the next night. I would not see him again.
Of course, it only makes sense that I would meet another wild/weird/crazy character the next evening at Apple House shelter. You may have even heard of him; his name was "Jester", and he was travelling with some other wackos that eventually became known as the "Travelling Bills".
But that is a story for another time :) CG
I've heard this as well, but have yet to have anyone quote an actual regulation regarding this. I suspect this is a bit of a myth with it's origins in a related actual event that was changed over time, or a misreading of the regulations.
Here's what's actually covered in that section of the rules:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the following is
prohibited:
(1) Possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging,
or disturbing from its natural state:
(i) Living or dead wildlife or fish, or the parts or products
thereof, such as antlers or nests.
(ii) Plants or the parts or products thereof.
(iii) Nonfossilized and fossilized paleontological specimens,
cultural or archeological resources, or the parts thereof.
(iv) A mineral resource or cave formation or the parts thereof.
(2) Introducing wildlife, fish or plants, including their
reproductive bodies, into a park area ecosystem.
(3) Tossing, throwing or rolling rocks or other items inside caves
or caverns, into valleys, canyons, or caverns, down hillsides or
mountainsides, or into thermal features.
I think it's possible that, say, throwing rocks in particular places was transformed into picking them up or moving them. It's also possible that the origins involved relic hunting or getting caught doing something like trying to take one of the rocks from the Devil's Postpile National Monument. Or maybe from some old, unenforced law that seems close, like the fact that it's illegal to mutilate a rock in a Colorado State Park. Whatever that means.
I think you can pretty comfortably pick up a rock in a National Park. Just don't throw it inside a cave.
I think it depends on what the rock is. Since what Jester quoted here includes fossils and "mineral resource or cave formation or the parts thereof." as things that cannot be removed, if your "rock" is one of those then you cannot disturb it from its natural state.
RoosterTail
01-13-2010, 02:30
See I knew that were rules but did not no them thanks for the info
Jester2000
01-13-2010, 02:35
I think it depends on what the rock is. Since what Jester quoted here includes fossils and "mineral resource or cave formation or the parts thereof." as things that cannot be removed, if your "rock" is one of those then you cannot disturb it from its natural state.
Connie may not have seen my post -- I completely forgot that Connie probably has me on "ignore." Oh well.
Jester2000
01-13-2010, 02:38
See I knew that were rules but did not no them thanks for the info
For those not ignoring me, you can read up on National Park Service Rules & Regulations at:
http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/e-mail/regulations.htm
But I warn you -- it's not as exciting to read as you might think.
ShelterLeopard
01-13-2010, 17:37
Sorry Jester, I'm ignoring you. :D
Not exciting- I was riveted!
In 1970, at age 83, while visiting Appalachian Outfitters in Oakton, Virginia she was asked what she thought about the latest lightweight backpacking gear. Emma advised: "Make a rain cape, and an over the shoulder sling bag, and buy a sturdy pair of Keds tennis shoes. Stop at local groceries and pick up Vienna sausages... MOST EVERYTHING ELSE TO EAT YOU CAN FIND BESIDE THE TRAIL... and by the way those wild onions are not called "Ramps"... they are "Rampians" ... a ramp is an inclined plane."
." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Gatewood