Living on the AT

[Trailbender]

I couldn't find any threads on this, but when I was hiking, I thought of this a few times. I have pretty good wilderness survival skills, and if I wasn't in college with student loans I considered selling my crap and just living there. I foraged for wild plants while I hiked, and noticed plenty of wild game that could be used to supplement my regular food. Even without that, if you were careful and just bought groceries, your money could last a long time, and you could get random short term jobs in towns. The only problem I could see with this is wintertime. Some parts of the AT would suck covered in ice. Has anyone seriously considered this?

[Trailbender]

119 views and no replies, odd.

[Cool AT Breeze]

I live on the trail. When I step out my door I step onto the AT.Everyone that walks the AT walks by my bedroom window. It's awesome, I feel privledged to live here. I know it's not the same as what you are asking but I do live on the trail.

[Trailbender]

I live on the trail. When I step out my door I step onto the AT.Everyone that walks the AT walks by my bedroom window. It's awesome, I feel privledged to live here. I know it's not the same as what you are asking but I do live on the trail.

So you live at mountain crossings? If you are the owner, I doubt you remember me, but I helped you at the store that day, we talked about guns, and life. I stayed both ways, and fondly remember the hostel. Sitting back and eating a box of Oreos while watching old James Bond movies.

[Survivor Dave]

I live on the trail. When I step out my door I step onto the AT.Everyone that walks the AT walks by my bedroom window. It's awesome, I feel privledged to live here. I know it's not the same as what you are asking but I do live on the trail.

And on the opposite side of the Trail you have flush toilets, laundry and showers, cut firewood, a Coke machine, pumpkins you forrage off the land in the fall, and a gear shop! That's what I call livin' on the Trail. Just kidding man.

[Cool AT Breeze]

So you live at mountain crossings? If you are the owner, I doubt you remember me, but I helped you at the store that day, we talked about guns, and life. I stayed both ways, and fondly remember the hostel. Sitting back and eating a box of Oreos while watching old James Bond movies.

No I'm not the owner, just staff.

[Cool AT Breeze]

And on the opposite side of the Trail you have flush toilets, laundry and showers, cut firewood, a Coke machine, pumpkins you forrage off the land in the fall, and a gear shop! That's what I call livin' on the Trail. Just kidding man.

I've got the best of both worlds.

[Pedaling Fool]

I couldn't find any threads on this, but when I was hiking, I thought of this a few times. I have pretty good wilderness survival skills, and if I wasn't in college with student loans I considered selling my crap and just living there. I foraged for wild plants while I hiked, and noticed plenty of wild game that could be used to supplement my regular food. Even without that, if you were careful and just bought groceries, your money could last a long time, and you could get random short term jobs in towns. The only problem I could see with this is wintertime. Some parts of the AT would suck covered in ice. Has anyone seriously considered this?

There are many places where you could just walk off the trail and keep walking, find a nice spot and no one would ever see you. But it would be boring as hell.

[sbhikes]

I met people on the PCT who live on the PCT. Not full time but enough that they feel like it's their life. They don't forage for food, though. That would be silly. You can't possibly get enough calories.

[Jack Tarlin]

"Living off the land", i.e. living off what you've trapped in snares or discovered while out mushrooming, etc., is a helluva lot more difficult and time consuming than most people think. You might be able to add a few things to your diet this way, but as far as "supplementing" your diet or making a meaningful contribution to a healthy diet, no, it isn't going to happen. Yoi can't live off toadstools, blueberries and the odd chipmunk, and it'd be unrealistic to think you could survive this way. People try this every year on the Trail. They're usually home in around four days when they get tired of begging food off prepared people.

[Terraducky]

I couldn't find any threads on this, but when I was hiking, I thought of this a few times. I have pretty good wilderness survival skills, and if I wasn't in college with student loans I considered selling my crap and just living there. I foraged for wild plants while I hiked, and noticed plenty of wild game that could be used to supplement my regular food. Even without that, if you were careful and just bought groceries, your money could last a long time, and you could get random short term jobs in towns. The only problem I could see with this is wintertime. Some parts of the AT would suck covered in ice. Has anyone seriously considered this?

This summer I met a homeless vet who does live on the AT. He wanders shelter to shelter in the mid-Atlantic area, and heads for the southern sections when winter hits...he actually has a rather rough life. Said he's met other homeless people along the way in his travels....

[pafarmboy]

Earlier this summer while Hiking NB out of GSMNP, about 1/2 mile before the I-40 crossing, I noticed a tentsite setup that looked like it had been there for quite a while. Didn't see anyone around, but it definitely looked like a "permanent" settlement.

[Marta]

Several years ago, when I was out for the weekend, I ran into a guy at Hogback Ridge Shelter. It was August, but he was wearing long underwear under his shorts, and had a big fire blazing around four in the afternoon. He had a very strong Maine accent. The story he told my husband was that he had walked away from his home in Millinocket about 18 months earlier, had hiked to Georgia, then turned around and hiked north; spent the winter tenting in Walker Gap (didn't ask which one), and then had been hiking all summer. He said he was heading back to Walker Gap for the winter.

I have also run into a few homeless people who were living in shelters. Several years ago, while I was doing some trail maintenance, I talked to a homeless man who was hiking shelter to shelter. Tears came into his eyes when he talked about how nice people were to hikers, as compared to how they treat homeless people in cities.

It chills me, though, to think about Gary Michael Hilton living at Rock Gap Shelter.

http://blogs.discovery.com/bizarre/2...ami-woman.html

[Bearpaw]

There is definitely a handful of homeless folks who basically live up and down sections of the trail year round. I've run into one around the Franklin, NC area and there are at least a couple in and around the Damascus area.

The one I met draws a small disability check each month that keeps him in groceries. It beats living in an alley and panhandling.

[TOW]

I couldn't find any threads on this, but when I was hiking, I thought of this a few times. I have pretty good wilderness survival skills, and if I wasn't in college with student loans I considered selling my crap and just living there. I foraged for wild plants while I hiked, and noticed plenty of wild game that could be used to supplement my regular food. Even without that, if you were careful and just bought groceries, your money could last a long time, and you could get random short term jobs in towns. The only problem I could see with this is wintertime. Some parts of the AT would suck covered in ice. Has anyone seriously considered this?

I seriously lived like this for three years on the trail while I was dodging the law. I never foraged the land though but for a few times. I learned real fast that the Indians and our forefathers had to have had it pretty rough by living off of the land. And another thing I learned real fast is that I had to become very frugal with my money, I basically lived on $40.00 a week give or take here and there.

When it comes to winter survival you have to have the niceties to live in those conditions because whatever you do you want to stay as warm as possible. For instance a good tent with a lot of room is great, I had and still have a Mt Hardware Kiva Midpole. A big tent but you will have enough room to keep you and your winter gear in it plus the walls are just thick enuf to keep the wind off of you and you can cook in it as well. I also used an heavy duty emergency blanket for ground cover of which I laid my therma-rest on and my sleepin bag was a Kelty 0 degree hallofill. Do not attempt to live in winter conditions with a down bag, always use a hallofill becasue you can climb into the thing with ice hanging from you and be warm within a short time and in most cases dry in the morning because the moisture will have evaporated from you.

When it comes to gloves I found that a good pair of Army wool gloves worked best with a pair of Gortex mittens for really cold conditions, you want to keep your fingers as close as possible and the wind off of your hands for your hands to stay warm.

When it comes to clothing you'll want good moisture wicking clothing and you will want to layer up. So I am gonna say that you will need to carry at least three pair of everything.

I used Vasque Sundowners for boots and Smartwool socks of which I would put two pair on while hiking and would usually add another pair at night for warmth. Always keep your boots in the tent with you and next too you so they can stay thawed out.

Also keep you water bottles in your sleeping bag while you sleep so they will not get frozen.

When it comes to food, you'll want mostly instant snacks and meals.

I could probably tell you a few other things but the best teacher is to just get out there and do it.

[Trailbender]

"Living off the land", i.e. living off what you've trapped in snares or discovered while out mushrooming, etc., is a helluva lot more difficult and time consuming than most people think. You might be able to add a few things to your diet this way, but as far as "supplementing" your diet or making a meaningful contribution to a healthy diet, no, it isn't going to happen. Yoi can't live off toadstools, blueberries and the odd chipmunk, and it'd be unrealistic to think you could survive this way. People try this every year on the Trail. They're usually home in around four days when they get tired of begging food off prepared people.

I have done it, there is plenty of things to forage on the AT, plantwise.

[JoshStover]

Just watch "Into The Wild" and you will see what happens when you get hungry and go crazy.

[Tinker]

Nope. You can't do it - at least if you're hiking.
The closest thing to living off the land you could get away with (as long as the local and state laws don't prohibit trapping) is to snare some small animals for food while you live near a lake and fish. Edible greens aren't abundant in the woods, but you can find them in clearings (dandilion greens are wonderful, as is plantain, which looks similar, but without flowers).
Berry season is probably the best time to try this.
In the winter you will simply die.

[tammons]

If man could make a sucessful living at scavanging and hunting, we never would have changed from hunter gatherers to an argirculture society.

Fact is to go out into the wild and trap and kill your own food via the mountain men and whatnot and live off the land is extremely difficult.

You will be eating a lot of rabbits and squirrels for sure.

To do it succesfully IMO you would spend about 5-10 ++ hours a day hunting and gathering and expend a lot of calories doing it.

[Captn]

Billy Goat on the PCT spends every season hiking one of the long trails.

He works odd jobs in the winter to save enough to hike on next season.

I've thought about it ... especially if you have a small pension or are trying to live on Social Security .... you could really stretch your dollars.

No car or car payment, no house or house payment, no electric bill .....

Say you retire early with a small pension. It's not enough to live on but you could bank most of it for 5 or 10 years and end up with a little nest egg about the time your social security kicks in.

Then buy a little piece of southern land that no one likes and build a small cabin, raise a few goats to get the agriculture tax break and sell a few off in the fall.

Buy broken solar cells and a soldering iron to build about 200 watts worth of budget solar cells to cover the cost of a some of your electricity by selling it back to the electric company.

Go hike whenever you want.

Of course, it may be a bit lonely at times .....