Hey Veeky Forums so I'm going to be spending the next 6 - 8 months sleeping in a tent in a very rural region, with around $850 for supplies that I intend to buy from the nearest town several miles away.
I have a stack of books to take with me but I have two questions:
1. How do you prevent books from becoming damp etc while living in a tent?
2. What nature-orientated books - fiction or non-fiction - would you recommend I take? I already have Jack London's stuff, some books on edible plants, and some books by Emerson and Thoreau.
> prevent books from becoming damp Sealed containers with those dryness sachets you find in clothing and food packages or if you want to keep it cheep dry rice.
Angel Jones
Hmm, okay thanks for the suggestion. I don't think "dryness sachets" will last the entire period I'll be out there, and considering how many books I'm taking I'll have to take a lot of rice to cover them which will be difficult to transport.
Carter Nelson
> I don't think "dryness sachets" will last the entire period I'll be out there, They are dirt cheap to buy, fairly small and you can "recharge" them fairly easily
I don't have any reccs for living around nature, but I like the idea of what you're doing and wish you luck.
Carter Anderson
Thank you!
Anthony King
I thought skinwalkers were exclusive to /x/ and /k/.
On a serious note I read Walden and Civil Disobedience when I went camping last year and it was comfy.
Asher Hall
MOSSACK! DISHA, DISHA!
Lucas Martin
I'd get one of those survival guide books that blokes get for birthdays and one specific for your area so you know what to eat
Gavin Wright
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Wyatt Gutierrez
Don't mind me, I'm just a Russian meme passing by.
Lincoln Walker
I don't think you have to worry about your books if you own a decent tent. Ventilation is key and if you fail at it, you will get damp which is much more of a problem.
Where in the world are you?
Lincoln Miller
I get it not, and I'm half russian.
Zachary Cox
>6-8 months >tent Ffs get an axe, adze, and maddock you absolute pleb. Build a klin and make some calcium oxiode, it's a very effective dessicant,keep it away from you and your books in a box or whatnot. Build a small log cabin with the proper foundation, cob or stone. Living in a tent in one place for more than 10 days is absolutely silly, you would be miserable and run down by the end.
Isaac Garcia
I'm from the UK but I am currently staying at a motel in Beckley, West Virginia, USA. I leave this Thursday and will travel north towards the Maine / Vermont border where I'll be staying.
Charles Richardson
What makes you think that?
Cameron Wright
Never been there but it won't be as damp as the Isle. I spent 2 weeks in scotland last year, and both tent and books were good. If you are o foot, spare yourself the extra weight and just air your tent out whenever possible.
I really like your plan. How do you make sure you won't get sacked for vagrancy? I always thought US visas are not issued for more than a couple of months.
Jeremiah Nelson
Depends on the size of the tent. If you have a teepee or just a large canvas tent shit can get pretty comfy. Especially if you cut down two trees and have them inside your tent as a hammock support. My uncle lives in PA in a tent and works about 2 / 3 months as an engineering consultant for Raytheon and spends the rest of his time in his tent in various locations just wandering around the rustbelt.
William Evans
I have a relative living in the States (who I stayed with over Xmas before travelling up here) and I plan on flying back to the UK via Mexico where she said she's happy to drive me since she often goes there with her retired friends. It's easy to get into Mexico from the US. Otherwise I don't intend on getting caught, and it's a real rural place and people are laid back, plus I am a very outwardly civilized individual and I can put on an accent if need be. I've talked to a couple of people from the region over email and they suggested camping spots (apparently "wild camping" isn't a term they use since everywhere nearby is wild, unlike the UK). Also my uncle (the deceased husband of my aunt in the US) did it when he was in his 20s which gave me the idea.
Colton Jones
Experience, I ran off when I was 16. it's not very hard to build a shelter, it will give meaning to your life aswell is. If I were you I would be making print puts of GIS with local geology, watersheds , groundwater, property lines and historical background, laid over detailed topographical maps, laminated. Get write in rain notes, a proper knife hatchet and machete. I employee you to explore the bioregion as much as possible. Start by searching the literature for studies on the local ecological communities, learn about every woody and herbaceous plant, insect, get your taxonomy down pheneology, ect. Ecologically ignorant people cause harm and flounder. When you get their talk to the cool old timers, they are wells of knowledge. When I moved out in the ozarks it was the old hippies and hicks that helped me get my feet in the ground and kept me from going to the wrong places and getting my ass shot. Look for local communes
Ethan Brown
Yeah that's true, teepee are comfy. It's the modern tents that suck Opie steal a large canvas tarp on the way up there. Get some linseed oil too. The people that made it sure won't be hurt by you stealing it, you buying it might actually make their life worse by giving money to the hegemony, and those shits are expensive.
Isaac Hughes
I see. Whats your plan on personal hygiene? Lakes around?
Grayson Scott
From the Shen Valley, user, but my dad's up near Canaan (VT). In short (in that full span) it's freaking cold. Be careful!
Connor Carter
There are a bunch of relatively large lakes within walking distance but I'll see how it goes. As I said there's a town within walking distance so I may just shower there every couple of weeks or month etc. I've never really sweated that much so I'm not too worried. I have wet wipes.
Parker Lewis
New England- NH, VT, ME is lake-ridden. Fresh water in rare abundance, globally speaking.
Jace Perez
Hey, thanks for the post! And yeah I have considered whether I came out here too early in the year, but the thing is I prefer the cold (or I have so far in life) but still I'll be here for Spring etc. I'm not planning to go as far north as Canaan, it's quite a way to the South-East from there.
Colton Murphy
Best learn what plants to rub on you and how to make a fatwood torch. Mosquitos and Tabanids don't fuck around
Dominic Long
Best of luck to you. If you feel like some entertainment every now and then, I suggest you bring East Of Eden along with you. Comfy as fuck and it has good length for long days.
Leo Ramirez
Wandering around the NEK, North NH, and W. Maine in the Spring and Summer's a raw enterprise. It's definitely wilderness, depressed and almost totally devoid of people. One cool thing (if you crave a little society) is the first sapping of the maples in mid\late March-- lots of little cold-weather festivals here and there, some worth checking out.
Jordan Miller
*maple sapping in south NE as well, of course, esp. VT.
Lucas Ward
>mosquitos >winter
Already read that, but thanks for the rec. Big fan of Steinbeck. I'm not American but there's something about travelling and perhaps just living in the United States that really does feel like you're embedded in a narrative somehow, as if something just might happen to you. Pretty strange and I can't quite articulate it.
Cooper James
Holy fuck I haven't tasted maple syrup in so long. Think I'll buy some tonight. Is it healthy?
Adrian Davis
Bookwise, get a Bartram's America. Or check out available titles by John and William Bartram on ABE. Can be had cheaply. Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez et al. among the moderns are worth checking out. Research. See what interests.
Angel Price
>6-8 months of winter Pathetic
Zachary Sullivan
Nature's candy? Hell yeah it's healthy!
Jaxon Sullivan
Growth of the soil. Its referred to as Hamsuns gift to Norwegian nature
Colton Carter
>Hamsun
Umm, sweetie, we don't read nazis here.
Tyler King
John McPhee, especially an early title. His little book on the (amazing) Pine Barrens may tempt (you) South to New Jersey. Wandering around in the dwarf forest as a kid just blew me away. There's nothing like it in the world.
Easton Rogers
Kek, well, it was before he was a nazi if that helps
Justin Ward
>Pine Barrens
Do a lot of people walk through there? Could someone camp there for months without seeing another soul?
Wyatt Clark
Some guy from Moscow struggling trough his university education was dumped by his girlfriend for some Chad, researched survivalist forums on the net, chose a random station in Siberia, got his friend, and bought a one way ticket there to live in the wild like real men. It was winter, by the way.
Equipped with an ax, a saw, a shovel, fishing supplies, plastic film, some canned food, grains, coffee, cooking tin, and a mug, in regular clothing, they waded, in the deep snow, a mile or two into the nearest forest. After a night at a bonfire, his friend decided to fuck that all and, spending a couple of hours straying, got out of the forest. Then the guy started posting at a forum describing his dire situation, and asking for immediate help in making a better hovel: otshelniki.com/threads/vazhno-srochno-pomogite-vyzhit.60/
The rescue operation failed. His remains were found by some local hunter a year later.
It's easy to guess how many different points you can support with that single photo of his last shelter in survivalist threads everywhere.
Dominic Sanchez
How could he post on a forum from a Siberian forest?
Levi Scott
I'd say so. But if youre fated to meet your doppelgaenger in this life, it'll be there as well. There are maps. I'd get one.
Nolan Lee
It was just a couple of miles from the station. In sparsely populated regions, cell towers are quite high and usually cover a big area.
Jacob Morales
Read "Into the Wild" it's about a guy who went into the woods with Emerson books just like you. And then he died out there because he was a retarded faggot just like you.
Ian Morgan
Why didn't he just walk back to the station?
Also how did his friend respond? I'd be haunted until my death by the memory of leaving him there.
Anthony Long
But that was in Alaska and due to his inability to ford a river- VERY unlikely anywhere in the Eastern U.S. at this time- especially with some means of rechargable communication handy. Pre-pay your cell bills, OP user. JIC.
Samuel Gutierrez
The dude was also pretty suicidal and didn't prepare well at all for his expedition. I mean if he hadn't found that bus who knows how long he'd have lasted.
Connor Thompson
I Think I might do this when I finish uni Probably for not as long though
Ayden Jones
In his forum posts, he said that return was not an option, that he would either survive there or die, and that he would just need a better shelter to warm himself and dry his wet boots. He did not agree to go back with his friend for the same reason.
Cooper Jones
So he was stubbornly insisting on being self-sufficient somehow?
It's hard to tell from the translation, but thanks for posting the link. I'm reading through the forum now and it looks very interesting. Some great book recs on there too.
Dylan Ortiz
Honest question. Are you not scared of getting murdered?
Not OP. But there's never been a safer time to do what OP's doing. Internet hyper-localization REALLY IS a spook.
Nicholas Hernandez
Why would somebody go out of their way to murder someone living in the middle of nowhere? Are Americans really this violent?
Robert Sullivan
No. Nor are 'murderers' that enterprising.
Jordan Nelson
Oh well, Veeky Forums antispam switches some Russian characters into similar Latin ones. Just google his name.
Chase Foster
*brraaaaaaaaapppppffhthththt*
Josiah Baker
Just the possibility of getting violently murdered in the middle of nowhere freaks me out. I couldn't sleep anywhere outside of a locked room with windows shut down.
Nathan Campbell
Thanks again for posting this.
As I read the Lurkmore article, this story to me seems distinctively Russian for some reason. The romantic betrayal, the angry escape to the woods, the friend leaving and then getting arrested for his role, the forum posters posting wacky shit etc, it's the kind of thing I imagine a Russian short story writer or novelist would write about.
Guy's name is Igor Grudtsinov for those curious.
Liam Barnes
Take "My side of the mountain"
Jackson Baker
>i want to read my bookie books ohhhhh that’ll help me get into da mood for hwhat im already doing. :3 you should pick a fight with a grizzley bear or contract typhus to get the full nature experience faggot
Liam Perez
>reading in the forest nature herself should be your only book pleb
Luke Thomas
Walden by David Henry Thoureau
I heavily, HEAVILY recommend this if you're planning a trip of solitude.
Nathan Kelly
1: user's already got it. Build a shitty shack, fuck tents. 2: I can't figure that fucking thing out. Is it foreshortened? Or is supposed to be tipped over?
Cooper Russell
buy a garden shed instead. they cost less than a good tent.
Levi Jones
appropriately sized ziploc bags with silica gel packs you can salvage to put in 'em >was a crust punk fuck sleeping outside all the time a year ago
Noah Taylor
The complete works of Ragnar Benson
Also, just build a tent bro for real bro >OP gets eaten by a bear and his corpse gets fucked by a mountain lion
Dominic Howard
OP you do understand that it's in the negative degrees Fahrenheit in that region, right, and that it snows like crazy
Landon Morris
OP's new Indian name is Popsicle Balls
Thomas Kelly
Protip: you want a less flimsy tent than that, and you can improve its resistance to rain by >digging a ditch around it to redirect groundwater >setting it up on top of a plastic tarp >rigging a plastic tarp above it A lot of tents are "waterproofed" with a spray-on substance that wears off over time, they aren't really meant for 6 months of continuous use, using all of the above methods will help prolong its lifespan and reinforce its waterproofing. Unless you want to get to your car and drive back into town at the drop of a hat, I suggest buying a reserve tent in the likely event that at some point yours collapses irreparably.
I would suggest getting a big rubbermaid tub, packing each book individually in a ziploc bag and then stacking them in that tub. In order for them to get wet after doing all that, you would have to either submerge the tub or in some other way be completely and literally retarded. Your tent should have enough room to leave the tub inside, without it touching the walls (because this will rub away that waterproofing faster). This tub will, if it's the proper kind with a lid that fully covers the seam, actually remain waterproof even in the open, but its better not to let water pool on the lid because you might drip it in, and if you squish it by sitting on it or setting something heavy on it, then the watertightness may be compromised.
Leo Stewart
I've lived in a tent for three weeks at a time, but it was in the summer, and a canvas+wood tent, not one of these nylon things. I also wasn't alone and had access to running water. Even without the isolation aspect, you do get run-down and kind of loopy toward the end. Especially if there was a string of bad weather. Three solid days of rain is enough to fuck you up way more than you could possibly imagine if you've never experienced it while camping, especially if you chose shit ground like, say, a depression at the foot of a hill.
I was going to mention just how miserable it is to go to sleep on a cold night, even in March in southern Mississippi. Even if OP was doing this from spring to fall in a temperate state I would say it will absolutely get colder than you can possibly imagine, as is he's probably gonna be dead by february desu. Rip OP
I'd be far more worried about bears than hobos and vagrants desu