Family died in Rockies after trying to live ‘off the grid,’ official says
Family died in Rockies after trying to live ‘off the grid,’ official says
Two sisters and a teenage son moved to a Colorado campsite last July, living off canned food. They had wanted to take a break from a world that distressed them, a local coroner said.
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What a terrible way to go. They sounded less prepared than even Chris McCandless.
I can't believe I'm recommending reality TV, but Alone is a fairly good representation of being alone in the wilderness with no resources. It is extremely unpleasant.
Alone is a great show. But I’ve got to tell you, while I watch and know I do not (currently) possess the skills to do what those folks do, there is a draw for me to want to do it. I mean I’m sure I’m over-romanticizing the thing to an extent, and - again - I know enough about me to know I can’t do it today, but there’s a distinct pull to want to.
I'm a pretty hardcore outdoorsman. Been hunting and fishing since I was a kid, and I spend a lot of my year maintaining family timberland pretty far out in the cut. I like to think I can handle some shit, and I even attended a wilderness survival camp as a kid. I'm good with knots, plant identification, wood carving, shelter building, and fire building.
A few seasons of Alone showed me that I probably wouldn't last more than a few months if the area I was in had any kind of significant winter. Maybe in the south where it never snows, but even then it'd be fucking unbearable in the middle of summer where you still have to constantly work for food and water and are constantly at risk of dehydration and malnutrition.
I did a wilderness survival camp in Arizona as a kid myself. I have had massive respect for nature ever since then. Even with a group of people survival in the wilderness is tough. I remember struggling for days to even make my first fire.
Alone showed me how different survival tactics are depending on your location. I feel like I could survive at least a few months on my own in the Sonoran desert, but anywhere else I would be done for pretty quickly. Cold snowy weather would probably end me on the first night.
No doubt. We get used to the fact that even if we were forced to go without food for a day we could rebound after gorging ourselves on reserves the following day. But bury your no-heat wooden shelter in snow and go without food for a day and see how hard it gets to figure out food the day after. Then keep that going for a week and shit gets real, REAL fast.
Love this video essay related to this topic
I think many people have that pull to nature, but most that do it and survive recognize that living without the infrastructure of the rest of humanity is at least extremely challenging and so will thoroughly prepare.
I would guess a good portion of US adults, these days, have no idea how to survive away from modern convenience for any length of time