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Re: [OM] OT: Life in Alaska

Subject: Re: [OM] OT: Life in Alaska
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 10:59:19 -0900
> Do you have first hand experience? How do you find all this information?

This situation is not at all uncommon. Somebody drives up to Alaska to
escape whatever life they have in the Lower-48, acquire a cabin beyond
nowhere. Live off of their pension or disability check and basically
hunt and fish for their meals. Every month or two, they get to a
community where they can take care of whatever they need to or head to
Anchorage or Fairbanks, stop at Costco for supplies and head back. The
railroad actually does passenger/cargo services and will pick you up
and drop you off at any location along the line. You'll see random 4
wheelers and snow-machines scattered all along the railroad as those
belong to these "off the grid" people who use them to get to their
cabins miles away from the tracks.

There are others that come up here with a camper van or truck of some
form, drive deep into the wilderness (First part of winter freezes the
trails enough to get far in before the snow closes things off), and
disappear off the face of the earth. Thousands commit suicide by
wilderness. Some hunter will find the abandoned vehicles years later.

Anyway, the acquiring of a cabin off the grid is pretty common and
unless the individual has a mentor of some form, they tend to not
think about preventative survival skills. Sadly, so many people doing
this are battling their own demons of some form and tend to not trust
others. So, giving basic survival advice is ignored. The knowledge
transfer seems to end with basic resupply logistics

The off-the-gridders that are from here know usually know the more
advanced stuff because it was either taught, lived, or handed down.
Believe it or not, there are consultants that will come out and look
over your site and will make recommendations. That works for a few
people, but mostly it's trial and error. Unfortunately, error is
almost always fatal.

Personally, while I like to get aways from things, I don't like to
tempt the fates too much. I don't like to get farther away from
civilization than my ability to survive the hike.

AK Schnozz
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