WHERE WOULD YOU GO... to build a remote cabin and live off the land? (Anchorage: loan, squatters)
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We spent four years 'living off the land' down in NC. It was the hardest thing I've ever done and one of the most rewarding. Go for it! The lessons you'll learn will serve you well for the rest of your life. We had to come back to reality this year, and the rest is good to some extent, but we're scheming how we can get back on some land. Like others have said, it's expensive (at least in most parts of the US). If you don't inherit land it can be close to impossible. But, again, worth the struggle.
As for the student loans, don't be too sure that you won't be able to pay them off earlier rather than later. One of the things we learned during our homesteading time was how much we can live without. A short time of frugality working at even a modest job can get you back on your feet even in this economy. A plan is very important. Check out Dave Ramsey's website. You'll find all the tools that you need to set yourself up for the future.
As for the student loans, don't be too sure that you won't be able to pay them off earlier rather than later. One of the things we learned during our homesteading time was how much we can live without. A short time of frugality working at even a modest job can get you back on your feet even in this economy.
Here's one example of people not realizing that Alaska is different. Living in a remote cabin and living off the land here, normally means that you are not within reasonable driving distance from a job, or many times not even on the road system at all. Remote doesn't just mean "out of town". As I've said, it would be difficult, if not impossible for most people to hold down a full time job AND have the time left over that is neccessary for living off the land, if they did live close to a town with jobs.
Here's one example of people not realizing that Alaska is different. Living in a remote cabin and living off the land here, normally means that you are not within reasonable driving distance from a job, or many times not even on the road system at all. Remote doesn't just mean "out of town". As I've said, it would be difficult, if not impossible for most people to hold down a full time job AND have the time left over that is neccessary for living off the land, if they did live close to a town with jobs.
Of course he won't be holding a job while he's doing this. He said the homesteading was just a temporary thing. In his post he sounded disouraged about being owned by the student loans and I was encouraging him that the life skills he will learn in Alaska will give him the ability to live low (which will feel like being rich after living off the land) and be able to pay them back quickly.
If he has a lot of student loans to pay for, how is he going to afford land? It's not exactly cheap up here.
ahhh now Warpt....like a lot a people think....lands free in Alaska ! just walk out stake your claim, cut down the trees, an build a cabin!!
Was just talk'n with someone the other day that just found out someone is building a cabin on his remote land....I asked what he was gonna do about it...reply...let them finish the cabin the fly in an tell them to get the hell off my land,an they built my cabin for me free, sure hope they built it good!!
LOL Blue now there is the plan.
1. buy land
2. watch idjits (many come to this forum) to build a stellar cabin on it
3. evict and move it
Dang if anyone is stupid enough to go to the trouble of getting to Alaska and
builds without even inquiring whose land they are building on they truly are idjits.
Building a cabin on somebody else' land is a pretty bold and stupid move, and I'd assume very irritating to the landowner, but if it was my land, I'd hurry up and tell them before they finished to save them a little money. I'm sure they'd think twice about trying that again.
Building a cabin on somebody else' land is a pretty bold and stupid move, and I'd assume very irritating to the landowner, but if it was my land, I'd hurry up and tell them before they finished to save them a little money. I'm sure they'd think twice about trying that again.
why not wait until the cabin was build and then evict them or do they have rights to that building now?
I've been reading CD for a couple of years, with only part of that time as a poster, but this type of post seems to be a regular occurrence. Can someone explain what brings normally 'sensible' people to a point where they think their life is unfulfilled unless they can go to some remote place and live alone in a wild area without the usual conveniences found in our society? It almost seems they are approaching this new life with a death wish since this type of life isn't something most people are equipped to cope with. There is nothing in the training that most people receive while growing up in the lower 48 that would remotely prepare them for the rigors of surviving in the wild in Alaska. I have a degree in Botany which means I know something about edible plants that might make it possible to survive in a temperate climate but that knowledge doesn't completely transfer to a new environment.
Most human migrations have benefited from groups of people moving relatively short distances, over time, which gave them a fighting chance to survive while learning thier new environment. At no time in our past history have these migrations been by single individuals in what seems like suicide missions without a purpose. In the past there have been "Mountain Men" who went into the Western US but they had Indian knowledge, in both survival and the contact with the Native Tribes, that allowed them to take up this life style but what brings these people to a purposeful decision that they need to come to Alaska to begin their rendezvous with their ultimate destiny?
Several of the mountain men had no real training or such to prepare them for what they went into. Of course, many died, while some were simply the right people for the job and learned quickly.
Anyways, I think the reason for the interest is rather simple: in the lwoer 48 it's increasingly next to impossible to A) not have neighbors on top of you, B) government on top of you and C) outrageous taxes, forcing you into the trap of C) miserable jobs making one nothing but a part of a machine for someone else's benefit. The typical modern American life is often pretty devoid of any meaning or true freedom and accomplishment. One is simply a consumer, a cash cow and wage slave for a handful of wealthy people and the government. It's interesting that even in 19th century New England (at the time still very rural outside a few cities, and quite free), there were people like Thoreau who wanted to distance themselves from mainstream society as things were starting to change. And later on, people like John Muir et al who took it further.
In my own state of Vermont, you can avoid crowds in the right parts of the state, but the insane politics here make for high taxes and as far as property rights go an intrusive government. Out West there's states like MT, ID, etc., which are far better but increasingly going in the same direction as most Eastern states and CA/OR/WA, as people move in bringing their politics with them. Alaska is the most free state in the U.S., and with the most undeveloped wilderness and fewest people per square mile outside a few areas.
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