is alaska just a dream or can i survive alone with just the camping essentials (live, bus)

[notoriouskelly]

There's dreaming and there's foolishness.

You see what the Alaskans are saying; I've seen bodies in the grass in winter right in Anchorage.

Rethink the winter part.

[driftwood8]

Thanks. But those people would still be alive if they kept moving and had gear

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by driftwood8

Ok here it goes. I spent all of 2009. Traveling around the united states reaching 33 states on foot. Then i went and got my degree in environmental studies from nau. I have been livin a normal life ever since.work.house.girlfriend.i have decided to give up what i have. And buy a plane ticket to alaska in mid feb. It has been my dream to see your beautiful state and to start a life there free of the corruption of. Busy life. Where should i fly in to and which place would accept. A backpacker. Is there places to camp where i would not be bothered or be intruding on someones property. I will have my gear with me and a few hundred dollars..plz. help me. Journey to the north. Any ides would be more than appreciated

Alaska is not a "dream" nor is it is geographic solution to the problems of "corruption." Alaska is a real place occupied by real people living lives of various degrees of ordinariness. For all that Alaska is the "last frontier" and is full of rugged wilderness, this is modern times and every inch of the state is owned by someone - state, fed, private, corporate, tribe. In February in Alaska someone with a couple hundred bucks and some gear is not a "backpacker," they are homeless.

If you're dead set on doing the lonely wanderer thing, there are places in the US where the climate is less deadly, your cash will go farther, and there are more services for the itinerant, plus you'd have the money you'd have spent on the plane ticket. If you're dead set on Alaska, wait for the thaw, get yourself one of the fifty zillion summer jobs, many of which are in lovely places off the beaten trail, and use that as an opportunity to make connections and learn about the ways of living here.

I am sorry this is not romantic.

[tkx7]

you can only get so rural before you would be in serious trouble if you got injured or needed help in any way. Like someone else mentioned, why not just go to Montanta, Maine, Arizona, etc- if you want to be in the middle of nowhere yet still have a chance to survive on your own in an emergency

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Alaska is not a "dream" nor is it is geographic solution to the problems of "corruption." Alaska is a real place occupied by real people living lives of various degrees of ordinariness. For all that Alaska is the "last frontier" and is full of rugged wilderness, this is modern times and every inch of the state is owned by someone - state, fed, private, corporate, tribe. In February in Alaska someone with a couple hundred bucks and some gear is not a "backpacker," they are homeless.

If you're dead set on doing the lonely wanderer thing, there are places in the US where the climate is less deadly, your cash will go farther, and there are more services for the itinerant, plus you'd have the money you'd have spent on the plane ticket. If you're dead set on Alaska, wait for the thaw, get yourself one of the fifty zillion summer jobs, many of which are in lovely places off the beaten trail, and use that as an opportunity to make connections and learn about the ways of living here.

I am sorry this is not romantic.

And you, sir, get the award of the best post of the day!

[ysr_racer]

Originally Posted by driftwood8

Thanks. But those people would still be alive if they kept moving and had gear

It worked out well for Timothy Treadwell. I say go for it.

[Rance]

Originally Posted by driftwood8

Thanks. But those people would still be alive if they kept moving and had gear

You are not from around here are ya!

[richelles]

What Alaska needs to do is get a large Federal Grant, open a large insane asylum for this kind of problem, find some psychiatrists who wish to research death wishes, and then have signs made up to distribute to every library and movie house in America that tell this kind of loonie where to go to in Alaska to be part of the research study.

At the University of Tennessee in Knoxville they have a study, which is well funded, that is somewhat similar to this. You can leave your body to the University and they have a fenced in plot of ground where they put the body and students watch it as it disinigrates and they write up the various parameters to get their advanced degrees. Law enforcement, in particular, use the results of the studies to determine cause of death, how long a body has been in a given type of location, and what types of critters show up to eat the body.

At the least this type of research would make good use of such loonies and perhaps the cause of the affliction could be determined. There would be no need for search and rescue trying to save someone like this from themselves and there would be some value to them after all the money that was expended to give them a free education which was wasted on such a loonie. I don't know if in your children's lifetimes if such a program would make a difference but at least you'd know there wasn't a bear out there who was well trained in eating humans waiting for his next meal to wander by.

[highlife2]

Watch the movie into the wild or read the book. I wonder if some of these posters have a death wish. Homeless people die up here regularly in the winter time.

[Rance]

True that. There has already been a couple just around Anchorage this winter. And it's been like the warmest winter ever!