I'm escaping for a while in about a month. I thought there was a outdoors/nature section to these forums but I guess I'm just burnt and imagined it so I thought I'd post it here because a bunch of people scan this section... Anyway on to the point, I live in Long Island, have been living in the daily grind to survive since I graduated high school in 2006 and I've had enough. I'm done talking about what I want to do or where I will end up. I work as a chef as of right now for a living and we're probably closing up shop in about a month because of the weather (we're a seasonal restasurant). I don't have much saved up because I have a shit load of bills to pay, and I don't get paid too richly ya know. But I want to take about 200 bucks and a bunch of peanut snacks and cheap carb stuff to live in the mountains for about 2 weeks to a month, until I've gained mental clarity again. I'm not a noob to the outdoors, and I'm not in bad shape either. (23, 6'0" 190) and I don't need much to be content. I just want to sleep in a cheap tent get high and live in nature for a while by myself (I'm leaving my girlfriend and dog, I love them with everything I have but I need to be alone and they totally understand). BUT BASICALLY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ALL OF THAT: I just need some simple advice to what I'd need to bring for a month long hiatus in the outdoors, and I don't need much, and I'd have 200$. (besides a tent and a sleeping bag) for anybody that helps, thanks strictly good vibes your way all day
that sounds awesome man def bring a knife and some tactical survival gear. get a nice tent though man.....after a month you will probably not regret it... also maybe youll want some sort of grill or heat pad type deal but it depends on how light you're going
Honestly, I would take your dog along. Thats just me though. Plus thats extra money out of your pocket. Anyway, exactly how far out are you wanting to go? Are you willing to forage for food, or are you going to bring some? I guess the best question is are you going 'man vs. wild', or occasional camper?
somewhere in between, and the more I'm sitting with my daughter (my dog) I'm thinking I might bring her too, just a big bag of dog food to bring. I want to go upstate in the appalachians, I don't want to be in a populated caping site for yuppies, I kind of just want to be by myself, and I'm bringing a good amount of snacks to eat, I just want enough to give me energy to live throughout the day, ya know, so mostly peanuts and raisins, trail mix basically. So I have a month on where to figure out where to park my car and walk and not return for at least a month.
I'm going to wal-mart tomorrow, my friend got some REALLY nice tents for the low when they went to bonaroo from there, so a 2-4 person tent i think is only 30-50 bucks. EDIT: whichever mod put my post in this section thanks!!! I guess I'm not as burnt as I thought I was... or am I?
Why not take them both? You get to spend a lot of time with your daughter, and you will probably learn things from her. How old is she?
my girly just got herself a job after a little hiatus, she knows I need it, she's my everything, it's not about getting away from her, and my pups about a year, pit terrier...
Just get a big ass bag of rice to take with you for food. Also dry oats would be good and ramen noodles for like a fancy meal. Be sure to think about how you're going to store your food if there are bears or raccoons around get a bear vault. You'll want a fork and a few knives, one for small tasks and one for splitting wood and bushwacking. First aid will be really important too, so grab some bandages, gauze, neosporin, burn cream etc. Get some fire starters and some sort of emergency fire starter like a flint. Don't forget cookware and bring about twice as much toilet paper as you normally use because you'll be burning more calories, which will accelerate your metabolism, therefore making you shit a lot more. And most important is some way of purifying water to drink. This is all I can think of. Good luck man I hope it helps
awesome man exactly the type of responses I need I love this forum lol I was thinking of either getting purifying tabs for the water or just boiling it
Actually the opposite is true for me when I'm backpacking. I can't carry enough food to replace the calories I burn and it's not unusual for me to go days at a time between bowel movements. But it sounds like the OP will be camping more than backpacking.
Tabs are good, pumps are also nice but if your strapped on cash then forget it. I've never done a two week - 1 month thing like you plan on. The most was 3 days or so. I wish you luck and an amazing, life changing trip. I suggest hiking the area you plan on going one day just to see what it will be like, where water sources are, etc... Once again man, Enjoy yourself.
i was thinking about doing the same thing pretty soon, but heres my plan (early stages): hike appalachian trail, send supplies via USPS to post offices along where im going (easier if you have someone to send u stuff), take backpack with: tent/knife/saw/cordage/sleeping bag/fire tool thats it for basics, then bring stuff u'd enjoy, for me: salt/pepper/hotsauce/slingshot+ammo for small game to eat/trap making book for studying and practical application/trap materials i guess. Was also thinking about a solar charger for a flashlight and ipod that i could mount on my backpack. maybe even mount flashlights on the backpack for some night hiking. i guess a headlamp would suffice, but eff that. Really want to do this myself but i think i'd get bored over a month, can anyone give suggestions on boredom relief in the outdoors? w/o getting high and relaxing, lol.
Lets see-you could threaten some major government official and spend the time evading an FBI manhunt? That always makes camping more challenging
Bring your pup! She won't talk and bother you but will provide some companionship. She would probably enjoy it too.
yeah I decided she's going to come. And I'm planning on doing both hiking and camping, I wasn't planning on staying in the same spot for a month, definitely not.
I have a lot of long distance backpacking experience. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail when I was 19 years old (which was quite a few years ago - 2.155 miles that year). I've hiked it in sections many times before and since. I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I probably have as much experience as anyone else you'll ever meet. I've also cross country skied the Long Trail (around 275 miles, took me 9 days but I was layed up for a half day twice during the trip because of the weather) in the dead of winter, done week long trips to the Badlands to freeclimb rock spires, gone trekking in Patagonia, and many places throughout the Yucatan and Caribbean, and thru-hiked the Florida Trail back to back - 1400 miles south to north, then I turned around and did 1400 miles north to south, 2800 hundred miles in 112 days. etc. The way to relieve boredom is to keep moving. Camping is boring, backpacking isn't. Books are heavy but it's nice to carry a good paperback and trade back and forth with other hikers you meet. If you have any specific questions or even general ones, PM me or post here and I'll help if I can. Being able to live off what you can carry, comfortably, out of the home on your back, is an amazing thing. Once you get married, have kids, a proper job,... it's not so easy.
That sounds awesome man, and yeah me and my girl don't believe in marriage and we both don't want kids for a long time lol. But yeah Basically I just wanted some suggestions on how much and what kind of food/supplies to bring for 2 weeks-month. I'm taking the train from the city to the Pawling stop right on the trail. and I'm just gunna go south from there. i'm bringing a tent and a hiking backpack and my pup, most likely going to send some extra stuff to a post office along the trail.
This sounds awesome man. I've been thinking about doing the same thing, but more along the lines of getting lost in the woods with a few buddies for a weekend.
Definitely a good idea, but in my case, I need to be alone, or just one with nature, get out of this horrible liberal grind for money to pay taxes for a state in debt that I don't even love to live in. apparently the weather is killing business so I'm out of a job, I'm moving my trip to next weekend, because the train to the Pawling stop only runs on the weekends, and I need this weekend to prep, get ready. I'm going to be taking pictures and posting them here eventually when i get back, in the mean time, any more advice on what kind of rations to bring and where to stop off on the new york trail would be awesome.