Hey Reddit, Is there anywhere in the U.S. where I can just build a cabin and live there without anyone bothering me?

tsoldrin · 1 year

Most places that you could squat unnoticed these days will have harsh winters. Harsh as in deadly, especially if "No supplies, just my axe" is your plan. I'm in Southern Oregon, which is much milder than the out of the way places most people are suggesting and there would be a high likelihood of someone dying from the cold during the winter here without a decent dwelling and a wood stove at the very least.

You might want to instead look for cheap land with no house on it in an out of the way place. Hopefully surrounded by state or federal (BLM) land. This is basically where I live, though I have an electric and phone hookup - some other properties nearby don't and are barred from getting them. Also, maybe a mining claim near water that you could live on(try google and ebay). The cheapest acreage will probably be in a place where you can't get any utility hookups, but you don't want that anyway so that would work in your favor. Start with a tent or a yurt and work up to a cabin. Firewood should be a high priority, right after a water source and food.

Alternately, since it's still summer, you could plot out a route through the state forest of your choice and travel through it packing your own tent on your back and stay whatever the legal limit is then move on to a new campsite every week or two. After a while of this, you'll probably have a better idea of what's involved going whole hog into the wilderness for a semi-permanent period of time.

I think it's late this year to be doing such a thing btw - you should have already started stocking food and wood and wildcrafting by now for winter.

Oh yeah... location... Oregon - away from the cities, which is where most people live. The other parts are relatively empty.

cunnl01 · 1 year

Almost 90% of Alaska's land has never had an American step foot on it according to their travel reps. The land is ripe with resources and there is pretty much no law enforcement for miles at a time. "Squatting" in a cabin you made from the trees on site would go unnoticed while you live a reclusive lifestyle. Plenty of fuel available through timber and fishing/hunting is easy.

The real cost is the misc supplies needed to finish the cabin (nails, windows, roof) but a resourceful man can make it work.

aenehzodaee · 1 year

Thoreau lived on the outskirts of town, not complete wilderness. He sought to find a perfect balance between civilization and nature.

bieberpet · 1 year

alone in the wilderness

nathanaz · 1 year

you can do this in about 98% of Alaska.

its not "legal" per se, but there won't be anyone there to bug you.

axon_axoff · 1 year

Nice try, Ted Kaczynski

I_luvtheCIA · 1 year

How would you get building supplies to a site so isolated? You're talking about wilderness areas where there are no roads. This sounds like a very bad idea.

Nomadtheodd · 1 year

How bold are you?

Adverse possession is one answer. You move in, build a house, and if they don't kick you out in x amount of time, you can legally claim the land! Yes, it's kind of a dick move, but the idea is that if they don't notice you in so many years, they weren't using it anyhow, so it goes to someone who will. One way you might get caught is in both montana and idaho (the suggested locations), you have to pay the taxes, which might draw some attention.

EkoostikAdam · 1 year

In the Upper peninsula of Michigan you could get a plot of land by a lake SUPER cheap and live there. Winters are harsh though.

asnark · 1 year

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Into the Wild.

Long story short, guys goes to live alone in Alaska, guy dies.

DrunkMoses · 1 year

Sure, you can probably use Ted Kaczynski's old cabin as I don't believe he needs it much anymore.

NonstopWindex · 1 year

I've been looking for such a place too, care if I build one next door?

Pooh_Bear · 1 year

You don't need to go to Alaska. There are plenty of areas in the west where you can live and where no one will ever bother you. I actually have a friend who did this here in Utah. He built a small cabin at some random spot up in the mountains and stayed up there during the summertime. I think it's fairly common for people to live in the wilderness during the summer months, but surviving the winter is much more difficult.

jp007 · 1 year

New Freeland

msingerman · 1 year

May I recommend Somalia? Very little government interference in your daily life there.

[deleted] · 1 year

http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/landsale/

There are still forms of homesteading in Alaska. Go have a fucking blast. But I kid, you will die out there unless you actually have hardcore outdoor experience.

Edit: Reading your replies, I don't think you have any idea what it would take to survive alone anywhere. You are talking about this nonchalantly, not nearly worried enough which tells me you don't know how to do it. Surviving in southern Alaska is barely any different from the northern continental states like Idaho and the Dakotas. The winter is a little longer, but the summers are way more plentiful for food. Sure the animals are bigger, but a 200 lb bear is pretty much just as dangerous as a 600 lb bear. So my advice to you is stop trying to live out your college Thoreau fantasy and find a job you like.

[deleted] · 1 year

Cross into canada and build there

war_on_christmas · 1 year

You could try living somewhere in Northeast Alabama/ Northwest Georgia. There are lots of very sparsely populated areas for you to get your lonesome on and at the worst you would only be maybe 45 mins away from some civilization. The weather isn't bad. I am from the area and there are a few people who live in the mountains with no electricity. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

rgraham888 · 1 year

[deleted]

jus2kwik · 1 year

I'm guessing there would be places in Montana or Idaho where this would be possible. Some parts are remote enought that you could probably go quite awhile without seeing another human.

cbellanger · 1 year

Find an eccentric, libertarian land owner who will let you build in some remote corner of his property?

LongHyzer · 1 year

Yes, but most of these places are infested with bigfoots.

bluescholars · 1 year

Northern michigan

JimmyDThing · 1 year

I think you're delusional. I give you 2 months. Where do you plan on getting food? Especially in the winter months. Unless you plan on figuring out how to make an awesome bow and arrows, then I don't really know how you plan on hunting. You're not going to survive on vegetation alone, you'll die.

nontoxyc · 1 year

Tahoe National Forest in Placer County, California, my friends and I just drove 30 miles out Mosquito Ridge Road and saw only 3 houses the whole way... Northern California, the elevation is about 3000-4000 feet but you would get 10-20' of snow during winter.

PsyanideInk · 1 year

South-East Georgia, if you have balls. On the fringe of the Okefenokee Swamp there are huge swatches of land that have less than 1 person per square mile. Not to mention it is some of the most beautiful, atmospheric land on the east coast. Same goes for the South Carolina Low Country, though it isn't quite as sparsely populated.

You will have to deal with a wide variety of snakes, insects, and possibly gators.

greyhawke · 1 year

Try the Puna side of the big island of Hawaii.

[deleted] · 1 year

there is no escape

mzr · 1 year

A long time ago I was reading about people who build portable houses. This isn't mobile home type housing, they're normal construction houses built on bus or truck chassis. The author would travel around to various sites and set up his homestead. He had setup deals with the landowners for free rent in exchange for watching and/or keeping up the land. Might want to try to do something like that.

xx-_-xx · 1 year

Northwestern Maine, literally nobody lives there

Euripides33 · 1 year

Take your pick, although I bet most of the sparsley populated areas have pretty bad climates. Wyoming and Montana are damn cold, and Nevada is a desert.

RosieMuffysticks · 1 year

Southeast Alaska.

There is a tiny ghost town called Hyder. I lived there for nearly 2 years when I was a kid. The nearest town is Stewart, BC.

PM me for more information.

wierdaaron · 1 year

Keep in mind it's very hard to build wifi routers out of rocks and leaves. Not saying you can't do it, just saying it's a whole thing.

slipkid · 1 year

No rangers, eh?

libertyordeath23's packing list:

Chloroform
Butcher's knife
Black garbage bags, extra large
Large Igloo cooler
Handcuffs, gags, and blindfolds
Lots of towels
Mop and bucket
Chlorine bleach
Shovel

punkazz189 · 1 year

If your looking for someplace warm, get yourself an airboat and build yourself something in the Everglades region of florida or the Louisiana bayou. Your going to have to build your cabin on stilts but those areas are pretty out of the way and even if someone finds you they will more than likely stay away from you. Watch out for swamp people!

[deleted] · 1 year

NY state has vast mountain ranges with no one for miles.

mekura · 1 year

I haven't any suggestions for a location, but I strongly recommend you read Dan O'Neill's A Land Gone Lonesome.

Monyshot · 1 year

Montana (Person per Square Mile: 6.22)

National Average: 79.6

Dodged · 1 year

Find out where Bill Watterson lives.

AnnArchist · 1 year

right here

If you move on to Swiss jackpines Rd you may be fine.

Warning. You will want to bring your woman with you. This far north there is significant inbreeding.

I can promise that I will visit you once per year, sometimes once during the summer too, but annually during deer season, as my friend owns a cabin near there.

I recommend her chili.

The reviews are accurate, but her sister sometimes works there during the deer season and she will sometimes close down the bar and feed us drinks until 4am and then go home n fuck the last man standing.

Beware, she has callouses on her hands and she told my friend shes banged well over 150 guys......the population of the town is about 10 people but hundreds of deer hunters come up during the winter for about 2 weeks.

There is 1 cop in that county and if he comes by, the neighbors will probably ride their 4 wheeler down to tell you, if you are outside... during the summer tho, we rarely see anyone up there on a weekday.

soparamens · 1 year

Why at the USA? you can have a nice, secure and far away palm cabin at Southern Mexico, i know a lot of gringos that live there, because it's paradise like, and very cheap if you cook your own food and wash your own clothes etc.. No electricity, cars and city noise, just some blue sky, blue sea and plenty of fresh fish for quarters. http://kea.nu/2uq

Punslayer · 1 year

I'd suggest Western Montana or Northern Cali.

Pizzadude · 1 year

Wyoming.

Well, all of the land is owned by the government or ranchers, and they are very protective, but other than that it fits.

I used to work at a camp up in the Big Horns. Google map "Burgess Junction, WY" and/or "Sibley Lake, WY." In the area just north of those two spots, there is (was?) an old guy who has lived up there for years. I think the rule is something like... you can't live in any one spot on Forest Service land for more than 14 days... or something like that. So he had 3-4 favorite spots, and would rotate between them every few weeks. I don't know if you would be allowed to build anything substantial.

You can definitely go a long, long time without running into anyone else up there if you go far enough away from the road. When I was up there, there were three lodges and my camp, which all shared a party phone line (different ring tones for each). I used to have to put on the snow shoes and gear pack to follow the line and repair it when it went out.

Bear Lodge has a small hotel, restaurant, and convenience store. The other lodge on the highway has a restaurant too, and Antelope Butte is my favorite place in the world to snowboard (they have two chair lifts now!). So there are a few places to get supplies. Winter is a bitch up there. There are also plenty of moose, bears, and mountain lions, so be smart.

If you ever go up there, check out the Medicine Wheel, Black Mountain Fire Lookout, Porcupine and Bucking Mule Falls, Paradise Valley, and the Tongue River Caves. If you hit the southern pass, between Buffalo and Ten Sleep, check out Cloud Peak and Bomber Mountain. There is a real WWII bomber still up there, if you can find it (I did!).

[deleted] · 1 year

Oh cool I want to do that too. We can be neighbors.

ariellecyan · 1 year

Actually there is a lot of land available still in Alaska (mostly in the interior,) where if you go live on it, and maintain it and build on it, you are technically allowed to gain ownership of it. Not sure on the exact details, but that's definitely something to investigate. However, even 10 minutes outside of my town (anchorage,) there is so much forest you could easily build a cabin and live undiscovered for a long time. I know people that have done this.

tridentloop · 1 year

google anderson, Alaska. They are giving away land there. and it is pretty much the middle of nowhere, but on the road system.

bobbothegrayson · 1 year

Head to west virginia. I know a guy out there who built a cabin after building himself a sawmill in a river on the top of a mountain. You have to take a 4 wheeler 3 miles to reach the place, with it already being out in the boonies to get to the 4 wheeling point. Its near Beckley.

Solia · 1 year

If you are serious about this, you need to make sure you do your research properly. Read actual survival manuals, and not hippy live-off the land literature. Survival in the conditions you are talking about is a 24/7 job and there is no relenting. For example, you need at least a couple cords of wood to survive a northern winter, (about half a tonne), which will take a couple months alone just to cut. You need food to last you through the winter, when you can't hunt or fish. Make sure you can kill and skin animals cleanly without contaminating the meat. Do you know which plants are toxic in the area? How to cleanse your system if you accidentally poison yourself? How to make sure you sruvive heat stroke? Small problems in the city and life and death in the backwoods. Do you have all your First Aid courses completed? etc.etc.etc.

My questions aren't just to be a downer, but from arise from personal experiences. And in case you're interested, Canada is a great country for disappearing in. Several hundred thousand immigrants do it every year. Just make sure you dress for the weather, and by weather, I mean -40C and a windchill dropping it down to -60C. A few years ago some idiot from the states decided to try this and was caught less than 40 miles from the border, almost dead of the cold because he only bought some cheap southern winter jacket. In the Summer, there are hordes of blackflies and mosquitoes, so once again, dress accordingly.

And if you do do this, kudos. That takes a lot of courage. It will take even more intelligence to survive.

Whalers_on_the_Moon · 1 year

I don't think anyone has suggested this yet, but New Mexico has a fair amount of undisturbed land as well. Areas in Catron, Otero, and Union counties are pretty desolate but not entirely free of tree lines.

I think this picture might sum up a little of what you're looking for.

fivre · 1 year

Given all the outright abandoned towns in North Dakota, there's probably space up there. Bit cold though.

wheeldog · 1 year

Having once lived in Alaska for four years I can assure you there are TONS of people who need caretakers for their properties, both in and out of the bush. My father has a homestead way out in the bush and employs someone to watch it every year. I'm just using him as an example, as he needs no caretakers in the next five years, but he would be ecstatic if you built a cabin and lived there year 'round.

r-ice · 1 year

canada?

therealjerrystaute · 1 year

Man, that's one tall order, not likely to be filled without some extreme measures. Basically, you'd have to try living a lot like Robert Redford in the film Jeremiah Johnson. Most of us born into the comforts of the 20th or 21st centuries aren't really up to that, except in case of Russian or Chinese military invasion (like the film Red Dawn), or being on a USA 'Most Wanted' poster-- and even in those cases, we probably wouldn't last long.

When I was young, I wanted to do the same exact thing, but like you had no money, but did have some outdoors skills/experience. I researched places in Idaho and Washington state, saved up some money to try buying a place, kept honing my survivalist skills so I could reduce my dependence upon civilization, etc., etc., etc. However, over time I also found that no matter how badly I wanted to be alone, that wasn't healthy for me (e.g., look what happened to Ted Kaczynski, aka the unabomber). And being alone will actually heighten loneliness, rather than help it. Being alone for long periods is so torturous that that's what they use for the ultimate punishment in places of ultimate punishment (maximum security prisons). I did try such stints-- repeatedly-- and found them not at all practical or desirable, for more than a few weeks at a time.

medved_preved · 1 year

Yes, Ted Kazinsky

Cerebusial · 1 year

The federal government owns most of the land in Alaska, like 60%. From Alaska DNR (scroll down to the land ownership link, sorry, it's a PDF). Not to mention that the state of Alaska also owns a sizable amount of property still, it appears from that paper cited to be like 20%. Also, adverse possession doesn't work against a government agency, which means it's nearly impossible to squat in Alaska.

Caedus_Vao · 1 year

If you're set on doing this, maybe I can sell you a certain bridge. In Brooklyn. The residul income should keep you in axes and jerky AT LEAST until the winter comes.

Shiiit, you'll even have enough left over for your familly to hire a search party and put on a nice funeral!!!!

-seriously, I strongly advise spending some time camping alone in a remote area that's still patrolled and inhabited. That way, you'll understand why societies support things like "medicine" and "hot water" with such enthusiasm.

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