[pct-l] Living off the land

[RJ Lewis]

Living off the land is not impossible, but one must have the knowledge, 
tools and skills to do so. In a typical thru hike, that just isn't going 
to happen.  Most folks these days just don't have the skills and 
know-how to do so.  That's NOT to say thru hikers aren't unintelligent, 
far from it. It just takes a different set of skills to live off the 
land, ones most modern folks aren't accustomed to using.
 RJ

Eric Lee (GAMES) wrote:
> Raymond wrote:
>   
> Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever attempted to hike the pct while living off the land around you. ( fishing foraging,etc)
>   
>
> I seem to recall one woman a few years ago who claimed to have done a large section of the trail that way, but there were quite a few people who doubted her story, too.  I have no idea whether it was true or not.
>
> Gathering food in the wild by yourself is a *lot* of work, assuming there's even any food to be gathered.  There aren't many easy natural food sources to be found on the PCT.  From a calorie standpoint, it would be a rare and lucky day if you even manage to break even, which doesn't leave anything for actually traveling.  There are few people today who would have the skill to live off the land even if they got to pick an optimal location and stay there, and fewer still who could do significant traveling at the same time.
>
> Is it impossible?  Maybe not, but I think the odds of doing it for any serious length of time are very small.  If you head out with 30 extra pounds of fat on your body then, yeah, you can survive for quite awhile before you keel over, but that's not the same thing as sustainably living off the land.
>
> Eric
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