Some people carry simple living a bit too far

[oldhat]

Fascinating article (http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201409/the-last-true-hermit) about the "North Pond Hermit," a guy who managed to live for over 25 years (in a tent!) is the woods of northern Maine.

[catherine]

I read that entire story the other day--it popped up in my FB feed. It was fascinating. Wow, the lengths he went to to disconnect from society. It reminded me of Into the Wild, but Chris McCandless was as sociable as Bill Clinton compared to this guy.

[awakenedsoul]

oldhat, Yes, it was fascinating. Kind of sad, too. It's amazing that he was able to stay alive and survive the cold...

[Gardenarian]

Mixed feelings - we had a similar situation in our town, though the 'hermit' in our case would get drunk and roam the street yelling and stuff.
Jail seems a bit bizarre in this situation.

[pony mom]

I read the whole thing and glimpsed at a few comments. In the first one, the writer mentioned that he visited the camp, which was near his home, and the place was just a filthy mess. Twenty six years of garbage everywhere, above and below the ground.

I think I'd be a bit more sympathetic if he treated the environment with respect. If he stole stuff and created garbage, how difficult would it be to steal some garbage bags, collect all the stuff, and drop it in a dumpster somewhere?

[ToomuchStuff]

Reminds me of that WWII Japanese soldier that came in after finding out the war was over, in 72. Kind of crossed with some of the symptoms of Asphergers and Ted's non violent antisocial tendancy's.
In a weird way, I see a need for people like this, as volunteers for life on Mars. Resourceful and used to being by themselves for long periods of time.

[JaneV2.0]

There was a guy in Portland who lived in the vast Forest Park there with his young daughter. He home-schooled her with books from Powell's free bin. Attempts were made to house and domesticate them, but they apparently failed. I'd love to know what happened to them.

[Packy]

Reminds me of that WWII Japanese soldier that came in after finding out the war was over, in 72. Kind of crossed with some of the symptoms of Asphergers and Ted's non violent antisocial tendancy's.
In a weird way, I see a need for people like this, as volunteers for life on Mars. Resourceful and used to being by themselves for long periods of time. I hereby volunteer for Mars Duty. No Pizza or Chikkin' or Egg Checkers up there, no Harleys, No stoopid TeeVee Propaganda, no insufferable bragging by people sitting on an airplane for hours and hours to go "abroad", no drive-up restaurants, no clamoring for "civil rights". I will miss this forum, though; I sure will.

[Gregg]

There was a guy in Portland who lived in the vast Forest Park there with his young daughter. He home-schooled her with books from Powell's free bin. Attempts were made to house and domesticate them, but they apparently failed. I'd love to know what happened to them.

I remember that story. It was kind of sad, but also cool because the guy was apparently a great dad to his daughter (well educated, healthy, well fed, no abuse, etc.). Hard to believe that was 10 years ago.

[Spartana]

I once knew a guy who lived in a tent on a glacier in Alaska during the summers just so he could ice-climb everyday. He had a job at a remote lodge part time but otherwise lived in the tent. Pretty basic subsistence level too. Since my particular version of simple living is easy living, anything like that (or really any kind of subsistence lifestyle) would not be "simple" to me. Heck, if I had my way I'd live in a hotel and eat all my meals out so that I could spend all my free time playing and doing things that were important to me instead of drudge work - even if "playing" meant I was outdoors living in a tent on a glacier roughing it for several months a year. There is a difference between temporary adventure and permanent drudgery - unless one likes doing that stuff of course (I don't). But I do find people like that very interesting and enjoy reading about them.

[JaneV2.0]

In some parallel universe, I live in a hotel. I'm the indoor type.

[Spartana]

In some parallel universe, I live in a hotel. I'm the indoor type.I'm the outdoor type but knowing you'll have a nice warm/cool place to return to at the end of the day that's been cleaned by someone else and that you don't have to do any work on (house maintenance and repairs - the bane of my life - UGH!) just makes getting wet, cold, dirty, and stinky while out playing that much nicer :-). I've been motel living the last few weeks and if it wasn't so darn expensive (even at budget places like Motel 6 - where the Bedbugs leave the lights on for you) I'd move into one permanently! Now if I could just think of a cheap way to get someone to do my laundry I'd be in heaven :-)!