# An old fantasy of mine...



## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

...no, not that one. :lol: 

It always pops into my head this time of year. It's a drag to come back to town after spending some quality time on the mountain, and I imagine one of these times just not coming back. I'm not talking about living in one of these modern "cabins". My fantasy is about doing it mountain man style.

Did you ever think maybe you were born 150 years too late?

The fantasy is easy and I can hang out in it for hours. But in this day and age, is it really possible to live like the mountain men did? Seems the only folks I've ever heard about who've tried it came to a bad end, usually after a run in with the law. But if someone was able to actually pull it off, well, we wouldn't hear about them, would we?

Sure, there might be a period of withdrawal from city addictions. I have to confess that I like hot running water on demand and clean sheets. And no doubt about it, it's nice on a cold winter's night to be able to just turn up the dial if I get cold. But I'm pretty sure I could get by without those things, especially given the trade off.

Of course, the reality of the experience isn't as romantic as it seems. Some of the conveniences of modern living are important, or at least seem to be. I'm sure there are some serious negatives in living in the wilds. Most certainly, mountain men knew what it was like to go hungry from time to time, and you could forget about having a varied diet. There's medical issues, too, to say nothing of the life-threatening conditions of living like that. But you know, it isn't exactly safe driving to work in the morning, either.

One thing's sure - living like a mountain man would definitely show you what you were made of. I think that's why making that choice remains a fantasy for me. I'm not sure I really want to be tested - not like that, anyway. And if it turned out that I couldn't cut it, then what would I have to fantasize about?

How about you? You ever have a similar fantasy? If you didn't have the draw of loved ones and if you could get away with it, would you be willing to live the life of a mountain man?


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## truemule (Sep 12, 2007)

I have this same fantasy. I dream of leaving the truck where I park it and just heading North so to speak. I dream of this often, I tell my wife at least once a week that I was born 200 years to late. I do love some of the modern conveniences you have mentioned especially the hot water and shower. If it were not for the pull of my wife and kids I think i would try to test this one summer.


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## ScottyP (Sep 12, 2007)

I have this same fantasy. From the time I was maybe 13 years old and started reading alot about native americans, mountain men, cavalry, and the taming of the frontier it is never far from my mind. When I was 15 I thought real hard about taking my pack and my rifle and running away to the mountains to see how long I could last up there. I'm glad I never did at that age as I was pretty naive about the true dangers of the backcountry, but it is still a recurring dream of mine to go rough it somewhere for a couple months. Wife, kids, and career stand firmly in the way but the daydreams remain. I too feel like maybe I was born about 180 years later than I was meant to. I just have to settle for good books, solitary fishing trips and hikes, and my vivid imagination to get through life in this crazy modern world. My son is 9 years old and just finished reading 'Hatchet', so I had better keep a close eye on him ;0)


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Ever see "Last of the Dog Men"?
All you need to do is find those mountains and ride in!


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

I have had that fantasy since I was probably in the 4th grade! Now, 15 years later I still feel the same way!


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Grandpa D said:


> Ever see "Last of the Dog Men"?
> All you need to do is find those mountains and ride in!


LOVE THAT MOVIE!!! I am like the rest of you and think about this all the time. In fact, my father in law (deceased) used to take an end to end trip to the Uintas with the scouts every summer... he used to tell his son Andy and my exwife Liz that if he got old enough where Alzheimers kicked in or he just got to be a burden, they were to take him up into the Uintas to a trailhead and turn him loose.... he'd rather die up in the mountains he loved as opposed to laying in some bed in a sterile, bland nursing home slowing wasting away. Sadly, a heart attack claimed him in his bed a year ago in April.


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## Nibble Nuts (Sep 12, 2007)

Every day I feel that I was born a hundred or two years too late. Not a day goes by where I don't wish I could leave the city behind and live among nature. I tell you, my senior year in college is eating away my spirit. I am wondering why I ever chose accounting as a major, and am now begining to realize that I may not survive the corporate world. If I hear one more word about "maximizing shareholder wealth" I am going to destroy something. I was not put onto this earth to make a rich man richer while I see the middle class wages not going near as far any more. We are not truely free and that is what I yearn to be. The last couple years in school has opened my eyes to just how not free our economy really is. Now I could go on and on till I'm blue in the face about about the federal reserve, the IMF, CFR, the UN, but it will just get me worked up. Every day I find myself dreaming of the lakes, streams, mountains and oceans. I want to be among them and live a more natural existence. I think of the old west, the outlaws, Billy the Kid, Jesse James and so on, and I wonder, what was it like? Would I have felt more free then, than I do now? Could that have been me? I pray that there will always be wilderness available to all, no private control, no federal government control, no corporate control, just savage wilderness. With every loss of wilderness, a part of me dies. My wife and daughter help me hang in there, but I feel I am out of my element. God bless the working class, the honest, brave and free. When I am with my fellow fishers and hunters, I at least like I am among kindred spirits. Sorry to go on and on, but the mountain man fantasy is with me everyday too.


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## chuckmiester (Sep 9, 2007)

my fantasy is to buy a shack in montana and spend my summers up there every year fly-fishing. not sure how the whole job/wife/kids thing is going to work but hey where theres a will theres a way.


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## Ironman (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm right there with you all on this one.
I wonder what folks 150-200 years from now will say about our day?


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

fatbass said:


> I know I could live like that! When I was about ten or eleven I read "My Side Of The Mountain" and knew I had to learn to be self sufficient in the woods. I read everything I could get my hands on about living without modern comforts and practiced those things every chance I got. Shelter and heat (or staying cool), water and food.
> When I was 16 years old, 2 of my friends and I were really into survival techniques and 'living off the land'. We used to hike up Rock Canyon to some meadows and make lean-to shelters out of pine boughs tied with weed stalks. We'd take only a pocket knife and a coat. The only exceptions were when we came across a tin can or other useable piece of trash we could use it. We all could start a fire with a shoestring bow, and we used to dam up the creek and drop water levels enough to catch trout by hand. We used to make deadfalls and catch potguts to eat. They're really not bad. One trip we beat a porcupine to death with sticks, then packed him in clay and roasted him in the fire. Supposedly when the clay cracked the animal was done. We ate that nasty,greasy critter and lied to each other about how good it was (we were really hungry!) and in the middle of the night we all got violently ill. -)O(- _/O We were all puking our guts out at the same time. I wish I had that on camera! Last porcupine I'll ever eat.


Dude! I totally did the same thing, well not the exact same things, but similar...I read that book and the sequel when I was about 10 or 11 as well...except I didn't eat a porcupine! lol :lol:


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## chuckmiester (Sep 9, 2007)

i was forced to do something similar this year. i went out on a fishing/hiking trip to a place i had never gone before and when i finally reached the lake i realized i was lost, my water gone and practically no food. of course i went alone and will never do that again. i got out of there two days later but had to survive in the meantime.

its amazing what your body will do when you kick it into survival mode. i found a freshwater spring caught some fish for food on a fire i started with a branch, rock and shoelace. i also found some wild berries  . that was refreshing.

but hey i made it out okay and wont go anywhere im not familiar with without a gps and most importantly a buddy.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Good thread Finn.....  

When I was 16 or 17 I felt I could see my future...I could 'see' my wife...what type of person she was to the build and personality.. Well..that one worked out for me very well !! Then I could see what I would do for a living and how many children I would have and that worked out well.  But i figured I would never make it beyond the age of 34 years...so I started making a plan....

I would take a couple of pack horses with a long gun and a six shooter, camp equipment, tent, food, ammo, etc. and head straight east, up and over the Rockys until I got to the Hill Creek area and live my remaining day's on elk, deer, bear and fish. Hide from all civilization...never to return but to die leaning against a tree with a rifle in my arms...

I went as far as to write out my list of things I needed, pricing horse's and saddles, pack equipment, etc. Even had a map on how to get there without crossing too many roads. I think crossing the Green was my worst problem !

The thought's of dying at the age of 34 went away when I did get married and had children...I'm glad they did..... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: 

I'd still rather die with a rifle in my arms, leaning against a tree, than in a nursing home or in my own bed....btw...this was way before Jeremiah Johnson hit the screen.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

I keep telling my wife that I am going to die in my mid 60's and they will find me floating down stream in some river.


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## Aldeez (Sep 10, 2007)

I have the same dream of leaving the city behind and roughing it in the mountains. Me and cousin would also plan out how we'd do it and what we would need when we were 12 and 14 years old respectively. I still go through our whole plan everyday at work, that and the basketball hoop outside, is the only thing that gets me through the week. I still hope I can live out the dream even if it is only for a summer.


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

.45 said:


> I'd still rather die with a rifle in my arms, leaning against a tree, than in a nursing home or in my own bed....btw...this was way before Jeremiah Johnson hit the screen.


I once said something very similar at a family get together and my mother wigged out. She really got in my face..."What a selfish thing to wish for. And here we'd all be, wondering what happened to you and where you were, without even knowing if you were dead or alive."

Without missing a beat, my little nephew tossed in a quote from another popular movie, "Why don't he write?"

Mom didn't think it was funny. :lol:


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

fatbass said:


> orvis1 said:
> 
> 
> > I keep telling my wife that I am going to die in my mid 60's and they will find me floating down stream in some river.
> ...


The sad thing is I am worth more dead than alive.


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## Wdycle (Sep 11, 2007)

Chuck.. That's a learning experience with a great ending!


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## waltny (Sep 8, 2007)

Nibble Nuts said:


> Every day I feel that I was born a hundred or two years too late. Not a day goes by where I don't wish I could leave the city behind and live among nature. I tell you, my senior year in college is eating away my spirit. I am wondering why I ever chose accounting as a major, and am now begining to realize that I may not survive the corporate world. If I hear one more word about "maximizing shareholder wealth" I am going to destroy something. I was not put onto this earth to make a rich man richer while I see the middle class wages not going near as far any more. We are not truely free and that is what I yearn to be. The last couple years in school has opened my eyes to just how not free our economy really is. Now I could go on and on till I'm blue in the face about about the federal reserve, the IMF, CFR, the UN, but it will just get me worked up. Every day I find myself dreaming of the lakes, streams, mountains and oceans. I want to be among them and live a more natural existence. I think of the old west, the outlaws, Billy the Kid, Jesse James and so on, and I wonder, what was it like? Would I have felt more free then, than I do now? Could that have been me? I pray that there will always be wilderness available to all, no private control, no federal government control, no corporate control, just savage wilderness. With every loss of wilderness, a part of me dies. My wife and daughter help me hang in there, but I feel I am out of my element. God bless the working class, the honest, brave and free. When I am with my fellow fishers and hunters, I at least like I am among kindred spirits. Sorry to go on and on, but the mountain man fantasy is with me everyday too.


Hear, Hear!!


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## ScottyP (Sep 12, 2007)

My wife and I just saw the movie 'Into the Wild'. I highly recommend anyone who fantasizes about living in the wild go see this movie.


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## huntducksordietrying (Sep 21, 2007)

I didnt read all the post so if someone said this, sorry. I always tell my wife that one of these days Im gonna get "lost" in the mountains on a deer hunt. When search and rescue finds me, they will find a deer hangin from a tree. Right next to it a rope made from grass with my wet camo hangin from it. Between them will be a half built cabin. A smoldering fire from the night before. You can be sure that Ill be takin a snooze, stark ass neked, in a little bed of grass and leaves. And when they find me like that they can come back in a couple months when it gets cold.


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## Jigz (Sep 30, 2007)

After I read My Side of the Mountain i resolved to one day go live in the mountains. It sounded easy enough; find a huge tree to hollow out and live in, catch a baby falcon and teach it to hunt rabbits. Make fishing hooks out of twigs and live like a king. 
After living for 2 weeks on a survival trip to the uintas with only 1/2 a gallon of water, a pocket knife and 3 granola bars i learned that it isnt that easy. 
But it was fun. And one of the best experiences of my life.
When i retire i hope to purchase a small piece of land in montana near a good trout stream. Buy a cow or 2, a dozen chickens or so, a pig, and just LIVE!


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## Deuce (Oct 18, 2007)

ScottyP said:


> My wife and I just saw the movie 'Into the Wild'. I highly recommend anyone who fantasizes about living in the wild go see this movie.


I had a friend give me a copy of it about a year ago and once I put it in I couldn't stop watching. My wife wandered into the room and gradually sat down and was enthralled. Awesome flick and I definitely say 'check it out.'

If my wife ever leaves me... that's what I'll do. Wander off into the mountains and live on fish, squirl and moonshine!


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