In the West you have to carry way more shit because you can't rely on natural resources to improvise. For example, the only sleep pad you need in the East year-round is an ultralight closed cell cheapo pad, because you can just pile as many hemlock boughs underneath it as necessary for insulation and comfort. For shelter you can use a bivvy style tent and make a vestibule or other expanded living space from saplings and branches and bark. You can save tons of weight by just using a hammock tent. Dry firewood is absolutely everywhere and you don't need a stove. You don't need trekking poles because you can just make a walking stick. A folding saw and a sturdy fixed blade combined with some skill can replace almost half the shit people carry. Very hard to pull that off when you're in a place with very few trees that are all weak softwood and where touching them is banned. Lots of conventional backpacking gear and strategies considered basic and critical by others I just don't give a shit about because I've always just relied on bushcraft instead and see no reason to change. I don't even own a single inflatable sleep pad or fuel burning stove anymore, I would never carry such a thing.

Beautiful mature forests, extremely low tourist density, great wildlife populations, no parking fees, no rangers breathing down my neck, no posted signs, this is easily my favorite wilderness area in the USA and I've seen nearly all of them. The mosquitoes are also not quite as bad as the rest of the northeast for some reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqG5TL84peM
that's a link for a short for something called "The Immortal Cheeseburger"
basically, the youtuber that made the short ordered a cheeseburger from McDonald's, froze it in resin, and put in in a sorta time capsule with other items and buried it in a forest
let's do some trolling on this youtuber by tracking down the forest he buried it in, and digging up the time capsule

Just got back from Mammoth in California. This was the view from the log cabin we were staying in. Thoughts? Opinions? Emotions?

previous thread: >>2765467

Why did conservation as an ideology cease to exist?

Lost with career and work.
I had a job I loved for 7 years, thought I would do it for the rest of my life. Then in about 3 months I lost interest in the work.
It was work that freed me to connect with the outdoors. I was always living in little town on the edge of a vast national forrest or national park.
Today I live in big city suburbia. Fucking terrible that I need to drive minimum 2 hours to get into some quiet space, even then the light popultion is still clearly visible, as a result I don't make it out.
The work I do here pays great but I fear I am paying for it with my soul.
Maybe the work I do is not the problem but my location.
I have the money to quit and go back to the edge of the national forrest or national park.
My family would be a little disappointed... but I have real difficultly understanding this life on the edge of a big city.

“In A Dark Time, The Eye Begins To See” – Roethke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVezZhj7sC0

I'm going to be homeless and jobless for at least the next summer and maybe autumn and I want to use this "opportunity" to try and spend that time outdoors in the woods. The plan is to only have to go to a store once a week or less to stock up on food.
Now for the real question: powerbanks are heavy and I would need at least 2-3 to last a week or more + recharging them would take a long time. How are solar rechargeable battery banks? I would be out 24/7 and in Finland meaning the sun sets after way past midnight and rises really early on. Would a normal sized bank recharge at least half way in a single day? If so, any recommendations for brands.

Also, homeless thread I guess.

Aw shit I just found the Washington hack didn't I? They got a secret corner next to the ocean with no rain(relative)??