Best place to become a hermit?

Hello. Through the years on the Wilderness Trapping page people will dream and question about moving to Alaska. I pondered it pretty heavily 15 years ago. The Alaska guys all mostly say it isn't cracked up to what people invision. The wilderness areas of Alaska, CO, NM, WY, MT seem to be chalked full of wanna be hippies, folks leaching off the govt., liberals, over priced land/houses/cost of living and in general maybe not what some us are dreaming of. I am not looking to move as I never will. It has got me thinking though of where are the best places to live that some of these younger dreamers long for? The requirements are: wildlife, affordable, few people, very few of the previously mentioned people, and ability to feel like one is out in the wilderness/sticks/prairie. I haven't traveled all over but what comes to mind to me is Western KS, Western NE, eastern MT, parts of the Dakotas, very select parts of the AR and MO Ozarks, and Eastern CO. Never been there but parts of ME and NY Adirondacks? Russia? What are your thoughts?

Drove through West Texas along the Canadian River last winter. I could live there. I also love the Sandhills in Western Nebraska. Anywhere with coyotes, bobcats and big ranches for me.

There are places in Idaho that fit the bill for what you want. Stanley basin and surrounding area, or whitebird/Lucile/Riggans.

Get someone with a bushplane to drop you off anywhere between Winisk and Fort Albany.

If you can handle hot summers... MS for sure. Lived here 4 years now and not had to meet a person I didn't wish to. When I lived in IL, I trapped a WMA in Iowa and felt like a frontierswoman because it was so desolate. Now I feel that same way every single day. It is heaven on earth, if you can handle the climate.

Looks like Maine could be a good place to start

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/north-pond-hermit-maine-knight-stranger-woods-finkel/

If you like the southwest desert theres some desolate places there. I was gonna buy some property not too far from moapa nevada and collect old junk before i met my wife and she set me straight.. I dont know why but the desert always cleared my mind.

out where Uncle Bulletbox lives there is a LOT of country that hasn't had a footprint on it for a long time if ever. You better be one tough hombre though if you move out that way and want to stay off of the radar.

there are still a few places in the u p of Michigan that a person could get away from people if they really wanted to but I found most want to build a road to there place an if you build a road they will come

Hermit in place. Just do not socialize, attend any functions, or shop in the community that you live in or answer your door. Become the Grouchy old guy that all of the neighbor kids made up stories about and were scared of when you were a kid.

Or...Do like I did and move into a small town and have a night job that is a commute.

We lived there 10 years and several people in town thought I was new in town when we moved away.
I liked it that way.

Illinois- everyone is leaving. You could probably find a house to squat in for a while if you wanted

If I had the ability to move I believe it would be to Wyoming or an area in Arkansas off the beaten path. Someday maybe.

Northwest Angle of MN. Kind of spendy, but road access through Canada or by water.

There are areas of North Eastern North Dakota that would foot the bill as long as you aren't partial to trees. Most of the towns are shriveled up like a weaned sows teats. Can drive many miles on the county roads before meeting another vehicle.

I am some what off the grid in the bogs of WI. The only drawback here is all the meth heads and crack addicts you have to contend with. The will steal anything.

WS

my house,don't let the dogs scare ya.

I knew you'd jump in pcr2. Way north Pa can be very remote. Lots of stuff to trap and hunt. I am too young to move there now but plan to when I get kicked out of the house. Wouldn't leave PA for almost anything.

Met a fellow in NM that drives 55 miles each way to take his child to meet a school bus in Winston.

I'll tell you a little story about when me and the boys visited Nebraska on Vacation. The boys were probably in about 3rd and 5th grade. We were headed to the Black Hills for vacation and me wanting to see the Sandhills of Nebraska we headed west on I-80 and then North at Cody. We were going to stay the night at a lake up by Valentine. As I'm kind of cheap and simple and it being just me and my boys we were just camping out of the stock trailer. Any way we turned off the Highway on to a single lane blacktop road in the middle of nowhere to get to the lake we were staying at. Now at this turn off there was an old post with the names of about six ranches and the miles to each one of them which me being a cowboy really peeked my interest.Now my boys had never seen a single lane blacktop rode, nor had I for that matter, and it took me a lot of talking to convince my boys we weren't headed down someone's driveway. We only saw two people in probably 20 or so miles of that road. One was a cowboy with a dog box on the back for coyote dogs and another was a rancher out in the hay field putting up hay. That rancher was on a tractor at least 300 hundred yards out in the field. He waved real big at us when we passed and he was so far away I stuck my arm out the window so he could see me and waved back. Now my youngest looked at me kind of strange asked "dad did you know him”? I answered no I didn't, so his next question was why did he wave at us then? I said son they are just happy to see another human being in these parts I guess. Told my boys I was moving up there when they were grown.

Went through KS years ago never seen a place that most of the time you could not see a yard light for miles going down the highway! LOL

That's an impossible question. You're asking where is the best place to live alone. Well, how can you answer that??? IF it was the best place to live all alone, then as soon as another hermit-to-be shows up, there goes the neighborhood! Its suddenly overcrowded.

I was in Alaska 7 yrs ago. Saw LOTS of places where someone came north to live the dream, then left a pile of crap and went back home.
I like the Sandhills of Nebraska just fine. I can find people if I need to talk to someone.

A lot of good places. Wylee came up with the term I was looking for=desolate. I believe many of the traditionally desolate places that people sought (AK, CO,MT) now have one or more of the following: high cost of living, liberals, druggies, and/or high real estate. I have never been through the Sandhills but that was my main choice from talking to people that lived there.

Almost any city has abandoned areas that would suit a hermits purpose, if you get a hundred yards of the track most people will never know you're there. Ideally you should pick a climate where you can be comfortable without creating wood smoke, which will not only signal your presence but will attract curiosity.
Hermiting does not require remote places, it just requires remote relations with people. You can do what Horn suggested.

He is a theif.Not what I would consider self reliant by any stretch.

Wyoming for sure

He should sign up for the Mars Mission.

Simple for me. Somewhere on the banks of the Tombigbee in LA works for me.

That's lower alabama, btw.

You don't have to live in a big wilderness area to be a hermit. Hermit is more about your lifestyle than where you live.

Bryce

Yep. I've lived in this small town of 1000 or so for almost 27 years... The last 14 in my little house. After I graduated high school, went to work, had kids, etc... I fell out of contact with most of the town folk I knew. It just happens.

When I tell people where I'm from someone will invariably say, "Oh, well, you know so-and-so."

Nope. Never met them.

I gave up the folly of youth, drama, and never did run around and party much. You learn to disappear in a crowd that way.

Hermitage is a state of mind. Lol

Mike

There are still some places in Mn that one could (hermitage). A few of those hippies/back to nature types actually
made a go of it,and became successful with it. Perseverance,I would say is the motivating factor.

My fur shed in the winter time, can't find a darn soul no where near it.

yes he was he broke into our families camp and many others to survive albeit it takes a strong tough individual to do the duration he did but he still stole many many thing to get through

why do you need to steal to become a hermit? or trespass? could be a hermit anyplace rural. if you don't have any utilities, or insurance or a cell phone, have a place for a garden and a few goats, you wont need much money. trap a little, dig a few wild roots, be rude to anyone who comes around so they stay away.

knew one when I was a kid in Colorado. walked 7 miles one way to the post office every week or so to get mail. sometimes bought something at the store the post office was in. was living at an old mine. the owners let him live there and paid him a few bucks to keep trespassers run off.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr....TRS0&_nkw=mining+claim&_sacat=0

if you want to be a hermit here is one way to do it

There are a lot of places I have never seen, but I can't think of anywhere in the L48 that I would consider desolate except for the big cities. "Desolate" to me. is a state of mind.

Where I first homesteaded in AK there were no liberals, druggies, or high priced real estate. It hasn't changed in those regards. The big problem a would-be hermit would encounter is, there is no land available to buy.

I think TRAPR is onto something when he mentions Riggins or Whitebird, ID. Stanley basin is beautiful but pretty overrun with touristas in the summer

You have mentioned Co in a couple of your posta, and that would be absolutly the last place I'd want to go! Can't trap, the weed growers would be under your feet all the time! Nice remote areas, but the laws there are straight out of commiefornia! There are remote places there too!

ya'll gotta get on the crazy train i tell ya.randomly shoot guns and talk to yourself,watch people goin by with bino's and and take off runnin as fast as you can away from the house if someone pulls in screamin rape or something.between that and no cell coverage here,the hills of northern PA are awfully quiet and peaceful.

Plenty of Alaska has cover. Problem is smoke rises and planes can see it. Back a few years ago, I would drive by one of the local hermit's place, and if smoke was coming out of his chimney, I knew he was still alive. I never stopped to talk or check on him. I respected his privacy. I checked on him all winter long in my own way.

Nice of you to keep track of him yet respect him.

Same here. I know of more than one long time thieves that made a habit of stealing from the same places over & over. Winter sort of makes it more difficult because of the snow showing tracks.. But Dirt is right. Plenty of cover and lots of privacy.

I also recall one thief getting caught by the use of IR technology in a helicopter.

I don't think you have to hide to be a hermit.
Anyone can be a hermit,I know a few.
If I wanted to be a hermit,I could go out to one of my remote cabins on a trapline and live there.I would rarely if ever see anyone if I didn't seek them out.
You have to have some kind of mental problem to want to avoid human contact for years on end.

This here quote "there are still a few places in the u p of Michigan that a person could get away from people if they really wanted to but I found most want to build a road to there place an if you build a road they will come" one time I was talking with Casey from F&T and he mentioned the same thing - how there's places up there still where one could truly disappear, not too mention some places that only the native people knew about.

but sadly yes, all it takes is one road... then the multipuls will follow..................

A thief breaking into camps / cottages / cabins for as long as the guy in Maine must have been extremely cautious or extremely lucky. Especially breaking into many places in the same area and sometimes the same place more than once. When I read the article, I could not believe that someone did not catch him - literally. Booby traps and set-guns are highly illegal but people can get creative to protect their belongings.

Being a hermit is not so bad. I have always been a loner and prefer very limited company. This internet can get too social.

I like to wave big in Virginia.

Turkey, Was curious as why you ask the question but say you will never leave Missouri. I too originated in your state of Missouri. Was born in Moberly and lived the first 36 years of my life around there except for a few months in Arizona about 1972. I moved to extreme south western South Dakota in the early 90's, eventually ending up in the southern Black Hills after about a year on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. I have no desire to leave here, my wife and I consider this as home.
Occasionally we return to visit Mo. for a funeral or reunion. Once and a while some friend or family member ask me if I have any regrets about moving to South Dakota. My answer is always "yes" and my regret is that I didn't move sooner!

Anywhere on any of the Aleutian Islands.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ale...AUIDygC&biw=1280&bih=625#imgrc=_

I had a friend when we were just kids comment to the effect he had never met anyone he really liked. At the time I thought it was a terribly arrogant thing to say. In retrospect, I think it was profound.

That was just a nice way of telling you he didn't like you,lol.

My mom didn't either, that prepared me for the blow.

I am not particularly fond of people as a whole. Thats why I live the way I do. That little spot we found in Tennessee is about right. No direct neighbors. Our little patch is 40 acres and an arm full of no trespassing signs should go a long way. Fist time I ever went to Tennessee was to look at that property to buy it. So there are no connections with anyone there. I plan to keep it that way. I don't think there is a need to go to places like Alaska to be able to keep to yourself. I pretty much manage to do that even here in a tourist place by staying just a mile away from the marina. Everyone knows that when I am home on my boat not to bother me. I only interact with people during working hours.

I'm sure ever state would have areas that you could live as a hermit. In Montana you could hide for the rest of your life and live as a hermit in every part of the state. Land is for sale every where and put up a small shack and there you got it. Fish, hunt and trap and just live life.

I might add that there are 100's of very small towns to disappear in.

Used to be a book "The hermits of Idaho". Quite a few living in cut outs and caves. Shunning all human contact.

Yall wouldn't make very good hermits if you don't know how to have fire w/out smoke.

What is the hunting and trapping like on the islands

Lots of fur seals apparently,unfortunately no market.

I could never be a hermit. I enjoy my privacy and time alone but being a typical human I also enjoy social interaction much like here on this website.

There’s game behind every tree.

Fur seals are in the Pribilofs. Not much for furbearers as most islands have eradicated the invasive foxes. Adak and Amlia have caribou. Unimak has bears and wolves and not sure what else. Lots of sea ducks. I believe Waggler hunts out there sometimes. Not a nice place in the winter but amazing on a nice summer day. Maybe MJM will chime in. He spent time there.

Lots of birds (ptarmigan and ducks , fish, and there are still some islands with blue arctic fox and red fox. A couple islands have caribou, and a couple other islands have reindeer.

Watched a documentary on this guy a while back, not saying I'd wanna do it but he lived an interesting life. Happy trapping!
ScottW
https://www.amazon.com/Willard-Hermit-Gully-Kitchener-MacDonald/dp/B071Z2C6SH
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Kitchener_MacDonald

I have personal friends who have Asperger's syndrome and it definitely is not a "mental problem" for them; rather it is an asset.
Google "famous people with Asperger's syndrome".

Both of my boys have Aspergers. It manifests differently in each person... The youngest would get along fine as a hermit. But the oldest boys' head would explode within 5 minutes if he didn't have someone to talk at.

Mike