Onward And Upward

[tslex]

I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying these reports. Please continue to share. Your set-up is outstanding -- just the right mix of modern tech to make the old school rules work.
I am in love with the area around Santa Fe. Can you identify that mesa-ish mountain in your photo?
If I understand it correctly, you're in National Forest Service land. Is that Santa Fe NF, between Santa Fe and Las Vegas (NM)?Are you near the Panchuela Trailhead, or closer to Santa Fe?
So you just found a site (which looks PERFECT by the way) and set up camp and for two years the rangers have let you stay there? Do they consider you to be in the category of "dispersed camping" for that long? Because typically you are only allowed 14 days in a 28 day period, then you have to move at least 25 miles. But you've been able to maintain. That's outstanding.
More questions: Have you been able to sustain a good density of small game? You're just one guy, so that helps. But that's still a good amount of concentrated hunting over two years. Or do you hike or drive out to hunt? Also, what are deer and varmint seasons like in NM? I'd think given storage issues, you're mostly in the varmint (rabbits, squirrels) realm anyway and those are usually open season. (Are you making jerky when take a deer?)
And no one else has asked, so I will, since I'm kind of camping nerd: What are you doing for sanitation, especially over that long a period?
And hey. . .let's talk guns. I'm assuming a nicely scope .22 for the little critters. What are you taking deer with?
Again, deepest thanks for sharing all this. Let me tell you -- there's a book here if you've been keeping track of your day-to-day. I mean that absolutely and I'd love to talk to offline about that if you ever think you are interested.

 

[didimauw]

I can't believe I just found this thread! What your are doing, is what I dream of doing. Beautiful land, simple life and pure serenity. Please keep the updates coming... Favorite pipe and tobacco for the wilderness life???

 

[monty55]

tslex, lots of questions! I'll give you some answers.
Due to self preservation, I'd rather not disclose exactly where I'm at. I can identify the mountain in the pick, but if I did, it would give away my position. There are several National Forests around Santa Fe. I'm in one of them. I can tell you that this forest is over 2000 square miles in size. There are a handful of campgrounds, and only a handful of Forest Rangers to manage it all. So let's say I'm a long long long way from any proper camp ground. The rangers have their hands full managing those campsites. They would have to go a very very very long way out of their way to even happen to come across my camp. There is literally nothing here for them to deal with, except me. So it's not that they gave me permission to stay, more like they flat out don't even know I exist.
I took a two week vacation once a year from taking care of dad, and I'd always come here. As a geologist, we tend to seek out the paths less traveled. I found this spot by accident during one of those trips. It's in a saddle, and is probably the only flat spot big enough for my tent for miles around me.
I have one of those camping toilets, that's just a seat. You tape a small waste basket bag to it. Do your business, tie the bag up and toss it in my burn barrel, to be burned up with all my other burnable trash. I'm very picky about burning. I don't want to start a fire, and don't want them to see my smoke from the fire lookout towers. So I only burn at night, when there is no wind and no moon.
I have yet to take a deer. Too much meat for one guy and a yeti ice chest. I pretty much stick to rabbits, squirrel, and dove. I use snares for the rabbits, a .22 for the dove, and a sling shot or .22 for the squirrels. There are lots of turkey here, but wild turkey doesn't taste very good without an oven to cook it in.
I only kept and brought weapons I thought I might need for this life. I got a .22 semi with red dot sight. A .44 mag lever action with scout scope. A .45 semi pistol, a 20ga shoty, and a hunting sling shot and steel balls for ammo.
No doubt, a mm cob smokes just fine most of the time, up here. And for an extra feel good, I often use a churchwarden stem! I'm partial to the Mark Twain!
My two favorite smokes up here are GLP Chelsea Morning, and Low Country Cooper.
I'll try to get more pics downloaded soon when I go down to SF to take care of some business.
Dan Dan the Woodroad Man sent me a bunch of tins of John Cotton I just picked up this morning before heading back up here! You da man Dan! Thank you so much!!
Cheers! Oh, btw, nothin better than a single malt scotch up in these highlands!

 

[monty55]

didimauw, in addition to the cobs, of which I usually smoke at least 3 bowls a day out of, I also kept a few of my favorites to bring with me, and smoke out of two or more of those a day.
My morning pipe and baccy is a carved and rusticated acorn by Rolando Negoita, which smokes GLP Chelsea Morning like no other pipe I've ever smoked it out of, so that's a pairing that is my morning ritual. Other pipes I brought that I smoke as the urge arises, are: a Savinelli rusticated straight billiard, a Savinelli natural, blasted bent billiard, a Savinelli smooth Dublin Churchwarden, an S. Bang smooth 80's era., and an F. Baki Meerschaum lattice pot.
So I got a nice selection of pipes to live my life here. As far as tobaccos, as I've stated my main two are Chelsea Morning and Cooper, but I also have some aged Escudo Navy Deluxe, Dunhill Navy Rolls, some aged Mississippi River and Plumb Pudding, and for the dead of winter, GLP Gaslight, and some Penzance. I also have some SG Commonwealth, Artisans Blend, and Fire Storm. All these I pick through and smoke when I'm feeling it.
I'm so pleased that many of you are enjoying hearing of my life up here. It's nice to be able to share it with someone.. kinda.
I could lend tons of advice to any hardcore campers among you. What works and what doesn't for long term all weather reality. I can tell you about choosing woods to do everything from making a hand fire drill, to the trigger notched piece I use for a trip-up snare. I can tell you and show you how to properly put in place a tarp, or tarps that will not only provide shade and cover from rain and hail, but also catch valuable water from rain, and... Withstand 50mph winds with ease.
And a bunch of other stuff I can't think of right now. So you guys ask what you want to know, and I'll tell you what I've learned by doing it in real life.

 

[tslex]

Monty, of course I understand your concerns about OpSec. Completely understand your reticence about the location.
Thanks for the wealth of other information.
Do you have a summer water source up there when there's no snow to melt? Or are you trucking it all in?
And the Santa Claus gig? Brilliant.

 

[condorlover1]

Monty, I had heard from Dan about your adventures and having caught up with this thread I am totally enthralled with what you are doing. Its so nice to see someone who instead of moaning about the world just simply packs up and moves off the grid. By disengaging from the world you effectively break the 'powers that be' hold over your life. More power to you Monty. Squirrel burger anyone?

 

[philobeddoe]

Thanks for the updates Monty, I'm really enjoying them.

 

[tslex]

Monty, on the subject of turkeys, I thought I'd share this:

Turkey oven
This is as close as I could find online for a technique we have used. We have used rocks from a riverbank (making sure they are from the DRY part). You'll be able to adapt it to your own materials and circumstances.
It works very well. Be sure the meat gets to temperature to avoid any health issues.

 

[monty55]

Good morning from 8000'!
Tslex, I know where several springs are up here, but both are about a mile from me. During the rainy months I get plenty of water from rain. I have two 30gal action packers I can fill up very quickly from my tarps. But, my ice won't last more than 10 days, so during the summer I come down the mountain that often for ice anyway, so I top off my bed tanks while there.
Speaking of useful items ... for you campers, and preppers out there... when deciding what to take with you, think "multi-useful". For instance, Rubbermaid Action Packers, you know them. Very useful. I hauled equipment and items to this location with them. I tie a rope to it and can haul splits of wood from point A to B in the snow like a sled. I have one in my tent to hold firewood during winter. I use them both in summer to catch rain water. I use one during the winter to stand in to take a shower in my tent.
For food items like dry goods or canned goods, I have two containers I purchased at The Container Store that have a rubber gasket in the lid. They are very durable to the elements, and have sat outside my tent through all weather conditions without any issues at all. I'll get a pic of those for yall.
Let's talk cooking pots. Whatever you got, ss, aluminum, or cast iron. Throw it all out, go to Walmart and get the new ceramic coated pots and pans. Don't buy a big set. Just a couple of pots, and a couple of fry pans. Here's the thing... It's all about water conservation. Especially in the winter. You can't afford to have to use a lot of water to scrub your pots and pans, which you will with most camp pots. These ceramic coated pans can be wiped clean, and then a min amount of soap and water is used to finish.
Use plastic dinnerware and paper bowls and plates. No water need to clean those!
If you pack away wooden kitchen matches. Do them separately from any food items that are powder form or spices. Doesn't matter how well sealed they are, the sulfer from the matches will find its way into your food and taste pretty bad lol. So keep them packed away separate from food.
Those 33 gal bed tanks I use for water storage are good to 40 below zero as far as cracking, but, they will indeed freeze. And so it is that during the coldest months I have a 33 gal frozen popsicle inside my tent! And if it wasn't for the snow, idk how I'd be able to drag them from my truck to inside my tent. They slide easily on the snow. But one in your tent does tend to take up a lot of space, but like anything else, you get used to it, and just start using it like a table.
Oh, tslex, about the turkey thing. Appreciate it, but wild turkey really doesn't taste very good, and it's too much meat for me to want to have, of something I don't really like. But thanks for the effort anyway.

 

[fitzy]

Monty do you ever think of getting a small propane powered fridge?
I've got a friend that lives off grid in Maine and he uses a propane powered fridge and I think regular sized propane cans run him about a month a piece.

 

[tslex]

Monty, you are a generous spirit to share so much here. Many thanks.

 

[monty55]

Fitzy, I thought about it, but decided against it because it consumes propane, it's only useful for one thing, it takes up a lot of space in my tent, and there's not that much room in them, at least the ice chest size.
My yeti performs perfect. I can leave it outside, I can use it as a container if needed, and it's practically bullet proof.

 

[monty55]

Bugout bag! Yes, even I have one! You never know when you'll need to bug out.

 

[monty55]

So my only issue with my tent is that it breaths, which is good, unless it's 10 degrees outside and the wind is blowing 50+

That's when you can feel the cold blow right through the WeatherMax fabric.
So I've often sat here during those times, smoked my pipe and pondered a fix for my problem.
I think something like Reflectix is just the ticket. Since my tent has an internal skeleton, I could put the Reflectix between the poles and the tent fabric. This would provide insulation from the cold wind, and provide a radiant insulation to keep the heat in.
Any other ideas out there?
Any reader in the Refectix industry who could get me a good deal on some?

 

[monty55]

Condorlover, yes, that's exactly what I've done in part. There is no politics or religion up here, lest it be my own. I am indeed Master, commander, King, and President of my own realm, and I'm pretty sure this is as close to heaven on earth a man could get to.
I do have a cell phone bill, and truck insurance, gas, propane and ice, which all keep me under a thumb so to speak, but it is a small fraction of what it was when I lived like society said I should be living!

 

[brian64]

Just a word of caution: if you stay away too long, you may become incurably sane...too sane to ever rejoin the giant psych-ward we call society.

 

[monty55]

Here are some more pics for your enjoyment.
This is my electricity. A Goalzero Yeti 400. It has everything I need. If I don't run my rope light at night I can watch 3 full length feature films. With lights I can watch 1 movie and still have plenty of power left to read for a few hours. It charges completely in 8hrs of full Sun.

The solar panels doing they're thing!

The best kind of storage containers to get from The Container Store. Notice the rubber gasket.


So I saved a horse last winter. It wondered up to my camp looking very hungry. I contacted a rescue outfit. They gave me some hay to feed her to get her strength up for the treck down the mountain. Turns out she's a brood mare for a race horse ranch that borders the NF. They had been looking for her for 6 months. It was a happy ending. She wouldn't have made it through the winter.



This shows how well my 4dog stove works in my tent. Top is inside temp, bottom is outside.

Some good size hail.


Got a finger cut and patched it up with superglue.

Dove breast for breakfast. Great with eggs if you got them.

 

[didimauw]

Awesome updates! How much tobacco do you have on you? And how far do you have to go to get more?

 

[monty55]

Right now I got about 12 tins, thanks to Dan and Fitzy! But I got a bunch in jars I brought from TX as well. It's about 2hrs to Santa Fe from my camp. Glad you enjoyed the pics!

 

[tslex]

Monty, Pm with where you want mail sent. I might have a thing or two for you.
Great pictures. Well done you with the horse.