Originally published at: The three "mummified" bodies found in Colorado were ID'd by stepsister who tried to stop them from camping | Boing Boing
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Holy cow. I was expecting another story about hikers dying of dehydration after failing to prepare for extreme weather, but starving because “how hard can it possibly be to live off the land?” is some next-level naïveté. Poor kid.
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Once again, stupidity and delusion and paranoia combine to kill innocent an innocent young person.
There is no “away” from the problems we face, and back-to-the-land “rugged individualism” that does not show proper respect to the wild is an especially bad way to try to escape them.
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This quote though:
“They weren’t crazy. Becky wasn’t crazy,” Jara said. “She believed she was doing what she needed to do to save her son.”
But the “crazy” part is that there was no way in hell that any of this was good for her son. people told her she might die, and she still did it… and didn’t seek help either.
So, if Becky wasn’t “crazy” maybe she was “evil?”
Poor fucking kid though.
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Chris McCandless all over again.
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This is sad but I suspect another instance of crazy q-anon/prepper conspiracy theories leading to death. Live free or (and?) die, I guess.
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This quote is so important. I remember around the time Survivorman and shows like it started showing up. I knew people who started doing similar things and all I could think about was how this could very easily be the end result. People wildly overestimate their ability to survive like this. Even the toughest, most rugged outdoors person can make one small, critical mistake that leads to death. It really doesn’t take much and mother nature often doesn’t give any warning.
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“You can’t go on the internet and watch videos on how to live off the grid, and then actually do it, if you have no experience,” Jara said. “You just can’t do that. They died of starvation because they weren’t prepared.”
In order to “live off the land” you need to, you know, work the land to live off of it. Grow crops, harvest, preserve them, etc. You can’t just go in the winter and hope to survive. Even trying to hunt for food isn’t a great strategy, as hunting solely for sustenance is more of a challenge than one may think. Not to mention things like “rabbit-starvation” where a lean meat like rabbit can lead to protein poisoning.
When the Potawatomi were forced from Indiana to Kansas, over twice as many died during the first winter than on the Trail of Death, because they didn’t have adequate shelter or food, and they were much more used to living what we would consider an “off the grid” lifestyle today.
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“Where were they going without ever knowing the way?”
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fastball+the+way
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My wife and I got hooked on Life Below Zero, and while there is of course a certain amount of romanticizing (hard not to with those views and fresh game meat), to their credit every single person on there is constantly going on about how dangerous it is and the experience and preparedness required and how easy it is to end up in trouble. One of the most hardcore people on there spent many years working up their experience before attempting to live out there over a winter.
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Also living off the grid doesn’t mean living in a tent in Colorado winter. Cabins are allowed.
Even if they were built with griddey technology.
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They were obviously unaware of the severity of winter in the Rocky Mountains and when you’re in the back country, once you get snowed in you’re pretty much stuck there until spring.
Even though this happened at an established campsite, the area is pretty remote and the roads leading up to it are not maintained in the winter. Come late November/December they were probably looking at a good 1-2 meter deep base of snow so it would be snow shoes, snowmobile or dogsled as the only feasible way to get down the mountain.
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A good example of how much trouble even people who know what they’re doing have living off the land (a different land, but even so)
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“You can’t go on the internet and watch videos on how to live off the grid, and then actually do it, if you have no experience,” Jara said. “You just can’t do that. They died of starvation because they weren’t prepared.”
Especially since so many of those internet sites, youtube videos, and the like are not authentic and instead are just people capitalizing on the latest prepper fad. Much of the “survivalist” videos and the “neolithic building” type videos are put out by content mills funded by people who live in real actual houses and stage much of what they do. It’s how they make money. Much of the survivor type TV shows are held on populated islands with full production staffs , medical staffs, and catering crews feeding the entertainers.
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The timeline gets me
The three victims were from Colorado Springs and had set off on their adventure last July
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Although officials have identified the hikers and the approximate time of their demise (winter)
So five to seven months in the woods, with only each other for company. And they were already either paranoid-ish or going along with it when they left. The emotional picture isn’t pretty.
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How to tell: you can’t “live off the land” and post video content, unless wild recharge bushes grow near you.
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She was wrong
What she did was wrong 
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… even in Denver the winter is nothing to fuck around with 
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Classified under the heading:
Fuck Around and Camp Out
Off the grid survival needs A LOT of preparation learning and practicing in an environment that does NOT want to kill you TOO MUCH at first. You have to train.
Actually? Never mind…I’ve seen LOTS of Chuck Norris videos.
I’m a black belt in karate now!
Imma gonna go pick a fight at a biker bar!
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