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To be clear, I didn't mean to imply you were lying, only that you misjudged weight.

Ok, Coywolf, relax. I know the weight rating on anything is a conservative estimate of what it can hold. I'm sorry to have offended you. I've done plenty of long distance hiking and I know exactly how big various sized bags are. The original poster was asking for advice about how much gear can...

50 lbs I could believe. It's a lot and like Shaggy Rodgers said, it hurts, but 80 lbs, there's just no way. It doesn't matter how strong you are, it's not the muscles that reach their threshold. Its the skin on the shoulders and the knee joints that give out. Also, just by volume, unless you...

Coywolf, there's no way you were hitching around with 80 lbs on your back. My REI 85L hiking pack is only rated for 40 lbs. I've put 52 lbs exactly (6.5 gallons) in it when I was hauling water for my squat and my shoulders were killing me after a couple blocks. My bag also has a great strap and...

I have an 85L pack which I love, and it gets real uncomfortable to carry long distances fully loaded. The larger packs do carry moderate weight (30 lbs or so) more comfortably than a fully loaded medium sized hiking pack though, due to the more sophisticated frame and strap rigging. I like...

I would totally squat there, the electricity is on! Maybe the spooky sounds are from someone living there, hiding when the crew of ghost hunters comes. Why would an abandoned high school be haunted, was there a mass death there?

My name's Stix and I'm an addict. I was in NA for a year for meth. Stayed off it for years after I stopped going to meetings but relapsed last year. Been off it 5 months now. I was never a big drinker but I was drinking kind off often when I first kicked shards. I stopped that a couple weeks...

Yeah, no rent. There's one other person living here now who can't be counted on to help the house in any real way cuz he's been put on a psychiatric drug that basically makes him mentally handicapped.

If anyone is interested in wintering in the Kitsap peninsula, I have a furnished room available at a squat outside of Bremerton for a person or couple. 1hr 15 min drive from Seattle or 2 hr on public transit. House has electricity and internet but no water. Nearest tap water source is a 15...

You loose a disproportionate amount o heat through your head because it's the biggest heat leak in your clothing, not because your body vents through it more than other parts.

I relate to most of this. It's hard to form new friendship bonds when you're culturally different from the folks you're surrounded by. I've definitely felt at times like I couldn't share too much of myself at work or else I'd be seen as just a looser drug addict. I've also received misplaced...

Yeah, it's illegal for them to do, but nobody's policing them. Bicycle missing a reflector is not probable cause to believe you may have contraband, neither is being out late or looking "sketchy" but if they want to do a search without probable cause, they can just say you look high. I've had...

You are allowed to walk the shoulder of the highway. You're not allowed to walk the shoulder of freeways. Highways have intersections, traffic lights, and driveways that connect directly to them. Freeways have on-ramps with signs that read "pedestrians, bicycles and motor driven cycles...

One thing that's key is the difference between freeway and highway. When you hitch on the highways, you catch all the through traffic, which is ideal. On freeways, you're limited to hitching at on-ramps, where your success at catching a ride is heavily dependent on the culture of the...

I've lived a half hour walk from a bus line outside a fairly small town with no car. The isolation and physical rigor definitely put me to the test. I didn't mind the long walk so much when the weather was nice, but the other half of the year really got to me. Volunteering at the local food bank...

This is a great conversation, and a difficult dilemma that I think most street kids have to face as we age. The ones who don't usually end up drugged out zombies living on the edge of death. Depression, isolation and addiction are common problems on the road as well as in mainstream society...

So it's bank owned, that's the main reason I was asking. I've heard of people posting a notice declaring themselves managing/in charge of/in possession of a property that really had no owner, like the last owner died with no next of kin. If you're trying to present yourselves as renting tenants...

Who owns it? How long was it vacant? Does it appear legally habitable?

My squat has internet.

An internet service provider isn't a party to the trespassing you're doing. Even if the house looks obviously abandoned, they don't say anything about it to you or try to contact the owner. First thing though, you have power? Is it in your name or was it on when you got there?

In Seattle, the place to look is on the south end, past I-90. It's gotten hard in the city these days. Might be better to check the surrounding suburbs, like Burien or Renton.

Tony Letigre, aka @tony longshanks on this site and others, was struck by a car and killed while riding his bicycle on Hwy 101 in Corte Madera, CA. He was 42 years old. We worked together enthusiastically in Homes Not Jails in San Francisco 2012. He was an avid writer who helped put together the...

Sure, come visit any time. I love hosting guests.

Now I ran wires through the attic and wall nto other rooms so there's not extension cords trailing all over the floor. There's a legitimate looking outlet in the living room with a wire on the other side of the wall in my housemates bedroom running to the circuit breaker. His room is starting to...

The tornado was two towns away from me, so I wasn't phased. My partner was just a mile from it and was headed home from the Walmart where it happened, so she actually saw it, but wasn't directly hit by it.

We now have electricity! It's been on this whole time, I just assumed it would be off cuz the burgler(s) stripped the copper wiring. A friend hooked up two outlets directly to the circuit breaker and they work. And we have one of the olt fashion analog power meters, not a smart meter, which...

I know how to pick locks a bit but I'm not great at it. Master™ locks are the easiest and are common enough to make the skill useful. It is a skill that improves gradually with lots of practice. The better you are at it, the quicker you can do it and the more sophisticated locks you can do...

No, I go to Seattle all the time. It's about 2 hours on public transit or an hour and a half drive. I've got a bus stop in front of my house too, kind of a stroke of luck as far out of town as I am.

Some folks at the Jambo said I should post some pics of the awesome house I've been working on over the last 6 months. It sits on 4 acres. The owner died and left all their stuff behind. The bank has a lien on it and will probably foreclose next year. It was vacant 3 years, but the owner only...

I've done this a LOT, and the houses that are vacant because the former owner died are the BEST! The daughter probably was not lying so to speak, the owner could have taken a second mortgage out on the house toward the end of their life and the bank will foreclose but hasn't yet, or the bank may...

Ok, now I'm looking for a ride from LA, have pitch on gas. Any Takers?

I go by Stix. Sorry to hear about your vehicle. Hope to see you there.

What's up, It's Stix, we met at the Jambo and rode back to Oakland together 2 years ago. Do you still have space for another rider? I got pitch on gas and can meet you in Portland whenever.

@Stiv Rhodes submitted a new resource: It's Vacant Take It - San Francisco Homes Not Jails How-To Read more about this resource...

I'm leaving from the Seattle area and have pitch on gas. I'm riding alone. My schedule is pretty open as far as specific pick up days. Let me know. Are you coming back up the same way, or traveling on to a new location?

I's scratch Arcata and Eurica off the list and just do the southern stretch of HWY 1 in the winter. Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, you could continue south to San Luis Obispo if you wanted to catch a Greyhound back home from a city. Santa Barbara is nice. Don't go south of Oxnard (ie. into LA.)...

Mike, thanks for posting this pic. Do you have any more photos of the Lodge? I lost all mine with an old phone and I've been trying to tell some new folks about it lately.

Hey, Matt. We met at the jamboree in 2016. I was in HNJ in 2012, around the same time as these other 3 folks. I'd be happy to do an interview with you about it if you're interested in writing about the group. I could call a few other old friends and see if they would also. We talk about writing...

I did HNJ when I was in SF. The SF chapter disbanded 4 years ago.

Their website gives a breakdown of the states (most) where possession of lock picks is legal as long as you're not committing another crime. They're also super easy to stash on your person, or toss discretely if need be. I've been to this group in SF. Is it still happening at Noise Bridge? I...

The best deal on property that exists is the IRS foreclosure auctions. That's how I got a piece of land recently. They happen at a different time of year in every county. One good thing to know is that most property slated for auction gets the taxes paid off at the last minute and gets taken off...

The amount of revenue lost to theft is miniscule compared to the amount lost to damage and spoilage, or the amount spent on advertising. The amount lost when an item is stolen is a lot less than what it would have costed to buy retail, since companies pay much cheaper wholesale prices for their...

I've been thinking about something like this recently. I found out that in my area, yours may be different, any lot zoned residential can be used to build a private park. That gets you around the zoning requirement for accessory structures needing to be on a lot with a primary structure. You...

SF has gotten incredibly hard to squat houses in. I did it 4 years ago but now the whole scene has left and there's hardly any vacancies. Plus, buildings are hard to break into in SF cuz they're built right up against each other. Oakland is where the squatting scene is but even there it's on the...

Tent, good sleeping bag, tarp, rope, bailing wire, multi-tool, medium sized knife (6-8 inches), camp stove, small cookware that doubles as eatware, or a cup like container with a lid that could double as eatware, shovel, saw, fishing gear (if there's fish in the river) rain gear (many thin...

One recreational activity/hobby materials, you'll get bored a lot. A high quality hiking backpack that will carry a load comfortably for long periods of time is a must if you're living outside. It depends what your living situation "out there" is. Do you have a vehicle? Are you going into the...

It was great to meeting yall. Thanks to everybody who helped make it possible, especially Matt, Cornelius, Caveman, EphimeralStick and Creature, you guys rock. Thanks to all the great musicians, storytellers and cooks who kept the party jumpin. James S, I really appreciated the ride back to...

The Metrolink train from LA union station to Riverside, than the Sun Transit buses 220 to 111 to 95 to Mecca are $19.25 combined. If you're busing from the north, it's a much better deal, and shorter ride than the Greyhound to El Centro. I think most of our folks will be coming in from the north...

I'm looking for a ride from the SF bay and have pitch on gas. Would love to catch a seat on this convoy. Message me if one is still available.