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Family died in Rockies after trying to live ‘off the grid,’ official says
SF Gate ^ | 7/26/2023 | By Eduardo Medina

Posted on 07/26/2023 8:18:04 AM PDT by NohSpinZone

Last summer, Rebecca Vance talked with her family about a dream she’d had: She wanted to live in a land disconnected from the world, which she viewed as chaotic and dangerous.

She told her stepsister, Trevala Jara, that she could grow and gather her own food in a remote place, that she and her teenage son could be happy and safe away from the news, the viruses, the politics of modern-day America.

“I’m going to worry about you,” Jara told her stepsister. But Vance was resolute. “I’m going to live off the land,” she replied.

Her decision proved to be fatal. On Tuesday, a coroner said that he had identified three bodies that had been found earlier this month in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains as those of Rebecca Vance, 42, her 14-year-old son and her sister, Christine Vance, 41, who, Jara said, had ventured with them out of concern for their safety, believing an extra set of hands could be useful.

The coroner’s findings came more than a week after the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office said that the bodies of the campers had been found near Gold Creek Campground, a discovery that drew national attention as officials sought to identify the victims and determine why they had apparently attempted to camp through a brutal winter.

Michael Barnes, the Gunnison County coroner, said on Tuesday that the family members were all from Colorado Springs and had lived “off the grid,” survived on canned food and sheltered in a tent before a harsh winter or malnourishment most likely led to their deaths.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: 10000feet; colorado; death; family; gunnison; gunnisoncounty; offthegrid; pitkin; rockies
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To: NohSpinZone

Gunnison Colorado in the winter in a tent?

The son died also so she may be eligible for a Darwin.


121 posted on 07/26/2023 11:46:37 AM PDT by Delta 21 (MAGA Republican is my pronoun.)
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To: IYAS9YAS

Gunnison gets very cold and very deep! Beautiful place but that aint how you do it.


122 posted on 07/26/2023 11:48:40 AM PDT by Delta 21 (MAGA Republican is my pronoun.)
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To: Angelino97

I haven’t brought race in to the conversation, but since you have done so - Generally most black people want nothing to do with going into wilderness, forests, and such, especially at night.


123 posted on 07/26/2023 11:52:44 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: CFW

If you are in the wilderness you should have brought a gun.

If you have a gun, you can open up a cartridge and dump the powder into the kindling (carefully) to help the fire start.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aCiP_G1EOwg


124 posted on 07/26/2023 12:00:21 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor (The rot of all principle begins with a single compromise.)
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To: NohSpinZone

“”””She said she hoped that her family’s story would prompt others to think twice before choosing to live similar lifestyles off the grid.””””

They didn’t choose to live a different lifestyle or to live off the grid, to make it short, they hit a supermarket, went out into the Colorado winter, pitched a tent, and proceeded to eat the food they brought until they all died.

They didn’t adopt anything, they just went on a weekend camping trip with the imagination that things would take care of themselves once they got to the outdoors and pitched a tent.


125 posted on 07/26/2023 12:02:55 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: KeyLargo

Even in the Army.


126 posted on 07/26/2023 12:03:35 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Robert A Cook PE
That story was retold in the classic film 'Cannibal, the Musical!' A revisionist retelling set to some great old songs! It's a favorite at Michigan deer camp, eh. cannibal! the musical 03 – The Holy Shrine
127 posted on 07/26/2023 12:05:06 PM PDT by desertsolitaire ( )
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To: CFW

What most people don’t understand/choose to ignore is all the back room/behind-the-scenes efforts it takes to put food on the shelves of their local supermarkets. Ditto for clothes and shoes to wear, electricity and natural gas on tap in their homes, DIY store supplies, fuel for vehicles, etc. Add to that all the service, communication, and transportation products made available routinely to rural, suburban, and urban dwellers and the scale of this largely invisible infrastructure is remarkable.

Consequently, if you are living on canned food in a tent, you are still reliant on “the grid.” The only place where they succeeded in getting “off the grid” was probably losing the ability to connect to the wireless cellphone network so they could call for rescue when the moment of crisis came.

As you pointed out, going “off the grid” requires acquiring a lot of knowledge and skill to create substitute sources and methods for all the goods and services “the grid” provides.

The only thing I would add to your post is that preparation for the coming winter usually begins the previous spring and intensifies through the spring, summer, and fall. It also may involve a multi season transition with less and less support/reliance on outside items/supplies as the “off the grid” measures take up the slack. .

In that environment, preparing/being prepared for winter is an overwhelming concern all the time. Just ask the bears; the ones that survived the previous winter.


128 posted on 07/26/2023 12:06:14 PM PDT by Captain Rhino (Determined effort today forges tomorrow.)
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To: NohSpinZone

At least they tried, we all die it is just a matter of when.


129 posted on 07/26/2023 12:11:24 PM PDT by Glad2bnuts (“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: We should have set up ambushes...paraphrased)
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To: NohSpinZone

At least they tried, we all die it is just a matter of when.


130 posted on 07/26/2023 12:11:37 PM PDT by Glad2bnuts (“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: We should have set up ambushes...paraphrased)
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To: CFW

When I lived in the mountains without a cabin, as a woodcutter, I could kick the snow off the previous night’s supper fire and refeed the embers to heat my pinto beans, and water for instant coffee.


131 posted on 07/26/2023 12:12:31 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: NohSpinZone

We used to survival camp for fun a week or two at a time. Nothing but a knife between us. I cheated as I can start a fire with my glasses.
Now days roughing it is an RV with black and white TV.


132 posted on 07/26/2023 12:29:09 PM PDT by oldasrocks (uit )
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To: NohSpinZone

they did live the rest of their lives off the grid...


133 posted on 07/26/2023 1:14:22 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: NohSpinZone

#17 Yep, a low budget motel does have wild creatures crawling around in the rooms. Especially with the lights out : )


134 posted on 07/26/2023 1:28:46 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: KeyLargo

“How to Survive the OUTDOORS!
(& My Horrible Experience.)”

That pinhead has 530,000 subscribers.


135 posted on 07/26/2023 1:39:40 PM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: NohSpinZone

I started to write “well, at least they won’t be able to keep voting for Democrats,” but that may not necessarily be true.


136 posted on 07/26/2023 1:40:24 PM PDT by Clioman
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To: 1Old Pro

They also missed the part on food stores for winter, basic workmanship and survival skills.


137 posted on 07/26/2023 2:16:46 PM PDT by foundedonpurpose (Praise Hashem, for his restoration of all things! )
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To: ansel12
Yes, especially our new improved WOKE ARMY.
138 posted on 07/26/2023 3:33:35 PM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: NohSpinZone

Sounds like how a story about liberals would start, and end.


139 posted on 07/26/2023 3:40:15 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: hellinahandcart

The author is a “city people”.


140 posted on 07/26/2023 3:40:28 PM PDT by Eagles6 (Welcome to the Matrix . Orwell's "1984" was a warning, not an instruction manual.)
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