The Incredible (Dis)Appearing Bug-Out Shack

So I’ll present this story as I saw it. For better or worse, it’s pretty amazing.

I first saw this story and photos on imgur, but details were confirmed by articles written by Kevin L. Hoover for the Mad River Union.

In the Arcata Community Forest in California, a worker marking trees to be removed stumbled upon the cabin above.

It was well-hidden. The discoverer said, “I didn’t see it until I was 12 feet from it.”

It was also well-stocked.

Reading material.

Some essentials–including duct tape, of course.

The location isn’t the only indication that the cabin’s owner was an outsider. This was found stapled to the plywood wall of the shack.

Different Everywhere
It’s an old story and a long one, that every community creates its own outlaws. Those individuals who, willingly or not, have not abided by the laws of the gods or the authorities have always been banished. The difference that was burnt at the stake by the Holy Inquisition is today constrained between the lines of traveling papers or an expulsion order, when not enclosed in an asylum or a prison. In contempt for those who would like to expel us or chain us up due to one of those descriptions such as “terrorist” or “gang member” on which unanimous preventative condemnation comes down, we will carry our difference everywhere as individuals determined to subvert the rules of the community.

Such a homey place.

To-do list. Guess he should have extended that brush wall…

So they posted an eviction notice. When they returned a month later, they found this:

Moving the stuff out, a little at a time.

cabin-10 — Photo first published in Mad River Union

cabin-11 — Photo courtesy City of Arcata

Couple weeks later, no more cabin.

One day later, and everything is gone! The only trace left behind is the international squatters’ symbol, denoted in charcoal.

A forest worker said “That’s the cleanest camp cleanup I’ve ever seen. There wasn’t a nail, not even a gum wrapper left behind.”

No one reported seeing anyone toting anything large in the area, and there was no visible wear on the trails or elsewhere to indicate that the items had been carried in or out. Through it all, nobody saw the cabin’s former resident at all.

Original articles in Mad River Union:

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.