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America can get extremely remote and so you can choose how remote you want to go. Here is a journalist from Manhattan meeting folks living off-grid in Colorado:

America can get extremely remote and so you can choose how remote you want to go. Here is a journalist from Manhattan meeting folks living off-grid in Colorado: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/what-going-off-the-grid-really-looks-like-cheap-land-colorado https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/what-going-off... Not to mention Slab City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City,_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City,_California Infrastructure-wise, roads come before water or electricity, and so plenty of the United States has a road but no power or water. This can even be standard for those who are near civilization.

nl 2y ago
Slab City is 100 miles from San Diego and only 160 miles from Los Angeles! That's not remote - remote should be classified using a decreasing population density over distance function. Remote is somewhere like Nullarbor, which is 183 miles from Ceduna (population < 6000). It's over 1000km to Adelaide (population 1.3m) or 1600km to Perth (population 1.9m). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor,_South_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor,_South_Australia
- jacobolus 2y ago
  That's not remote: there's a paved road that goes there! Remote should be somewhere that requires weeks of travel by sailboat or camel to get to.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - nl 2y ago
    I might be wrong but there are few places that already have population and yet require a week of travel via camel to get to. My sister lived in Wingellina[1][2], Western Australia which was a 6 hour drive on unpaved, 4WD required track from Alice Springs. That's close to one of the most difficult, isolated places to get to in Australia, but even there isn't a week on Camels. Maybe going further west into the Great Sandy Desert might get close (although you get close to small townships in WA if you go too far). The Empty Quarter has low population density but is smaller than isolated areas in Australia. There are probably places in Siberia and Canada that are fairly isolated too. I agree that there are more isolated islands. The Pitcairn Islands is the most obvious case. [1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q2wL9KCa9aXht3YS9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q2wL9KCa9aXht3YS9 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingellina,_Western_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingellina,_Western_Australia
    - neltnerb 2y ago
      I mean, I guess camels are not especially fast swimmers.
  - ponector 2y ago
    That is not remote: instead of weeks on camels you can easily fly basically anywhere. But a good example of remote is Nulato, Alaska.
  - MarkusQ 2y ago
    The heck with camels. All these places are still within a few meters of the Earth's surface. If you want remote, you've got to think outside the biosphere!
- NikolaNovak 2y ago
  When I was a teenager, we would wake up on a summer Saturday in country A, drive through the entirety of country B, and stop by in a lovely city in country C, all in 76km. With full double border crossings, changes in climate and culture and population, several different terrain types including some proper big mountains, and everything :) Point is, yes USA is huge (let alone Australia) and skews our sense of distance, but 100 miles is not as trivial distance as we sometimes instinctively feel :-)
  - Damogran6 2y ago
    Heck, there's a difference between western (interstate super-slab) US and Eastern, Virginia like (Birth of a Nation two lane highway) roads. I can leave Denver and be DEEP into Wyoming in 2 hours, or it can take 90 minutes to go 60 miles in Rural Virginia (80mph speed limit vs 60 mph speed limit)
- KennyBlanken 2y ago
  Many times, it really doesn't matter if you're 30 miles from anything, or 300. If your vehicle breaks down, how screwed are you? Do you have cell coverage to call for help? Will anyone be passing by to flag down, any time soon? How far away is the nearest LEO agency, fire department, ambulance? How far away is the nearest place for water, food, etc?
  - nl 2y ago
    It really depends on the reasoning for wanting to be remote. Some people just love not having people around, in which case you really want low average weekly population density within say 5-10km (out of easy visibility and hearing). Some people are concerned about civilization collapse or civil war or... something (ie, the prepper type). In that case you can imagine population dispersing away from (and possibly towards) major population centers over a period of months, and you want true isolation.
  - murkt 2y ago
    > LEO agency I know you didn’t mean Low Earth Orbit agency, but the thought is funny. If you’re not more than 1000+ km from the nearest satellite, you’re not in a remote area!
    - medstrom 2y ago
      What does it stand for?
      - mbroncano 2y ago
        Law Enforcement Officer
  - pfdietz 2y ago
    Reminds me of the Death Valley Germans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans

nl 2y ago

Slab City is 100 miles from San Diego and only 160 miles from Los Angeles! That's not remote - remote should be classified using a decreasing population density over distance function. Remote is somewhere like Nullarbor, which is 183 miles from Ceduna (population < 6000). It's over 1000km to Adelaide (population 1.3m) or 1600km to Perth (population 1.9m). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor,_South_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor,_South_Australia

jacobolus 2y ago
That's not remote: there's a paved road that goes there! Remote should be somewhere that requires weeks of travel by sailboat or camel to get to.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- nl 2y ago
  I might be wrong but there are few places that already have population and yet require a week of travel via camel to get to. My sister lived in Wingellina[1][2], Western Australia which was a 6 hour drive on unpaved, 4WD required track from Alice Springs. That's close to one of the most difficult, isolated places to get to in Australia, but even there isn't a week on Camels. Maybe going further west into the Great Sandy Desert might get close (although you get close to small townships in WA if you go too far). The Empty Quarter has low population density but is smaller than isolated areas in Australia. There are probably places in Siberia and Canada that are fairly isolated too. I agree that there are more isolated islands. The Pitcairn Islands is the most obvious case. [1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q2wL9KCa9aXht3YS9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q2wL9KCa9aXht3YS9 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingellina,_Western_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingellina,_Western_Australia
  - neltnerb 2y ago
    I mean, I guess camels are not especially fast swimmers.
- ponector 2y ago
  That is not remote: instead of weeks on camels you can easily fly basically anywhere. But a good example of remote is Nulato, Alaska.
- MarkusQ 2y ago
  The heck with camels. All these places are still within a few meters of the Earth's surface. If you want remote, you've got to think outside the biosphere!
NikolaNovak 2y ago
When I was a teenager, we would wake up on a summer Saturday in country A, drive through the entirety of country B, and stop by in a lovely city in country C, all in 76km. With full double border crossings, changes in climate and culture and population, several different terrain types including some proper big mountains, and everything :) Point is, yes USA is huge (let alone Australia) and skews our sense of distance, but 100 miles is not as trivial distance as we sometimes instinctively feel :-)
- Damogran6 2y ago
  Heck, there's a difference between western (interstate super-slab) US and Eastern, Virginia like (Birth of a Nation two lane highway) roads. I can leave Denver and be DEEP into Wyoming in 2 hours, or it can take 90 minutes to go 60 miles in Rural Virginia (80mph speed limit vs 60 mph speed limit)
KennyBlanken 2y ago
Many times, it really doesn't matter if you're 30 miles from anything, or 300. If your vehicle breaks down, how screwed are you? Do you have cell coverage to call for help? Will anyone be passing by to flag down, any time soon? How far away is the nearest LEO agency, fire department, ambulance? How far away is the nearest place for water, food, etc?
- nl 2y ago
  It really depends on the reasoning for wanting to be remote. Some people just love not having people around, in which case you really want low average weekly population density within say 5-10km (out of easy visibility and hearing). Some people are concerned about civilization collapse or civil war or... something (ie, the prepper type). In that case you can imagine population dispersing away from (and possibly towards) major population centers over a period of months, and you want true isolation.
- murkt 2y ago
  > LEO agency I know you didn’t mean Low Earth Orbit agency, but the thought is funny. If you’re not more than 1000+ km from the nearest satellite, you’re not in a remote area!
  - medstrom 2y ago
    What does it stand for?
    - mbroncano 2y ago
      Law Enforcement Officer
- pfdietz 2y ago
  Reminds me of the Death Valley Germans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans