Urban Safari!

As there is a new housing project in the works in the woods near my grandfather's house, I decided to take a few nature walks to check out the forest and to hopefully find some endangered species or illicit substance growing naturally.
However, what I came across was far more poignant. At first, the displays appeared to be merely trash dumps, although so deep in the woods, it would have made no sense to drag large, heavy things so far, when maybe 50 feet would have been sufficient.

Children's toys, half buried under a few years of debris. A suitcase, packed in a hurry, flung open and abandoned. Tarps, sleeping bags, makeshift property lines, grills, firepits, and chairs arranged in living room fashion. It would appear that over the years, many desperate people or perhaps men on the outs with the law, have made this forest a temporary home. We even stumbled across one active camp, but we did not want to disturb its residents by getting too close. Mostly due to the fact that I am scared of homeless people and would have emptied my wallet of ones while running and screaming.

These are the pictures...


This is a truck! I know it's hard to tell, but trust me. How did it get in the middle of a forest with no paths? Why is it mangled up like a giant mastiff was gnawing on it?







Hey, what else would you drink in your outdoor living room?






This was the active camp. There were two guys there, but we didn't get too close. I've traced my fear of the homeless back to that scene in Soapdish when Elisabeth Shue, playing a hot homeles mute, attacked Sally Fields with a butcher's knife.




the former kitchen of the camp


making some property lines


chillin in the sitting room

cozy enough


better than the pip shelter


someone left in a hurry and forgot their sleeping bags

xoxo
niki



*photos taken by lee duerden