new here! ok so let me first say this i dont need anybody telling me not to do this or whatever all i need is a specific location.....i am going to live in the wilderness in the warner mountains in the modoc national forest in california for a long time doing dispersed camping has anybody been here before? thanks.

Wow...

Ok, first let me say that all backpackers practice "dispersed camping" so this certainly isn't something we're going to trash you for, but...

As for a specific location, the the "Warner Mountains in the Modoc National Forest" is already pretty specific and you don't provide any details at all about what you're looking for there.

My advice is go there and find whatever that is. You don't "need" us to tell you what or where that is, and to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't tell you if I did know after getting asked like this.

You're welcome.

Well said, Mr S.

Since the information you did ask for (whether anyone has been there before) would be pretty useless even if someone had been there and answered 'yes', and since you don't give us a clue what you really want to know, it's not very easy to respond in a positive way.

what i meant was does anybody know a really good spot to camp...sorry....and maybe i cant "go there" right now you make it so easy to go hundreds of miles without any transportation maybe you should have thought about that.

If you have no transportation, that complicates matters, especially if, as you said, you intend to camp out for a long time. How long is a long time? The need to eat is going to come into play if you're out for more than a couple of weeks and that will affect what constitutes "a really good spot to camp".

If you plan to forage for any part of your food, you'll need to have the proper hunting or fishing licenses and follow all the regulations that apply. There aren't enough calories out there to keep you alive on just plants, roots, & berries.

Okay. I'll accept that and offer some advice.

What you need to do it get some good maps and start studying them. Goggle around and find whatever you can. Most of these NFs have a government website that has some info on the area, so go soak up everything you can find that way.

Take everything you can learn about the climate, flora, and fauna, and apply it to a good topo map and you can gain a pretty good idea of what to expect anywhere you look on the map.

From there, narrow down some places you want to explore and go there and see what you find. Once you're there it's a good idea to talk to locals, and you might want to work on those skills a bit too before you go.

You may not think you need to be told this, but you do...

Be humble. Start off by telling them you know nothing, but want to learn. Most rural folks are eager to help, and will go far out of their way to help, but they also don't take kindly to demands for help from "foreigners" who seem to think they owe them their time. If they detect that they're just as likely send you off on a goose chase and laugh about it later with their friends. They pass those stories down too. Their kids will tell them to their kids, and all their friends.

If you do it right, they'll tell you the very best places to go, and even take you there, and you might make a few friends for life.

Best of luck.