Ten acres of scrubland is different than ten acres of dense forest with wildlife, wood and mineral rights, though. Maybe Wyoming, Oregon, or even the north Midwest would be more suitable.
Ok, that's fine if it's what we want to do. Oregon is fine by me. Wyoming might be ok. But this is the stuff we need to think about and decide on.
Things I want * Isn't thousands of miles away. I'm in califonia.
* Has to be in a temperature zone that people can reasonably stay in tents, sleep in cars, etc.
* Must have road access. I don't care if it's a dirt road, but we can't need a 4x4 truck or helicopter to get to the property.
* Needs to be reasonably close to an airport. Under 50 miles would be nice.
* Needs to be reasonably close to a reasonably sized town. It would be nice to be within at most 5-10 miles of a place that sells concrete, a grocery store, a restaurant and a hotel.
* Has to be at least 2 acres. More would be good. 5-10 is plenty.
* Has to be cheap enough that $100-$500 is a reasonable contribution to expect per person. Yes, it's possible somebody might pitch in $5000, but let's not depend on dozens of people doing that.
* It would be nice if the property were mostly flat, bur with enough mild sloping in at least some places that earth sheltering and drainage issues are easier.
* Property taxes have to be low enough that they don't create issues. If it's $70/yr, people can pitch it $5-10, and somebody will just take care of it if there's a shortfall. If it's $2000/yr, that's a problem.
Things not particularly important to me, or that I don't want: * I think water and electrical access are probably not necessary provided it's close to grocery stores and things. Yes, we'll probably end up building permanent structures eventually, but log cabin/cob hut/pavillion tent is sufficient. Having a monthly water/sewage/electrical bill creates logistics difficulties.
* I would prefer the place not be completely covered in trees. I personally used to own some forest land in Lake Arrowhead, and however nice it sounds in theory, it can be difficult to build on because the trees get in the way. If it's big enough and has a couple areas with trees, maybe a river and some empty plains, that's ok, but a complete patch of dense woodlands is trouble we don't want. Have you ever cut down a tree? I have. It is not fun. Also, this idea of using on-site wood as building material...yeah, that's not as easy as dwarf fortress might lead you to believe. Also remember we're not going to have power outlets, so no power tools. Go to your garage and cut through a single pre-cut 2x4 with a hand saw, and then come back and tell us how you want to cut down trees and use them as building material.
* I don't require hunting to be an option
* I don't require a river or lake
* Doesn't need to be absolutely massive. Hundreds of acres means a dozen of us could all show up at the same time, deliberately look for each other and never find each other. Especially if it's all trees. 5 acres would be ok. 10 would be ok. 20 would be ok. 160 acres? It just doesn't need to be that big.