Although Knight’s initial intention was not to live in the woods, and he was definitely ill-prepared for that, he did have the desire to do one thing: to simply wander about, get lost and be completely alone. He had no desire in talking with people or encountering them. “Soon I lost track of where I was,” he would later say in an interview, speaking about his first few days out alone in the wilderness. “I didn’t care… I was content in the choice I had made.”
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Though he had some hunting experience, he took no hunting gear or weapons with him on his hastily-planned excursion. His first few weeks were spent foraging for the sparing food that existed in the wild, such as berries. Would this really be all he would survive on for the rest of his life?
The word hermit may conjure up any number of whimsical images. Some people might picture a crab curled up tightly in its spiraling shell. Other people may picture a sage elder who putters away, lost in meditation, deep in a cave, always ready to impart his wisdom upon a weary traveler. Simply put, a hermit is a person who chooses to live alone, often secluded from the outside world. Some people may choose the hermit way of life for religious reasons. Others might prefer it for the simplicity it brings.
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In Christopher Knight’s case, he was not led to this strange way of life due to any deep religious conviction or any clear reason. For him, it simply came to be. Unlike other hermits throughout history, he never resorted to begging or selling simple wares on the street in order to purchase food. He wanted absolutely no human contact whatsoever and he would go to any extremes to get what he wanted.
Although Knight wanted so badly to completely get lost in the wilderness, he eventually found a place where he wanted to settle and it was all a game of trial and error. His journey continued for several months and Knight found a few places that might work as his new “home”.
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There, he would finally was able to set up his few belongings that he brought with him. But there were still other, more pressing concerns that Knight could not escape from no matter how much he tried.
It didn’t take long for Knight to realize that the provisions he had brought with him wouldn’t do. This realization came at an unfortunate time: when he was uncomfortably experiencing the serious pangs of hunger. Despite the vastness of the Maine woods, there is hardly anything to eat. Some edible plants only last for a weekend before they are gone again. It would have been a different story if Knight had planned to hunt or fish, but he had not.
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As he walked on in a desperate search of food, he finally chanced upon his first taste of meat while in the wilderness: a dead bird on the road. He proceeded to eat it raw. It was meager and his plans for sustenance would soon need a more bountiful source. Even Knight himself didn’t expect he would resort to what came next…
Knight knew better than to break into unsuspecting people’s cabins right from the start. Not to mention, he had no desire to run into another soul or to have his budding solitude disturbed.
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He began stealing small items from gardens, taking an ear of corn here, a tomato there. Sometimes he’d work up the courage to dig up some extra vegetables. Nothing that couldn’t be blamed on a hungry, inquisitive rabbit, really.
