finding a place

step 1: first off you need to locate a location that can meet your water neeeds and allow you to build a form of shelter but you need to be a little picky the woods next to the highway off ramp is not a good spot nor is privately owned land in most states squatters rights only work on existing structures and any primitive camp would not be covered and only net you a tresspassing and damage charges one way to prepare is go to local library and look up state, county and municipal codes and laws pertaining to forest land and national forests you can also look for corporate owned unused land alot of people were buying up land near cities with the intent on developing it but now no longer can or will as the housing market busted and its now pointless to develop additional subdivisions you can look at annex maps of counties for proposed future subdivisions or expansions than drive out and look and see if any development has been started if none look for the corp that owns the land and check their bankruptcy status here in chicago there is great swathes of woodland they planned on developing and didnt and now the companies are in bankruptcy and the property will revert back to the state in a few years with no one monitoring it or maintaining it these are ideal location as there is no offended parties and if you are there long enough and your structure is sound enough you may eventually claim the land from the state with a small legal battle that some idealistic lawyer will take on for free but could net you years of free living on property
step 2: So you have a location that meets your needs of fresh clean or cleanable water within 100 yards of shelter
step 3: erect a shelter something that can keep u dry and warm for as long as u need it
step 4: setup a sanitary outhouse that safely removes or neutralizes bacteria in waste at least 10 yards from shelter u dont shit where u sleep waste draws animals and bugs and contains harmful bacteria properly dispose or cover it
step 4: stockpile food and store it outside and away from ur shelter in multiple caches it will draw animals and bugs if u keep it in ur shelter
step 5:improve location constantly and camouflage it from humans they are your biggest threat to ur hard work and sustainability an animal will eat ur stuff and shit in ur house but a human will destroy it for fun

it's sort of similar in a way, i mean in that there are public records you can check for maps and who owns a piece of land, etc.

other than that use common sense: can you set up a trail that won't be obvious to most people? depending on the area you could use a foot, deer or mountain bike trail, or whatever. you could have a trail starting straight off a motor road. but in any case you want to think about who is going along that path and how fast and what they will notice - maybe you can have your squat-trailhead start behind a tree, a conveniently flexible bush branch, or whatever.

then the squat itself you want to place either in a location no one will have much of a chance of seeing, or you want to make sure it's covered in green and/or brown tarps. or if its sturdy enough/you dont want to stay that long you could even just pile up branches and brush all over it.

didnt you live in santa cruz for years? why didn't you ask the woodsies? hipster asshole.