That's funny, I had planned to rewild in the same area, though the population of grizzlies had me a bit concerned. I also would have been fleeing from the law, so there's that!
Good luck though, hope you've practiced a lot before you do the real thing. You don't need ANY equipment but you do need a hefty toolbox of knowledge and the will to make it through the varying and adverse conditions. I will probably rewild in the next couple years and wander for a while. Right now I'm building my stores of knowledge.
Clothing
Knowledge of plants
Tool making
Cordage
Friction fire
water procurement in desert conditions
traps
Hunting
tracking
bird language (really the language of all animals, but birds do it the most and most noticeably)
Shelter (building/finding)
I'm sure there are some things I've forgotten.
I chose to ease in to my first rewilding experience on the island of Kaua'i in Hawai'i. Back in the valley of kalalau which is only accessible by air, foot or water, no roads. Back in there is a paradise of abundant fruit trees, easy to catch goats and not so easy pigs, plus all the seafood you could want, all the fresh water you could want (i was constantly warned about water-borne disease and not to drink straight water from the streams, I said bullshit and drank it anyway for a week, I was RVAF for 2 years at that point, so I had lost my fear of microbes pretty thoroughly)
Now after having spent many miserable nights outdoors and experiencing some of the adverse conditions that can be encountered I feel wayyyy more confident about thriving in the wilderness. In fact I now feel confident enough to walk out the door but ass naked in the spring time and spend all 365 days outdoors having made all my implements and clothing.
I hope you've practiced and filled your toolkit with knowledge before you go. Sounds like you did! Man, how luxurious would it be to go take a dip in a hot spring whenever you wanted to? Lay under the stars at night. Go swimming in the summer. Wander and totally forget about time. That is the way life should be IMHO.
One question though. You say you'd do warm weather but you need to be able to store food through winter. That seems kind of contradictory. The advantage of warm weather places is that you'd always have plant food once you knew which to take advantage of plus the added benefit of meat from hunting. If you ever read "voyage of the Beagle" by that old codger Darwin you'd hear about tribes of warm weather islands who had not a care in the world. When they were hungry they would eat, when tired that would sleep, with very little real labor at all. Trust me, after my experience in Kaua'i there is paradise on earth, where even the most clueless hippy can thrive in want of no necessity.
