VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – A new waterfront homeless camp has set up on London Bridge Creek in Virginia Beach.

In the Lynnhaven neighborhood off of Dean Drive, it’s close to an industrial park and is across the creek from Eureka Park, which is three blocks away once you cross the creek.

The homeless camp is isolated and not easy to get to, and that’s how those who live there appear to like it.

Chopper 10 flew above the camp to give you an idea of its size and location, nestled under westbound Interstate 264. 

10 On Your Side viewer Jim Stauffer travels in that area and noticed it.

“I’ve called the non-emergency number and asked for a wellness check,” Stauffer said, “but they could not help me because I didn’t have a specific person to ask for or a physical location for them to go to.”

So, he called 10 On Your Side and we set out across the abandoned train trestle, and across the London Bridge Creek to find out who lives at the camp and whether they are OK. 

We branched off from the trestle and we found the first camp where Kris Laflamme lives. 

“Why do I live here,” Laflamme said. “I like to walk around to find a place to be at peace.”

He said that even though he lives amid the constant hum of I-264 westbound at the Lynnhaven exit.  

“It’s a place where I can go and read so I do a lot of reading,” Laflamme said. “I cook every once in a while.” 

Noting the trash on the ground, he said he would get some trash bags and clean it up.

“Clean up the trash and somehow carry it out,” Laflamme said.

That will be hard to do because it’s a long way out of the woods. 

Laflamme also demonstrated how he cooks on a Coleman grill and how one time, the fire department came down off of I-264 and cut a hole in the fence to follow the smoke on the interstate to his Coleman cooker.

“They didn’t say much,” Laflamme said, “but they said we know you have to cook, but you got smoke, billowing across the interstate.”

Does he think he’s in a good place in which to live?

“I have a pretty good spot,” Laflamme said. “It is waterfront, and I have a fishing license, so I can go fishing if I want.” 

Another 300 yards away, at another, completely waterfront site on the property, there’s a boat owned by a man who calls himself Matt Gross, and it’s tied up to a makeshift dock.

“Where do I take my boat,” Gross said. “Well, to the Wawa and Amazon where I go in the dumpster to get something to eat.”

Gross gets his food from a trash dumpster, and doesn’t take kindly to strangers.  

“I run them off,” Gross said. ” tell them there are no visitors allowed. … There aren’t any people who come over here.”

Stauffer’s original research showed that the property is considered tidal marshland, and it appears at least part of it is owned by the city of Virginia Beach. Any part that may be owned by individuals would have to be determined by title reports. 

Gross made a point of mentioning the American flag that is hanging as part of what he calls his independence – that he wants to live alone and unbothered.

He hopes it stays that way.