I beg to differ.

This is not like our ancestors have done it. They spread as far as they technologically could, simple as that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations

Some settlements survived, some died and got revived centuries later, but humans have continuously tried to settle further away, in a complex system that you can't reduced to "establish more or less independent [remote camps] that can survive without [base camp] indefinitely".

Space is more difficult only in it required more technology and resources, but it's the same (complex) expansion process that is hardwired in our specie since we were mere apes.