Showing how to get to a good BOL & what to do when there

**Mtnman Mike** · 04-17-2010, 02:53 AM

I thought it might be good to actually tell about in detail and show with many pics how one can get to a BOL - bug out location for those who might not know. And even tell and show how a BOL is set up and would function.

My location now is in a small city in northern Colorado and my BOL = survival retreat is about 200 miles to the northwest in Wyoming. That might seem like I am telling too much but I doubt any could find my BOL even though I have told close to where it is. It is covered in deep snow until June and the roads are closed within 7 miles of my BOL from Nov. to June.

So I will begin with a possible scenario that could happen. A biological or chemical attack might be more likely than a nuclear attack but for the sake of showing something more exciting than invisible viruses etc. I will show a possible nuclear attack on some cities. The first attack would be on New York City then other cities. The last one would be a nuke hitting Denver or possibly at NORAD and the military bases south of Denver.

First I will show Denver then explain as the pics come up. Later in this thread, hopefully some will join in with their own pics, even telling about what scenario would cause them to bug out such as a hurricane and how far they would travel etc.

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The Denver skyline is beautiful and peaceful now but it is still a major target, people can discuss why that would be if they do not know. Also discuss why any cities near them would be targets.

Hopefully there would be some warning but attacks can happen unexpectedly. New York City is the first city to be attacked>

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And another city >

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At the first report of NY city getting hit I am loading my 4x4 truck as fast as possible.

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Loading my truck with all the canned food, clothes and other supplies I can obtain quickly. I would also take at least 20 gallons of gas in secure gas cans so that I would not have to stop and buy gas.
Also throwing in the BOB - bug out bag just in case I would not be able to continue using the truck for some reason and would have to hike the rest of the way to the BOL. The packed BOB >

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Left town a couple hours earlier and now am almost halfway to my BOL and here is the first rest stop at a country church with a rest area, rest rooms etc. >

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The next rest area in the high mountains of the Snowy Range about 40 some miles left to go to the BOL >

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The parking lot near Lake Marie in the Snowy Range. Luckily it is empty for it is not quite the tourist season yet. >

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Stopped at this lake for a few minutes to try to catch some fish for later >

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Did catch a couple nice trout for dinner later >

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Another scene on the way to the BOL and now within 20 miles >

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The last small town I go through which fortunately is more quiet than usual and this is showing the nice museum in this town which is also a good rest stop area >

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Getting closer to the BOL and finally into the vast million acre national forest >

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Here is the top of the Continental Divide and Battle Pass which is fairly close to my BOL although very few If any would be able to find my retreat from here >

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A pretty rugged area near my mtn place >

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Getting closer >

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IF any think they can find my BOL simply by looking at these pics they are mistaken. These are real pics although not in order of going up to my retreat.
Here is the beginning of my private road which I have shown before >

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Going down the private road to my BOL >

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Almost there >

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It is a long narrow private road >

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It would be nice to travel this private road in the summer as shown here >

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But no, this bug out situation is when there is still quite a bit snow around, left over from the previous winter's snowpack >

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Shoveling snow to get up the driveway >

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Finally made it to the top of my driveway after 4 hours of shoveling 3 foot deep hard packed and icy snow >

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Made it to the BOL - my remote mtn survival retreat after a 4 hour drive and then shoveling snow to park in a secure area but the next posts I will show more how I set up and use the BOL

**Mtnman Mike** · 04-17-2010, 02:57 AM

After getting to my BOL - remote survival retreat, I set up camp.

(It may seem like these pics are the same as some previous pics I have posted in another thread, because some are the same but there are many new pics in this thread also. I must show some of the same pics to show how I set up a camp and able to Live on my retreat for months.)

One of the first things I do is set up the tent since it is getting late and I must set up camp before it gets dark.
The 8x8 foot dome tent I use with tarps over it for more protection from heavy rains, hail, snow etc. and a wire fence to help keep out a bear or at least slow him down if he would try to get in >

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The next priority is to get water from the nearby spring that flows thru my mtn land. >

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Using the Big Berkey water filter in my shower - water tent >

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Here is a pipe that flows from a spring just above my land where the water comes out of the rocks.

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Early the next day I start cutting down trees to put across the road and to make more security, luckily so far no one has come down my private road >

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Pulling tree trunks with my Ford F-250 using a long and strong logging chain >

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MM Mike tying down slash which can be burned later for fuel etc. >

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Pulling the logs faster for time is short >

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One of the largest piles of 20 to 25 foot long logs to be used for building, firewood and especially now to close the road and for more security >

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I truly hope that tanks etc. will never come down my private road. In the winter and if it rains a lot possibly the road would be too soft or difficult for heavy tanks to travel. Although I have seen a bulldozer go down it once.
But to theorize and even fantasize about how to stop tanks I was thinking of using rocks and especially logs. I have some steep hillsides and one is like a 20 plus foot cliff. I was thinking that possibly could have a large stack of logs held by cables and then cut the cables and let the logs fall, rolling down the hill off the cliff and onto tanks etc. Hopefully disabling or even knocking them off the road down the mountain.

Or If I had a lot of help and more cables and could set this up also >

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Most probably won't happen but looks like fun?

This all of course is only as a last resort and only used if TEOTWAWKI , a police state, nuclear war etc. happens.

But as some have said such as in Benson's "The Survival Retreat" laying low and being well camoflaged and off the radar is best and avoid conflict if at all possible.

A view from the high ground on my BOL looking down on the private road >

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I could put up more pics although if any wish to see more I have shown maybe look here > http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=9812 or even my homepage.

Hope others will also share what they have done, plan to do, how they will get to their BOL and what scenario such as a hurricane or whatever would make them bug out.

Just trying to show that it is possible to make it to a BOL and it will work if one has knowledge and experience. Some can spend much money and have a fancy BOL which can be a nice remote well stocked cabin or just have a camper or tent. Whatever works in various situations. I am showing what works as I have practiced survival on my retreat from June to Nov. for the past ten years.

Any questions, comments or criticism is welcome.
Please remember that a BOL - survival retreat is a place to go to Live, Not die. It's a place that contains the means to survive without outside support, as some of us can show in this thread.

**Mtnman Mike** · 04-17-2010, 03:27 AM

After I set up the camp, outhouse, solar panels etc. I could build a cabin, hopefully with one or two other guys helping.

Here is a small cabin { 12 x 14 feet } I did help build 3 years ago, a little over a mile downhill from my mtn retreat >

First showing the unloaded truck load of lumber hauled up to the neighbor's mountain cabin site >

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The partially built small cabin >

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Back of the small cabin being built >

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The small but nice woodstove inside the cabin being built >

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The inside the cabin view of the woodstove >

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The small sink inside the small cabin >

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The sleeping pads and hanging electric solar powered lights in the loft of the cabin >

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Green metal roof after we got it on using scaffolds. Only 2 of us built this >

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Same small cabin in the middle of winter >

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MM Mike standing outside this small cabin Jan. 2009 >

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Nearby neighbor's 2 story outhouse, which 2 story outhouse's have been built in the snow country of the mountains for over 100 years. The snowpack gets up to 12 feet deep so the outhouses are high to be above the snow >

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The above outhouse also has a stain glass window

in it as well as costing more than my $2,000 bunker.

Here is the roof of my underground bunker/shelter showing the layers of plastic, tarps, dirt, sod etc. I covered it with a little over 2 feet of dirt and rocks and around the front and back door there is 3 feet of concrete and rocks >

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Here is the mostly completed roof of my bunker showing the dead tree on top for camo, grass covered roof behind rock wall, black steel beam, the black stovepipe, the plywood covered window and rock wall on left and camo shed on right and old snow drift in the bottom middle of pic >

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And the back trap door surrounded by 3 feet of concrete and rocks >

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But here are some pics of the solar power set up I have and mostly the fancy solar power system for the small cabin I helped build >
http://www.survivalistboards.com/sho...951&page=5=#92

And here is one of the closest fishing lakes, 3 miles west of my land near the Continental Divide >

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And a nice sunset pic near my mtn paradise, I mean place >

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**canid** · 04-17-2010, 03:29 AM

that's some gorgeous country there.

i don't anticipate having to 'bug out' at the first sign of an emergency on general principle, but there may come a situation in which it is the safest response.

it's certainly a good idea to have that option open before you need it, rather than at the last moment. the best options i've got in the event of a long term evacuation are 1.) other cities where i have friends or family or 2.) any of the many areas i trek where the population is a couple of deer, cows and coyotes per square miles.

my sister's got a small place in southern michigan that needs a load of work.

**skully** · 04-17-2010, 03:35 AM

Dude chillout your sooooooo paranoid
but a good idea I have one in the outback over time I built a small cabin and it's pretty close to eatable plant's and a buetiful running stream (thats drinkable water)

**crashdive123** · 04-17-2010, 08:07 AM

Great pics MMM. Thanks for taking us along on the trip.

**Rick** · 04-17-2010, 08:19 AM

Very nice photo layout, Mike.

As to your question, I didn't vote. The reason is it's a non-issue to me. If it's right for you then it's right. As for me, I think a BOL is sort of hoping things happen some place else. You have no guarantee that...

1. Your BOL won't be downwind from an event.
2. You'll actually be able to make it there.
3. Someone won't already have taken up residence and be annoyed that you show up.
4. Someone won't have already helped themselves to your supplies (some on here have already had that happen).
5. Wherever you are now isn't the target so you're in fine shape to head to the BOL.
6. You won't need to head in the opposite direction of your BOL should something happen.

If you have a BOL then you get stuck in your head that you HAVE to go THERE. After all, that's your safe place and where your supplies are. It would be hugely difficult to say, "Going there is the wrong thing to do".

If you don't have a BOL then you're pretty much free to do whatever your improvised plan says you need to do.

That's another set of reasons why I'm a Bug In kind of guy.

Again, if it's right for you then it's right. Period.

**Mtnman Mike** · 04-17-2010, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by skully

Dude chillout your sooooooo paranoid
but a good idea I have one in the outback over time I built a small cabin and it's pretty close to eatable plant's and a buetiful running stream (thats drinkable water)

Thanks for the comments guys. Except the above one. Not exactly sure what you mean skully. IF I am soooo paranoid then I would NOT even tell Anything about my BOL - which I like to call my remote mtn survival retreat and vacation - play and work and private area to practice and Live survival.

I used to be more paranoid and was almost like a hermit for a few years. But I have gotten to know the neighbors with cabins within two miles of my mtn land.

Hope everyone can do what they need and want to do whether bugging in which hope nothing bad happens in your bug in area such as a hurricane, earthquake, martial law etc. etc.

**Mtnman Mike** · 04-17-2010, 08:47 AM

And all other comments are good and welcome. Even criticism if it makes sense.

Crashdive, I could have put up almost twice as many pics but many of them are on the first pic thread I made and did not want to post too many of the same pics.

And Rick. I could go point by point why my remote mtn retreat is very good. And is well located etc. etc. I agree that many BOLs may or may not be very good. I like mine for it is a beautiful, well located area with an abundance of water, wood and wildlife.
And I would hate to have to try to find a good area to flee to If necessary, since many many others also will be fleeing cities, possibly even Denver which is the nearest Big city near me. I could also ride a bike or even my dirt bike up to my BOL = retreat for I have two 55 gallon drums packed full of food, locked in my bunker. So I don't Have to take food etc. up except to just have even more, for possible others who might also join me.

Even IF Nothing bad Ever happens it is an excellent vacation spot, even in the winter for excellent skiing and snowshoeing. I just have to make a warmer cabin...

At least one person has tried to get inside my underground shelter/bunker but they only succeeded in bending a piece of metal on the door.

But someday hopefully within a year or two my BOL - retreat will become my Bug In location and permanent place to live. Although in the winter I might be able to live in the closest town - Encampment, Wyoming and the rest of the year on my mtn place.

One more thing is that a guy from Arizona is riding 2 horses with a pack mule from AZ to my mtn retreat and he will most probably be there a little after mid June. He just crossed over the NM - Colorado border a day or so ago from an email I got from him.

Maybe I will tell more about him although he doesn't want too much told, at least while he is traveling with the horses. Not every day or even every decade that I get someone riding a horse to my mtn place.

**PNW** · 04-17-2010, 09:29 AM

Beautiful pictures, beautiful country.
I do have a couple of questions. If your going in to your BOL during a snow time, what about tracks? That would seen to announce that you were going somewhere with a purpose and a reason. Not hard to make the assumption you had 'stuff' to live on.

The location of the stovepipe in the bunker. Too me it looks really vunerable. Just plug it up, and you'll come out.

Just curious.

**Mtnman Mike** · 04-17-2010, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by PNW

Beautiful pictures, beautiful country.
I do have a couple of questions. If your going in to your BOL during a snow time, what about tracks? That would seen to announce that you were going somewhere with a purpose and a reason. Not hard to make the assumption you had 'stuff' to live on.

The location of the stovepipe in the bunker. Too me it looks really vunerable. Just plug it up, and you'll come out.

Just curious.

Thanks for the questions. I actually like answering questions especially about my mtn retreat.

About snow is that if it snows one day then it snows many times for a couple days or so up there. So If I had to go up there when there is snow and would leave tracks the tracks would be covered fairly quickly. Also the state highway is closed with a locked gate about six miles downhill from my land, from mid Nov. to early June. Thus adding more to the security.
The forest service and even deputies watch that road and fine people or worse If they dare go around the locked gate with a vehicle other than a snowmobile. And snowmobiles almost never go down my mile plus long private road. I have seen a snowmobile stuck in a snowdrift when they got off the groomed trail of the state highway.

And as I have said someday soon I will probably be living up there anyway and I would not leave many if any tracks on the private road especially If the SHTF...

AND if the SHTF I might not use the stovepipe too much if at all, especially if I think there are raiders about. I can seal my deep - up to nine feet deep - bunker. And the temp can stay around fifty degrees without a fire in the woodstove.
I have good thermals, goose down vests, ski coat etc. very warm clothes so unless it is necessary I don't even have a fire going too much. And IF it is way below zero then I truly doubt any raiders will be around either.

And there are a couple dozen nice cabins raiders would break into long before they would even find my bunker which is on the highest ground of the private land. I can see almost all of the private road and can see anyone coming up.

I have tried to think of all possible problems and I think I have solved them. Any other potential problems people can see with my bunker and or retreat please tell, for I Might have not thought of it before..

**hunter63** · 04-17-2010, 10:40 AM

Thanks, Mike, for the tour, beautiful country.
Checking out the neighbors always a good idea, might need some one to cover your tail or theirs.

**Justin Case** · 04-17-2010, 12:31 PM

Awesome Tour !!! Thanks

I dont think you are paranoid,, In fact I am Jealous ! you are a lucky and smart guy !

**Alaskan Survivalist** · 04-17-2010, 01:03 PM

I live on outskirts of the road system so bugging out for me is from a location similar to your bug out location. Mountains ensure not many will be following and I will have the high ground when they catch me. I don't worry about purchasing BOL, where I am going is not owned and if it gets that bad land titles will mean little. Were I you I would be living at BOL and be figuring to bug out from there. Think how far ahead of the game you would be then.

**Ken** · 04-17-2010, 01:05 PM

MM, thanks for the pics and the narrative. Given my location, that plan won't work for me if the mushroom clouds start rising over NYC, but there was still some real good info there.

Originally Posted by Mtnman Mike

Thanks for the comments guys. Except the above one. Not exactly sure what you mean skully.

Don't worry about Skully.

He's just trying to fill a very small pair of boots left behind by someone who's not here anymore: http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ber.php?u=1181

**Ken** · 04-17-2010, 02:50 PM

1 Megaton Surface Blast: Fallout

One of the effects of nuclear weapons detonated on or near the earth’s surface is the resulting radioactive fallout. Immediately after the detonation, a great deal of earth and debris, made radioactive by the blast, is carried high into the atmosphere, forming a mushroom cloud. The material drifts downwind and gradually falls back to earth, contaminating thousands of square miles. This page describes the fallout pattern over a seven-day period.

Assumptions
Wind speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: due east
Time frame: 7 days

3,000 Rem*
Distance: 30 miles
Much more than a lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within hours of exposure. About 10 years will need to pass before levels of radioactivity in this area drop low enough to be considered safe, by U.S. peacetime standards.

900 Rem
Distance: 90 miles
A lethal dose of radiation. Death occurs from two to fourteen days.

300 Rem
Distance: 160 miles
Causes extensive internal damage, including harm to nerve cells and the cells that line the digestive tract, and results in a loss of white blood cells. Temporary hair loss is another result.

90 Rem
Distance: 250 miles
Causes a temporary decrease in white blood cells, although there are no immediate harmful effects. Two to three years will need to pass before radioactivity levels in this area drop low enough to be considered safe, by U.S. peacetime standards.

*Rem: Stands for “roentgen equivalent man.” This is a measurement used to quantify the amount of radiation that will produce certain biological effects.

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/nuclear/

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Just sayin'.

**Rick** · 04-17-2010, 04:06 PM

Mike,

I can't argue with anything you've said. Nor were any of my comments meant to discourage anyone from establishing a BOL. That's just what happens to be right for me and my family and my thoughts are trying to get from home to point A, where ever that might be.

**BENESSE** · 04-17-2010, 06:36 PM

M Mike, I loved your the step by step pictorial narrative.
Makes sense. Not an option for me and I'm cool with it.
I will however, be making the best of it in NYC. We all know we're #1 on everyone's $hit list and we're ready.
First line of defense starts in Gotham and we're just gonna hold everything at bay 'til y'all make it to your respective BOLs.
Then when it's all over we'll come over for a weenie roast or visit Ken for a Chateaubriand and Petrus '75.
That's my plan so far.