Good bug-out locations near your hometown

I've been trying to decide on a realistic and relatively close bug-out location and have settled on a place about 14 hour drive from where I live. I figure that the myself and most of the people here are the type that follow news very closely and would recognize the approach of sit X and be able to beat the crowds out of a city center.

Mine is a remote mining town pop 8000 in Labrador, Canada. Pretty darn remote and enough wilderness around to survive indefinately if you had the right supplied and skills. I am slowly building a few large storage bins with my long-term survival kit, gear that could all be crammed in my Sedan if need be.

One question I had is, assuming you bug-out to a small town where you know no one, what is your plan for shelter once you get there? Setup in the wilderness outside of the city, save a nestegg of money for long term hotel/motel stay? Try to befriend locals?

I'm anxious to hear where others would plan to go.

reply to post by koytetsu


As I live in the UK I'm fairly sure I could cover the length of the county with a 14 hour (dedicated) drive, but 5 hours hard walk would see me fairly deep in my local national park Dartmoor

14 hours will also get you top to bottom in the US in some areas. do you really need to go that far? =)

i live in NC and in the case of any "bug out" i'm thinking the mountains to the west would be a good first step and they're only about 2 hrs away. that or get a boat and take to the atlantic - hope i don't encounter any patrols and find a nice island or remote area to settle in.

Unfortunately to satisfy my worries yes 14 hours is necessary. I pretty much am only concerned with one sit X and that would be full scale nuclear war. I am in Atlantic Canada where the threats of natural disasters, government collapse, or anything else is practically zero.

If the US was bombed pretty much anywhere, the jet stream would carry the fallout directly over my city, along with the fact we are a stage 2 target if russia was to nuke the US (due to munitions depots, NATO radar and comm stations and it being one of the largest military ports on the east coast of NA). There are plenty of rural and totally untouched areas near my home but none of them are far enough away from the jet stream to avoid massive fallout.

With something like Nuclear war there is a hell of a lot of build up time compared to a natural disaster in which to prepare. I watch the news so closely I'm sure that I'd have my car packed and on the road before most people even clued in that they should even be worried. That and the fact there is virtually no traffic en route to where I would be headed. Also there is an option to take a ferry there which would cut about 4 hours off the trip and assuming I took the ferry before the situation became obvious to everyone, would be relatively safe.

It may sound extremely paranoid but I think my next short vacation I'm going to make the drive up and get a feel for the area, see what the small town is like and maybe learn some landmarks.

I don't have a specific bugout location in mind in terms of a specific house or town, but simply a general area in northern Ontario which is about a 6 or 7 hour car ride away.

However, I have a certain "safety zone" where I feel that once I get to that point, I have pretty much passed the majority of danger and gotten away from dense population... that area is about a 1 hour car ride away. I think my group could bike to it down various nature trails, etc avoiding most roads that we could in about 4 hours with a backpack full of gear. This would be my first goal to reach, and day 1 of any bugout operation I undertook. Then I would pull off the road/trails a few hundred metres into the brush/forest and prepare for the night, and start the expedition to the final location the next morning (which I estimate would take a gruelling 3 or 4 days on bike, with no complications.)


[edit on 9/12/2007 by Yarcofin]

I've been thinking of different places I could go, but my wonderful family just pats me on the head saying," Okay Mom." Unfortunately, we live about 30 miles outside of LA so if we get hit it probably wouldn't matter anyways. I just hope that if something were to happen, I could have everybody with me. I try to set up emergency plans and I have supplies but they think I'm just bonkers. Maybe I am.

I have my 4 wheel drive ready,plus am looking to relocate in the hills near Mt Shasta do my own organic farming etc,hope I'm remote enough

The Idaho mountains, northeast of Cascade Idaho. Clean water, hot springs, salmon, deer, elk and plenty of fire wood. Less than 2.5 hous drive with an rv.
Bugging-out, though this is a difficult decision and as a last resort to this economic downturn, the following should prove helpful:
A) A location with-in 100 miles that can provide water, soil for gardens, timber for shelter and heating and wildlife (deer, elk, salmon) for food. This location should be off the beaten path and within 5 miles of resources such as old buildings, cabins or alike in which to gleen materials.
B) Immediate shelter, a recreational vehicle.
C) A supply of dried foods, garden seeds (a seed bank) and clorox to purify water (16 drops per gallon).
D)A inexpensive barrel stove
E) Shovels, ax's, roto-tiller, chain saw, sledge hammer & splitting wedge an minimum.
F) Fire arms with a reasonable supply of bullets. (Suggest a Ruger 10/22 and something along the lines of a AR14)
G) Your FISHING POLE..

With the basic's you can survive for years, but it won't be easy, and the winters will be long and cold. You'll have plenty to do during the non-winter months getting ready to survive the winter.
Above all, be safe, prevent accidents, avoid detection and confrontation, and above all have a fall-back plan.
Signed: Idaho Chex

A couple of questions always come to mind when people discuss bug out locations. How many of you have actually taken the time to actually do recon on your selected site? How do you know otherwise if it's truly secluded and unknown to others? It'd be a real bummer to drive 14hrs and find your spot already occupied by dozens of people.

Also, the more remote the location, the father away you are from any assistance you may require. Have any of you had any medical training in the event of serious injuries or illness like broken legs, broken arms, diabetic crisis, or burst appendixes, etc.?

You have to have bug out locations nearer to you as well. If, God forbid, there was a nuclear incident close to you, your best bet maybe staying in place in a shelter with at least a few days food & water. The fallout from a nuclear bomb decays somewhat rapidly so even a few days in a shelter with mass between you and fallout may be safer than getting caught out in the open driving to your destination.

Originally posted by an0maly33
14 hours will also get you top to bottom in the US in some areas. do you really need to go that far? =)

When the hurricane hit new orleans many families found themselves driving for 14 or more hours in first gear and not getting anywhere fast.

14 hours at 50 MPH on an open road is one thing, 14 hours on a highway clogged with refugees is another. plan for the worst scenario.

Mt. Rainier Washington state has millions and millions of acres of woods/wilderness around it. Just a 5 minute drive and I'm there. It will be a little cold but when the gestapo comes around I do not want to be here at home.

BAE Warton isn't too far from me and I know that is a CAT 1-2 strike area.
For me it's a long haul to the Cheviots and borderlands but doable from Lancashire. A fair few places

We've got the Manchester and Liverpool city folk nearby. So some of them might make a run as well.
As long as I've a bit of a headstart and my BOV is ready I'll hopefully be in the clear and of buzzed up to NRs domain for a cuppa and a palaver

reply to post by WatchRider

I imagine this is pretty much the same story for all over England, if not U.K.

Just like the statistic that a human is never more than 1 metre from a rat you can pretty much guarantee that you're never more than 40 miles from a settlement or military installation.

One memory from my childhood (1980s) was my childminder's son drawing a regional map in condensation, complete with RAF bases and then preceded to draw blast areas from nukes.

My town was literally wiped off the window.


[edit: grammar and clarity]

[edit on 10-2-2009 by Nirgal]

Interesting thread. I'm not going to say where my homestead is at, but here's an idea..

Look at a picture of the North America at night. Try and find a nice dark spot.

[edit on 2/11/2009 by nasdack24k]

Anyone in Texas have any good suggestions? I live in San Antonio and the best spot that i can think of is Canyon Lake. Any advice on better places?

A 14 hour drive from my home town would probably have me smack dead-center in the middle of nowhere here in Australia

Not very arable land though, and the middle of a desert would be a sit x in itself.

Depends on the country I guess, a country like Australia is very sparsely populated.

Villagers and townsfolk might be a bit wary of newcomers to their little nook in a sit x

Originally posted by WatchRider

As long as I've a bit of a headstart and my BOV is ready I'll hopefully be in the clear and of buzzed up to NRs domain for a cuppa and a palaver

If that is your intention then we should meet and discvuss mutual cooperation?

Originally posted by koytetsu
Unfortunately to satisfy my worries yes 14 hours is necessary. I pretty much am only concerned with one sit X and that would be full scale nuclear war. I am in Atlantic Canada where the threats of natural disasters, government collapse, or anything else is practically zero.

If the US was bombed pretty much anywhere, the jet stream would carry the fallout directly over my city, along with the fact we are a stage 2 target if russia was to nuke the US (due to munitions depots, NATO radar and comm stations and it being one of the largest military ports on the east coast of NA). There are plenty of rural and totally untouched areas near my home but none of them are far enough away from the jet stream to avoid massive fallout.

With something like Nuclear war there is a hell of a lot of build up time compared to a natural disaster in which to prepare. I watch the news so closely I'm sure that I'd have my car packed and on the road before most people even clued in that they should even be worried. That and the fact there is virtually no traffic en route to where I would be headed. Also there is an option to take a ferry there which would cut about 4 hours off the trip and assuming I took the ferry before the situation became obvious to everyone, would be relatively safe.

It may sound extremely paranoid but I think my next short vacation I'm going to make the drive up and get a feel for the area, see what the small town is like and maybe learn some landmarks.

Your prognosis is pretty good, just one thing though.

If the fallout starts while your in your car you are dead.

I'd make considerations for a 14 day expedient shelter near
your current location, then after that bugout the full distance
to survive nuclear winter if you can.

If you really are planning to survive nuclear winter keep in
mind radioactive isotopes will be in the soil, and the dust in
the air.

You will need to breath thru layers of cotton, and have a geiger
counter that will detect Beta, and Alpha partciles in addition to the
Gamma radiation given off during the initial 14 days of fallout.

Those alpha and betas last about 28 yrs, and tend to concentrate
in certain areas of the environment.

One weird thing near chernobyl was radioactive trees I believe.

So firewood would prolly be a bad idea.

When you consider it all it gets pretty damn ugly, hope that mine is
a coal mine and if it is your psychic or damn smart.

Good Luck to you all !

Originally posted by stikkinikki
You have to have bug out locations nearer to you as well. If, God forbid, there was a nuclear incident close to you, your best bet maybe staying in place in a shelter with at least a few days food & water. The fallout from a nuclear bomb decays somewhat rapidly so even a few days in a shelter with mass between you and fallout may be safer than getting caught out in the open driving to your destination.

14 days and your in the clear unless fallout comes in from bombs
that went off more recently up to several hundred miles away.