Heading for the hills: Probably a fatal choice!

Just my ramblings, my insights and misguided thoughts... so as you read this take as an old mans rantings... Of course this old man does now a lot more about things than they give me credit for

There is nothing new about talking to your buddies about what you'd do if things go horribly wrong and you have to get out... this is been a topic at the bar shared over a cold pitcher of beer for as long as I've been around. And in most cases when I query those friends where they would go the answer always seems to be the same...

"Why I'll take the family up into the hills of course!"

Everyone says that, but why.... is there food and shelter up there??? Going it alone up in the mountains sound safer than standing your ground? Back in my old home Albuquerque the Civil defence folks had a plan where a major earthquake would wipe out the city... the survivors would then be directed to the mountains to the east were they would have staged emergency supplies... problem is... with all the bridges down people would have to hike some 30 miles on foot up some of the most rugged terrain this side of the Swiss Alps to get there...
As I studied that plan I got the feeling that the powers that be planed on shipping off 2/3 of the population, mostly the poor and disenfranchised... leaving more resources and goodies for the chosen few, as it were...

Then we have all the bad guys... the punks and thugs... do you really think a large part of the population on the move would go unnoticed??? Predators always follow their pray picking off the weak infirm lame and young... your not getting into those hills without a fight...

then as it turns out there is most likely already people living up in them Thar hills... or at least you'll be crossing there land to get to where you want to be... in truth most country folk are really nice and hospitable, until it comes to thousands of city folk suddenly descending on their ranches and family farms... I never met a rancher who wasn't armed to the teeth... maybe an old hippy hold out but even a peace loving hippy is going to fight to keep what little they have....

Lastly when you leave, where you are, your leaving ground you know and know well... When I lived in the city I knew where the warehouse district was, places you could find forgotten dry and can goods... each and every water-heater stores some 80 to 125 gallons of fresh drinking water... if you know how to get at it...and even an abandoned senior center will most likely have a few medical supplies left over... if you can put up with the stench of rotting bodies, that is... would you really walk away from that in favor of a place you know not at all???

Still if you insist on heading for the hills do so well in advance, buy yourself a small plot of land, get to know your neighbours, pre plant food plots, visit often so you get accumulated and learn that lay of the land. otherwise you might end up stopped at a road block by someone like me,one with little sense of humor when it comes to trespassers and very well armed...

Don't take my word for it... just look at these photos of how others managed there flight from fight
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cd43e63eccc5.jpg[/atsimg]
Sinhalese refugees walking a road leading to Colombo after being displaced by the vicious Civil War earlier this year
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/37d5596aaa1c.jpg[/atsimg]
even if you have a car... surly you remember what happened to the highways when the hurricane hit Houston... yup one big traffic jam

Excellent point.
I don't think many have thought about that. Personally, I will be doing both, as I am in/from "them-thar-hills" lol. So, I have the "luxury' of being in the safest place, and I already know the lay of the land!!
And yes, THESE peace loving hippies will fight to keep what is theirs.

I come from the Black Hills Of South Dakota and i must agree that many "city slickers" would be pretty out of sorts there. I currently reside in Minneapolis area but figure to go HOME if and when the s@#$ hits the fan so to speak. I appreciate the hot water heater tip. So simple that it was easy to overlook. I will definately be filing that away in the mental roladex. This site may keep me alive yet lol.

Actually "heading for the hills is a very good idea - but only if you do it ahead of the disaster. We did it 15 years ago and have been preparing since then - ready to live off grid - grow and can our own non radioactive foods. We bought up enough acreage to have room to take in those who will need it. Even built a second 3 bedroom 2 bath house for someone who will need it. So if you're ready to work in conjunction with others growing organic vegetables with space to hunt deer, grouse, wild turkey . . .give me a u2u.

reply to post by regor77


Just so you know... water-heater water likes to stay where it is even if the bottom valve is opened...
they make a little pump to get it all out... but like I said I'm an old guy,and back in the day whenever we had to drain one to put in a new one my dad would make me blow into the top of it... water came out the bottom... I got dizzy

I get the idea if the bubble was about to burst, most wont get through their first set of traffic lights, and most couldn't carry a 20kg pack for more than a mile. Good luck, and its a shame that those gun totting hippies largely gave up the fight against the evil and settled for a cage so to speak.

Brilliant thread - i also haven't thought about that before. I've always questioned the underground bunkers though. Who would want to be underground with the waters rising and the earth shaking.......

Think your missing the main point if you aint in them thar hills and on lowlands you better have a boat as the most likely thing thats going to get you is the water either general flooding or tsunami maybe even rising ocean levels. Either way to survive at all you need to be up high maybe the waters will receed but initially you need to be well above sea level and well away from the coast and major rivers.
Just my 2 bob

reply to post by DaddyBare


I am heading to a FEMA camp.


lol You make a good point. I was going to say make sure you have something to trade, valuable or that would gain you entrance and acceptance but without a means of protecting it, it would just get stolen and you left for dead.

Lucky for me if I beat the disaster to "the stronghold", the Black Hills are the closest hills to the geographical center of the continent so if I need a boat there there truely is no hope. Thanks alot now i gotta go shopping for a pontoon.

Hey Bare...
No arguement there.. tough to walk over the dead to survive...

But those that have put us here...they are already protected... I'm certain you know what I mean..

One must dig deep to see who will be living well!

Good insight!

Jesse

reply to post by newcovenant


As for trade items forget the obvious and subsequently heavy things... if you have to move pack light...
Vitamins and antibiotics meds of that type will be worth far more than gold.. think small lightweight only things you can carry in your pocket or fanny pack... that way if you have to drop your main pack to make a run for it you'll still have your trade goods on you, right?

One of the biggest things to think about is the people in the hills already have their selves established. They have their emergency supplies based on their numbers NOW. If a huge influx of people came to squat on their land and hope for free handouts, I can only think the people who live there might tell you to get lost. It won't take long at all to develop into an old west style justice system. People would be surprised how fast that would happen. Weeks, not months.

reply to post by DaddyBare


The immediate plan should be to bunker up and wait. Don't head anywhere, let the unprepared panickers have their go at one another, while you sit at home in a defensible position. After a week or two, then it might be time to consider the hills, or valleys, or caves, or some more natural situation.

Hills have the benefit of high ground, easier to defend, less chance of floods, but they are also susceptible to air strikes, cold weather, and harsh terrain.

Every position has its pros and cons, so it should really be where someone is the most comfortable, most prepared, most familiar.

Listen to the old man here people, he knows what he's talking about.
Very rare is the person who could live off the land, never mind entire groups of people!
Those who have land would do well to find family or very good friends with desirable skills to help you hold your own.
Face it, no one can keep watch 24/7 and provide for themselves at the same time - it's impossible.
I would say a small group no bigger than what that land can support is the ideal situation.
Signed: Another old man.

reply to post by network dude


I am 113 miles from the nearest "Big City" Almost forty small towns and villages between us....
If TSHTF those city folk would most likely overrun the first few of those places but as word spread "There coming there coming!" Farmer Brown and his dozen or so kids would be out blowing bridges and staging dead cars to stem the tide.... Yeah I know my neighbours,,,, gotta love them country boys

reply to post by Asktheanimals

Tips my hat to a fellow old guy...
and so ya all know we said old not couch potatoes
or arm chair quarterbacks... Stopped by Wal-Mart the other day... $3.96 for a gallon of milk....
damn glad I have a milking cow... and chickens... do ya think a city boy would know ya gotta pluck that bird before you boil it??? Yeah we're old but we're not stupid

reply to post by getreadyalready


I use to tell people to stay where you are for at least a year.... make that through at least one full winter...
I figure by then most of the less hardy will no longer be a threat... the numbers spread out and things, well, slightly more normal, or at least people too busy with staying alive. Who knows... those hill people might be glad to see you after a year, if just for stories about how bad things got.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Good advice!

I think "bunkering up" has its own strategies that need to be discussed. How to not become a target for marauders and thieves. How to conserve resources. How to prepare ahead of time. How to defend the position if it is attacked. Etc., Etc.

There are plenty of survival and evasion threads, perhaps I should make a "bunker up and stay home" thread, LOL!

It won't take long at all to develop into an old west style justice system.

reply to post by network dude


Well, I don't know where you live, but it seems to me that every major urban area ALREADY has an old-west style justice system in place. Shoot-outs run rampant in the urban core of the metro area in which I am currently trapped by family obligations and the economy. The only reason I am not on a rural piece of property is that I made a really stupid choice in mates - who subsequently destroyed what I had and left me holding the bag.

I had only 2.5 acres, but it would have been enough to subsist on. Now I have a home on 1/3 an acre (not a small yard...trust me, I have to mow it and rake it), about 1 mile from a major river, and a boat sitting in my driveway on a trailer. Sadly i had to sell my horses (another of my post-disaster safety nets)...but I still have a saddle. I can still grow stuff to eat, and am on top of a hill...with enormous walnut trees, wild edible plants, established berry canes, and lots of bunnies and squirrels around, plenty of firewood, and a little bit of stuff to trade, plus skills to barter with.

I am now re-married to a person who was once a Military Police officer in the National Guard. Knows a lot about perimeter control, survival, all that good stuff. Between the two of us, we're getting ready. Just always getting ready. There is a family farm some 130 miles away, to which we might go also - it's just frightening to have to think about these things as though they might actually happen in our lifetimes.

And the scariest part is hoping my children will survive - now that they do not live at home...I remember vividly hearing about the Twin Towers on 9/11 while they were in grade school. I was afraid then....I remain afraid now - but more prepared.

Maybe ATS should establish "two meeting places" (or more), like we are advised to do in our private households as part of a practiced evaculation and re-grouping plan for tornadoes, fire, anything that might disrupt our normal abodes. Any ideas? I'd pitch in to have a "safe haven" for like-minded people.

Anyone else?

Or maybe there already is one (or are more), but only certain folks are priveleged to know about it?