Travel the Power lines to stay away from City hoards

Hello my friends.. Since living in my area i feel quite comfortable staying put, if anything of a national catastrophe happens,, i have 2.5 acres and grow food, my neighbors have cattle ,, I live next door, to a natural water source loaded with foul.. i feel like i already live in the place I would go to bug-out..
having said that..it also occurs to me. many hordes of starving people may pass my way.. now having a local Grange, helps to coordinate the square mile of neighbors we can depend upon, a few military,, a few police,, a few prepped people, like me..
So Back to MY question.

Does anyone have a map?.. a very special Map. a mapping of the power distribution lines that travel all around your own area..

having walked and Used Horses up along some areas near me, i see the Value of out of the box travel routes.. the starving hoards will follow paved roads mostly, and if i had a choice, I would adventure out, bury food and stuff on Those trails in places i could find later, AND at home i would bury supply's here, bug out of my home, out a few miles, wait till the masses moved on,, and return home...

Am I babbling? giving up MY entire plan?

I work in the Water department i know where water lines go..

Does anyone have a map of the power-lines in your own areas, that would be willing to share with our members..???

i know many have fences, but all have Gates with Locks that can be opened easy enough,, and every one i see, could be Driven even by an old pickup , or (and here is my biggest secret ) i trained my DEXTER cows to pull a wagon!! Hows THAT? lol

99% of prepping is just that,, it leaves the 1% left, easy enough to follow you own plan..

Well, out where I live, it's so flat and desert-like, that I can see our substation over 5 miles away.

You may want to ask your local power company if there is such a map. They, of course, may be suspicious as to why you're asking for it.

I also suggest the book "Strategic Relocation", which covers every state, and has alternative routes to the freeways and highways. It covers all sorts of issues that you may be concerned with.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


nice book!!
its on my list!!

Thank You!

You can always look it up on google earth and then mark it on your own map. I don't know of any maps that just have the power lines on them, you could always contact your power company and find out if you can get one from them..... although I don't know how that would go over. I know around where I live the big power lines go over some really rough terrain so If you do get just a map of the power lines I would still compare them to a regular or topo map to make sure you make it a little easier on yourself. Thats just my 2 cents, I'm sure some others will have some more helpful info!!


ETA: I love your pig, how freakin cute

reply to post by darrman

Without explaining, traveling the power lines is very likely in the situation you describe, a very bad idea and will likely achieve the opposite of what you hope to in the scenario you describe.

reply to post by tetra50


gee tetra.. thx

why not EXPLAIN ?

well without debating you

I disagree

reply to post by darrman

gee, I'm not a good explainer. does that work?? at least for this. I'm not trying to debate either, just my lack of cents, cause i don't even have two, so what do i know?

just saying, don't think it's a good revealor in terms of survival, nor in terms of avoidance in times of trying to be in control of either....

I would stay away from power lines personally. Most people who are desperate would travel those to cut distance off their travel as opposed to roads. Plus the smart ones would use the pathway to get further into the country, looking for cattle, farms, water and food supplies.

My suggestion is to get a good reliable compass(assume gps would be unreliable in end of the world scenario, or compromised in case of uprising) scope out game trails, and find your spots in that manner. I have lived in my general area pretty much my entire life and have hunted and hiked most of the area. I know where three caves are(1 with a spring) and several good cliffs for vantage points. I have compass readings and rough directions written down in case I need to leave family members instructions.

Thats just my two cents worth.

reply to post by darrman

okay how's this:

.. i feel like i already live in the place I would go to bug-out..
having said that..it also occurs to me. many hordes of starving people may pass my way.. now having a local Grange, helps to coordinate the square mile of neighbors we can depend upon, a few military,, a few police,, a few prepped people, like me..

we are talking about a "bug-out SHTF scenario," by your description, above. right? so you know who believes and is prepared for just what, as you describe. then, you list whom you think you can depend upon. your title says travel the power lines to stay away from city hoardes, and I assume you are talking about the starving, helpless, in the above scenario.

then you ask for a map, a special map, to keep you and smart like minded people safe...right?
why in the world would you want to follow highways, power lines, sewer lines, or populace water systems at all, to avoid starving groups of people, who would obviously think just the same? And would it occur to you, that any group which may have brought this situation about would track and trace you in exactly the same way, with infrastructure maps?

How's that. My real reasons for saying this are far more paranoic, and subtle, for want of a better description, but even more so valid, for exactly the same reasons.

I myself live not far from the power lines here out in the hills. I would like to get my hands on a railroad tunnel map for Northern Cali....There are old tunnels that trains used to or still do run through the hills. Those tunnels would not only be remote, but can provide very good shelter. Also there are only two entry areas you can watch. I can see on google earth the realroad tracks but cannot for the life of me see close enough if tracks go into hills (tunnels).

One good thing is I and a couple neighbors have stashed some items out there along just off the paths of the power lines. whoever makes it out there first, get to go to the preplanned area (AWAY from under the lines) and wait for the others to join up.

I haven't heard of an easy place to get maps of specific wire paths. In trucking, I never much saw where they went anywhere you'd particularly want to go more than any other direction though. The right of way normally cleared for the big high tension lines are worth noting I suppose for tree and obstacle cleared paths through rough land. That will show up easily enough on Google Earth.

I have something to add though and you will likely find it very useful as a base to start from, OP.

US Government National / State Maps in Multiple Forms

Those run from showing all the counties and political boundaries to showing just the rivers, major creeks and bodies of water. National or state levels are there with links to quite a bit more. Best of all..it's all free and open use as a product of the USG. Anyway... There are Topographic maps in the same site somewhere while you're map collecting.

The PDF download versions are as perfect a quality as you could ask for in readability to zoom. Most smart phones / tablets and other things should support the PDF files for portability too.

Maps of pole lines are usually on record at the county registry of deeds, as there were eminent domain takings for the power line easements. They all would probably be visible on Google Earth too, as they are maintained and kept clear.

They would be a pretty convenient and direct route around the countryside and an alternative to travel on the highways, but, around here anyway, the cops patrol the power line trails regularly - mostly to keep kids with ATVs and dirt bikes off them. There isn't general public travel access allowed on them, at least not around here. I would guess in a SHTF situation, the cops themselves would be making good use of the power line routes to by-pass the traffic, so you'd be encountering them probably more than you'd like to.

But anyway, check out the local registry of deeds. All sorts of cool plans and information there. You are right about exploring alternative routes and short cuts in case you ever need them, and traveling along the pole lines would be an excellent way to go long - distance through areas you aren't familiar with and not get lost, but you might have to sneak along.

By the way, OP-- I've always loved your avatar !

reply to post by seaside sky


ty everybody,, even tetra..

im glad Many understand what im thinking!!
yes i spoke about myself-

but it was a backhanded way of getting YOU to think about your own situation

Not sure about America , But I'm sure here in the UK, Aviation Maps have powerlines mapped on them, They will be the large pylon type not the 30 foot wooden pole type.

Just an Idea.

here you go , just checked and power transmission lines are marked on VFR maps in the US

Here is a link to the legend for the maps, page 21 has the symbol for power lines, these maps are great , lots of info on them.

flighttraining.aopa.org...

Nice to see someone with the same mindset. I currently have a couple of routes planned out on both power line trails and gas pipelines.. The gas lines crisscross the country, and powerlines, so it acts like a mage-super backwoods highway system.

You can get from Louisiana to Virginia by way of gas pipelines...

Been googling for maps specifically for power lines since i first read this thread the other day and can't seem to find any covering U.S wide only some localized ones. Although water pipe ones are easy enough to find. Also manage to find a list of everyone signed up to a certain power company in Washington state. But as of yet no luck with a map.

Sorry I will keep trying.

reply to post by darrman

Does anyone have a map?.. a very special Map. a mapping of the power distribution lines that travel all around your own area..

My special map has loot targets mapped out, color-coded based on the types of supplies found there, all within a 10 mile radius. Fuel, food, medicine, liquor, cigarettes, water, batteries, building supplies, weapons, ammo, etc.

So, when everything has gone to crap, I'll be able to plan a coordinated supply run, minimizing fuel, exposure, etc.

Although, I hope I NEVER have to use it. I rather like our modern life....

We've ridden our horses along power line routes before.

The nice thing about them is the power companies need access to their equipment so the routes under the power lines are for the most part pretty clear.

This is very important to know if you're anywhere near a forest or in rough areas.

I have had similar thoughts about train tracks. In bad country, their bridges could save hours of hiking through canyons. And there won't by any fences across them, as is the case with power line right-of-ways.

You wouldn't have to walk ON the tracks, to follow them.