For those of you who are unfamiliar with the "Preparing to Survive" concept a brief explanation is called for. It is important that you understand we consider ourselves to be realist not survivalist, at least not in the common sense of the word. We feel that everyone should be prepared for a national catastrophic event, be it natural or manmade. We look at it as "Long Term Survival Insurance". We feel this is as important if not more important than any insurance that you may have.

   In order to properly prepare we feel we should prepare for the worst case scenario. This would be a catastrophic event which destroys the U.S. power grid, which will cause a cascading effect destroying the U.S. infrastructure which will in turn lead to widespread anarchy. This can be the results of a number of events. These are events the Government warns us about almost daily. These events are explained in detail in our article Catastrophic Event : How & Why here

   The only way for your family to survive such an event is to get your family out of harm's way. To do this you must have a remote evacuation point with supplies cached nearby. We feel that it would be advantageous to bring together a likeminded Group of people.

   The Out of Harm's Way books and the Preparing to Survive book series are meant to help you prepare and survive long term.

Choosing an Evacuation Point

Kenneth D. Nunn

When choosing an evacuation point there are a number of points you should consider:

 •  Is it obtainable, can you get there from here?

 •  Is it within reasonable range?

 •  Does it have a year round supply of raw water?

 •  Is the weather acceptable?

 •  Is it isolated?

 •  Is there room enough for everyone in the Group?

 •  Are there adequate material for everyone in the Group to be able to construction permanent shelters?

 •  Is there adequate fuel?

 •  Is the climate conducive to raising crops?

 •  Are there an abundance of wildlife in the area?

 •  Is there good fishing available?

   One of the most important decisions you and your Group will have to make is in choosing the location of your evacuation point. Your Groups level of comfort and possibly very survival will depend on this Evacuation Point. Choosing the evacuation point is going to be a decision the entire Group should be involved in.

   If you are lucky and happen to own land in a remote location and it meets all the criteria as laid out above then you should definitely use this land as you evacuation point. Also if you happen to know someone who owns land in a remote location then they may well be willing to let you cache your supplies and allow you to use this as your evacuation point. They may very well be glad to have someone close at hand when an event happens. However, if this land does not meet the criteria do not use it simply because it is convenient.

   When discussing the subject of evacuation points, I am often asked why I recommend locating your Evacuation Point on Public land. There are actually three reason I recommend this. First of all most of us, especially in this economy, simply don’t have the money to buy land to be used only as an evacuation point. Secondly much of the best lands suitable for evacuation are located on public land. Thirdly all public land belongs to us the citizens…we are the ones that initially paid for the land; we are the ones that have been paying for the up keep for many years.

   There is approximately 650 million acres of public domain land in the United States. The only publicly owned lands that are reserved are military land and Indian land. Of this Public Land the Bureau of Land Management has charge of 260 million acres; Nationals Parks has another 84.4 million with the Department of Agriculture having another 193 million. The remainder is managed by a number of different Federal agencies. Now these figures are for federal lands, they do not include state owned lands.

Federal Public Land

   All states have a number of state parks as well as state forest. Most will have areas that would be suitable for an evacuation point. These are easily located by going to Google and Googling your State.

   In some areas another option may be corporate owned lands. Many corporations or companies have vast holdings of land. Many times this land is open to the public. Companies such as timber and paper companies, mining companies and many others.

   So you see there is a tremendous amount of public land out there. Although the vast majority of Public Land is located from the Rocky Mountains west there is Public Land in every State. You should, in most areas of the country be able to find a satisfactory location within range of your home.

   Now I am not saying you should go out and break laws. As far as I have been able to ascertain there are no laws Federal or State that specifically prohibits you from caching supplies on public property. The most that you could be ticketed for would be littering. Simply tell them you were burying garbage. However if you are careful and choose your location properly there is very little chance of you being discovered in the act of caching supplies. As a matter of fact there have been people, hunters, fishermen and hikers, caching supplies on Federal land ever since there was public land. There are people right now that have built shelters, some pretty elaborate, on public land. There was recently in Utah and New Mexico an incident where there was a Group that was actually digging up Indian artifacts, on public land, using backhoes. My point in bringing this up is, there is a lot of area in the public lands, with very few people to oversee them. You should have no trouble caching supplies. Just pick your location carefully and do not destroy anything or leave a mess behind. After all you don't want to leave any sign that you have been there. Remember these lands belong to you and I the United States citizens.

   Once there is an event, I guarantee you the government’s least concern will be if someone is squatting on public land. As a matter of fact when there is an event, if anything the government will be telling people in populated areas to evacuate to public parks. There will be no other place for them to go. That's one reason you would not want to choose a park that is close to a populated area as your evacuation point.

   All you have to do is find a location that meets the criteria. Once you have located a location the next step will to be cache your supplies. Unless you own the land or are on private property with the owner's permission, you should make no changes to the area. If you own the land or are there with the owner's permission, then you can make whatever improvements you wish. Otherwise you should build no shelters. You are going to cache supplies there, you don't want anyone to know you have ever been there.

Is It Obtainable?

   By this I mean will your Group be able to get to the Evacuation Point no matter the conditions or weather. Remember when planning you should always prepare for the worst case scenario. In this case the worst case scenario would be that your Group, for whatever the reason, will have to walk to the Evacuation Point. If you are in a location where there is the possibility of heavy snow, then you must consider this. Consider the worse and you will be prepared for anything less.

   Even if you happen to have a secondary plan such as using bikes to travel to your Evacuation Point in case of an HEMP. Heavy snow will prevent this. It is very hard if not impossible to ride a bike if there are even a few inches of snow on the ground. Remember you want to try and prepare for ever eventuality.

   For this reason you must have an Evacuation Point that is within walking distance of your home. Now the question becomes what is a realistic walking distance. This will depend entirely on your Group. If your Group is made up of Folks between say six and fifty years old and all are in great physical condition then it would not be unreasonable to figure your Group could hike to an Evacuation Point a hundred miles distance. However chances are your Group will be more diverse than this. You will most likely have Folks in your Group that are younger, older and not in the best of health. Your Group will have to decide how far they are capable of hiking. In this you must be very realistic. Miscalculating this will put a hardship on everyone, not to mention that in server conditions it could be life threating. Remember as always consider the worst case scenario. Consider the worst case snow storm, rain storm, extreme cold, extreme heat, or whatever.

   Now, having said this, there would be an advantage to bad weather. In the event happens at a time of extreme weather then you may consider delaying your evacuation. Of course this will depend on the event and your location. With any of these extreme weather conditions you most likely want be in any danger from Groups or Mobs until after the weather has cleared. The Groups and Mobs for sure won't be out in adverse weather conditions. What you have to consider is the aftermath...deep snow, flooding, mud, or just repressive heat. These will slow your travel.

   Back to the question of how far is your Group capable of traveling in a day. Figuring your rate of travel will be important is determining where you will want to locate travel caches. You will want a travel cache for every two days of travel. The travel cache should have, depending on location, water, food, socks, and what every else your Group may determine.

   Now let's look at how far you can travel in a day. Again this depends on your Group. With a young Group between six and fifty years old, all in good health I would figure fifteen to twenty miles a day. Now if your Group is made up of Folks from say six months to seventy-five, with not the best health for some I would cut this in half and figure seven to ten miles a day.

   I know this seems very conservative, but remember, worst case, you are traveling in adverse weather, it may be, deep snow, mud and water, or extreme heat or cold. Not only do you need to consider adverse weather but also terrain. Once you leave a road and cut across country your rate of travel will decrease, especially if you are in mountains or hilly country. We are figuring an average here; sure you may very well travel further the first day but less and less every day after that. I would say you would not want to travel more than four days, after this your Group should take a day off and rest all day in a camp. This would be where you would for sure want a travel cache waiting on you. An important point here, do not overdo it, take frequent breaks. For someone who is not accustomed to walking long distances it will be tough going. You don't want someone to pull a muscle or hamstring. That would really slow the Group down. Make sure everyone stretches and warms up their muscles before starting each day.

   I would recommend that your Evacuation Point be no further than eight days hike in the worst conditions from your home base. Now again this will be the Groups decision. If your Group is made up of young and health people then you could very well travel forever. Remember, the pioneers, our ancestors traveled all the way across the U.S. walking most of the way. But also remember that although they may not have been in any better physical condition than your Group, they were most likely better mentally conditioned for such a trip.

   So mileage wise I would suggest eighty to a hundred miles would be the absolute furthest I would want my Evacuation Point, again depending on your Group, you may require fifty miles or less.

Is it Feasible?

   The next question is it feasible? Do not choose a location because it is pretty. If it happens to be in a pretty location so much the better. However that is not what you're looking for. The big question is can you survive there year round? Remember, you will not have central air or heat. Are the winters going to be too severe to survive? What if you are required to evacuate in the winter, can you get to the location? In the higher altitudes it gets cold, in many cases unbearably cold. A few days of extreme cold, you may be able to handle but not four or five months of unbearable cold. You will have to be out in the weather, gathering firewood, hunting game, running a trotline or any other of a number of tasks.

   In the higher altitudes once the snow gets a few feet deep and winter sets in there are no animals. Every living creature has gone to lower altitudes or is hibernating. Believe me nothing can be more forbidding than a high altitude aspen, or cedar forest in the dead of winter.

   Snow is not the only thing you need to be concerned with. You don't want to choose a location in a flood plain. You don't want to choose a location where water will stand for any length of time. On the other hand you don't want to choose a location where having enough water may be a problem.

   Now an important consideration will be mosquitoes. In some locations, actually some of the otherwise best looking locations, at certain times of the year; the number of mosquitoes would make life, if not unbearable extremely uncomfortable. Keep in mind; mosquitoes are bad only during certain times of the year, so check the area during these times.

   Anther essential you will require is a garden for each family. A garden will play an important part in the Groups food supply. You will have to take into consideration length of growing season as well as the soil. Is the soil as well as growing season conducive to growing a good garden? Keep in mind; just a few feet of elevation can make quite a difference in growing season.

Year Round Supply Of Raw Water

   Other than being able to reach your Evacuation Point the most import requirement is going to be water. After all water is going to be one of the main reasons you have evacuated. Water at all populated areas will quickly become contaminated.

   There must be a year round source of good pure raw water. This is a non-arguable point. It is a simple fact, you must have water. We are preparing for Long Term survival. Meaning months, years maybe forever. There is no way you can take enough bleach, purification pills, or even boil the water your Group will require.

   That being said you have to have water. Now I know there are all kinds of horror stories about drinking raw water in the wild. Some of these stories I agree with, no way I would want to drink water from a raw water source anywhere close to a populated area. On the other hand if I am miles away from a populated area, especially up stream, and I find a river, flowing stream spring or spring fed lake, then I would have no problem drinking from it. Now if I come across a stagnate pool or know there is a beaver dam close up stream, of course I wouldn't drink from it. Just think how many times have you gone swimming or water skiing where you ended up swallowing a gallon or two of the water? I bet you never even gave it a thought, I also bet you didn't get sick.

   I know I have drank the water from the Rio Grande River at the head waters close to Lake City, Colorado and also at Big Bend National park in South Texas. I have drank water from lakes in Louisiana and all over the rest of the country. I have never gotten sick from drinking raw water. All it requires is to use a little common sense.

   At some point in a Long Term survival situation you will have to drink raw water, you will have no choice.

   Now having said that, you want to choose a location where you will have the purest water possible available to you. The ideal source will be a flowing spring. The next will be a flowing stream as far upstream from a populated area as possible. You will want to make sure there is not a beaver dam for I would say at least two miles upstream further if possible. Next choice will be a spring fed lake.

   Once you have settled into your Evacuation Point, have your permanent shelters built then you may even be able to hand dig a well. I have been involved in such a project before. This is by no means a hard task. If you are close to a stream or lake the water table is most likely pretty shallow. We go into detail on water including digging a well in Book 1.

Is the Location Isolated?

   This is another important question. You want a location that is as far away from a populated area as possible while at the same time being within your Groups range. Admittedly, this will be a problem in some areas of the country.

   By isolated I don't mean out of sight of the nearest neighbor, I mean totally isolated. For me this would mean at least five miles from the nearest paved road, further if possible. These roads will be traveled by people you don't want to meet. Many of these people will be looking for people like you. They will be prepared to take what you have by whatever method necessary. These will be hungry, desperate people. An even greater danger from these people will be disease. Any stranger you may meet most likely would have come from a populated area. Disease will in a short period of time have decimated the populated areas. These people you do not want to be exposed too. There is always the possibility they are carrying some disease. This disease could within a matter of minutes infect the entire Group.

   Any closer than five miles and there would be the chance of someone traveling the road hearing someone in your Group. When the conditions are right sounds can travel a long distance. A gun shot or maybe even someone chopping wood may be heard. Then there is the chance someone could smell smoke from a cook fire.

   When a member of the Group is hunting it will not be unusual for them to travel five miles, then someone traveling the road would for sure hear them fire a weapon. Then there would always be the chance of someone wandering off the road and running into a member of the Group.

   In addition to this I would say you need to be at 30 miles from any population center of fifty thousand or more. The further the better. At some point after an event there will be a lot of Folks, desperate Folks, comes out of the population centers. You do not want to deal with these Folks.

   That's why I always tell Folks that live out in the country on a little homestead, thinking they are safe, that at some point they will be the number one target of these Gangs and Mobs. Once these Gangs and Mobs have decimated the populated areas, those that survive will be forced to leave the cities in search of food. These are the type people that cannot live off of the land. These Gangs and Mobs will not be the type people that will wander off main roads looking for game. These people will be looking for people that have food that they can take. Make no mistake about it these people will be hungry and desperate. These will be the people that joined the Gangs and Mobs. They have lived by stealing, first from stores in the towns and cities and then from people in the suburbs. They have been stealing drugs and alcohol, now their supplies are gone. Most will have become drug or alcohol dependent. Now they have neither, they will be in a bad state of mind. Now their only option is to head for the country, hoping to find food and maybe drugs.

   These Folks are another reason you evacuated, this is why you had to get your family out of harm's way. There will be far more of them than you, they will be well armed and dangerous. This is why I say the more isolated your Group is the safer you will be.

Is there Enough Room for Everyone?

   Maybe a better question would be are there enough natural resources for everyone? By this I mean, water, wildlife, fish, garden space, firewood and building materials.

   Your Village, Community or Camp, whatever you chose to call it, should have plenty of elbow room for each family. Most will want the homes or shelters fairly close to one another. I would suggest that each family be at least a hundred yards apart. You want each family to keep their individuality. Each should have a garden as well as an outhouse. Each family shelter should set in the middle of an area of at least 750 feet by 750 feet. Each family should have somewhere between three to five acres. Of course this will depend a great deal on where the Evacuation Point is located.

   As for game, if there are five families in your Group with an average of three kids then that will mean you have at least twenty-five people to feed. Keep this in mind when choosing an Evacuation Point. Feeding twenty-five people every day requires a lot of food.

   For this reason, if there are more than about twenty-five people in your Group then they should be broken up into separate Groups. Each Group should have at least an area of twenty five square mile. This will prevent over hunting, allow for firewood, and most importantly help in the sanitation department. Twenty-five people will produce a lot of waste and garbage.

In Summary

   Again choosing the correct evacuation point will be the key to your Groups comfort and safety. By choosing the correct evacuation point your Group will be able to live as near a normal life style as possible under the circumstances.

   It goes without saying; location will be dictated in large part by the area of the country you live in. Of course there is not a lot that can be done about this. Unless you happen to live in the center of a large population area such as New York City, Chicago, Houston and etc. then you should be able to locate a satisfactory evacuation point within range of your Group. If you live in one of these large population areas then you have no choice other than to find a satisfactory location as close as possible. Worse case scenario your Group will just have to travel farther. Even at this you will be a hundred percent better off at an evacuation point than you will be in the middle of a populated area.

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