# best bugout location in the northwest



## er6nrider

Exactly what the title says. Where do you think the best location would be?

That is right after a disaster happened and you need to get out asap


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## RevWC

er6nrider said:


> Exactly what the title says. Where do you think the best location would be?


Since I am stuck in the south I will make the best of my situation here in Florida. Already have a recipe for Mole Crabs

1.	Mole Crab Poppers 
After watching a episode of Bizarre Foods from Thailand I saw these folks were consuming mole crabs aka sand fleas. In the Treasure Coast we have them in abundance and if you have the right equipment and a little technique gathering a few is a cinch. These little crustaceans are typically used as bait for tasty surf zone fish such as pompano, whiting and the like. Turns out they are not just pompano candy but a tasty snack for anyone that enjoys seafood. Cleaning them is a matter of running them under cold water in a colander and removing a small appendage they use to dig into the sand. First you twist the little tail off and follow by giving them a gentle squeeze to coax out any remaining grit (ie poop) they have in their bodies. Rinse one more time, pat dry then dredge them in a combination of corn starch, salt and a little powdered garlic. You can add other spices to the mix but our first batch we went minimalist to preserve the authentic taste of the "fleas". I used a deep fryer set to the highest temp setting. Wait till they float, remove and allow them to cool some. Dip in any sauce you like and crunch and munch. We set out regular cocktail sauce and a grated ginger thai style sauce.

Don't worry about the shell and feet when fried they become very crunchy like "tater" chips and the taste of the crab meat and their roe is what comes through. Being reduced to eating the bait may sometimes be seen as the sign of a bad fisherman but at least your not going hungry. Enjoy!

PS the Thai also prepared them tempura style....I enjoy my seafood more with the less fried dough it has attached but I know many folks like the sauce absorbing properties and added taste and texture of tempura.


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## NaeKid

er6nrider said:


> Exactly what the title says. Where do you think the best location would be?


How many people are with you, age-range, capabilities? Now, knowing Portland as I do, I would probaby suggest heading due-west on a boat into the ocean --- if you head north or south, you would probably run into lots of trouble quickly.

I don't know what your back-country capabilities are, but, there are some places due-east of you, a forestry-zone (Mt.Hood, Gifford) that would be great to be in - easily hide - but you would need some kind of 4x4 to access much of that area, or, a dual-sport motorcycle (Zuki DRZ-400, DR600, Kawa KLR650, BMW GS650, etc) to get in. You might be able to prepare a simple BOL in the forestry area by planting a Guerrilla Garden and clearing a "random-camping-zone" ... also known as "BoonDocking".


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## er6nrider

Naekid i agree with the mountainous area. Although a boat would be ideal accessing one would be pretty hard. Im roughly an hour or so from mt hood and im sure there are plenty of streams and lakes around there that would provide the essentials


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## Ration-AL

er6nrider said:


> Naekid i agree with the mountainous area. Although a boat would be ideal accessing one would be pretty hard. Im roughly an hour or so from mt hood and im sure there are plenty of streams and lakes around there that would provide the essentials


first post here, and local-ish to you, i live in seattle but used to live in portland for a number of years.

going north wouldn't be an option as you got Vancouver there with a large population and trying to get out of the city over the bridge crossing the Columbia would be a massive death trap, portland is basically cut off from the north unless you want to swim the Columbia river, if you can make it over the river and out of vancouver you do have some very good places to survive, IF you can make it out of portland,across the river, and through vancouver....alot of people will be trying the same thing from both cities.

going west, that would work, the coastal cities until you get further south are smaller populated cities. of course this depends if your on the rose garden side of the city or downtown burnside, again most major bridges crossing large bodies of water will be shut down in a BO situation as the government tries to control the dispersion of the public in to rural areas as it is easier to contain and control that way.

so, moving on, if you decide to go west you have a small mountain range with a large body of woods just past the forest grove area and is pretty sparsely populated at that point, also good hunting and small game to be found out this way, along with an abundance of farm land, good soil and plenty of water sources.

moving south, hard to say on that one, could be good but as you move south through the state, ground cover becomes more scarce and resources more limited, depends on how far south/east you end up. due south and south west aren't so bad because of the coast line you got a couple of hundred miles before things would become too tough,but again plenty of room to get away from problems and people are spread out a good distance.

heading east, as another poster suggested you got some good mountains there that would provide you with what you need, but winter will be harsher due to elevation and topography alone and the relative closeness to Portland and direct access,unimpeded from the city worries me a bit, seems like the easiest, most logical place to go, i have a feeling the ones that manage to make it out of the city will be heading that way as well, so if you decide this direction go deeper and further in then what you think you need, but again this would be a very good place, plenty of wildlife,water and materials to create shelter from.

that's basically how i see it in a worst case scenario, the key thing is though, what is the best BO for you? where do you feel comfortable, what are your skills ? what environment plays to them best? Are you on foot,in a BOV ,bike,Amish buggie?lol

if your in a BOV check this out, little known off road hiway that you can drive from washington to cali on and only be on pavement for about 10 miles total..
http://www.oohva.org/Back Country/BCDRmain.html

my parents own a massive ranch out in the desert in UT that is prepped fairly well, i have managed to drive a route from just south of seattle to their place in UT while avoiding cities larger then around 10-15k, check out expo portal forums for info on building a vehicle capable of such things.

most important thing is to know your limitations, don't plan on driving out 600 miles if you or your BOV is not prepared for it, don't plan your BOL to be a 50 mile hike from you if you've only ever done 10 in a day.
set you BOL as something you can actually achieve and have more then one so if your out there on the street and see you trouble in that direction you can always pull a 180 and go somewhere else.

so , with all of that little novel said, there is no "best" bug out location, there are simply places that are better then others depending on conditions, like mt.hood gets a lot harsher weather conditions then say seaside or cannon beach area, so depending on the time of year,what you got with you ect....

what do you think is the best BOL for you?

me? i'm a mountain guy, i live in a rural area at the base of the N.cascades
got a few places where the nearest dirt road is 50 miles from my BOL that i can get to walking out my backdoor, and is a fun weekend hike to check the spot out a couple of times a year. remember you can make prepping fun, not much difference in a nice weekend hike and getting to your BOL really, maybe state of mind and live rounds? lol, i don't know

Look at trekking and mountaineering forums for some of the more remote and less traveled places, climbers tend to make their own trails and actually have their own guidebooks to wilderness areas that tell you where there less traveled places are....seriously I've followed guide books that told me to take a left at the 3rd tree covered in moss after the stream.....anyways i digress, let me know what you think, i came here to discuss my thoughts on this stuff, and see what others think!

sorry if soooo long and rambling....


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## fedorthedog

There is lots of land in coastal Washington that is fine for BOL. Small valleys with farm people if you can get them to let you in. If not millions of acres of forest.Lots of water,


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## MsSage

Wherever you can purchase property now and have what you need already there. If "it" happens now I wont be going anywhere and S/O will come here. After we get our home in Idaho and I move up there we wont be leaving either. All I hope for is time to get to know our neighbors and build some friendships in town. There are too many thinking they will head to the NW and just set up a homesite.....you will be run off. How many have the same notion of living off the land in National Forest and wilderness areas? The locals will NOT be welcoming and it will be hard if not impossible.


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## Ration-AL

MsSage said:


> Wherever you can purchase property now and have what you need already there. If "it" happens now I wont be going anywhere and S/O will come here. After we get our home in Idaho and I move up there we wont be leaving either. All I hope for is time to get to know our neighbors and build some friendships in town. There are too many thinking they will head to the NW and just set up a homesite.....you will be run off. How many have the same notion of living off the land in National Forest and wilderness areas? The locals will NOT be welcoming and it will be hard if not impossible.


And not to mention being at a disadvantage from not knowing the lay of the land to start from and expecting to basically invade , i didn't know people considered the nw a good BO location?

Either way shtf or not you're going to love this part of the country lots of good earth up here and space to roam . Lots of fun outdoor things todo out this way and get you're hands dirty , i went on my first 2 day backpacking trip when i was 13 and got my first summit at 15 and been playing playing in the woods ever since , there's still places i dream of going,yet to explore and are just to plain difficult for me , i personally love it here and sure you will as well .:2thumb:


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## Kellog

MsSage said:


> Wherever you can purchase property now and have what you need already there. If "it" happens now I wont be going anywhere and S/O will come here. After we get our home in Idaho and I move up there we wont be leaving either. All I hope for is time to get to know our neighbors and build some friendships in town. There are too many thinking they will head to the NW and just set up a homesite.....you will be run off. How many have the same notion of living off the land in National Forest and wilderness areas? The locals will NOT be welcoming and it will be hard if not impossible.


This is spot on. And if you have difficulty understanding why "going out to the country" isn't going to work, image that there is a big disaster or breakdown out in the sticks. Would you be fine with us country folks moving into your town, maybe setting up some tents in your yard, foraging in your hedge? Would Ration-al's folks be fine with a bunch of people moving onto their land? Probably not. And while "the country" may appear to be empty, it is not. People live there. They know who belongs there. And they know what goes on in their county. We don't have big police forces...we are our own neighborhood watch. 
If you are thinking of federal land, what are you going to do when you get there? You and the several thousand other people who have this idea? You might survive for a while but with no way of producing food long term or community support (for barter, etc) it's going to get rough fast. If you can, take your bug out bag out for a week and give living off the land a try. You might be fine and you might not...but it will definitely be a learning experience.

*Prep for where you are located even if it's somewhere you don't want to be.* It cannot be said enough. If you are able, yes, buy a place, move there and become part of the community- but don't expect that to happen overnight. Even prepared bug out locations can be problematic if you are not part of the community. Here are a couple of essays that kindly but firmly point this out:

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun08/survival6-08.html

http://survivalblog.com/2012/04/bugging-out-but-to-where-by-paddy-o.html

I don't mean to sound harsh, but really...how would you view a bug out plan where we make *your* neighborhood *our* disaster destination? :dunno:


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## Hooch

Id like to think I'm in a good spot here. We are fairly small, rural with lots of resources like water, land, critters, ocean. The largest town south of here is a hour and a half drive on a nice day and that is going over one major river and several smaller others. North along the coast there are no large towns untill you hit portland oregon and that like 300ish miles away..many small coastal towns and many bridges and rivers inbetween but nothing of size. East from here is a mountain range to pass over and rivers..a few small towns inbetween to the I-5 that is a hour and a half away drive. From the i-5 north from there the biggest town is portland and south some medium size towns like medford, and redding but my point is all that is sorta far and lots of obstacles like mountains and rivers...
Once it hits the fan here the local zombies will make things difficult for awhile but everyone will have that problem whereever you are...I just think where Im at Im hoping we will have time to prepare for any folks on foot who might wander in. If they manage to make it here without killing themselves along the way in the elements..dang...if they turn out to be good folks who are willing to pitch in I'd be open to it. Why? Because I spent over a decade on our local SAR team and most folks who get lost out here dont make it. Some of them went into the woods prepared some not but it's pretty rugged out here and if one doesnt pay attention to weather, surroundings, critters, footing, etc...it's a humbling expeirence and I can just imagine in a time of crisis adding hunger, lack of resources, zombies and god only knows what else to add to the misery of someone who is intentially trying to find safety should actually make it here alive....They'd have my consideration at the very least...


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## er6nrider

Hooch im pretty sure i know where your talking about and its an awesome area. Even for people who don't give its the perfect area to set up a camp of some sort there. Rivers and streams, plenty of wildlife too.


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