[RedStateGreen]

I was just on another forum where the question was posed re: what you would take if you were bugging out 'into the unknown'.

Why do people insist on this fantasy?

Just think about it: some disaster is happening, severe enough for you to be forced to leave your home (a fire, hurricane, flood, etc.). Thousands of other people are probably displaced also. You won't be able to camp out on public or private land, even if it's a decent spot (you know the owners will be looking for this sort of activity, shotguns ready). The hotels will either be full or uninhabitable. Shelters, rest stops and campsites will be crowded and dangerous.

Is there some reason you wouldn't want to go stay with family or friends? It seems as though people just think there will be some idyllic mountain area (that no one ELSE knows about) that they can just somehow find (because we're "bugging out into the UNKNOWN"), without being arrested for trespassing, coming across thugs/druggies who have staked out the area already, or falling prey to the elements.

I've had to evacuate before (wildfires) and it really makes it much easier if you have a place to go already. We packed important documents, a few changes of clothes, and the kids' toys and went to grandma's.

Now, if things were so bad that we didn't have that option (a tsunami or its badness equivalent) then it seems better to choose a place to go outside your geographic area IN ADVANCE rather than just "going somewhere".

Is this just a case of "trusting" that "something" will turn up? Some macho "live off the land" wish-fulfillment? Or what? I'm baffled.

[MadScientist]

just laugh and consider the positive implications for the human gene pool.

[killJOY]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hy do people insist on this fantasy?

[CarlosFerreira]

Maybe people are just tired and want a simpler, less troublesome life. Life alone in the wild is cold, damp, dangerous, you get snakes inside your sleeping bags and your kids/parents/old folks get mauled and eaten by bears or something. You get ill pretty fast, you need caffeine or nicotine, there's nothing to eat and everyone perishes.

Many centuries ago, before coal, oil, NG or whatever, people would already live together. Bug Out types are either suicidal or misinformed.

[Ludi]

To folks who think they can make it in the wild, I say "Good luck with that."

I was going to run off to the wild when I was young, if I had, I'd be dead now.

I think most people with this fantasy underestimate the difficulties.

[RedStateGreen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', 'r')unning into the woods is just a sure way to ensure your own demise.

[Cashmere]

I don't think it's a myth. I think it's very doable. Think about it. Thousands of men did it when the country was being colonized (invaded).

There are plenty of fairly vast, forested areas where you can disappear into the forest. Life would be difficult. And simple. Very simple.

I guess my perspective is this . . . I don't love my own life enough to want to protect it by living in the woods by myself for the next X number of years. Simple as that for me.

I've never got that about people. I met some 70 year old guy who was desperate to live. I'm thinking, "why?" What the hell is it about being on this parasite infested sh1t-hole of a planet that you find so endearing? 70 years isn't enough?

[vision-master]

My Dad who lived in Ely, MN during the 20's and 30's could do it. Could I? Probably not.

[Heineken]

Only a tiny percentage of today's people have the skills, special intelligence, and toughness necessary to survive more than a few weeks on their own in the wild. A century ago (and esp. two centuries ago) that percentage would have been substantially higher.

Not only were they more skilled at surviving, conditions for survival were much better than today's. The wild was purer and better stocked with food sources and clean water.

A few years back there was some sort of criminal who escaped into the woods of western North Carolina (I think it was) and managed to hide out there for several years, living like a mountain man of old. Not sure what happened to him . . . maybe he was finally captured.

[joeltrout]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cashmere', 'I') don't think it's a myth. I think it's very doable.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ot only were they more skilled at surviving, conditions for survival were much better than today's. The wild was purer and better stocked with food sources and clean water.

[aflurry]

Fantasy wish-fulfillment. The religious apocalypse ushers in the the union of the self with God in the Rapture, where the self is remade and its divinity revealed.

Secular apocapypsies imagine a similar reformation of the self through a union with the unknown, the wilderness, whatever chaotic rupture.

[benzoil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'A') few years back there was some sort of criminal who escaped into the woods of western North Carolina (I think it was) and managed to hide out there for several years, living like a mountain man of old. Not sure what happened to him . . . maybe he was finally captured.

[highlander]

Long-term wilderness living is not "bugging-out"
Getting out of harms way for a few days to a few weeks makes good sense. Hence a bug out bag.
Having a pre-determined destination is essential, even if it is only "to grandmas house"
few will bug out. most will run to the nearest shelter and wait for the relief agency to rescue them. I'll take my chances with the wild critters rather than wait for blackwater et al to "help me"

[Daniel_Plainview]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', ' ')It seems as though people just think there will be some idyllic mountain area (that no one ELSE knows about) that they can just somehow find (because we're "bugging out into the UNKNOWN"), without being arrested for trespassing, coming across thugs/druggies who have staked out the area already, or falling prey to the elements.

[benzoil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', ' ')It seems as though people just think there will be some idyllic mountain area (that no one ELSE knows about) that they can just somehow find (because we're "bugging out into the UNKNOWN"), without being arrested for trespassing, coming across thugs/druggies who have staked out the area already, or falling prey to the elements.

[benzoil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('highlander', 'L')ong-term wilderness living is not "bugging-out." Getting out of harms way for a few days to a few weeks makes good sense. Hence a bug out bag. Having a pre-determined destination is essential, even if it is only "to grandmas house" few will bug out. most will run to the nearest shelter and wait for the relief agency to rescue them. I'll take my chances with the wild critters rather than wait for blackwater et al to "help me"

[Fiddlerdave]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'N')ot only were they more skilled at surviving, conditions for survival were much better than today's. The wild was purer and better stocked with food sources and clean water.

[Daniel_Plainview]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('benzoil', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', ' ')It seems as though people just think there will be some idyllic mountain area (that no one ELSE knows about) that they can just somehow find (because we're "bugging out into the UNKNOWN"), without being arrested for trespassing, coming across thugs/druggies who have staked out the area already, or falling prey to the elements.

[Cashmere]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('benzoil', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', 'I') plan on hiking into the mountains and finding an abandoned lakeside log cabin, complete with fireplace and a kitchen. Please don't destroy that fantasy for me .......