Category: Retreat Locales

Three Letters Re: Maps of Caves and Mining Districts

Mr Rawles:   Well, this is an area of knowledge where I do in fact have some expertise, being a caving professional.  I hadn’t ever really considered caves to be of much use from a prepping standpoint, but as an expedient shelter with a constant temperature they could have their uses.   A bit about my background –   I have logged about 3,000 hours in caves during the past 5-6 years during which time I have been a ‘wild cave guide’ – meaning that I run tours through rugged and undeveloped caves – not the wheelchair accessible type.  I am …


Self-Sufficiency or Communal Living?, by Lisa T.

Is it truly possible for someone to be self-sufficient? I like to garden, grow medicinal herbs and believe it’s good to learn whatever we can about the old-fashioned ways of doing things. Some of my friends like to make their own soap, keep bees, garden, can vegetables, make wine, make their own bread, hunt, butcher their own deer, and raise chickens, and I would love to raise goats, sheep and cows if we had enough land. It appears to be part of a nationwide trend toward natural living. The reasons for the trend, at least in the beginning, appear to …


Seven Common TEOTWAWKI Misconceptions, by Brian T.

Predictions are like, well, you know what, everybody has at least one.  Many or most predictions made are wrong and the content here is no exception.  I am not a modern day Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone but I have spent a few days in the woods, and hopefully after reading this you will not think I am still lost in them.  I did not fight in any war but had my share of the military experience and the same can be said for law enforcement.  I never bugged out but did backpack and still am a gym rat who …


Letter Re: Advice of Eastern Oregon

Mr Rawles,   I am very glad to hear your facts, comments and Godly encouragement and read the many articles on your site regularly. Thank you for standing in the gap and for your ministry in general.   Would you help us understand your reasoning for recommending eastern Oregon? My husband and I have looked and looked at eastern Oregon to move to or at least buy a piece of land to relocate to in a G.O.O.D. “bad to worse” scenario. We currently are on the liberal side of the Cascades in Oregon because of my husband’s work. The problem …


Strategic Relocation in Australia, by The Former South Aussteyralian

I’ve had great difficulty figuring out how to approach writing this submission. Initial versions came out a bit prideful and preachy. In the end it’s usually best just to stick to the facts. So here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ll let you interpret it yourself. Please note that this submission comes to you from Australia, so (as y’all say) “your own mileage may vary”. Furthermore, I understand that this is not a survival “silver bullet”. It is intended as a temporary solution for those of us doing the best we can with what we’ve got. Roughly 36 …


Move to the Mountain States–The American Redoubt

(Note: This essay launched The American Redoubt movement. It was first posted in 2011. It was last updated on May 17, 2017) To begin, I recognize the fact that “all politics are local”. I also recognize the international readership of SurvivalBlog.  Therefore I de-emphasize politics in my blog. However, an article got my blood boiling: Motorists illegally detained at Florida tolls – for using large bills! So, not only are Federal Reserve Notes not redeemable “on demand” for specie, but effectively they are now no longer “…legal tender for all debts public and private.” It is often hard to pinpoint …


Making the Move: Retreat Bound, by L.P in The Ozarks

I’m writing this in an effort to encourage others who might be in the process of, or thinking about moving to a full time retreat. Our situation is not unique.   In the spring of 2008 we saw the writing on the wall (economic, political, and social trends) and we wanted out of the suburbs and into a full time retreat in the country side.  We are a family of four that includes two boys in their early teens. My wife and I had great jobs, we lived in a planned community that was 30 miles away from the big city …


Letter Re: Coastal Southwestern Oregon as a Retreat Locale

Howdy Mr. Rawles; I live up on the south coast of Oregon, I live close to adjoining Del Norte County, California. These areas are very low in population density, lot’s of good fresh water, good fishing and hunting, lot’s of agricultural land good grazing land and a decent climate/ (There are few freezes, no snow, and very little ice.) Del Norte is a little better than southern Oregon because there is more farm and grazing land and it’s far far away from large  cities, railroads and major freeways and a slightly better climate. But on the down side, it’s still …


Letter Re: Off-Grid Living on an Alaskan Island

Hello, Many US military personal who serve on an isolated duty station, in effect live off grid.  For example I was in the U.S. Coast Guard and stationed at Cape Sarichef, Alaska for a year. [It is at the end of Unimak Island.]           We had three large Caterpillar generators.  We got our water from a reservoir that was filled from mountain runoff.  I would go the reservoir when needed and start a small hand pull pump (during the winter could take almost 30 minutes to get started.) This would pump the water along a buried pipe line, with …


Letter Re: Observations From a Canadian Farmer

Hi Jim:  I have been reading SurvivalBlog.com for several months now and have found it very interesting.  I purchased a 640 acre farm in 1970 in the Little Clay belt in Northern Ontario and started from scratch.  I was 25, not married and knew no one in the area when moved from a large urban city, six hours drive away.  It was daunting and I learned a lot of lessons the hard way.  Since I used up all my cash I also had to work out to make ends meet. Here are some of my thoughts in no special order: …


Letter Re: List of Countries by Real Population Density

James, I have been playing with the numbers based on the population figures and wanted to give you this update. I did a study of the total land under cultivation in 2002 (rather than just the potentially arable land, and not including grazing land).  42 of the 50 states exceed the figure of 245 people per square kilometer. [JWR Adds: States with less than 600 people per square kilometer of active-worked farm land might pull through a societal collapse, with plenty of sweat and by God’s grace. But anyone who is planning to survive whilst living in a state with …


Three Letters Re: List of Countries by Real Population Density

Jim- Dr. Hugh asked the question about population density in the US States.  Below is the answer. Since I couldn’t finagle Wolfram Alpha to do this in people per square kilometer, I did it in square miles. For reference: If you convert Dr. Hugh’s figure of 245 people per square kilometer to people per square mile and that equates to 634.5 people per square mile Keeping that number in mind, I used this Wolfram Alpha equation, and learned: Rank State Pop. Density 1 New Jersey 1,185 people/mi^2 2 Rhode Island 1,007 people/mi^2 3 Massachusetts 835.2 people/mi^2 4 Connecticut 737.7 people/mi^2 …


Letter Re: List of Countries by Real Population Density

James,   I love the work you are doing, keep it up!  I know since the early 1990s when we first communicated via e-mail I have turned hundreds of people on to your writing and your work and yours is still the most comprehensive and easiest to understand approach for newcomers to the prepping community.   I really enjoyed the “Real Population Density” chart (List of countries by real population density (based on food growing capacity) link posted in your blog. But i would like to point out a couple of things that people need to keep in mind.   …


Letter Re: Escape From New York

Dear Jim:   Dino’s home in Nassau County (Long Island) New York could prove to be where he will stay during the difficulties that “might” descend upon us. It might be impossible to bug out to his upstate property. Here’s why.   The only connections to the US mainland from western Long Island are the following: • The Throgs Neck Bridge to the Bronx • The Whitestone Bridge to the Bronx • The Triboro Bridge to Manhattan Island • The Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan Island • The Queens Midtown Tunnel to Manhattan Island • The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Manhattan Island …


Survival: The Five I’s That Might Keep You Alive, by Dino

Survival: The Five I’s That Might Keep You Alive, by Dino If you read the title carefully, you’ll notice the word might. Regardless of preparation, situations sometimes spiral out of control faster than we can react to the. In a TEOTWAWKI scenario of indeterminate cause, all the plans in the world go out the window, literally in some cases. Ask any senior military officer about mission planning, and invariably they will tell you that from the time a briefing starts until it ends, the situation has evolved to make the plan need adjusting. The film industry has some of the …