Survivalist Forum banner

White Mountains Preppers

7K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  teddyearp 
#1 ·
Hello,

I live part time in the Eastern White Mountains and wanted to touch base with other in the area that are prepper minded to discuss gardening, security and other topics.
 
#2 ·
Hi. Not a lot of traffic on this sub-forum so it might be a while before you get a usable response. So keep checking back.

We are in the process of moving to a property east of St John's, so not really in your neck of the woods.
 
#4 ·
Yep, no stoplights and not even a flashing light either.

We are liking the area more and more with each trip we take there.

"30 minutes"? Where are you located...around Springerville...Concho? I thought the White Mts were more towards Show Low?
 
#6 ·
Ah Ok then you are a bit more then 30 minutes away. That area is nice though.

I researched a few properties around Alpine but it was too crowded together for my liking and couldn't find anything outside of town for sale. Are you in town or on a larger rural property.

We can talk via PMs if you don't feel like posting publicly.
 
#8 ·
I received your PM and replied but for some reason my Sent Folder hasn't been showing messages. Hopefully you got my reply as it was a bit long and I don't want to retype it.
 
#10 ·
Welcome to the area. Though "general area" covers quite a bit of territory, care to narrow it down a bit?
 
#15 ·
Welcome to the area. "Solo"? In another post you mentioned wife/kids so not going to bring them along?

What "big city" are you in that you can get to bumfreak AZ in any kind of timely manner during shtf?
 
#16 ·
Hi Steve

I'm reasonably well prepped for all of us in our home country / small town. But, work (and some vacation days) brings me to the West of the US for 2-3.5 months of the year each year for a few years now. Mostly, LA / PHX.

The last coupla years I have been increasingly thinking of what'd happen if things go south (metaphorically, not geographically) in a big way. I could maybe not get home again. I've worked overseas for decades and not getting home was a more remote possibility, then. These days; less unlikely, even if still unlikely.

If SHTF in LA - I'm walking east. If SHTF in PHX - I'm heading northeast.

Plan A (which will likely not survive contact with reality as I learned when employed by Her Majesty The Queen to take orders) is to head out on two wheels, with 250 miles worth of gas and a BOB.

Plan B - well, I learned to walk long distances also courtesy of H.M. many years ago. I'd give it a go.

Buying 1 acre of land within 1 mile of 'natural' water. Bury a cache for when I get there.

In short - if the balloon goes up while I am here and international flights are suspended or done with longterm, I want to have a place to go. Yes, I'm only buying some time (I've hit the threescore a couple of years back, still working on the 'and ten') but better the above plan, IMAO, that than hunkering down in a world of hurt saying to myself "self, you should have had a plan. Any plan is better than no plan, you dummy".
 
#17 ·
Agreed it's better then just giving up. However no matter which route you take out of LA there is a LOT of desert between there and your BOL. Sorry but no one is walking through that without resupply, no matter what H.M. taught them. Hopefully you aren't one of them but many foreigners have no concept of the distances involved in moving around America. My house in 29 Palms is 3 hours east of LA (by car on the freeway) and it is still another 7 hours by car (500 miles) from there to our place in NE Arizona. Have you google mapped things to get an idea of distance/terrain?

250 miles worth of gas wouldn't even get you out of California if starting in LA.

Walking from Phoenix is more doable but still iffy depending on weather conditions and again finding water sources is key.

You also need to consider that despite the buried cache you are still in a world of hurt if you do manage to get to your one acre BOL. Living off the land is not a viable option and as a guy that just showed up in the area after shtf, you won't have a network of local friends to rely on.

Harvesting from a garden to feed yourself could be as long as a year away depending on the season you arrive. To say nothing of the water required for that garden if you don't have a well on property. Also since you weren't there to take care of them there won't be chickens, goats, etc waiting on you either.

FYI, it takes approx 40 acres of land to graze one cow out here.
 
#18 ·
Alpine / Luna Lake area....nice country up there.
 
#19 ·
Hi Steve

You make very good points, and I've tried to think about most of these things ahead of time, but I'm sure I still missed stuff.

***However no matter which route you take out of LA there is a LOT of desert between there and your BOL. Sorry but no one is walking through that without resupply, no matter what H.M. taught them. Hopefully you aren't one of them but many foreigners have no concept of the distances involved in moving around America.***

I have had the benefit and pleasure of travelling around America for about the last 15 years from time to time. I have ridden three quarters of the way around the US (Seattle to San Diego, the southern route to Key West, up from Key West to Connecticut) - still got the "top one" to go. Also ridden a couple of times east to west and west to east again, through the ‘middle’, although not yet Route 66 in its entirety. So I do have a good idea of the distances and difficulties involved. If there was a near-complete collapse in LA I’d be trying to buy a bicycle w/cash and get the first 40 miles out of the way with what I could carry. Over the years I have staged 10,000 calorie caches every 30-40 miles in un- or sparsely-inhabited terrain, a few hundred yards off the interstate between Torrance and Phoenix. I don't have water stashed but I do have a GPS and a paper record of all of the potential water points between those two places, on the ’10. Plus, if push came to shove, I'd be scouting abandoned hotels etc and picking up water from the toilet cisterns (no, not the bowls :) ). My first stash approximately 40 miles from Torrance has an extra Sawyer filter in case the one I habitually carry in my BOB doesn't come with me for whatever reason.

***Walking from Phoenix is more doable but still iffy depending on weather conditions and again finding water sources is key.***

Indeed yes. This is presently a weak point. I have at the time writing zero caches buried on the way out of Phoenix. On the plus side, I have a very reliable motorcycle & 250 miles’ gas staged in storage in Mesa, plus also an old-fashioned pedal-powered tricycle with a basket in the same place. I have about one month’s food supply @ 2000 cal a day also stored there, mostly freeze-dried. But I could not carry it all with me. If I buy the place I hope to buy, I'll be looking to rent discreet storage for 3 to 4 months of 2000 cal a day, or digging a cache for some water and much food/hygiene supplies, probably both, in the next few months.

***You also need to consider that despite the buried cache you are still in a world of hurt if you do manage to get to your one acre BOL. Living off the land is not a viable option and as a guy that just showed up in the area after shtf, you won't have a network of local friends to rely on.***

You're absolutely right, I will be in a world of hurt when stored food runs out. In a near-complete collapse I won't survive much more than half a year, if that (but heck, I could get taken out by ferals as I pedal my cycle out of South LA…). If it works out, I have marketable medic skills. And if it doesn't work out, Whisky Tango Foxtrot. I never expected to get out of here alive anyway :) I do however think that if I'm trying to enter my BOL of choice without any claim to residency there as a property owner, I would really be SOL. I looked at closer places, like Camp Verde, Rimrock, Prescott - but, no offence intended to the folks who live there, all the vacant land is well out of my financial reach, and Prescott / Sedona in particular seem to be both juicy targets for neobandidos and focal collection points for uppercrust stoners in long-term rehab. But maybe it was just the days I was passing thru :)

***Harvesting from a garden to feed yourself could be as long as a year away depending on the season you arrive. To say nothing of the water required for that garden if you don't have a well on property. Also since you weren't there to take care of them there won't be chickens, goats, etc waiting on you either.***

Again, hundred percent agree. I don't wanna be a parasite, so my plan is if I make it I turn up with skills and a food store and then, I will see what happens. My biggest concern has always been water, which is why I want to be within walking distance of potable water, or water that can be made potable without high-tech.

But like I say to myself - Self, like everybody else you are not getting out of here alive, sooner, or later.
 
#20 ·
Update...

..have gotten boots on the property.

An unremarkable lot, which is good. Not to drive a truck thru OpSec, but closer to St John's than Show Low.

A few neighbours in sight (none next door).

A potable water source (tho' will still filter it) 20 mins' walk away (timed it wearing my full bugout bag, in rain :) ).

Basic shop/market also within 1 hr's walking / cart distance (if they are supplied at all after SHTF).

Water connection runs past the property line if I get stuck longterm and those services are still running.

Slight slope (good for rain runoff). Easy to dig soil, to level a campsite, and for sanitation.

If it comes to it, I could do worse.

And best of all, given all the other home-country calls on the prep budget, cheap.
 
#21 ·
..have gotten boots on the property.

An unremarkable lot, which is good. Not to drive a truck thru OpSec, but closer to St John's than Show Low.

A few neighbours in sight (none next door).

A potable water source (tho' will still filter it) 20 mins' walk away (timed it wearing my full bugout bag, in rain :) ).

Basic shop/market also within 1 hr's walking / cart distance (if they are supplied at all after SHTF).

Water connection runs past the property line if I get stuck longterm and those services are still running.

Slight slope (good for rain runoff). Easy to dig soil, to level a campsite, and for sanitation.

If it comes to it, I could do worse.

And best of all, given all the other home-country calls on the prep budget, cheap.
Sounds like the Concho area. If so be aware there are lots of thefts out that way do to methheads. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to discuss it publicly.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top