[Mtnman Mike]

Just thought I would make a new thread about underground shelters, which is one of my favorite subjects.

I built an underground shelter which I call an underground cabin - bunker - fallout/blast shelter even part can be a root cellar etc. I built this shelter on my remote mountain land in southern Wyoming and am always trying to improve it. It is not too fancy cost little except $4 to $5 per eighty pound bag of concrete which I have used at least 250 bags on top of and around my shelter. I used mainly logs and poles from my land and surrounding forest - at least 100. I also put tarps and sheets of plastic to water proof then cardboard etc. and then at least two feet of dirt on top with plants growing on most of the roof. Good camo. Concrete and rocks are around the edges and around the doors.

I salvaged much from a factory that was being demolished such as steel beams, two steel doors etc. I started in 1995 and work off and on improving it. It is at least twenty feet long and nine feet deep. Hope to dig further maybe even 100 more feet into the mountain side like a mine shaft Someday If I get more time and energy.

Anyhoo, the link to see the photos of my retreat and bunker - underground shelter are on my homepage which the link is >

http://mtnmanmike.angelfire.com/mtnmanmikesretreat/index.album/beginning-of-my-private-road?i=0

Any comments and/or questions will be appreciated and I would like to hear about any other people building bunkers, fallout shelters, root cellars even Thanks! People can email me also if they wish for privacy.

 

[Ghostrider247]

looks pretty cool, i wish i had something like that.

 

[chaosofcreation]

No offence man but it's really...unorganized. I would definatly spend some time making it clean and straitend out, but this is coming from a neat freak, so to each there own You have a good start!

 

[WSierra]

Neat! I'm a bit envious!

 

[Kregener]

Dude, that looks like a naked woman with a spike in her left boob.

 

[CountryBoy71]

I think you got a great thing going here! I'm jealous of the bunker, the cabin, and the snow. Sounds like it has been a long time coming, but looks like it is worth it. I hope to have a storm/root cellar on my place in another year or so. Still trying to get moved out there, so need a cabin and some of them stumps with solar panels.

 

[Mtnman Mike]

No offence man but it's really...unorganized. I would definatly spend some time making it clean and straitend out, but this is coming from a neat freak, so to each there own You have a good start!

Not too much offense taken. You should have seen it before I cleaned it up some for these pics. I had not used it - living and sleeping in it - for a couple years. A porcupine had taken my bunker over and they are messy. There were quills all over the floor and the porcupine slimed some of the walls with a green slime - marking its territory? I had to leave a couple vents open under the steel door and one hole out the back for air circulation and it helped keep the inside dry. Even a screen did not stop the porcupine. Will have to do more to keep out critters.

I have put many things in bags and neatness is not my number one concern. No humans except me ever see anything around my mtn place. I had a large black bear come thru my mtn retreat in July 2007 and he was Really messy, rummaging thru things. There are sometimes a lot of mice and voles but the fox and marten keep them under control. The marten is welcome in my bunker and the fox stays outside. The fox has his own bunker - den. I will maybe try to be neater but some think I am an animal. I need a good survivalist woman or at least a maid - but it is too remote, too rustic, too cold etc. for most people - especially any women I have told.

 

[Mtnman Mike]

Dude, that looks like a naked woman with a spike in her left boob.

Maybe you have naked women on the brain? : For those who cannot tell - it is a log I got about forty feet away on my land and I varnished it. The spike was holding a heavy army backpack which I put the black lantern on for this pic.

 

[Mtnman Mike]

I think you got a great thing going here! I'm jealous of the bunker, the cabin, and the snow. Sounds like it has been a long time coming, but looks like it is worth it. I hope to have a storm/root cellar on my place in another year or so. Still trying to get moved out there, so need a cabin and some of them stumps with solar panels.

Thanks for the nice comments CountryBoy. I bought in 1987, the land "only" 3 and 1/2 acres surrounded by the million plus acre Medicine Bow/Routt national forest and some other private land. Built a shed in 1990, camped and explored about everything for five plus miles in every direction in the nineties. Began digging the hole in 1995 and have been improving the bunker ever since. It is extremely strong and difficult to build since I had to carry everything fifty feet uphill and across two springs etc and 200 feet was the closest I could park for I did not want to cut a lot of live trees either just to get closer...

I have not built a fancy cabin mainly too expensive and I Never want to get a building permit and follow zoning and do what is Allowed to be built and all my buildings are well camoflaged. Mike Oehler who is the author of the "$50 and Up Underground House Book" first told me about outlaw building and building what we want and Need to build without asking permission from the guvmint... Most maybe 99% of people cannot build or seemingly even Live the way they want to but I am trying. My buildings are covered with snow half the year and is remote and about all the neighbors mind their own business. One more reason I love Wyoming besides its vast beauty.

Hope you are able to build what you want and need to CountryBoy. A storm/root cellar which can also be a fallout shelter etc. I think is one Big item especially hard core survivalists need :thumb:

 

[chaosofcreation]

I can definatly see how critters will get into everything. If you want to go the screen route, go with the metal mesh kind and double layer it. Your lucky a raccon hasent claimed it

 

[Halkon]

That is awesome!

Unfortunately the pics are of no use to us withuot the address :

 

[Mtnman Mike]

What do you mean Halkon? The link address is >

http://mtnmanmike.angelfire.com/mtnmanmikesretreat/index.album/beginning-of-my-private-road?i=0

The physical address like a street address is not available - no streets up there. I have told it is about twelve miles west of Encampment, Wyoming which I suppose I should not tell. I was paranoid for years and did not tell too many the location of my mtn retreat. Over the past five years I have been less paranoid.

In 1999 I did tell a few my location and at least 10 did come up to see my retreat and bunker. Two were my mom and dad. But the others I think just wanted a good place to flee in case y2k turned out bad. It is also a nice beautiful trip for any traveling by car or truck. I suppose some could travel by motorcycle and even pedal cycle although they should be like Lance Armstrong especially the last ten miles there is a 2000 foot elevation gain.

I do have a Lot of security on my bunker with steel doors and large padlocks and even a logging chain across. Inside I have thick steel bars to bar the door. In the winter the paved state highway is closed and made into a snowmobile road until June 1st or so when the road is plowed open. I went up there in mid Jan. 3 weeks ago and snowshoed about six miles from the parking area on the highway. No one is going to steal anything or even break into my bunker etc. in the winter Maybe they can try from mid June to Nov. but I am real likely to be around.

Any visitors are welcome but they must tell me they are coming or they will not see me until it is too late. I will not shoot anyone - probably - until SHTF - but I have scared more than one trespasser by jumping out from the thick trees, once just going down to try to meet them and they sped off. I do wear camo a lot of the time but Only on my retreat and never in town or a city.
Sorry if I go on and on but my mtn retreat and bunkers are my two favorite subjects. I never get a chance to discuss them in real - non-Internet life...

 

[BigDuck]

Mike, I am really happy for you , I have been looking for just such a piece of land, to do just what your doing! I was wondering if you might give us some clues of your job and where you live off site, i mean do u live 20 miles away and work at a factory, or 100 miles away and a oil tycoon, how often do you go to your retreat? As I said I'm wanting to get a piece of land in the mtn's sourrounded by wilderness.sorry if my questions are to prying, just trying to get a feel for what to expect.

 

[Mtnman Mike]

Mike, I am really happy for you , I have been looking for just such a piece of land, to do just what your doing! I was wondering if you might give us some clues of your job and where you live off site, i mean do u live 20 miles away and work at a factory, or 100 miles away and a oil tycoon, how often do you go to your retreat? As I said I'm wanting to get a piece of land in the mtn's sourrounded by wilderness.sorry if my questions are to prying, just trying to get a feel for what to expect.

Thanks for the questions BigDuck. I like answering questions about my mtn retreat and bunker. I am fifty although usually feel and act like maybe thirty. I had one pretty good paying job with Anheuser-Busch in the nineties. But I was losing my hearing for it is a terribly noisy can factory even though I always wore good ear protection. Since 1999 I have been able to go up to my mtn retreat from mid June to Nov. when it is mostly snow free. And that is when the state highway is open for they lock a gate when the snow gets deep about mid Nov or so.

I have been able to work seasonally mainly at a corn research station south of Greeley, CO from Nov to early June. But that is now no more and I have less money although I still work and make money. Also for the past two years I have been able to make some money helping neighbors in Wyoming with their cabins - put on one roof, cut trees, cut and split a lot of firewood etc. That is what I really hope to do more of but few neighbors up there and they only go to their cabins occasionally.

If I was an oil tycoon or Hollyweird actor I might have a cabin mansion at Jackson, Wyoming like Harrison Ford etc. or near Vail, CO where land is around one million dollars per acre

I hope to move to my mtn retreat permanently but I have to make money in the winter at Greeley, CO which is about 200 miles from my mtn place. When SHTF etc. or ever if I finally have all ready to live year round up there which is brutal in the winter especially if I would not have enough food or firewood.

Hope you can find land surrounded by wilderness but it is getting difficult to find and expensive. There is a lot across the private road from me that is for sale. They should be coming down in price with the economy for I think they want $50,000 for the tract which might be almost four acres. But it does have a lot of trees and water. I paid $8,000 for my 3 and 1/2 acres surrounded by national forest, in 1987. I can maybe give a phone number If any are interested in that lot or private land for sale in southern Wyoming. I will Not make a penny, but it would be real nice to have a survivalist neighbor or two.

 

[oscar615]

Thanks Mike for posting these. This is exactly what I am looking at buildong. I live on 1.5 acres in CO about 40 miles SW of Denver. I, unfortunately live in a neighborhood. But all the lots are 1.5 or bigger so I guess that is cool.

I have a few questions. It looks as if you have most of the walls built out of vertical logs, is that correct? What did you do for a foundation? It seems that they would sink after a while. Have you had any problems with that?

What about spans etc. How wide is it? How deep is it? Is the only the main 9x20 or have you dug other rooms of to the sides of it? Is 9' wide about the biggest you can go without center pillars or something like a load beam?

What did you use for the loadbearing parts of the ceiling?

Where did you get the doors? Did you weld them up yourself?

I have so many questions. Do you still get down to Greeley? Maybe we could meet in Denver for lunch or something one day and talk? Or, if you don't mind, could I PM you and get an email thing going? Since you have actually done it I think you would have loads of practical advice that may save me mistakes etc. I don't know if you are willing or not. You are just the first person I have come across that has done something like this and it is basically exactly what I want to do.

Thanks for any answers or advise you can give.

 

[sayter liften]

very cool, i'm jelouse, nuff said :thumb:

 

[Mtnman Mike]

Thank You, Oscar for the questions which I will try to answer. I love answering questions, usually, and mainly on the Internet.

So Oscar, you are 40 miles SW of Denver, is that near Conifer? I have been all over Colorado at least once and northern Colorado is my territory. Although I think too much of Colorado is turning into Californica. Don't mean to offend Californians but seems like over a million of them have fled to Colorado and are changing this state into what they are fleeing. Seems like Wyoming is not changing tooo fast but there are those up there who want changes like Colorado has also.

Anyway, Oscar your first question in the previous post is about my logs. Almost all my logs on the walls are vertical. A lot of support for the roof of the bunker. Also I used the small pole shelter plans in the online book Nuclear War Survival Skills > www.oism.org/nwss

Although I have a paper book of NWSSkills for no internet or anything electrical on my land except lights, radios and a couple other gadgets.

The foundation of the bunker is the Earth itself. The top three feet when I was digging down is made of some soil and a little dirt mixed down with tree roots also. Below three feet down is rock and at nine feet down where my foundation is Is solid rock.

No problems with sinking of my bunker even with 12 plus feet of snowpack on top by late April. The heavy snow has broken a board and log or two that was sticking out. One pic of the camo shed on my photo album shows an oak board that was broken that was sticking out - maybe most can see that board. The A-frame shed I built in 1990 has been pushed six inches or so by the deep heavy snows. Almost off its concrete blocks but I luckily fixed that in time, with rocks and more concrete.

The hole I dug mostly in the summer of 1995 is at least twenty feet long. I am digging more in the very back and given enough time and energy I would like to go back many more feet. Given enough time and slave labor I could dig thru the Continental Divide and come out on the Western Slope. 8 )
The dimensions etc. for the main middle room are given in the small pole section of the NWSSkills book given above. I did add my own touches such as making it six inches higher than the book said (I am 6' 2") and adding the steel doors and one window and two woodstoves - the large one I showed a pic of earlier.
Also according to the small pole shelter plans which have been nuclear bomb tested in Nevada in the early sixties, the less wide the stronger. Mine is actually about eight feet wide but I have gone a little over twenty feet and can go much much longer possibly with more side rooms. I have what I need now but what I could do given enough time, money, labor could rival Norad in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado = just kidding any government readers 8 ) Plz do not waste govt resources investigating, raiding etc. lil ole Mtn man Mike who is simply preparing for Whatever. I am not anti-government = just want to be left alone.

Oscar your question about the ceiling is answered in the NWSSkills book although I tripled that with three layers of logs, 5 sheets of plywood, then newspapers, sawdust, more papers, then sheets of plastic, tarps for waterproofing the roof, then papers, cardboard then old tarp then dirt, rocks, more dirt and most of the roof is covered in plants. Extremely good camo. If I did not know where my bunker is I might not even see it! The 250 plus bags of concrete is mostly around the edges and doors as seen in my photos.

The front room that I have my large woodstove in is not part of the middle large room. The front room is the one with the hopefully unbreakable plastic window obtained from a factory. I am not going to shoot at this window just to see if it is unbreakable. Maybe someday some idiot will shoot this window and the bullet will ricochet.

To the right and above the large Franklin woodstove is a 55 gallon drum buried sideways, behind the vertical wood logs. I store kerosene, tools etc. in there.

The two steel doors as seen in my photos were obtained at a factory being demolished. I have posted this before but I am just answering questions in this post. The sugar factory was one of several around Northern Colorado that have been closed. Enough material to make many bunkers but I was lucky to get the steel beams and strong doors. People can use just logs or other doors. I use beams, many logs and whatever in making my bunker as strong as possible. I think a tank could drive over it without it collapsing although it is steep and I can never see a tank etc. being able to get up on my hillside.

I unfortunately live in Greeley from mid Nov. to early June then the rest of the time I try to be on my mtn place All the time.

Yeah, maybe someday we could meet somewhere although I hate Denver and any stinkin big cities. Maybe somewhere north of Denver. But we and anyone else who would like to email me and discuss whatever privately can email me at [email protected]

I have no children and I really should find Someone good to help me, be friends with and who knows Maybe a good survivalist friend could inherit my mtn place and bunker etc. Although I hope to live - God willing - another fifty years. The world has changed so much just in the last ten years I really would like to see it - No matter what it may become in the next few years....

Sorry if I post too long but I try to fully answer questions and I sometimes get carried away 8>)# - that is a smiley with beard and glasses.

 

[oscar615]

A little further. Park County. Bailey/Shawnee area.

Thanks for the answers Mike. I will email you.

 

[Irishwarlord]

Cool,

I hope to do something similar with an old Mine I found. How cold does it get in the winter up there? How much fire wood do you set aside for a winter? Is your water well or spring water? What type of filtration system do you have for Nukes and Biologicals? Bet its nice in the summer very cool project.

Keep your senses sharp and your weapons clean, loaded and ready. God bless my friend and good luck. Someday with luck our paths will cross, I will be driving the noisy Barter wagon. Adios.

 

[dondonnyd]

Check out the Utah shelter system website they have a airfiltration system if you are lacking biohazard protection. www.disastershelters.net