Safe & Legal Mock Urban Bugout?

[roOism]

Doing a mock bug-out to the woods is relatively simple, get your gear, head out to your destination of choice via your transportation of choice, then survive with your BoB for a day/few days (super-simplified I know).

But for someone like me, living in the middle of a massive urban sprawl, "heading to the hills" really isn't a viable option.

I've seen numerous posts on mock-bug outs in a wilderness setting, and there have been discussions of what an Urban BoB should consist of, and discussions of what to do in an Urban bug-out, but I haven't seen anywhere that there have been mock-bugouts attempted/discussed.

Of course plan A for me and I'm sure many others in an urban setting is to bunker down in your BIL with your massive amounts of preps/food storage.

But lets say I wanted to do a mock bugout for situations such as:
- I'm on the other side of town and society collapses/bombs are dropped/natural disasters occur and I need to make my way across town back to my BIL.
-Society collapses and in the ensuing violence and rioting my neighborhood is set on fire and my BIL is gone. Can't make it out of town with all of the main highways backed up with traffic. Have to find a safe place to hole up, forage for enough food to wait out the worst of the trouble till I can try to get out of town/make it to plan B BOL, whatever.

So are there ways to do a mock bugout that won't cause legal concerns (trapping and cooking up a stray dog for instance), and aren't going to put me in unnecessary peril?

Or should I just stick to reading about it on the internet?

[dukman]

I think the only thing you can really do is leave the B&E stuff at home, along with the non-legal length knives, and spend a day or two with the bums down the alley to learn what it is like to live in a cardboard house eating out of the dumpster

[cauldron]

I went to a convention in Indianapolis a few years ago. ALL the hotels were sold out. I believe the KOA campground outside of town was taking reservations... It was that bad.

But I had a parking spot across the street in a parking deck. It was also a parking basement and went down a couple of stories. The overnight parking was nothing compared to a hotel room, so I just stayed in the parking deck. It was cold enough that it snowed the next day, but the parking deck stayed warm enough.

I was on a motorcycle btw...

I had a foam pad and a seeping bag. I found a quiet corner and parked the bike across the end of the space. It was next to a wall, so I had two sides covered. I put my poncho over the bike, and walked around looking at it from a different places. It was hard to see behind the bike, so I was not worried about getting woken up or asked to leave. I had a nice quiet night with no problems at all.

Basically, I think the best way would be to live like the homeless do, but without the chance of a handout.

Finding a place to sleep in a city would be the hardest part about having a mock bug-out in a city. Shelter in the day would be easy enough, and the hard parts would be playing keep away from other people, and finding food.

[eugene]

Find a day when there is a big event, silly ball game or some crappy pop bad having a concert to get a simulation of traffic. Plan some time at a range outside of town so your legally transporting to that range and go at the timethe game/concert ends so you get caught in that traffic.

[Glennbo]

I think the only thing you can really do is leave the B&E stuff at home, along with the non-legal length knives, and spend a day or two with the bums down the alley to learn what it is like to live in a cardboard house eating out of the dumpster

This is my thinking as well. In fact I was going to start a thread on it, but this one beat me to it.

You could travel from point A to point B using only found water and filtering it, and having your food supply with you. You could make a day of it. But to cross 20-30 miles of urban sprawl would require several days, and involve you camping out in someone's yard or in a park. Perhaps if you had friends along the rout they might let you do this. Or maybe their neighbors would object.

Homeless people do this sort of thing every day. If you could hook up with one and pay him to let you follow him around and do what he does you could probably learn a lot. But then these bums are relying on intact civilization to live as they do...so it might provide a false impression.

An interesting thing I saw recently was a tent pitched next to a parking structure right downtown. It was a new, expensive looking tent. I wondered as I passed it just what was going on? Perhaps someone was testing a bug out. I'm sure they must have gotteen rousted by the police at some point.

Anyway, I too want to do a mock urban bug-out. But I haven't figured out a way to do it in a realistic, leagal way. For now I content myself with walking long distances carrying my BOB, and trying to increase the distance and weight of my bag over time.

I do have friends that live halfway between myself and a major lake. The lake is thirty miles away. I might be able to convice them to let me try a mock bug-out using their yard to spend a night in. But they already think my prepping is silly, and they probably wouldn't allow it. And I don't think I can do fifteen miles in one day with my bag.

I just don't think a realistic mock urban bugout is legally possible without being sponsored with official recognition.

[Black November]

I believe Wally World allows overnight parking for RV's and cars. Try living out of your car for a few days. I am pretty sure that it's legal, and your car provides some safety.

[Murph]

One, make sure you can look & smell like you are homeless.

Find out where you local City mission is and walk there. Get a bed, spend the night, walk back.

If you can't get a bed you can either, try the walk back in the dark, ask other people where you can tramp for the night, or wuss out and take a taxi home.

[TravisM.1]

"Urban Camping"

[knight_308]

- Drop your car off at a Wal-Mart in the direction you'd be bugging out.
- Get a ride to home/work.
- Grab your BOB (as complete as it can be with local laws, etc)
- Start walking. Make frequent route changes to account for likely problem areas in an actual situation. Force yourself to keep your situational awareness up; look for potential ambush sites, dangers, etc. This is *not* a walk with a heavy bag. You should be exhausted mentally as well as physically when you're done.
- Live out of your BOB. Hope you packed enough water.
- Arrive at your car (hopefully).
- Prep your "camp" and spend the night in the car. Granted a car may not be the best place to shelter in a real situation, but there are times when you might have to use one. Cook your dinner using stuff from your BOB. Bonus points if you scored some "wild" edibles on the way (dandelion, fruit trees, etc).
- Drive home in the morning.

Now this doesn't take into account other shelter options (B&E, debris shelters, etc) due to legal/safety concerns. It also doesn't take into account other food options (open fires, trapping critters, etc) for much the same reason. You may need to pick up some extra water to simulate purifying your own as you go.

[gronch]

For added reality, take an old 35 mm camera, and weigh it down with lead to match the weight of your bug out rifle. Use your rifle sling, and enjoy the feeling of something bouncing off of you with every step.

I have a feeling lead filled cameras are going to become illegal soon.

[ninja-elbow]

Find info (blogs, books, etcetera) about bands and artists that go on tour. The more ghetto the band (punk, indy rock) the harsher the living conditions.

Also look into bike culture, not the spandex and carbon fiber but the Chunk 666 and DIY bike touring types, and read up on what they do. A lot of them are really urban. Many 'zines are available for really cheap (if you can find them) that have very useful info. You will get a lot of leftist propoganda too but that comes with the territory so build up you tolerance (as they build up their tolerance to the ubiquitous rightists culture surrounding guns and outdoor info). I can come up with a list a bit later of 'zines if you'd like.

[masterblaster666]

Well Ive been homeless so it is a little bit easier for me. From eating out of trash cans to squating. Of course both of those things are illegal so you cant to them because of the forum rules. But it is intirely possible to fill up your BOB with bricks or sand bags and to like the previous poster had suggested doing a Urban Walk. Also in most cities there are tent cities, skid rows or shanty towns. Ive stayed in ones down by the River (San Diego River) that flows into the bay in the thickets of bamboo. Sometime you can find a dumpster that dont have any food in it like a office building or something like that and use cardboard as a blanket. Roofs were sometimes a place to sleep in LA but not so much here. There was something for homeless awareness that a bunch of college kids "roughed it" in a downtown fenced off dirt lot. They did it for a weekend but they had wi-fi, running water and a portapoty.
When I had done this stuff I was young and dumb and was just trying to get by. I was broke and homeless but I would go to the Home Depot and wait with all the hispanic immagrant workers looking for someone that wanted a hole dug for a pool or a fence built. I was homeless but never felt like a bum.
In fact some of the tent cities are pretty neat if the homeless let you go down there. They have there own culture and hierachy. There was always like a king bum. I hung out with the Punks and even though we would be homeless to there were other groups of homeless kids that we all made fun of we would call them HBITs (HomeBums In Training) But there was one guy who was the HBIT King if he said he wanted a crack rock he got one. Needed a girl he had one a place to sleep they found a park bench for him.

[AZMedic]

I did some contract work where at night I had to be off property and couldn't sleep in the sites parking lot. So I slept in my xterra in a Wal Mart parking lot.

The guards don't bother ya and I did tie a poncho liner above me so no one could see me then just slept with a sleeping bag and pillow. Was not the comfiest but worked.

Did this for about 8 days. Survived on MREs and chicken.

[rladams39]

I went to a convention in Indianapolis a few years ago. ALL the hotels were sold out. I believe the KOA campground outside of town was taking reservations... It was that bad.

But I had a parking spot across the street in a parking deck. It was also a parking basement and went down a couple of stories. The overnight parking was nothing compared to a hotel room, so I just stayed in the parking deck. It was cold enough that it snowed the next day, but the parking deck stayed warm enough.

I was on a motorcycle btw...

I had a foam pad and a seeping bag. I found a quiet corner and parked the bike across the end of the space. It was next to a wall, so I had two sides covered. I put my poncho over the bike, and walked around looking at it from a different places. It was hard to see behind the bike, so I was not worried about getting woken up or asked to leave. I had a nice quiet night with no problems at all.

Basically, I think the best way would be to live like the homeless do, but without the chance of a handout.

Finding a place to sleep in a city would be the hardest part about having a mock bug-out in a city. Shelter in the day would be easy enough, and the hard parts would be playing keep away from other people, and finding food.

Living in Indiana, working in Indianapolis, i can say you were lucky you didnt get kicked out of the garage, i see homeless and people trying to save a buck getting kicked out of the garages all the time, ,
That KOA campground is a joke, they will change there rates just like hotels do if there is a convention or the race is in town,

Someone posted that walmart allows people to park over night, I think that has to be a store to store thing, i know of several that have NO OVERNIGHT PARKING signs up,

I lived in the back of my Pickup truck for 2 weeks, in winter weather ( average temp 10f) the weather wasnt hard to deal with, but finding a place to park where i wouldnt get bothered was.

I think trying to BO is a good idea, large cities have a lot of places you can hide and crash, but i would be more worried about crack heads and thugs than i would the police. My suggestion would be finding a spot along the train tracks in the bushes where you could camp for the night, less likely to be seen.

[Phoenix David]

You can get from one side of the valley to the other by using the SRP canal system, with the added advantage of having a water source right next to you. While I would not drink unfiltered from them and I know you have a water filter in your BOB. Also you want a way of pulling water from the canal without going into it, which I have but not for this thread.

This actually would probably be a fun little trip in the winter months, not so much in the summer, it if it was a SHTF situation I think it would be a very viable alternative.

This being Arizona you can carry a rifle while doing your mock bugout, while myself since my BOR is an AR I'd break it down into the pack and just have a sidearm since that is totally legal.

[emman714]

Wow guys lot's of great ideas. I'm more in suburbia, but I'll have to practice someday.

I've actually seen in a video, someone climbing a tree in a park and setting up their hammock off the large limbs up there.

Might be worth a shot, just choose a tree with a lot of leaves.

[kiwilrdg]

My suggestion would be finding a spot along the train tracks in the bushes where you could camp for the night, less likely to be seen.

If you are in an urban environment the area near railroad tracks is one of the areas where you are most likely to be tracked and monitored by the cameras of the railroad security. In many areas trespassing in the railroad right-of-way can land you in jail pretty quick.

[rladams39]

My suggestion would be finding a spot along the train tracks in the bushes where you could camp for the night, less likely to be seen.

If you are in an urban environment the area near railroad tracks is one of the areas where you are most likely to be tracked and monitored by the cameras of the railroad security. In many areas trespassing in the railroad right-of-way can land you in jail pretty quick.

Just speaking for MY area, We have no cameras on the rails, Hardly ever see anyone patrolling them, Now get closer to Indianapolis, yes they have CSX guards drive the right of ways, BUT i have been walking along them before and never had anyone give me a problem about it, Also helps if your not walking on the tracks, a lot of the Indy rails have service roads along them.

But as far as where i live, its not a long walk until your outside of the city, then i doubt anyone would bother you, especially if your just sleeping for the night.

Check your laws, im not wanting to give advice that could land anyone in jail,

[AZMedic]

You can get from one side of the valley to the other by using the SRP canal system, with the added advantage of having a water source right next to you. While I would not drink unfiltered from them and I know you have a water filter in your BOB. Also you want a way of pulling water from the canal without going into it, which I have but not for this thread.

This actually would probably be a fun little trip in the winter months, not so much in the summer, it if it was a SHTF situation I think it would be a very viable alternative.

This being Arizona you can carry a rifle while doing your mock bugout, while myself since my BOR is an AR I'd break it down into the pack and just have a sidearm since that is totally legal.

AZ activity this would be kinda cool.

[kiwilrdg]

Check laws before going on rail right-of-ways:

Illegal rail crossing is a good initial charge that I have used to get drug dealers on PWID charges.

[Caenus]

You can get from one side of the valley to the other by using the SRP canal system, with the added advantage of having a water source right next to you. While I would not drink unfiltered from them and I know you have a water filter in your BOB. Also you want a way of pulling water from the canal without going into it, which I have but not for this thread.

This actually would probably be a fun little trip in the winter months, not so much in the summer, it if it was a SHTF situation I think it would be a very viable alternative.

This being Arizona you can carry a rifle while doing your mock bugout, while myself since my BOR is an AR I'd break it down into the pack and just have a sidearm since that is totally legal.

A + MF'in 1. The canal system here is the best way to travel. You can stay out of sight, and you can move relatively quickly. When I was a kid in Mesa, we used to hunt jackrabbits with slingshots. Suckers are all over the place. Carry a .22 pistol, and you can likely feed yourself and preserve your preps. Another benefit is that all of the "parks" are actually water collection tanks. Depending upon the year, dove will cover the ground in these places almost to the point that if you have a 410, you can actually get enough to make a full meal! Drawbacks are E&E if scarier people are using the canal.

Why don't you come to the [urlhttp://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=59486]the BBQ in Mesa and talk about this with some of the folks?[/url]

[roOism]

You can get from one side of the valley to the other by using the SRP canal system, with the added advantage of having a water source right next to you. While I would not drink unfiltered from them and I know you have a water filter in your BOB. Also you want a way of pulling water from the canal without going into it, which I have but not for this thread.

This actually would probably be a fun little trip in the winter months, not so much in the summer, it if it was a SHTF situation I think it would be a very viable alternative.

This being Arizona you can carry a rifle while doing your mock bugout, while myself since my BOR is an AR I'd break it down into the pack and just have a sidearm since that is totally legal.

A + MF'in 1. The canal system here is the best way to travel. You can stay out of sight, and you can move relatively quickly. When I was a kid in Mesa, we used to hunt jackrabbits with slingshots. Suckers are all over the place. Carry a .22 pistol, and you can likely feed yourself and preserve your preps. Another benefit is that all of the "parks" are actually water collection tanks. Depending upon the year, dove will cover the ground in these places almost to the point that if you have a 410, you can actually get enough to make a full meal! Drawbacks are E&E if scarier people are using the canal.

Why don't you come to the the BBQ in Mesa and talk about this with some of the folks?

That's a sweet idea, the canal system is within walking distance, I'll have to googlemap it and see where it'll take me. And I'll definitely be at the BBQ. Thanks.

[PistolPete]

Practicing bugging out in an urban or suburban area does pose it's own challenges. In a disaster you can likely sleep in a park, but if you are practicing a route you are likely breaking a law or at least an ordinance. Same with mode of travel. In a disaster you can drive your motorcycle or 4wd off road when roads are blocked, but once again, not kosher during normal times. If a bridge is closed you can use a railroad bridge in an emergency, but once again, if you practice that route you are likely breaking the law.

I've organized mock bug outs for my local chapter, and the most popular one is a simple hike. We pretend there is a particular disaster and while we hike through the city we have little contests regarding the disaster. It's not a perfect exercise, but if nothing else it gives you an idea of how fast you can traverse your local terrain and how comfortable your BOB is. I know lots of folks in STL have re-done their BOBs based on a few hours of hiking. A nice internal frame hiking pack tends to be more comfortable than a frameless milsurp pack.

Another option if you live in a city with good public transportation is you can start at one train station and hike out to another one, taking the train or bus back. This will allow you to travel in a straight line rather than do a circuitous route.

Multi day treks can be more problematic. Perhaps you can find a person's home on the route that will allow you to rough it in their back yard. Whatever you do, make sure you adhere to laws and local regulations. It's no good preparing for disaster if it means you end up with a court date. Walking around with a backpack in a lot of areas may seem suspicious.

[Stealth]

Haha this thread is inspiring. I'm thinking when i go home on leave when my deployment is over i might do a 25 mile foot mockout for the sake of exploring the city thats been home for 24 years.