Mountain Wilderness Adventure

[CovertRunning]

Coming right up Shooter buddy!

Mike’s Bunker – The Overview

The crowning achievement would have to be the bunker Mike’s built.

I specifically requested MMM not show me where it was on arrival, as I wanted to see how hard it would be for an absolute stranger or group to find his strongpoint.

I’d seen the pictures and video, but they only give the slightest idea of the lay of the land. After about two minutes of scampering about I still couldn’t locate it!
With the shed and store areas to confuse and bewilder I had to ask for an indication, which Mike pointed to and I was very impressed at the camouflage effect he has achieved. It blends in very well and even the outer entrance is deceptive to the eye.

Entering it is in fairly tight confines. Any attacker would have an absolute nightmare trying to ferret out MMM from this fortification.



On arriving at the Mountain Hold Mike’s first move was to check on his bunker. Great locks and chains prevented all but the most prepared and determined intruder from breaking in in his absence.
The steel door is heavy-duty, industrial rated. A .338 lapua *might* go through cleanly, but even against that Mike has a secondary armour-belt to deter even that (possibly breaching charges and .50 cal too).



All sorts of gear was crammed inside. One of the most critical bit’s of kit was Mike’s Big Berkey Water Filter!
British-made no less and we’d use it for our drinking water. It was a slow way but we’d constantly top it up and have enough water for three easily at any one time.



As an aside Mike’s water supply’s were clean, but cows would soon arrive in the coming months in areas above MMM land and their vile waste could potentially taint the water a bit.
Also the system for re-filling the 6 gallon jug was awkward and cumbersome. I made a Ryder-note to improve that later!

Now a certain poster on a survivalist forum reckoned that Mike’s bunker was a deathtrap, even saying it would collapse due to shoddy construction.
Well I went through the bunker complex quite thoroughly and I can tell you that place is rock-solid. I walked on the bunker roof (even that is a fortification!), jumped, banged and ran about.
It was something incredibly substantial, very likely the toughest roof in the county, if not the state (discounting military installations).
The roof-section would require an arsenal of shaped charges to attempt a direct breach. Even this would be hazardous for Mike has gun loops set into strategic places plus an escape hatch (I could not find this and had to ask Mountain Man to show me).

I will post a picture of the actual concrete construction, right now I'm rushing...

Some more elaborate gear was on the roof and as Mike has said, he has not even told half of what’s really on his land.
He repeated this to me as I examine it. This meant, don’t mention it online so I can’t say what it exactly is ;

Now we do have some project-work to reinforce the escape-hatch and other things too at a later stage.

The next part, will be about setting up my tent and about living on MMM land, plus lot's of other stuff...

All for now, another databurst later on today or possibly the next day...

Thanks to all for your support and attention.

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Living on the Mountain Hold Mike has made his own isn’t for everyone. The elevation will kill if you are not careful. It get’s cold (as I type this entry it’s 2200 hrs and the temperature is about 40 farenheit), during the daytime, dusk and dawn for a couple of months insects can be bothersome if you aren’t savvy.

Also you need to be able to cook, clean and be capable of using a field latrine, or even dig your own hole (away from the Mountain Hold of course).

The area that the previous ‘guest’ had lived on last year was unsuitable for me. Trash, beer cans and other rubbish was all over that area. We got that cleared later though. What we couldn’t burn we’d take back to a city and trashcan / recycle.

It took me 2 hours to choose my tent-site.
Then unloading the SUV of all my gear, food and equipment then setting up the tent had me exhausted.



The next day I started thinking on where I wanted X, Y and Z.
I used my small tent at first as land is sloping and undulating.
In a few weeks I hope to set up the 2 Room Cabin Tent nearby. At the moment wood, materials and the like is on the area suitable for it. So that will have to be moved at some point…
Back to the first tent area.

I made my sleeping area flat with some wooden boards, then got two layers of padding down underneath the tent for insulation.
This area had numerous advantages. It was close to the side of a mountain, where I had some ideas for building projects, it was also near to Mike’s Bunker which had attachment areas for some of my kit.
Finally it also had a nice spring running next to it. I mentally made a note to run a water supply hose down to it as the spring was quite narrow and low-flowing.



As a finishing touch I added a camo tarp as a windbreak. This had the added effect of some privacy and concealment from prying eyes driving up and down the main approach road.

Now for those folks wishing to come to MM land I will tell you this, experience in basic woodworking, wild-camping and carpentry / joinery is a bonus here.
Also useful is metal fabrication.
Bringing firearms is ok IF you check with Mike first. There isn’t any firing range set-up (YET!) and Mike doesn’t like to telegraph gun-play at certain periods of the week etc.
I haven’t asked MM but I would be very surprised if he was unarmed up here, so any folks out to cause trouble better watch out…

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Mountain Wound

On the second day of getting to the land I was reminded of how things can turn if you aren’t careful.
While I was working on getting some water plumbed in from the nearby spring to my tent Mike took a stumble and sliced his hand open.
It’s easy to do if you lose concentration, part of the reason was he was concerned about the Oregon Kid and trying to keep an eye on him. This is understandable as if anything happens to him Mike could take heat due to his young age.
Anyway I’m just finishing up the hose system while Mike is before me obviously embarrassed his hand is a bloody mess.
I could tell Mike didn’t want to make a big deal about it to the Oregon Kid either.
With his hand bleeding from a one inch or so cut I could see it wasn’t pumping and seemed to partly gashed in two places.
I grabbed my trusty EDC and pulled out my first aid kit. Just before I could begin Mike asked if I could film it! My camera was at my side and as WR I obliged (footage showed later).



The wound looked like a clean cut, no dirt or debris in the wound.

I made up three narrow butterfly stitches using zinc-oxide tape and the tiny scissors from my EDC, prior to putting the B. stitches on I put some antiseptic cream on the cut.
Mike hardly even flinched when I put them on!
That’s Mountain Man levels of pain threshold!
It should be noted that Butterfly stitches are not *true* sutures or stitches, but are ok for light to medium cuts. Mike’s I would reckon was at least a medium cut possibly more!
I also believe that they leave a ‘cleaner’ scar than invasive stitches…

After I’d done that I put a large band-aid over the stitches.



Despite the clean cut I advised MMM that a clinic or hospital might be a good idea for antibiotics and a second-opinion as to whether needle and thread sutures would be needed.
I was 50/50 in my heart on whether wounds of beyond 1 inch long and deep looking required more than what I’d performed.
Although I’ve been patched up myself a few times and know basic first aid. I’m not a paramedic and would be pissed off if he ended up with a septic wound etc.
MMM said he’d see how he’d get on as the days progressed and, in the spirit of the libertarian way I wasn’t going to object to the Mountain Man trusting his rugged immune system.

2 days after injury

Inspecting the stitches.



Mike insisted on keeping the stitches in for 4 days or so, stating that constantly changing dressings can make the wound worse. MMM mentioned the Vietnam War as a reference and I wasn’t going to argue in either case.
A part of me did fear the wound might develop an infection after being bound up for that long.
No smell of it ‘going-off’ over the following days.
Then it became time 4 days later for MMM to remove my handywork….



10 days after injury



Looking good.
MMM did state it felt a bit numb at first, along with it being slightly paler but that’s normal when a wound is bound up without getting full blood flow.



No infection and the cut seem’s to be mending well!
He didn’t have any pain from it and his healing rate is impressive.

So there you have it folks, MMM take’ them knocks and keep’s on truckin’

Here is the video of the beginning to end saga of the hand injury! It’s quite graphic but nothing rough and tumble folks would flinch at.

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Building a Solar Shower Area

Using my previous experience I managed to throw together a decent shower, complete with camouflage privacy surround.

It wasn’t that easy, as the area I chose was on a fairly sharp gradient and was rocky as hell.

But with some western innovation I soon had it level.





Then it was just a case of getting support uprights into the ground and wrapped with camo poncho’s







I added a shelf and some spikes for clambering up and about to hang a solar shower from.



I’d have to time the moment right during the day though, too early and the shower wouldn’t warm up in time, too late and the mosquito’s would be out and about you!