Well, first of all, it was bloody hot up there. Even at high elevation (6000’~) it was still too dang hot. The sun was just relentless. Good news was that there were no mosquitoes to worry about, bad news was the flies were terrible annoying. This was as good an opportunity as any to tryout the Summer Combat Hoodie that I picked up a few months back. The idea behind it is that, being made of mesh, it can be worn it hot conditions without making you feel warmer. It offers camouflage as well as keeping bugs off you. I’d been meaning to try it out and…worked pretty well. There was a very slight perception of a bit of heat retention but it was way, way offset by keeping the bugs and sun off my skin, Recommend.
So, I had picked up a 125-gallon water tank last week and hauled it up there to situate it for further use. How to fill it? Well, if I pull the truck up alongside the creek is about 15-20′ below the suface of the road, and the slope from the truck to the creek is about 50′ of linear distance. My plan was to use the Milwaukee transfer pump but I wasn’t sure it would move water that far and that high. One way to find out, right?
Worked fine. I need to make a separate post singing the praises of this thing.
Having secured water for the projects I had in mind for this visit, it was time to move on to other things. I had brought up a small barrel of freeze drieds to stow in one of the underground..hmm..what to call them….caches?Bunkers? Hides?…that I had put in a few weeks back. Although they are not deep, standing in one would only come up to your shoulders, I still needed a small ladder to make things easier to get in and out. Problem is, the opening is a 24″ circle. A normal width ladder would not leave you with enough room to mount it and climb down. I had toyed with the idea of taking some 2×4 and making a very narrow short ladder but my brain worked the problem and gave me a solution before I had a chance to hit Home Depot for some lumber.
I need something short, narrow, lightweight, and ladder-like. Hmmm. Hey, what about one of the ramps I use to load my snowblower into the truck?
Yup, that’ll work.
You know what I discovered? When its 100-freaking-degrees outside, five feet into the earth is blissfully chilly. I mean it was cold in there!
Yeah, I need to clean it up a little. Thats waste paper from the backing for the tar strips used to connect the riser to the tank. Next trip Im bringing the shopvac and some other cleaning gear.
Situated the first of many barrels, and closed things back up.
Also brought along a few cans of spraypaint to change the color of that lid from day-glo green to olive drab green. Next trip will involve some burlap and other camouflage. However, things seem to be working in terms of providing a hidden storage space.
Also marked off an area where Im going to have the conex people drop a 20′ container. I may need to see if I can impose on my buddy to go up there with the miniex and flatten it out a bit. I should have done it a few weeks ago but I wasnt 100% sure on the conex thing. Thats gonna bite me because I’ll need to rent the stupid thing again.
Also got to try out the camp shower under real world conditions. Lemme tell ya, it is a weird thing to be standing in the middle of nowhere, jaybird naked for the whole world to see. Intellectually I know theres no one around but for a few minutes I was a bit self-conscious. After that it was like “Screw ’em, let ’em see who the real heavy hitter is around here” if you know what I mean. Shower worked as advertised. At the end of the day it was great to be clean, climb into fresh briefs and socks, and climb into the sleeping bag.
Slept well enough until 530a when the coyotes/wolves started howling. I have no idea which form of canid it was but I can tell you there were at least six or nine of them and they sound nothing like what the movies make them sound like. How far? Far enough I really wasnt concerned. But, it was an experience Id never had before, so theres that.
After waking up, I put all my gear away, checked the cameras, did another walk through to make sure everything was secure, and left. On the way out, I ran into (almost) some locals:
All of Montana is open range country, which means is you don’t want someones cattle walking through your piece, its up to you to keep them out. My philosophy is that I’m not going to discourage ribeyes from being in my neighborhood. Might come in handy someday.
Every trip to the Beta Site is a lesson for me. Lessons this trip?
- I need a lanyard for my 10mm to keep it handy in the tent
- Bring better drink mix. Electrolyte mix, though necessary, gets old. Bring iced tea mix.
- I need a smaller cooler for these one-man overnight trips
- Bring shower sandals, a towel, and a travel soap container.
- Bug spray and suncscreen, dang it.
- Bring some basic tools (screwdrivers, pliers, vide grips, etc.) to leave up there
All in all, a good trip. No major failures, truck survived the trip, I survived the trip, got some things done. On a sad note, I’ve noticed that my treasured Arsenal AK is starting to show some wear from these repeated trips….finish wearing off the high points, scratches, etc. But, thats the price for keeping my place on the food chain.
I scratched my Arsenal the other day. Happy now. It needed to happen. Embrace it. They are pretty tough. Rattle can it when it becomes super noticeable. Check out KPYK. Cool rails and accessories for Arsenal AK’s made in Ukraine.
Arsenal AKs have the worst finish. The factory rattle can paint they use dissolves when in contact with most gun cleaning products. All of mine now sport a Krylon camo finish that is superior to factory.
Good update! Yep, the old truck gun gets some ‘wear & tear’, hard to avoid it. You can keep it cased, but then it’s not handy…
Stash necessary tools & flashlight in each buried cache to get out if someone puts the lid on while you are in there. Same with conex to keep door unlatched.
Great report, I always pick up at least one nugget but as usual it’s several. The Milwaukee battery powered water pump is something that was off my radar till now, Thanks.
A while back I acquired a cooler that had AC/DC power supply that could cool and keep cool items or add hot items and the “cooler” can generate heat and keep them warm. I bought the cooler for a cross country trip from Ontario to Alberta with products that needed refrigeration. It worked extremely well. you can plug it in to an automotive AC outlet or you DC socket(AKA Cig lighter) This can work well as a small fridge in your sight while working on you build. TTFN
I have a old Coleman Stirling engine cooler/fridge that runs on 12 volt. It can go to below 0F or maintain fridge temps. not very big but works well. I think it only pulls a couple amps a full blast, so a solar panel could power it with a single large deep cycle battery for at night. I know that there are modern equivalents that I couldn’t afford now 🙂 in the 1000 dollar range.
Got mine from a Coleman factory store 20 years ago when they quit making/selling them for under 200. Even then retail had been 600.
You need a portable water purifier. I like and have this one; https://www.guzzleh2o.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooQJvmauy3_vHR0LdmFzs8Ab0JdvlDFlAS0hVq9W5o9LUyg8ziN
If you are using mt stream water for a water source, it needs to be purified. All sorts of animals do nasty things in open water sources.
Guzzle has replacement filter subscriptions, too. Alway need those when old ones get dirty. Then , if you want to go extra heavy duty, capacity for long term and being a good neighbor when water becomes scarce, NOAH is used in disaster areas world wide. Not cheap, but cheaper than dying for lack of clean potable water.
https://www.noahwater.com/the-process
seriously, living at 6000 ft ? All-weather refuge? C’mon……………..
My friend lives year round near Boulder, WY which sits just above 7,000′. He has no problems living there year round. I’ve lived several places above the 7,000′ level as well.
I would think that Commander’s place will be just fine.
I’ve got a good buddy out that way, too.
Wonder if it’s the same guy. He just got his saddle shed built.
Yep, same guy.
Matt
Small world, eh guys?
Watch all the episodes of “Homestead Rescue”. They made a house in the middle of the Arizona desert out of a convex. Dug a six foot trench underneath it and use pvc pipe to create air conditioning. Also a good episode on how to make a water wheel to generate electricity
Sunscreen and bug repellant can be a problem, since DEET and most sunscreen formulations will react. This gives you strange chemicals on your skin and reduced effectiveness.
I use Skin So Soft combination sunscreen and bug repellant. It works pretty well for me. https://www.amazon.com/AVON-IR3535%C2%AE-Breeze%C2%AE-Repellent-Moisturizing/dp/B0059JMJWO
There’s also Bullfrog combination, that is supposed to be pretty good too, and it’s cheaper. https://www.amazon.com/Bullfrog-Mosquito-Insect-Repellent-Sunscreen/dp/B09NRW664Z
Thanks for the SCH review. I have been tossing that buy, both versions, around for too long.
If you want tea at the the site. Get a glass tea jar and some Lipton Cold brew packets to leave there. One less thing to remember to take.
Wow! Very well done.
Whenever we rent equipment we always use it the whole time. Making flat spots, improving roads, clearing areas, etc. Even if a spot wasn’t on your to-do list, just work it anyway. You can never have too many flat spots, cleared areas, etc. for the future. As you’ve seen, delivery is expensive (or time consuming if you haul yourself).
So i would paint that lid a cammo pattern in brown and sandy color matching the dirt around it and plant some bushes around three sides of it that cover most directions that someone not you might see that area from, or even create a mini maze of bushes around it that you have to enter and blocks any straight line of sight. Just me if your being particularly paranoid.
if your living with a weapon like we did in the service, you take the best care of it you can but it’s going to get a lot of surface wear, leaning against stuff, rubbing bushes and tree branches move through the terrain, falling, bumps getting in and out of vehicle etc.. Its a tool. luckily modern guns should come with a nice nitride/tennifer/salt bath treatment that pretty much makes them rust proof. Hardens the surface also. It’s a tool. AK’s are particularly tough so I wouldn’t worry about it. It isn’t your special 10,000 dollar special presentation gun that you don’t even let others hold. It’s a workhorse that keeps you alive when needed.
Lol, when I was in service the damn thing even slept with me in my sleeping bag. After having a SGT steal the damn thing from where I had it tucked under the edge of my sleeping bag outside the bag and got chewed out, me and most of the guys learned that one, it was safe from casual pilfering in the bag and two that in 20 below weather, it was not so cold that your skin would stick to it if you grabbed it quickly with bare hands, it also stayed dry when raining in there. Sleeping with a rifle is NOT comfortable, they are hard pointy objects that will find a place to poke into you uncomfortably. However like a wife that kicks or elbows you while asleep, you eventually get to where you don’t pay it much mind 🙂
If you really have the expectation that something four or two legs is going to walk up on you unexpectedly you shouldn’t set it down but sling it while you work. However 10mm on the hip or chest rig makes up for a lot of that. In the service you did not let that rifle outside of 3 ft from your body no matter what, unless it was secured by someone else at the time. Nor did you turn your back so you couldn’t see it even at that distance. I spent years living like that. Felt freaking naked when I got out DEC of 89 and it wasn’t long before I had CWP and a pistol on me since then. I have been bearing arms so to say for 40 years. Luckily in all that time, military service and private life I have never needed to shoot at someone or have them shoot at me. Just lucked out. Predator, here or there, yes. Having had times due to predators that I needed a gun right the hell now also taught me that battery powered optics are a bad bad choice. At minimum have an etched reticle on optics and co witnessed pop up iron sights At best have a tritium powered optic and witnessed sights. Twice in 20 years I have thrown down on foxes and coyotes and missed the hell out of them due to picking up the ready gun that I hadn’t shot in way to long and the fffnnning battery being dead. scared the hell out of them but missed. Moved to tritium Mepro21 triangle optic and when I pick it up it is ready to go, no matter what. Sits a couple years and it works. I have a small box of cheap and not so cheap battery powered red dots that have failed the reliability test over the years. If I can’t afford the optics I want, iron sights still work and work well and are reliable till I get the correct and reliable optic for the job.
I know exactly what you mean. There’s something invigorating about being ‘as God made ya’ out in the open.
…. I kinda like it!
If you take your boots off at night, put your pistol muzzle down in one of them, and put your boots near your head. I think I saw that in a Massad Ayoob article about travel tips years ago. I do that when traveling, I put my Surefire flashlight in the other.
That’s a really great idea. MAS is a great guy.
I saw watching a video of Alaskan guides where they were talking carry pistols. One guy recommended a lanyard so that the pistol doesn’t get away from you if dropped.
This guy then related a story of a hunter who slept with a pistol in his sleeping bag. Because of his rolling around during the night he had lost track of his pistol. During the night he was drug out of his tent by a brown bear, without his pistol. So this guide recommended sleeping with the lanyard on with the pistol attached.
Search YouTube for “The Best Bear Handgun? From A True Alaskan” to hear the story. It’s on “Ron Spomer Outdoors” channel.
Matt
if you are watching the latest Alone reality TV series – one of the guys make a big deal about lanyarding his various gear – making sure he didn’t lose something trapsing thru the brush .>>> actually a GREAT idea for this particular guy
unfortunately he didn’t lanyard his flint stick – landed up leaving it under the fire he sparked >>> burnt to a crisp
had to quit because of it – was doing great up to then – had just killed a 50lb beaver ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Big fan of LMNT products for electrolytes. Ice tea is one flavor. https://drinklmnt.com/collections/salt
Pretty neat that the underground bin is cooler than the outside air. Maybe need a way to vent it so the air doesn’t get stale and sleep in it? It was 117 degrees when I got in my truck yesterday, I live in hell. Enjoy the reports and you are living the dream sir.
Thoughts in no particular order:
AK’s. I’ve often thought an AKM (especially with a handy red dot) is very underrated as an animal defense gun. A proven but fairly soft shooting 30 caliber rifle roughly equivalent to 30-30.
Dudes want this 45/70 lever gun with a 400 grain bullet traveling at 1,900 FPS. How many rounds of 7.62×39 could a fellow put on target between the first and second booms of that 45/70. I’m guessing 3-5.
Even plain ole Wolf Ball is a legit penetrator. Put a few rounds in the head/ upper torso and it’ll work out ok for you.
Also bear country or not if you can reach it from the road network I believe people are a higher risk anyway.
– Pistols in tents. Personally when camping in the wild with a handgun it lives in a holster on my pants. When I take my pants off to go to bed they are beside me. Unless there is a good reason my Glock stays there for the whole trip.
CZ; You mentioned a shop vac, do you have a Milwaukee? M12 and M18.
They also make fans, M12 & M18. The M12 has magnets and will stick to the wall or ceiling of the conex box…
No relationship w/Milwaukee but for all the tools and storage I’ve bought.
Yup. Milwaukee M18 shopvac. And I was pricing the fans today. Milwaukee is coming out with a fan designed for scissor lifts and features clamps to allow mounting to things like rails.
Get a second conex and frame in between the two and you have a cabin.
Beat me to it. My froend has a hunting/ bug out place built between 2 conexs with frt and back walls w/ floor.
I have wanted to do this with a couple 40 ft. Ones to make a workshop/carport
Glad you found an easy solution for your need for a short narrow ladder. When I had a similar need, I found that a steel “climbing stick” for a tree stand worked well.
damn interesting that the Milwaukee transfer pump worked as well as it did – wouldn’t have gave it much of a chance to be able to handle the necessary “lift” >>> unfortunately most “transfer pumps” need more gravity help than most field jobs like that allow >>>
just make sure you are double & triple filtering the supply end of the hose – anything picked up from the creek isn’t going to agree with that pump ,;;;;;;
You might want to fence off the tank lids from the open range area. I had a wandering bull punch right through the lid of a septic tank riser.
Is there any risk of CO2 buildup in enclosed spaces in the underground tanks?
You said that they are up to your shoulder and they are an enclosed space; is there a risk that if you have ducked down to work in one, say, getting stuff out of the barrels, and a buildup of CO2, leads to potential unconsciousness, and unless you have someone available to rescue you, a potential bad and permanent outcome?
Is it worth having a CO2 monitor in each of the underground caches?
I just wanted to ask in case it is a risk that hadn’t been considered.