Covert camping in a drainage culvert

[The Lazy L]

A bit long but I found the concept interesting.

 

[Peanut]

The ridges in those culverts trap placer gold or any heavy sediments. A creek near me has microscopic placer gold. Specks so tiny i need a magnifying glass to see them. On a hunch... went over in june one year, after spring rains. Filled sandbags which i placed across the lower end of a big culvert.

When the water was about 2ft deep I brought my small dredge over. Sucked up all the sands trapped behind the culvert ridges. Took most of a day to get about $2 in gold. Hey, can't think of a better way to spend a summer day than playing in a creek! and get gold!

Living in one? definitely not anywhere in the south... too many cottonmouths already live there.

 

[backlash]

I saw a huge concrete culvert that was being used by kids as a school bus shelter.
It was just sitting on the ground and not used for anything else.
Not sure I would want to live in a culvert.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Didn't work out well for Gaddafi.

 

[viking]

The ridges in those culverts trap placer gold or any heavy sediments. A creek near me has microscopic placer gold. Specks so tiny i need a magnifying glass to see them. On a hunch... went over in june one year, after spring rains. Filled sandbags which i placed across the lower end of a big culvert.

When the water was about 2ft deep I brought my small dredge over. Sucked up all the sands trapped behind the culvert ridges. Took most of a day to get about $2 in gold. Hey, can't think of a better way to spend a summer day than playing in a creek! and get gold!

Living in one? definitely not anywhere in the south... too many cottonmouths already live there.

I have to gold machines that will process micron sized gold, the guy that I bought them from showed me vials he processed amounting to one troy ounce each, I asked a gold miner if he had any black sand I could use in those machines, he said that I wouldn't find any gold but I did find a bit, so I know the machines work.

 

[Peanut]

I have to gold machines that will process micron sized gold, the guy that I bought them from showed me vials he processed amounting to one troy ounce each, I asked a gold miner if he had any black sand I could use in those machines, he said that I wouldn't find any gold but I did find a bit, so I know the machines work.

I had black sand from the creek I mentioned. Saved them because I didn't have anything to run them through. A year passed, ran into a guy who had a spiral rig to process them. That's when I learned that creek did have gold in it. I ended up making a rig just for running sands.

A good thing... because micro-gold is in every creek in this part of the state. That's the problem, it's everywhere! It's not concentrated except at a few locations. Like big culverts...

 

[Tim Horton]

Camp in a culvert.... Not a good idea for me... I do know some people in ...tornado alley... that had a no basement home where they used a length of about 4' culvert covered with dirt and a short sheltering wall at each end as a kind of above ground tornado, storm shelter... They kept a broom at each end to clean out the spider webs as you went in..

 

[Weedygarden]

I like to watch videos like this.
A toboggan (sled) is something that I have seen people use for transporting goods. Its the kind of thing that you could have and never use for years, but when you want to or need to, it could be a big help.
I wonder about his stove. I have a few small stoves for different fuels, some more for cooking, others for heat. It is interesting how he has the long stove pipe that he can set up to divert the smoke that far out. His blanket baffles may not be 100% for keeping the heat in, but can be a big help for wind.

There is a guy, Steve Wallis, who does lots of camping in strange places. There are a few guys who do videos of going to strange places and making all kinds of odd shelters for camping. I think some of these guys make good money for themselves doing these videos.

 

[Aerindel]

One of those things that I admit, thought was a great idea, until I saw a video of someone doing it. Turns out its really cold, not really heatable and you get a lot of condensation.

 

[Hardcalibres]

.......and of course, it is the about the most high risk place to be, relative to a flash flood.

Typically, there will be runoff from several to many acres of ground, being concentrated through the culvert.

That is the reason for the culvert's existence.

 

[Aerindel]

I do keep them in mind while driving in case I ever get an 'take shelter immediately' warning over the radio.

 

[Hardcalibres]

I do keep them in mind while driving in case I ever get an 'take shelter immediately' warning over the radio.

Yep - not bad for short term gamma shielding/protection.

 

[Weedygarden]

I do keep them in mind while driving in case I ever get an 'take shelter immediately' warning over the radio.

I think it is worth keeping in mind. Having a few good preps in the car for such situations could be really helpful as well.

 

[Aerindel]

Yep - not bad for short term gamma shielding/protection.

Thermal and blast as well.

There is a fluid dynamics principle where the pressure inside an open tube is highly reduced, even when facing a pressure wave because the wave reflects off the wall all around the opening, pressing back and shielding the tube, even though it's open.

It would be a very dire situation if you where that close, but your odds would be significantly better than in the open. Use the 20 minute window between detonation, and fallout onset, to pile up rocks, etc in the ends of the culvert....and then hunker down for even just 24 hours and you've reduced your radiation exposure hundreds fold.

I think it is worth keeping in mind. Having a few good preps in the car for such situations could be really helpful as well.

I always have a 'ditch bag', 'get home bag' etc in my vehicles.

 

[Weedygarden]

That piece of plywood made a big difference in his comfort in that culvert. Without it, he would have been in water. He probably wouldn't have stayed then. I wouldn't. Driving around with that piece of plywood is probably not be something that any of us do or would do.