The prepper population is increasing.
No idea if the survivalist ranks are too. But they are two different group.
So these guys do practice runs to evacuate their mountain prep location. Nuts? Well a wild fire was bearing down on them, and all that practice may have saved their lives.
Preppers in 2022: Stocking up and skilling up for extreme catastrophes
If you hear the term "survivalist" and it conjures images of militants and conspiracy theorists— residing on the fringes and on compounds, armed to the teeth—well, it's time to reset your doomsday clock. A worldwide community of preppers - those who stockpile goods and skill-up for extreme catastrophes - is girding less for the end of days, than for a disaster that calls for taking cover. A climate emergency, civil unrest, the possibility of a dirty bomb, to say nothing of a global pandemic that suddenly shuts down the world. It was COVID that turned abstract apocalyptic scenarios into a reality. Modern preppers come at it from all angles and for all kinds of reasons. We went high and low, talking to a few of the millions of Americans who have joined the movement.
Bradley Garrett: We're literally going over the edge of the mountain right now.
Bradley Garrett led our crew down a narrow trail near his home in Big Bear Lake, California.
Bradley Garrett: When I moved here, one of my first-- off-road adventures was to figure out how to get off this mountain without using the highway. And that's what we're doing right now.
Jon Wertheim: What are we going, ten miles an hour?
Bradley Garrett: Nine.
A former university professor, Garrett wrote a book two years ago about prepping then became a convert himself.
Bradley Garrett: Our country doesn't have the infrastructure anymore to be able to deal with emergencies in a meaningful way.
Behind the wheel of his hybrid four-by-four, he offroads, not for kicks, but to practice what preppers call bugging out - getting out of Dodge in the event of disaster, steering clear of the masses.
Bradley Garrett: We'll take these roads and make sure that, you know, they're not washed out and we can still use 'em.
Jon Wertheim: Just give it a dry run?
Bradley Garrett: Give (LAUGH) it a dry run, yeah.
Test-running an escape route to the Mojave Desert sounds like overkill. Until it doesn't. Consider this: days before our interview with Garrett, a wildfire forced him to put his bug out plan into action.
Bradley Garrett: And it climbed the ridge.
Jon Wertheim: I mean, literally right behind us.
Bradley Garrett: Literally to right here. My neighbor came and knocked on my door. And he said, "I think it's time to evacuate." There were helicopters pulling water from the lake and dumping it on the fire. And we decided to go. So we packed up the dogs, and the guinea pigs, and we were out the door.