AB,

Depending on the crisis to require martial law or containment, I would bet that travel beyond Hope would not be possible. You have two major routes (Hwy #1 & Hwy #5) to the Interior at Hope and they would not want you to pass. Also, they would not want you to get on Hwy #3.

Yes, all chock points would be easy for them to establish check points. Bridges, tunnels, freeways.

Got a plane or river boat?? Mountain bike?? Quad?? A good pair of boots?? Do you have a good map with all the back roads and logging / mining roads??

You may want to establish a stashed vehicle beyond Hope, incase you get pass the check point, but be reassured there will be one at the old toll booth on the Coq (Hwy #5). But if you are familiar with the logging roads you may be able to skirt around that one.

If it is a major event expect, dogs, helicopters, light aircraft/bird-dog planes, and maybe even drones; not to mention foot patrols and combat vehicles with nightvision and thermal sights.

If you think it will come to martial law, you will want to be long gone before that is declared.

Wish you well on your planning and prepping. You may have to go fast and light. You may want to research caching. And then practice it.

Just my 2 cents,

Mountainman.

I went ouyt today and grabbed a backroad mapbook. It shows the following: Freeways, Highways, Secondary Highways, Arterial Paved Roads, Rural Paved Roads, Local Paved Roads, Forest Service/Main Industry Roads, Active Industry roads (2wd), Other Industry Roads (2wd/4wd), Unclassified/4wd Roads, Railways, Transcanada Trail, Long Distance Trails, Duo Sport Trails, Snowmobile Trails, ATV Trails, Developed Trails, Routes(Undeveloped Trails), Ferry Routes, Lake/River Paddling Routes, Powerlines, Pipelines.

A lot of useful information in this book. I also have a copy of "Trans Canada Trail British Columbia" which shows detailed maps for the entire trail in B.C. Most of this trail is built on abandoned rail line(rails have been removed). Being built on the railway means it never has more then 5% incline or something like that? There are some spots that are more difficult however. Most of ths trail is bikeable. So Im probably looking at biking out of town. The problem with this is my wife and two kids are beginers.I myself have lots of Hiking/Biking expierience. It makes things more difficult when you have others to take care of. In fact my youngest cant even ride a two wheeler yet. We're planning on teaching her by the end of the summer.
The other problem is your not really getting into the bush into you get to the section that runs parralel to Chilliwack Lake road. There airports, and military bases between here and there. Not only that but my route has me pretty close to the American border. Our government and theirs have treats in place that gurantee eachothers full cooperation in dealing with civil unrest. Once I get to Hope I plan to turn north but I think this first stretch has to be the hardest push.
I Like the idea of caching. Especially if this is going to be an extended trip by bike. And I do have a canoe as well. And I agree, the best thing to do is to get out of town before martial law is declared. Thats the biggest threat to most of us preppers. We know what to do. We just dont know when and that can really mean the difference between a plan working or failing.

Well, being ex-Military the Highway option is a Bust. I have seen documents, that turn this plan into $^$&$sht. Checkpoints will be manned by those who believe they are doing good. And more Dangerous is that "your" Government has given them Weapons do do this with. Imagine complete 'goofs guarding the Highways and such. I wish i had good news for , but no such luck.

I suggest buying land in the North and start planning to relocate to the area, if you wait for the alarm, it will be much to late.

Good luck.

AB,

Bikes. Could work. You may want to consider two mountain bikes with bike trailers. Either put both kids in one trailer and gear in the other. Or split the loads. I don't like the second options, because you will not get as much gear in the trailers if the kids are in their too. But if you are really light??????

I agree with CPOBOB62, if you can make it happen, make the move to the Interior. I, understand if employment keeps you where you are. But, if you can move beyond Hope, sooner would be better than later. Not my place to rip up your family roots. But from a purely survival stand point, your family's success may increase beyond the confines of the lower Fraser Valley.

If you are not able to make the move for whatever reason, planning caches, will allow you to move fast and light. Very risky, but has got to be better than an internment camp, under martial law. Do not answer this question to me, but for yourself; where do you plan to go if you get pass the checkpoint???? I say again, do not post your answer. Depending on the distance you need to travel, will determine how many and how far apart your caches need to be.

If you had to go to ground in your area and lay low for a few weeks could you?? Skills wise, do you have the fieldcraft skills to live out-of-sight near your home, until things would relax??

This a good exercise for anyone in the planning stage. How to plan a bugout from a geographical confined area, as or shortly after martial law is imposed. What resources do you have? What options do you have? How much time do you have? These things and more come into play.

CPOBOB62, I hear you on suggesting preppers move out of the Fraser Valley. However, any of us, anywhere may end up facing the iron grip of martial law. Yes, some locations are harder for forces to control the people. But we should all be aware we may have that to contend with, beyond just the factors of SHTF.

With proper planning, training, skills, resources, time and the will/desire, any plan can succeed.

Mountainman.

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I'm just glad we're moving out of downtown calgary this weekend 😀

We'll be close to work still in the city but have some choices in what direction to travel if the need arises. We're also planning on what to do if shtf and one of us are at work; since one is on days and the other works nights.

Very few Canadian cities have a military base of any size or strength any more. Add to that, the Canadian military is extremely undermanned for enforcing any martial law here in Canada. In fact, we have more cops than military, way more. As for the U.S. military coming up to enforce martial law, not that likely. In a major SHTF (as in nation/world wide) scenario, the U.S. military would probably be fully involved in their own domestic troubles. Most likely the U.S. will collapse into chaos before we do and they won't care about any problems we have. Chances are that any U.S. intrusion into Canada would come in the form of refugees from collapse down there.

WE will take your analysis of the current CF into account, jefft78 and Taz, for Opsec reasons we should not discuss CF capabilities any deeper than generalities, IMO.

That does not take away from the fact that a martial law situation could occur, probably more likely than an asteroid impacting a populated area. I think the spirit of this particular discussion was how to deal with military checkpoints in a geographical confining location - the Fraser Valley. There are many valley communities in BC, AB, YT that have the potential of being in this situation. It would be more helpful for those living in those areas to hear solutions to a check point scenario than hearing how unlikely that scenario is. I would rather have ten solutions to this check point scenario to consider than to let my guard down and say okay I don't have to plan for check points because they are unlikely to occur.

Taz and jefft78 you both have valuable information to provide, you have given your situational analysis of unprobable, now can you give us your solution if it does occur??

This is good topic to work out solution sets to. Many of the solutions will be transferable to other problems or challenges you may face on a bugout scenario. Let's hear more solutions!

Mountainman.

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All of you have some good points and some valuable info. But I think mountainman may be the only one who saw where I was trying to go with this.

First I ask, is there any SHTF situation that wouldn't call for martial law? Think about it. Natural disasters: Earthquake, hurricane, flood, solar flare, tornado. Man made disaster: War (civil?), terrorist attack, nuclear reactor meltdown,pandemic, etc. Any one of these situations could call for martial law depending on the severity or the location where it hits. Look at Katrina. And where theres chaos, or panic, theres a need to regain control. I dont want to risk being detained in any siuation. So I want to avoid the prime locations where checkpoints could be setup.

I agree that there are more police in BC then there are military, but I also believe the police are the ones who will be managing these checkpoints under the supervision of the military. Am I wrong? Jeff take a look at this :
http://www.freedominfonetwork.org/profiles/blogs/us-army-preparing-for-martial-law-scenario-in-us-civil-disturbanc

Im talking more about the pictures then the article. This formation is a roman tetsudo. In ancient times it was nearly inpentrable. It is basically a greek phalanx on steroids. Its only weakness is it isnt very mobile. It was usually only defeated when flanked from multiple sides using cavalry.If they strategicaly place there checkpoints, and theyre manned properly, then Im sorry but you arnt getting through with thousands of people unless you are willing to use your guns to shoot and kill, and they WILL be shooting back. Once a few of you drop hundreds and thousands of others will start to lose heart and disperse. I am not questioning your heart at all, I question the heart of the masses. We havent even broughts tanks, or planes into the equation yet.

Now lets take a look at metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. If you look at it from a strategist point of view you will see how easy the entire lower mainland could be made into an enourmous prison. I will start with Vancouver, Burnapy,Coquitlam, Richmond and New west. If we color code the areas, this area is definately a redzone. All the bridges are blocked. The North is blocked by the Burrard Inlet. The east is blocked by the Pitt river and the South is blocked by the Fraser river.The west is the straight of Georgia. So if you dont have a boat then you're going swimming, or your sitting tight. Those are yor only two options. IMO you're screwed. Sorry guys.
Surrey Whiterock and Delta...arguably even Langley: I still call this a red zone because of the massive population, this will mean a larger police presence. Your only option is to move east. Theres not much for wilderness so whether your biking, driving or hiking your doing so by road. You'll definately want to avoid the #1, and the Fraser highway.
North Van and Maple Ridge: I consider this an orange zone. You still dont have many options, but the option of North is a very good one. Travel time to get into the wilderness is very short. That being said, you still cant travel West, south or East as you're surrounded by water. Only way across is a bridge which I want to avoid, swim or boat. There is still a high population here but especially in N. Van the population is a bit wealthier therefore IMO more protected.
Somewhere around Aldergrove and continuing on until the otherside of Chilliwack I have it all as orange zone. Still a significant population here but the valley starts to widen and you start to hit the mountains. There is a lot of farmland you can travel through to avoid the roads. I would stay away from the fraser highway and the #1 still, ESPECIALLY around Mt. Lehman exit as this is where the two highways meet making it a choke point. As soon as you get to vedder mountain, cultus lake area, I'd be off into the bush. I would continue heading east past chilliwack Lake.
From this point on its all yellow zone, the safest. You can basically travel up to the Yukon or out to Alberta without ever stepping off a trail. Skagit Valley provincial park, North Cascades Rec. area, and Manning provincial are both interconnected with a vast network of trails. The transcanada trail is a very good one that I talked about in my previous post. There are thousands of KM of trails all throughout BC.

I think all of this, what everyone has said thus far is very important to consider. And its a topic that needs to be discussed more because what a lot of people arnt understanding is that their bugout plan almost CERTAINLY should have them avoiding most roads. If you are planning on driving out then you are almost definatley going to run into some sort of law enforcement. When theres only a few roads out and lots of natural barriers like bodies of water and mountains, it is very easily made into a very large prison. In the ideal world I should trust the military and the police to protect and serve me. But this world is far from ideal, and this is why we prep. We count on these guys following their orders and believeing what theyre doing is right. We count on human nature. We may not know what will happen but the one thing that EVERY SINGLE DISASTER has in common is the human side. and that will always gurantee chaos and panic and selfishness in SHTF situations. And this chaos will give the government no choice but to try to regain control. Their tools for this are the military and the RCMP. As an individual I could trust any law enforcment officer or military. But as a whole, I expect them to "get the job done". And they will, regardless of whether its right or not.

Thoughts. Especially ones from military or law enforcment, ex or present. Thanks.

Go to any towns you may have to pass through in a bug out situation. Get to know the local authorities before TSHTF. Stop in every once in awhile to visit and have a coffee with them. In a bug out situation, checkpoints in local communities will be to keep strangers out. The more familiar the locals are with you, the better the chance of persuading them to let you through.
Another method is to recce your route. Checkpoints will usually be set up at chokepoints. Map out detours around the chokepoints ahead of time. When you have to travel, don't be in a hurry. Plan to be able to stop and scout ahead in order to spot the checkpoints before you're spotted by them.

One thing I havent mentioned is time of year. In the winter time several feet of snow WILL make travel along these trails very difficult, and a lot more dangerous.

As a former wildland firefighter i have seen many checkpoint setups in various communities. and i have seen what lengths the masses will go to to get passed a checkpoint. Im talking about everything from lying to the local authroties at the checkpoint, faking I.D, faking the passes issued to local residents only, driving through checkpoints at high rates of speed, using diversions to distract the authroties at a checkpoint, the list goes on. i can remember being in breifing meetings and the local police would come in and ask us firefighters who were working in the area around the checkpoints what the lay of the land was, low lying areas, shallow spots in rivers, canyons, deer trails, etc. any place were they thought people would try to sneek around the checkpoint. At some point large maps of the area would come out and the local police would mark off the spots that were mentioned and then expand their "checkpoint " to try and catch people. Im talking about local police dressed as civilans trying to catch people out in the middle of the woods. And these tactics worked. emergency services personel and military will know about the local trails such as the trans canada trail etc. I would be willing to bet that these trails will be checkpointed too, by no means am i saying dont use them, hell i will be using these trails too should the time come because i too realize that the major highways will most likely not be an option, im just saying that the possibility is there that you encounter some kind of checkpoint along the way. i would think that a compass would come in handy because a person may want to consider going WAY OFF the beaten path in order to stay away from the local police, military, etc . Following a river may be a good choice.
The point im trying to make is have more then one way to get from point A to point B, everything that has been said so far is good info that we all need to think about. Anyways, just my thoughts on the topic and im no expert.

gmurphy, you're right, a compass does come in handy. If you have to try to get around a checkpoint on foot, a good rule of thumb is "Beaten paths are for beaten men." In other words, stay off known trails or obvious routes and use any available concealment.