I know the atmosphere in the mountains would be more pleasant. When I go hiking, the higher I go, I always feel like I can climb up out of the inversion that is in the valley to breathe the wonderfully clean air. Going up into the mountains I will be away from the inversion and thus will be able to breathe better. I know if I go further back into the mountains as well, there will be beautiful valleys that will not have the nasty inversion that hangs over Utah Valley.
The temperatures in the mountains should not be too bad either. Come summertime the higher up I will be, the cooler it will be. I can harness the energy of the sun by collecting it with a solar panel that I have and can have the energy to run electronics if needed, or power cooking appliances. Come winter I could create a shelter with the massive amount of trees found up there and use the sun’s energy that gets reflected on the large amounts of snow we get up higher too. A dark tarp could soak up the warmth of the sun in the wintertime to heat my shelter as well.
The wind should not be too bad as I will have a lot of trees around me that I could chop down to create my shelter and walls to keep the wind from blowing too much. I am sure there are many caves up in the mountains as well that I could explore when the weather would get worse.
I am not too worried about water either as a lot of the snow melts and runs down the mountain all over the place. There are lots of small creeks and streams that run down the mountain and find their way to the rivers that lead to the lakes. Water filtration systems will help me to filter the water so that I could use it for drinking and cooking. Our mountains also have a lot of beautiful natural streams that are super clean and can provide me with lots of drinking water when I need it. I can also set up rain barrels to catch water when it does rain or snow and set up tarps to catch condensation.
In Utah, we don’t have any major atmospheric disturbances like tornados, typhoons, or hurricanes and so I don’t need to worry about those. We do have a monsoon season with plenty of rain combined with wind, hail, thunder, and lightning at times. I will need to make sure my shelter will keep me dry and that I have plenty of dry firewood to keep me warm.
The climate in the mountains can vary and especially with climate change happening in our world. The summers are hotter and drier and the winters are milder with not as much snow. I will need to be prepared for more extremes as the climate changes each year. There may be less water available than I may realize if the winter before has been milder and it may be significantly hotter in the summer than I will be used to.
When it comes to the Hydrosphere I will be sitting pretty good I think. I will not have a lake or ocean nearby, but lots of small streams and rivers that flow all over the mountains. There are even some smaller lakes up higher that can provide me with fish. There will be lots of underground water that will be available to me.
I will be surrounded by green trees and oxygen will be aplenty. The biosphere in the mountains will be able to sustain me when it comes to food as well. I will need to make sure to learn how to set snares to trap small game and be careful to maybe not run into the large game when I am not ready. Utah has some amazingly large predators roaming the mountains. Fishing would be a primary source of food as well as there are plenty of rivers and small lakes full of fish.
I will need to make sure to study up on plants that are edible so that I can add that to my diet as well. I can dig for roots and eat a lot of plants out in the mountains for sustenance. I could catch deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, and other animals for food as well.
If I am smart I would take seeds of sorts with me too and I could plant crops for myself. I will have full sun, water, and oxygen to grow plants that could sustain me as well. I could also use the mud and clay found in the rivers to reinforce my shelter and make it wind and waterproof. Growing grasses on the roof of my shelter could also cool down my shelter in the summertime.
A lot of rocks and debris usually get swept downstream in rivers and I could collect those to fortify my shelter as well. The mountains here in Utah are full of rocks that could be used to build a wall around my perimeter to keep anyone out that would not belong there.
I know I would be moving to the mountains where a fault line runs and that would be the only major downfall of my location. We sit right on top of the North American plate. If an earthquake were to happen while I was in the mountains it would probably not end well for me, but then again it wouldn’t end well for me either if I stayed with the zombies down below. Luckily we do not have any active or non-active volcanoes underneath us, so we have that going for us.
Being in the mountains I will need to make sure to watch where I do place my permanent shelter. I need to make sure it is not too close to a stream or river so it can’t fall into the water because of erosion and weakening. I will need to watch the rocks around me closely as well and make sure that they are solid and will stay in place. I will need to stay out of the path of rockfalls and make sure my shelter cannot be damaged by water, mud, or rocks sliding from the mountain.
There are a lot of streams and small rivers all over the mountains that I need to make sure to watch the fluvial process to make sure that my shelter will remain unaffected by it. I can possibly create barriers or dams on the small streams by my shelter to divert some of the water closer to my camp for cooking or bathing purposes. I know there are a lot of smaller waterfalls as well in the mountains and maybe I can harness some of that awesome energy that it creates from the falling water as well.
I know a zombie apocalypse would never happen, but it was kind of cool to see what I would need in order to survive a disaster of sorts. I know that there is still a lot I would need to learn or gather before I could head up into the mountains permanently, but here in Utah, the odds of my survival would not be too bad.
The temperatures in the mountains should not be too bad either. Come summertime the higher up I will be, the cooler it will be. I can harness the energy of the sun by collecting it with a solar panel that I have and can have the energy to run electronics if needed, or power cooking appliances. Come winter I could create a shelter with the massive amount of trees found up there and use the sun’s energy that gets reflected on the large amounts of snow we get up higher too. A dark tarp could soak up the warmth of the sun in the wintertime to heat my shelter as well.
The wind should not be too bad as I will have a lot of trees around me that I could chop down to create my shelter and walls to keep the wind from blowing too much. I am sure there are many caves up in the mountains as well that I could explore when the weather would get worse.
I am not too worried about water either as a lot of the snow melts and runs down the mountain all over the place. There are lots of small creeks and streams that run down the mountain and find their way to the rivers that lead to the lakes. Water filtration systems will help me to filter the water so that I could use it for drinking and cooking. Our mountains also have a lot of beautiful natural streams that are super clean and can provide me with lots of drinking water when I need it. I can also set up rain barrels to catch water when it does rain or snow and set up tarps to catch condensation.
In Utah, we don’t have any major atmospheric disturbances like tornados, typhoons, or hurricanes and so I don’t need to worry about those. We do have a monsoon season with plenty of rain combined with wind, hail, thunder, and lightning at times. I will need to make sure my shelter will keep me dry and that I have plenty of dry firewood to keep me warm.
The climate in the mountains can vary and especially with climate change happening in our world. The summers are hotter and drier and the winters are milder with not as much snow. I will need to be prepared for more extremes as the climate changes each year. There may be less water available than I may realize if the winter before has been milder and it may be significantly hotter in the summer than I will be used to.
When it comes to the Hydrosphere I will be sitting pretty good I think. I will not have a lake or ocean nearby, but lots of small streams and rivers that flow all over the mountains. There are even some smaller lakes up higher that can provide me with fish. There will be lots of underground water that will be available to me.
I will be surrounded by green trees and oxygen will be aplenty. The biosphere in the mountains will be able to sustain me when it comes to food as well. I will need to make sure to learn how to set snares to trap small game and be careful to maybe not run into the large game when I am not ready. Utah has some amazingly large predators roaming the mountains. Fishing would be a primary source of food as well as there are plenty of rivers and small lakes full of fish.
I will need to make sure to study up on plants that are edible so that I can add that to my diet as well. I can dig for roots and eat a lot of plants out in the mountains for sustenance. I could catch deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, and other animals for food as well.
If I am smart I would take seeds of sorts with me too and I could plant crops for myself. I will have full sun, water, and oxygen to grow plants that could sustain me as well. I could also use the mud and clay found in the rivers to reinforce my shelter and make it wind and waterproof. Growing grasses on the roof of my shelter could also cool down my shelter in the summertime.
A lot of rocks and debris usually get swept downstream in rivers and I could collect those to fortify my shelter as well. The mountains here in Utah are full of rocks that could be used to build a wall around my perimeter to keep anyone out that would not belong there.
I know I would be moving to the mountains where a fault line runs and that would be the only major downfall of my location. We sit right on top of the North American plate. If an earthquake were to happen while I was in the mountains it would probably not end well for me, but then again it wouldn’t end well for me either if I stayed with the zombies down below. Luckily we do not have any active or non-active volcanoes underneath us, so we have that going for us.
Being in the mountains I will need to make sure to watch where I do place my permanent shelter. I need to make sure it is not too close to a stream or river so it can’t fall into the water because of erosion and weakening. I will need to watch the rocks around me closely as well and make sure that they are solid and will stay in place. I will need to stay out of the path of rockfalls and make sure my shelter cannot be damaged by water, mud, or rocks sliding from the mountain.
There are a lot of streams and small rivers all over the mountains that I need to make sure to watch the fluvial process to make sure that my shelter will remain unaffected by it. I can possibly create barriers or dams on the small streams by my shelter to divert some of the water closer to my camp for cooking or bathing purposes. I know there are a lot of smaller waterfalls as well in the mountains and maybe I can harness some of that awesome energy that it creates from the falling water as well.
I know a zombie apocalypse would never happen, but it was kind of cool to see what I would need in order to survive a disaster of sorts. I know that there is still a lot I would need to learn or gather before I could head up into the mountains permanently, but here in Utah, the odds of my survival would not be too bad.
[Paper written for GEOG 1000 class UVU Summer 2021]
Amy Brouwer . 2024 . All Right Reserved
