About Me - Stan Grist

For me, Stan Grist, it all started when I was a Boy Scout. As a Scout, I learned all of the basics of remote camping and outdoor survival. I suffered in extreme weather conditions, but I finally got the hang of it after 4 years and enjoyed every minute in the wilderness thereafter.


Stan Grist the Boyscout saluting.Stan Grist the Boyscout saluting.

Stan Grist Growing Older Now...

As I grew older, I began participating in more extreme sports. I took courses and began to SCUBA dive, explore caves and I especially loved mountain climbing. I always pushed things to the limit and became a true adrenaline addict. I do not recommend many of the things I did as each one can become life-threatening.


Stan in SCUBA gearStan in SCUBA gear

When I entered university, I took several advanced wilderness survival courses. Oftentimes, we would spend several days in desert and mountain environments. Most of the time, we were allowed to only bring a multi-tool such as a Swiss Army Knife. You might imagine how extreme our skills needed to be in order to make it back to our van, still alive, barely.


Stan Grist Off to the Jungle...

A couple of years after finishing my studies in geology, I was invited by a gold mining company to conduct a very exciting project. The company owned gold mining concessions in a very remote area in the Amazon jungle. It was located in the far northern part of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The region was unexplored. There were no maps to work with. They said, "Stan Grist, this is your mission, to create maps and find gold."


Stan and son with Cinta Larga tribe members in BrazilStan and son with Cinta Larga tribe members in Brazil


Our remote camp was, unknowingly, located near a tribe of naked Natives who had never seen anyone from the outside world before. Fortunately, the Natives were friendly and very curious to learn about us and our way of life. Eventually, they invited me to come and stay with them in their home for several days at a time.


Native HouseNative House


They all lived together in a single, oval structure. We all slept in hammocks. The men took me out hunting every few days. They hunted with very large bows and arrows. It was difficult to always keep up with them as they were running after various jungle animals. We always took home a substantial harvest of monkeys, wild pigs, anacondas, piranhas, tarantulas, and other valuable forms of proteins and fats.


Stan with a gold pan full of nuggets in BrazilStan with a gold pan full of nuggets in Brazil


After spending more than a year living near them, I felt like I had finally graduated as a highly-skilled survivalist. Yes, Stan Grist, excellent survivalist! These Natives became very close friends of mine, even though we could mostly communicate with hand gestures and facial expressions. We got along great. It was a very sad day when I left camp for the last time. This was the very best community I have ever known in my entire life.


Piranha Fish for DinnerPiranha Fish for Dinner


Back in the states, every time I visited my old university and survival professor, I was invited to give lectures on Amazon Native survival techniques. I had brought home numerous bows, arrows, necklaces and bracelets. The students were always fascinated to hear my stories and adventures, most of them unbelievable. Thank goodness I had photos to prove I wasn’t telling tall tales.


Stan with Gold BarsStan with Gold Bars


I fell in love with gold prospecting. I spent several years gold dredging in California and various other western states. But then, I discovered Ecuador, one of the richest countries in the world. In Ecuador, I made several, large alluvial gold discoveries. I brought down a Calgarian Resource company to see what I had discovered. Within a year, we had established a large, alluvial gold mining operation.

But, in my spare time, I was always looking for more. My outdoor survival skills came in handy as we were regularly out in the jungle for days at a time. And, I did find more gold; lots more. Also, I was always in search of lost cities and treasure. I found more than you may be able to imagine. I found lost cities and treasure in the jungles, in the mountains and on the Pacific coast. I live in an adventurer’s paradise.

Eventually, my wife and I decided to build our little off-grid dream home. We found a 40-acre parcel of land just below a mountain peak. It had 10,000 mature pine trees and an amazing view. We could see several towns below us. And, twice, when the weather was perfect, we could see the Pacific ocean many miles away and thousands of feet below us.


Building our adobe houseBuilding our adobe house


We had solar panels and wind generators. We had a bank of 40 deep cycle batteries. We collected rain water in quantities that we could never deplete. We always had lots of hot water for strong showers and multiple Jacuzzi baths each week. We built a pizza oven for making delicious bread, pizza and other goodies.

We built the house with large, heavy adobe bricks, Santa Fe style. We made a type of cement from clay and earth that we mixed on site using a horse and a circular mixing pond.

The final result was spectacular. We had large windows for a 360 degree view. We brought in 8 mm. safety glass windows that were supposed to be impenetrable. We lived in bliss for about 6 months.

Take a look at our pdf booklet about how we built an off-grid adobe home on a mountain top.


new house interiornew house interior


Then, tragedy struck. It was like the end of the world.

One night, 7 armed, military-style criminals arrived with a huge iron bar. They began trying to break through one of our windows. It took four men to beat on the window for 20 minutes. The finally made a hold large enough to enter, one at a time.

The fight began. My natural instinct, a stupid one, was to begin fighting for our lives. By the time the fourth criminal jumped on my back, I could no longer support myself and I went to the ground. They tied us up, beat us severely and put plastic bags over our heads. I could barely breath.

It took them four hours to steal all of our possessions except for the bed. Finally, they left us with a completely empty house. It took about an hour to untie ourselves and call for help. Thankfully, I had stored away our gold, silver and cash in several, well-hidden locations.

After yet one more unsuccessful attempt to return and kill us, we had had enough. We moved back to Cuenca to a secure, small apartment. We were still in shock mode and were barely functional.

Then we received sad news that this group had killed our beloved gringo neighbor, just down the mountain. Why didn’t they kill me while we fought? Probably because I was unarmed. My neighbor had been heavily armed and was shot after a substantial gun fight.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Who could have dreamed that we were invaded in such a remote location. But it did.

Returning to the city, we set ourselves back up with major security measures. We set up a storage room with food and water to last for months. We made an advanced first-aid kit. We set up bug-out backpacks, just in case.

Unfortunately, several weeks after the horrific incident, I began to show signs of an extreme case of PTSD. It crippled me. I had day long panic attacks and could not think clearly. I could not work on the internet. Our lives came to a grinding halt. Thank goodness, we had our gold and silver to draw from.

It has been 5 years since the attack. I have been to multiple doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists. Nothing helped. I am still recovering from the PTSD, although not as quickly as I want. I have begun to work and write again, selling our digital courses and e-books on the internet.

I am compelled to create this website right now in the hopes that you can prepare yourselves better than I did.

The "Shit is Hitting the Fan" all over the world right now. Economic and political upheaval is all around us. And it looks like things will get much worse. Everything is upside down. Good is evil and evil is good. I’m sure you can see it happening at a fast pace.

I pray that the content of this website will help you to prepare for whatever comes. And, it is coming soon.

Thank you for visiting our Secret Survival Strategies website and helping to support us as we work to help support you.


Please look through this website carefully and choose the information that can help you prepare yourself in the most efficient ways. Feel free to contact me on our Contact Us page with your questions, comments and good ideas. Please tell me what you need the most to move forward quickly.