This is the first of a series of articles about caching, the third
most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge of how
to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough physical
condition to survive under any circumstance.

We will start with the home cache. The home cache is
a supply of food and tools in the house (or other home) that would permit
you to exist in your home for a determined amount of time if all outside
support ends. If the grid goes down, communications are jammed or dead,
the water is cut off, and fuel sources are gone. When would such an event
happen, surprisingly enough our standard of living is built on a thin egg
shell, it could happen at any time by many different means. Here in South
Florida we have seen first hand how something like a hurricane can wipe
out your entire lifestyle in one day. 

To prepare for a storm or other disruption of living
norms we need to lay in a supply of food, water, fuel, in the home that
we (all those in our group or family) can survive for at least one month.
We can not continue to rely on the government to provide for us in 48 hours.
This was made painfully evident in Hurricane Andrew. And then when the
government did come in it was at the best merely life sustaining. We should
also consider protective gear which would include firearms and ammo. When
the troops came in to protect us they were told not to load their weapons.
It took the gangs of looters only a matter of an hour or so to figure this
out. There was even one incidence in which the gangs surrounded some troops
and demanded their weapons. Luckily the troops had seen what was going
on and radioed for a military helicopter with armed police on board who
arrived before there was bloodshed.

OK, where? This is a common concern, especially here
in S.Fl. where hurricanes have completely leveled entire developments.
Well, don't laugh, it has proven to be best to make the bathrooms a safe
haven. Bathrooms, partly because of their smaller size, partly because
of the fact many do not have windows are considered the strongest room
in any house not constructed with a "safe room"  where the walls
are especially constructed for the survivalist's needs.

Empty the cabinets and stock them with water, water
purification devices, a camping stove and a brand new can of fuel for the
stove (brand new because they are sealed for placement on store shelves
and usually don't leak unless punctured), food, flashlights and batteries
(in drawers not the cabinet), your family first aid kit, a couple of changes
of "roughing it" clothes, and a battery powered A.M./F.M. (and
CB or ham ) radio. You do not need to purchase special "backpacking"
foods for this cache, just your ordinary canned foods, stews, soups, etc.
Just consider it a pantry in a strange place. Oh, and if you own one the
cellular phone. You can keep your bathroom stocks (extra toilet paper,
etc.) in a hall closet with only a couple of rolls in the cabinet. 

You will notice I did not mention firearms. IF you
are going to keep a supply of self defense firearms in the house you must
be sure that small hands (if you have children, grandchildren, or fiends
and neighbors that drop by have any) can't find or get them. But then again
you don't want them locked up where you can't get to them yourself, especially
if you wind up running in there in the middle of the night with your key
ring on the dresser or in your pants pocket. I have seen some interesting
installations of medicine cabinets. I saw a house that had a medicine cabinet
in each bathroom that were originally built into the wall, high enough
that little folks would have trouble reaching them. The owner had made
a few changes though. He purchased a medicine chest that mounted flush
on the wall that was bigger than the original and removed the originals
leaving a nice hole in the wall. He custom made some shelves and placed
his weaponry in the "cache" on the shelves and then hung the
new medicine cabinet over it. He used a drill to drill a hole large enough
for the head of the mounting screws to fit through just below and touching
the smaller mounting holes, making "slotted " holes. By leaving
the screws just shy of being tight he could grab the medicine chest and
lift it about 1/4" and pull it off the wall. 

I am not going to pretend to be an arms expert and
tell you what you need in your cache for protection. My personal caches
have 22 long rifle rifles and handguns for protection against the four
legged vermin. After Andrew the rats got big enough to use as target practice
(some as big as cats) if you were not inclined to eat them. But then again,
that is a different survival topic. I also plan to have 9mm semi auto pistol
for protection from the 2 legged vermin. These are choices you will have
to make on your own. You will also have to make the decision whether or
not to have firearms around if you have children. These are moral topics
I do not care to go into.

Water is one of the most important needs in emergency
situations. Under normal circumstances I would have a gallon per day per
person on hand. If there are reasons you might be exerting physical energy
I would recommend twice or four times this amount. If you are going to
be on the move the size and weight of such preparations would be prohibitive.
So, you can substitute water purification products for a large quantity
of the water. If you are preparing a bug out route make sure there are
water sources along the way to allow for you to process and restore your
on hand supply of water. On our Appalachian trip (the pictures) our chosen
route was beside streams. Except for certain sections of the trip we had
access to replenishment of water so we could make do with just a couple
of canteens. Water availability needs to be a major concern in bug out
trail layout. If you live in an area that has access to a pond, lake, stream,
or canal then you may substitute water treatment equipment for the major
portion of the water supply. 

Your next concern should be for shelter or protection
from the elements. If you are expecting to still have the house or other
building as a shelter then you need to take into consideration the need
for insect repellent as you can not always expect the windows to still
be intact. If they are you can help the insect problem if there are screens.
Also, if in a Northern climate sleeping bags and cold weather protection
is advisable. In the case of storms or other natural phenomena the building
may be nothing more than a shell, some standing walls, or just a slab.
So, you should also have tents available for setting up inside what is
left of your home.

This brings about a point we need to cover. The home
cache in areas such as a hurricane zone need to take into consideration
the possibility of the home being destroyed. So, your first (in closeness
to the home) external cache should be right there in your yard. If you
examine pictures of disaster stuck areas (hurricane and tornado) one thing
you will notice is that usually the lawn is still there. Trees may be broken
off or bent over but from the grass down is still intact. So, I suggest
that you have a duplicate cache in terms of time of survival on the supplies
at hand. In other words, if you are keeping a months supply of food and
water in the house you should have a months supply of food and water (purification)
in the external underground caches in the yard.

Food in the external caches should be of more compact
and even portable foods like backpacking meals. The caches in your yard
are right there where you can keep an eye on them so the care of a remote
location is not necessary. I suggest placing the tubular caches in the
ground and placing a pot with a whole in it the size of the caching tube,
and then a shrub or flower bush in the same size pot can be placed in the
pot in the ground. I came to this idea while standing in line at a bank,
all of their plants were set up like this (except for the whole and tube)
so that they can come through every week or so and swap outdoor plants
with indoor plants to aid in their access to light. It was totally unnoticeable
until you grabbed the plant and pulled up. So, the idea of an entire garden
of potted plants in the front yard in such pots with caches underneath
each came to mind. You can tell your neighbors (if you have any that can
see your yard easily) that you are keeping the plants moveable in order
to assure that none are starved for light. 

Of course, you should become active "puttering"
in your garden in spare time so the neighbors would not think it unusual
to see you rolling a wheelbarrow and shovels and garden equipment around
in your yard. After they are use to this you can start placing your caches,
a few at a time. 

I will be getting some pictures to illustrate this
process as soon as I can so keep checking back on this homage for pictures.
Besides there are going to be other articles on caching in the future.

Besides the tubes I expect to have some ammo cans buried
under square oblong planters done similarly to hold items that the tubes
are not suitable for. A pistol and ammunition come to mind first for such
a cache. Possibly a larger than backpack able water purification system
in another. Remember that this cache will be dual purpose. Not only will
it be a backup for your home cache (in case it is blown away or destroyed)
but should also contain everything you need to make it to your first bug
out trail cache should the necessity be to remove your group from the home
location.

Discussion of the home caches will continue with my
next installment. Until then, start puttering in your yard, I'll fill you
in on tube construction next. 
This is the second of a series of articles about caching, the third
most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge of how
to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough physical
condition to survive under any circumstance.

It is time to discuss caching strategy and your bug out plan. I am 
assuming that all survivalists have a bug out plan. The definition, 
for our purposes, of a bug out (some consider it one word - bugout)  
is pretty much the same as a planned evacuation. 

Many feel that their bug out vehicle will be in operation and plan 
their caches along their route in increments of either a days travel 
by that vehicle or the distance it can travel on a fuel load. While 
planning a route and a bugout plan for a vehicle you must also consider 
caching fuel. This makes the cache much harder to plan and initiate. 
The obvious advantage of a vehicle does more than compensate for the 
extra work and problems.

The most obvious advantages are the speed and distance you can cover 
in a vehicle as opposed to making the trip on foot. Here in S. Fl. the 
distance to what I would consider a safe retreat would be across state 
lines. Anywhere from 500 to 1000 miles can be accessible by vehicle in 
a matter of days as opposed to weeks or months by foot. There are other 
advantages also. Protection from the elements in an enclosed vehicle is 
an obvious advantage. With more than one driver one can sleep while the 
other is behind the wheel. Being able to sleep inside a vehicle (a van 
or station wagon) at the camp sights along the way is a secure feeling. 
There are many reasons why a vehicle is needed for a major evacuation.

IMHO (In My Humble Opinion):

The BUGOUT VEHICLE;

The first thing that comes to everybody's mind is a 4 wheel drive truck 
or station wagon. A lot of good can be said about 4 wheel drive (4wd) 
and many consider it an advantage. I agree, but, you should first learn 
how to drive in off road situations in a 2 wheel drive vehicle. If you 
can master that then a 4wd is preferable and can get you there faster 
and easier. HOWEVER, driving around in a jeep or jimmy all painted up 
in camouflage with the big monster tires is like putting a big neon 
sign on your back saying "I am a survivalist with goodies"!

The old 2wd vehicles with positraction rear ends would do almost as 
well as 4wd. Of course, if you can find it, 4wd with positraction 
(limited slip) axles would be excellent. The idea is to try to make 
yourself as inconspicuous as possible and yet have a workable vehicle. 
A raggedy looking old station wagon or van with limited slip axle might 
be a good bet. If you could somehow modify it to 4wd without making it 
obvious then that much better.

Then again, there are those that feel a 4 wheel vehicle at all would be 
a problem. The bugout vehicle could be a motorcycle. Traveling faster 
and lighter and much more maneuverable. The fuel caches would be much 
smaller due to lower fuel consumption. IF you get stuck or come up 
against an obstacle not acceptable to a car or truck get off and push 
or drag it out. It would fit in places a larger vehicle wouldn't. If 
the roadways out of an area are blocked it can be ridden on sidewalks, 
through parks and fields, in gullies, RR beds, lots of places a car 
can't go. Of course you are at the mercy of the elements and you will 
have to sleep in a tent and/or sleeping bag. And if you are worried 
about gunfire there is no protection.

The last vehicle I will mention is a bicycle. A mountain bike can be 
ridden almost anywhere. If it can't be ridden it can be carried. There 
is no fuel caching. It is much slower though. A motorcycle could get you 
100 to 200 miles a day off road. A bicycle could get you maybe 30 to 50 
miles a day if you are practiced and in good shape.

Diesel or Gasoline;

This argument has been going on for ages. Diesels have a slight 
advantage as far as there are no ignition parts to get wet or 
deteriorate. Diesels have a very big advantage for engine life. 
The fuel is actually a lubricant in the upper cylinder  and helps 
cut the wear and tear on internal engine parts. Both fuels present 
problems in caches. Both need additives to maintain viability for 
more than 6 months to a year. For my own use I am at present using 
gasoline. However, Before I get too much cached in the ground anywhere 
I will switch to diesel. Of course motorcycles will need gasoline, 
don't know of too many diesel bikes. 

OK, back to caching.   Caches along a bugout trail should be at 
distances you can travel in 3/4 of a day. If you are planning on 
having a survival camp at each cache this will give you time to set 
up and tear down camp. This will also allow for any delays (such as 
laying low while "they" pass by or any trail trouble) so that you 
are not pushed for time all the time. When you hurry you make mistakes.

So, how far apart is that anyway? Well, that depends. You need to go 
out and run the trail in your chosen vehicle on your days off, 
weekends, vacations, and holidays. That way you will know, the first 
day I can get to here. So figure 3/4 of the day for the first cache. 
Well, actually, the second bugout cache. The first should be fairly 
close to the home location. That way if the bugout occurs late in the 
day or if you are caught with your proverbial pants down you have a 
fresh supply of fuel and supplies near at hand. Then your second cache 
should be at the 3/4 days distance from the home base.

Driving the bugout trail yearly is a good idea. That way any changes 
can be made to compensate for man's "progress" into your backwoods 
trail. Besides, the better you know the trail the less likely you will 
have any surprises or hardships along the way.

The caches should be placed at 3/4 day intervals and the vehicle should 
have enough fuel capacity to run from cache to cache. These will be 
things you learn by driving the trail. The vehicle may need to be 
modified to contain enough fuel. If it still can't make it then you 
will have to make some "fuel only" caches.

Caches that contain fuel will be the hardest caches to build. I have 
considered items like aircraft bladders from wing tanks (these would 
be nice because there would be no air on top of the fuel) to buried 
55 gallon barrels. Either way, the time and effort in burying them 
would be substantial and the likelihood of being discovered and/or 
observed high. Large caches such as this are problems. Great care 
must be taken in assuring solitude and stealth. The vehicle must 
also contain a way of retrieving the fuel from the cache. A pump 
(either hand operated or powered by the engine or electrical system 
of the vehicle) or other device to suck the fuel up out of the ground 
into the tank in the vehicle.  Of course, here again, a cache of fuel 
for a motorcycle would naturally be smaller. A 5 gal can or 2 of fuel 
for a motorcycle would be easy to cache. And if you want to travel 
light, you could cache a backpacking tent and sleeping bag at each 
overnight cache with a days food. That way you could travel from cache 
to cache with nothing but spare fuel and a small day sack.

One strategy would be to have the first couple of caches with supplies 
of this sort so that until you clear the populated areas and are out 
into the "sticks" and therefore not making you easily spotable. Once 
you have cleared the populated areas anyone you run into will probably 
be just like you, trying to get away from the city. However, everyone 
should be suspect unless you know them, and then keep an eye on them. 
Man, that sounds paranoid. But in survival circumstances you have to  
be cautious. 

In the next article on caching I will talk about what I plan on putting 
into each bug out cache. In the future we will get into actual 
construction techniques. 

Any Questions or comments about these articles, email them to me. 
If I get enough I may put a question and answer section to the home 
page. 
This is the third of a series of articles about caching, the third
most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge of how
to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough physical
condition to survive under any circumstance.

Just what do we need in our bug out caches? Well, that is determined 
by your strategy. IF you are using a motor vehicle you will HAVE to 
cache fuel. A bicycle or foot evacuation will have to be more frequent 
and closer together but no fuel will be cached. My personal preference 
at this time is using 55 gal. drums for fuel caches. The better but more 
expensive way would be aircraft fuel bladders. The reason they would be 
better is that their would be little or no air on top of the fuel. Air 
causes problems with fuel so the less exposure to it the better. 

I like the method of first painting the outside of the drum with a rust 
proofing paint and then having a friend of mine spray them with 
polyurethane foam. This is just a redundancy habit I have and may 
be considered nonessential IF the drum is coated with rustproofing 
well enough. One nice thing about the foam spray is that you make 
the drum look different enough that someone catching a glimpse of 
you in process will not automatically think you are burying a drum. 
If you can pack up and leave before they come in for a closer look 
then they will just be confused as to what you were doing. The foam 
adds some strength and some waterproofing to the drum. 

If you are caching gasoline then you need to add some life extender 
to the fuel. This is available at many automotive stores. If you are 
caching diesel you will need to acquire a product that is used in jet 
fuel storage. It is a chemical that, among other things, prevents 
algae from growing in the fuel. This is a problem with long term 
diesel fuel storage.

Great care is taken while digging a hole for a cache. All of the 
leaves, twigs, and whatever ground cover (such as grass) is removed 
and preserved so that it can be replaced without leaving any 
indication that anyone has been digging there. A piece of visqueen 
or plywood is laid out so that any dirt that is dug out of the hole 
is placed on it and not allowed to fall on the surface around the 
digging area. All dirt needs to be compacted back into the hole 
around and over the cache so that it won't settle with a little 
rainfall and leave an indentation over your cache. The leftover dirt 
needs to be removed from the area. If there is a stream or river 
nearby you can either drop it in the water or on the bank.  If there 
is no stream nearby then just take it as far away as possible and 
scatter it as thinly as possible on the ground.

A hole is dug that will leave the top of the drum a minimum of 2 ft. 
underground. The drum is placed in the hole. The drum should be on a 
slight tilt  with the bung on the high side. This is so that when 
filled it can be filled till there is no more air in the drum. The 
dirt should be put back in around the sides and tamped in layers of 
a foot or two with the end of the shovel handle or a sledge hammer 
to compact the dirt and make it as solid as possible. The drum is 
then filled with fuel and the bung screwed in tight. A generous 
coating of axle grease over the bung to keep it from rusting in place 
is a good idea. Once the fuel is secured in the drum you then need to 
fill in on top of it with dirt. An optional piece of plywood over the 
drum to keep the dirt away from the bung is possible or you can just 
make sure it is cleaned away before you unscrew it when retrieving the 
fuel. 

One quick word about retrieving your fuel. Don't forget!!! If you are 
going to take the fuel out you must provide a way for the air to get 
in. As difficult as it would be to suck the fuel out without letting 
air in, the barrel would collapse. I prefer to use air pressure to 
push the fuel up out of the drum instead of a pump to suck fuel up. 
Place the line on the bottom of the drum and then put air pressure 
on top of the fuel. The fuel will freely flow out of the line and 
into the vehicle tank. Most 55 gal. drums have two bungs, one small 
and one large. Placing a tube that will reach the bottom of the barrel 
welded into a threaded plug that fits the bung that is on the lower 
side of the barrel will give you a supply of fuel when you screw an 
adapter into the other bung that an air hose can be connected to. 
Pressure doesn't need to exceed 20 to 30 lb. per square inch to give 
a healthy flow of fuel. If you are merely rotating your supplies 
(something that should be done every couple of years even with 
extenders) the collapsing of the drum would require removing and 
replacing it. 

If you are just storing enough fuel for a motorcycle you can bury 
a plastic drum (readily available mail order) large enough to hold 
a couple of 5 gal. cans and a fair amount of other supplies. My plans 
for a motorcycle will have racks on either side of the rear wheel 
that Gerry cans can be supported on. I also plan on running a fuel 
line to each tank and a valve set up to switch tanks easily. But 
this isn't about my personal plans it's about telling you where to 
get started so you can start your own plan and get busy.

Fuel aside, the strategy will determine the cache contents. If you 
are planning on a minimalist approach and are using a bicycle or 
motorcycle (or on foot) and you want to travel as light as possible 
then your caches will need to hold food for a day, a tent, and a 
sleeping bag. If there is no water available along the trail you will 
need to store a days supply of water also. This way you can travel 
from cache to cache with just a small bag (shoulder bag or pack) and 
rely totally on the caches. If you prefer a "take it all with you" 
strategy your first caches should contain adequate backpacking gear 
that you can live on. A good reliable pack, tent, stove, and so on 
that will be transported with you. If this is your strategy then you 
will need to cache food and water every day, two days, three days, 
whatever you can carry to restock for supplies. Many prefer this 
because it makes you a little less dependent on all of your caches 
being accessible. If you are using a motor vehicle then fuel is a 
large caching investment. If minimalist is the way you want to go 
then ammo boxes or tube caches can be used. 

The final retreat site cache is definitely much larger. In this 
local you need to stash enough supplies to live on till the end 
of the crisis you are avoiding. If it is a long term disaster you 
are planning to avoid you should cache things like seeds for a garden 
and anything else you need to become totally self-sufficient. If you 
think things will return to normal after a couple of months to maybe 
a year then a years supply should be cached. It is my humble opinion 
that a years supply should be cached even if you are laying in self-
sufficiency supplies. This is so that you are covered if it is too late 
in the year to start producing your own foods. If you don't use it all 
you can save it and use it in times that your harvest isn't enough for 
whatever reason. 

Any Questions or comments about these articles, email them to me. If 
I get enough I may put a question and answer section to the home page. 

This is the fourth of a series of articles about caching,
the third most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge
of how to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough
physical condition to survive under any circumstance. 

Cache construction is one thing that is both critical
and varied from person to person. The size and shape varies according to
your personal survival strategy. I have vaguely covered construction of
a fuel cache in the last article. It is a place for you to start and then
improve as you tailor the caches to your own needs. We will now discuss
construction techniques for the rest of your supplies. 

My favorite type of construction is the tube style
caches. These days the availability of plastic pipe in a wide variety of
sizes has made it simple and easy to construct caching tubes in the size
you need. It may not be cheap but you can purchase PVC pipe in sizes large
enough to place fully loaded backpacks in them with room for your weapon
of choice along with it. If you are planning on a foot bugout then your
first cache (if your plan is to take it all with you) should be in a pipe
of this size. Smaller pipe sizes (and therefore cheaper) can be used from
this point on to hold food and water caches for restocking. 

To construct these caches a minimal investment in tools
(you may already own them) and a small amount of knowledge is needed. To
cut the pipe I use a normal circular saw ( I use a special blade purchased
from a local hardware store but the standard blade will do) and purchase
end caps, glue, and cleaner made for the PVC pipe. Follow standard procedures
to glue one cap on the chosen length of pipe. The hardware store will explain
how to do this if you don’t already know. Just remember, the glue is cheap,
a leak can be expensive. The other end cap is generally not glued. I have
heard of some survivalist placing stores that do not need to be rotated
in tubes and gluing them shut. This requires you to cut the tube open to
retrieve your cache. The end that is not glued is always kept up towards
the surface. If you use a normal end cap you can (if your climate is not
wet and the ground water level is not a problem) coat with a liberal coating
of petroleum product and just slide the end cap over the end of the tube.
However, you can purchase &quot;cleanout plugs&quot; that glue on the end
of the tube (a necessity if you are in wet climate with high level of ground
water) and have a threaded plug that tightens enough to be watertight.


I have been using end caps for a smaller size pipe
that I turn down on a lathe to fit the inside of the pipe. I then turn
groves in the cap and put &quot;O rings&quot; in the groves. I also drill
a hole across the cap on the &quot;outside&quot; of the O rings to side
a piece of brass stock through to use as a handle to remove the end cap
with. The O rings are lubricated with petroleum jelly and the cap slid
into the tube. It is a nice water tight fit but you have to have access
to a lathe, it is too expensive to have it done for you. 

One important point to make while discussing construction
of your caches is the depth of the combined earth and depth of the constructed
cache. If the bottom of the cache is a further distance from the top of
the ground than you can reach you need to provide some sort of retrieval
system. This can be as simple as a piece of monofilament tied to the bottom
item in a tube cache and then tied to the top piece so that you can pull
the bottom piece &lt;and all those in between&gt; up out of the cache.
If you are using a different type of cache then you will have to provide
proper means of retrieval for your cache. I have seen barrel caches in
which all stores were in ammo boxes inside the barrel. A 3 foot metal hook
was also in each cache with a &quot;T handle&quot; on the other end that
would allow you to hook the handles on the end of the ammo boxes and pull
them out. 

Other types of cache construction vary from things
as simple as watertight plastic barrels to elaborate marine plywood boxes
(or vaults) that are coated with all kinds of waterproofing. The plastic
barrels may not be strong enough to hold the pressure of the ground around
and over them so many people place them in a box or even a larger steel
barrel. I would have them coated with a thick coat of Polyurethane foam
to give it the added strength. The main emphasis is WATERPROOF with a second
emphasis on being strong enough not to collapse when you remove your cached
items for rotation of stores. 

Follow the guide lines given in an earlier article
for the burial of the cache. 

One thing that helps our cause is that anything buried
18 to 24 inches under the surface maintains a temperature of approximately
the average temperature of the area it is buried in. In other words, even
if the temperature gets into the hundreds the temperature (in most areas
of the U.S.) of the cache will probably remain in the seventies. Also,
if the temperature drops to 10 below it will still remain at the AVERAGE
(yearly) temperature of the location. Building codes realized this many
years ago and it is referred to as the &quot;frost line&quot; or &quot;frost
upheaval line&quot; in most building codes. Check the building department
in the area your cache is in and they will tell you the frost line depth.
Maintain this depth and you have less problems. Since the cache is waterproof
anything in the cache will be in a &quot;dry cool environment&quot; that
is usually recommended for storage of almost everything you would want
to store. Even medications are recommended to be kept in a cool dry place
(the medicine cabinet in your home would not even qualify as a good place
to store medications) and the cache is almost ideal in all ways. 

When burying multiple tubes in a cache I like to use
a pattern and bury them at a prescribed distance apart. That way when you
find one use the pattern and distance to find the others. Having them slightly
separated like this helps protect the rest of your cache if one tube is
accidentally discovered. Use the points of the compass as your pattern.
One at due north of the center tube and one a due south, east, west, however
many tubes you have in the cache. 

Any Questions or comments about these articles, email
them to me. If I get enough I may put a question and answer section to
the home page. 

This is the fifth of a series of articles about caching, the third
most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge of how
to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough physical
condition to survive under any circumstance.

OK, now we know the basics of how to build and bury a cache. Now, where do we 
put it and how do we find it again. If we are good at concealing our caches they 
COULD be placed almost anywhere. However, other than the front yard cache I 
discussed in a previous post the need for seclusion is important. They need first of all 
to be placed away from traffic and residences so that you can bury and “refresh” 
your supplies as needed without being detected. The need to space them has already 
been discussed. 

There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not your caches can be detected 
by the government. I don’t care how good you are at hiding your cache, “big 
brother’ can find it if they really want to. However, they will have to suspect that 
you have something hidden that they want really bad. Then they will have to have a 
general idea where you have hidden it before they can find it. The advances made in 
“underground radar” and satellite imaging make finding almost anything possible. If 
you do nothing out of the ordinary to make them think you are someone that has 
something of great importance hidden somewhere then you don’t have too much to 
worry about.

Another point to bring up is that if you are in an emergency situation and using your 
caches on the bugout trail care should be taken to take your trash along with you. 
Don’t leave a trail of garbage for someone to follow. Cary your garbage with you 
and place it in the cache that you take your next supplies out of. You really do not 
need to be as particular about hiding the evidence of your cache if you are taking the 
supplies out and putting trash in. Go ahead and bury it but don’t worry about 
complete concealment. The caches will be far enough apart that no one will likely be 
able to trace your route by finding them. Besides, if you take the added precaution of 
placing your cache 100 or so feet off the side of the trail it would be very hard to 
find. If the cache is full of garbage what have you lost!

The system I intend to use for locating my caches will be as follows. First of all I will 
have my complete bugout route mapped out on my laptop and hard copies for all in 
my group. On the map I will have coded <in case they fall into anyone else’s hands> 
annotations for locations of overnight camp sights and caches. (The laptop has just 
been added to my bugout plans.) Also, soon to be added to my plan is a GPS. This 
will be used to place my caches within a few yards and then triangulation of local 
topographical features to locate the cache in a more refined way. And finally, since 
most of my caches will have metal <cans, equipment, whatever> in the cache I plan 
on using a metal detector to pinpoint the cache. If you are concerned about others 
finding your cache with a metal detector (why on earth would anyone be using a 
metal detector way out there in the middle of nowhere) you can bury junk (pistons, 
ring gears, old crankshafts, etc.) in the area around your cache to mislead them into 
thinking they have happened on an old junk yard or an area used to strip a car.

The cheapest and simplest method <and probably most time consuming>would be a 
form of dead reckoning. On your map make note of landmarks near the cache. This 
will put you within range. Then make notes of triangulation on specific landmarks 
for the actual cache site. One word of caution here, do not use “volatile” objects for 
triangulation. In a years time a forest fire or hurricane, tornado, or other natural or 
manmade can remove or alter your “landmarks”. Use hill tops, mountain peaks, 
railroad tracks, the base of power line towers, etc. as landmarks. These will more 
than likely still be in the same place. To triangulate you need a good “scout” compass 
or “surveyors” compass. These usually come with instructions on taking “bearings” 
on landmarks. If not many books are available on the subject of navigation or map 
reading that will give you this information. For the location of a cache it is important 
to have at least two recognizable landmarks to take bearings on in order to 
triangulate properly. I prefer at least 3 myself. After you are close a metal rod with 
a not too sharp point can be used to probe the ground till you “hit” your cache.

If at all possible use the same compass to locate the cash that you use to place the 
cache. If their is any inaccuracy in the compass at least it will be the same as it was 
when used to place the cache. If you are using a metal detector to pinpoint the 
location of your cache then any minor inaccuracy in the compass will not cause 
enough discrepancy to cause you to not be able to locate it.

I have seen a new device that is a compass built into a pair of binoculars that allows 
you to read the bearing of an object as you view it through the binoculars. IF these 
prove to be accurate then this would be an ideal device for triangulating on a cache. 
However, consider the problems you would have taking the same bearing readings 
with a scout compass. Never rely totally on technical assistance because you never 
know for sure if you will have it with you to help. After taking your readings with a 
device like this (or a GPS)  it wouldn’t hurt to take (backup) readings to verify with 
your trusty pocket (scout) compass to assure that you would be able to locate it 
without the added technology. 

When using multiple tubes in a tube cache I like to bury them in a pattern. 
Something like a star. A center tube (that is actually what I take my bearings on) 
and then the other tubes buried a given distance, 12 to 18 inches, away from the 
center tube. That way I can locate the others once I locate one. A spot of different 
colors of paint on the caps would tell me which “point” of the star it is and therefore 
what direction to go in to find “center”. This also (because of the distance between 
them) makes it less noticeable that there is more than one tube in the cache if 
accidentally discovered.

I have found a 2 liter plastic soda bottle that is just the right size to fit inside one of 
my standard caching tubes so I always make the center tube of the cache (the one 
that I hopefully find first) my drinking water cache. If you shop around you will find 
that you can locate cans just the right size to fit your caching tubes. This of course 
assumes that you want to cache over the counter foods in cans and plan on rotating 
your stores on a regular basis. There is a lot to be said for emergency rations being  
the same foods you are use to eating in a non-emergency situation. There is no 
“shock” to your digestive track (nobody needs a case of diarrhea or constipation at a 
time like this ) by eating all freeze dried trail food (or other emergency rations) all of 
a sudden instead of your normal diet. You can also cache items that are not your 
ordinary emergency foods in caches, such as canned meats, chicken, fish, ham, etc. if 
using and rotating standard canned foods. This will help you plan and keep a 
balanced diet.

In your daypack, first cache, at intervals along the trail, and, of course, the end 
retreat cache you need a supply of personal toiletry items. Things like your favorite 
antacid, aspirin (or substitute), diarrhea medication, laxative, razor (shaving 
equipment) toilet paper, and dental hygiene supplies. If you have long hair and are 
not removing it for the bugout then you need a brush and ties to tie it back into a 
pony tail to keep it out of your way. Hair, however, is a good handle for anyone that 
might be doing personal combat with you in a hand to hand situation. This is one of 
the reasons why the military practically shave recruits heads.

Weapons are a different story entirely. Great care must be put into storing weapons 
and ammo. I may ask an expert in this area to post an article later for those caching 
these items. I am not including this information in these articles.

I hope this has given you a place to start. You can of course develop your own 
methods and style of caching as long as you keep these basics in mind.

Dave
