Cache Techniques Tutorial
The Home Cache
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
used to this you can start placing your caches, a few at a time.
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.
Caching Strategy
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 bug out
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.
The BUG OUT 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 posi-traction rear ends would do almost as well as
4wd. Of course, if you can find it, 4wd with posi-traction (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 bug out 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 bug out 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 bug out cache. The
first should be fairly close to the home location. That way if the bug out
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 bug out 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 spotted. 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.
The Bug Out Cache
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 rust proofing 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 bug out cache 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.
Cache Construction
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 bug out 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 clean-out plugs 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 grooves in the cap and put O
rings in the grooves. I also drill a hole across the cap on the outside 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 and all those
in between 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 T handle 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.
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 frost line or frost
upheaval line 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 dry cool environment 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.
Cache Placement
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 bug out 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 bug out route mapped out on my laptop and hard
copies for all in my group. On the map I will have annotations coded <in case
they fall into anyone else’s hands> for locations of overnight camp sights
and caches. (The laptop has just been added to my bug out 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 bug out 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
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