This is Part 4 of the Basic Self Reliance series.
Part 1 — How to Choose a Survival Cache Location
Part 2 — Recovering Your Survival Cache
Part 3 — Stocking an Emergency Evacuation Cache
In Part 3, we discussed the various purposes your survival cache might serve, and how to stock them accordingly. The Waypoint Cache differs from the Emergency Evacuation Cache in that the evac cache is intended to provide me with stuff I need in case I leave the house with nothing but my pajamas.
(video coming soon)
The Waypoint Cache will contain supplies I need along the way to my final destination, which will be my bugout location, aka safe retreat. If I’m traveling in my vehicle, I may well have some of the supplies already, but may still need to resupply things that get consumed along the way, like food and water. If I’m on foot, I’ll need waypoint caches at shorter intervals, and they’ll need to provide food, water, and shelter, at a minimum.
If you’re on foot, you might need to rest in place for more than a day, so consider that when stocking the waypoint cache. Even if you’re driving, you might find the roads unsafe, or you might need to rest because of illness or just plain fatigue. You might even have a shortage of fuel and need to transition to foot travel. In either case, the waypoint cache might well need to supply you with more than a single night’s supplies.
You should also consider the likely number of travelers. If you have a large family, like I do, it’s a good idea to stock extra food, water, and shelter.
Whenever you plan to hide a large stock, you should plant more than one cache in the same general vicinity; that way if one is discovered and looted, you’ll have a backup.
~SnoMan