So your bugging out and you get separated from your BOV and or your BOB. Any ideas on what you best spacing in miles might be for mini caches (bottles of water, snacks, etc.) and your bigger caches (clothes, tents, weapons, food, etc.) Maybe you'd have your mega cache at your final destinations.

The pioneers could do about 20 miles a day walking with their wagons but this might be too big a distance to cover to get you your luxuries of a bigger cache.

I live out in the middle of the desert, takes an hour to drive to town, and I'm considering doing caches of water every couple of miles in case my vehicle breaks down. That way I don't have to carry a bunch of water to walk back home. I would imaging comfortable shoes would be good to put in your cache. Work boots will give you blisters in the first 6 no matter how long you've worn them.

Another thought is if you put a good quantity of water in your caches you could use them more than once traveling to and from destinations. Well anyway your ideas on on what you might do? Methods for hiding your cache and making them easy for you to find?

On hiking, a lightly trained group of two taking several breaks (esp. for water) whether needed or not, and carrying a 45lb pack should be able to cover 17 miles in a day. The second day, and third should be roughly the same if you stop for your breaks at regular intervals. You will be amazed at how they can re-fuel the muscles!

Being that your in the desert its a great idea depending on temps you would be suprised how quick an extremely inshape person would where down and dehydrate You also whant to find a way to keep a good pair of hiking shoes or boots around because that kind of distance will cause hot spots quick and that will slow you down for sure or even keep you from moving at all. Frequent breaks are a must but from experiance if things start hurting to much during the trek dont stop it allows time for swelling which is a game ender. just my 2 cents anything else i could add just ask

Work boots for me are basically combats/desert boots. A pair of Converse Desert boots are like wearing sneakers and are lightweight. Extra socks are a must, as is moleskin. Food is essential, as is water, esp in your AO. For your vehicle, a 5 gallon water can kept rotated would be great for getting back home, fill your Camelback up first, drink your fill, then move out,preferably when it was dark. Add some electrolyte packets in your cache, a small first aid kit, headlamp with spare batteries, some food that is shelf stable, and you can make it back home in a couple of days (depends on how far away town is, you say an hour, is that driving 60 miles an hour or 35?). Also, I would stock a boonie cap and a watch cap, plus a shemagh. This should be good to get you home at a minimum, even if it was just kept in your truck. A small bug back bag would be fine and some water caches would be good to go if there are no water sources on your way home (such as stock tanks for livestock if you are in a ranching area). In that case I would add in a small water filter.

Stonewall Jackson had his men stop ten minutes of every hour, and lay completely prone upon the ground for the entire time. His troops were referred to as 'foot' cavalry'.

Short breaks are the key to long distances, along with hydration.

As for your caches, living in the desert is not something I've done. I would have to depend on landmarks, such as large rocks, or certain growths of trees/cacti etc, to position my caches. I would recommend using large diameter PVC with threaded end, and use teflon tape in the threads. It won't lock the threads, but is a good barrier.

Lots of good thoughts in this thread. Assuming (I know) you're not travelling alone, other points to consider are:

1. You can only move as fast as the slowest member of your band. Plan accordingly and don't try to be too ambitious with your goals.

2. Staying off the main roads and out of areas where you're plainly visible (open fields, pastures, etc.) is your best bet to avoid unnecessary conflicts while traveling. Moving through brush, creek beds, and the like will slow you down. You'll also need to allow a little extra time at the end of the day to remove ticks if you haven't wrapped a flea & tick collar for large dogs around your waist.

3. The farther away from towns, villages, and even rural subdivisions you get, the better off you'll be. There'll be fewer opportunists, bipedal predators, looters, and other cowards "out there".

zzaaak wrote:I live out in the middle of the desert, takes an hour to drive to town, and I'm considering doing caches of water every couple of miles in case my vehicle breaks down. That way I don't have to carry a bunch of water to walk back home. I would imaging comfortable shoes would be good to put in your cache. Work boots will give you blisters in the first 6 no matter how long you've worn them.

If you have your truck and the sceneario is a break down with the result being you walking...... I'd have shoes or hiking boots in the truck with the initial supply of water. I agree that having water cached along the way would be a benefit though as it would reduce weight of items being carried.

In your case of being so far away from home when traveling into town, I most definately would not leave home without a "get home bag" in the vehicle. Dont forget to add some extra sunglasses to the bag even if you would have some on. Having a bandana or two that you could wet down before leaving the truck would also be a benefit as you can wear one over your head and the other around your neck to fight off the heat of the day should you be forced to travel in the heat.

Just some thoughts I had while reading your post.
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NW Outdoors

Yup, NW is right, I live IN a city and STILL carry an everyday bag filled with all of that which I might need, including a tool for accessing water spiggots Just in case.