*My Bug Home Cache Experience*
By: Thoth8
09 March 2011

The plan was to do a real life test.

"The Plan": Have the wife drop me off and walk back home with all my bug home stuff that I have in a cache, then to check out the gear and replace anything I need to.

Step One: I was dropped off at the freeway exit. Google Earth said it would be a 4.7 mile hike through woods and city. Last time I did something like this?... I almost killed my sedentary butt!

Items on me:

• Cell phone (not used)
• Printout of topo map with exact area marked
• Lensatic Compass

The freeway is at the top of this screenshot. The cache is about a mile from the drop off point.

Step Two: Get to my tree cache. (See picture below.)

I got there by using a compass, not GPS! (By the way...I learned how to do that on the Rubicon; It was an article by Warlord... "Life is a Circle").

I sort of knew where it was because it was only 6 months old. I found it covered in mud and slime. I had placed the cache in a small trench on its side, at about a 20-degree angle. The top was covered with 3 rocks, which made it look natural (to me).

I had used a 4-inch pvc pipe caped on one end, threaded on the other. I did not have a tool to open it. So I had to smash the screw end part of it open with a rock. When I reset this back up, I will tape a tool of some kind next to it in plastic or epoxy a piece to the top so I can open it.

I knew the pipe was eight heel-to-toe paces north of the tree’s opening. It appeared that the area had flooded and covered the top of the tube. So I had to hand-dig a bit around the cap to open it. The tube was tilted a few degrees. I'm guessing a tree root hit it or it had tried to float up out of the ground. It was still water tight, but I’m not sure if I can trust it. Something pushed on it, so it might have a crack which I cannot see.

My tree cache

Step Three: Get home!

I had no problems of any kind and did not get out of breath or tired. But, at about 600 to a thousand feet from home, my right heel started hurting a lot and my toes got tired, if that makes any sense. This could have been from wearing sneakers instead of my good hiking boots. I have been home for a while now and my heel still hurts every time I walk on it, not badly, but very sore.

What I learned:

• The hike took two to three times longer than Google said it would on foot.
• The pack weighs 15.9 pounds.
• One day after... I was kind of sore and the foot did not hurt as much. From what people are telling me, I may have bruised it from ill-fitting shoes. This seems right on.
• Two days after... Wow, my muscles were really sore. Trapezius muscles hurt, Latissimus dorsi muscles hurt and Gluteus Maximus muscles hurt.

This is what was in my cache:

• 4 bottled waters
• 5 cans of food with pop tops
• 2 candy bars
• 4 flavors for the water (they have sugar and salt for rehydration)
• 1 cup of white rice in a bag (not instant)
• 2 Soaps
• 2 mouth washes
• 1 Hobo Tool 7-in-1 Fork-Spoon-Knife-Can Opener-Cork Screw
• 1 Hand sanitizer (lots of uses)
• 1 Pen and paper
• 1 Lighter
• 1 Swedish Fire Steel
• 1 deluxe map compass
• 1 generic Swiss army knife
• 1 Harbor freight 9-LED light
• 2 AA Energizer batteries
• 1 250 feet length of 20 guage wire for snares
• 1 First aid kit
• 1 week's worth of normal maintenance medications
• 1 Brown felt throw
• 1 Contractor's trash bag
• 1 Backpack
• 50 squares of toilet paper
• No weapons

My cached supplies

These are things I used:

• Toilet paper
• 2 bottles of water
• 2 flavor packs

These are things I want to add:

• Pepper spray
• Anti-insect wipes
• Tick spoon
• Good set of old boots
• Ibuprofen

Now I know for sure I can do it and not stress over it. Now to put more caches out and about. I will probably do smaller ones like my 2-liter bottle caches, but that’s another article...

:-)

General health notes:

I didn’t know my blood sugar (I’m a type 2 non-insulin diabetic) before the hike, but when I returned home it was 78. I have been running about 122 average for the last 3 months. That’s everything before and after meals and exercise - just an average total of every time I checked my sugar over the last 3 months. My estimated HbAc1 is 5.9%. The cell phone application I use is called “OnTrack” and it's a free Android app.
Thoth8

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