When most people think of a Bug-Out Location (BOL), they think of the remote mountain cabin. But it doesn’t have to be remote, on a mountain or even be a cabin. The key elements for a BOL is that it provides somewhere your family can safely stay during an emergency. It should have access to water and stored supplies to supplement those that you were able to bring from home.
Active farms, cattle and horse ranches are also good choices. So if you have friends or family living on a farm or ranch, make arrangements with them to house your family if a disaster strikes. You can pre-position supplies with them to minimize the impact on the residents of your family’s sudden arrival.
Your BOL might also be undeveloped land that you own or have permission to access. All you would need is a way to set up camp or park an RV/camper. But a critical requirement for this kind of BOL is that you need nearby access to a dependable water supply.
National parks or other public lands may be a solution – but don’t count on them. Public and private camping sites in parks might seem like attractive options, however they may be unavailable for you to use during an emergency. Have backup BOL locations just in case.
The bottom line is that you just want to be out of the way of what some survival books call the “golden horde”. This is the wave of unprepared victims of a disaster who don’t have anywhere else to go and are desperately looking for food, water and shelter. This locust-like mass of people has been seen many times before, refugees sweeping though an area consuming everything and leaving nothing.
They aren’t evil, they are just trying to survive.
And while helping strangers is noble, just like Aesop’s Fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper, you have a responsibility to make sure that your family doesn’t run out of supplies and is put at risk due to someone else’s lack of being prepared. So make plans on how to Bug Out now and avoid being a target of the “golden horde” later.
