• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Survivalist 101

Survivalist 101

  • Tutorials
    • Trapping 101
    • Homesteading 101
    • Prepping 101
    • Bug Out Bags 101
    • Bug Out Bag List Templates
    • Survival Knives 101
    • Food Storage 101
    • Financial Planning for Preppers 101
    • Outdoor Survival Skills 101
  • Survival Articles
    • Bug Out Bags
    • Emergency Preparedness
    • Food Solutions
    • Homesteading
    • Survival Skills
    • Weapons & Tools
    • Off-Grid Living
  • Survival Videos
  • Latest Posts
  • Survival Quiz
  • Show Search
Hide Search
Hike in desert

Bug Out Plan: Bug Out Location

Bug Out Location: Where are you most likely to be should you need to bug out?

It’s an important question, because it’s a big part of determining your bug out plan and survival strategy. A lot depends on the type of disaster, survival means avoiding it, not running into it. Your bug out location could also influence what kind of bug out bag you maintain (and how many). Here are some points to consider.

How much warning will you have? It doesn’t matter where you start if the disaster strikes too quickly to do anything about it. However, assuming there is time to react; it may be crucial for survival to have already worked out your bug out location in your bug out plan, in your head at least, about what to do in various kinds of disasters.

For example, where is your bug out bag? It should be in close proximity to your bug out location. A bug out bag doesn’t do you any good if you’re at work and it’s twenty miles away at home, or it’s at work when you’re at home. Does that mean you should have two bug out bags, or maybe your bug out plan should be to just keep one in the car? Good question.

In a similar line of thought, what’s the difference between how you react to a disaster that’s already happened, say an earthquake, which usually strikes without any specific warning, and a disaster that’s predicted, such as a hurricane two or three days out?

bug out location

The big difference is that with a predicted disaster, it’s quite likely your biggest problem in your bug out plan and reaching your bug out location. Simply because there will be other people trying to do pretty much what you’re trying to do – get away to safety. Clogged emergency routes could be one example. With a disaster that’s already happened, the problem is more likely to be physical damage – roads blocked, buildings destroyed, services down, possibly personal injury.

Where you are, your physical location, in relation to a disaster event is a very important part of your bug out plan because it dictates where and how you reach your bug out location. It includes where you are starting, where you intend to go, and how you are planning to get there. That’s assuming by “bugging out” you’re actually getting out of Dodge to a pre-planned bug out location. There are plenty of situations where staying put might be the best survival strategy, in which case, your bug out bag really needs to be a sophisticated and easily portable emergency kit.

For example, in a hurricane, while high winds can do a lot of damage, they’re not what cause most of the fatalities. It’s high water, ocean storm surge or rain-caused flooding, that are the big killers. That means if you’re located in any kind of flood plain, coastal or inland, bugging out is usually the best way to go. However, if you’re on relatively high ground and not in a flood plain, then staying put and not fighting the chaos of traffic and weather related accidents might be the best approach for your bug out plan and bug out location.

bug out location

It’s good to keep in mind that almost all Ultimate bug out Bags are equipped with water filtration systems, first aid kits, and emergencies rations. These are helpful and perhaps essential if you ride out a disaster in your original location. One of the things people sometimes forget in their bug out plan is that most disasters take out general utilities – water, power and communications – sometimes in a large area. Survival, even in an urban setting, might mean having the ability to purify water or treat injuries, among other things.

Of course, the main reason for a bug out bag is…to bug out to a pre-planned bug out location…assuming that movement is possible. The difficulty of starting out in a disaster situation is one obvious reason for a bug out plan. It’s one thing to grab a BOB and head out the door. It’s another to avoid difficulties, or worse, head directly into more trouble.

Put another way, it’s obviously part of survival to get out of potentially fatal situations, and many of those situations have to do with where you are relative to the disaster, especially one that is already happening. For example, floods and dirty bomb explosions are, in a sense, limited in scope and direction. Floods follow land contours, valleys and such; it’s usually not difficult to figure out which direction to go to avoid a flooded area.

Likewise, a dirty bomb will probably have a small initial explosion, with a cloud of radioactivity that (hopefully) is dispersed by a prevailing wind. Your bug out plan for a bug out location should be to head away from that wind direction, and you’re more likely to stay out of the cloud.

Bug Out Location

For some locations and disaster events, getting out of dodge is anything but a given. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that starting in an urban environment – any big city – can complicate bugging out. Violent disasters such as bomb explosions, earthquakes, and hurricanes can produce debris, immobilized vehicles, and disrupted pavement blocking even wide city streets, and because of the buildings, ‘drive-arounds’ are often not possible.

Even if movement is possible, then there’s always the threat of traffic snarling your getaway to your bug out location, especially in a panic situation. Your bug out plan needs to anticipate these problems, have alternate routes, and be prepared to abandon moving by vehicle or public transport. Leaving town on foot may be the only way to get to your bug out location, which comes back to the bug out bag. If you have to go on foot very far at all, then a backpack bug out bag is almost a necessity.

In normal times, say waking up in the morning, you can turn on the radio a get a road report. It can tell you where traffic is heavy or backed up, so you can avoid the bottlenecks. Don’t count on that kind of information in a disaster situation, and even if there is information, don’t count on being timely or accurate. In some situations, you may not even know where the disaster will (or has) occurred.

This means, when it comes to bugging out, your bug out plan should be to find your own way out to a bug out location. Know your terrain, which in most cases means having maps, better yet personal knowledge, and have thought about the route(s) you’d take in certain kinds of disaster events. Have alternatives.

In general, your bug out plan starts with your bug out location; what types of disaster events are most likely? Where is your bug out bag, can you get to it immediately regardless of your location and the type of disaster? How does your location relative to a disaster affect your bugging out? Do you have an escape bug out plan for various types of disasters – with alternatives? Answer these questions and you’re well on your way to having a bug out profile.

Tutorial Sections

Bug Out Plan: Provision Your Bug Out Bag for Inclement Weather

Number of Lightnings in Dark, Stormy Night, Summer Storm
Bugout Profile: What are the weather realities? Let’s suppose that you live in a northern U.S. city and disaster strikes, say citywide riots, and you need to grab your bug out bag and get (far)
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

How to Pack a Bug Out Bag: Making it Personal

Addressing Your Personal Needs When You Pack a Bug Out Bag: Personal Items: Pack a Bug Out Bag: When you begin to pack a bug out bag, you need to consider some personal needs, medicine
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug Out Plan: Bug Out Location

Hike in desert
Bug Out Location: Where are you most likely to be should you need to bug out? It’s an important question, because it’s a big part of determining your bug out plan and survival strategy. A
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug Out Plan: Should I Have a Bug Out Vehicle?

Bug Out Vehicles? Wherever you are going, how will you get there?
Bug Out Vehicles? Wherever you are going, how will you get there? When disaster strikes, it’s a good bet many people think they can jump into their favorite petroleum fueled bug out vehicle and bug
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bugout Plan: How Long do Bugout Bags Need to Last?

How Long do Bugout Bags Need to Last?
Planning Bugout Bags: How long will survival conditions continue? Most disasters don’t cause generalized survival conditions, bugout bags need to be planned accordingly. Their effects, though severe, are usually dangerous (a matter of life or
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug Out Plan: Assessing Your Survival Skills and Weaknesses

Financial Survival for Doomsday Preppers person cooking canned food on fire
Survival Skills QuizBugout Profile: Assessing your survival skills and ability A disaster situation, especially one where survival may be at stake, exerts a lot of unusual pressure – on you. If you can grab your
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug Out Plan: Developing a Family or Group Bug Out Plan

Bugout Profile: Family Bug Out Plan This is a common image for bugging out: You hear a warning, some kind of impending disaster. You run to the closet and grab your bugout bag. You head
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Ultimate Bug Out Bag Checklist

Ultimate Bug Out Bag Checklist
Our Bug Out Bag Checklist Putting together a BOB from a generic bug out bag checklist (like the one below) can lead you to over-pack or to completely pack the wrong stuff. Planning a comprehensive,
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Should I Buy or Build a Bug Out Bag?

Should I Buy or build a bug out bag? Bug Out Bag List Why in the hell would I buy a bug out bag when I can build a bug out bag? We here this
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Prepping Without a Bug Out Plan is NOT Prepping

Bug Out Bags 101
You MUST Develop a Bug Out Plan! Are you are a prepper? Great! Do you have a bug out plan, or very strong bug-in plan? If not, you are basically wasting your time prepping if
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug out Bag Gear Redundancy Solutions

Ultimate Bug Out Bag Checklist
Redundancy in Bug out Bag Gear This may seem obvious but redundancy in bug out bag gear doesn’t always mean having two of something. It’s closer to the old saying, “There’s more than one way
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Picking the Best Bug Out Bag Backpack

Considerations for a Bug Out Bag Backpack When it comes to a bug out bag backpack, there’s a spectrum of options. At one end, there’s literally a non-descript bag, into which you throw survival gear
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug Out Bag Essentials – Top 10 Bug Out Bag Items

Bug Out Bag Essentials. Every article that you read about how to build a bug out bag is going to have a list of 50 or 60 items that you should include, but what if
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Bug Out Bag List – Building the Ultimate BOB

Putting together a bug out bag is really not that difficult if you have a bug out bag list to go by. However, putting together a comprehensive, well packed bug out bag requires a little
Read More
facebooktwittergooglepluspinterest

Discover more

Get our Edible Plants Guide Like us on Facebook

Footer

Survivalist 101

232 Logan Drive
Ellijay, Georgia 30536

Copyright © 2025 | Survivalist 101 | Powered by the Son of Man

Company

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • About Us
  • Contact Us