jennyofthemoon

Our kids have been out in the woods (backpacking, hiking, camping, caching) since they were days old, depending on weather conditions around the time each was born. Essentials? While backpack carriers are great as the baby gets older, you need a good-quality baby wrap (either woven or MT style...see didymos.com or babyhawk.com for examples) for when they are itty-bitty. Mama can also nurse in those, so there will no need to stop hunting LOL

Rain doesn't bother me much. If I can't see right in front of my face, or the lightening is nearby, I stay in. Otherwise, it is business as usual despite the weather

I was involved in Girl Scouts for several years. Yup, WAY too much arts ad crafts for me One of my daughters is a scout, though, and her group is more focused on skills rather than coloring (although, coloring within the lines has its merits, at times) My son is a Webelo, he's been in scouting since he was 6 and I'm a Den Leader. I'm also the go-to girl in our Pack for geocaching. It's cool to see how many of your guys are Eagles, but honestly, it's more of a way of life than a title, in my opinion. My girls are no less proficient in the woods because they can't earn a certain rank in scouting; they are submersed in a lifestyle that offers them exposure to natural environments and experience with some interesting situations.

To the OP, you are posting here after all that,so you are very good at it already Keep at it, it gets even better than your day!!! I actually enjoy caching in the rain on most occassions. Changes the surrounds so much that it is like a different visiting place completly than on a dry day. And that PICTURE!!! Awesome

You know, I try to log at the end of the day whenever I do any caching activity. Sometimes, things come up though. I retrieved a tb last week, and then had a bunch of crap happen and forget about it. It was like 5 days before I remembered to log it (when I was ready to go out for another cache). I felt awful, but thigns happen. Also, I can't deal with trackable from the app on my phone (which I have for paperless caching, but actually use my gps to locate GZ). So, yeah, 3 days I wouldn't freak Things disappear sometimes. it's a sad reality, but it happens.

I saw this, too. At least there is warning on moving into an active period. Hopefully it can be prevented from causing too much damage to all our "gadgets" otherwise we will have MUCH larger problems than no caching. At least we can map and compass it

Thanks! Lots of good ideas. Guess I really needed to think more "outside the box".

that's a good idea, thanks I know that it is not needed, but one of my daughters really want to put something "in" it for the FTF since it is the first that she is placing.

Placing our first cache this weekend, and we are all ready to go,except that I cannot think of a good FTF "prize". What have people used as a FTF reward in a micro (this one is about 2/3 the size of a film canister). Thanks!

For those who think the preventatives sound nasty, you may want to reconsider them, especially if you are in a high-tick area. I have never been too concerned about preventing ticks on myself, and happily plucked off any riders that decided to feast on me. Last summer I got lyme disease. That was enough to change my mind. I was sick for months, even with treatment, and the body aches lasted for SO long it was just awful! We prevent now, despite the fast that I despise nasty chemicals. I do not want to go through that again, and I REALLY don't want my kids to experience that, if possible.

I am not discouraged DNF's. Maybe it's just me, but I think it oftens increases my determination to find it!! We went out last weekend for a cache that had the last 5 or 6 logs as DNF's. We didn't find it. It was still fun. I logged my DNF when inputing all my daily data that night. CO promptly responded that it had removed for maintence and was back. ALL logs help keep information open and exchanged, which makes for better caching, imo.

I log a DNF if I get to GZ and despite my best efforts, was unable to locate it. I haven't yet had an expereince that prohibited me from getting there and actually being unable to look, but if I did not give it my best effort, I wouldn't log a DNF because I didn't do all I could to look for it. (EX: we hit 50 feet away, a tree branch falls and knocks my kid out. We leave. This is not a DNF because we didn't get to the real effortful looking part. I would post a note, however, warning of random falliong trees ) Occasionally I can't find something. I'm not to proud to admit that!

I love the outdoors. I love looking for stuff. I'm very geeky when it comes to playing with my gadgets. I have four kids that I love dearly, but drive me nuts within the confines of my home. Even the two year old loves a good hike. I could go on for hours.... Seriously, the kids were getting tired of the same old trails, so I figured we would give it a try (gave me an excuse to get a new gadget, too!). We are exploring so many local places (and far away ones) that we NEVER would have gone to if not for caching. It's great exercise, we are a very outdoors oriented family, and everyone loves it. We have started collecting pathtags, but mostly do it simply for the fun of the find. Even after we go out, we still actively work on our hobby at home. Looking for new caches, scrapbooking pics of finds, beautiful places we see along the way, some collectible that we pick up as swag...We can take geocaching camping, hiking, to the grocery store... Once you get into it, I don't think you can ever get out

The adults in my group generally don't trade, except for collectibles. The kids, however, LOVE to trade, so we often trade kid swag. Rubber animals cool keychains compasses sunglasses beads/rocks/gems matchbox cars legos we also really like to trade for those expandable towels..if they get wet, it's not the biggest deal as they will soak up the water in the cache and are washable. EVERYTHING we put in the cache we put in a plastic baggie. I hope that the bags are reused, as I would hate to see all that plastic get wasted and end up in the landfill, but we try to protect things we put in as well as possible. Most importantly...keep your trades even and have FUN!

I'm with the pp...I really enjoyable pathtags or other collectibles! Since we cache primarily as a family, we are more interested in stuff we can put in our scrapbook (pathtags, patches, etc.) or small interesting swag over expensive stuff. I would take the $$ and put it towards cache upkeep

Ah..my other passion, babywearing Our youngest is a hiker all the way, but gets tired sometimes. Hey, she's 2, and those legs just do not go 7+ miles in a day yet. While I can appreciate a framed backpack (and like Kelty's, but there is no real reason except that is my preference, and I've never had a bad experience with one) our normal wearing consists of a mei tie, an ergo-style carrier with a larger panel, or a wrap. Siobhan is a tricky kid and can wrangle her way down inside the wrap, though, so we are mostly MT'ing it these days. Find one that fits you WELL. Get used to it. toss your kid around, dance, shake, clean the house for the whole day with him there. You'll know if it's on right Learn the right tie for your body, and his. You will NEVER go back. I have a bone disease in my hips and lower back, and my 2yo is 36 pounds. I can pack her on me ALL day hiking no problem, even the tougher terrains. Feel free to pm me if you want more info on soft carriers Or new ties/wearing styles. Check out thebabywearer.com as well, the ladies there are AWESOME and super helpful!

Hmmm...my mother called me yesterday. It went like this: Mother: Are you home? Me: Uhhh...no Mothers: Where are you? Me: Uh....I'm at this monument thingy, it's got replica cannons and stuff and some really cool war history and memorial stuff Mother: Oh. Um.....what are you doing there? (was buff, I am NOT) Me: Well...I went to the store. But I figured I'd stop and see if I could find this geocache on the way home. Mother: Oh boy. Call me later. Along with various ex's, my mother can be added to the "doesn't get it" list. She thinks I'm crazy. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree though, right?

Oh yes, I ALWAYS carry my camera with me, but that is for most everything so I never even think of it! yep. I keep an old pair of running shoes and extra socks in the truck. I am inclined to muck my way through swamps from time to time and it can be unpleasant if I have to go to work or something directly from caching if I have to wear the same shoes and socks. I will tell you, if there is swapiness within a mile of me, you can be sure that *I* am the one it ends up in. There have been plenty of times I have gone home shoeless with the extra socks on to warm my feet LOL

I carry a backpack that always has the following: compass whistle first aid kit/bug spray/sunscreen baby wipes water (well, everyone carries their own) flashlight lighter pen/pencil a bag of swag my gerber food of some sort, even we don't plan on being gone long, because you never know a couple plastic bags for trash I always carry my cell on me eta: I also carry an extra pair of socks

Very cool!

Wow.....

Yes! I totally agree with this, I wish I had the patience to do so, because the one cache I found this way was THE most rewarding, by far! As for posting....we have been geocaching as a family for a fairly short time, and when we started becoming more active in it, I decided that I needed to sit down and figure out how I wanted to play the game. I log online, because I like reading other people's logs. It bothers me that "TFTC" is sometimes not appreciate by the CO, but sometimes that is really all I have to say about it. I think that the CO likes to know who has been there and what they thought, so it's respectful to log it. I try to log in a timely manner, because I will forget where I have gone,read the same cache pages over and over, and feel it is courteous to say thanks to the CO shortly after I have "used" their hide. We keep a log book at home that we record everything in. Finds, DNF's, trackables, etc. It is fun for us to look back at where we have been and what we have done. All that said, I am a bit of a data junkie, so I really enjoy all the logging and tracking. Some people don't. I don't judge them. Only exception-if the cache needs repair,etc., I find it just it rude not to let the CO know. That should be logged if at all possible (again, if I'm backpacking for the week, I am not lugging my laptop along and would likely not have wifi even if I did...always exceptions )