Anyone Carry Specialty Tools With Them?

[MouseFart]

I have gone to 4-5 sites now where the cache is hidden in low, thick growing shrubbery or ground cover. Does anyone carry some sort of special gadget to help in pulling this stuff back and searching through it without doing damage? I think a rake would work great but might get park owners upset if they saw you carrying a rake and digging through their bushes with it.

[+Kacky]

I have gone to 4-5 sites now where the cache is hidden in low, thick growing shrubbery or ground cover. Does anyone carry some sort of special gadget to help in pulling this stuff back and searching through it without doing damage? I think a rake would work great but might get park owners upset if they saw you carrying a rake and digging through their bushes with it.

 

Hi mouse. Seems like if they got it in without tools, we oughtta be able to get it out without tools. If you use a rake or something, you might risk changing the cover so that it wouldn't go back the way it was.

[MouseFart]

Well, I'm not talking about hacking away or uprooting the stuff, just something to lift and look. In Texas, we are the proud breeders some of the largest rattlesnakes you've ever seen and personally, I don't like petting them when I stick a hand in there to look around.

[bogleman]

leather gloves work fine for me

[+Miragee]

I have a walking stick I take with me. It is very useful and I don't know how I used to go hiking without it.

 

My Leki walking stick also has a mount for my camera so I can use it as a monopod for taking pictures.

[+Maingray]

Walking stick should work fine for this.

 

edit: as miragee said

Edited July 10, 2006 by Maingray

[+Torry]

Stick and gloves ... and don't go hiking in flip-flops and shorts.

[+StarBrand]

Walking staff - sturdy one.

[+Trizumi]

Like the others, I carry a trekking Pole.

[+AuntieWeasel]

I wouldn't go ANYWHERE without Mister Stick!

[+jaredl]

I wouldn't go ANYWHERE without Mister Stick!

 

I've found that the best think to do would just be too look for it, by the time you get your rake out or start unpacking special tools from your bag you would have already found it on your own, most caches shouldn't be soo hidden that you need to start raking or digging up stuf in your local parks,

 

did you ever thing of getting a blood hound and training then to find it? or maybe just go to the area and say you found it

[+emb021]

Like others, I have a walking stick (a telescoping one, which makes it easier to carry). Good for brushing away big*ss spider webs in the path, etc, pocking in places, lifting up leaves/branches on the ground.

 

However, a couple of other items I've wished I had. Like a grabber to grab a cache out of an area I wasn't too keen on getting too close too, etc. (you know, those things you use to grab something off a high shelf). I've also wished for a mirror on a pole, like they use to check under cars for stuff. Good to check into places you can't see into, but don't want to put your hand it.

[+racerboy6996]

I dont know what they are really called, but I have a "jumbo sized" set of tweezers for those dreaded micros.

 

I decided to get these after I reached in to grab a micro tube & instead of pulling out the tube, I pulled out a wasp nest.....

[+Sugar Glider Sweatshop]

We carry puncture-resistant gloves (especially useful for caches in urban parks), a telescoping "wand" with a magnatized tip (looks like a radio antenna), flashlights, and binoculars to enjoy the view. Then we typically find a stick to fish for the cache.

[+krisandmel]

The staff, or walking stick, has got to be the most useful tool.

It's a poker, a lifter, a snagger (has a bend at the end), etc.

 

Almost always have a pocketknife with me.

Sometimes carry a Gerber tool as well (when I remember).

 

Oh, and the G19 is pretty specialized I suppose.

 

As a nurse, I almost always have a pair of vinyl gloves on me, if I'm more than a half hour from the car (by foot) I tend to bring a little first aid kit too.

 

And always extra AA's, so the primary tool continues to function!

 

-K

[+darus67]

A $10 telescoping trekking pole from Wal Mart

Or as a friend of mine called it, a "poking around in places I'd rather not stick my hand" pole.

 

A mechanic's inspection mirror. Basically a mirror with a swivel mount on a telescoping handle.

 

I recently WISHED I had a LONG pair of forceps or tongs of some sort. I found a small cache that was about 18" down inside a hollow tree with a rather small opening. It was clean and dry inside, so I didn't have any reservations about sticking my arm in, but the the opening was JUST barely big enough to get my arm in. My choices were to wedge my arm in and possibly leave some skin behind or log a DNF and come back another day. I figured since I had already bushwhacked through nettles and thorns wearing shorts earlier in the day, whats another scrape or two.

[+hiikaash]

I have done a few outdoor caches, and I have learned my lesson on shorts and flip-flops. I just prefer using a good size stick that I can easily find near a cache, so don't waste your money and buy one. Just find a good sturdy outdoor stick. and use that

[+sailorjp]

Hiking stick is a must. Even for short runs. Unless you can see the cache from your cache mobile, you never know what you’ll have to move to extract a cache from its hiding place. But besides that...there’s the whole matter of getting to the cache. As I said in one of my logs, the older your knees, the studier the hiking stick. I hiked down one steep trail on the Oregon coast that had a lot of step downs of about two feet! Not something to be tried without a good hiking stick for balance!

[+GRNZOOM]

Walking stick should work fine for this.

 

edit: as miragee said

 

I have a walking stick (2), but I found a golf club is a great took to move rocks, bushes, ect.

And... you can use it as a club if needed...

Nick

Edited July 14, 2006 by GRNZOOM

[+Team JSAM]

Hiking stick, leatherman, gloves, and a mag light.

 

-TJ

[+Team Neos]

Trekking pole (a gift from the world's nicest cacher), gloves, mag light, mirror, 1 different small leatherman tools, claw pick-up tool (spring push rod on one end, claws on the other, push on the end and the claws stretch out and really grab on to things).

 

The trekking pole is good for hanging the GPS on while I sign the log, warning away stray dogs, using as a poke-it-with-a-stick, or actually using for support (Amazing how much easier uphill is when your hands can help your feet).

 

The claw tool came in very handy (no pun intended) when one of my own caches full down into the tree from where it was hidden.

 

The Leatherman tools have been used a lot--especially the tweezers and the pliers.

[+gorillagal]

Depending on the length of hike or how spontaneous my caching is, I often take some of the forementioned items (leatherman, flashlight, etc). However for this cache GCTXCT I had to carry a lot more tools! Great fun, though!

[+Foothills Drifter]

Howdy......

What I take all depends on the extreams.

On local stuff a pen & pencil,swag and a Buck 110 in my back pocket.

I have been seen with:

walking stick

back pack with first aid kit (& swag)

leatherman multi tool

cell phone (allways!)

If I'm gonna be out there a ways.....

Kimber Custom II .45acp or...

Ruger Vaquero single action revolver, .45colt.

Oh yea... a small MagLight flash light.

 

Vern...

[+KG1960]

Extra batteries.

Water

Hat. I get terrible headaches if I'm in the sun without a hat.

 

A walking stick is nice to poke around in the hiding spot to make sure nothing is there that might bite. We were in Colorado on vacation in June and found a few caches. Upon returning, I logged in our finds and noticed a log from someone who was looking for one of the cahes we found. He was there only a few days after us, but he posted a DNF because, he said, there was a rattle snake sitting at the opening to the cache. Actually when I found the cache site I thought that it might be a good place for some critter to hide from the noon day sun, so I found a big stick and poked around the cache before reaching for it.

[+alexrudd]

I have a walking stick (2), but I found a golf club is a great took to move rocks, bushes, ect.

And... you can use it as a club if needed... Nick

Aha! You're the person who keeps leaving those annoying golf balls around caches!

 

If you don't have a walking stick, it's not all that difficult to find a long solid stick in the woods....

[+Ciyt]

Because I like to go for the caches out away from surburbia I usually carry:

Hiking Staff (I like to hike and cache), hydration system with extra water bottles (depending), compass, gps, gloves, pen/pencil, scratch paper, personal emergency kit, Gerber multi-tool (holdover from my construction days), larger fixed blade knife, rope, snacks, flashlight/headlamp, camcorder (not all the time), cell phone (doesn't always get a signal out in the desert) so I carry a 2-way radio...

 

About finding a good, solid stick just laying around in the woods...we don't have woods here in central Arizona and any 'wood' laying around is usually protected through some law or another, kinda leaves us with the option to buy one.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Ciyt

[+Jhwk]

Hey, you asked the question...

 

My current list of what I carry on "real" cache hunts (not in a parking lot/park):

 

Rain poncho

Roll of TP

Mylar survival blanket

Washrag

Soap

Light sticks

Small flashlight

Hand warmers

Bug repellant

Compass

Signal mirror

Sunscreen

Pocket knife

Leatherman

Whistle

Cable saw

Fire starters

Duct tape

Waterproof matches

Rope (50 ft, 1/4 in. nylon)

Sweat shirt/jacket

 

For Geocaching:

Ziploc bags

Trash bag

Logbook/pencils

Map/cache notes/PDA

First Aid Kit (a whole other list!)

Small calculator

Batteries

SWAG

Pedometer

Cell phone

Camera/mini-tripod

FRS radios

Walking Stick

Beef jerky

Granola bars

Trail mix

Water (Camelbak that holds all of this junk + 3 Liters of water)

GPSr!

Edited July 20, 2006 by Jhwk

[+Davispak]

I reccomend a hiking pole as it works great for moving stuff out of the way, and for poking in places where creepy crawlies may be.

If that doesn't work, I would reccomend a flame thrower, or well placed explosives.

[+CraigInCT]

Well I would use my chainsaw or flame thrower as a last resort, after trying my walking stick or ski poles

[+rbennitt]

I carry:

GPSMAP 60CSx or eXplorist 210 depending on if I think I may break one.

Palm IIIxe

SWAG

First Aid Kit

Snake Bite Kit

Spare Batteries

Backwoods Off

Compass

Cheap Sony camera.

Matches

2 or more Gatoraids

Couple of MREs

Glock 23

Surefire flashlight

KA-BAR knife

And sometimes food.

For long long hikes, I will carry my DSArms SA-58TAC because I will probably camp out and I dislike big animals that can eat me.

[+KG1960]

Yesterday I tried to find a micro (but only got a DNF). I got to the coordinates and there was just one place for thirty feet around where it could be. Poking around with a pen was not successful. I thought a piece of stiff wire would have been nice, or a coat hanger.