Keeping gear and GPS handy

[2brnot2b]

I am an avid dayhiker just starting geocaching, so I carry a backpack with all of the essentials as well as compact binoculars, digital camera, gps, sunglasses, cell phone, and sometimes a palm pilot or a small notebook and pen. The following items are best kept handy either because wildlife are likely long gone if you have to take time to unpack them or, well, just because you have to use them all the time, so...

 

HANDY ITEMS (not backpack items):

compact binoculars

digital camera

gps (sometimes I like to track my whole hike)

compass (use it frequently enough)

map (I orient mostly by map alone)

small notebook and pen or palm pilot

sunglasses (constantly putting them on and taking them off depending on terrain)

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping them handy besides grow more hands?

Does anyone use a front harness with pockets for such things when hiking with a daypack? Recommendation?

Is there a way to attach some of them to the front part of backpack straps?

Is there a way to keep the GPSr oriented flat and exposed without holding it?

 

Maybe a fly fishing vest or one of those harnesses I see in hunting catalogues. I have done a web search, but haven't found just the thing yet. Ideally something lightweight, cool (temperature-wise), simple.

Edited August 26, 2007 by 2brnot2b

[bogleman]

google 5.11 tactical vest. I've got one and it works pretty good, just have to remember which pocket held what

[+ergomaniac]

I've become a big fan of Cargo Pants for backpacking and geocaching (zip off legs and a million pockets... can't beat that!). Just make sure they have a good belt when you load up the pockets!!

[+cerberus1]

I suppose if you wanted to stay light, you COULD grab a "saltwater flats"-type front pack used for flyfishing.

Everything's right in front. Most have "D" rings and such attached.

Most have a drop-down "hinged" pocket that becomes a "table" for holding and tying. Just clip gps to edge.

It'd sit flat and facing you while walking.

The LLBEAN one I used to have was plenty sturdy enough for the weight of a gps and now that I think of it, would probably hold everything I take when goin' light. (But water.)

dadgum good idea. Wish I thought of it. Wanna go halves in production ?

[mtbikernate]

I typically go the route of accessory pouches for necessary items on the front of my pack.

 

My camera goes in a Lowe Pro pouch on my left shoulder strap.

My GPS doesn't get used all that often, so it goes in a mesh side pouch. It's still reachable without removing the pack (thank goodness I'm somewhat flexible), but takes a little more effort.

Binocs also go in a mesh side pouch. My compass goes in a pocket on the hip belt of my pack.

Sunglasses, when I'm not wearing them, are stowed on my hat.

I never carry a notebook/pen or a pda on a simple hike, and the pda only rarely goes along on caching trips. When it does come along, it goes inside the pack in a top or front pocket.

 

I tried using a field vest when I worked for the USFS, but I really didn't like the way it felt on me. To unfasten the front on uncomfortably hot days makes the thing carry weight poorly. Not my cuppa tea. What I do like when I only need to carry a couple things are small field guide bags. I used one extensively when doing field research in college.

[Blue_Stone]

I clip two GPSs, GMRS radio, pouch for cigarettes, and electronic mosquito shield to the D-rings & molle straps on my pack.

 

Then i have a belt pouch for my Palm, one for my medium sized camera, and one for my binoculars, all of which hang from the sternum strap across my chest.

 

That puts everything I need to grab quick or repeatedly right at hand.

Only thing with the sternum strap, is when you disconnect it to take the pack off, I have to slide each pouch off the strap before taking the pack off.

 

An older version:

Edited August 26, 2007 by Blue_stone

[+imajeep]

Google 'camera stabilizer' and you should get some sites that offer neoprene belly straps for digital cameras. They are basically belts that hold your camera steady while you are walking, so that it doesn't swing back and forth. The belt slides off the camera when you're ready to shoot a picture. So, you hcan have your camera at the ready without having it swinging about. Very handy if you use a digital SLR.

[+briansnat]

A well designed pack that allows you to access some pockets without taking it off helps. That and cargo pants or shorts.

 

I keep my digital camera in one of the water bottle pockets of my daypack. I use a hydration bladder to hold water so the water bottle pockets are empty. They are canted forward and have an elastic drawstring so I can easily access my camera without taking my pack off.

 

The Palm goes in my cargo pocket of my pants if I will need it soon, otherwise it stays safely inside my pack. Map and compass go in the other cargo pocket. Depending on which GPS I'm using it's either attached to my pack's hip belt (my 60CSX) or my pack's shoulder strap (my eTrex Vista). I also have a small pouch that I can clip to my pack's shoulder strap that will hold sunglasses and other small items.

 

I keep my binoculars in the outside pocket of my pack because I rarely need them unless I'm stopped for a while and when I'm stopped I usually take the pack off.

[Tahosa and Sons]

Extra clothes, food, etc. etc. goes in the pack. My camera and GPS are in a double pouched container that straps to my left pack strap. My binocolours are strapped to my sternum strap and the maps and compass are in my cargo pants.

[TrailQwest]

I use a flyfishing vest - The pockets are great!

 

I also have velcro on my hydration pack strap so I can slap the GPS on it. works well for me

[Ferreter5]

I have a belt clip for my GPSr and that goes on the right shoulder strap of my pack. I have a carbiner that clips the GPSr's lanyard to a lower point on the right shoulder strap in case for some reason it should pop out of the belt clip or in case I'm holding it and I drop it.

 

When I have my digital camera with me (point-n-shoot type) I usually attach its case to the sternum strap so the camera is handy.

 

Water goes in a hydration bladder inside my pack which I drink through the attached tube.

Edited February 17, 2008 by Ferreter5

[+KidRipley]

I added hook&loop (aka Velcro) to my GPS-- the grabber / hook stuff, the coat I wear while caching has material on the shoulders that it will cling to. It also keeps the GPS antenna with a better clear view of sky than in a pocket.

 

Never underestimate what you can accomplish with a few cents of Velcro and/or a needle and thread.

 

My SAR unit uses Gander Mtn Guide Series shirts and they are nice for hiking, Cabelas makes a heavier shirt that has zippered pockets, velcro, mesh, and D-rings, its a chamois type shirt, I have ridden with it even on a hot day and was comfortable, problem is; only in blaze and blaze camo. I am looking for a nice light guide shirt and alot of those 'fly fishing' ones look good.

 

Gander Mtn no longer has a website (one of any use that is)

 

These are nice...radio chest harnesses( Work well while on horseback for SAR too)

[+DanTheMan81]

What about using a military H Harness. I used to use one when I went hiking a few years ago and I am looking into another one. Link

This has a vast amount of pockets and clip on accessories that can be be added. It distributes the weight evenly and reduces hot points that can cause chaffing.

[MarkTron]

Civilian Labs do some nice bags that are ideal for this type of thing.

 

[+Nishnabotna]

Civilian Labs do some nice bags that are ideal for this type of thing.

 

These look pretty cool.

[+victorymike]

I use the little green bag with a carabiner to keep my GPS and digital camera (and batteries) and compass handy. That was a loaner pack and I will have a different one soon...but expect a similar setup.

[+Nishnabotna]

I use the little green bag with a carabiner to keep my GPS and digital camera (and batteries) and compass handy. That was a loaner pack and I will have a different one soon...but expect a similar setup.

Man... I can't carry more than one backpack at a time. I am impressed.

[+bthomas]

Oh this thread is resurrecting, must be Spring.

 

No url links, just thoughts. If I'm car caching, I usually bring many the the O.P's items in a fanny pack, and just manpurse it. For real dayhikes, I have either the small bike camelback or large daypack camelback, and hang some items like the GPS in velcro cell phone pockets.

 

On occasion, I use a photo vest for the above circumstances. To be frank, I'm all thumbs putting devices away into pockets one handed, when I'm holding 3 things in two hands. And when the temps warm and I'm unzipped, the vest carries poorly. And when I'm going over a wall or a barbed wire fence, I have to worry about crushing a PDA or phone, or snagging something. Mine is a stylish, fast-drying suplex brushed nylon number from Royal Robbins. Perhaps there are better photo vests, or fishing vests, or upland bird vests that others can point out.

 

Some of the recent posts show military style vests. Is there a Molle system vest with the horizontal daisy chains that geocachers find good performers going over walls and up trees?

[+EScout]

Durban Assault Vest at Major Surplus

Check out the above if you want pockets. On sale for US$30. Another nice one with lots of pockets is the Police and Sheriff vest.

 

If you want vests where you can custom add pockets and things, look at the F.A.S.T. vest, and Universal Equipment vest. All very good quality at very low prices.