The Geocachers Rucksack

[+caldini]

Hi All,

I'm new to Geocaching and enjoying it immensely. Already I have seen and learned things about my town that would have just passed me by otherwise.

 

I'm fed up of driving - I spend at least one and a half hours in the car most weekdays, which is more than enough - so I want to visit the majority of UK caches by foot, bike, bus or train. So what does the successful geocacher need to take in his/her rucksack?

 

Cheers,

caldini

[wolfshead57]

A decent multi-tool is a god send and a torch

[+Custheyder]

Heavy duty pair of gloves .. nettle proof.

Torch

Spare batteries for GPS

Zip lock bags

Pens and pencils. Never go caching without your own writing implement!

Swag.

 

Cust.

[+drsolly]

I'd add to the others:

 

A small mirror

A small splinter/thorn-extracting pair of tweezers

A couple of plasters and a couple of antiseptic wipes

Forceps

Long-nosed tweezers

Compass

Whistle

Mobile phone

Several meters of rope

Food and water

[+The Flying Boots]

I too prefer to cache by bike, on foot, train and bus.

 

Whilst on the bike I wouldn't be without a spare inner tube, tyre levers and at this time of year lights and reflective vest.

 

Generally I wouldn't be without some sandwiches, a flask of coffee, map, mobile phone, money and waterproofs.

 

And don't leave home without the GPS and cache description preferably on a PDA.

[+Globetrotter.uk]

I take this with me

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=553889

 

it has a hammock and poncho, stove and food, just so I dont have to hunt for a shop. Also I take gloves, plastic bags, pen spare log book and micro log sheets. insect repel and med kit. plus to much to list, so yo need to find me to see.

[+Custheyder]

oh ... forgot to add I have a tick removal tool as well as a small 1st aid kit.

 

Always carry drinks and snacks for the kids. Oxygen for me if there's a steep climb involved. Where can I get a defib? ... or perhaps I should lose weight and get fitter.

[+Delta68]

A pair Labradors, but the don't 'alf complain when we try and squeeze them in the rucksack

 

Seriously though (just in case anyone didn't realise I was joking ) the dogs are great cover. You'd be amazed how long we have to spend searching in the undergrowth for that lost tennis ball

[+Cushie Butterfield]

I took my poor kids for a 'short' search, due to my ignorance and inability to work a simple GPS we walked 9 miles, most of it in the dark and never found the cache. My daughter was the only person prepared for survival, she saved our lives with a tiny packet of Swizzles.

The next day I packed a bag with a torch and water bottle then read the instructions for my GPS.

[+Custheyder]

read the instructions for my GPS.

 

You read the instructions!!!!!

[+The Lavender Hill Mob]

I took my poor kids for a 'short' search, due to my ignorance and inability to work a simple GPS we walked 9 miles, most of it in the dark and never found the cache. My daughter was the only person prepared for survival, she saved our lives with a tiny packet of Swizzles.

The next day I packed a bag with a torch and water bottle then read the instructions for my GPS.

I know the feeling.....just pop out to do a quicky and 3 hours later you come back gasping for a cuppa

[+spannerman]

Now that winter is here, one of my essentials is my hip flask filled with whisky and stones ginger wine.

 

There's nothing better than a walk across the moor, sitting up high on a tor and having a warmer. Plus, if you don't find the cache, you don't care

[+Team Sieni]

Not caching specfic, but at this time of year one of those flourescent waistcoats, or a cycling flourescent Sam Browne belt. Very important for those times you mis-judge your walk and have to walk in the dark/dusk along a cold and dangerous country road to the railway station/car park. Also if your rucksack doesn't already have them you can get flourescent patches for it.

[+perth pathfinders]

This time of year wouldn't hurt to carry spare dry walking trews and spare socks. (inside a plastic bag incase your backpack gets soaked through)

 

Gloves and a Buff - brolly.

 

Oh and for those lovely caches covered in wet leaves/mud/slime/slugs, definately wet wipes and an old towel.

 

As already mentioned, a drink - flask of a hot drink for this time of year, and batteries, batteries, oh and more batteries!

[+caldini]

A pair Labradors, but the don't 'alf complain when we try and squeeze them in the rucksack

 

Seriously though (just in case anyone didn't realise I was joking ) the dogs are great cover. You'd be amazed how long we have to spend searching in the undergrowth for that lost tennis ball

 

That's a flippin marvellous idea.

[+kennamatic]

I always carry two GPSs. The second one is for when I've thrown the first away in exasperation!

 

The most important thing I have ever remembered when caching is to waypoint where you have left the car, (or bus-stop etc). It's always embarrasing to find the cache and then DNF your transport home!

Edited November 19, 2007 by kennamatic

[+wrighty]

I`m suprised no one as mentioned a os map yet

[+The Flying Boots]

I`m suprised no one as mentioned a os map yet

I too prefer to cache by bike, on foot, train and bus.

 

Whilst on the bike I wouldn't be without a spare inner tube, tyre levers and at this time of year lights and reflective vest.

 

Generally I wouldn't be without some sandwiches, a flask of coffee, map, mobile phone, money and waterproofs.

 

And don't leave home without the GPS and cache description preferably on a PDA.

 

I did

[+caldini]

The most important thing I have ever remembered when caching is to waypoint where you have left the car, (or bus-stop etc). It's always embarrasing to find the cache and then DNF your transport home!

 

Yes, I learnt this last week on my first night out on my own. I headed off into some dark woodland, found the cache and came back out onto a completely different road. Luckily it wasn't far from home, but it threw me completely for a few minutes!

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

I like to carry one of these to deal with caches in nettles and gorse bushes.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2007 by Vodor

[wolfshead57]

Water bottle, crisps and fruit. Gaiters, hiking pole to thrash those nettles down and a child to carry it all.

[+cakemaker]

Loads of the above things plus - tweezers for extracting logs from nanos, calculator for mathematical multis, and I've got a really useful telescopic magnet - handy for magnetic micros in inacessible spots and for poking into out of reach places and grotty holes!

[+scottpa100]

Teeth! On a cache this weekend, I wish had taken the tweezers or multi-tool as I could not extract the log from the nano easily at all. I've got big hands and my sausage like fingers were not doing a good job at removing the tiny roll of paper. So the incisors ended up being used! I've probably got tetanus, hepatitis, oral herpes and God knows what else. But guess what? I got that cache!

[+Dark_Faerie]

When I've replaced the battery, I'm going to put my personal alarm in the bag.

 

Has anyone mentioned a camera yet?

 

With all the things mentioned above I'm going to need a bigger bag!

[+caldini]

It's a good job I've got a 30L rucksack.

[+Dark_Faerie]

It's a good job I've got a 30L rucksack.

 

I've only got a 15L and a 90L! Must talk to Santa.

 

Forgot to add poop scoop + bags to my last post (even when I forget the dog, the bags can be useful)

[+Father Jack]

the only thing I need is my phone, gps and cache description! a bit rustic compared to everyone else by the looks of things!

[+jennie.m]

Well, I take all the usual stuff, water, chocolate, phone, torch, whistle, penknife, waterproof jacket, swaps, wipes....but of late I have to consider where all that stuff will go if the Jack Russell breaks down! The stuff will all get crammed into the pockets of the jacket which I will tie round my waist, leaving the rucksack free for Terrier Rescue. Luckily, this plan has not had to be actioned yet, but a dodgy cruciate ligament does slow her down a bit. She may be a small dog, but she would be a heavy lump to carry back from a long walk without the rucksack plan.

[The Red Kite]

I take this with me

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=553889

 

it has a hammock and poncho, stove and food, just so I dont have to hunt for a shop. Also I take gloves, plastic bags, pen spare log book and micro log sheets. insect repel and med kit. plus to much to list, so yo need to find me to see.

You cannot be serious!!

 

Thats what I take to go camping for a few days ROFL Minus the hammock of course. sub that for a tent.

[+drsolly]

read the instructions for my GPS.

 

You read the instructions!!!!!

 

They have instructions?

[+Globetrotter.uk]

I take this with me

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=553889

 

it has a hammock and poncho, stove and food, just so I dont have to hunt for a shop. Also I take gloves, plastic bags, pen spare log book and micro log sheets. insect repel and med kit. plus to much to list, so yo need to find me to see.

You cannot be serious!!

 

Thats what I take to go camping for a few days ROFL Minus the hammock of course. sub that for a tent.

 

Im very serious. My caching trips are a way of relaxing, I dont rush around after numbers. I like to take it easy and enjoy the locations and the wonderful countryside.

 

Plus the look on other cachers faces when they get spooked by someone in a hammock as they go for the cache

[+MBFace]

Despite both sporting recently prescribed glasses we've had problems collecting information for a couple of multicaches i.e. dates on buildings either high up or guarded by fences. In the first case we were muggled by the owner's father/cache maintainer who 'assisted' by giving us the wrong date and we don't think it was deliberate. More recently we tried the stop a stranger approach only to find that neither of of our victims could read the date either and they probably thought we were nuts. Taking a photo and blowing up it on the camera LCD eventually came to our aid. On reading previous logs we gathered that we certainly weren't the only ones with a problem at this particular cache. So we'd now include our mini-binoculars which needless to say were sitting at home each time.

 

MBF

[+caldini]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. What I actually need is a fully kitted out Land Rover, or I might just follow Father Jack's lead and play it simple. I always think that if I've got my credit card and a mobile phone I'm going to be OK 9 times out of 10!

[+PopUpPirate]

Tea, an eyepatch, tiger balm, nodders and a fish.

[+Write and Mane]

Mane always takes Write, so he can carry all the things we might find useful.

 

Mane just carries her emergency rations and pencil sharpener.