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I always take my GPS and my......


hawksupremacy

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At least one pen and/or pencil. Never assume that the cache is going to have one in it. A pair of tweezers (or a Swiss Army knife with tweezers) is handy for some of the micros that you will run into. Aside from those things, you will accumulate your own set of TOTT (Tools Of The Trade) over time.

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I'm like a one man+woman army...

We carry a big knife (like the one Rambo uses), small swiss card that has a knife and tweezers, pencil, batteries (two pairs), a camera, mosquito repellent, swag, watter, 2 pairs of working gloves, whistle, lighter, matches, some sweaters and I think that that's it. Well apart from the GPS that is.

 

We also plan to take some energy bars and some first aid equipment but that's on our to-do list. :D

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If I am doing some caches between sales calls its simple. Blackberry with Cacheberry installed, Leatherman, ultra fine tipped marker.

 

When I am caching on the weekends with my son things get more involved. In additon to the items listed above I carry in a shoulder bag, water, bag-o-swag, insect repellent, flashlight, spare cache logs, baggies, any trackables that I have found, signature tokens, snacks. The weekend outings tend to be longer and involve more challenging caches and the kid needs nourishment and water. The shoulder bag is a new addition to our arsenal so I am sure I will fill all the litte pockets and clips with more stuff. Perhaps some of the items that are mentioned in Head Hardhat's thread on homegrown gizmos.

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Ahem...

Alone on the bike:

GPS.

Nintendo DS (with DS Cache on it)

Pen/pencil.

Small swag.

Sig stamp.

Dr. Steel propaganda.

Camel Back filled with liquid refreshment

multi tool

Spare batteries

Cell phone

 

With parents in the odessy:

All of the above +

Can of mtn. dew (I'm a caffeine addict)

about half a dozen multi-tools/pocket knives

Compass

FAK

Flashlight

Sharpy

Lossa swag

Aleve

Leather gloves

Hand sanitizer

Battery-powered cell-phone charger

Spare notebooks

 

Aaand I also have my laptop (and everything else that happens to find its way int o my backpack), but that stays in the van.

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Each week we seemingly find something new to add to our packs based on problems we had the previous week. Here's our current list:

 

Hiker First Aid Kit

Camera

GPS - Garmin Oregon for on trail

GPS - Garmin Nuvi for navigating to the trailhead/park

Wipes for the camera lens and GPS screens

Extra batteries for the Oregon

Small flashlight

Heavy work gloves for beating our way through brambles, thorns, poison ivy, etc.

6 Clif Bars of various flavors (emergency rations)

Cough drops

Ultrathon Insect Repellent

Sunscreen

Large Bellydance Costume Coins (my signature item)

Bag of swag

Ziploc bags of various sizes for impromptu cache or travel bug first aid

Little spiral notebooks to leave if a cache's log is full

Geocoin/Travel Bug pouch (to keep them organized and safe between caches)

Any geocoins or travel bugs that we need to place in a cache

Notepad (to solve any puzzles in the field or make notes)

2 Pens

Swiss Army Knife

Mirror on a telescoping handle for seeing into things

Magnet on a telescoping handle to act as a poking stick

Magnifying glass that lights up

At least two bottles of water (more for long hikes)

Cell phone

Wallet with IDs and credit cards

I usually pack a pair of sandals (just in case)

 

In the car we also keep a set of large flashlights for night caching and a large towel to wipe off with if we emerge extremely muddy or sweaty or both.

 

My beloved brings:

 

Printed out sheets for caches he wants to go to all neatly placed in a notebook. I roll my eyes at this since the Oregon enables paperless caching, but it comes in very handy at times.

 

Of all of the above items, the water has proven to be the most critical. We will never leave home without enough water again.

 

Carolyn

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I have only just started but the items already I am finding useful are work gloves for digging in prickle bushes, a stick for poking around in holes, spare pen and a compass to help get a direction fix when my GPS is playing up.

 

Other good items mentioned here are water, first aid kits, flash light and spare batteries. I see energy bars have popped up a few times too :)

 

Also a few have mentioned tweezers. That must be some small cach :D

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The core of my additional gear is a survival/first aid kit which fits into a very small first aid kit from REI. It is nice because if you remove the first aid book, you have room for other survival items.

 

Base: REI Day Pack First Aid Kit

-Remove the first aid book

+Add Adventure Medical Pocket Survival Pack (this has a signal mirror which serves double duty as a cache spotter)

-Remove nasty duct tape that comes with Pocket kit, reroll new duct tape

+Add Sewing kit & thread (2 bucks at walmart)

+Add small pillbox with more motrin/tylenol/excedrin/zyrtec

+Add additional tweezers

+Add Leatherman Squirt into scissor pocket

+Add Photon Light to zipper pull

 

I put that in my cargo pants (which have very large pockets). I also carry water and gloves.

 

~Zel

Edited by Zelanzy
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I always bring a pencil, batteries, a camera, and a compass.

 

I like to have some trade items, napkins, paper and pencil. The napkins to dry off wet caches. With the rain we have been having, it is surprising how many containers are not waterproof.

 

I have found that occasionally I can't find a cache, then later log in to geocaching.com and find that it is a puzzle cache and these first coords are for getting information to solve the puzzle. So I conclude just having the waypoints along is not enough. Sometimes you need the instructions and the clues. One way to do that is to do some homework first and get that info and have it along. Of course this means you have to have a planned list of caches to visit before departing. I guess if you have online access with some device that you take along then you could look up the info as you go.

 

I don't like mini caches that take you behind some building near the garbage compactor, or are in an area of really no interest. You have to ask, "What's the point? Nothing to trade. Nothing of interest to see". So it makes good sense to plan a trip first and avoid the kind of caches you don't like. Makes for a more interesting trip.

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My mother made for me, recently a walking stick that has everything I need geocaching attatched.. on the very top of the stick is a hook for retrieving things out of very high locations ( I have run into caches hidden way up in trees out of reach) a twenty foot piece of rope wrapped around the walking stick ( you never know...) A first aid kit, cell phone holder, knife in a pouch ( attatched of course) A pack which holds swag items, flashlight,pens,bug bite stuff,bug spray,hand sanitizer, gloves, dry socks, etc.

a place to hang a bottle of water, lots of caribiners,a bandana for wiping the brow... a multitool, tweezers, magnets, compass,bear spsray( we have black bears abundantly here in our area) etc. It has a rubber "foot" and she made marks on the bottom of this stick every inch to two feet, so I can tell how deep the swampy areas or rivers are before I step into them... This was a very thoughtful gift that she made for me, because I would always squish all of these items into a large backpack, now I just need my "GEOSTICK" and I am good to go.. only thing I have to bring besides my stick is my GPS. all of the heavy items are near the bottom which by the way actually help me with my balance.

So.... all I need is my STICK!

Edited by kraftyfashionables
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My mother made for me, recently a walking stick that has everything I need geocaching attatched.. on the very top of the stick is a hook for retrieving things out of very high locations ( I have run into caches hidden way up in trees out of reach) a twenty foot piece of rope wrapped around the walking stick ( you never know...) A first aid kit, cell phone holder, knife in a pouch ( attatched of course) A pack which holds swag items, flashlight,pens,bug bite stuff,bug spray,hand sanitizer, gloves, dry socks, etc.

a place to hang a bottle of water, lots of caribiners,a bandana for wiping the brow... a multitool, tweezers, magnets, compass,bear spsray( we have black bears abundantly here in our area) etc. It has a rubber "foot" and she made marks on the bottom of this stick every inch to two feet, so I can tell how deep the swampy areas or rivers are before I step into them... This was a very thoughtful gift that she made for me, because I would always squish all of these items into a large backpack, now I just need my "GEOSTICK" and I am good to go.. only thing I have to bring besides my stick is my GPS. all of the heavy items are near the bottom which by the way actually help me with my balance.

So.... all I need is my STICK!

 

OMG! This just SCREAMS for a photo!!! A large backpack full of items all squeezed onto a single walking stick? Your mother must be a genius.

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That word "always" leaves me without a real answer, but I usually have a paper copy of the cache page, and a map unless I've forgotten it and have the location memorized. I almost always remember to have a pen. Usually I have a compass and have something to trade unless it's a micro. If I'm going to be away from the car for a few hours I load myself down with a flashlight, a granola bar, some water, and a walking stick. So what I really do is look at where I'm going, decide what I'll need, and pack accordingly. Now what caching gear's in the trunk of my car 24-7? That's a different question.

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Not that long at this “game” but I take: (and not necessarily in this order) ;)

• H2O bottle.

• Swag bag (filled with Dollar Store items…just in case). If you take something you need to leave something of equal of greater value.

• Gardening gloves.

• Garmin E-trex Venture HC. “Remember to “track back”!

• Bug repellant (I like Deepwoods OFF and Permithrin). I treat my clothes with the Permithrin and let them dry well before donning them.

• Keys to the truck…(yes, it is easy to forget them and lock them in, but the keypad unlock sure is handy)…just an experience kind of thing.

• Flashlight. It may be light when you start out, but I promise you will become distracted if you are really searching hard and you might not make it back before dark.

• Walking stick/monopod combination for poking around caches that are well hidden.

• Camera, in case you need to submit a pic to prove you’ve found the cache (i.e benchmarks, etc). A cheap Wal-mart version will do just fine.

• Printed sheets of the caches that I’m seeking. Can’t wait to go paperless as I have a PDA coming soon via Ebay.

• A good ole fashion compass…just in case.

• Cell phone…like it does any good in most of the places around here since the connectivity is so poor…but you never know…

• Extra pens/pencils…to replace bad pens/pencils in caches and they always seem to run out at the most inopportune times.

• Extra batteries…I use rechargeables mostly, but keep about a dozen non-rechargeables in my pack “just in case”.

 

Enjoy the Find!

Liz :drama:

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