Stompy Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Do you ever put your walking pole down when you retrieve the cache and sign the log book then walk off to the next one leaving your walking pole behind, suddenly realise and have to walk back for it? I do, so does any one have any tips for preventing this from happening? It struck me that it would be a good idea if there was a gizmo that attached to the pole with an alarm that attached to your belt that sounded if you moved a certain distance away - does one exist? Quote Link to comment
+Graculus Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Remember when you were 5 and had gloves on a length of string going up one arm of your coat and down the other so you never lost them? If you used two walking poles you could do that! Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books Quote Link to comment
+*mouse* Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Remember when you were 5 and had gloves on a length of string going up one arm of your coat and down the other so you never lost them? If you used two walking poles you could do that! Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books I still have strings on my gloves Quote Link to comment
+Unobtainium Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Leave the pole at home? Quote Link to comment
+FuzzyBears Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 (edited) There is a gizmo that you can attach to your children that beeps if they wander off too far edit to add link Edited April 10, 2011 by fuzzybears Quote Link to comment
+Unobtainium Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 There is a gizmo that you can attach to your children that beeps if they wander off too far Then tie your pole to the child Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Get yourself a knife and cut yourself a new walking pole from an ash coppice, then next time you leave it behind it's just a stick and you can walk away from it & cut yourself a new pole from another coppice . Downside is, you can't go around cutting down ash coppice anywhere you feel like it Quote Link to comment
+Baskerville Bogtrotters Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I too have the same problem - I have been known to walk back a mile just to retrieve one. Due to my age, I take a note book with me to jot down notes about each cache I find so I dont get confused when writing up the log. At the top of each page I have inscribed the word 'POLE'. This hasn't failed me yet (famous last words!) Quote Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Do you ever put your walking pole down when you retrieve the cache and sign the log book then walk off to the next one leaving your walking pole behind, suddenly realize and have to walk back for it? I do, so does any one have any tips for preventing this from happening? It struck me that it would be a good idea if there was a gizmo that attached to the pole with an alarm that attached to your belt that sounded if you moved a certain distance away - does one exist? I typically carry the same specific items on each caching adventures, including a walking stick. Because I have left things behind, including my walking stick, I have developed a 'Stop - Check' process once I have signed the log and am about to leave the area. My Thought process - Okay let's go! Stop! Check! Do I have my wallet? - Check Keys? - Check Cellphone? - Check (I know that doesn't seem like things I would lose but I still check) GPS? - Check Walking Stick? - Check Backpack? - Check Everything that was in my backpack?(Now that I'm in full check mode) - Check Did I put the pen back into the cache or is it still in my hand? - Check Is everything secured and all pockets zipped shut? - Check From experience I've learned that you have to do a post-cache, pre-leave checklist. I've had to train myself that the trigger/reminder is when your brain says - OK, let's go on to the next place! Stop! Check! It might work better to do it once you replace the lid on the container and before you put it back. Quote Link to comment
+susiemerlin1 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I always put my hand through the loop and hang stick from my wrist and I still leave the pole behind! Other half normally notices before me and sends me back. Reckon I have walked a fair few miles just retrieving my stick. Quote Link to comment
team tisri Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Do you ever put your walking pole down when you retrieve the cache and sign the log book then walk off to the next one leaving your walking pole behind, suddenly realise and have to walk back for it? I do, so does any one have any tips for preventing this from happening? It struck me that it would be a good idea if there was a gizmo that attached to the pole with an alarm that attached to your belt that sounded if you moved a certain distance away - does one exist? Clip it to a carabiner on a belt loop? For all the talk of leaving stuff behind after a cache I remember having the opposite problem. I'd been on a bike ride to an area further than I normally venture, found a bunch of caches, traded a few TBs etc and then got home. Then as I logged my caches and trackables I found something else in my pocket. Turned out I'd inadvertently taken the log book from one of the caches home with me. Luckily the CO was understanding and gave me an address so I could mail it back to him... Quote Link to comment
+The Brat Pack Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Remember when you were 5 and had gloves on a length of string going up one arm of your coat and down the other so you never lost them? If you used two walking poles you could do that! Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books Gloves - luxury! Quote Link to comment
+ayrbrain Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 We left ours in the car boot this afternoon and we needed them as well as we were up and down embankments in the woods geocaching this afternoon Quote Link to comment
+mpilchfamily Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) I suggest taking a dog shock collar and rigging it. Set it up like a grenade so when a pin is pulled it goes off. Attach a cord to the pin and your belt. As you walk off you'll get a nice reminder that you left something behind. After a few times of that you'll start remembering to check for your stick and won't need the collar anymore. Better yet and easier to set up. Get one of these. http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/8c52/ A plastic strip set between the battery and a contact and attached to your belt/stick. Then when you leave the stick behind the strip gets pulled out setting off the alarm. This is ruffly the same concept. http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/e200/ Edited April 11, 2011 by mpilchfamily Quote Link to comment
+D&GPowell Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 I managed to leave my walking pole at a cache and only realised when I got all the way home . I then had to go a new one , still got it not lost it yet . Quote Link to comment
+The Blorenges Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 If you had bought one made from sapient pearwood you wouldn't have this problem. MrsB Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 If you had bought one made from sapient pearwood you wouldn't have this problem. MrsB At last a sensible solution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 If you had bought one made from sapient pearwood you wouldn't have this problem. MrsB At last a sensible solution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damm Millets out of stock! Quote Link to comment
+drsolly Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 We left ours in the car boot this afternoon and we needed them as well as we were up and down embankments in the woods geocaching this afternoon The woods is full of sticks - help yourself. I was going for a multi yesterday, and I'd just got up a bit of hill when I realised ... stick in car. So I found a length of branch lying on the ground, trimmed it a bit, and voila! Quote Link to comment
+Happy Humphrey Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Get yourself a knife and cut yourself a new walking pole from an ash coppice, then next time you leave it behind it's just a stick and you can walk away from it & cut yourself a new pole from another coppice . Downside is, you can't go around cutting down ash coppice anywhere you feel like it The other downside is; there's not likely to be a handy ash coppice every time you go out caching (or any time, in some cases). And if you don't chuck the stick away at the end of each trip you're then faced with a rather inconvenient 3 foot stick that won't telescope down and fit in a bag. Quote Link to comment
+thehalibutkid Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Turned out I'd inadvertently taken the log book from one of the caches home with me. I did that as well. But as the cache was not visited very often I went and completed another cache before returning on my way home. Of course it turns out that someone had visited the cache during that time and had logged a needs maintenence report. Doh. Quote Link to comment
Copepod Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Stick walking pole in the ground before handing cache - more likely to notice it than if you stand it against a tree an dless likley to trip over it than if you lay it on the ground. In case of night caching, and also for improved visibility when walking along roads etc, wrap a piece of reflective tape (available from cycling shops) round pole. Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 (edited) I could do with a new walking pole... When/where are you planning on caching next? I just get in to the habit of checking everything. Log and pen back in cache? cache hidden? Walking pole? sun glasses? GPS? camera? wallet? car keys? Any TB's collected from cache? Rucksack? All OK, off I go. Stopping a few yards away from the cache to look back, just to double check I can't see either the cache or something I've left! Edited April 12, 2011 by Bear and Ragged Quote Link to comment
+Malpas Wanderer Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 We left ours in the car boot this afternoon and we needed them as well as we were up and down embankments in the woods geocaching this afternoon The woods is full of sticks - help yourself. I was going for a multi yesterday, and I'd just got up a bit of hill when I realised ... stick in car. So I found a length of branch lying on the ground, trimmed it a bit, and voila! In North Wales I went to do one cache which was about 100 yds from the parking didn't find that one. Looked at the GPSr and there was another less than half a mile away. Headed off without my usual water, walking pole or anything I usually take on longer walks. The terrain soon changed to very steep and slippery, especially at gz. The only stick nearby was about 10ft long. With a bit of manipulation it was a great asset to descending the almost 45deg slope and might even been better than a walking pole, needless to say I left this 10footer behind as soon as I was able. Quote Link to comment
+Matthew 7:7 Too Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I lost a good Photo Leki pole that way... I'd found the first stage of a multi-cache, walked perhaps 400 yards to the next stage, realised I'd left my pole behind so went back... and of course it had gone. I'd left it near the entry drive to Shugborough Hall, but no-one handed it in, so I had to buy another (cheaper) one. Something to note is that LIDL were selling some good, cheap carbon-fibre walking poles last autumn - well worth looking out for next autumn. My way to make sure I don't leave things behind now is to take my wife with me when I go caching. (I'm unlikely to leave HER behind, and she will make sure I don't leave anything else behind!!) On the other hand, while following a caching trail a few weeks ago, I found some nice pink gloves, a woolly hat, and a dog lead! I hid the gloves at the start of the trail and then found a previous cacher had moaned about leaving them behind in her logs so was able to tell her where to find them again. Chris Quote Link to comment
+ivanidea Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Buy a spare pole, then you won't lose your original one (based on Sods Law). I lost one pole, long before I got involved in geocaching, which must have been left at a rest point on a walk. I now have 3 spares, all bought cheaply, in case I lose one. Quote Link to comment
+Madjon and Suz Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Hi try this link if you carry a rucksack it might be a technical solution walking pole modification Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Hi try this link if you carry a rucksack it might be a technical solution walking pole modification Thank you a practical solution at last keep them coming...... Quote Link to comment
+Matrix Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Remember when you were 5 and had gloves on a length of string going up one arm of your coat and down the other so you never lost them? If you used two walking poles you could do that! Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books I still have strings on my gloves Why am I not suprised Quote Link to comment
Copepod Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Hi try this link if you carry a rucksack it might be a technical solution walking pole modification Thank you a practical solution at last keep them coming...... #22 is a practical suggestion, too. Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Hi try this link if you carry a rucksack it might be a technical solution walking pole modification Thank you a practical solution at last keep them coming...... #22 is a practical suggestion, too. Sorry, you are right it is but I'm looking for something fool proof, I normally adopt your approach of leaving the stick in front of me except on the occassion I forget to do that you can bet your bottom dollar that it's the time I leave it behind. Ideally I was hoping that there was some kind of cheap alarm that would sound when I left the vicinity. Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Ideally I was hoping that there was some kind of cheap alarm that would sound when I left the vicinity. Wot, you mean like THIS Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Ideally I was hoping that there was some kind of cheap alarm that would sound when I left the vicinity. Wot, you mean like THIS That's the fella - order placed, thanks Quote Link to comment
OliverrWilliams Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Another option is that you could just turn it into a travel bug? At least then if you get home and realise you can then track it Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 Another option is that you could just turn it into a travel bug? At least then if you get home and realise you can then track it Like it! Quote Link to comment
Stompy Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 Ideally I was hoping that there was some kind of cheap alarm that would sound when I left the vicinity. Wot, you mean like THIS That's the fella - order placed, thanks The alarm arrived yesterday - checked out worked well just need to find a way to secure it to the pole Quote Link to comment
+MartyBartfast Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 The alarm arrived yesterday - checked out worked well just need to find a way to secure it to the pole Cool, I'd be interested to see how it works out. Downside is there's another 2 sets of batteries to worry about ! Quote Link to comment
+NickandAliandEliza Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Another option is that you could just turn it into a travel bug? At least then if you get home and realise you can then track it Can I be rude and say this sounds far better than your other idea?! :) Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 The alarm arrived yesterday - checked out worked well just need to find a way to secure it to the pole Camo Duck Tape Quote Link to comment
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