What's your signature item?

[Guest gdeas]

A roll of fresh Kodak or Fugi 12x Film. (I'm a commercial photographer) Much cheaper than leaving one of my 96MB or 1G Micro Drives I use in my digital cameras. Most can still use a roll of good 35mm!

Gordon

[Guest infosponge]

I don't have any one particular item, but I like to find oddball things at military surplus places, etc., and buy a dozen of them. One popular item I just ran out of was metal boatswains whistles which are unusual (and really loud!) and seem to always get taken from the caches by one of the next visitors to the cache. It's fun looking for things like that to add to the "goodie box" I keep handy for caching.

[Guest Team Wyle E]

We leave a Wile E Coyote pocketable (fits our team name). They are used as toys or bookmarks. This is in addition to any other swap we make.

 

I've been surprised how many of them have been picked up by other cachers.

 

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Larry Farquhar

http://www.azjeeper.com

[Guest redquiltsblue]

I have been making quilted potholders as my signature item, however, it appears that no one has taken a cotton to them yet.

 

I am using up bits and pieces of scrap fabric left over from other quilts and I get to experiment with different quilt blocks. No two have been alike yet. And when it comes to the themed caches - I try to make if fit. For instance in a sports themed cache I used up some of my Pittsburgh Steelers fabric. It takes a little more than 1 hour to make each. (Except for the last one I placed which took about 3 hours - but only because I drafted the pattern myself based on a quilt block in one of the quilts I own.)

 

But, since nobody has fessed up to taking any of them yet, I am wondering if my efforts are worth it.

 

[ ]

[Guest redquiltsblue]

I have been making quilted potholders as my signature item, however, it appears that no one has taken a cotton to them yet.

 

I am using up bits and pieces of scrap fabric left over from other quilts and I get to experiment with different quilt blocks. No two have been alike yet. And when it comes to the themed caches - I try to make if fit. For instance in a sports themed cache I used up some of my Pittsburgh Steelers fabric. It takes a little more than 1 hour to make each. (Except for the last one I placed which took about 3 hours - but only because I drafted the pattern myself based on a quilt block in one of the quilts I own.)

 

But, since nobody has fessed up to taking any of them yet, I am wondering if my efforts are worth it.

 

[ ]

[Guest martinp13]

redquiltsblue: You might consider making quilted potholders that resemble the geocaching.com logo.... the 4 color blocks, the man, the flag. Doesn't have to be exact, but it WOULD be cool.

 

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> Martin

Magellan 330 (1.56/WAAS enabled!)

Don't have time to program and record your shows while geocaching? Get a TiVo !

[Guest martinp13]

redquiltsblue: You might consider making quilted potholders that resemble the geocaching.com logo.... the 4 color blocks, the man, the flag. Doesn't have to be exact, but it WOULD be cool.

 

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> Martin

Magellan 330 (1.56/WAAS enabled!)

Don't have time to program and record your shows while geocaching? Get a TiVo !

[Guest Clay]

I have left a Tibetian prayer flag in some caches that I enjoyed searching for a lot. Due to the limited amount of flags that I brought back from Kathmandu. I had to be careful not to run out, but now it appears that I may have a local source for more so I may start leaving them more often.

[Guest dsmcolin]

r and toe warmer packets in my truck. I put them in the cache I found. Upon opening the sealed package and exposing the heater to the air - heat of about 100 degrees is generated for six hours or so. Just slip the little pack into your boot or mitten and you will be warm for hours. They are Grabber Mycoal brand and are made from iron filings and salt - the very slow chemical reaction releases the heat for a nice long time. I personally used these on the BRR ride (Bike Ride to Rippey) last year to great effect. For more information on BRR see http://www.bikeworldiowa.com/rides/brrinfo.html (this is last year's ride info - but the ride is always on the first Saturday in February). I also use them while Ice Boating (more info at http://www.laser.org/DNboard/DNmain.html ). Stay warm!!

[Guest a182pilot]

I like to leave those chemical light sticks, I have a supplier that can get them in several more colors than green (red, yellow, orange, white & blue) I find that they are very useful and the kids that hunt really like them. They can also be useful if you stay out a little too late looking for a cache (the voice of experience).

 

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[Guest nkdcain]

My company had a bunch of Earthballs made for a conference and hardly used them. They're just sitting in a garbage bag so I started using them for caches!

[Guest Latrom]

My main signature item is my own personalized computer CD. I have a bunch of low cost CDRs (about $.10 each) that I burn before I go geocaching. I have a master CDRW that I make the copies from, and update the CD frequently with new goodies. CDs include a readme file which explains all the CD's contents, MP3s, freeware computer games like Doom and Terminal Volicity, Midis, emulators (but no ROMs), and pictures among other stuff. They seem to just fly out of the caches. Each cache that I place has at least three identical CDs inside and they're always the first items to go.

 

--Jason Sales

http://k2.kirtland.cc.mi.us/~salesj/geocaching.html

[Guest Chris Juricich]

The most common item I've enjoyed leaving is my mini-comic book-- 8 legal size pages folded and stapled. Sometimes it's a tough fit!

[Guest cascade]

I usually try to leave more than I take, or at least something better, but one item I often leave is a guitar pick.

[Guest exp1622]

A black and olive wooly bugger. This is a popular and very versatile fly fishing fly.

[Guest AcStark]

We always leave two Ferry Tickets for the Brentwood/Mill Bay ferry in a ZipLoc bag. This is on South Vancouver Island, Canada. It is a wonderful 30 min. trip across Saanich Inlet.

[Guest Geoffrey]

One thing I left in some caches were solar calculators.

 

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My GPS Information Page:

http://members.aol.com/geoffr524/myhomepage/howto.html

This page has many links about GPS information for the beginner.

[Guest jbmccarthy69]

Recently I have been leaving either a music CD I have mixed or a Miata Hotwheel depending on the size of the cache.

 

[Guest Choberiba]

[Guest Atlas]

I like to leave a Sakegewa gold dollar. Hey, they only cost a buck! Pluse they are easy to carry, fit in any size cache, and are weather/insect/rodent resistant.

 

Atlas

[Guest RedwoodRed]

We leave a blue cobalt shot glass with emblem for the Point St. George Reef Lighthouse on them. Purchasing them contributes to the Lighthouse's restoration fund. Hopefully those who find them will look up the lighthouse and learn a bit about it. The history is facinating and the effort to restore the lighthouse is an honorable one.

 

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Lori aka: RedwoodRed

KF6VFI

"I don't get lost, I investigate alternative destinations."

http://www.geogadgets.com

http://www.beautywithattitude.com

http://www.w6hy.org

[Guest Hamster]

I found a supply of cheap cool Carabiners (sp?)

 

 

heheh These will make a good sig item. When they run out, it will be laser pointers.

[Guest TheBeans]

Thanks to Moun10Bike (who's shows his signature items on his website) I tried making up some GeoCards for us and my folks (2-Zs) for our endeavors. We leave the card in the logbook (so that the person hiding the cache gets to keep something other than the logbook) and we also bring something else to leave for other geocachers, which is never the same thing twice!

 

We put out our very first card out on Christmas in a cache hidden by Moun10Bike (figured this was appropriate since we got the idea from his website!) and we left it in the logbook. On future caches we'll leave it in the logbook but will keep it in place with a small paperclip---that way it won't fall out of the book and risk getting rained on and will eliminate the need for laminating. If you want to see what they look like, here's the link: http://members.tripod.com/beanacres/Geocaching.htm

 

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BeanAcres

 

[This message has been edited by TheBeans (edited 29 December 2001).]

 

[This message has been edited by TheBeans (edited 29 December 2001).]

[Guest essay]

Wow, you guys are a talented bunch! Between totem bags and geocaches coins and cloisonne ferret pins and geocache yo-yos (those last two might be from other threads, now that I think of it), I find myself yearning to become a world-traveling geocacher just to collect all the cool stuff! And since I live not far from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, which are great destinations for everyone to come visit, y'all are gonna come leave your sig items in our beautiful eastern Idaho/western Wyoming caches, right?

So, now to think of my own sig item, which I've been trying to do for a few weeks and haven't had any ideas yet ....

[Guest wanderlust]

Usually books dealing with nature, wilderness, sustainable community, nature and spirituality, inspirational words, expedition novels or journals.

[Guest DHOBBY1]

For my first 100 caches I made 100 Signature Weatherby 7mm. Cartridge key rings. For my nest 100, I Made 100 Signature 9mm. Cartridge key rings. For my nest 100, I will be placing my Signature Happy Caching DHOBBY1 2002 dog tag key chains.

[Guest SherwoodForest]

Well, i was trying to find something small that would fit in caches, and being heavily into LEGOs (and its associated Wargame -- BrikWars) I grabbed a Harry Potter Minifig as something to place in the cache i was looking for (didn't find it, but it was first time and snowy). And after reading what a BrikWarrior friend of mine put in his cache (Lego Adventurers) I've decided also to make Lego Minifigs my signature item... if only i had enough LEGO CBs i could make a whole bunch of LEGO Geocachers...

[Guest SherwoodForest]

Well, i was trying to find something small that would fit in caches, and being heavily into LEGOs (and its associated Wargame -- BrikWars) I grabbed a Harry Potter Minifig as something to place in the cache i was looking for (didn't find it, but it was first time and snowy). And after reading what a BrikWarrior friend of mine put in his cache (Lego Adventurers) I've decided also to make Lego Minifigs my signature item... if only i had enough LEGO CBs i could make a whole bunch of LEGO Geocachers...

[Guest martinp13]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SherwoodForest:

... if only i had enough LEGO CBs i could make a whole bunch of LEGO Geocachers...

---

 

Be careful what you wish for. There are websites where people will sell you EXACTLY the bricks you want (including the CBs). I was going to do this, but I wanted to put a "GPS" faceplate on the CB radio, and then half the geocaching population would be mad that I made their minifig carry a Magellan!

 

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> Martin

Magellan 330 (1.56/WAAS enabled!)

Don't have time to program and record your shows while geocaching? Get a TiVo !

[Guest martinp13]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SherwoodForest:

... if only i had enough LEGO CBs i could make a whole bunch of LEGO Geocachers...

---

 

Be careful what you wish for. There are websites where people will sell you EXACTLY the bricks you want (including the CBs). I was going to do this, but I wanted to put a "GPS" faceplate on the CB radio, and then half the geocaching population would be mad that I made their minifig carry a Magellan!

 

------------------

> Martin

Magellan 330 (1.56/WAAS enabled!)

Don't have time to program and record your shows while geocaching? Get a TiVo !

[Guest kablooey]

I found a bag of Pocahontas rubber stamps; so I started leaving one of those at caches I visited, in addition to performing a normal trade. Then, just before I ran out of rubber stamps, I found a bag of miniature Pokémon cards that look like they were meant to be placed in a gumball-style machine; so now I'm using those. I consider these signature items to have zero trade value, they basically only cost me a few pennies each, but I've noticed that people have started taking the rubber stamps as trade items. Then again, I notice people grabbing Iron Chef's spoons as collectibles, as well. Are there geocachers out there trying to build collections of signature items now?

[Guest GrouseTales]

I usually leave behind a "Team GrouseTales Kitchen Magnet"

 

I've had several different designs.

 

Here is the latest:

 

[Guest madphatboy2]

I like to leave playdoh. It;s great for everybody above age 3.

[Guest weebeeus]

We're very new at this and have only left a few and it's not very original. We've been leaving a small flag pin plus a regular trading item. From following the discussions, I thought it would be a good idea and bought a supply of the pins before going out for the first time. I've filled my bag with all kinds of "stuff" for kids, men, women and generic so I'll be ready to make even trades.

[Guest bob393]

I've run short lately but I normaly leave a yoyo. I'm thinkung of gettng some with my name and a geocaching logo on them.

[Guest T-storm]

quote:

---

Originally posted by kablooey:

Are there geocachers out there trying to build collections of signature items now?

---

 

Yep! ME! I decided a long time ago (relatively speaking) that I would collect other folks' signature items. I saw someone's shadowbox display of all the items they had ever traded for and while I thought I probably didn't want to do that, I found signature items more interesting.

 

We had a signature item from the first cache we found that has stayed the same... a cloisonne type lapel pin in a ferret shape. We leave white ones only in caches we find, colored ones (browns and blacks) only in caches we hide. They've become quite popular locally, with notes like "Yea!! Finally got a ferret pin!" appearing in the logs where folks took them. I have enjoyed tracking who takes them from each cache and seeing the occasional one travel (one in the UK and one in Norway in addition to a couple that went to other Texas cities like Austin and Houston). A little extra amusement for me....

 

T-storm

 

 

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http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

[+SecretSpy]

The Tungsten Carbide shapes that are my signature item are called inserts. They are used in industrial lathes to turn metal. A client of my company uses them in huge lathes that cut threads in oilfield tubing and drill pipe. They use many different sizes and shapes for different applications. The colors include black, gray, silver, gold, red and blue. The shapes include round, square, triangle, oval, diamond, tri star, trapezoid and some small funky shapes. Tungsten has a density of approx 20g/cm3. Steel is 7g/cm3, Lead is 11g/cm3 and Gold 19g/cm3. They make the shapes using Tungsten Carbide dust powder. Then they use 1000's of psi to shape it in a mold. If you look with a magnifying glass you can see the little beads. It is one of the hardness materials on earth.

 

Gig 'em Aggies

 

[This message was edited by SecretSpy on April 11, 2002 at 07:03 PM.]

[+SecretSpy]

The Tungsten Carbide shapes that are my signature item are called inserts. They are used in industrial lathes to turn metal. A client of my company uses them in huge lathes that cut threads in oilfield tubing and drill pipe. They use many different sizes and shapes for different applications. The colors include black, gray, silver, gold, red and blue. The shapes include round, square, triangle, oval, diamond, tri star, trapezoid and some small funky shapes. Tungsten has a density of approx 20g/cm3. Steel is 7g/cm3, Lead is 11g/cm3 and Gold 19g/cm3. They make the shapes using Tungsten Carbide dust powder. Then they use 1000's of psi to shape it in a mold. If you look with a magnifying glass you can see the little beads. It is one of the hardness materials on earth.

 

Gig 'em Aggies

 

[This message was edited by SecretSpy on April 11, 2002 at 07:03 PM.]

[+CYBret]

After much thought and consideration about what I wanted for a signature item, I realized that I had accidentally stumbled upon one. The ministry I serve with provides materials for "Lighthouses of Prayer." One of the items we have is a lighthouse lapel pin. I bought a handful of them and have been placing them in almost all my caches.

Hope you find one sometime!

Bret

[+CYBret]

After much thought and consideration about what I wanted for a signature item, I realized that I had accidentally stumbled upon one. The ministry I serve with provides materials for "Lighthouses of Prayer." One of the items we have is a lighthouse lapel pin. I bought a handful of them and have been placing them in almost all my caches.

Hope you find one sometime!

Bret

[+Web-ling]

I've started leaving pencils that say, "Web-ling visited this cache" in all of the caches I find that are big enough.

 

[+clatmandu]

I am still using the Tibetan prayer flags from Kathmandu. I now have a source for getting more of them. I asked her to bring me back several strings of them this spring.(she's there now) I printed up a card that goes with the flag from one of my pictures of the main Buddhist temple in Kathmandu with hundreds of flags flying from it.

[Necrogeist]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Juricich:

The most common item I've enjoyed leaving is my mini-comic book-- 8 legal size pages folded and stapled. Sometimes it's a tough fit!

---

 

Does this guy plant these in CA?

[Necrogeist]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Juricich:

The most common item I've enjoyed leaving is my mini-comic book-- 8 legal size pages folded and stapled. Sometimes it's a tough fit!

---

 

Does this guy plant these in CA?

[+BigHank]

I had wooden nickels made up with "Team BigHank" "Cache Coin" and "Clarksville, TN" printed on one side, and a fourleaf clover and "lucky wooden nickel" printed on the other. I leave at least two, sometimes more, in each cache, whether I take something or not. If I take something, I also leave something in addition to the cache coin. I would hope that people will take one of the cache coins if they want, but also leave one for the cache owner. I've left them in AZ, TN, KY and NC so far, and I have a trip planned up to NY soon and will be doing some caching along the way, so I expect to leave some in each state I go through. It's just another fun aspect of the game to me

[+st_richardson]

I found a good deal on various keychain flashlights so I'll be dropping them in caches for awhile. I also have a few compass zipper pulls. In the winter I like to leave disposable hand warmers.

 

[This message was edited by st_richardson on April 09, 2002 at 08:26 PM.]

[+Hotdogs_Off_Trail]

We came up with our team name because it fit us on many levels: We love to hike off trail, half of our team are real "hot" dogs especially in the summer, and way back in college I did a "junk art" thing through the mail and was known as Dirty John's Hotdog Stand, for this a friend went to a gumball company and bought all the little plastic hotdogs they had and gave them to me as a birthday present. We leave two plastic hotdogs in the caches we find, and I think we'll be good for a couple hundred caches (My wife is thrilled I'm finally parting with them) They are very small so take up little room in a cache. Hotdogs Off Trail - Bonnie, Jeff, Madison & Murray

[fly tyer]

I leave a hand tied fly with a very brief explanation of it packaged in a small ziplock container. The 2002 edition is called a "Wooly Bugger". I will probably change next year. Just getting started though, as I have only left three so far. fly tyer.

[+Jeepster]

Like to leave a Jeep behind. What else would a player with my/our name leave behind? Unfortunately, I've cleaned all of the local stores out of toy Jeeps.

 

Have had a couple of folks pick up one of the Jeeps and transport it to another city ... then e-mail me with the new location. Yep, I got the hint and have some travel bugs coming in the mail ... want to see if a travel bug Jeep can put on more miles than my wife does on her new one.

 

Jeepster

- Road kill on the information highway ...

[+Ttepee]

Jeepster... sounds like a great travel bug goal I might just have to give that one a try too if it's ok with you No way a TB can out travel me ...I like it ..I like it!