Common Sense????

[+archeangelsk2002]

hello folks, its the olde balde headed archie again....

on 8 aug 04, myself and lost fool went to find "the ol' swimming hole" cache.

i learned several lessons about potentially hazardous locations. most of which were common sense, and the things i remembered from my days in the army were of invaluable assistance.

here is a list of things i feel should be passed on to future new cachers:

1.): TWO MAN RULE- 2 persons of equal ability and knowledge each able to observe each other for hazardous actions or conditions.

in the case of the "the ol' swimmimng hole" lostfool stayed topside at the guard rail and i made entry into the area alone.

 

2.) PROPER TOOLS, CLOTHING, AND EQUIPMENT- pretty much self explanatory

however, even if it is self explanatory, as a cacher it would common sense for any of us to scope out an area before entering it to determine what we need. (i.e. boots, woodland clothing,rope,radios, etc.)

in the case of the"ol' swimming hole " cache myself and lostfool took a good look at it from all sides topside before either of us did anything else. as i result, i determined that only one of us would go in at a time and that i would go into the area first. on 8/8/04 i made entry...all i can say at this point is that i dint look for the cache as much as i was checking out the area. i was wearing jungle boots and fatigues luckily enough and i had a good hiking stick. we commonicated by means of 5 mile range motorola walkie talkies.(i used the handsfree head set on my talkie..lostfool new everything i was saying the whole time including several explitive deletives too colorfull to mention )

more too come, regards

ye olde balde headed archie

[+PandyBat]

Great advice! Thanks!

[+Kai Team]

I have a very small backpack reserved just for geocaching. In it I keep:

 

1) Motorola walkie talkies (for when a geopartner and I are going separate ways, or one is staying behind while the other braves a potentially hazardous area),

2) Bug Spray with deet

3) Afterbite (for when you forget to put the bug spray on)

4) A spare baseball cap (for when you forget to wear one, or the one you're wearing blows off and over the cliff).

5) A small tube of sunscreen (but it was supposed to be cloudy today!).

6) A few spare pencils (for micros or regular caches with dull, broken or missing pencils or with pens that freeze up in the winter or run out of ink - in those cases, I'll leave a pencil or two in the cache). I like the Bic mechanical pencils that you can buy in a 30 pack for about $5.

7) A small notebook (for writing notes, or adding to a cache who's logbook is full or missing).

8) A plastic trash bag (for the unexpected CITO event)

9) A couple of zip lock bags for salvaging waterlogged cache logs.

10) My GPSr.

11) A spare set of batteries for the GPSr

12) Some homemade business cards with the geocaching website address and a brief explanation of the game (for the muggles that you meet on the trail who want to know what the heck you're doing - the cards always break the ice and save you from spelling "geocaching" each time).

 

The whole kit ways a couple of pounds at most.

 

When I'm ready to go geocaching, I grab my backpack, a water bottle and my walking stick. These items have been added one at a time, after I've needed each one at some point and haven't had it. They're all I need for the caches I seek (I usually skip the ones requiring climbing gear or scuba equipment).