Tools of the Trade – Things that you’ll never need while Geocaching – Until you Need Them

I’ll never forget going to my first event and while mingling around I ran into just one of the nicest geocaching couples you ever want to meet. They were elderly though you couldn’t tell it by the sparkle in their eyes or the pep in their conversation. We talked about everything geocaching and for me at the time I had less than one hundred finds and you could just tell they were in the tens of thousands. He must have known how fascinated I was and without missing a beat he pulled out a plastic fork from the virtual toolchest in his breast pocket.

“Know what this is for?”, he asked with a big grin. “This little gizmo is the best for getting those sharp burs out of your clothes without getting poked.”

“What a great idea”, said I. I know in Maryland there is a very sharp bur that grows all over the place, planting into your shoes, socks and pants. If you even try to gently pull them out you immediately get pierced with sharp needles.

What a simple yet effective answer to a problem I had delt quite painfully with for a while. How many other home made what-cha-ma-callits were out there there and could be shared with other geocacher?Letherman – A multitool chock full of handy options that fit quite nicely in any geocachers pocket or pouch.

Tweezers -

A space pen -Battery Casehttp://batterychargerz.com/shop/article_MHS-BH4AA/AA-AAA-Battery-Carry-Case.htmlA Utility Mirrorhttp://www.generaltools.com/Products/1-38-Telescoping-Utility-Mirror__70555.aspxHead Lamp Light

30″ telescoping magnet

2″ ‘snake’ mirror (so-named for more’n 1 reason!!)

Pickle/Olive Grabber.

Golf Ball Retriever

Pickle/Olive Grabber.Rope LadderA Red Uniball Powertank pressurized pen – for signing logs.Ball of string and a few paperclips.Swiss Army kife with tweezers and toothpick.Backup GPS unit.

Duck Tape.
Sample subpoenas. They give me a reason for skulking around places that are not ordinarily skulked around. I can explain that I am looking for so-and-so. After that, people generally leave me alone … and when they don’t I ask their name as I look through my stack of subpoenas.

printable subpoenas
http://www.masslegalhelp.org/uploads/NE/rx/NErxrgt1_WFCW74Fn___ew/subpoena-sample.pdfBandanas. One for use as a cover-up to hide the GPSr or cache container from muggle eyes, makeshift water bottle carrier, cache location/trail marker, container and swag dryer, dirt remover, and many, many other uses one doesn’t know until you need it. The second, hopefully clean, to stem the flow of blood. Stuff happens.Extention pole grabbers you use to hang Christmas lights6 foot length of string with neodymium magnet on end for those rare occasions where a magnetic cache has fallen to earth and isnt retrievable bare handed.CellSensor EMF Detection Meter - made to detect cell phone radiation and electromagnetic fields but can be used to locate those tiny little magnetic nanos.A roll of wrapping or packing tape The tape works great for grabbing the ticks off my clothes, and I can count how many I nabbed at the end of the hike.

A pair of buckskin gloves. I always carry gloves (usually fleece) in winter, but these I carry all year long for when you have to climb that tree or reach into some sketchy-lookin’ hole, etc. Very, very soft, feel like a second skin actually and have saved my hands again and again from bites, scrapes, tree sap, etc.

Package of diaper wipes. It’s great when you get plant sap on your hands and other things

An orange vest and a hard hat just in case I need to look even more ‘official’ than just the clipboard.

Mechanix brand gloves when reaching into nooks and crannies, and when climbing (coral outcroppings are sharp).

Ziplock bags, and used plastic grocery bags for trash and such.

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