What's in my rucksack?

My trusty companion in all of my geocaching trips has to be my wonderful camelback rucksack, but what do I carry....aside from the kitchen sink that is!

There are a few basics that I never go caching without:

The GPSr - my wonderful Garmin GPSmap 60 Csx...well I wouldn't be caching if it didn't come with me

A pen...not just a normal pen...I prefer a nice gel pen as it will write on everything

My caching note pad - to write all of the GC numbers of the caches I have visited with a brief description so I can remember them when I log them on the computer

Travel bugs and Geocoins - The trackable items that travel from cache to cache

My iPhone - not just for safety. It has the geocaching application loaded onto it, so if I'm ever stuck, I have all the information at my fingertips

Spare batteries - well I wouldn't get very far if my GPS died would I?

Caching labels - To stick in the log book's..it has my logo on with space to write a comment and the date

Money - You never know when you will pass a nice pub or a chippy

Maps - yes I might have a GPS but having a map is essential to know exactly where you are

Camera - So many beautiful places to photograph

Car keys - I wonder why???


And the not so basic stuff:

• First Aid Kit
• Head torch - for the good old night caching
• Waterproof jacket and over trousers - Love my Berghaus paclite's - lightweight and waterproof
• Bag of swaps - little things like badges etc
• Food - especially for long walks
• Mars Bars - an essential snack
• Water - carried in my camelback water re-hydration pack
• A leatherman tool and a gerber tool
• Toilet paper - well you never know when you need to blow your nose!
• Suntan lotion - (in England I hear you ask?)
• Lipsalve
• Antiseptic handwash - after all you end up scrabbling in all sorts to look for caches

For those long hikes:

• A silver heat blanket
• A rescue beacon - A little device that flashes infrared light in case of emergencies.
• More food

And in the car

• Dog food and loads of water
• Towels
• Spare clothes and shoes

I'm sure many other cachers would travel more lightly than this..or would carry different things. These are the things that I can't live without and make my caching trips easier.

I wonder what you would carry in your rucksack??????

Etruria Industrial Museum

Yay managed to get out and do a geocache even though the rain has struck us again.

With the girls at their Grandparents I went off to a morning appointment and on getting back I just managed to be in time for them to be going off to get a cache. So in the car I jumped...will we get first to find I wonder....I doubted it as the cache had been published a while before.

We arrived at the location and luckily the car park was quiet. Thats the problem with urban caches, there's always a chance that you won't be able to hunt for the container as doing so would put it at risk.

Surprisingly the gps was pointing us away from the museum and out onto the main road which was a shame as I've never visited it before despite being on my doorstep. Maybe thats a trip for another day. The cache find was quite an easy one really, hidden on a metal archway and unless you actually know what you are looking for, it would never be found by accident. Generally I'm not a fan of these hides, little magnetic nano containers that are the size of your fingernail and only containing a tiny log, just big enough to put the date and your initials. I much prefer a nice long hike across the moors or in the open countryside with nice big containers to find...but hey you can't have it all ways and these are good for the numbers.

But as a walker.....its not all about the numbers!!!!!! Or is it?????

Rain, Rain and more Rain

Been stuck in at home all day and getting withdrawal symptoms...need to find some tupperware.

Is that the thing living less than 40 miles from Rainy City....it chucks it down all the time and ruins the outdoor pursuits

Bring on the summer sun

Burbage Edge, Derbyshire - 27/07/09

Milestone Cache - 1000th Find

After managing to complete 42 finds on Saturday with the Bignall Boppers I was up to 999 finds and I wanted to find a really good cache to mark my milestone. We had planned to attend the Piratemania cache event on the Sunday but on waking the Great British weather had struck again. It was pouring with rain so a rethink was in order. After checking the met office weather forecast it was decided that Monday was probably the best day this week to go cache hunting so up came the thought of a cache that I have been wanting to complete for ages and had been sat on my to-do bookmark list - GCJA3V Jonah's Journey on Froggatt Edge in the Peak District.

Monday morning arrived and as usual it was pouring with rain but by lunchtime it had eased off and the sun was beginning to shine through. We packed the waterproofs in the rucksack, got the geokids, the geodog and the Bignall Boppers in the car (Bit of a squeeze for a Ford Focus) and off we set. By the time we reached the parking area for the cache, the sun was glorious and it was warm enough for t-shirts.

We set off with about 2 miles of walking before we reached Ground Zero, the dogs were having a whale of a time jumping up and down on the rocks and even the girls were happy with the scenery and the not to difficult walk. They were excited as we had told them about the cache beforehand and they wanted to be fully involved.

At the GZ - The co-ords on the GPS took us straight to this one no messing, but theres always a bit of apprehension....is this the right spot....especially for a cache that is rated 5/5 - the most difficult there is. But here it was, a not so big hole between the rocks that we were going to have to go down. First of all John of the Boppers went down the hole first, closely followed by myself. Maybe it would have been a better idea to have bought some climbing type shoes along with me as walking boots maybe aren't the best things to go rock climbing in. But in for a penny in for a pound..it just had to be done.

Actually the find was relatively easy, John got to the cache first and passed it up to me and I climbed back out of the hole to show the kids the cache. The cache was a good one, a nice sturdy old ammunition box holding quite a lot of trinkets for swaps. This is the bit the kids always like, having a good rummage through and seeing if there is anything they want to swap and take home with them.


The girls were really excited now so it was time to rope them up and teach them some new skills (always comes in handy later in life). They had a great time and both enjoyed the experience, just as we all did. All in all it was a fantastic cache in a really beautiful location and the other bonus for us was that there were other caches for us to complete on the way back to the car.

8 caches were completed in total that day as the Garmin Nuvi located a few drive by's as we were going past.



Fab day,
Claire
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