Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products or services I think are worth sharing. By making purchase through these links, I receive a tiny commission which helps to fund my margarita habit (and maybe an occasional date night). Thank you.
After many, many geocaching trips, I have made a science of packing the perfect “go bag” (a smallish, drawstring backpack) so that when we get the urge to go geocaching we can just run out the door. Truthfully, the only thing you REALLY need to is a smartphone or a GPS unit and the coordinates to a cache. But I have found the items below that are extremely helpful to have when you go geocaching.
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What’s in my Geocaching
“Go Bag”?
- Hand wipes because caching containers are usually hidden in dirty places, like a hollow tree or under a rock.
- Plenty of water and snacks to keep everyone hydrated and happy. A hungry child is a cranky child!
- Duct tape – to repair a container, fix a torn shirt, you never know when you may need it.
- Sunscreen, sunglasses and bug spray, because sunburns and mosquito bites are no fun.
- A good flashlight for searching dark areas, grabber/long tweezers to remove caching logs, a telescoping inspection mirror so you don’t have to stick your hand in icky places for no reason (you never know what else might be inhabiting that hole!), and a pocket knife to help cut small vines and branches, open rusted containers, dig out a stuck container, or cut a piece of paper to replace a missing log.
- First aid kit – scratches and bug bites are inevitable in the woods. Include itch and antibiotic creams, bandages and Advil, Aleve, Tylenol… anything to take for the headache from your kids whining they can’t find the cache.
- SWAG – objects to trade. Leave one and take one… you can also leave a dollar or some coins if you want to trade but do not have any trinkets. I like to collect kids’ meal toys, birthday goodie bag stuff you can buy at the dollar store, plastic farm animals or toy bugs (not too realistic, please), friendship bracelets… anything that is small in size that a kid or kid at heart might like. Things you should NEVER put in a cache.
- Trackables – these are small dog tag like items that are etched with a unique code that are used to log its movements as it travels the world. Trackables can be coins, key chains, or charms, that move from cache to cache and usually have some sort of goal involved, like… “To visit every national park in the US”. When you find one in a cache make sure to log that you picked it up using your smartphone app or on geocaching.com. When you are ready to drop it off do the same, so someone else can pick it up and move it along.
- A pen or marker to sign the log. Many containers are only big enough to fit the log so you should always bring something to write with!
- A smartphone loaded with the geocaching app. Also use it to take photos to post when reporting a found cache.
Extra items to bring:
A “good” camera. I mainly just use my iPhone to take photos, but it is nice to have a real camera to take high quality shots. As long as you aren’t going to be in an area where it could become wet or damaged easily.
Hiking poles are a great help in a rocky area or for walking a long distances (these obviously don’t go into the bag).
A travel towel. I discovered this Shandali Travel Towel recently and I’m so excited that I did. It’s lightweight, very soft and super compact (but big enough for four kids to sit on), and it absorbs a lot of moisture. Sometimes it rains unexpectedly, sometimes a kid will “accidentally” fall into a stream, sometimes it’s nice just to have something clean and dry to sit on. I’ve never regretted carrying a towel in my bag.
A lightweight, study backpack to carry everything.
An adventurous attitude and a desire for fun!
Geocaching is something you can do almost anywhere. It’s a great way to spend time with your family outdoors and explore new places that you might not have discovered on your own.
Do you have a favorite tip or item you would include in your go-bag?
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products or services I think are worth sharing. By making purchase through these links, I receive a tiny commission which helps to fund my margarita habit (and maybe an occasional date night). Thank you.
This looks like something my boys would LOVE. I’m not an outdoorsy girl, so I for one would not be a happy camper. I will have to tell the boys about this though!
How sad is it I've never been? Please take me the next time you go after we get back?? YES?
I'd love to! We have so much fun (if you ignore the bickering about who gets to open the cache, who gets to put it back…) All my kids love going, and that is a rare feat!
I LOVE this idea! I’ve always wanted to go. My kids are probably too young to do it as a family, but definitely in a couple of years.
Absolutely LOVE GEOCACHING! My husband and 2 daughters randomly decide to try it one boring Sunday morning and since then we’ve been hooked! I love your bag tips, definitely a few things I’ll be adding to our bag! And here are a couple for yours: paper (in case the log is wet and needs replacing) and don’t forget garbage bags to collect litter as you go!