Happy New Year everybody!
A new year means the holidays are over… and not a moment too soon. I do enjoy holiday time with friends and family, but I don’t like to overdo it. (Is overdo even a word?!) The holidays seem to have lasted far too long this year, so I’m getting a bit of cabin fever. I would like to get outside and enjoy some geocaching, but it has been far too cold (-25° Celcius). One has to be pretty hardcore to prepare properly for caching in that kind of weather.
Oh… that reminds me of my last geocaching trip. It inadvertently turned into a good lesson on preparation.
I was headed out to look for Stone Builder’s Code #3. I had already found Stone Builder’s Code #1 earlier in the day and thought I could pick up one more before dark. My daughter and I hiked the 500m to the cache area and then spent another five minutes just trying to make the last 6m or so. It was already starting to get a little more grey out, so we stepped up our search, deciding to head back to the truck after a few more minutes of searching.
At this point, you could still see your hand in front of your face fairly well… but in early November it can turn black as coal in a matter of minutes. This is why you always set a waypoint back to your vehicle or staging area. Had I not done that I may have walked around in circles for half the night. Trees and trail tend to look the same at dusk…
To make a long story short, I had not come prepared at all. No flashlight, no means of making a fire, nothing. I likely would have been able to handle a few hours lost in the dark but my daughter would have freaked out. Lesson learned: be prepared!
Here’s what I’ll be caching with in the future:
- Solar blanket
- Small tarp or maybe even an old SKOP kit
- Candles
- Matches/lighter & solid firestarter
- Extra batteries for GPS (already do this for longer caching trips)
- Compass
- Crankable flashlight and/or headlamp
- Water
- High energy/low volume food
It might be overkill, but as I found out, you never can tell. Prepare and be safe!