TOTT Airway Grill Traditional Cache

Stick the metal structure and ferret it out.

TOTT is a term used often in geocaching but I've not seen or heard it used very much in the Edmonton community. TOTT are tools that any serious geocacher needs to have in their geocaching bag in order to be successful on some difficult hides. Everyone has their own set of tools, but some are pretty standard.

• A flashlight...standard equipment for anyone caching at night or even for caching, under a dense spruce in the middle of the day, or trying to see down a dark hole/pipe. You can pick one up at a hardware, office supply or big box store for a couple bucks, but for $20 online, you can find one with greater than 200 lumens which you'll be satisfied with. I carry around a 1200 lumen light as I'm out at night very often and this one is light daylight in a stick. A red filter is a great thing to have for night caching in urban areas.
• UV LED flashlight: Night caches sometimes use these for leaving messages, so having one handy is a good thing. Again, these are available for about a buck each which will get you the UV light, probably attached to a pen that writes in UV readable ink (otherwise invisible). But you can also get a larger one for about $20 that will throw and makes this task much easier. I've also found that on tricky hides, my UV flashlight will find the cache as it will make some man made materials and colours glow.
• A telescoping mirror on a stick, digital camera, or smart phone: Needed to examine places your head won't fit.
• tweezers: One of the most useful items to have with you. Getting micros and nanos out of their hiding spots and their logs out come up often with so many MISTs in the city.
• A magnetic pickup tool: Caches inside pipes are easily retrieved with these. Otherwise, I'd suggest 2 liters of water. :)
• String, paracord, wire: All three useful when you need to build a tool on site to get that tricky cache out.
• Duct tape or gaffers tape: The latter is better, but both serve a useful purpose in building your own extraction too as well as being useful for field repairs on broken LnL's.
• Utility knife: For field repairs and tool making.
• Spare common nano and micro containers: I don't agree with dropping a replacement cache if I can't find a container, but if a cache is damaged, replacing a lid can save a CO a visit.
• Spare pencils and logs: Another way to help out the CO.
• walking stick or trekking pole: Almost essential when looking for a long lost cache in the middle of the winter. There won't always be sticks around that are long enough. Also useful for caches that are magnetic but out of reach.