If I am exploring the surface and find a cave entrance, but don't feel like spelunking at that exact moment, I put up a cobblestone pillar and surround the top block with torches to signify, from a distance, that there is a new cave there.
I started doing this, too, but after a while the various marked caves can get a little confusing. I like to make the top of the block pillar something distinctive, like wool or sand. Personally, I make white wool-tipped pillars wide but shallow caves. Green wool-tipped caves hold a monster spawning room in close walking distance. Red wool-tipped caves will hold nearby lava pools or a depth of 20 or lower in walking distance. Of course, if a tunnel is to feature more than one of these characteristics, I just stack the blocks on top of each other.
Also, apart form stew, bread makes for a convenient food. You need 3 wheat to make one bread. Carrying 63 wheat (and a workbench for making them) allows for convenient access to 21 loaves of bread, all in one block of inventory space.
Really, what I take with me really depends on how far into the game I am and what I'm planning to do on that trip.
Wherever I'm going (if I'm not on peaceful), I have at least a stone sword, iron or diamond if I have it) and some food and my portable crafting table and a bed. Regardless of setting, I always have an iron pickaxe and at least a 1/2 stack of dirt and a 1/2 stack of gravel (or sand if I'm shy on gravel) in case I fall in a deep shaft. My reasoning is that both blocks don't require a pickaxe to remove and one is not affected by gravity and the other is so I can use them in different ways.
If I'm planning a mining trip, I try to start out with about 4 pickaxes (iron if I have it, at least stone if I don't). I definitely bring wood and a full stack of torches and a bucket of water. Coal and cobble are usually acquired pretty easily on a mining trip, so I don't usually bring either of those along. If my inventory starts to really fill up, I'll most likely end the foray there and head for home. I don't tend to bother with field chests, since the look ultimately has to be carried home anyway.
If I'm building, I'll also bring along whatever number of building materials I think I need already made up (e.g. brick blocks) and whatever tools I need (e.g. shovel) and a chest in that case to store the bulding materials onsite until the project is done.
In caves, plant your torches in a consistent way that uniquely identifies the way home (it doesn't matter which method you use, just try to be consistent with it). Putting your torches on the left-hand wall works well until you get into a part of a cave where several sub-caves converge. Then, I'll additionally mark a path back into the cave that is the way out by putting torches in the form of an arrow on the floor clearly pointing back towards the way out. Caves are notorious for doubling back on themselves, so using this method, I can identify the right tunnel even after lighting up several of them. I find it prevents a lot of going around in circles.
I like using redstone torches on the floor of the main tunnel system. When I enter a break in tunnels, I place down a small cluster of redstone torches in the middle, followed by an extended torch placed in the direction of the tunnel getting out. This signifies that there are several ways to enter, but also marks down where you must enter to leave.
When I go exploring I always bring 1 bucket filled with water, 1 stack of dirt to cover lava, 2 Iron pickaxes, 2 iron shovels, 1 Iron sword, 6 porkchops(or more), 2 stacks of torches, Iron armor, 2 stacks of leaf blocks so you can get out of certain parts of the cave, crafting bench,and sticks for tools and torches.
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I started doing this, too, but after a while the various marked caves can get a little confusing. I like to make the top of the block pillar something distinctive, like wool or sand. Personally, I make white wool-tipped pillars wide but shallow caves. Green wool-tipped caves hold a monster spawning room in close walking distance. Red wool-tipped caves will hold nearby lava pools or a depth of 20 or lower in walking distance. Of course, if a tunnel is to feature more than one of these characteristics, I just stack the blocks on top of each other.
Also, apart form stew, bread makes for a convenient food. You need 3 wheat to make one bread. Carrying 63 wheat (and a workbench for making them) allows for convenient access to 21 loaves of bread, all in one block of inventory space.
Wherever I'm going (if I'm not on peaceful), I have at least a stone sword, iron or diamond if I have it) and some food and my portable crafting table and a bed. Regardless of setting, I always have an iron pickaxe and at least a 1/2 stack of dirt and a 1/2 stack of gravel (or sand if I'm shy on gravel) in case I fall in a deep shaft. My reasoning is that both blocks don't require a pickaxe to remove and one is not affected by gravity and the other is so I can use them in different ways.
If I'm planning a mining trip, I try to start out with about 4 pickaxes (iron if I have it, at least stone if I don't). I definitely bring wood and a full stack of torches and a bucket of water. Coal and cobble are usually acquired pretty easily on a mining trip, so I don't usually bring either of those along. If my inventory starts to really fill up, I'll most likely end the foray there and head for home. I don't tend to bother with field chests, since the look ultimately has to be carried home anyway.
If I'm building, I'll also bring along whatever number of building materials I think I need already made up (e.g. brick blocks) and whatever tools I need (e.g. shovel) and a chest in that case to store the bulding materials onsite until the project is done.
I like using redstone torches on the floor of the main tunnel system. When I enter a break in tunnels, I place down a small cluster of redstone torches in the middle, followed by an extended torch placed in the direction of the tunnel getting out. This signifies that there are several ways to enter, but also marks down where you must enter to leave.