Where to Find a Shovel in Sons of the Forest

If you’ve been busy playing through Sons of the Forest you may have noticed certain spots on the ground that display a shovel icon and thought, ‘Oh, maybe there’s a shovel nearby I can use.’ Well, it’s actually rather challenging to find the ol’ trusty shovel, as it’s hidden away deep in a cave with a lot of enemies in your path.

Here’s How You Can Find a Shovel in Sons of the Forest

Before setting out on your shovel-finding adventure, you’ll need to make sure you are as stocked up and prepared as you can be, no matter your point in the game. I’m talking about food, meds, weapons, and explosives because you’ll have a lot to do. You’ll also need to acquire a few other key items from around the island to be able to successfully navigate the shovel cave. A rebreather is needed to get through the bodies of water without drowning and a zipline gun to get across gaps.

First off, the rebreather is located in a cave near a beach in the far north of the island, which you can get an idea of in the image below. Meanwhile, you can find the zipline gun in a cave to the south west of the shovel’s location. A full guide to getting the zipline gun is available here. It’s a lot of cave exploration I know, but you’ll end up with a bunch of valuable tools to use afterwards.

The location of the rebreather in Sons of the Forest.

Once you’ve gathered the rebreather and the zipline gun from their respective caves, it’s time to move on to the more challenging part: the shovel cave. Make your way to the shovel cave entrance indicated in the image at the top of the page. You’ll know you’ve found the right spot when you see a small body of water with three bodies sticking out. It’s pretty dark inside, so make sure you have a light source like a torch at the ready before heading in.

The cave itself is very linear. There is really only one path to follow, though there will be a fair few enemies you’ll need to fight your way through, so make sure you’re prepared. I found explosives to be particularly useful, but guns and your favorite bashing weapons should work. As you make your way through the cave, your first major obstacle will be a large hole in the ground. If you look up with your torch, you’ll spot a zipline and you’ll want to go ahead and use that.

Not far past the zipline, you’ll come across another small body of water. This is where the rebreather will come into play. Use that to dive into the water and swim through the passage. Afterwards, proceed down the tunnel until you come across a slope with some water running down it. You can slide down that to continue deeper. 

A bit further in, you’ll come across an opening with a purple glow lighting the area. You’ll see the exterior of an underground research facility. Propped up against a boulder just in front of it will be a dead worker in high visibility gear and a hard hat holding the precious shovel. Before you collect the shovel, make sure you’re ready for a fight. Once prepared, grab the shovel and start to make your way back the way you came.

You won’t make it far before a wall will burst open and a big creature will emerge from it and come at you. You’ll find hand grenades nearby that you can pick up and use to make short work the creature. Once it’s nothing but a smudge on the floor, the way out will be through the hole in the wall the creature created when it attacked.

Now you know how to obtain a shiny new shovel in Sons of the Forest. It’s quite the adventure, but it’ll be worth it now that you can go around digging up spots that were previously taunting you when you were shoveless! Another item that’s a great novelty is the hang glider; it can also be tricky to track down, but our guide makes it easy.