jwe4i

Welcome to geocaching. 1) be careful on this one, today’s society is crazy. You should really get to know someone well before going off somewhere in the woods with them. If the caches are near, just bike or hike to them, exercise will not kill you or shouldn’t. 2) not sure on this one. Sorry. 3) I use a memo pad. I jot down the info on caches. Once I find them, I cross it off, log them at home, and fold the page over. 4) I carry a gps, cell phone, pocket knife, water, memo pad with caches jotted down in it, and a pen. If going in the bush I will add a hiking stick, light, first aid kit, extra water, and something to make fire. You mentioned being in a mountainous area, I would suggest a poncho, food, and long sleeves just in case you have an unplanned stay overnight somewhere. 5) find a cache online in your area. Read the logs for that cache, at the beginning there will be a name of someone who published the cache. This is a reviewer; email them the cords of where you want to place the cache. If there is a problem they will let you know and then place it and fill out the form online. 6) Wal-Mart sells knock-off mechanics gloves. They have leather palms and a breathable backing is used the in Iraq and while caching in thorny areas. They are around 9 bucks, hiking sticks they also have for around 9 bucks. They sell some hydropacks to, not sure of the price on them. If you have an army-navy store near, they sell canteens these are great…they may even have some cheap trek poles?? Shoes, wear what is comfortable to you boots, tennis shoes, whatever…hope this helps you some.

the wife and kids only come along on the easy ones...the park and dash type caches...the ones that are off the beaten patch i leg out on my own. i'd say about 70% of my finds are alone. you just have to be aware of your surrouondings whn alone, in the bush or otherwise. i've only encountered 3 snakes, one who died for being agressive and then just rabbits, birds, lizards, and muggles.

i enjoy the hunt, being outdoors, the peace and quite, the satisfaction of finding the hide, and the game going on right in front of people without them knowing!!!!

adam & vtm...thanks will try next time i decide to place a cache....its not that big a deal though

like i said, i don't see on my gps where it tells me how far one cache is from another. its not that big of a deal, i was just stating some seem well within the 528 ft guideline, maybe they aren't. to me when you can see from one cache to another, it just makes it kinda like wow...but in the end who cares!!!???

i don't agree with you on the power hungry statement however, i do feel kinda frustrated sometimes when i try to place a cache. i use a magellan explorist 100 gps, real simple. i have yet to find on the gps where it gives me a distance between caches and before i place one i check the 'map it' for my zip code. then i go caching and i find caches definetley within the 528 ft guideline. what really gets me is when a new one gets approved near one of my caches and you can throw a rock from one to the other!! oh well life is too short to worry about it so i just continue on!

i have a little memo pad were i write the info and then go look for it. i try to keep it simple.

so far just a few run-ins with rattlesnakes. actually i dislike all snakes, didn't mean to single any one kind out. i just give them a wide area unless they get aggressive in which they end up dead. man i dislike snakes!

to me what matters is that i find the hide! who cares who was first to a particular hide.

congrats....now your bitten by the geobug!

kind of sounds like me when i started...hang in there. when looking, look for the most obvious place or the place thats kind of out of place and usually you'll find it. each area seems to have its signature hide type and as for others find it quicker, don't worry its not a race, you will 'speed up' with expierence. happy hunting.

i opted for the one that renews monthly. its really up to you. it is worth it to get though, it opens the doors to more caches and search tools. happy hunting, stay safe...hooyah!

i'm 35..

i agree, i have 2 pda's and don't use either, paper is just easier...plus nothing gets broke!

usually my 2001 nissan frontier, sometimes my 2007 suzuki drz400s, and then there "AT" that god gave me when I need to go into the field. AT stands for alternate transportation, lol.

my wife caches from time to time. she seems not as into it as i am, but she doesn't seem to mind when i go without her.

i use the Magellan explorist 100. it very easy to use and figure out. it cost 99 dollars at walmart and has been perfect thusfar for my needs.

its all kind of up to you. i think somewhere i read the prize should be $10 or less. people leave all kinds of stuff in caches. i've left foriegn coins, military patches, wristband compass, cyalume lights, money, military stickers, stuff like that. I've seen all kinds of stickers, play dough, costume jewelry, mardi gras beads, alot of those toys and bouncy balls from the kid machines at like walmart and the grocery store, hot wheels, travel bugs of various types, etc.... i've even seen screw drivers, flash lights, ponchos, sun screen, and bug screen wipes and stuff like that...

hmm...sounds frustrating. i'm not sure what kind of gps you have but mine has 4 different navigation screens. what i do is enter the coordinates for the cache...i use the map nav screen to nav with the direction of the arrow. then when i get "on top of it" i switch to the nav screen that has the actual coordinates and move around until i match the numbers up, once i'm dead on, i start looking for the actual hide and then take care of the paperwork. keep in mind, the gps's sometimes seem to "bounce" around and frustrate you. if the detail on the web say stay on the trail, stay on the trail! hope this helps, good luck....hooyah!

took nothing, left nothing, signed log...thanks for the cache

its up to you, i almost always just put tftc..tnsl...on my cache logs menaing....thanks for the caches...took nothing signed log...

if you go to the main page, on the left there is a 'hide and seek a cache' selection, select this and then on the right side there is a '132 logs' link next to micro cache, i print these and use it for my logs or you can just buy a few notepads from walmart for .25 cents and place them in a ziploc bag and you'll be fine

some people take them and it takes them a while or never to log them....i have expierenced this too...i don't usually take them personally but my kids to...but if i do take one i move it along as quick as i can.

the lock in lock container is a tupperware type container that has a plastic tab that locks down on each side...as far as the datum (coordinates), on your gps unit under menu there should be a map units tab, then a preferences tab, select this and scroll through the different selections, one of them should be map datum. here you can change between the different types of datum.

congrats! pretty fun huh?