geocacheniagara

Whether caches are themed or not, we like to leave themed swag. If it's in the woods it is mosquito wipes, if it's in a muddy area we will leave mini hand sanitizers, if it is near thorns and raspberry bushes we leave neon bandaids, if hiking is invloved we leave survival kits that come with flint/compass, if near water we leave water toys, floatable containers for keys etc. Railroad tracks, it's a train whistle, blike paths we leave tire repair kits. It keeps the caching fun for the kids as they love choosing what to leave as much as what to take. Other items we have left: Key chain compasses Dice (mini dice are great for micros) Glo sticks/cubes/jewellery Kids jacks games or string games for jumping Survivor whistles Stuffed animals/dinosaurs/trucks Girls costume jewellery/hair accessories All of our swag comes from the dollar store and most everything we leave behind is in it's own package. The key is to think of what you would like to find or what your kids would like to find. I have seen them disappointed many times when I have them hyped that the next cache is a large container only to open it up and find broken/well used swag. Keeping it themed keeps it fun and makes dollar store shopping a whole new experience!

Hmmm, both! I bought a Garmin Nuvi 660 because I am terrified of driving highways so I can use it to get where I want to go and avoid them. Then I found out about geocaching while searching info about my garmin a few months later. That very day I read the post about which one to buy, went to Canadian Tire to pick up a Magellan Explorist 400 and found my first cache that day after my kids came home. Little did I know I could enter coordinates in my Nuvi although I find the combination of the two work great. It's been exactly one month today and only 27 finds but doing my best to get out as often as I can!

Tweezers, outstanding idea! This is one of the things my bag needs, THANKS! All make a list with all these ideas and post it after a while... just for us Geocachers that want to pack light. I am sure there are a lot more things I could include, but my aim/want was to keep it lightweight, tweezers are just the ticket. Another great use......removing ticks! I noticed one on my son's neck at a soccer game 3 hrs after we returned home. I pulled and pulled to get it off not realizing till I spoke with the Dr. that tweezers is the ONLY way to remove them properly. (Side note: contrary to belief that you should burn/suffocate them you run a higher risk of lime disease as they are likely to regurgitate their stomach contants onto your skin and infect you) Just a tip.

.....you've spent an hour reading this entire thread and wished there was just one more page!

I've only been a member for a few days and have searched for these answers to no avail. So, if these features don't exist perhaps they may in the future? 1) Saved location preferences. Eg. Each time I log in I have to re-enter my country and postal code to bring up local caches. Any way to have these saved and automatically load when you sign in? Ok, I'm lazy 2) A central place to visit where you can view each cache found and messages sent. I assume that exists somewhere here but I have yet to find where. 3) I'm a premium member but do not understand queries etc that come with premium membership. Perhaps a step by step guide for newbies? Ok, I'm sure this exists as well, but where? Yes, I paid for something and have no idea what I paid for. I apologize for my ignorance if these are covered elsewhere.

I too did my first cache hunt last night with my kids. I had only purchased my Magellan Explorist 400 and hour prior and had no idea how to use it. Familiar with the area I just turned it on, parked and kept walking till the coordinates matched. We had so much fun but I am sure there is a simpler way. 6 hours of reading manuals and forum searching later, I'm still confused. Premium membership, geobuddy download, mapsend installed......but I still have no idea what I'm doing. So today, we're off again without a clue but alot of determination! Congrats on the find, I really do think this will be an addicting hobby but so worth it for quality family time!