n0wae

TotemLake makes a very good point. When the situation dictates always have the backup skills and equipment to safely navigate. No big deal in the city but if hiking in the deep woods or on a tall mountain make sure you can get out. I'm a big Elk hunter and always carry backup navigation equipment, food, water, etc. etc. I've actually needed those skills just last year when my GPS batteries ran out un-expectingly. Topo maps and compass will always have a place and use.

A map base GPS is the way to go. Get at least 8 meg so you can upload detailed maps like Garmin's MapSource for most of your state. (The map base that comes with the GPS is rather crude). When driving through a large city like Denver Colorado you don't want to be fumbling around with paper maps and bothered with finding street names in heavy traffic. It's so much easier to guide your car to the proper place using the GPS. You don't care what the street names are and if you miss a turn it's not a problem... You just re-direct your 'Pac-man' down a different street to get to your goal.

Welcome to Geocaching! Good luck tomorrow on your hunt... may the Sats be with you!

I have hundreds of dollars invested in 7.5 Topo maps of Colorado. There was a time long before map base GPS and laptop navigation software that paper was the way to go. I used a drafting board to plot 4x4 roads from a list of way points saved every .1 mile. (Them were the days!) Today I use Fugawi moving map software in my laptop. It can display all the caches on three scales of USGS Topo maps or use Streets USA. All I have to do is drive an uncharted road and the software draws in the missing road. I still have a lot of notes and roads that I need to transfer from my paper maps to the newer technology. Map base and especially laptop navigation is sorta like air conditioning... once you experience it you're spoiled.

Looks like a good place to share to me. Speaking of sharing... I put a 20$ bill in one of my caches when I placed it. It was sorta a FTF gift in that I didn't expect an even trade. What happened was kinda cool. The first cacher took the $20 and left a $10. The next cacher took the $10 and left a $5.

UTM works great and especially so If your Topo map has UTM grids on it. You can also use Longitude/Latitude if you need and/or want to. Locate the Lon/Lat marks on your 7.5 minute Topo map (about every 6") and make two 6" templates one for Longitude and the other for Latitude. Line up your template and mark the template end marks so they line up with the Lon/Lat marks on your Topo map. With a metric ruler measure the distance between the two marks and divide by 15. This will be the interval of tick marks on your template which once made will allow you to quickly mark the borders of Your Topo map at 10 second intervals. Next label the tick marks on your map every 30 seconds. (28' , 28'30" , 29' for example) This method puts all the work up front in the comfort of your home. In the field you don't need any tools with your map. I used this method with the first GPS Garmin made over 10 years ago.

Congrats on the 100 milestone. Don't pay any attention to the anti number crowd. The way I look at it is that higher numbers usually means a cacher has enjoyed this wonderful addiction longer than me or perhaps is lucky enough to be able to devote more time to the sport. There are some 'number nuts' out there but most of us just love the sport and indulge in it whenever we can.

Thanks Jeremy for 'Workin' on it'! It's a great idea that will help people find caches like Night Only and 4x4 Caches. My 4x4 club wants me to show them what caching is all about. I'm sure they would be only interested in searching out the 4x4 caches at first. (Until they're hooked of course!) Keep up the good work!

A way to identify 4-wheel caches would be a nice addition to the site. What I've done for my 4-wheel caches is include "4x4" in the cache name. Hopefully that helps wheelers find my caches. My hardest 4x4 cache is GCG8E0.

WD40 does a good job and is safer than using gasoline. OBTW, use a hair drier on the label and it will come right off in one piece.

Wow, his response was off the wall and uncalled for. It's hard to figure what makes some people tick. Don't let it bother you...the problem is in his court not yours.

Sometimes I trade but for the most part I don't need or want a trade item. I do believe in leaving a cache in better shape then when I found it so will often sign the log "TNL x,y or z". Toys are for kids and I do enjoy watching my grandkids trading items in the cache when they are with me...Thats a good enough reason to leave a trade item in the caches I visit. Sometimes I'll even leave a surprise... A one or five dollar bill in a cheap box of cards or chalk. I get enjoyment thinking about the surprise on some young cachers face when they make the discovery!

Wow, what a pileup! Too many people throwing the first stone. I agree with Carleenp... lets be a little more patient with the new people. I'll admit I've put my foot in it a time or two when my emotions got ahead of my brain so I will regress here to some semblance of sanity and welcome Milo to the forums... "Welcome". Be patient Milo and with us too. Most of us (Like myself) can be short and grumpy at times but we are really a great group of people who enjoy Geocaching. My name isn't a secret by any means... it's my Amateur Radio call. If you go to QRZ.com or ARRL.com you can even find out my address! (No secrets here) Hope we meet you caching some day, Eric

I stopped using Paypal when I ran across this site. Way too many horror stories for me!

Yep, same problem here when I checked up on one of my caches. It had been moved out of its hiding place and placed under a tree. The last log entry was a group of muggles that found the cache. Luckily they played the game and put the cache back. I guess all we can do is keep asking cachers to be more careful and hope for the best.

Yes, Ive found a cache with a 6" dia spider attached to the outside of the ammo box and another with a real stuffed rattlesnake inside the ammo box! My night cache has a talking box inside that might give cachers a start when they find and move the ammo box.

Im a big elk hunter and have bought several Walmart type headlamps that use regular bulb and or LEDs. What I found is that these LED lights weren't bright enough and most had AAA batteries. What I am very happy with is an 4/8 selectable LED headlamp I bought from Cabela's. The brand name is 'Mountain Queen' and is not in all of their catalogs. It uses 4 AA batteries and when only running on 4 LEDs is twice as bright as the Walmart LED headlamps. All my hunting partners that have seen this headlamp in action have bought one.

I agree with briansnat that a long dull multi in a poop park would be tiresome...but if the stages were unique hides or showed me interesting sights than a long multi would be great. The 'Spin the Wheel' cache comes to mind as a very fun multi to do. Quality in a cache makes all the difference. Cachers like Tahosa, Jim Reeb and Sparrowpi come to mind that know how to make a multi a very entertaining and rewarding experience.

But why? He gets credit for the hide. Isn't that credit enough? Well that is a good point and perhaps one of the reasons I've never claimed any of my own caches. Bassoon Pilot makes a good point too. Perhaps it's not worth fussing over.

If a cacher placed his cache on top of Mt. Everest and claimed it as a find I think I might agree he earned the right to claim it. Seems like there should be exceptions to the rule under some circumstances.

Switchdoc, Just found this thread for the first time late last night. I guess you have a right to vent too. NJ Admin was kind enough to inform me on 8-25 that it wasn't you attacking Big_G (not Vader) That is the reason I sent you an apology via PM the same day. I still feel the same about the 'team find' issue but choose not to debate it now. What's more important is for cachers to get along and enjoy the sport. I was 100% sincere in my apology and hope we can do an event or cache together some day and laugh about the time we both blew a cork. - n0wae

Do you mean this or a mini logbook?

If you have the tracking number you have the power to grab the bug from anyone. Use your power wisely... Always wait at least a week before grabbing a bug. Cachers that are on vacation might not be able to log the bug into the cache until a later date. If you grab it the bug its millage won't be recorded into the cache that you found it. The grab feature is meant for use when the system fails so the bug can continue on its journey... Just don't be too quick on the trigger. Its also a handy feature for giving a bug to a friend if you don't have time to place it.

I put 20 dollar bills in two of my caches. On one of them a cacher traded way down witch is ok. (I like to spoil my cache visitors) The other $20 was taken and a $10 was left...another cacher took the $10 and left a $5. I thought that was cool!

Well I guess this cache would be my scariest cache. Twenty years ago I did a lot of this sort of thing but that was in my younger years. My mind still thinks I'm young but my body keeps on giving me reality checks. Been a while since I've backed off a cliff on a rope so I have to admit my knees were knocking doing this cache.