TheTodds

Edge GPS (just google it) is from whom I bought my eTrex Legend C from on eBay. Their prices are better than fair online as well, super friendly and helpful service, great product - very happy with the refurbished model we have! Happy shopping!

Honestly, what's wrong with the NPS? I've walked this path before with my husband who spent many a weekend there as a child growing up near to D.C.. Unfortunately his most favorite trail, the Billygoat trail is closed but there's so much else there to enjoy. Doesn't the NPS realize the extra people some well-placed caches would bring to the park? Does anyone have a response from the NPS saying exactly why they don't want caches across the board? Can't wait to get back to my home state and town and do some caching, enjoy those DC/Baltimore/MD caches for me!

Targets in the Rochester area have a variety of shapes and sizes of the Lock-n-Lock containers. Also, if you have a Super JoAnn Fabrics, I know they have some interesting and study storage options (I work there) that you might want to check out. I was stocking the notions/storage/organizer department today and while straightening up I picked up some containers and thought to myself that they might make a nice cache container. I'm sure you can get them online on Amazon or something too. Just google it.

Think like the hider - if you were going to hide a ____________ (insert type of cache container/relative size here), where would you hide it? I find if you're tracking through the woods and the cache has been found within the last few days, take a close look at the paths, do you see footprints/broken branches/trampled vegetation/any tell-tale signs of people having been through? Also look for things that look out of place, purposefully arranged or "fake". I've only found a few caches thus far in places like in the hollowed-out trunk of a tree, magnet boxes stuck to the bottom of bridges and benches, in a hole in a big boulder and wedged between bolts on an old railroad bridge. I have the capacity to be a detail-oriented, observant person and the fun thing about this sport is that until I was actively looking for some of the caches that I pass several times a week right under my nose, I never knew they were there. Just be careful for your sake and for the environment before you go turning over logs, rocks or other coverings - just examine it before you go messing with it to make sure you aren't going to get any surprises OTHER than a cache. Rest assured that once you are able to start finding some caches you'll get a better sense of WHAT,HOW and WHERE things are hidden among the local geocaching community.

Nahhh, not at all. Try SCUBA diving . . . $70-140 - Mask and Snorkel $100-800 - Wet Suit $40-100 - Fins $200-900 - Boyancy Compensator $450-900 - Tank and Regulator $50-100 - Weight Belt $60-200Gear Bag $370-1250 - Guages, Dive Computer, Knife, Light Of course, there's classes to get started and trips to someplace warm, like Cancun, etc. etc. Or try hunting, fishing, Geocaching is pretty inexpensive! JohnTee Agreed John, Oh-so expensive! But so very enjoyable! Wave HI to the fishies for us!

Awesome! Going on a cruise and caching! Sounds like so much fun, enjoy yourselves! My husband and I honeymooned about a month ago on the Caribbean Princess before we got into geocaching and I'm almost certain we missed out on some awesome ones in some of the more touristy places. Happy Caching!

Way to really give yourself a challenge! I don't know if I could walk through my own apartment in the dark without injuring myself let alone go out somewhere else in the dark to look for who-knows-what. As we continue to cache, I think it helps to take note of how and where things are hidden. I've walked up to a few caches lately and thought to myself, if I were a little black/green plastic container, where would I hide myself?

I've only had one DNF out of my four total finds (whooaaa!). I attribute not finding it to being new to geocaching, heavy tree canopy to screw with my GPSr signal, looking toooooo hard and a really well-hidden cache. My husband and I stomped around in the woods for an hour and a half combing a 50' radius of where the GPS said GZ was but we gave up to go find some other caches in the area. We went back later this week having scoured the logs and emailed back and forth with the owner and they assured me it was there (it hadn't been found in about 2 months) and all the while it was right under our noses. It's a challenge. Happy Caching, Steph

I disagree that those who are poor choose to be poor, at least not all the time. If you haven't noticed there's a social and societal debt being racked up by the minute thanks to a variety of institutions - education being the one I'm heavily involved in. The American dream doesn't look the same to everyone who's here - illegal or legal. There's my political/social rant for today. Really it's much shorter than I would want it to be but really the picture is bigger than our narrow little minds can comprehend. Libraries are for everyone, schools are for everyone. Feel free to come and learn, better yourself however you can. Having just left the life-stage of copious amounts of disposable income and having come crashing into the post-graduate adult world of balancing work, graduate work, expenses and student loans in money and time measures I can see how so many people get caught up to their eyeballs in credit card debt and have to go cushion diving to pay their rent. Not that anything excuses them from their mismanagement of their money - oh no, certainly not. I don't know how to sum it up into advice other than to just learn to be an informed consumer. You have a right to know, to ask all the questions that you want and to be curious when it comes to your every earned penny. Knowledge is power.

Haha, apparently I am sure Briansnat if I posted my response four times! Opps, if you can delete the three extras, I'd be thankful. I can see where it would get frustrating to no know if you are looking for a needle in a haystack or an elephant in the room but I guess maybe in my limited experience something has always elluded to the size of the container in the details page. Being as sneak-ily specific as possible is nice I guess.

I'm new-ish too and my husband and I have a Garmin eTrex Legend C - nice little GPSr that gets the job done and it's easy to use. We bought it on eBay from Edge GPS Inc. (they also have a website if you don't want to bid, but bids will get it cheaper for you), they have awesome customer service, quick accepting payment, great shipping and it's small business. The one we have is a refurbished unit but on a limited budget, I'm perfectly happy! Happy Caching! S

Hey Star, do you know if one of those other mapping programs other than the Garmin software will work with Legend C? I don't really want to dump more money into the more detailed mapping software if I can get it for free/cheap. Thanks! S

I don't care what size it is, I want to find it! The ones big enough for trade items are always fun because you just never know what will be in there but the micros are cool because they can be hidden anywhere, you and the hider's little secret (insert quiet snicker to self here). I do have one suggestion though, be careful if you hide anything big or small that the bees aren't going to want to turn it into a cornerstone for a hive/nest. We've come across two of our measley four found that it looked like the bees might have tried or were trying to do that.

I don't care what size it is, I want to find it! The ones big enough for trade items are always fun because you just never know what will be in there but the micros are cool because they can be hidden anywhere, you and the hider's little secret (insert quiet snicker to self here). I do have one suggestion though, be careful if you hide anything big or small that the bees aren't going to want to turn it into a cornerstone for a hive/nest. We've come across two of our measley four found that it looked like the bees might have tried or were trying to do that.

I don't care what size it is, I want to find it! The ones big enough for trade items are always fun because you just never know what will be in there but the micros are cool because they can be hidden anywhere, you and the hider's little secret (insert quiet snicker to self here). I do have one suggestion though, be careful if you hide anything big or small that the bees aren't going to want to turn it into a cornerstone for a hive/nest. We've come across two of our measley four found that it looked like the bees might have tried or were trying to do that.

I don't care what size it is, I want to find it! The ones big enough for trade items are always fun because you just never know what will be in there but the micros are cool because they can be hidden anywhere, you and the hider's little secret (insert quiet snicker to self here). I do have one suggestion though, be careful if you hide anything big or small that the bees aren't going to want to turn it into a cornerstone for a hive/nest. We've come across two of our measley four found that it looked like the bees might have tried or were trying to do that.

I've got a Legend C (not with expandable memory) and it has been wonderful thusfar. Waypoints are easy to download with a USB cable but I do have XP so that might be the one thing that stands in the way. Serial port... hmm... I think you can buy an adapter for the serial port to make it into a USB, would that help the situation. Entering waypoints manually is actually pretty easy if you want to keep what you've got. I'm sure if you want to get rid of it you can post it on the GPS Garage Sale Forum for another cacher to pick up. If you are looking to buy another one, Edge GPS Inc. on eBay always has numerous models for sale. I got my Legend C for $130 and the Cx's were selling for about 160 or so, and they are rated very highly. They offer excellent service on auctions or you can search and go directly to their webpage. Just throwing it out there. Continue caching!

I'm happy to hear that a good number of officers were forgiving and understanding to the odd-looking hobby of geocaching to the muggles. I used to live next to a needlessly nosy and arrogant cop who was nothing but a rotten, steamy pile of you-know-what and harassing the h*ll out of some cachers (this is the mental image that came to mind when I read the title of this forum). Honesty is the best policy. I gotta get me some of those brochures, thanks for the links!

My husband and I found our first cache without a GPSr just fine using the link to the Google Map on the cache details page. I can see where this would get you places if you know the area well enough to orient yourself and go poking around. There's no way we could have found some of them without the use of our new GPS. If you're looking to purchase one, there are plenty for cheap out there that will get the job done, so I'm told or you can go to eBay and buy one from Edge GPS Inc. they're super nice, got a good deal ($150 less than Amazon and MSRP), and they ship really quick. Geocaching has given my husband and I the great opportunity to seek and find some wonderful places in the Rochester area that we never would have known were there otherwise (we've been here for about a year). Happy caching however you do it! Steph

Just to report back, I've got the GPSr now from winning the auction on eBay. If you're looking to buy on eBay check out the Edge GPS Inc. Store, they are super helpful through email and over the phone and they ship the second your payment is in. Anyhow, my husband and I got some time this weekend to go out caching, the thing works great, mostly easy to use once you play around with it for a while - or read the manual (what kind of a self-proclaimed adventurer does THAT! ;o) I'm happy with it and the price was right. Unfortunately it doesn't come with a detailed basemap but for geocaching purposes this works fine and held up well under heavy tree canopy cover. Thanks for all the responses!

I just purchased a Garmin eTrex Legend C for $130 from EdgeGPS or something like that on eBay, they were really quick about getting back to me through email as I recently changed to my married name and address on my eBay account. Their prices are good on the website if you don't want to go the eBay route and they ship immediately. I've been pleased with their service thusfar. Happy shopping! Steph

I know how you feel Ben. I'm a newbie too and a language person so I really get hung up on trying to figure out what's being said. So, what I've learned so far: TFTC - Thanks For the Cache, also sometimes TFTF - Thanks for the Find TN - Took Nothing LN - Left Nothing SL - Signed Log; sometimes may appear as TNLNSL TB's are Trail bugs, read up on them in the forums or on the main page GC - Geo Coins, also do your homework on the main page for how to log them and stuff like TBs Muggles - non-caching folk; while I'd be inclined to stop the gawking child and tell them about what I'm doing stomping around in the forest (or where ever I might be), you have to share this interesting and fun activity with great discretion as to not endanger the life of the cache GZ - ground zero, matching your coords to those listed in the cache details FTF - first to find (a cache)

The first cache I found was a very tiny ammo box and it had a couple cards in it, the ones that weren't laminated where gooey and mushy and the laminated ones were fine. They will goo! We haven't had rain in Rochester until this past weekend so condensation will goo and gook your cards. PSA - laminate or don't make trash that could end up on the ground unless you know the cache is impervious to moisture.

Wow, all of these sound really nice. I linked to this website not too long ago and I can't wait to get more involved (I was just reading the starting over again, what would people do differently for some beginner advice) and get out there and discover more about my new home. I was talking to my husband and we both agree that this would be a fun thing to do with our friends when we visit them/they visit us since we both live in college towns (in different states) and there's lots of caches to be found no matter where we are. I've always been interested in local history and those silly little "did you know" facts about places, this is like the best kept secret when you drive by a place where a cache is (I live in a suburban area) and think to yourself how many people drive by there and don't know but more interestingly how many people drive past and have stopped at some point to log a visit. What a wonderful sport, hope to meet lots of muggles (and make them into cachers) and cachers while out there on the hunt!