CairoCarol

I just replaced my trusy Magellan with a Garmin, so now I'll have to relearn my way around the GPS unit. I'm going to cache on Oahu but there are over 400 caches there, which seems like an awful lot to have clogging up my database of coordinates. I don't want to be scrolling through a zillion entries to find one particular one. How do veteran Garmin users cope? There must be good techniques for sorting coordinates so that you can quickly zero in on a particular one -- what works best for you?

Yes No Yes Yes ...But if I couldn't find the cache because of my own fears or physical limitations, I'd still be glad it was there for people with more physical confidence to go for it.

Most of those clues are lame or insulting, but how about an "extra" clue that you actually NEED to find the cache? Virtuous person that I am, I set out in an Egyptian canyon (or wadi, as we call them) to find a cache, without the additional hint. I got within a few feet of the cache, and my GPS was pointing straight down a steep cliff. Not having the time to redo my hike, I just went home and logged a DNF. Examing the GPS data later, I discovered that when I was within a few feet of the cache I was at a height of 800 feet. The additional clue said that the find was at 200 feet. Since I had spent the last 3 hours choosing which way to go through the canyon based on whether the incline was too steep to be safe or not, I was not pleased to realize I should have also been factoring in my altitude when making my choices. (I had falsely assumed that the cache was in a plateau where, if you got near it, by definition you'd be at the right altitude, so all I had to do was pick the safest route to the right coordinates.) Seems to me this "additional hint" should have been part of the unencryped info.

I'm enjoying this thread because of something I experienced last year. Over the course of a few weeks caching and posting my own logs on the website, I noticed what seemed like a suspiciously high number of finds in the area by one person, who never gave any details. This was all on Hawaii's Big Island, and most of the caches are in unbelievably beautiful spots. Most people post logs that say "wow, fabulous place" and give rapturous details about the scenery, weather, etc. But this one mainland cacher would just say "found it" without so much as "TNLN" or mention that hey, the spot was pretty incredible. I got rather suspicious, so I started to look for his log entries in the actual physical caches. And guess what...THEY WERE THERE. Obviously this cacher does not like to write, but he can cache. That's cool, we can't all be annoyingly verbose like I am. But it just goes to show, a physical entry in the cache's log book is the acid test of did you/did you not find the cache.

Last year while we were looking for a cache, my 6-year-old son knocked over a plastic container of human waste which was right at the cache site. (There were campers nearby...since this campsite had flush toilets, I can't explain why they felt it necessary to do both numbers in a plastic jug). Eww. Pee-UUUUU. We rinsed off in the ocean, but the smell was quite clingy. Sadly, the drive home was nearly two hours. We did it with the windows down. His shoes went into the trash, everything else went straight into the laundry. Definitely my grossest experience in a long time.

We apologize if this has been asked and answered before. We have a Sportrack Pro and Mapsend Topo. We find that our waypoints/tracks follow the internal maps well but are about a quarter mile southeast of where they should be on the Mapsend Topo maps either in Sportrack or on the computer. (This is a particular problem in Hawaii where we find ourselves driving in the ocean!) Any suggestions on what is going on? Thanks. Tim and Carol

Okay, I agree...no hostility, just commentary! But my point wasn't really that people should or should not engage in dangerous activities, or even that they should or should not take precautions if they do (it's up to individuals whether they take precautions or not, although if failure to do so results in a large expenditure for a rescue effort, then by all means I think the city/county/whatever should send 'em the bill). My point, which I didn't really clarify well because I was trying to be brief, was that the geocaching community should be responsible enough to acknowledge and share information about risk, particularly when it isn't obvious. If a cache is half way up a cliff face, and it doesn't occur to me that this could be dangerous...well...can you say "Darwin Award"? However, if I'm going to encourage someone to geocache in Egypt, and I know there are landmines in certain areas, I feel a responsibility to note this, because there is no way for people to know the landmines are potentially there (Egypt doesn't mark the areas well, and signs that used to be up are now often down, even though areas have not been swept for mines - plus, the landmines drift over the years so people aren't even really sure where all of them are). That's all. I'll shut up now, no matter what responses come in. Happy geocaching to all, whatever level of risk and precaution you choose for yourself.

Whoa, this is getting a little scary, if the undercurrent of hostility I detect in the two responses is not a figment of my imagination. If you read my note carefully, you'll see that I indicated support for people placing and finding caches that are "challenging." I simply believe we have a responsibility not to draw others into risks they know nothing about. (As previously mentioned in this thread, good cache descriptions can address this.) In my case, that means that, if I'm going to encourage people to geocache in Egypt, I need to mention that there are landmines in certain areas so they can decide to stay out, get more specific information, or take the risk. Or does anyone honestly believe that it would be more ethical to leave that information out?

I'm inclined to agree with the position that there can be a whole range of cache opportunities out there, including ones that some might feel are dangerous, others merely "challenging"...and if it seems like too much for you, back off (as I would, being pretty much a wimp myself). On the other hand, real danger is possible and the geocaching community - especially internationally, where risks may be higher and rescues/good medical care more difficult to come by - needs to behave accordingly. What's she babbling about, you ask? Well, as it happens, I am in the middle of writing an article on geocaching for a travel magazine here in Egypt, in hopes of increasing local participation in the sport. By chance, I attended a lecture on land mines and discovered that there are as many as 25 million mines, mostly left over from WW1, drifting under the shifting sands in this country (for various reasons I'll skip here, it's a pretty well-kept secret). People can and do get blown up, but the deaths are not widely publicized. I can't even imagine how wretched I'd feel if some adventurous geocachers inspired to take up the sport by my article managed to get themselves blown up in the Sinai desert. So, a safety sidebar is definitely in order, telling people which areas (Sinai and Northern Desert) to avoid.

Thanks for the quick response from GeckoGeek! Actually, I now feel a little stupid for rushing in with that question before checking manufacturer's web sites - after I posted the note, with no trouble at all I found a Magellan dealer in Alexandria and a Garmin dealer in Cairo. Whether or not they actually sell hand-held units is another matter, but I will have one of my Arabic-speaking friends call them up. Thanks again!

The travel magazine I write for here in Egypt is potentially interested in an article on geocaching, but the problem is that it seems you cannot buy a GPS in Egypt. Does anyone have any ideas where to get one that isn't TOO far away (the magazine's target market is mid to upper class Egyptians, so they can afford some travel). Maybe in Dubai, especially at one of their big fairs? (I'm going to write to manufacturers, too.) Thanks if anyone has any ideas.

A question for you globetrotters or Europeans: we have no snow in Cairo, Egypt, and according to my husband it is time to introduce our 5 year old son to the concept. Bah humbug...unless I can geocache. Anybody have suggestions for where in Europe we could go at Christmastime that (1) would be guaranteed to have snow; and (2) would allow a little winter geocaching (nothing too tough, please; I am no fan of cold weather and gave up downhill skiing as soon as I turned 18 and escaped from my mother's sadistic insistance that I needed to ski to be well-rounded.) If I'm posing a totally unrealistic question, tell me so. Do geocachers hibernate in winter? Thanks.