selias
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Posts posted by selias
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Sara's Duck Pond would be a good one in town to start with - Regular size
(Formerly) The Polaroid Project is another nice sized container.
Big D's Cache is at the Environmental Learning Center. Nice short walk for the kids. The grass might be a bit tall near the cache, but it's not that far off the trail.
I know there are a bunch of other caches - but those should get you started. Enjoy!
These are great, thanks! I'm picking up the kids from school today and they asked this morning if we could try another cache on the way home. Sounds like they're into it despite our sad initial outing.
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Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).
Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.
I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.
There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.
I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.
There are some awesom caches in that area of Colorado. I can send you some ideas later today if you want.
I'd love any ideas or insight you can provide.
You can email at sjelias at gmail.
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Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).
Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.
I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.
There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.
I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.
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It's been 11 years since I last 'cached in South Florida. Now I have two kids (7 and "almost 10") and live in Ft. Collins, Colorado. I'd forgotten all about caching until planning a trip to South Dakota that we will be taking in a couple weeks.
A lot has changed in 11 years, besides having kids and moving west! Not the least of which is that I don't have to have a GPS anymore now that I have an iPhone.
So it's a holiday weekend and I was excited about getting out to find a few local caches with the kiddos and, well, I was a disappointing 0 for 5 which left the kids wondering, "Is the old man nuts running around out here waving his iPhone around?"
Cache 1 was near a Walmart parking lot and, despite it having been found as recently as this morning, we looked around for a good 20 minutes and found nothing.
Cache 2, 3, and 4 were all in or around areas with a lot of tall grass. In Colorado at this time of year, you just don't go wandering into tall grass without boots and jeans.
Cache 5 was possibly attached to a guard rail along a very busy street and not very kid-friendly.
It also probably didn't help that 4 out of the 5 were micro caches. I guess I need to do a better job prepping and possible "pre-find" a couple of caches before our next outing so I can "guide" the kids in the right direction.
I'm not giving up!
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What do they mean by the speculation that the next iPhone will have "proper" GPS? I'm guessing that they mean GPS functionality that's accessible for user services, rather than just the rudimentary GPS capability that's built into cell phones for emergency locating. Is that a reasonable guess?
Patty
My guess is that they mean "actual" GPS instead of the cell-tower based "locate me" function that is currently on the iPhone. Some folks are improperly referring to that as "GPS" in the sense that many people believe that GPS = any service that tells you where you are.
I won't be upgrading my iPhone for a while, but I am interested to see where this goes as I can easily imagine an iPhone-optimized site where you could find a cache, add it to your GPS, read all the information, and navigate to it all from the iPhone when the mood hit you.
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Advanced and it will stay that way till they take it away from me which it looks like they're gonna do.
I keep it because it is unique.
Agreed!! I am proud of having worked my butt off to pass the 13 WPM test and quite enjoy the "prestige" of holding an Advanced class license... Although I won't protest too loudly if they decide to upgrade me to Extra
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Update...
Just got home last night from a VERY short trip to the Rockies - three days, three GREAT hikes! The weather held out until noon or 1:00 each day so we got in hikes of 2, 5, and 3 miles respectively. Three miles at altitude is a HECK of a lot different than 3 miles at sea level.........
Anyway - the pack worked out perfectly! Just the right size!! Thought I'd let you folks know who were kind enough to help out...
Apparently, my wife and I were the only ones on the mountain without trekking poles... need to look into those for next year :-)
I hope to have some pictures online soon!!
Have a great weekend!!
-- Scott
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Thanks for all the great advice...
Just wanted to follow-up... I carry a Gap backpack* to work some days (helps me to blend in with the students...) and as I mentioned I tended to wear it with the straps tightened down and the load all the way up at my neck. Well - this week, I loosened the shoulder straps to let the pack ride a little lower and WOW - what a big difference...
I always just used to throw on the pack and pull on the ends of the shoulder straps until I couldn't get the pack up any higher... I tried the above strategy (loosening the straps a bit - not tightening them) with my new daypack loaded up and loosely fastened the hipbelt. It was a much different feel than I have been used to before - it felt a little different at first, but MUCH more comfortable...
Thanks again for the help!!!!!
Anyone know if I will be slogging through snow when I get to the Rockies on Sunday??
-- Scott
* from what I gathered here, I have made the following generalizations:
A daypack may or may not have a hipbelt and is generally smaller than a backpack. May or may not have an internal or external frame.
A backpack has a hipbelt and tends to be the term used to refer to the pack used for an overnight hike. Probably has a frame of some variety.
So what do you call a backpack/daypack used for school?
Again - this whole area is new to me... I have a lot to learn about pack vernacular.......
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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Good luck, Criminal. I am sure we'll be hearing good news soon...
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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Darn humidity.
Lost five pounds of water weight.
Caching sure is fun!
or
Getting up early
To be the first to find it.
Someone beat me there.
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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OG -
Try again - I'd like to see the picture.....
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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Thanks for the replies - most confirmed what I already thought... BTW, the Colorado countdown is 5 days! After last week's weather, I'm not sure if I'll be hiking or snowshoeing the trails at Bear Lake...
-- Scott
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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quote:
Originally posted by Bull Moose:... sometimes you need to do math or read a historical marker to be successful.
You lead an interesting life, Mr. Moose...
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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OK - I'll try...
...you should never overestimate the importance of being well-maintained.
...the first few times you do it it's tough to find the correct spot.
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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quote:
Originally posted by Desert_Warrior:The most obvious is I now get about 3 days out of a battery. (As does Flatlander now!)
Yes I do! DW has a really creative, practical, and relatively economical solution that may be applicable to other HTs that can take a AA battery pack. Still haven't run down the batteries I put in there on Saturday.
Thanks, Mike!
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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Enterzone -
I'm interested in hearing more about your APRS setup - specifically how you use your D7 to beacon back to your truck....
What do I use?
I carry my Icom IC-T7H while caching. Usually tuned to a local UHF repeater and IRLP node. I have an IC-2720H in the car but I rarely do any crossbanding since I can't imagine a place in South Florida where I couldn't raise at least 2 or 3 repeaters with an HT. Nice to have the capability, though.......
-- Scott
"Nature uses as little as possible of anything." -- Johannes Kepler
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I would take exception to Mike's comments about Floridians, but - well - that would mean I'd have to disagree with him...
I'm a Fort Lauderdale native but I went to UCF for two years of college. Great place - I can imagine the cache opportunities in the state forests east of Orlando...
Good luck and have fun! I'm pretty new to this and find that fewer people stare than you might think... granted I'm in South Florida which is a few notches higher on the weirdness scale, but I find most people are too absorbed in whatever they're doing to really care much about what I'm up to. And that's just fine by me!!
-- Scott
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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Thanks!
Mike -
After looking more closely at your avatar, your pack is in the same relative position mine was in when I wore the hip (not waist - sorry!) belt loosely fastened right above my hip bones.
From the above posts, I think I had it right - it just felt weird (not uncomfortable, just different) after wearing school packs hunched all the way up to my shoulders and neck. The sternum strap is in an OK spot, but I have a pretty broad chest so I probably won't fasten it. I only use the one on my Camelback when I'm doing some serious trail riding...
Sorry about being such a complete bonehead about this - I figured the most comfortable way was the best - but since I'm not that familiar I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything that was completely dumb. Hence I bow to the better knowledge of those with the good fortune of getting out to hike more often than I.
Thanks!! Have a great week!!
-- Scott
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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Enough about what's IN your backpack...
OK - I admit it - I'm just a flatlander without a lot of experience in dayhiking away from civilization... In this thread I asked for opinions on a daypack for an upcoming trip. I have since ordered it and received the pack (awesome, by the way!) and had a follow-up question...
What is the appropriate position for a daypack on your back?
My experiences carrying a backpack are limited to cycling with a relatively small Camelback and wearing "school-type" backpacks. The new pack I just purchased has a waist belt which is new to me...
Now, when I wore a "school" backpack, I'd just wear it as high up on my back as I could by really tightening down the shoulder straps. When I do that with my new daypack, the waist belt sits just across the bottom of my rib cage (I'm 6'3"). It isn't particularly comfortable, and it just doesn't look right...
When I adjust the pack so that the waist belt is right above my waist (what a concept!) it feels OK but a bit awkward - as if it's about to slide off my backside... I will admit that this awkwardness could be due to the fact that I am not used to wearing it like this, but I was interested in finding out what is the "best" position for the pack.
Is this completely subjective or is there a right or wrong way?
Thanks in advance for helping a poor flatlander enjoy his vacation...
-- Scott
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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quote:
Originally posted by ApK:That's how repeaters on towers are legal even without a guy hanging from a rope 24/7.
Although that would certainly be interesting to see...
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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Thanks for the tip... Kind of like Lands' End and their "Guaranteed. Period." policy. Good customer service is hard to find these days.
I will probably visit their store sometime on my trip in 11 days (not that I'm counting) and will look into membership.
Again - thanks for the heads up!
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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Saw this on another thread a while ago and bookmarked it... Have never bought anything from them, but check out RAM in your research. Looks like they might be just the ticket...
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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Thanks, a182pilot! That's the first actual user report I've gotten on this pack. I know some others who posted earlier in the thread will be interested in this info as well.
I ordered mine last Thursday, so shipping USPS it should be here late this week or Monday.
I don't know what it is, but I have a serious backpack fetish myself - I never have enough. I need one for photography, then another for photography that isn't a backpack but a shoulder bag, one for work that holds my iBook, one for work when I don't bring my iBook, one for grad school... My wife thinks I'm nuts... She steers me away from the pack section in our local Outdoor World - it's like sensory overload...
Probably too much information, but thanks for the therapy session. Your post made me feel like I am not alone...
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
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quote:
Originally posted by Kouros:quote:
Originally posted by Flatlander22:Having said that, the one thing that caught my attention in this article is the statement that some geocachers ignored signs that the park was closed and ventured in anyway.
That part made me question the validity of the article (as did the bit about Geocaching _encouraging_ cachers to use motor vehicles on sensitive land).
A few other things don't seem to tally up in my own mind, but I wouldn't want to comment without seeing the cache logs in question.
What's the old saying about never letting the facts get in the way of a good story?
I agree with many of the posts that the article seems a bit, well, light on facts.
** The Cacher foremerly known as "Scott / WA4SE." Thanks, Caching In for the inadvertent inspiration!!
Back in the saddle... Sort of.
in General geocaching topics
Posted
So here's a funny twist... I picked them up after school and we were all psyched to tackle the Duck Pond cache mentioned above. We roll into the parking lot, I grab a pen, and the three of us get out of the car. No sooner had we taken 10 steps from my car do we hear a clap of thunder -- Out of nowhere! The sky was blue 10 minutes earlier! -- that sends us all running back to the car.
We had a good laugh that maybe someone is trying to tell us we shouldn't be caching.