Brainerd

quote:Originally posted by BrianSnat:You may be trusting your GPS too much. You may also be trusting the "creator of the cache's" GPS too much. They also may have been off by as much as 10-20 meters. Then add your unit's margin of error, it could be 30 meters away! Typically, you should get to within 10-20 meters of the cache. Reading the logs will help you know if the original coordinates are way off. Just remember to triangulate. Another technique is to walk perpendicular to the suspected cache location. Watch your directional arrow till it turns to 90 degrees, then turn and charge! Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

quote:Originally posted by bthomas:Man, I'm a dork about this. Log out, then log back in. Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

"Markwell" is good. He's been made into a verb ... Now a dog. Just kidding. I don't want to be Markwelled Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

Don't despair. Start with a virtual cache or two. This can help hone your zeroing in technique. Approach the target from 3 angles, and you will get a better fix. It's called triangulation. Here's a relatively easy virtual near the cache you couldn't find First Post - Ottawa. I've always found the cache (only 17, though), however, I have had to look for 30 minutes on ones where people posted that it was an easy find. Once you find a few, you'll start to identify good places to put the cache. A pile of rocks. Some low branches in a bush. You learn as you go. You can spend 20 minutes searching, and when you find the cache, you will look at it and think, "that was so easy, why did it take so long to find it?". Welcome to the fun and frustration of Geocaching. Here's a regular cache in your area that has some good logs on finding it. Lunch Box I hope these tips and caches prove to be helpful. Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

I've had the GPS V for over a month, and it is the perfect combination for road and off road. Ideally, I would use a Legend or Gecko, off road, and a Street Pilot in the car. You see, the V does everything well, but nothing great. It is bigger and heavier than the small units. And in the car, a bigger color screen would be better. However, having everything on one unit is great. I download all of my coordinates onto it, and I am off for a day of caching. Here are my Pluses and Minuses for the V. Plus: 1) Does autorouting on the roads, and is great on the trail. 2) Price: about $325 (after rebate) on amazon.com. This comes with the Mapping software, too. 3) Long battery life for a GPS. 4) Many view options. 5) Screen view flips to horizontal to vertical 6) Fairly rugged and water tight Minus: 1) Small screen in car, but adequate. 2) Autorouting can take up to a minute, especially when recalculating on the move. 3) Color in car would be nice. 4) Bulkier than the mini off-road models 5) 19 megs of memory. No memory card capability. I can not get all of the LA metro area on the unit. So, I must remember to load a new map section if I am traveling to an area that is not loaded. It's a real bummer if I forget. Bottom Line: The GPS V is a great dual purpose unit, and the price is wonderful. I am pleased with my decision to by the V. The new GARMIN iQue 3600 PDA that Martmann suggests sounds interesting. It has more memory and it is in color. It also has a USB connector, where the GPS V is still a serial cable. Another great feature is that it is a PDA. I have a PDA/cellphone combo, and as a Geocaching.com Premium Member, I have access to "Pocket Queries". I have downloaded to my PDA all caches with in 7 miles of my home, etc. So, there is no need to print out the cache pages. It's really nice to have all of that data on the PDA. My big concerns with the GARMIN iQue 3600 PDA would be the battery life off road. It uses a non-swappable lithium battery. You won't be able to carry some spares on a hike. Not good to run low on power 1/2 way to a cache. Also, it is not constructed for rugged use. Read the forums. People do drop their units. Also, you will set it down in the dirt at the cache. The PDA unit will get beat up, and it won't look too good or take it too well. Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

What a cute pup! I think you have a winner in "Oreo". If he didn't have a black butt, I would suggest "Al" or "Al Jolson". I'd be surprised if you get an idea that fits him better than Oreo. Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

log out, log in. How about now? Happy hunting, Tom Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

Adding a signature.

Bad experience. Great work. Thanks for helping keep up the good reputation of geocachers.

quote:Originally posted by Woodsters Outdoors:What about the halfs, like 1.5 and 2.5? What would they be rated as? I would think a 1 would be right off the path by a few feet and easy to find. Not having to bushwack any. At least not over 50 or more feet. Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com A good use of a half is a cache with a relatively easy terrain, but it is not wheelchair accessible. e.g. a 1 1/2 is not a long or difficult hike, but it is not accessible to somebody using a chair. I've seen a lot of 1's that should be 1 1/2. And calling them a 2 would be wrong if the distance to the cache is rather short.

What makes geocaching different from just looking for a waypoint, is that it should involve a journey and a hunt. If the destination would be an interesting visit, and a cache absolutely could not be hidden near by, make a bit of a game out of it. I just made a virtual cache in a famous "Hollywood" cemetery. Needless to say, hiding a physical cache there would be in bad taste -- and it's private property -- so it had to be a virtual. Take a look at it, and maybe it will provide some help in making your possible cache a good one. Eternal Fame - Forest Lawn Glendale (Tour) Happy hunting, Tom

Jeremy... You rock. I can imagine that the growth in the bandwith draw on this site makes it difficult to manage. Of course improvements are great, but just know that I greatly appreciate all that you have done so far. Tom

"Leaves of three, let them be". Or a least wear jeans! If you are going into the wild, look out for poison oak and poison ivy. I got so excited to find this one cache, that I plowed right through the fauna! I'm gonna live, but only after 2 tubes of hydrocortisone creme and 1 bottle of calamine lotion. Anyway, have a blast. Bring the right shoes and dress for the location. Happy hunting, Tom

Ok, Now it's working. The previous 2 posts also show the Avatar. LESSON LEARNED: -- You must log out and then log back in to Geocaching and the forums, after loading an Avatar for the first time. Whew.

Let's try this again

How come my avatar is not showing up? I have been a Premium Member for about a month. No avatar and my premium status is not showing. I am correctly listed as "Premium" on my profile page.

Excellent point Team Dragon. I did just that before I got my GPS. [This message was edited by Tom Schmid on June 08, 2003 at 08:12 AM.]