spacejam1

How do you folks set a route? I have noticed that when I did a search for caches in a certain location, they were not in a manageable order. One would be here and the next one under it would be several miles across town, yet still .06 miles from the center. If I were to d/l them in the order there are in on the site, I would be running all over town! And with EasyGPS you can only d/l waypoints a page at a time. All this just makes it difficult for me to make a manageable route where I can hit all the caches in a certain area and then move to the next area. So, how do you pros make a nice route?

Thanks SO much for all the info. The really tricky part is when your walking and the gps suddenly points at where you just came from, even though the feet has been getting closer. What do you do then? Just keep walking straight as you were going and look for cache places? Also, on the 2nd cache, I walked over 200 feet and the distance to the waypoint only changed 2 feet. ????? I mean I walked a LONG way and it only changed a few feet. I figured it might be to me right or left. So I veered off several times. The funny thing is that the clue was A downed tree, there were MANY downed trees in that stretch of the woods! lol I checked em all! lol High and low, but I did find the first one and was so happy! So what do you folks do when your walking and suddenly your gps tells your to go back the way you came and the distance pops up dramatically? Thanks a lot! I thought I was going crazy till you people helped me out. I guess it takes some time to learn how the gps works and how to "read" it. Also, I do realize that I am not going to get right on top of the cache, you have to look! Thats part of it! At one point it said I was 7 ft from the cache and I looked all around that tree, then it said I was 425 from the point. Hummm. Not giving up! Thanks!

Just bought a Garmin Legend off of ebay and was so excited, I am a newbie to all this. Well took it out today for my first solo run and was SO disapointed. I had decent satalite reception and was in the woods but there wasn't any cover due to all the leaves being down. I had all my caches d/l and off I went. Well, got to the woods and it seemed to be taking me on a decent course and I followed it. I realize that the direction is going to waver and you need to be moving. Just keep on the main course and it will "right" itself. I would get within 15 feet of the cache, and then the arrow would point straight behind me to South. ?? So I turned around and headed that way and the feet were clicking down and figured I was on the right path. Well, then it turned totally west and then said I was 45 feet away from the cache. So I walked that way and then it would totally turn N! So basically I went round and round. Find the area of the cache and then my gps would tell me I was totally in the wrong area. I was so confused it was crazy. I did finally find the cache after the gps telling me MANY times that I was 8 feet from it, but it was always a different spot. Spent about an hour and half doing this. Not really having fun at the end till I actually found the cache. Tried the next cache, well I would walk 15 feet and the gps would register that I had 25 feet to the cache. Kept walking and walking and the gps STILL said 15 ft to cache. What in the world is going on? I knew this was a low end model, but being a house painter and its Jan, money is tight. (and being in school doesnt' help either) Sorry for the long post but what is going on with my gps? Am I doing something wrong? ANY help would be so greatly appreciated. If its the unit I want to get a decent gps that will work but not cost me a fortune right now. PLEASE help a newbie!

BTW, I do see that the caches are a certain distance from a "middle point" of the map. But one might be on one side of the middle point and the other, still the same distance from the middle point, but yet be 2 miles across from the first cache. Yet, there are many caches that are close to the first cache that are only listed later on. As you can see I am getting my words confused. lol Any help? I want to be able to hit as many in an area as I can yet not have to d/l each and every cache one by one.

Newbie here and I was wondering how you folks plan for a geocaching trip. I d/l the caches from the site but they are not in any physical order. The first might be in one location and the next might be several miles away. The the third might be closer to the first. Seems that the caches would be aligned closer to each other so that you can get all the caches that are closer to each other without having to zoom all over town and waste gas and time. I have a etrex legend to start off with and have d/l EasyGPS. Once again when I go to the page on the site where it lists all the caches in an area that I want to hit, they are in no particular order. Is there something I am missing? Just curious as to how you plan a track without having to go to each individual cache page, send info to GPS, and print out the short info. I don't have the cash for a palm pilot right now. But the questions still remains, why doesn't the site(geocaching.com) list the caches in some sort of distance order? And how do you plan a caching trip without zooming all over town yet not taking a lot of time to plan it one cache at at time. Make any sense? Thanks!

I've read for HOURS and it seems that the only way for me to be able to print out a map with caches along a route is to be a premium member. Being a little broke right now, I am going to have to wait to do that. But I was wondering if there was ANY way to be able to print a map with caches along a route. Guess I'll still have to print out the details about the cache itself. I just ordered a Garmin Legend and don't know if it will d/l LOC files from EasyGPS to it or not. Haven't gotten the GPS yet to see. Can anyone help me be able to print and d/l a route with caches and some short info? I am getting more confused as I read. Also I d/l the LOC file from the cache page and it didn't have a map with it. (I used easygps) Is getting the map onto easygps another premium member asset? Thanks for taking time to help me. I am sure once I get my GPS and mess with it and programs for a while I"ll catch right on. I just want to understand some of this before I get it. Thanks for your patience from a newb!

Hi Spacejam1 Download EasyGPS ( free ) when you find a cache you would would like to find click on LOC Waypoint File on the cache page, it will open in EasyGPS (default ) from here send to your unit. It will be stored under a reference number and cache title as a waypoint. Please be aware that EasyGPS is set up for Garmin only units. Hope this helps. Have a happy new year Redscrees Thanks for that. Is there anyway I can d/l several caches and add them to a route with EasyGPS? Or do I need to be a premium member to do that. I really want to find a way to make a route with several caches on it and print it out or d/l to my GPS.

Just learning about paperless and really getting confused! lol Guess I need to wait till I get my new GPS and just figure it out from there. So if I am correct, using the program that was mentioned, I can d/l several caches along with info onto my GPS. This also d/l the waypoint which is just a easy way of "naming" my caches along with their info. Am I even on the right track? I'd love to talk with someone on the phone about this when I get my GPS next week, if thats possible. Thanks for ANY help and sorry to be such a pest about all this paperless stuff!

That is kinda what I thought but just wanted to make sure I was on the right track. Thanks! Still waiting for my Garmin to come in the mail that I got off of ebay, so I thought I might try to find 1-2 today with my "car" gps and some maps.

Little confused about this. If I get it, a waypoint is just a set of numbers/letters that is given to a given coordinate for a cache. This is only helpful in finding the cache on the website. Is this right so far? I am VERY new at this so I appreciate any help at all. I see that on some GPS units I can d/l the coordinates onto my GPS so I don't have to carry all this dadgum paper with me! lol So when I d/l the cache to my GPS, why does the waypoint d/l also? Is this just for my info? Do all I really need is the coordinates for the cache? Can anyone who is not a paying member of geocaching.com d/l several coordinates of caches? Sorry for all the questions, I've been reading as much as I can. So thanks in advance for your help and have a great caching new year! Rusty aka Spacejam1

A newbie here who is bitten by the caching bug! Looking for some people to get to know and learn more about geocaching. Seems like a great way to meet new friends! So I am up for that also! Please respond to my email at spacejam_1@ msn.com if there are any meetings or people getting together for a day of caching! Thanks and happy trails to all! Rusty aka spacejam (no this is not from the movie, deadheads will understand) lol

Venture or Legend, which is best?

Just looked at the blue Etrex legend and it said in the description that it wasn't good for caching. humm. So many decisions! I don't want to pay too much, got to stay in budget, yet I do want something I CAN use for caching. But if you say you used to the Legend than I"ll trust that. Putting my bid on ebay right now! lol

Since my nuvi doesn't work well I decided to find a good decent gps on ebay and have found many. Now is the question, is a etrex alright for GC? I am on a tight budget but I want something that I can at least start with. Then maybe move up to something better. I have my eye on a Etrex, and Geko. Which do you people is better?

My parents just gave me this unit for Christmas. Just went out to play with it on my first adventure and didn't find it. Guess I need a little practice reading the maps. At one time I was away from the "flag" on the map of the gps and it said I was within 30 feet of the coordinates. But yet the map on Geocaching.com shows the cache to be across the street. Hummm. Any help or hints on finding a cache would be great. Anyone else have a Garmin nuvi series system? The person at the store said a LOT of hunters and what not come in to get that particular model for finding their way in the woods.