Carolina Cachers

WELCOME! Here are my answers to your specific questions. Keep in mind these are specific to the way my family does things. There are many, many ways to skin the geocaching cat []. 1. An emphatic NO! It is not cheating to read the clues and location vicinity of the cache. That's what they are there for. Since I use Geocaching to take me to new places, I almost always read the clues beforehand. You may want to try it both ways and see which is most fun for you. 2. I've done both. I've started out with nothing but the coordinates and used the GPSr to search for the right roads, etc. I've also plugged the coordinates into a mapping program to get a general idea of which roads to take. Had fun both ways, but the former seems to be most satisfying afterwards. 3. We ALWAYS go caching as a family (4 of us + 1 dog). I always work the GPSr; my daugter (11) reads the compass; my wife reads out the description, clues, and logs from the cache page printout; and my son (15) usually ends up finding the cache. We've never even thought about needed a 2nd GPSr. 4. I don't use a paper map for the cache hunt. Whether or not I have one with me depends on where we're going. In a local park, or in some other civilized place there's usually no need for a map. If we're going to be hiking a trail though (we do a lot of non-geocaching hiking) I try to always have some type of map (usually a TOPO) with me purely as a safety precaution. It's one of the 10 essentials for hiking. Hope this helps! Wayne

Is there no way to log a note on a Travel Bug without knowing its tracking number? I visited a cache that was supposed to have a TB in it. There was no bug and no log entry about it being removed (it's been almost a month since it was placed in the cache). I noted the absence of the TB in my online log entry for the cache. I thought it would also be appropriate to note it on the TB's page but there doesn't appear to be any way to post just a note without knowing the tracking number (which of course I don't have since the TB wasn't there). I guess I could always email the owner to get the number or just have them log the note, but it seems there should be a more direct way. Wayne

I changed my username last week and everything converted over nicely. Kept my "find count" and all previous logs reflected the new name.