rapriebe

I'm new too and though I have one find, the hides that really interest me are west of here in the mountains.. mostly under several feet of snow yet at the moment. Give it some time for the weather to improve and I think you'll find that it isn't quite so hard as it seems. Also you are definitely making it harder on yourself by going with no GPS... not impossible, but it's going to make for a longer learning curve.

I am a premium member, and I do get notifications of new caches, and I do create PQ's. All of that is beside the point. I was just trying to get this specific problem fixed. Does the link on your profile page show "newest in United States" or "newest in [your state]? Anyone have a solution to this specific problem??? Mine shows "List newest in Colorado", so it must just pull it from the info I put in my profile. I never did anything specific to tell it to do that. Maybe it doesn't recognize Valencia Co. as a place in NM?

Hmmm..I wouldn't be too sure about that. Everything it seems eventually becomes controlled by the government and or corporate conglomerates. The official *control* will start out small I'm sure. We'll have "moms against crappy caches" parading on Washington to ensure that their children are not subjected to objectionable material in tupperware containers...and then we'll eventually have a few boneheads getting hurt hunting a cache that is beyond their capability and some "concerned citizens" will lobby to require folks to have valid permits to cache...(a fee of $30 valid for 6 months which doesn't include the fee for the certification course). Then there will be a 400 page manual on the times and dates in which caching will be allowed, which age is acceptable to become a cacher, who may be certified as a cacher (felons and marijuana users will be excluded of course).....shall I go on? Just got off of work again...my imagination is running without any supervision. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I just don't see too much threat of regulation imposed from outside. If we end up with onerous regulation, it will be be self-imposed by the control freaks in our midst. They'll claim to be saving the sport from "inevitable" and harsher external regulation, but you can just sense that they're salivating at the prospect of gaining control over their fellow cachers. I believe that both scuba and skydiving went this route. (I learned scuba when it was still written S.C.U.B.A. and there was no certification requirement.) Don't kid yourself.... scuba diving is no short term fad. I used to work with classes (divemaster certified), and my wife was an instructor. We met through working classes at a local dive shop, one that's nationally recognized even though it's in landlocked Colorado (celebrating their 50th anniversary this year). We still have close ties to the shop owners and their business just keeps growing. They have classes scheduled almost every day of the week. I'm not sure that geocaching will ever reach quite the same level, because it's such a different sort of appeal. But scuba is far from being a fad, and with the right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) marketing I could see geocaching become just as commercialized. People love to play with toys, and a GPS is just another toy. With geocaching, you get to play with your toy without really having to go out of your way if you don't want to.... that would certainly have some appeal if presented in the right way.

Mostly agree with this. As a new cacher it would be nice to have the size in the cache description when it's a nano. just because there is no such classification in the "standard" list. I've seen a Micro that was a medium size prescription bottle, and that's a big difference from a nano that's about the size if my thumbnail. It's still up to the CO how they want to do it. If they want to be mean an sneaky, that's their prerogative.

Just a comment, that wasn't Google Earth... that was Google Maps. At least that's what I saw.

Have you thought about removing micros from your PQ and setting the Terrain to 2+. I just tried that on my finds and it removed 75% of them (1200). That will greatly expand the circle of 500 caches and should meet your needs a little better. It would let him better participate in this thread, also. Huh? Just because I'm new and happen to still have a lot nearby, that disqualifies me? As far as removing the micros... That would eliminate some that still seem to be interesting hides. I've driven by a few lately that I'm going back to look for later... I've got some 400 local ones as a POI file on my Nuvi, and I see the icons as I drive. The last couple of days have been so windy I've been afraid to risk opening a cache for fear of losing the log forever.

This wasn't a geocaching trip, but we thought it was a bit odd. This was taken outside of the La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy. We think the sign says Only Authorized Vehicles, but we never did figure out what Olive Oyl had to do with it.

I'm the opposite of some here I guess. I have more than 500 caches within 7 miles of the house (southwest Denver metro), but most aren't really my cup of tea. I've sorted through and picked a few that sound interesting, but the usual urban cache doesn't really grab me. I'm more interested in finding some that are in the foothills and mountains west of Denver, or out on the plains east or north. I like to hunt without the constant threat of muggles, and I enjoy bushwhacking, so I'm more selective in my choices.

My feelings om this as a beginning cacher... As long as the hides are considered and well thought out I'd say that there is nothing wrong with it. If the hider was just sticking a micro in every nook and cranny he could get approved, then maybe the OP has a point. I have mixed feelings, but that's just because I'm not much of an urban cacher. I don t care much for micro's magneted onto anything that one will stick to just because it can be done. My list of waypoints on my eTrex right now are mostly rated by me, generally after reading the logs and deciding if there is some ingenuity that went into the hide. I look for ones where I don't have to spend more time dodging muggles than I do actually searching. But that's just my preference. If someone likes that sort of hide good for them, but there still should be something more interesting or clever than just slapping a key holder on a "No Parking" sign.

It needs to be in pedestrian and off road mode or the vehicle will always "snap" to the nearest road. Also use it in 2D view when walking. There are a number of cachers who seem to successfully use automotive GPSr's for caching, but they are far from being ideal. You can't take long walks with them because they don't have a long enough battery charge... about 3 hours is all I'd depend on, and less than that if the unit is a couple of years old. My eTrex Summit HC gets about 14 hours with just 2 AA alkaline batteries which makes it a far better choice for any extensive use out of the car, and when the batteries die you just pop in a fresh set and keep going.

I have that set to "Always ask me where to save". I save different types of downloads in different folders depending on topic.

Have you looked into the new Lowrance yet? Nope, to early to consider anything at this point. We still have to build our beach cottage (all we have at this point is the construction plans from the architect), then get a boat before I'll have any use for a marine capable GPS... that could still be 2 or 3 years out... who knows what the technology will do in that time?

I completely agree... I love the community feeling of geocaching!!! I would miss it if everyone was hiding, scared behind closed profiles. I don't have a chatty profile (only because I have never bothered to type things in) but I do include my email address and my msn nickname. I don't mind others reading where I have been and I would welcome anyone contacting me with questions about a particular cache or the area I live in, etc. I love to read chatty profiles to get to know fellow cachers, I read statistics to see how well other people have done. It is all good! brenda I agree with both of these opinions. Most of the time I've spent reading in the forum I've seen what seems to be a cohesive community. There will always be bad apples, but people like that will always find a way to be a pain regardless of profile information availability. Most of the people here are good folks who just want to have fun playing a game where the game board is the whole world. Being able to size up the competition is just part of playing any game. Personally I'm not in it to compete, just participating is victory enough for me. But I still like to see how I compare to the other players, and locking the profile info just seems a bit extreme... some of the statements I've read even seem to border on paranoia. So I join with the side that asks the question: What real substantive reason is there to hide our profiles other than to diminish the game for a lot of players? I realize that my opinion will be relegated to irrelevance once I'm exposed as a rank beginner... but so be it. I'm still having my say.

I looked at the 60.... I was also looking hard at the 76 CSx because my wife and I are building a home in the Bahamas and the marine aspects looked nice. In the end I decided to wait and see when we get started on construction, so that helped me make the decision for the Summit. I'll buy a marine friendly unit later and get the best technology available when the time comes.

Beginning geocacher here. My kit is still a bit anemic, and it will never rival some that I've see in this thread. Right now just: a couple of water bottles flashlight knife a cool tool I found at Wally World... combo compass, whistle, thermometer and magnifying glass bandaids and moleskin some swag to leave if a cache seems a bit depleted (don't really plan to take anything but travelers) spare batteries tweezers spare log sheets pen and pencil ziplock bags and my eTrex Summit HC Some things will be changed or added depending on season, hunt location, and weather. In the car is my Nuvi 260 to get me as far as the road will take me, loaded with all of the cache info downladed and filtered in GSAK with the Nuvi macro.

This sounds like a fascinating project. My wife and I are in Denver, but she was born and raised in Fleming, as were both of her parents. They farmed in northeastern Colorado for more than 70 years (her mother was born and died in the house on their farm outside of Fleming), and this is exactly the sort of thing that would be of great interest to her. Last year her father was principally involved in a historical project for a memorial to the Daley School where he graduated. The area you are working on is a bit south of them, but with much the same heritage. Unfortunately we are just raw beginners to geocaching, and as such may not be the best possible choice for such a project depending on just exactly what your ideas are, but I'm going to talk to her and see if she has any desire in getting involved. I'm retired with a part time job so I have some time available, but she still works full time in the real world.

I don't understand why you insist that the Summit HC isn't caching friendly. Just because it won't do paperless caching without additional support doesn't make it bad for caching. It still takes direct downloads from GSAK, allows the caches to marked as found and placed in the found directory. It's accurate and quick to get a satellite lock, and can be had for less than half the price of a PN-40. No it won't do street routing and mapping like one with an expandable memory, and it can only hold specific and limited map sets, but it's sufficient for most caching needs. If you don't need the additional features, why pay for them? I already have a Nuvi that gives the paperless support that I need to view the cache descriptions, hints, and logs while I'm on the go. BTW, a new 60CSx at Amazon is $297 and used are $281, and the 60Cx is $249. The Legend HCx isn't bad at $164, but I wanted the electronic compass that comes on the Summit. In the end it all comes down to what you need and what you can afford. i was wondering the same thing. cant you geocache with any gpsr? Pretty much yes. One way or another they'll all get you to the cache site. Every model has different features and price tags. It comes down to what you feel you need, what features you want, and what you can afford or are willing to pay for those features. There is no doubt that the sheer number of possible choices can be overwhelming, especially if a person hasn't had any previous experience with GPS. I'd had enough contact with at least a portion of the industry through my Garmin Nuvi that I had some idea what I wanted, as well as knowing the features that I didn't need to duplicate in the new unit, but it was still a hard choice to make. And I was really only shopping for a single brand. A brief apology is due from me to Rocking Roddy. I was sharper in the earlier response to him than I should have been. Guess I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning... I'm usually better at getting a point across in a more diplomatic fashion. No offense was ever intended. To answer your question in the above quote, my guess is that Garmin would rather sell a nice pricey Oregon over a plain Jane Summit HC, thus the "recommendation" that you read. Since the Summit has a "Geocaching" page, it must have once been thought of as caching friendly. Just a thought anyway.

I don't understand why you insist that the Summit HC isn't caching friendly. Just because it won't do paperless caching without additional support doesn't make it bad for caching. It still takes direct downloads from GSAK, allows the caches to marked as found and placed in the found directory. It's accurate and quick to get a satellite lock, and can be had for less than half the price of a PN-40. No it won't do street routing and mapping like one with an expandable memory, and it can only hold specific and limited map sets, but it's sufficient for most caching needs. If you don't need the additional features, why pay for them? I already have a Nuvi that gives the paperless support that I need to view the cache descriptions, hints, and logs while I'm on the go. BTW, a new 60CSx at Amazon is $297 and used are $281, and the 60Cx is $249. The Legend HCx isn't bad at $164, but I wanted the electronic compass that comes on the Summit. In the end it all comes down to what you need and what you can afford.

I've had intermittent problems with the forum pages for several days now... I load a few pages, maybe slowly, but at least they load, then without warning I get nothing... then a few minutes later it's back. Such problems are usually server or traffic issues, but on a semi commercial site I'd expect better response. Geocaching.com seems to be fine, it's just the Groundspeak forum that seems to get bogged down.

I can honestly say that I've never had the pleasure of logging a DNF. Of course I've only got one find, and I've only been out one time so far, but I'm still disproportionately proud of my perfect record. In all honesty if I ever get to the point where it's about numbers rather than quality, somebody shoot me.

I'm sure you'll get more than one person to correct you on this (most likely a Canadian) but this is a International forum, not a nation wide forum. But he is looking for cachers in a specific area (Texas). I doubt he's going to fly to Germany (or Canada) for an interview.

I have the Summit HC and it works just fine. Good reception, easy to use. You don't need more than the 24mb of internal memory unless you are needing to do a lot of mapping or taking a long trip and need more than a localized map set. I do use my Garmin Nuvi in conjunction with the Summit for its ability to hold all of the cache info, but I only use that to get near the site. Once I leave the car it's just the Summit. As a side note... if you do any research at all you will reject the Magellan... hundreds of horror stories about them all over the internet, and it isn't limited to any model... they all seem to have issues and customer support is a joke.

I was a Cub Scout back in the 1950's, never was regular Scout, then was an Explorer in the early 60's. I got my introduction to wilderness travel as an Explorer, making 2 canoe trips to the Boundary Waters and the Quetico back when it was really still wild country. On an 8 day trip it was rare to see another human being who wasn't part of your group. We learned to follow map and compass to find our way across huge lakes to the next portage, sometimes having to search a couple of similar looking inlets to find the trail (the guide always knew where it was, but the navigator for the day was expected to try to get there without his assistance). That is probably what set the seeds for my starting into geocaching now nearly 50 years later.

From a brand new cacher... I have one great find to my name... I don't plan on going for numbers... more into quality of location, not needing quality swag to go with it. I'm personally interested in well thought out hides, and not really into the run of mill nano-magnet cache. I read some of the logs, and make my list from the ones that sound as if they might be interesting, either a fun journey or a worthwhile destination. When I get around to making a cache of my own, it will be because it has a reason to be there, not because it just CAN be there. I plan on placing a cache in a place so that it will bring someone to a neat place where they would otherwise never go, and those are the types I want to search for too. As for a reward for quality, that isn't what got me interested in the first place.

I'm brand new to the sport of geocaching and I've found this discussion interesting. I had looked through a few cache listings and seen the PM designation, but there weren't enough to get excited about around here, so I just ignored it. Now that I've read this thread, I see that it can be an issue to some on both sides of the argument. I think it's wrong of the OP to just automatically make every hide a PMO. In my opinion, there should be a good reason for giving a cache that tag, not just paranoia. If I set up a cache in a location where I feel that it would be a great hide, but at the same time I sort of want to limit the number of visitors due to environmental concerns, or just to avoid destroying the solitude, then I might make it a PMO. I have a couple of ideas for this summer, and the beauty of one location is the relative solitude that goes with the incredible view in an area that is otherwise well traveled. But just a general cache in a more common area should be available to anyone who wants to try and find it. Making everything a PMO just because you can is unfair to the majority of cachers who are respectful of the hide and of the CO, but who are now left out either because of the owner's paranoia, or because of their snobbery.