Dankinia

I just got my 755p a week ago. I love it. I had the 700w previously and while I liked it, I much prefer the palm interface. I don't have cachemate loaded on the 755p yet, but plan to add it. The broadband access works great for accessing the mobile site, and googlemaps works great for helping me locate the general area of the cache.

All of my cache attempts/finds so far have been solo. I don't know anyone who is interested in going with me, and because of my work schedule I have yet to attend a local event. I have felt a little odd at time out poking around by myself, but I feel a little odd a lot of other times to so I don't let it bother me too much. I go during the day and avoid areas I don't know well or are considered "bad" areas.

I came across the below mark while hiking today. I am pretty sure it is not a benchmark, but I figured I would double check. I do know there is at least one benchmark in the park I was hiking in, but I was not planning on looking for it so I did not have the waypoint stored in my gps.

I don't always log my DNF's even on the first attempt out. I am so new at this that my not finding it does not mean there is anything wrong or that it is even all that hard. One that I found today took me 3 tries. The first two I had my gps set wrong so user error caused the DNF. I never logged them, but I mentioned on my found log today that I had been there twice before. I have logged DNF's on a couple where I really enjoyed the journey even though I did not make the find. When I do finally find them, I will leave the DNF logs and just post a new found log.

I love this idea. I recently tried making a signature item with stamps and wooden disks. Sort of like a wooden nickel. They were ok, but not great. I will have to check out the custom poker chips.

Yep I made this mistake too.

That old gag.... Good thing you figured it out...it can easily be frustrating for newcomers even where the coords are dead on!! I have a few I DNF that I am going to give another shot tomorrow now that I have turned off the "Lock on Road" I should have a bit more luck with finding them now.

I am thrilled to have read this part. This explains why I have had so much trouble with the new gps unit I bought. My first 3 finds where with a Garmin Forerunner 305 which does not allow for maps and is much better for running then hiking. I got a Etrex Vista 2 weeks ago and every time I go to find a cache I get to the area, park and the gps points me to the middle of the road. I have been so frustrated at my lack of ability to find anything that I was starting to consider giving up. I just checked my settings, and sure enough I had it set wrong.

Maybe because some of us "regular" people are also realists? I agree 100%. I am a smaller female and I work nights so I know I make a good target. I am glad I live in a country that gives me the right to own a gun and a state that allows me to carry it to defend myself. I have never needed to draw my gun against anyone because I do pay attention to what is going on around me and avoid bad situations/locations, but I like knowing I have the right to defend myself if I do end up in a bad situation. Now I know that not everyone should/can carry a weapon. If you don't have the will to use it, don't carry it. It is a personal choice that each person must make based on their beliefs and the laws that govern where they live.

Thanks for the notice. That is my biggest fear about geocaching. I dread any encounters with snakes or large spiders.

I am really new to geocaching. I have logged a total of 2 finds. I will admit my online logs were not detailed, but I was playing "follow the leader" because I really didn't know better. My personal logs in a word document were more detailed and I even have pictures. I promise to be more detailed in all future logs I write. Kini

Testing

Thanks for the info. I am really, really new at this. I have plans to find my first cache this week. I don't have a printer at home so if I do get hooked on this I will have to go the paperless route with my Treo to save money. I bookmarked your page for future reference.