Hrethgir

I've done quite a few caches on my bicycle, and I find a handlebar mount for the GPS and a backpack is all you really need. And once I get a mount for my PN-40, I'll have full paperless. Sometimes I even get by without the backpack and just use my fanny pack, it hold the swag and pens, and everything else I need is in the GPSr. So far, I've only really done bike caches around town or in parks, but I may head out of town at some point, too.

Just ran my find query and uploaded it to inatn.com, and according to it, I have 0 one-word logs, average log is 37 words, longest is 94, and shortest is 7. There's always something to say about a cache. I think part of my issue is I work at Intel, and we are FULL of TLAs, or "Three Letter Acronyms", and they get old, and half the time i don't even know what they mean, because the same acronym can mean different things to different groups. Same thing here, I still see acronyms that I have no idea what the mean, and I don't even bother looking them up because if you're going to be too lazy to type out what you mean, then I'm not wasting my time to look it up for you.

Or you could try spelling "tattoo" correctly for more hits... I kind of want to do one myself, I have a TB dogtag hanging off my hat, I could just use that number. I think the barcode scarab is a cool design, so I think I'd be happy with it even if I lose my caching mojo. Could probably even get some kind of cover ink over the number if you really had to, and just keep the scarab.

So my step-dad and I are both on vacation this week, so he came down to my neck of the woods, then we hopped in my car and headed out to the middle of nowhere! We spent about 9 hours from the time we first got out of the car to search till we found the last cache we had the energy to search for (then a 45 minute drive each way), we went 14-0, had our first two FTFs, and covered about 43 miles, lots of that on gravel logging roads, had a blast! We both have DeLormes, he has a PN-20, and I have a PN-40, and they both worked flawlessly. In fact, the paperless functionality saved our butt on one cache that had bad coordinates, to the tune of over 600 feet off. A previous finder who knew the area found it from the description, and posted up correct coords, so we were able to use those to find the cache. Of course, while we were out today, the CO corrected the coords, but that didn't help us any! But we found it anyways, so it's all good. Anyways, just wanted to share, and to say how awesome caching in the woods is, got lots of great pics while we were out there! Happy caching!

What is the fascination with acronyms amongst cachers? In a chat room they make sense so you don't fall behind the conversation, but you have all the time you want to post a log, so why not just type the words out? Sorry, it's just that acronyms annoy me because the hider went through the time, effort, and expense to hide the cache, and I think they deserve more than a generic "TFTH."

I don't quite get why someone would by a Dakota 20 over an Oregon 300, they are almost the same price, but the Dakota has a smaller lower resolution screen, doesn't really weigh any less, and even has a few less funtions, although it does have the 3-axis tilt-compensated compass. But for the small price difference, I would have to go with the Oregon 300 over the Dakota 20. Frankly, I think Garmin has too many different units available, it's getting hard to choose between them. Options are good, but there is such a thing as too many options.

Gmail is awesome for that. With ~7.3 gigs of storage I won't be deleting any PQs for some time. Oh, CRAP! That's where I have my PQ's sent, too, it didn't even dawn on me to look there for my old PQs! Well, even then, they where still kind of old, like over a month old, but still would have been better than nothing.

I've thought of doing the same thing, just haven't bothered doing the legwork to set it up!

I WANTED to go caching, but I had just purged my GPSrs the day before, and I don't keep my old PQs, and since GC was down, I couldn't get the PQ I wanted, so I had no caches loaded up to hunt Gonna have to start keeping an off-line database of some kind, too. Especially since I'm on vacation this week, and have plans to get a LOT of caching done. Now if my PQs will just get sent....

Also, Tupperware and ammo cans and Lock n Locks are only as watertight as the last person to close them. Something closed in the seal can let water in, or the ammo can may not have been latched correctly, or maybe the containers where opened and closed in a big downpour, and any of thse things can let water into a cache. I've seen plenty of soggy caches myself, and I just kind of expect it in this area. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. Been nice and hot for a few weeks, though, so going to go out and hit me some nice dry containers this week!

If they make the imagery available, then you should be able to download it and geosync or whatever it's called with XMap, and then send the imagery to the PN-40. I've never done that myself (don't have XMap), but I know it's possible that way. I don't know how this would work with the 3-D terrain stuff, though.

Actually, while the $30 annual fee for the aerial imagery can be renewed every year, you don't have to keep renewing it. The imagery you download is yours to keep, so even if you don't renew the subscription, you still have the use of the imagery you downloaded. So if you DL everything you want within the year, then cancelling it isn't really a big deal.

I found one of those once. It was the first stage of a multi, and once I got to it, I was literally surrounded by blackberry bush, probably about 2 feet thick on every side. Very hard to get to (wasn't like that when it was hidden, but you know how those suckers grow). The container was a film canister with a Ziploc and a peice of paper with the next coords. Film canisters are poor for keeping water out, and the baggie had also failed, so the paper was mush, so couldn't go any farther. I put it down as a Find, though, I earned that smilie! I also put up a NM note, and the owner eventually just archived the cache, I think. If I had gotten the coords, I would have gone back and finished the series. As for my favorite cache to find, I like Regular and up, they are usually in nicer areas instead of the micro stuck under a bench on a busy street, or a film canister in a blackberry bush.... I have micros filtered out of my PQs.

One of mine is near an area the wife and i go to bicycle a lot, so I check it now and then. Due to it's location, it's only out about 6 months out of the year, so I don't check too terribly often, and if it has something that needs fixing, I'll have all winter to do it! My second on, it just got published, and is kind of remote, so I don't have a plan to check it every x number of months, I'll play it by ear.

Look around the area you want to hide it, and try to find someplace under a rock, or a unique way of hiding it in plain sight.

How far from home will the cache be? If it's a long ways away, the reviewer may not publish it because you'll be too far away to maintain it, just something to keep in mind. You might could contact some locals and see if one of them could maintain it for you if you place it.

That's how I track mine, easiest way there. Just recently let my first 2 loose, and one of them got picked up and is on its journey at last, hooray!

I have 2 hides. One is underwater off the side of a dock, and the other is a solar-powered lampost in the middle of the woods at the end of a 3/4 mile hike and about 500 foot elevation rise. I don't plan on doing tons of hides, but I do plan on all my hides being different. Spent over $50 for parts and stuff for each hide to make them just right, and they have both gotten excellent reviews. So don't worry about doing lots of hides, just make neat hides!

I really wish all caches would be so easy to spot Easy to spot, yes, but not easy to get to! It's about a 3/4 mile hike up a gravel road with a total of about 500 feet elevation change, and the last 200 feet of the hike is about 80 feet elevation change with no trail. Figured I would make the search easy as reward for the hike Already been found twice, and both people enjoyed it a lot, so I'm very happy with it!

That didn't bring up any "pointy objects into the ground" issues when you got it approved? Nope. It didn't change the landscape, and the cache isn't buried, so it shouldn't be an issue. If I pull it out, it's a 1 inch hole in the middle of nowhere. Nice! Tell me the lamp is one of those solar powered deals Look about half-way up the page for your answer

That should be easy to find come winter/fall!

My new lamp post cache, just got published:

Just a thought, but maybe the battery life would be a bit better?? You can turn off the altimeter and compass to save battery power, pretty much making it a PN-30, but cheaper, I guess.

Here's my newest one, still no home for it yet, so it's just set up in my back patio, but I'm going out scouting for a home soon. I know the general area I want to put it, just need to get on the ground, do some hiking, and find the exact right spot. Yup, it's a lap post cache: The container is a Sterilite locking gasketed container inside the mailbox: Here's the lamp top: It's about 6-1/2 feet tall total, and I plan on placing it out in the middle of the woods very far from pretty much anything. Looking to be a 1 difficulty (dur, very easy to find once you get to ground zero), but a 4 terrain. Know one of the neatest things about this lamp post, though? Even though it will be in the middle of nowhere... ...it lights up at night! Solar powered rechargeable battery and an LED light, looks cool! Now to just find it a home. This will only be my second hide, but I'm going for more quality/uniqueness over quantity. I need to go get some pics of my submerged cache for this thread, too.

Sweet, the President caches around my area?! I hope I run into him at a cache, or that he at least goes and finds mine!