CacheCreatures

Hi all. First let me say that, yes, I did search on this topic and found an interesting debate regarding a rating system for quality of the cache. However, I am specifically interested in your opinion regarding user ratings for terrain and difficulty, not the quality of the cache. I didn't see this mentioned and am wondering how helpful this info would be. After 5 minutes of considering it, I like it because it would help average out what is difficult and what terrain is suitable for whom. Thus far, my very limited experience with Geocaching has shown that one hiders 4 is another's 2. I wonder if a quality type rating might be to subjective, but a rating specific to T/D might be more general, and more applicable. Has this idea been posed before? What is/are the pros/cons of such a system? CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

My girl, Angie. CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Thanks BadAndy, you've ruined my professional career. Here I sit in my office reading your post, and burst out laughing. You should see the looks I get now from my co-workers when I try and explain what's so funny... "You're doing what when you shoot who?..." Respect is now a fond memory thanks to you [] CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

We each have a nicely stocked first-aid/emergency kit as well. My 2 cents would have to include keeping up on the expirations of the products you have in your kits. This website might help if you are putting one together: www.first-aid-product.com For those caching with dogs, remember them as well. There are kits for pets specifically. Although most things in a person's kit can work for a dog. Just remember never give a dog ibuprofen! CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

We have our first ever "cache creature" as our avatar 'cause we thought that would be appropriate. We take Angie just about every time we head out geocaching. We all have a great time. We posted another one of her on a cache we did entitled "Dog Years", her favorite so far. I am loving these dog pics! CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

You all raise interesting points! Webfoot: I have witnessed countless examples of exactly what you describe. It occurs to me that people act in a very one-dimensional way these days. There seems to be little concern for anything outside of the primary focus. Cell phones and driving; driving becomes background to the conversation. Classroom's and teachers; the teacher/education is background to the social bohemouth. People and their desire to visit a park; the fire warning and park closure doesn't apply to THEM... I could go on. All that driver knew is that you were in the way; I'd bet the person never even considered the risks he/she was taking. It simply wasn't part of the thought process. Cruzin!: We get a lot of fire-closures around here (SF Bay Area). I think the Oakland fires of many years ago scared TPTB into ultra conservative-ness. Any time there is the potential for property damage (expensive homes specifically) the nearby park will be closed. Evilrooster: I actually think the rangers around here do a wonderful job. It doesn't get more congested with people than the Silicon Valley/SF Bay. However, we have a plethora of parks and open space to enjoy. I know for a fact people abuse the parks here, and yet thru it all they remain open and clean. It is my feeling the park workers really do care. Once in a while it seems they almost care too much. ChurchCampDave: You're not missing anything. I think I just wanted to be sure we weren't being the people that think speeding means 1mph over the speed limit. We feel the same that everyone here seems to feel: closed = go home. It seems, however, that understanding is not shared by the majority of park visitors (at least that day.) Thanks for the comments! CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Or worse, they might just close the park all together. Funding lacking these days that might just be the solution. Don't laugh, its happened here already. I think I'll change our quote to "People Suck" CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

This park is right up against one of the more upscale housing developments. Our guess is that TPTB really don't want million dollar plus homes burning down. We too agree that obeying the local law is the best way to go. Closed means closed. For those that don't heed the closure, any idea what the penalty is? Is there some established fine or other punishment? By the way, the people we saw were definitely not park workers. It was clear they were going to not let a little something like a closed park interrupt their picnics or whatever... CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Hiya, My wife and I went out today to attempt a couple of caches located in a nearby state park. Before heading out, we checked the weather reports and discovered a "severe alert." It seems the environment today is ripe for fire. With that in mind we decided to head over to the park anyway and see if it was closed. As we expected, it was. Something we didn't expect was to see the plethora of people entering, leaving and just generally hanging out in and around the park. To get in and out, these people had to move the "PARK CLOSED - EXTREME FIRE DANGER" signs out of the way, or duck under the yellow caution tape. Did we miss something? Doesn't a park closure mean the park is closed? Are we just being too law-abiding, or are all of those people crazy? We did not go in, feeling that the reward simply didn't outweigh the risk (the caches are significantly into the park, and if a fire did break out...) What are the usual rules regarding this? Admittedly, we are new and perhaps we just don't know when its OK to bend the rules. Any thoughts? CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Hiya, My wife and I went out today to attempt a couple of caches located in a nearby state park. Before heading out, we checked the weather reports and discovered a "severe alert." It seems the environment today is ripe for fire. With that in mind we decided to head over to the park anyway and see if it was closed. As we expected, it was. Something we didn't expect was to see the plethora of people entering, leaving and just generally hanging out in and around the park. To get in and out, these people had to move the "PARK CLOSED - EXTREME FIRE DANGER" signs out of the way, or duck under the yellow caution tape. Did we miss something? Doesn't a park closure mean the park is closed? Are we just being too law-abiding, or are all of those people crazy? We did not go in, feeling that the reward simply didn't outweigh the risk (the caches are significantly into the park, and if a fire did break out...) What are the usual rules regarding this? Admittedly, we are new and perhaps we just don't know when its OK to bend the rules. Any thoughts? CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

I read that comic too, definitely appropriate. It get so infuriated when I see people litter. When on the freeway, if I am behind someone who throws something out I blast my horn at them. I figure why not make them aware that they are affected more then themselves. I love the whole "cache in, trash out" idea. CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Ahh gotcha, thanks for the info! CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

We recently found the "Book Worm" TB. A wonderful TB that has attached to it a little book. Finders are asked to write in their favorite books and when the books fills, the last finder is asked to send it home (to an address in the inside cover.) Well yep, you guessed it, that is us! The TB is merrily on its way back home via USPS. My question is, how do we "release" the TB into the hands of the originator? The only way I see to release the bug is to place it into a cache, and since we didn't do that... I think you get the idea. Any help or thoughts are very welcome! J&J CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

After reviewing www.letter-boxing.com, it doesn't seem to me that this variant is as well organized as GeoCaching. Maybe thats the point? To let local areas organize their own letter-boxing events? I wonder if letter boxing might be a neat addition to this website... CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

I think it is wonderful to take your dog caching. We do every chance we get. She gets excited now when she sees us grabbing our geocaching paraphernalia. GPS=Walk Just don't forget a pooper-scooper bag. Like I have said before, our goal is to make her a cache narc! Right now the squirrels are still more interesting. Plus it makes you a little less "troublesome" looking when you are out with your pooch. CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Interesting. Although isn't this mislabeled? I was under the impression that, strictly speaking, "GPS" technology has no tracking capabilities. Bring on the moral debate. Why make the devices something you have to carry? Why not implant them like we've been doing for years to our pets. If we do implant them into children, at what age do they get removed? Maybe our elderly could benefit from an implant too. For that matter, can't we all? Are we ready to broadcast our location 24/7 to anyone wanting to listen? Ain't technology great? CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

So just the other day my husband, our Golden Retriever and I were out on our first Mircocache hunt, quite unsuccessfully I might add. We were walking along a fence that surrounds the local fair grounds, behind us is a road and a few houses. We look innocent enough meandering along. Here we are trying to be sly, but slowly our frustrations are mounting as we walk back and forth around the same area. Jason has the GPS in his hand and I am holding a leash in mine. When I see out of the corner of my eye a woman standing in her driveway staring at us. Not being discreet in the slightest standing in plain view, but somehow we get the impression that she thinks she is. As if the compact car 10 feet away from her is camouflage. I tell Jason, "Hey, we are being watched". He says, "Ya, I know she started out on her porch." Meanwhile she is a little too far away to give a pleasant "Hello" so I smile and continue to look around quietly. Meanwhile Jason is no holds barred. He is caching like no other, determined to find this little ****ing thing. This brings the woman out into the middle of the street! Still not saying a word to us. She has her hand above her eyes on her brow like she is navigating a ship. So here she is standing in the middle of the road, and she actually leans to one side to get a better look at these “hooligans in her neighborhood” instead of approaching any closer! At this point Jason is laughing and lets out a big unsuspecting "HI THERE". The woman is thrown off by this and finally asks what we are doing, he goes into the geocaching speach... scavenger hunt...you should try it, yadda yadda yadda. It seemed to have satisfied her or confuse her. Which we will never know. It was getting late and we had to head off. Wish us luck, we are heading out tomorrow to give it another try...hopefully I won't have to update this with a "someone called the cops" comment. CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Yes, I realize this horse has been beat to death. I've read many of the previous posts regarding the topic. I understand the technology and the pros/cons. What I'd like to know is 1) do you use WAAS? 2) If so, why? If not, why? 3) Has anyone tried an external antenna on the GPS V? Any improvement with WAAS reception (or for that matter general reception?) 4) Is there anything that can't be done if you don't decide to use WAAS? As in, are there caches out there that require the use of WAAS? Thanks all CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Interesting thought! However I have a couple of concerns: 1) the Magellan was $220 or so and the MapSend software is probably about $100 guessing. Thats a total of around $330. For $400 I can get something of a "for sure" that works today, with all the accessories. 2) will the features of the new software blow away what the V can already do? If so, maybe it is worth holding on to. 3) Will Garmin continue to support and offer upgrades to the V? Or are there plans to release the next generation V soon? 4) Can't say I love the Magellan. The software seems cumbersome and top heavy. Also, the idea of an external antenna just seems like a good one. Ahhhhh too many decisions! Someone just TELL me what to do! CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Hi all. I realize this has been discussed many-a-time here, but I want to ask a specific question: does the GPS V suffer in off road situations? I love the idea of the V getting me there (either via urban hike, bike or car) then "switching" to off road mode and getting me to the cache. I currently have a Magellan SporTrack Pro... will the V perform as well off road as the Magellan, or will I be compromising something for the on road capabilities? Thanks! CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

After using a few other GPS units, reading reviews until my eyes watered, and then reading some more I've decided that I need to return the Magellan SporTrack Pro and grab one of these V's. They simply seem perfect what what I need. However, it would seem the V doesn't have two features generally found in a unit of this price: a digital compass and barometric altimeter. What's even more surprising is that no one here seems to mind! Perhaps I'm overlooking something? Or does the V work in a way that provides these features without explicitly stating they are included? I'm still really new at this, so I've gotta believe I'm missing the boat here. Can anyone show me the light? CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Hi all. Thanks so much for your responses. We did complete our first cache today! No doubt about it.. we're hooked. Let me clarify our question #4. It seems our GPS leaves a trail of breadcrumbs, indicated where we've been. How do we use these crumbs to follow the same path back out? We really might be over thinking this, but it would seem you almost want to hit a button and then have that trail become the waypoints. Almost like the GPS would tell you to turn left here, right here, left... in real time. The path becomes the goal and eventually you end up back to where you started. Does that make sense? I doubt it. Ah well, any help or you may be able to offer with this concept is more than welcome. =) CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

Hiya all. My wife and I are planning our first Geocaching event for tomorrow. We are both really excited, but have a couple of questions: 1) We understand the waypoint idea. Find one (from this website) where we want to look, download it to ExpertGPS and then to our SporTrack Pro. But we dont really get route/track features. How do we use "track" and or "route"? For example, lets say we want to hit a total of three caches. How do we create a route/track between them? Or rather do we just activate the current goal and go where the arrow points us? 2) Sort of a variation of question 1. It looks like you can use MapQuest to locate the cache nicely, complete with directions from our front door. Is this cheating? It kind of feels like we ought to be hopping into the car or on the bike or on foot and following the GPS exclusively, not using a map tool to get us close. Is this just a personal preference or are we missing something here? 3) What is the best screen to use on your GPS? Is it the map, or compass or other? Intuitively, it seems the compass screen (with the arrow) is probably the best. Again, are we missing something? 4) Again kinda like question 1. How do you use a route/track to find your way back out? Lets say a particular cache is a few miles from our car. Can we record on the GPS our route and then retrace our steps? What screen shows us how to get back? Just follow the lines on the map screen? Thanks in advance for your time! I'm sure all will be much clearer tomorrow after we've actually gone out and found a few caches! Hopefully the answers here will help as well. J&J To be or not to be... who the hell cares as long as you be GeoCaching!

Hey there! I'm very new to all this and am loving it! I've recently installed ExpertGPS and would like some help understanding it. I've tried to reference the help file, but I didn't find it all that helpful. Basically, how do I map a route? For that matter, what is the relationship between tracks, routes and waypoints? Is there a way to see a map that shows all the waypoints along a route (or track... not sure I understand the difference). How does one create a route or track? Can I take a GeoCache location, a starting location and create a route between the two, then store that to my GPS? Question overload I know. Maybe there is a good source where all this is addressed. If so, can anyone direct me there? Thanks all, for your time! To be or not to be... who the hell cares as long as you be GeoCaching!