dingermcduff

I completely understand how a GPS and 2D/3D navigation works....I'm the guy who does GPS trainings where I work! What I don't understand is what the product specs mean for those Garmin units. If you click on them, you'll see what I mean. Why would one unit say "No" while the other says "2D"??? What are they getting at???

I was checking out Garmin eTrex Legends on the Best Buy site and noticed something odd. The unit at this link has 2D listed for "2D/3D capability" under product details. And the unit at this link has NO listed for "2D/3D capability" under product details. What does this mean? Are they both capable of navigating with and without elevation? I called Best Buy but couldn't get a good explanation and I tried calling Garmin but the hold times were outrageous....plus most of you guys know GPS units better than their customer service reps anyway. I'd be curious as to what those who have used the first model think of it. Is it generally user-friendly? Can you take track logs and download them from the unit? Can you upload tracks onto the unit? Can you figure the length and encompassed area of the track log on that unit? Also, have any of you ever seen Garmin 72 or 76 models at Best Buy? Our 2 local places do not carry them, but they said that other stores might. Thanks!!

Here it is after midnight and I'm frantically trying to solve my PDA problems before I attend an event and spend tomorrow caching. If I don't get this soon, my weekend will basically be ruined. Recently the battery in my WPc500 died. I recharged but had to do a soft reset. I no longer see the cachemate program in the menu but I assume it will show once I load a .gpx (.pdb) file. Problem is, I can't even do that. When I try to HotSync, I get this error: "Unable to initiate HotSync operation because the port is in use by another application." Well, I made sure that all other programs were closed, the cable was hooked firmly to the COM port, and my PDA was firmly in the cradle. No dice. I am wondering if I no longer have my name, username, or whatever the term is for the name you put in when you initially set up the PDA. I don't know how to check and I don't have a manual. I also have no idea how to enter one if it's gone. I haven't been able to get away from work in a long time and I expect that trend to continue indefinitely, making tomorrow's day of caching a really huge deal to me. Since I'm attending a morning event, I'll have no way to print off more than one or two cache sheets in the morning, leaving me unable to cache tomorrow...actually today at this point.

I just returned from my trip to South Dakota. The weather was fantastic (although the wind apparently doesn't stop blowing) and I had a great time. I did sneak in 20+ caches (though I haven't logged them yet) and I noticed that I did find caches hidden by 2 respondents to this thread--Ted's Trekkers and Acid Rain...Thanks! Only one snake encounter, at the Badlands, my son almost stepped on a snake (before my wife grabbed his arm and yanked him backward) that slithered across a trail. I only saw the snake for a moment, but it was longer than 24", was sandy colored and had a pattern similar to the photos I have seen of rattlesnakes. However, I didn't notice a rattle on the tail and didn't hear anything, though again, I only saw it for a moment. Any ideas? Did we narrowly avert disaster?

Yes. I've been much more restrained about caching and my other obsession, birding. I'm mostly a check to check guy and with the rising gas prices have come little increases in the costs of other things as well. As long as prices are high, I'll be staying closer to home and passing up the FTF race in favor of trying to grab caches on my way to do other things.

sounds about perfect, perseid88

Thanks. I guess I won't worry about it too much...just keep my eyes open. Mountain lions are extremely rare in northern Minnesota...we do have lots of black bears, wolves, and moose however. Skunks, snapping turtles, carnivorous plants, and walls of mosquitoes to watch out for too. How are the mosquitoes in the Black Hills in late May anyway? I wouldn't think that bad, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll be mostly caching in the Black Hills area, but I hope to hit a few in North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana if possible. I see that all 3 respondents have hides...perhaps I'll do some of your caches! Thanks.

Being from an area with NO poisonous snakes, I have a question about the caching trip I'll be making to the Black Hills, Badlands, and western North Dakota areas in late May. I'll be there with my wife and 4 year old...are rattlesnakes much of a problem in these areas? We'll probably hit some caches well off the road, not just park and grabs. Thanks.

My biggest fear is that I might run into some freak out there when I'm caching with my son. If I'm alone and I have to off some weirdo, fine, but I don't want to have my son's safety be the issue. I've never been caching in an area with rattlesnakes and I'm going to cache in the western Dakotas with my wife and son this summer, so I'm kind of worried about this. I don't even really know if there are many snakes there, but I'm guessing there are. I think my wife will be done caching for good if we see one and I'm afraid my boy might try to catch it. Here in northern Minnesota we have bears (no worry), moose (little more worry), wolves (lots of 'em, shouldn't worry but the thought is always in the back of my mind), and the rare cougar (doubt I'll ever see one in the woods, but if I did I'd soil myself). I'd really hate to run across a meth lab. We have some remote forests and bogs up here, but I don't get lost very easily, so I don't think that's an issue. Every year I think it might be the year I get Lyme or West Nile. Why do I cache again?

Come on people! Whether or not it is a parent's responsibility to keep an eye on their kids, some inevitably will not do so. In these cases, it is the CHILD that suffers if the rest of us do not choose to respond. I'd rather take the chance at being inconvenienced in looking out for the safety of someone elses kid than to have something preventable like this happen to a kid because I felt it was someone else's obligation to deal with. Also, lead EASILY moves through a child's bloodstream to the brain. This is why children have many more instances of lead poisoning than adults, despite the fact that adults are exposed to much more lead. Lead can be absorbed through the skin, which is why NO children's toy or jewelry should contain it. This bracelet charm had a 99% lead content!! What kind of a bonehead would have been OK with that decision? Even if the kid doesn't put the item in his/her mouth (which I know adults who can't stop chewing their pens), the lead can rub off on hands and be ingested from food while eating or in incidental hand to mouth contact. I don't think I'd be cavalier enough with my son's health to knowingly let him play with a lead toy. There is plenty of data out there showing that lead kills kids...and the one's who aren't killed have all sorts of neurological problems. We can get into this garbage debate over whether it's lead paint or lead toys or lead water pipes or whatever and we can also get into whether it's only a parent's job to protect kids or if it's society as a whole that bears that responsibility, but to me the prudent and ethical choice is to support anything that keeps this toxic metal out of the hands of ANYONE'S kids. I really reject this notion that parent's should always be "on their own" in looking out for their kids and that we don't all suffer when parent's don't/can't make the right choices for their children.

My job working for a conservation corps and doing wildland firefighting in the spring often requires me to carry a heavy pack or tools considerable distances. I also have to pass a pack or step test each year. The way I see it, I often carry items I probably won't need because having that extra weight when I hike helps condition me for work.

When I was younger I helped my dad run a trapline, so I'm pretty familiar with the laws. Not that it would be any less distasteful to you El Diablo, but ALL of my sets were kill sets; in other words anything we trapped was dispatched in a matter of seconds. In fact, unlike most trappers, I never even carried a pistol because I knew I wouldn't find any live animals. I have since sold my traps because I lost interest in running a trapline. Sounds like this guy is trapping nuisance animals that someone would pay to dispatch whether he did it or not. While most trappers you meet are regular guys, there is definitely a few true backwoods boys out there, the kind of guys that get a skunk in the trap AND EAT IT! And those varment-eaters ALWAYS carry a gun. That's motivation enough for me to not want to get caught messing with a trap. I occasionally find traps up here in Minnesota, and I'm always on the lookout when I'm tromping through the woods during the season. One unfortunate potential issue with trappers and cachers might be if a cacher brings a dog with. Dogs have a tendency to find traps. If you regularly take a dog into an area that might have traps, you might want to consider printing the document at this link: http://gundogdoc.com/library/trap_release.pdf and carrying it in your caching pack. It is actually pretty easy to look at a trap and figure out where you need to apply pressure to open it. As it shows (somewhat poorly), most people need a heavy string or rope to open their first conibear trap. If you're a bigger guy, you might be able to open one with your hands.

Here is a link to a disease geocachers are especially prone to: Blastomycosis Basically, it's a fungal disease caused by inhaling spores from the soil or rotting wood. It can be debilitating or fatal if not treated. The symptoms are typically like pneumonia, but can affect other organs or harm you without any symptoms at all initially. Pretty insidious.

I have 2 things working in my favor: - I work outdoors and some of the work I do involves GPS use, and - while my boss isn't a geocacher, she thinks caching is cool and she's really laid back about how I spend my time so................. hell yes I get paid to cache.

I've had a problem at a cache site with a Lock & Lock container. I received a report of wet cache contents at a cache I had placed using a L&L. This finder stated that the lid was difficult to replace. Soon after that another 'wet cache' log came in. I emailed the finder to see if I needed to go out there or if he thought everything was OK. He said he got the lid on and it should be fine. Now last week I get another log that the contents were wet. So I emailed this finder to ask if he had any insight. He did. He said that the lid had been put on UPSIDE DOWN. Apparently one of the early finders replaced the lid upside down and then the next couple of finders followed suit. When I visit each cache site that I used a L&L at from here on, I think I'll include the equivalent of a "This side up" sign on the lid. Any ideas for what and where I should write this? It might be tougher for me since I used camo tape all over the container.

My hardest cache, New Life on the Prairie has only had 4 smilies, but 6 DNFs (one of the logged DNFs was actually for a group of 3 teams--I'm sure they would have all logged for the smiley had they found it . Of the finds: Two very experienced cachers (2000+ finds between them) had to make two visits and ask me for help to find. One had to make 2 trips and ask me for help. He 'solved' the final puzzle through complete dumb luck and coincidence. One had previous knowledge from the first version of the cache at another location and had to get help from someone else who had found the cache. The cache requires you to find several EXTREMELY difficult micros, solve a puzzle at each stage, and put it all together to solve a tough one at the end. And I only rated this one a 4.5 Of all of my caches, this one has gone the longest without a find.

I searched for a benchmark today in a fairly remote area that probably few people have been near. The spot was in a mine dump that had grown over. The benchmark was a 5' rod pounded into the ground with a cap on top. It was only 4.2' N-NE from a witness post--which I located. I can't fathom what could have happened to it. Where would a benchmark staked 5' in the ground, with specific directions, in an area that no one visits go to???

There are still some very remote parts of northern Minnesota...especially in the winter!

Mine is a recent change from the Scottish (I'm part) bluejay (I'm a birder) in front of the pub (I'm a drinker!) with a hiking staff & Garmin III+. Now I have a photo of me from a wildfire I worked on in Ely, MN this summer.

When you pay for a membership through PayPal, do you get a confirmation email from PayPal and one from bot@Groundspeak.com? I tried to renew my membership via the Groundspeak store and got an error message that I couldn't understand or get around, so I went through PayPal. When I checked my email to get the subscription number through PayPal, I noticed an email from PayPal AND one from bot@Groundspeak.com. Both had the same time of day--5:53. I'm wondering if this always happens or if I accidentally paid for a premium membership twice. If I did pay twice, would it be easier to go through Groundspeak or PayPal to get one of my $30 payments back?

If you're having trouble finding a cache, you should make sure that your GPS is not set to "power saver" mode (in the setup menu on a Garmin) and make sure that WAAS is enabled. Spend some time getting the GPS to zero out on a spot. Hang your backpack or jacket or something there. Now just comb circles around the backpack getting farther and farther away. This works many times. Try thinking outside of the box. Imagine the most devious thing you could do to a cache hunter in the location your in and try to find that. If hunting a multi and you are looking for numbers, all of which require manipulation to fit into the coords, you're probably not looking for a container or numbers written by the cacher. You're probably looking for something that was already in that location. Things like that can be clues. If you have a really tough one that you can revisit, try bringing someone who has never cached with you. It's amazing how someone who hasn't been conditioned to look for a particular type of hide can pick out tough hides like nothing.

My advice: Contact a local cacher (or several) with a lot of finds and ask them what the area's best caches are. Maybe cherry-picking a few gems out of the crowd would do it for you.

Taking my 3 year old to do a couple caches today. One is a 4.9 mile round trip hike, the other is a 1.7 mile round trip hike.

Just curious: Do any of you cache owners out there email finders? How about DNFers? Do you just email the locals you know after a find or those with an interesting log? Do you often get emails from cache owners? Personally, I just recently put out a few caches that are "on the beaten path", so they are actually getting visited by cachers of than a few locals. In a few cases the finders have been new to the game. I've emailed a few of these individuals to say "welcome to geocaching!" and thank them for hunting my caches. I also sometimes email locals that find my caches or people who post interesting logs. Sometimes I'll get an email from a cache owner after I do their cache. I tend to write 3 and 4 paragraph logs, so I'm wondering if the email thing happens to me more than to others. Sometimes when I post a DNF I'll receive hints from the owner (I don't like when that happens). Many times locals will email me after I do one of their new caches for "an honest opinion" or just to say hi. What are your experiences sending/receiving emails to/from hunters/hiders?

Caching with my son is awesome! He's only 3, but he's been with me for 16 of my 18 hides and maybe as many as 3/4 of my finds. He's endured some VERY long hikes and made some tough climbs--with my help of course. He's the best caching companion I could have. Of course, there are those caches I would be a fool to bring him to--not many, he's pretty tough. Use your head and think of what your kid's been able to do in the past. It's also a challenge dealing with sun, steep areas, mosquitoes, dehydration--suddenly you're looking out for someone's safety beside your own. My little boy wandered into a yellow jacket nest a few weeks ago and got stung several times (I did too while getting him out of there), so you never know what will happen. Be prepared, keep an eye on your kid, and stay calm if something goes wrong, I say. As for swag, he doesn't care about it. We rarely ever take anything, sometimes leave something. I sometimes ask him if he wants to trade for anything and he usually doesn't. He does like travel bugs though. His big rush is finding the cache before my wife and I. Of course, sometimes we have to give him "hints", but a few times he has actually found a cache we were going nuts looking for. He also likes to be the one to rehide the container--don't worry, if he doesn't do it quite right I hang back and fix it. Crazy as it sounds, my son would rather find a benchmark than a geocache any day of the week. He's ALWAYS looking for marks. If he sees anything round set in concrete, he's yelling "benchmark!" Manhole covers, waterline accesses...you name it. FUNNY STORY: Earlier this spring, I was training for the wildfire season (I fight wildland fires) by putting on a heavy pack and hiking up this steep hill in the mine dumps near my home. Just as I walked out the door I said to my wife, "Well, I'm going for my death march." My little boy jumped up off the floor and grabbed ahold of my arm and started crying and telling me not to go. My wife and I couldn't believe it. Here he was, barely 3, and genuinely concerned that something bad was going to happen to me. My wife looked at him and said, "It's OK, daddy's gonna be OK." That's when we found out what he thought I had said: He cried, "Daddy's finding a bench mark without me!" Apparently "death march" sounds like "bench mark" to a little benchmarking addict.