Lennu

I have the TomTom and I am using it for approaching the site by car. It is a really good aid since with the new software it is possible to fed in the coordinates. The TomTom directs you to the nearest drivable road. After that I use my normal garmin GPSr

Oh, no! Not another cache in te WOODS. - GPS is nearly useless - Mud and dirt - Spider webs - Assorted bugs and possibly even wasps

Actually TomTom is really a gas saver. With the new software version you can actually imput the destination in form of coordinates. In this way it gives you directions to the nearest drivable road to the cache. Once you park the car then you can use your normal GPS unit. I strognly reccoment this technique to everyone who own a TomTOm

And I thought that my experience with normal wasps was bad..... ... Hornets! WOW! This is similar to mmy experience anyway. I heard the buzzing sound and I thougth it was a mosquito or a fly. After having read almost the whole thread I have to say that most of the bad experiences are related to encounters with dagerous insects. We have covered wasps, bees and hornets Leo

The story is not over. This morning when I woke up I found a dead wasp in the bath tub. Where did it come from ?! I must have brought it in yesterday when I came back . I went out caching again and I entered a wood. Immediately a couple of wasps came closer! I run away immediately. I found some interesting information in the internet. Wasps communicate thru chemicals. Indeed I was smelling something during yesterday's attack. A smell that I recalled immediately from the previous time i got stung, many years ago. If you ask me to dscribe the smell I wouldn't know what to say, except that it is the smell of fear! The pheromone must have spread all over me and also inside the car. I better stay clear of woods and areas where they can have their nests for a while. By the way, I got from yesterday's encounter some souvenirs. I got stung on my arm, my scalp, my shoulder, my back, and my finger. It is much worse than a mosquito bite. All the area is swollen and hard. If it doesn't get better I will have to see a doctor tomorrow. Let's face it. Geocaching is dangerous. It is not just the wasps or the ravines ar falling from trees. The point is that when we are concentrated on the search we forget about what is around us. I think that we should take a lesson from our bad experience. We should never rush, and remember to play it safe

Consider yourself lucky! Today I had an encounter with WASPS. I was in a park and I felt something on my head. I slapped the top of my head and after 1 second the wasp was stinging my arm. I want into panic and I run away. THEY WERE FOLLOWING ME! I stoppede for a few seconds panting and I heard tyhe again buzzing all around me. I had to run to the car. I run like hell, then I saw a man and a woman with dogs and I cried for help. The man told me to turn around and he found ano on my back. He slapped it away. I thanked him and I continued to run towards the car. After a few seconds I heard him shouting. The wasps were attascking him too. Without looking back I made a final sprint to the car, opened the door and get inside. In the moment I closed the door I saw that two wasps were inside. I opened the car and I tried to send them out. A third wasp was on my seat. I killed it. I run one lap around the car and got back in. No wasp in sight. I started the car and I began to move. The I thought: "Wait a minute, if there is a wasp inside and it stings me while I am driving I can have an accident." So I stopped and checked again. Here it is, another wasp. I sent it out. Then I finally drove away from the pace. After less than half a mile anyway I stopped near a shopping mall and I inspeced the car once more and I removed and inspected my t-shirt too. Finally I got stung on my forearm, on the tope of my head and on my back. I consider myself lucky that I am not allergic to it. It is incredible how fast and how aggressive they are! I got bitten a couple of times when I was a kid but I have nver been chased by a swarm.

Capisco la tua frustrazione. Io ho comincia to a praticare Geocaching solo da un mese. Mi trovo in questo momento negli Stati Uniti per lavoro, per la precisione ad Atlanta. Di caches qui ce ne sono a migliaia. Gli Stati Uniti sono molto attivi nel GEocaching. Vai a vedere le caches che ho trovato e l'area, ti sorprenderai. La Georgia è uno stato ricchissimo di boschi e la zona dove mi trovo è suburbana/residenziale. Molte delle caches in cui mi sono cimentato soffrono della copertura degli alberi. è veramente irritante. Non sono un esperto ma ecco alcune dritte. 1) esci dalla zona di copertura degli alberi e valuta la distanza e la direzione. Poi muoviti verso la cache non troppo velocemnte e possibilmente in linea retta. il GPS sembra funzionare un po' meglio in movimento, anche se l'aquisizione iniziale delle coordinate va fatta con buona visuale del cielo e immobili. 2) Basati sugli indizi e sui commenti degli altri cachers. Le coordinate non sono tutto 3) Cruciale: espandi il tuo "search-ring". Questo è importantissimo. Non dimenticare che anche chi ha piazzato la cache può aver fornito delle coordinate sballate 4) Anche se sono ingegnere e ci capisco abbastanza di propagazione radio, non ho mai capito perché certi boschi sono GPS-friendly e altri no. Quando ti trovi in un bosco non disperare, la ricezione può anche essere buona. La qualità del segnale GPS dipende anche da quanti satelliti hai sulla verticale. I satelliti GPS non sono geostazionari ma su orbite piu basse e la loro posizione camabia continuamente. Se oggi il segnale è pessimo, domani può anche essere migliore Buon divertimento

I am european but I am currently in the US for work for a couple of months. I discovered Geocaching thanks to an article on a online newpaper. Being here alone I found an amazing hobby to spending my free time. I have already seen tha back home there are plenty of caches to be found (check Espoo - Finland) Anyway, my wife came here for a couple of weeks and I told her about how enthusiastic I was about geocaching. I wanted to show her how good it is. We were looking for a cache in a place full of bamboos in the proximity of a creek. She got eaten by mosquitos and said: "Look, I will just wait in the car..". While leaving the location she stepped on a doggy-do. "I lost a liter of blood becouse of those mosquitos and my brand new shoes are full of s###! I have it figured out already: geocaching sucks!" I hope I will make her change her mind....

Ultimately..... I don't understand why so many people are interested in what we are doing instead of minding their own business. Of course if we are trespassing into a protected area it is perfectly understandable. Once a man cam and ask what I was doing, he was the pastor of some church. I had a printout of the cache and a GPS in my hand and I couldn't do anything else but telling the truth. He said: "Alright then, I know about that. I see you guys quite often around here, no problem have fun. I just wanted to be sure"