Prairie Dog

What's your budget? Here are 2 packs that I own and use. REI Lookout Pack. Dakine Heli Pack Pro. Designed with snowboarding in mind, but works great for carrying geocaching stuff too. I've had an older version of this pack for 4 years.

Just ask! That's what I did. The lady in the photo processing center opened a large drawer that was full of 'em. She said take as many as you want. I took about half of what was in the drawer. I counted about 25 when I got home. Not just Wal Mart. Anywhere that does photo processing will surely have a supply of empties on hand. Just ask! That's what I did.

Well first and foremost I use it for Geocaching. That is the reason I bought it. Since then though, I have used it for navigation in the car and in cities when I didn't know my way around. One really neat use is to use it as a speedometer while snowboarding. I clipped it on my backpack and bombed the hill. I went like 48 MPH, cool! Another use is to measure distance in feet for Disc Golf or Frisbee throws. It's not perfect accurate for this, but it gives you a pretty good idea of how you're throwing.

It's not a secret society. Just take for example all of the news articles about Geocaching. I tell everyone about Geocaching and always invite them along with me. Calling it a secret society is a bit of a stretch. If anything it is more of a quirky hobby. Anyone else? Help me out here.

Check out your local "Dollar" store. In my area we have Family Dollar, Dollar General, and The Dollar Tree...Whew! Remember that trade items should be family and kid friendly. Ask yourself what you would lke to find in a cache? I'm a sucker for keychain carabiners, mini flashlights, and small camping whistles. I've seen ponchos, eyeglass repair kits, Silly Putty, Slinky's, small wooden puzzles, rubix cube, match box cars...the list goes on and on. Is there anything unique or identifiable to your particular area that you might leave as a trade item? Do you live in an old railroad or mining town? A local sports team maybe? In my area The University of South Carolina logo items are popular with out-of-towners. We have a rather tounge-in-cheek tag line.

That's a beautiful waterfall. Where was this picture taken?

And here I thought all geocachers drove Jeeps. Shows what I know.

YES! Grab one and move it along to another cache.

No... Can I borrow yours? That's a great light!

See if you can borrow someone else's GPS unit to try it out. I'm betting you'll get hooked fairly quickly.

On a lighter note this is only maybe the 3rd or 4th cache I've heard of that aroused suspicion and the authorities were called. Out of the hundreds of thousands of caches in the world it's a VERY low percentage. Get permission and use common sense.

Just turned 29.

Yeah what Sputnik said in his post. Take time to read the user manual and familiarize yourself with the GPS unit. This will save you time while caching and prevent headaches in the future. Welcome to the addiction and Happy Caching! Here is a forum specifically for GPS units and software related questions. You might get more/better responses if you post GPS specific questions there.

Clouds and tree cover will make for poor satellite reception. I'm a big wuss and I don't geocache in the rain. When the GPS says I'm within 50 feet of a waypoint I begin walking VERY slowly and give the unit a chance to catch up and average out my position. I'm using a Magellan and for the most part have had very good results with it. The GPS is only a reference device. YOU must look for the cache and watch where you're going at the same time. Sorry about the barbed wire fence. Glad it wasn't the 'ol twig and berries.

Good job! Now go find all the caches within 5 miles of your house.

I loved Maglites. They were all I ever needed until... I used to be a skeptic of expensive flashlights. There was no way I could justify spending $93.00 for a light. I bought a Surefire Z2 Combat light with some holiday gift money. I fell in love with it. A year later I purchased the Surefire 6P. You've got to understand these lights are awesome! I still have 2 mini maglites, one 2D cell, one 3D cell, and one 4D cell. The thing is I never use them anymore. I took out the batteries and they sit on a shelf in my closet. I'm not saying an expensive flashlight is right for everyone, but man they are super bright. I use my lights for everything. Geocaching, finding my way in the dark, walking the dog at night. The least expensive Surefire light is the G2 Nitrolon priced at $36.00. It has a 65 lumen light output.

I've found several caches in my area that are "lottery ticket" caches. The scratfh ticket and powerball Lottery is a new thing in SC and we are excited to be playing it. The general rule is that you may find the cache and sign the log book getting credit for athe find. A TNLN would apply here. But if you want to play a lottery ticket the owner asks that you buy a ticket and swap it with the ticket already in the cache. Scratch it off and see if you win. Just make sure that the ticket you leave is playable and not already scratched off. Otherwise it's just litter. Happy caching!

I'm using a Magellan SporTrak Map. At first I used it with all of the screens turned on. As I geocached and marked more waypoints I realized I only use 4 of the screens. The ones I use the most are the map screen, compass screen (points to goto waypoint), satellite tracking screen, and a screen with large readout that shows top and average speeds. My advice is to play around with your new unit, congratulations by the way, after becoming familiar with how to use it you will see which screens you prefer to use.

Thank you Embra for the troubleshooting checklist. Today at lunch I took it outside and left it on while I ate. Guess what...? It works! Oh, happy days again! <doing a Snoopy dance>

I own a Magellan Sportrak Map. Yesterday the thing stopped tracking satellites. It worked fine in the car while driving then later in the day I fired it up and all it would tell me is “tracking 1st Sat” and it would just hang there. I turned it on and off several times, I changed out the batteries, I even reinitialized it twice. Nothing. I waited a few hours and tried it again. Still nothing. Now I am back home and it seems dead, Jim. Yesterday I was in Athens, Georgia during the GA vs. AUB football game. I thought maybe because of all the cell phones and TV stuff going on there might be interference. Anyone know what would cause a GPS unit to stop tracking satellites? Is this a good excuse to ask Santa for a new unit? Sigh…

Does anyone know why the WJTB's have names? I was looking on the Geowoodstock page at all the TB's and the jeeps have names listed with them like "Bob" and "Sue." I guess it gives them more personality and makes it easier for the cacher to identitfy with the Jeep?

Magellan Sporttrak Map. I like the price. Slightly larger display and easy to use button navigation all located on the front of the unit. It floats too! I have large hands and this model fits comfortably in them. That's about it. I didn't check out too many other models before deciding. I am planning to buy an Explorist 600 this year.

A wonderful series of caches located around beautiful and historical areas in South Carolina. Sorry! Sorry! I just couldn't resist! Please don't ban me. Just a little comic relief from my end.

I've used the project waypoint feature on my Magellan for 2 geocaches. In a nutshell you're telling the gps that you want to travel X number of feet/meters in a certain direction. The gps then projects or marks this waypoint and it gives you a point of reference to travel to. If you have a compass and some way to measure distance you can accomplish the same thing.

I don't get it. Is there something funny about Waffle Houses? Y'all probably think the Piggly Wiggly and Winn Dixie grocery stores are funny too.