The Geocache Hunter

The Army is definately still using ammo cans. However, a majority of the empty and used ones are currently overseas. I don't anticipate seeing too many expendable cans around here until we start training again.

Have you seen what the Army currently uses? Its as big as a 1980s cell phone and very hard to program waypoints. The primary navigation screen only shows your location in the Military Grid Reference System, your elevation, and your speed. It has no compass, no bearing or heading, and definately no maps. Even though the Army's GPS can be accurate to 1 meter (10 digit Grid Coordinate), I am only interested in 6 digit grid coordinates (within 100 meters). As a crewman in a M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank we don't need pinpoint locations to get the job done. So......my GPS is much more user friendly, I can upload maps of the training area to it, I can use it to update the tanks PosNav system, and it is more than accurate enough for me. The Army is suppose to field the next generation of GPS recievers this year so maybe we'll see a lot of improvements. Now that I think about it, a private is more likely to lose anything thats not the size of thier head.

I am in the Army and prefer to use my GPS versus the one the government provides me.

The best thing about my job is I get to use the ammunition in the cans before I turn them into caches. (I am in the Army ) Actually it can be a real pain to get them because all ammunition residue (brass, boxes, crates, etc) must be turned in and accounted for. Its not impossible, but I do get my cans for free.

I find that I am just a little bit off with Magellan Topo/Mapsend. I can handle a little bit of deviation with the roads but I want to know where magellan got thier data for topography because it is often completely inacurate; streams running along hillsides, hilltops halfway up a mountain, ridges that aren't where they are suppose to be, sloping terrain where a valley should be, and even a case where I stood on top of a ridgeline and my GPS map said I had 2500 more feet before I reached the top. It is as if they just completely made it all up and threw mountain topography wherever.

I own a Magellan SportTrack Pro and really love it. I find it very easy to program an can do it on the fly. The menus are easy to navigate. I also picked up the Topo software but found the topography to be very inaccurate, however, the roads are dead-on. So basically its great for finding the closest parking place and the way to it but not for determining if the cache is on a hillside or mountain top. If you pay more than $250 for this model you are paying too much. I also say, go for the mid-range GPSr even if you are just starting out. Why not? There's always E-bay if you give up on Geocaching (but why would you do that?).

Where are you on my unscientific scale of Geocache Addiction? Level 1: "Adult treasure hunt? Neat!" Level 2: "This is so cool!!" Level 3: "If I plan this right I can find ten caches today!" Level 4: "Are you kids done playing with your Happy Meal toys?" Level 5: "I was FTF but there were too many muggles about so I TNLNSL" Level 6: "That looks like a great place to hide a cache!" Level 7: "I'll be in the tupperware aisle if you need me." Level 8: "No, I've got other uses for this PDA" or "I really do need a backup GPS." Level 9: "But a 4x4 with a three inch lift and electric winch is a practical vehicle." Level 10: "Unngh....bluhh...caches everywhere.....urng...must find....." How do you identify your own addiction?

I am one of those guys who packs everything but the kitchen sink (actually I bring the faucet, aka water filter) but I also do this intentionally for the challenge and the added work out. I'm not insane about it though. I still try to keep it fairly light but will pack it even if I don't think I need it

Yeah it sucks we gotta pay more. But I am still going to fill up and go where I please. This situation reminds me of the guy who says he is going to quite smoking every time the price of cigarettes goes up. Years later he's still smoking and paying a dollar fifty more than when he began to complain about it.

I feel lucky for only having to pay $1.91. This is about the average for Colorado Springs. Even though I live on a Military Installation (Fort Carson) it is no cheaper than off post. Some old timers told me it used to be cheaper for military but I haven't seen it in my 8 years in.

Granted there are many trade items out there that are cheap but I also like to throw in the "cool" factor. I've been trading patriotic coins that are very well made yet cost only about $1.50 apiece. They are bronze, a bit biger than a silver dollar and rather thick. One side is a full colored US flag and the other side is either a fully embossed image or a great block letter quote. They are unusual, interesting, and very collectable even though they cost very little. As far as I can tell, they are only available at military Post Exchanges. I still make an effort to make fair trades. Even McGarbage toys can be cool. There is actually a collectable market for them. For example, a E.T. happy meal toy from the 80's is worth some big bucks. Todays McGarbage Lion King is tommorows treasure. Of course the value decreases when opened, broken or chewed on. Or all three in some cases.

Okay, here is an idea I've been working on....Thought about putting some basic scrapbooking supplies in a cache and inviting others to help create a scrapbook page. The participants would have to bring a picture or two to scrapbook or even bring a pre-done page (I'd give the size in the description of course). Would this work?

If you want to store your maps, keep them waterproof, and view them at any time all you need to do is ask the people who have been doing it for generations; The US Army. Many bussinesses make excellent cases that are sold commercially for the military. Take a look at www.Raineinc.com for dozens of map case styles. I bought a map case from them (sold at my local PX) that Looks like this. This map case is awsome. It rolls up tightly with velcro straps is easy to stow away on the side of my daypack. It even has two pen holders for marking the plastic case (non-permanent markers). Ranger Joes has a few And so does US Cavalry

I had the opposite problem. 2 USB ports and no serial port on my laptop. So I got a Serial Port to USB adapter for about $28. (I found one that works for $12 but can't find it on the web). This should fix your problem too. You can have one device on your serial port and one on a USB port with the adapter.

Test

I am a vehicle commander on a M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank that has a integrated GPS system complete with full color maps. Would this make a good Cachemobile?

Since I am new at Geocaching I haven't yet placed one of my own. I would like to hear some more about caches with themes and how they have worked out. I am not aware of a "story" cache in my area but it sounds like a good idea. I've seen one cache with a dogtag theme (human and animal), a patriotic theme, and a self-made art project them (pottery, jewelry, drawings, etc). This is probably a topic in itself.

I am not sure if it is just my location but I have found that the topography in Magellans Mapsend is inaccurate. Sometimes it made no sense at all; hilltops that aren't there, flat openings on cliff faces, ridglines halfway up a mountain and even an instance of cresting a hilltop and having the topo on my screen say I had 2000 more feet to go. Someplaces come close but aren't perfect. The streams are accurate even though they sometimes are shown as going along a hillside rather than through the draw. The street data is dead on though.

Colorado is great. The mountains are spectacular and provide endless hiding places. You can spend an entire day just looking for one cache. With so many along the front range you can expect and endless adventures exploring new places. On the opposite end of the scale, I checked out my home state of Michigan and found very little to get excited about. The lower half of the lower peninsula is either city or open flat fields and offers very little geocaching. The rest of the state , that is actually worth looking at, is so unpopulated that caches are far and few between.