todd300

Thank you for the quick answer. I'll keep that in mind when I buy a GPS. I'm happy with my PDA with the bluetooth receiver for right now. The Smache navigation software rocks so I'm sticking with it for the time being. I can't see myself using a standalone handheld at the moment. Except when I'm in the rain. Maybe I'll get a low end GPSr just for rain caching and use my PDA and bluetooth GPSR when it's dry. Thanks again for the quick reply.

One of my favorite geocaching activities is caching in the rain. Why I like doing it is because there are no or few muggles around. No skeeters. No ticks - ok, I might pick one up along the way, but I'll doubt it'll stay on me as the rain pelts me. No bugs of any other kind. Just a nice steady rain shower. I do have to deal with less satellites than I normally would under a clear sky, but I usually pick easier caches when it's raining and use my instincts to make up for the loss in accuracy of the GPS under the cloudy skies. The issue is - are there GPSr's that are rain resistant? I'm not asking for what GPS to buy. I've seen enough of those threads. I just need to know if there are those that are NOT rain resistant so I can avoid them when purchasing one. Right now, I use my Pocket PC with a bluetooth GPSr for caching. I usually cover my pocket PC with a board in one hand while holding the pocket PC in the other. But I like to have my one hand free. I thought about draping over a clear storage bag over my hand holding the pocket pc so I can still see it and keep one hand free. But someday I plan on buying an actual GPSr when I have the money and will be making sure it can survive the occasional rain shower. Thanks to all that replies.

They do, but I do mine manually so I only back up what I want. I dislike using Microsoft Activesync as it's slow sometimes and syncs files I don't need sync'ed. So I use the SD card to do back ups. I hardly have any files on the main memory. Majority of them are on the SD card as well as many of the programs. I always install programs to my SD card if I can help it. Saves space too since most pocket pc's can only hold so much in the main memory.

I look at it this way. In our area, we are all good sports when it comes to new caches. I've only have 1 FTF in the 98 finds currently on my record as of this post. I could have gotten more if I wanted to. But I was in no hurry to get any of them. In fact, this happened just today. A new cache was published last night. It was at a cemetery so I waited until the next morning to go get it. If I really wanted to, I would have got up at dawn to go look for it since this particular cemetery was open from dawn to dusk. But I woke up around 7am, fired up the internet, loaded up GSAK and exported the caches that I wanted to find today into my PDA. Then off I went. I stopped at McDonald's to eat breakfast, then went on my way to the cache which was about another 6 miles. I got there. No one around. It was a quick find and I open the log book. A friend of mine got the FTF only a half hour after I got there, so I just missed him. But he left the FTF prize in it and just signed the log. I left the FTF prize as well and signed the log as STF then left. I was still happy to sign a fresh log since new caches in our area do not get published very often. I have had several STF's and TTF's and enjoyed each one. Was I upset that I missed on the FTF each time? Not at all. Each time I was STF and TFTF on a newly published cache, I e-mail the FTF'er "Nice job on the FTF". Many of the FTF'ers in my area are cachers I already know, so it's all good. If someone wants to drop what he is doing at the moment the text message comes in and says a new cache is published, by all means, go ahead. Me, I'll go out and look for it when I can. If I get the FTF, it's a bonus. If not, it's still ok by me to sign a fresh log book whether I'm FTF, STF, or TTF. I know some areas can get ultra competitive when it comes to racing after new published caches. Not my area. Some new caches would not get found for a day or two. We had one that was at a park & ride lot in a rural area that was not found for two months. Guess no one used that lot for their car pooling - lol While we love geocaching, we don't drop what we are doing for the most part to look for a new cache. It's all about having fun doing it whether it's for the FTF, STF, or the 1000th to find (I've yet to see a cache with 1000 logs or more on it - lol). To each his own in the race for the FTF.

I love them. I take it one needs a riveting tool to do that, however. I don't think that is something the average joe has at home.

Depending on the size of the cache: A lottery ticket, free drink token from a local pub, gift card for a meal at a fast food place. For bigger and more elaborate and tougher caches, maybe a t-shirt or a ball cap as a reward. Make the FTF fit the difficulty of the cache, especially if it is the final cache of a long series. Easier caches should have a small reward. Very tough caches should have a bigger reward. My first and only cache is in a small container. I simply used a lottery ticket as a FTF prize, but I have plans for a series sometime this summer with a nice prize for the final one in the series. Todd

Didn't know about that option in looking for my DNF's. THat's cool.

Congratulations. That makes it like the 1,000,000th time that this question was asked in this forum.

I wonder if anyone ever had a travel bug complete a mission or goal in which it was supposed to go to a certain destination, then once at said destination, make its way back home to a cache in his home area? I'm thinking about releasing such a TB to do this. I know the chances of such a goal/mission being completed are probably low, but I'm hoping to hear about at least one experience that it has happened so I can have a glimmer of hope of accomplishing the same thing. Thanks

Next time you do install a program to the PDA, do so in the storage memory card (typically the SD card) so that if you do lose your data in the main memory in the PDA due to a reset or a crash, the data on the memory card will not be lost. I use my PDA with a bluetooth GPSr and all my cache programs and gpx files are on an SD card. Bonus of the SD card is that I use it to exchange cache info from my desktop PC such as PQ's and gpx files exported from GSAK. Just do a re-install of your programs onto your memory card as well as your data on the memory card and you're good to go.

I've been caching since April 17 of this year. 85 finds as of this post with maybe a few of them newly published caches (1 FTF, 2 STF, 1 TFT). Yet, I have never accidentally run into a fellow cacher while on a hunt. I did, however, plan to meet up with a fellow cacher before a hunt to look for a very tough cache. We found it. That was the only time I met a fellow cacher. Otherwise, I have yet to run into a fellow cacher when I'm out caching.

This is a test. If it was the real thing....

No. The reviewer will remove them once the cache is published.

For caches hidden in "plain view" if you know what I mean, my cover is that I carry a clipboard and pen so I look like I'm an inspector. For LPC's, I park next to it, pop the hood, then make it look like I'm waiting for a jump and wait for the right moment to snatch the LPC cache. Other times, my story is "I lost my cell phone in the bushes. I'll find it. Thanks though" Sometimes I do the bold move as well. Sometimes I have my kids with me to provide cover anytime I go to a playground cache. All depends on the circumstances and what type of cache it is.

Thanks, MM. Appreciate it. True. I never thought of it that way. Good point. That's one way to think outside of the box. Thanks

Many times I come across cache descriptions that say for example "It's near a birch tree" or "look for a cluster of cedar trees." Well, I'm not a botanist. It's difficult for me to identify different types of trees especially when I'm in the middle of the woods with several different types of trees. I'm not asking how to identify each tree. That may take several posts. Instead, does anyone know of resources online that I could research so I can have a better chance of identifying the type of tree when I'm in the field? Thanks to all that respond

Micro Cache in a forest. Hint: Balsam. Gee, that narrows it down.

After I found a series of caches today, I came online to log them all. I was doing it by entering the GC numbers. So y'all know, I live in the U.P. Of Michigan and was hunting there. Anyways, after I logged a few caches, I entered another GC number and the page comes up as a....Korean cache? Korea??? I was nowhere near Korea!!! So I checked my notes and it turned out I entered a typo in the GC number. I put in the correct number and it brought up the cache that I was at and was able to log the visit. Then I entered the GC number for the next cache and this time it was in...Germany!!! Oh, man, I gotta stop entering the wrong GC number. Again, I went back and entered the correct GC number. From that point on, I make sure I have the right GC number before I hit the submit button - lol

But most campgrounds don't charge a fee for a visit such as someone wanting to visit a friend camping but has no intention to stay overnight. I've found a few caches at campgrounds with no problem. So as long as they allow day visitors, I don't see a problem with caches at campgrounds.

True dat. McGee always seems to find a way when it comes to technology. Sounds like you are familiar with the show as well.

If you are a fan of the TV show "NCIS", you'll like this one Gibbs: All right. You guys ready to go after that 5/5 cache? McGee: Yes, boss? Is it a multi? DiNozzo: Duh, probie. The first stage is on the top of a mountain and the second's somewhere in the middle of the sea. Hence the equipment that we are taking. Good thing the Navy is letting us use a helicopter. I guess for us, it's not really a 5/5 cache with the equipment we have. Ha,ha. Ducky: Do we have everything? Ziva: Everything but the bathroom sink. Dinozzo: Um, Ziva, the correct term is "kitchen sink." Gibbs: Enough chatter. The chopper's here. McGee, you remember to bring the GPSr? McGee: Um, no sorry, boss. I forgot. (Gibbs slaps McGee in the back of the head) Gibbs: And how the hell are we going to geocache without a GPSr?

Dang. You guys really travel. Been doing it for a month and I only have found caches no further than 50 miles away. But that'll change as I plan on taking some summer road trips. Even then about 180 or so miles at the max. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is dense with caches so there will be lots for me to find in the U.P. alone.

You are at work when you get a new publication notice on your cell phone. Your shift ends in 4 hours and it's 11am. The cache is 10 miles from work. No doubt someone will get that FTF before your shift ends. You actually think about pretending to be sick and ask to go home early. But common sense prevails and you finish your shift. You go home after your shift, download the gpx file of the new cache, load it on the gps and rush out to look for it. You find the cache and see that the FTF was logged only a half hour after it was published. Maybe you should have left early, hey? At least you were 3rd to find, so that's a small victory to still have somewhat of a fresh log book to sign. Happened to me last week.

It all depends if the reviewer for your area happens to be online at the time that you submit your cache. On my only cache, I first went to the location of my cache to get the coords, then went the 4 miles back home to write up the submission. I did not place the cache yet. After I wrote up the cache and submitted it, I got the GC number and wrote the GC number inside the cache container as well as the log book. Then I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and have a bite to eat before heading back out to place the cache, thinking I had time before it got published. Then my cell phone went off. Thought It was a text from my daughter to go get her from her friend's house. I opened the phone and was like "Crap! It got published right away!!" This was like about 7pm with daylight still outside. So I hurried up, drove the 4 miles to the cache site, and placed it. Thankfully it was the next day before the FTF was logged. I got lucky there. It would not have been good if a cacher showed up and not find my cache there. Lesson learned - get the GC number first, then put the cache online.

Snakes on a plane?