AutumnRae

I have been wanting to get into caching for years now, but I have not been able to find anyone interested in caching with me. I was wondering if there are any lurkers out there near this are that have been having similar problems finding partners. If you're new and have never been out, or are a novice and can't find a steady partner, please contact me.

I highly suggest looking into Knoebels. It is an amusement park with two campgrounds. One is located adjacent to the park and one is located a short drive away with free transportation to the park. The park itself is amazing (I should know, I work there) and it's a great place to spend the weekend. It's amazingly inexpensive compared to places like Six Flags since admission is free and the food is very reasonably priced. Amusement Today (one of the leading national amusement park groups) has voted Knoebels park #2 best amusement park in the entire nation, second only to Cedar Point. The campgrounds are wonderful, but tend to get crowded on the weekends the further into summer you go, especially in the one adjacent to the park. The one that's farther away might better suit your interests especially if you don't want to spend your entire weekend at the park, as it's more of a "regular campground" with a lake and such. Or if you'd like to visit the park but don't want to stay at their campgrounds, there are numerous other campgrounds in the immediate area, including one that I have been camping at for about 15 years. You can check out the park's website at www.knoebels.com. If you have any questions about the park or want more info about other campgrounds in the area, feel free to ask me.

A shot in the dark, but where are you from? I've been looking for a Geocaching partner as well, but haven't had any luck. Even if you're not close to me, maybe someone else here is looking for a new partner and would like to cache with you. Never mind. I should read posts first before I respond. You clearly stated where you were from

Kayvon and I have decided that the problem may be that my PC isn't recognizing my GPS as a GPS, but just another USB drive. That's why the Geocache Manager isn't sending the files I create to the GPS. I tried manually moving the files to the GPS, but that isn't working. I tried restarting the GPS, but that isn't working. Does anyone know how I could get my PC to recognize my unit as a GPS?

Thanks for moving it! Wasn't too sure where it ought to go.

Edit: I meant to say Magellan in the title I bought a Magellan Explorist 210 last year so I could start Geocaching. Things came up last year and I never got to do much with it. I decided to try again this year. I found my GPS but couldn't find the software that came with it. I searched my PC and found the Magellan Geocache Manager software that I must have uploaded last year. Anyway, I've been spending the past couple hours trying to get some cache points onto my GPS. The program I have allows you to "send" the cache points you've entered into the system straight to the GPS unit. However, when I try to do that, it says "GPS not found" even though I have everything plugged in and the unit says it is in USB file transfer mode. So I tried putting the files in the geocache file manually, but they are still not showing up in the GPS unit. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? Or can tell me how to do it right? I'm on spring break right now and I really wanted to do at least a few caches before school starts again, so I really appreciate any help I can get!! Thanks, Autumn

Yeah sorry, Froggy 101 is a (real) Scranton-based radio station. They stick the bumper stickers and such into the episodes. It doesn't have anything to do with geocaching.

Well I just went ahead and bought a GPS on ebay. It's a Magellan eXplorist 210 NIB for $72 inc. shipping. What that a good deal? Is that a decent unit for caching?

I would like to start caching soon, but I have yet buy a GPS. I don't readily have access to the internet over the summer, so I've been printing out the pages for all of the local geocaches, including the coordinates. I know the website has the option to upload the coordinates directly to your GPS, but I don't know if that will be something I will be able to do with my lack of internet access. I was looking at some gps units, and noticed that many of the lower priced units do not have many buttons. How exactly would I be able to enter a set of mapping coordinates into the gps manually? I just don't want to spend money on something and find out that I would have to upload all of them via the internet because I can't do it manually. Thanks in advance, Autumn

I am new, I have no finds to publish, nor have I even begun to attempt it (still trying to find the right GPS unit). After doing some research about local caches, I have discovered that I know exactly where one cache is, and that I visit that place often. There is a cache at my place of work. This place is on private property. The cache is a mystery cache. It is in the form of a structure on the private property. I'm not 100%, but I believe the structure is an official local historical landmark. I'd bet a dollar to a donut that the hider did not recieve permission to make the structure a cache for this game. This cache promotes the defamation of private property. There is no official log. You aren't required to in order to log this cache as a find, but the cache page encourages signing the actual structure as a way of logging your find. Now, I haven't sat and read all the guidlines for placing a cache. But I can pretty well tell you that almost every aspect of this cache violates the guidelines in some way or another; including, but not limited to: placing a cache on private property without permission and defamation of private property and/or a historical landmark (which would also be a violation of federal law). But you know what? I think that cache is one of the most ingenious caches I've come across in my (limited) research, and I'm not sure how many would be able to top it. I've been visiting my place of work since I was born (I'm nearly 21), and never realized that this structure was being used in a global treasure hunt game. Whoever reviewed this cache obviously thought that bending the guidelines would be suitable for this type of cache. The cache is on private property, but is "public" in a sense (to be more specific, a free admission amusement park), and it has become a park tradition to sign this structure (an original covered bridge) during your visit, regardless of the fact that the bridge is private property and a possible historic landmark. My point is that the cache breakes the guidelines of Groundspeak (or whatever, not sure of the technical terms for things yet), but the reviewer saw past these guidelines, taking in the personal aspects of the location before making a decision. A cache on private property without permission and one that defaces private and historical property would surely be dismissed if described as such. But a cache described as a bridge in a free admission amusement park with the ability to sign the bridge as a log, a tradition that has been in place long before the idea of geocaching, apparantly came off as good enough for the reviewer. I would think the job of the reviewer would be to analyze the caches individually and make judgements on a case by case basis. I would hope that a reviewer would be seasoned enough in the sport to appreciate the true nature of the game, (to learn about the places surrounding us, to not become jaded with your surroundings, to appreciate what the Earth has to offer), and to just become a 'rule' abiding official who has forgotten the real reason the sport exists. I think your cache sounds like a lot of fun, and one that I would very much enjoy finding if in my local area. I find it sad that you obviously have a passion for the sport, but your efforts are being denied on the grounds of a technicality that isn't even a technicality because it's not a rule. Good luck with your efforts. I hope things work out for you.