Gonzo-YT

I've already scouted a bunch of caches. Like I said, I'll mainly be focused on doing some caches in Gatineau park on one of my free days. I might do some in the downtown area if I get bored, but I'll likely have too many other things to do. Urban caches aren't my style. I don't imagine I'll do more than 4-5 caches. Who knows though... I'll bring along 3-4 pocket queries just in case. I'd love to make the Cache-In event, but unfortunately I'm leaving Ottawa that morning. Regards, Anthony

Heads-up that I'll be heading into Ottawa Sept 28 - Oct 2. I'm interested in doing any or all of the following: Meeting local cachers over drinks/coffee one evening. Taking travel bugs that want to go north to the Yukon. Caching! As far as drinks go, I'm based in downtown Ottawa and Darcy McGees is my location of choice, but I'm open to suggestions. For travel bugs, if you give me any just be aware that they might very well spend the next 8-12 months up here. I can also move bugs into Alaska quite easily. As far as caching, I'm not trying to get a lot. I'll might grab a few located close to downtown in the evenings, but I mainly plan to spend a full day in Gatineau park on either the Tuesday or Wednesday, probably looking like I'll do some of the ones located around Mt. King area. I also really want to get over to Meech Lake, just to say I was there. I'll be working off of public transport and feet. Anyone interested in joining me, let me know. I'll be bringing down a limited number of "Find Your Way to the Yukon" compass keychains. If I meet you I'll give you one, otherwise keep an eye out for them in a cache near you. Regards, Anthony

When you get closer to the antipodes, you start running into all these issues with map projections and geographical datum that I don't even pretend to understand. Basically, it makes it harder to translate things into grids, I think. I've had certain maps, using certain projections, be off by many kilometres when located somewhere like the coast of Alaska. That might have been the situation in the Galapagos. For my part, the Garmin Topo Canada stuff is bang-on, at least so far. Regards, Anthony

My Topo Canada was only $100 or so, as it came bundled with my GPS. It's amazing -- for the amount of data you get, that is peanuts. Also, it has a pretty good set of road data, no need to buy the city select. I can do full street routing here in Whitehorse.

I just found the only Cache Lake in Yukon... It's out in Kluane National Park. Fortunately, it is north of the big mountain ranges. Best looking route on the topos would be 35-40 km return trip. Terrain isn't bad, following a creek valley and some occasional segments of an old road, less than 1000m total elevation gain. Looks doable as a nice overnighter or a very hardcore day. Hmmm... Starting to plan things here... Like Thorin said, what better place for a cache?

As I understand, it's not so much how often you can check on it as it is your response time. If someone posts a log that says the cache is missing or damaged, you are expected to be able to fix the situation reasonably quickly -- within a couple of weeks, I think. If you only checked it once a year I think it would be OK provided that, if something happened, you would be willing to drive to the area and fix it in short order.

Actually, you may very well die. Hypothermia, for example, will kill you before you even realize that you're affected. Wilderness safety is not something to be taken lightly, especially since everything you need to survive (besides knowledge) can be carried in a small belt pouch. Survival is 95% preparation. Regards, Anthony

I have heard that good mapping data can be hard to come by in less-developed countries. Not sure about the Caribbean, but definitely an issue in South America. From what I understand you might end up getting maps that are U.S. in origin, and may not be that detailed or accurate.

I've placed two in the last few weeks, both were approved very quickly. Definitely less than 48 hours, IIRC. What's the rush, anyways? Placing a cache is a long process of planning and preparing -- at least, it is for me. Approval is just part of the process. Of course, I'm willing to bet that those two caches don't get found for at least 8 months, and probably more like 1-2 years. So, I'm definitely not in a rush.

I was in a local store the other day and I saw these Energizer Lithium batteries. They claim to last "five times longer in some digital cameras," but on the other hand they cost three times as much as the other Energizers. Has anyone tried them in a GPS? Do they do what they claim? Regards, Anthony

The Vista C color screen is nothing short of amazing, at least to me. Somehow, it is actually better to read in the sunlight. I use the backlight less than 5% of the time -- basically when I am indoors or it is the evening. Don't forget the screen resolution is significantly higher than the regular Vista/Legend models -- in fact, slightly higher than the 60C/CS even. I can't read my Palm Tungsten T-2 at ALL in the sun. Granted, it wasn't designed for that. Garmin claims 20 hours of battery on the Vista C. I haven't really kept track, but I'm sure that I get more than that. My estimate would be in the 30 hour range somewhere. Regards, Anthony

1. Sure, you can still use it anywhere you want. You just won't have ANY map at all. You can still do waypoints, tracks and stuff. 2/3. Yes... The need to be Garmin maps. Here in Canada we have two sets, one for city streets and one of topo maps. If Garmin doesn't supply maps for your area, there are ways to create your own, but you need to be pretty technical. Just out of curiousity, what did you pay for the unit on eBay?

I'm not trying to say that the box makes the location better, not at all. What I'm saying is, if I was in the area and wanted to see Initial Point, I would take a hike and go see it. To me, the caching part is the searching around under rocks and trees that you do to find the box. Without the caching, it is a great hike. With a physical cache, it's a great hike coupled with searching for a cache. The two are kind of exclusive for me. Actually, exclusive is a bad phrase. More like mutually enhancing. Caches suggest good trips, and finding caches is a fun thing to do when you reach the destination of such a trip. I will do one without the other, but together they're more fun. I hope I don't sound in any way confrontational... For me this has been an interesting dialogue, I have no personal stake in this discussion. Nothing about geocaching bothers me! Er, except maybe vacation caches... grrrr...

You can also take a quick look at the battery level by hitting the screen contrast button, it shows up in the bottom left.

I wouldnt have,and would delete the find if it was mine - but Its about the numbers to some peole while for others its not- So? I guess if it was archived, they wouldnt have hunted it, and couldnt have claimed the find, but given the way it went- what harm was done?To who? My take is that geocaching is a location-based game, not knowledge based. To me, the point is finding the location and not the date/information that verifies the find. Obviously, those people had found the right location, makes sense to log it in a way. Dunno though, I agree it's no skin off my nose one way or the other.

I agree totally, the point of the cache is the search and hopefully the find. That's kind of what I was trying to say. Let's think about a wilderness virtual -- sounds like a great idea. Gets you out to some cool places, which is why I love this game. But, I could just as easily look for hikes in a guidebook or from a local map. I don't need a GPS and a geocache to do that. I've got photos from lots of pretty lakes and mountain peaks -- I don't need to call those geocaches. Out on the land, I'm using GPS, maps, compass, regardless of whether I'm geocaching, hiking, skiing, fishing, or hunting. So I guess what I am trying to say is that the physical search and find is what, for me, defines the activity as "geocaching." Keep in mind this is just my personal take on virtuals and geocaching. I don't wring my hands with grief because they're listed on the website, and I'm sure I'll log a few more myself in the future. This game is all about having fun, after all.

A couple of examples from my neck of the woods: Bridge over troubled water Like a bridge over troubled water The first is a small footbridge, the second is a road bridge. Regards, Anthony

I think that one of the drawbacks of a virtual is the lack of a specific hunt. Any virtual I've been to you could find with a basic set of street directions: Go to X street in front of Y building, read this plaque. You don't normally spend an hour crawling high and low looking for one, and you don't really need a GPS. (Yes, I know, you don't *really* need a GPS for any geocache... But you'd still need maps, compass etc.) Regards, Anthony

I dunno, but I really hope that they've stopped approving vacation caches. Right now about 75% of the caches in my area are vacation caches. Some of them are fairly old, but we've had at leat four approved this year. I'm pretty sure that Top O' the World wouldn't get approved any more though, when the actual description says "We will not be able to maintain this cache, so please contribute generously and hide it well."

Well, I can't do much to get him out of there, but if he can make it to the Yukon I can get him to Alaska no problem. Another option would be if he gets back to Vancouver I can take him to the Yukon and Alaska in the first week of October.

There are six caches in Skagway. You could easily get four of them in less than two hours walking around. The other two are also walkable, especially if you made an afternoon of it. Haines has one, if you stop there. It would be a bit of a walk from the ship, but doable. Juneau has a lot of caches, but I haven't cached there so can't help much. If you -- or anyone else, for that matter -- make it into the Yukon, drop me a line and I'll be happy to help out. Regards, Anthony

Three months? Sheesh, I wish, more like seven up here. The local saying goes, "Yeah, we have all four seasons in the Yukon: June, July, August and Winter." Actually, it isn't so bad. I'm really looking forward to this winter, as there are 4-5 caches up here that need boats in the summer. I don't have one, but I do have cross country skis. Those ones are actually better finds in the winter. I'm also going to try to hide one or two on good skiing/snowmobiling trails that are specifically aimed at winter caching. One of my favorite local ski trails is basically inaccessible in the winter due to swamp ground, so I'm thinking it would be a great spot for a winter cache. If I can do it up here, all you southerners can do it down there. Regards, Anthony

Many of my 20 closest unfournd caches involve multi-day trips, some of them involve traveling to another country! There are several within 50 km or so that require boats, I'll find a way to do those eventually. I plan on doing a swim-in cache this weekend.

So what happened at the event?

I just released my first TB, and I've never found one, so I don't speak from experience. My TB has no specific goal, and I really don't care where he goes. What I hope will happen is that people will take the time to write a bit of a log for him and maybe snap a goofy photo. I'd rather him move three times in a year and get some great logs and photos than have him go 100,000 miles with logs that say "dropped him in X cache." After all, I thought the whole point of TBs was that they "picked up stories." Of course, I suspect he'll be stuck in the cache he's in now for 1-2 years before being picked up... Hope he isn't lonely. Hope to find my first TB this weekend -- one popped up in my area.