Windstorm+

Clicking on my name or avatar in the forums takes me to the wrong profile page. Instead of my profile, Windstorm+, it goes to the profile for Windstorm, even though the "+" symbol is included in the webpage address. Also, I've seen someone report a 500 - Server Error when trying to reach their profile from the forums. Their name has the "&" symbol in it. Maybe the problems are related?

When I click on my username in the upper right corner and choose "Profile" from the dropdown list, it takes me to the profile for "Windstorm", not "Windstorm+". On the profile page, when I look at the address bar, I can see my name is part of the address as "u=Windstorm+", but if I copy and paste it, this is what I get: https://www.geocaching.com/p/default.aspx?u=Windstorm

Something I just discovered: I often have two windows open, one on the right half of the monitor and one on the left. With the window taking up only half the monitor, on the Dashboard, the Recently Viewed and Recent Logs don't show up. I just get gray space where they would normally be. When I maximize the window, they show up again. Not a big problem, but it would be nice if they showed up when the window was only taking up half the monitor.

I generally like the layout of the dashboard. It's nice having the links on the left instead of the right and I'm happy to finally have a way of seeing what my friends have been up to. It would be nice if the "Welcome" and "Manage what your friends see" notes would stay gone after you return to the dashboard. I know it's probably temporary while we're testing the new features, but it got annoying really fast. I think 5 recently viewed caches was enough, especially since there's still an option to View All. I'd prefer that the Recently Viewed and Recent Logs take up less vertical space. Even just reducing the white space between them would probably help. I was going to ask if there was a way to get to the dashboard from the profile and suggest a button (maybe next to the View Forum Posts button), but I see I can do it from the link to my name in the green banner at the very top of the page. Another way to get to the dashboard would be nice on my profile, but not quite as useful when I'm viewing someone else's profile. Because of the height of the new header on the profile page, I end up doing a lot more scrolling because every time I switch between tabs (Geocaches, Trackables, Souvenirs, etc.), the page jumps to the top and I have to scroll down past the header to see the information I'm interested in. On the old page, it wasn't as noticeable because the header was so much smaller. Would it be possible to make the page not jump back to the top, kind of like switching between Basic, Maps, and Milestones in the Souvenirs tab? It would be nice to still have some way of getting to the benchmarks page. Oh, I see I can still do it from the Geocaches part of my profile, so at least there's still a way to get there. Will people who do Waymarking (I don't) have a way to get to the Waymarking page?

The "location (lat/long)" data field only displays coordinates in lat/long. However, there should be another choice for the data field called "location (selected)" that should display your coordinates in whatever format you have currently chosen. Here's a link to the owner's manual. While it doesn't always have the information I'm looking for, I have found it to be somewhat helpful in customizing my gps. https://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo=010-01199-10&language=en&country=US

My very limited understanding of the app is that it's free, so you are paying $6/month or $30/year for a Premium Membership? I almost exclusively use a GPSr for geocaching and the options I see on the website for Premium Membership are $10 for 3 months or $30/year. The Premium Membership should be tied to your username, so if you already bought it through the app, you should be able to use it on the website until the membership expires. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I know it works the other way around. I bought my membership through the website and had no problem logging onto the app. Of course, you can use a GPSr with a Basic (free) Membership, but if you've been using the app, I assume you'd want to have the ability to download the text from the cache page (plus hints and recent logs) to your GPSr instead of just the coordinates like you'd get with a Basic Membership. Also, with a Basic Membership I think you have to download each cache individually, which would be a pain if you want to find a lot of caches in one day.

If you're using a GPSr, you should be able to change the datum to NAD27 and the coordinate format to UTM and just enter the coordinates as a waypoint. Once the waypoint has been created, you can change datum and coordinate format back to whatever you like and the waypoint coordinates will be automatically converted. If you use a phone or just want to convert the coordinates using your computer, I'd do a search for converting NAD27 to WGS84 (or NAD83). You can probably find a website that will do the conversion for you. The difference between NAD83 and WGS84 is pretty small, so for geocaching it shouldn't matter which you convert to. The difference between NAD27 and NAD83/WGS84 varies depending on your location, but if I recall correctly, it shouldn't be more than a couple hundred feet. If you're getting something miles away, then you know there's a problem.

This is what I did. I just waited until the payment went through and then canceled the membership. Since the payment went through, it's good for another year and won't automatically renew.

The Easting (E) can be written as 7 digits, but the first digit is almost always zero, so often the zero is dropped and it's written as 6 digits. To enter the 6-digit coordinate in the 7-digit space on your gps, just put the zero back in front and enter the other 6 digits. For example, (E 435468 N 5064208) gets entered in the gps as (E 0435468 N 5064208).

I would expect to see the Available During Winter attribute mostly on caches in mountains that get a lot of snow. If most of the nearby caches are buried and inaccessible during winter, the attribute would be helpful to identify caches that you can still go find.

I'm glad you found a workaround. I think the machine can probably do what you were expecting, but it may take some experimenting with the settings and data fields. Showing distance to destination is something that I've wanted to get set up on my GPS, but I haven't had time to play with the settings to make it happen. Looking briefly through the manual, I would experiment with the data fields "distance to destination" and "distance to next". They may work differently for waypoints vs routes and one may work when the other doesn't.

I'm not really familiar with the Etrex 20 as I use the GPSMap 64s, but a lot of times, if I have used the arrow keys to move the pointer on the screen, the display will show distance between the pointer and my current location. The distance between pointer and your current location could be overriding the data display that would show you distance to the geocache. On the GPSMap 64s, I have to hit the "Quit" button to reset the pointer to my current location so it doesn't show the distance to pointer. You might see if the "back" button does the same thing on your GPS.

I do most of my geocaching alone and agree with all of this. Go out and have fun geocaching, but also remember that your safety does come first. Be smart about where you go. Pay attention to what's going on around you and be willing to walk away if you don't feel comfortable with the location. You don't have to find every geocache and you can always come back another day.

I look at some bookmark lists for caches that I think would be interesting (e.g., fire lookout caches or hiking caches). If I really liked a cache I found, I might see if the CO has a bookmark list of their favorite caches on the theory that I would probably enjoy their favorites too. There are a couple of bookmark lists for local blackout challenges that I know will be useful when I get around to working on them. I have never rated a bookmark list.

If I ever see a Canadian $2 bill, I will definitely hang on to it! In the US, $2 bills are still being printed, but they're not very common.

I've found that the "arriving at coordinates" is a little further out than I personally like. I usually keep going until I'm within about 20-30 feet (6-9 meters) and then start searching.

Those look like two sets of UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates, although they're missing the grid zone designator. The grid zone designator is a number-letter combination that defines what part of the world you're in. The number part refers to the grid position in the east-west direction and the letter refers to the north-south grid position. If you know the general area your coordinates are supposed to be in, you can do a search for UTM grid zone map to figure out the correct designator. Also, UTM coordinates are listed on the geocache pages just below the Lat/Long coordinates, so you may be able to use a nearby geocache to figure out the grid zone. As an example, my zone is "10T" and it covers most of western Washington, Oregon, and northern California (USA). Once you figure out what grid zone your coordinates are in, you should be able to switch your Garmin's coordinate system to UTM and enter the coordinates directly, or you could use an online converter if you prefer. One other note, after the zone, UTM coordinates give the easting (E) coordinate first and then the northing (N). Sometimes on the easting, the zero in front is dropped. This is the way it's shown on the geocache pages. So your coordinates "0617546 E, 5083790 N" would be shown as "E 617546, N 5083790" if they were posted on a geocache page.

Your other waypoint locations will not change if you update the coordinate format to degrees and decimal minutes. The waypoint coordinates will be updated to the new format, but the waypoint will be in the same position. Also, you can always change back to the original coordinate format. I do this all the time when I need to switch between lat/long and UTM coordinates. Your problem with the numbers greater than 5 in the MM position may be because 60 minutes = 1 degree, so MM.MMM can't be greater than 59.999. For the latitude you listed in your first post, try entering 44° 06.177'.

I'm not a benchmark expert, but it looks like most benchmarks were placed by the US Coast & Geodetic Survey (now called National Geodetic Survey or NGS). Your benchmark looks like it was placed by the US Geological Survey, which doesn't appear to have an online database. The USGS website has some phone numbers and email addresses if you want more information on your benchmark. http://www.usgs.gov/faq/node/2619

I'd recommend some type of backpack. A pack that fits you well can be worn all day with no problem. A hip belt on the pack will help keep weight off your shoulders. Make sure you try on the pack before you buy it. Packs fit everyone differently and what works for some people may not work for you. Try a couple of different brands of pack if you can. If you can put some weight in the pack and walk around for a bit, that will give you an idea of how it will feel with all your gear. When you're ready to start climbing, please make sure you get some training. I've seen the results of a couple of climbing accidents. By all means, go out and have fun finding those difficult caches, but please be safe.

Ahh, I did some reading about powercaching and it makes a little more sense now. It doesn't sound like fun to me, but if people enjoy it, I'm happy for them. Less than 2 minutes per cache still sounds like an awfully short time, but with only 71 caches found, I'm still learning how to search effectively.

If you view the geocache map, there's an option to turn on contour lines if you click the "map" and then "terrain" buttons in the upper right corner next to "satellite." Based on the contour lines, you should be able to see which caches are above 2500m.

Is it even physically possible to find that many caches in a day? 24 hours is only 1440 minutes. Finding 800 caches in that time means one cache every 1.8 minutes.

As a premium member, you should be able to do a state-wide search. Leave the initial search box empty (very important) and click the Add Filters button. In the "Search Only In" box, type your state. Add any other filters you want (for example, unselect all cache types except event caches) and click the Search button. If you've already tried this, sorry to repeat it.

There's one cache I know I found several years ago, but for some reason never logged it. The first time I searched for it, I didn't find it. Later, I was back in the area and spotted the cache easily, but I can't remember if I actually signed the log or just stared at it wondering why I had so much trouble the first time. I will likely hike that trail again this summer and I will log the find then.