easytrekker

I would recommend Camelbak as well. I have a MULE, which is smaller than the "hiking" ones but it has a nice open web pouch, easy to stuff things in and pull things out (like my poncho if rain is a possibility). The water bladder works great, mine keeps water/ice cold for like 6 hours or more. I only use it for day hikes and keep in my car for geocaching. For backpacking I have a nice external frame, old (hiking/camping for 40 yrs) but reliable comfortable. Of course I look like a peddler on the trail. If I think I am going to be wet, I pack in a dry sack, remove the divider in my pack and put the dry sack in my pack. Only way I have found to keep things dry in days of rain on the trail. I put my baldder from the Camelbak in my pack as well, does not stay cold....

Well one year, 9 out of our 12 camping/hiking trips were in the rain. But it did prepare the young men (BSA). Backpacking (camping) in rain presents all sorts of issues. Just how far are you going determines much what you can do, how much you carry. If rain is called for I carry additional three plastic tarps, One to be a fly one to be a floor (under the fly) and one for under the tent. I try to stay out of the tent as much as possible. You have to very careful of hypothermia. You have to be able to get dry and warm. I wear a poncho (a good one). Have a pack cover, but my poncho is big and covers my pack. I wear sandals in wet weather and near water. I hang them or my boots off my pack. carry extra fuel for camp stove. Then hope the the rain stops and the sun comes out.

I own a Garmin 76CSX and I download my files as premium member and use MacCaching to load my geocache into my GPS. I do not like the Garmin Geocaching pages. Seems they do not inlude but a fraction of the geocaches that geocaching.com has. There are plenty of apps to do this with, see: http://www.geocaching.com/waypoints/default.aspx MacCaching works well for me. I use BaseCamp and upload then there as well because it has better mapping and display. But there are plenty of good apps on that link, some are free.

My friend was with me and just showed his Badge. They looked pale and left. He has been doing this a while, me I am a newbie. But I will answer questions, I make no bones and tell them not to disturb the cache. I will avoid young people for the most part unless accompanied by a parent. Kids might go and get the cache.

You're a genius. Thanks. Turns out that the easy way to do this is to: 1. Insert the SD card in a card reader and connect to the Mac 2. Go into the terminal in the Mac and go to the SD volume 3. Use the "rm - r" command to remove the files with a period [.] 4. Remove card, reinsert in GPS. 5. Boot GPS 6. Go geocaching. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it. I do not visit often, but I am a software engineer and that command "rm -r ." means recursively delete everything in the current directory/folder and below. Do an "ls -a or ls -la" to look at the files/directories/folders you are deleting before issuing "rm -r ." . If you are in the wrong directory and have permissions allowing "rm" to work you could really set yourself back. Just a warning.

Great suggestions above but I did not see: ibupofen, Benadryl, afterbyte.. In you first aid kit make sure you have butterfly bandage, band aids and spool of gause. Was a Long time BSA ASM, SM, etc. Most often had to deal with cuts, scrapes, burns (which you should not have), sprains, insect and bee stings. This also depends on how far you are away from vehicle or help. I keep a good first aid kit in my vehicle.

coggins, Ah a friendly "face" I am easygoing at gpsfiledepot... You are a very helpful person.

Hi folks, Like many I got a GPSMAP 76csx, something I was waiting for the price to drop with new lines coming out. I replaced a GPS 12 XL, still working just fine. I am much more an orienteering kind of person. Most my outdoors is hiking, camping and fishing. I am more comfortable with a topo and compass. Now I have that all in one unit. I have not really kept up technology in USGS I used to order the hard copy topos from them, none of this data files stuff. I prefer to hike alone, but on traveled trails in parks. If it is wildness than of course I have company. I guess because I am ex BSA leader in several capacities. I am not herding cats any longer..... I love the outdoors, but all on the coasts 98% East Coast, Mid Atlantic to Florida. I though geocaching would be fun to do, giving some purpose while hiking. I am getting excited, but seem to have a lot to learn. As BSA says, "Be Prepared".