Auld Pro

If you can afford the software, NG TOPO! is the best around. I run a pocket querie in GC.com and load it into GSAK. GSAK has a feature that exports a geocache database into a TOPO compatibale waypoint file. I then import that file into TOPO and have every geocache of the area I am going to displayed on the best topo map available. I use the maps I print out as my primary topo map for every backpacking trip I go on. I have a subscription to Trails.com and use it only for the trail guides. I found using their tools to place waypoints on a topo then downloading and printing the map out to be very cumbersome and time consuming.

Hey folks, I would like to extend an invitation to an interested geocacher. I have a Wilderness camping permit for Thursday, Aug 10 (Thursday-Friday is my weekend) at Round Valley in the Mt San Jacinto Wilderness State Park for two. My hiking partner had to cancel. I am still going and if there is a backpacking cacher in the area who would care to join me I would enjoy the company. I am going to take the Tramway ($21.95 up and down) to Long Valley, overnight in Round Valley, up to the summit the next morning, then back down Friday afternoon. I will be looking for about 15 caches in Palm Springs, at the Tram Station, in the Wilderness area, and at the summit. You will need to provide your own gear and Tram fare. I can provide transportation to and from the Tram. If anyone is interested go to my profile and send me an email. Note: I am not too proficient in Forum use. I mistakenly started this as a new topic but I wanted to post it to the San Diego Thread. I see I messed up, so here is the San Diego Thread post also.

Hey folks, I would like to extend an invitation to an interested geocacher. I have a Wilderness camping permit for Thursday, Aug 10 (Thursday-Friday is my weekend) at Round Valley in the Mt San Jacinto Wilderness State Park for two. My hiking partner had to cancel. I am still going and if there is a backpacking cacher in the area who would care to join me I would enjoy the company. I am going to take the Tramway ($21.95 up and down) to Long Valley, overnight in Round Valley, up to the summit the next morning, then back down Friday afternoon. I will be looking for about 15 caches in Palm Springs, at the Tram Station, in the Wilderness area, and at the summit. You will need to provide your own gear and Tram fare. I can provide transportation to and from the Tram. If anyone is interested go to my profile and send me an email.

It's been a few days and nobody has given you a reply? Let me give you my input. We may be in similar situations. Here's what I ended up with and why. I decided on a Magellan Meridian Gold for the following reasons: 1. It has mapping capabilities shown on a grayscale display. 2. Base map size is expandable with the addition of a SD memory card. 3. Using the Magellan Mapsend Topo 3D software I can and did upload detailed topo maps covering the western US to the SD card. I find the detailed topo maps invaluable when hiking. 4. The Gold is the low end of the Meridian series which means it doesn't have a digital compass or altimiter. I did not want to pay the extra $75-100 for the Platinum for those features that I did not need. If the GPSr is tracking 4 or more satellites it displays altitude and I always carry a compass anyway. 5. I paid less than $200 for the Gold a year and a half ago. 6. The Gold is compatible with every third party software mapping program I use. I would like a color screen but I felt the price to benefit ratio was too high. I recently bought a Magellan Explorist XL but returned it after discovering numerous features I did not care for. I am perfectly happy with my trusty Gold. Additional software programs I use are National Geographic Topo State series, Google Earth with the Geocache XML addon, and Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. I have gone paperless using a Palm 505 PDA with CacheMate for viewing. Hope this helps

I am using a Palm 505 with 8 mb installed memory, 6.8 mb available. I activated and installed National Geographic Pocket Topo for Palm and have been unsuccessful trying to upload ANY size map to my Palm. I keep getting this error message when I HotSync: "-- Pocket TOPO! An error occurred copying "CV" to handheld: Can't copy desktop map file to device because a TPO tag is too large Pocket TOPO! synchronization failed Conduit 'Pocket TOPO!' Error: Unknown error. (FFFF) OK System" Palm Tech Support did nothing but walk me through the various reset options that did not correct the problem. Topo Tech Support basicaly said "Well, try a smaller map". Topo tells me that maps cannot be loaded to a SD card, so I guess I am limited to a 6 mb map file size which is sufficient for a day's journey. Are there any cachers who can help me with this problem?