Gratusin

And my memory has now been jogged! I've done this before and forgot all about field notes. Much appreciated for the help.

Forgive me if this has been covered before, but I have not been able to find information on this subject. Feel free to direct me with a link if it has been covered, then subsequently insult my GPS knowledge! I just received a Garmin Colorado 600 and a renewed interest in geocaching after a 2 year hiatus. I can perform all the basics, but when I find a cache, on the GPSr, I can log a find and add a comment, but I have not been able to figure out how to upload it to the website. Basically, I will log a find in the Oregon (or not log it, guess it doesn't really matter using this process), and then get on the geocaching app on my phone to log it and leave a comment. It seems like there should be a way to just plug in to my computer, or connect to wifi and upload this data straight from the Oregon without having to go through the computer or phone.

I carry around a survival kit with me everywhere. I'm in the Army and just use an old grenade pouch that fits nicely on my belt, which happens to be made out of about 60 foot of 550 cord. A suggestion would be to ditch the matches and put one of those small bic lighters (flint and steel ignited, not piezo) in instead. It's about the same size as a few matches, and nano-bics are reliable for over a hundred fires. Also, I keep a large square of aluminum foil as a container for boiling water, a small pea-less whistle, an e-blanket, (not really for warmth, but as a lightweight shelter) and a force-flex trashbag (can also be used as a shelter or a poncho). Other than that, what you're describing would be a great altoids tin size kit that covers most of the essentials.

Slightly off topic from miracle fruit but, have you considered taking up hunting? Their are plenty of "fresh edibles" that crawl, swim, fly, or walk/run. Sure do. I have my license and I always carry a firearm of some sorts on a backpack. Although, while backpacking, we keep game to smaller animals such as squirrels, rabbits and snakes. Most of our hikes are in national forests, so its perfectly legal, although, I will admit that at times I get an Edward Abbey-esque urge to take up an anarchist flag, say screw the government, and nab a few rabbits with a pellet gun while in the general area of city limits. I fully disagree with killing indiscriminately, being in the Army for the first invasion of Iraq turned me off to that, so I always try to use every part of the animal. Anyways, since animals are always tasty, miracle fruit probably wouldn't do any good there, but with out of season fruits and veggies I imagine it would be some sort of foragers godsend.

Sounds awesome! Here in Arizona, we don't have too many places that sell fruit trees, but I would love to hear how it works out for you. I'm thinking of getting some powder or tablets that have the concentrated protein in it. Its supposed to taste like pop rocks.

I have recently heard about this thing called Miracle Fruit. It contains a glycoprotein called Miraculin that is supposed to react with your flavor receptors on the tongue so that sour and bitter flavors are sweet and meaty. I like to forage on the trail so we get fresh and nutritious ingredients in our backpacking meals while cutting down on stuff I have to pack. Most edibles, especially cactus fruits here in AZ, are only in season for a few weeks then they turn bitter. With this stuff, it seems that, provided the plant isn't poisonous, you can make anything, even out of season, palatable. This would open up an amazing amount of possibilities for foraging, and I was just wondering if anyone has heard about this stuff, or even better, used it.

Several pairs of wool socks. You will get them wet even if your boots have gore tex and you wear gaiters. Wool dries quickly and will keep your feet warm even if moist. Definitely cover that pack, if your bag soaks, it will be a cold night, plus you'll be carrying extra water weight. Make sure your rain jacket is actually waterproof and not just resistant (speaking from experience) and also a wide brimmed hat will keep those annoying droplets from hitting your face. One last thing, don't bring anything made of cotton, it will never dry, it will chafe you, and will definitely not keep you warm. Hope this helps and that your hike is enjoyable.

There's one in central Nevada called E.T. starting with E.T. 001 (GC2551A) and most recently ending with E.T. 1022 (GC2AEQE). It's well over 1000, plus it has 51 caches set up to resemble an aliens head. Pretty cool concept and would love to check it out. We did the big smiley face in the New Mexican desert, which was only 23, but each cache was handmade (one was a flipped upside down dirtbike with an ammo can welded to it) and is a series that absolutely should be on your list of caches to complete before you kick it for good.

Did you use powered milk and water? This sounds like it would be a good lunch desert with loads of benifit. Sure did. Actually, since I'm on the "primal" diet (and can't find many sugar free alternatives) the full recipe is below Backpacker Pudding 1/3 cup dry milk 1 scoop protein powder 1.5 T pectin 1T almond meal 2T chia seed 2T splenda (cup for cup) 2/3 cup water Keep dry ingredients separate. Add water when needed and wait 30 minutes. I made up this recipe and hope it works!

Just got back from a backpack where I made some instant "healthy" pudding. All you need is a pack of instant pudding, but I added a scoop of protein powder, 2 tablespoons of chia seed, and a tablespoon of almond meal. Delicious and full of protein.

I have the same setup, what I do is switch profiles to automotive (shortcuts->profile change-> automotive) then ensure that city navigator is activated by pressing the left soft key scrolling down to "select map" and making sure that there is a check mark next to "CN North America NT". Just go back after that and it should be in some sort of 3d view similar to the Nuvi. The great thing about this is that you can easily switch between the geocaching profile and automotive, with all the advantages each one has, without having to mess with settings. Hope this helps.

You probably don't need another one of these, but really REI is the best place to buy pretty much anything outdoors. There are two in the Charlotte, NC area, so I would definitely suggest you get a membership ($20 for a lifetime membership). This would get you 10% dividends at the end of the year for all of your purchases, as well as free online shipping for orders over $75. Their return policy is the best in the business as far as I'm concerned, beat up, not working, chewed by a dog, no questions asked return. The Oregon 450 is going on Amazon for $355, while REI it's going for $360. If you became a member at REI, the shipping would be free just like amazon, but for an extra $5, you would have better peace of mind, as well as getting $36 back at the end of the year. The only problem with REI is the well documented fact that you will always spend 100 bucks more than you expected to. It's addictive, management knows what they are doing!

Just got back from a weekend backpack trip up Mt. Lemmon near Tucson where I took a Steripen (REI had it on sale). I was able to use it, and I can honestly say that I will never go back to the Miox or a filtration system again! It sterilized a Nalgene bottle in less than a minute and only required a little shaking of the bottle, much better than pumping or playing around with salt crystals. It's much smaller than most pumps and the only thing that needs to be replaced are some AAs, same as the GPSr. I use rechargeable NiMHs which supposedly get 200 water treatments. They're also way cheaper to replace than a ceramic filter or CR123 batteries. The kit I bought came with a prefilter to get out all the sediment, so no bandana or coffee filter stuff to deal with. The only downsides I can really see is the need for a Nalgene bottle, which I always carry in the pack along with my camelbak, as well as the possibility of machine failure, but that's possible with any filter or treatment option. It's always wise to bring some iodine just in case. I'm very impressed with this unit if its not obvious.

I've used the MSR Miox in the Army, and although there is a slight chlorine taste if you consume water right away (letting it sit for awhile does away with the problem) it works great and kills stuff that could possibly get through a filter like viruses (small chance, but a possibility). I've been looking at the Steripen. It's significantly smaller than most filters and all you have to do is stir it around in a Nalgene bottle and it kills everything. This would be pretty handy, since I travel to third world countries periodically and want to make sure I'm not going to catch the hiv from drinking out of the tap.

My roommate at Army BNCOC talked me into these. Still haven't had much of a chance to put them to use, but they seem to have many advantages. The way he spoke about them seem that they follow a human's natural physiology much better. When you run in them, instead of striking with your heel, they teach you to strike with the ball of your foot so as to absorb the shock with your leg muscles as opposed to the heel cushioning that other shoes provide. After getting used to them, support shouldn't be too much of an issue as he uses them when he runs marathons. I'd love to take them hiking, except I know that on some of the desert trails here in Southern Arizona, the cholla will have a field day ripping through the bottoms and sides.

Hmm. Oddly enough, I was able to get trails to show up down to a legend of 500 feet when I turned the setting to least. It's not interfering with other maps, since I put on the garmin 100k as well as the free 24k Arizona map from file depot with SW trails on top (It's a transparent map). Everything showed up on that setting down to that eye level. When map detail was put at most, it disappeared at less than a mile on the legend, even with only SW trails selected. Nevertheless, the trail still disappears at lower than 500 feet, but that is easily manageable since I've had little luck with my actual footprints matching up with the trail on my GPSr anyways. I only need the trails for reference since the beauty of hiking doesn't involve staring at a screen. It's an easy switch from least detail to most if I need to read contour lines as well. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

Sure do! Winter is usually the best time for caching here in sunny Arizona. The weather usually isn't too cold, as long as you don't go up in the mountains (which we normally do to go snowboarding, where geocaching is at the back of our minds) and the snakes and scorpions are nowhere to be found.

I have Southwest Maps from gpsfiledepot.com downloaded onto my Garmin Colorado 400t. It would work great, except I can only view trails when the distance legend reads either .3 or.5 miles. They disappear when zoomed in further or farther from these two views. Since here in AZ most trails do not follow a straight path whatsoever and often times just fade into obscurity in the scrub and scree, it makes it almost impossible to tell if I am in the general vicinity of where the trail is supposed to be on my GPSr. Usually after some cloverleafing I can pick it back up, and the Army gave me the skills in map reading to determine where a trail should be, but I hate having something that could possibly be useful and time saving and not having the technical know how to put it to use. I haven't seen any settings involving these programs, so if there is someone out there who knows how to do it, I would owe them a beer!

I've used them in Iraq for over a year, and in the middle of winter in the mountains of Utah. A little heavy, yes, but warm and incredibly durable. Plus, if you get the full package, it comes with a lightweight patrol bag for warmer weather, a heavy one for colder, plus the gore tex bivy. These can all be combined to give a really warm bag in layers.

I bought one of these while I was deployed to Iraq. http://www.rei.com/product/761283 Although I have absolutely no problem drinking (or chewing) week old and cold motor oil Army coffee (whatever it takes to stay awake on a 20 hour patrol!), sometimes I did enjoy buying beans from the local market and making it myself. All I had to do was set out out a bottle of water on top of a Humvee until it was almost boiling, then put it in the cup with the grounds and wait a few minutes before I pressed it right there in the mug. I've taken it backpacking too, it takes up little room and makes a great cup of mud.

We had custom guitar picks made with our handle and symbol printed on them. A lot of people collect signature items, so since we both play gee-tar, or at least attempt to, we figured that picks would be perfect. They're good quality ones from steve clayton too, so they are definitely usable if a cacher is a picker as well.

Excuse my ignorance but what is "GSAK?" Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. www.gsak.net It has many many different features, but mainly it helps in managing caches based upon what requirements you really want, in that it is even more detailed than the pocket query options. It's especially helpful for GPS units that don't have paperless features as it makes it possible to upload descriptions, hints and logs that you normally would have to manually enter. You can try it out for free, but after a certain period of time, I think a month, it will start giving you a nagging pop up screen advising you to buy the membership.

Very cool! If I was caching back in college I would definitely have joined a geocaching club like this. I went to ASU though so our club would have been better than the UofA club of course. Go Devils! If you know anybody in Tucson, then send them our way... unless they went to, or are currently enrolled at ASU. I can only stand hearing the words "Show me your boobs!" a few times before I get annoyed!

You meant the Toyota FJ Cruiser right? JK! Thanks for the advice everyone! No, he was right about the Jeep, nothing else compares, only competes miserably! Anyways, back on topic, since you're a boater as well, check out http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Colorado-Port...3923&sr=8-1 It's a great unit for caching (the best in my opinion), but since it has the inland lake maps, its good for boating too. And it's on sale for $199.

I am very lucky that our Council is purchasing gps units for the area packs to use during their summer camps. i have no idea what brand/model they are purchasing. Wonder what would be best for kids ages 6-12 for simple geocaching and hiking. http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Colorado-Port...6170&sr=8-1 Load that site into your browser, $199 for this unit. The Colorado is absolutely amazing for paperless caching. This model has inland lakes installed on it instead of the more cacher friendly 100k topo, but you can download new maps for free at gpsfiledepot.com. Using a PQ, you can load your limit of 2000 caches in a few minutes complete with description, hint and recent logs. Its very intuitive too, and since kids tend to be tech savvy, they will take it and figure it out in a few minutes, literally. Plus the 3D view is pretty cool to look at, I don't use it except to show it off, but 6-12 yr old kids will get a kick out of it if you have mountains or hills you are hiking in. This is the most bang for your buck in terms of a GPSr for caching in my opinion.