Culprit99

Personally, I carry a couple of slim jims in the back of my truck - and they have proved worth their weight in gold on several occasions. It seems that one of my Marines was always locking himself out of his vehicle. I remember one particular time that I saw a Marine on base looking longingly through his window at the keys hanging in the ignition. I told him that I had a slim jim in my truck if he wanted to give it a shot (most Marines fumble around with it for 30-40 minutes before they get the car open). His eyes lit up and he said yes, sir - that would be great! He had the truck unlocked in less than 5 seconds. He saw my astonished look and sheepishly handed the tool back to me. I told him that I wouldn't bother asking what he did before he entered the U.S. Marine Corps!

Yes - and this is my only complaint with the Garmin eTrex Vista.

Come on now, with a lead in like that - you have to show us a picture. Maybe Groundspeak should start a "Craziest Geocacher" or "Most Devoted Member" photo contest or something.

www.tailofthedragon.com They mentioned that there were a couple of geocaches in the area. I had no clue what they were talking about, but Google fixed that!

If your leg is the worst place you've found a tick, you have nothing to complain about! Just wait till you have to approach your roommate with a flashlight, pair of tweezers, cotton ball, hydrogen peroxide, and a sheepish look on your face asking for a favor.

Or a Marine Corps helo pilot - especially a Phrog pilot, in my experience.

Neither did I, Wadcutter - so far, so good!

Ladies and gentlemen, The concepts presented thus far in this thread are correct. However, the use of the term declination is incorrect. This is not uncommon. Unfortunately, those of you who think that I am incorrect, and will instantly turn to google to find proof that I am in error, will indeed be able to find a plethora of web sites and publications which also use this term incorrectly. Sadly enough, some mapping companies are even in error due to the dumbing down of the science of navigation over the past 91 years or so. Declination is the angular difference between where the needle of your manual compass points (or INS stabilized gyro etc), and where the MAGNETIC pole is located - not the true, or geographic pole as has been stated in this thread. Declination varies between each individual compass - think of it as calibrating your manual magnetic compass or gyro. What you have all been calling declination is properly termed variance: the angular difference between true and magnetic north. This quantity varies with time and location on the planet. It seems that one of the only groups of people left today who not only know and understand, but also use and rely upon, the difference are Sailors (military and civilian) and Marines (I do not know the Army or Air Force curriculums). Most people who use maps, compasses, and GPS for hiking and geocaching etc are not concerned with, and rightly so do not need, the degree of accuracy that declination calculations provide. Simply trusting that their magnetic compass is pointing close enough to magnetic north and only applying variance corrections gets them where they need to go. But to a seagoing captain, the error between where his compass (or INS stabilized gyro) is pointing and where magnetic north really is can sometimes mean the difference between running aground or not. Semper Fidelis, Culprit99

Into a 1 gallon ziploc I dump: 1 jar of Planter's Peanuts (the whole thing, including the peanut dust in the bottom - this coats the raisins so they're not sticky) 1 big size box of raisins 1 big bag of plain M&M's The person I learned this from called it Gorp. It's simple and tastes good. Semper Fidelis, Culprit99

If you find the regular Vista in the package deal with the US Metroguide CD (maps/software), or if you buy the CD separately, then you will have autorouting available on your computer when you are building routes before downloading them to your GPSr - but it won't be available on the GPSr unit itself after you leave home. I don't know about the turn-by-turn routing. I saw the regular Vista package deal with the CD online for $325. The CD was listed by itself for $100, so the package deal basically gave about half off the price of the CD. I didn't look at a lot of sites to shop around for the best price yet. I think my 'Santa' will probably get the best price at Wal Mart. Semper Fidelis, Culprit99

After talking to military officers of many nations, they all agree that the US Marine Corps' land navigation course given to all new 2ndLt's is the best. The Corps has placed ammo cans on metal stakes all over their training areas in Quantico, VA. Each box has a unique number stenciled on it. The new officers are armed with a good map, mapping protractor, compass, pace count, list of coordinates, plenty of water, and barely enough time. The boxes are placed close enough together that if you're off by a little bit (azimuth or pace count) and don't use good terrain association, then you might still find a box, just not the right one. The boxes are also spaced far enough apart that you can end up where you think it should be and search and search and never find it. So the answer is yes - not only is it possible, but it's also a lot of fun. As for Superc 53's sextant, they are indeed useful, but I've only used them on the water. With a good map, calibrated compass, and accurate pace count you should be able to hide a cache with at least as much accuracy as a non-WAAS capable GPSr. And in some cases, where you have good terrain and/or line of sight to one or more known points (water tower, NAVAID, benchmark etc) you should be able to achieve better accuracy. Semper Fidelis, Culprit99

Col 3:1 is a great verse! I'm in a similar situation - getting a GPSr for Christmas. I'm asking for the Vista (not the color) because of the added compass feature. Like you, I rely on a traditional compass, but I've broken a few of them in the past (Marines can be a little hard on gear sometimes), and the comfort of just knowing that I have some redundancy is wonderful. God is Semper Fidelis, Culprit99

Howdy, I agree with what has been said about the horizon and being able to receive signals from a greater number of satellites. Here's another possibility: is your GPSr WAAS capable? If so, maybe you are not able to pick up a signal from the WAAS correction satellite at home, but were able to do so from the other locations you mentioned (probably for the same reasons mentioned above). Proximity to White Sands has no effect on your GPSr. Military GPS systems are more accurate because our receivers are able to receive two separate signals from each satellite whereas civilian models only receive one signal. This extra stream of information, coupled with classified software loaded into our units, results in a higher accuracy. Semper Fidelis, JD Culp