Chuck E. Mong

I'll never understand why a site that works fine has to make the members upgrade all the time. If I'm happy with a machine that runs and was designed to run on Windows XP why should I have to run out and buy one designed to run on Windows 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or try to make the old machine jump through the hoops to keep up? Everything after Internet Explorer 7 just gets worse and worse. I can't wait to see what "must have" features you'll be pushing for when Windows 79 comes out. I wonder if they'll change to a letter format when they get back to Windows 95. I haven't done anything with Geocaching for a while and kind of bugs me that now that I try to do anything my computer can't find the Garmin or Magellan communicators that were fine last year. I guess everyone is expected to buy the latest phone or tablet or iCrap watch in order to participate.

It's kind of an old posting but a Google search for Triton 400 Topo Explorer led me here. I fell for a Triton package that included National Geographic's Topo Explorer software and "25 free map credits" only to find out after installing the software that the site no longer exists and isn't supported anymore. Nat Geo is supposed to be partnering with alltrails.com but I don't think they have anything available yet. The GPS is pretty nice but the base maps are pretty lame. The whole package was marked down at Walmart for $45. from $179. Oh, well. Live & Learn. You get what you pay for and sometimes you don't.

What beautiful iron work in some of those photos. I don't see markers like that. I love the cross in your (original poster) third shot. Here's one from a cemetery that had a cache hidden nearby. This tree seems to be taking over this plot.

I think Google Earth has a neat feature that's called back in time or something (Google Earth is on another computer I can't get to at this time). It lets you load older imagery up to maybe 10 years ago. If you could find your bridge on an older shot you may be able to enter the coordinates to pinpoint on the shot where the marker should be. That and a current image should be able to show that the marker couldn't be there. I would think that the engineers on a project like that would know that they are destroying a marker and report it. Maybe they're just using it for a paperweight. I found a marker that was reported as stolen (maybe not officially) on geocaching dot com and found both reference marks first. If found it by metal detector as a clod of moss had grown over it. Geocaching Log

This is the location of one that I had published on 4/8/2010 and since then no one has bothered to visit it even thought there are geocaches nearby. It's a bit difficult to see it if there's no one to give you a boost to get on the boulder so maybe that's why. It's not as dramatic as the photos above but it's my favorite only because not many people know it's there and it's not listed on any databases that I know of. Waymarking.com link

I've beening doing metal detecting and photography for a while. I just recently started geocaching and bring all the junk with me (gotta stop doing that - the long hikes are killing me). The metal detector is just an old Radio Shack model. It has discrimination but I don't use that feature much because I want to find anything. At one of the places where I indulge in these hobbies a friend had found the breech of a flintlock gun. Rusty sure but what a thing to find. I've also been looking for a geodetic marker that's been reported as destroyed but near two that I've already found. The detector will pick up bottle caps to a depth of about 5-6 inches and the markers I'm looking for shouldn't be that deep and are made of brass or bronze. If I haven't heard anything from the detector for a while looking I toss down a coin just to make sure it's still working. I have used it geocaching when I couldn't find a cache but didn't have any luck with that (won't pick up plastic Lock & Locks ). Pretty soon I'll be heading out in the canoe to some of these spots so I'll have plenty of room for everything including a black and white video camera good to a depth of 60 feet (90 really but it only comes with 60 feet of cable). I hook that up to the input of a Sony video cam and feel like Jacques Cousteau. Of course there would have to be something really nice down there before I throw on the mask and fins.....

This may not pertain to this discussion but I have the Map Source United States Topo version 3.02 that I got to use with an eTrex Legend machine and I was pretty disappointed. It may be that things have gotten better since then with color touch screens and whatnot but I don't see much difference between the machine with the maps and without. There's a local large lake that has two islands on it and the maps don't show them but they do show an island on a lesser body of water nearby. The only things I like about them is the ability to show my trails, tracks and waypoints in Google Earth and the fact that for some reason they overlay roads that no longer exist which is kind of neat from a historical (hysterical?) perspective. I haven't researched the two versions you're asking about but just wanted to throw these comments in for anyone who runs across version 3.02 so you won't be too disappointed.

I found this one in a wash on a trail. I'm not sure if it's real because I don't know that they were made with quartz. The rubber O-ring is just there for scale. I haven't had it in my possesion when I run across a local expert on the subject. Another local expert has detailed places where he found them but I would have to wait for water levels to be lower. I do metal detecting but haven't found much but some old clock gears made of brass. The rest of the assembly was too rusted to bother with. As for ownership, it depends on what it is and where I find it as to what I do with something. I've had this point for a number of years and I figure I'll keep it.

I've been thinking about using 4 inch PVC with a cap at one end, glued, and an end cleanout (threaded plug(look for one on a wye fitting where your waste leaves the building)) at the other end. The threaded plug screws into the cleanout and should be pretty waterproof even without sealant. A bit of cammo paint and it should be good to go. I'm only thinking 4 inch because I've got a bunch kicking around. What would really be schweet is 5 or 6 inch but now we're talking some $$ for fittings.

I recently went looking for a cache but not from the recommended direction. Along the trail I looked back and noticed a No Trespassing sign marking where I had just come from. Oh well... If I had to go back the same way I would have gone by it. Another area I frequent has many No Trespassing signs but by creative avoidance I can get to where I want to go. If the sign is blocking me straight ahead I go 90º left to an area that's not marked and work around it.

I visited an area today with my Garmin eTrex Legend while out doing some geocaching. The area I would like to post as a waymark or hide a geocache there so I won't give actual coordinates yet. My GPSr was only giving an accuracy of between 15 - 20 feet. I took two readings and marked them as waypoints. I climbed a tree for a view and took another reading from up there which is right above the location I want to mark. When I got back I downloaded to my MapSource program and then looked at them on Google Earth. The way the two programs interface gave me my three locations as 42 and 71 each with a huge number of decimal points. I've read a little in the forums about averaging and thought maybe I could average the three readings of each. When I did and plugged those numbers into Google Earth it put the location in the middle of the triange made by each of my three readings and right where I would expect an accurate reading to be including the tree I was in and the object I was trying to mark. Is this an acceptable method or did I just luck out?