woffles

I've never been on the AT so can't attest to any trail damage there. I'm talking globally, just using the new archiving as an example to a possible spreading problem. You are also in a completely different environment. I'm in Colorado and in some areas it only takes one person going off trail to start permanent damage. Some of the fauna and flora is that sensitive, some of it isn't. Things grow a lot slower up in the mountains also so damage takes a while to repair if ever. I'm also not trying to blame geocaching for damage. I'm trying to head off "perceived" damage by geocaching by being proactive. With bureaucrats it doesn't have to be true, just plausible. If people want to bury their heads in the sand and say not our problem then things will change and we won't be the ones guiding those changes. Leave no trace and other similar guidelines should be featured on here to help educate people when they go out to geocache.

Maybe a rule dealing with local damage that if your cache location is causing damage to the local area you voluntarily shut it down. Have it as a published guideline then. I just think we should do something to send a message to officials and head them off at the pass before they do it for us, because it's seems like it's just a matter of time before they do. I could be wrong but politician types like to meddle.

Seeing the closures of caches on the AT I understand why they want some of them closed. I've seen some caches locally already that are showing signs of over usage. Random trails and general stomping down of vegetation are occurring. Having done trail work up on the Continental Divide I know the amount of work that goes into maintaining a healthy trail system. Repeated off trail use to a specific area will cause erosion and eventual failure of the land to sustain growth and will allow the top soil to wash away. I was wondering what system if any is in place to limit the life of a cache to prevent damage to the local surroundings. If there isn't one, should there be a limit placed on the life of a cache? This would help prevent more closures like the AT. I'm sure a lot of people would complain about it but honestly, that really is being selfish when you consider the amount of damage that can occur to an area with repeated use. I realize some caches don't fall under this due to their locations. Being in urban or rocky locations they wouldn't really need a lifetime limit. Seeing as how this site is promoting caching and posting the locations of them I feel that some of the responsibility falls to this site to help maintain the integrity of our wilderness. So, what do you think? How do we handle this before it becomes an occurring problem? Apparently doing nothing won't solve it and will just result in more areas becoming off limits. I enjoy caching because it takes me to new areas to enjoy so I'd hate to see it go away. Could a rating system be devised for possible land damage which would control the lifetime of a cache? Once the lifetime limit is reached the cache will be automatically archived and will need to be moved to a new location? It might also help to keep cache locations more diverse and show forestry management services that we are trying to be responsible.

Have you updated the firmware in your Etrex to the latest also if possible? My old Etrex Legend will show accuracy of 7 feet in good conditions.

Sigh, more rules for walking on dirt.

Crikeys, it's an North American Tupperware bowl. These things are deadly poisonous so you gotta be careful. I'm going to try to sneak up on it and grab it. Blimey, the critter bit me. I don't feel well.

I like that last picture before it "touched" down.

Thanks, will do. My search didn't show him up. Had a space between the name and the number.

Should I just remove it then? It might as well be trash if it isn't serving any purpose. There is another cache listed like 66 feet away from this one.

Well, I signed the log but can't post it. Figures it's my first FTF! It had a sheet inside also telling about geocaches and listing the rules of geocaching and to go to this site for more info if found so I don't think it was a ham cache or anything. It stated on the outside also that it was a geocache. I'm surprised that no one found it all these years even if it wasn't listed. I hadn't been disturbed in years by looking at it. The shoelace tied around it to keep it shut just fell apart when I pulled on it. Second mystery I found in the same park on the same day! The other was a dog tag nailed to a post that looks like it's been there for years too. Old style with an actual service number on it not a SSN. Wonder why it was nailed into the pole in the middle of a park?

Sounds like you are entering in the coordinates using the wrong format. Go to View, Settings, Navigation, Coordinate System/Lat/Long click on Lat/Long again, choose DEG/MIN.MMM. That will let you punch in the coordinates properly. Using the other settings is what is throwing you off.

So I'm out hiking, not actually looking for a cache just checking out the area and look under a log and see an altoids can. Found a cache that was hidden by someone called Cowboy 4570 in 2003. Still intact, shoe string tied around the can had rotted. Opened it up and saw it hadn't been found yet. Went ahead and signed the log, noted my coordinates and checked back on here. Nothing listed for that spot and the user doesn't exist. What do you do with caches like these in this situation?

Curious as to when you last used a Triton. Settings on screens stay where they are now except for finding waypoints. It defaults toFinding a waypoint is easy. Creating a waypoint is easy. Just click on the map to make one. Screens scroll very quick. That's why I said you will get negative feedback. They had major issues when they first came out. A lot of it has been fixed. It still does not have turn by turn routing. I think that's a feature they are still going to implement but not sure on that. Battery life could be better. I haven't pushed mine yet to see how long I can get but at best you can expect 10 hours of use using good rechargeable batteries. You may be better served by buying a Garmin simply because there is more support for them on forums like these. I've had experience with a few GPS units over the years so am well equipped to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the Triton. It does still have an update or two to go I think. Good luck.

It's actually not a bad unit. You will hear all sorts of bad things about it but the majority of the issues have been fixed. It still has a little ways to go though. When it first came out not much worked yet from what I understand. I run National Geographic TOPO maps at 1:24000 scale and also Accuterra maps for street level information on mine. I just got it recently so haven't had it for too long yet. I've loaded about 1000 local caches into it. Most of the information transfers over when using gpx files. The hints transfer to VantagePoint which is the software for your PC that comes with it but not to the unit yet. There is a field for it so hopefully that will be fixed in the next update. You do get the short and long description in the unit, difficulty and terrain ratings also. Date hidden and person that placed the cache also show up in the unit. Size doesn't show up yet either. They also haven't implemented a found feature on it yet. People currently switch the icon on caches they find to the frog icon, sync with VP, delete all frog caches and re-sync again to delete them in one go. It has a three axis electronic compass that works when you are standing still and doesn't have to be held exactly level. It will point out North, the sun and moon locations and also the direction to the next waypoint or cache. You can save the "breadcrumbs" you leave as a trail and download them back into Vantage Point. I don't think that worked when it first came out. I've downloaded pre-made trails from localhikes.com with no issues and backpacker.com also. One gotcha here is if you make a trail from a route you traversed make sure to give the waypoints a custom starting prefix. I lost some waypoints on a trail cause the unit reused them for another trail. Some people still seem to have problems downloading maps to it but I just downloaded a 500+ MB map to mine today from TOPO with no issues. It takes a while cause TOPO has to churn out a lot of info to build the map when you make them big but once on the unit it scrolls quickly around the map. It isn't the most intuitive unit but if you spend some time learning where everything is it's easy to use. There is a dedicated forum for it also if you want to read the good and bad about it. It's tritonforum.com Be aware that not all features are implemented yet but hopefully the last of them will be fixed soon. I don't think WAAS works currently but that honestly isn't a big deal. They units are still accurate. It got me to within three feet of a micro cache the other day using the compass. My previous unit was a Garmin Legend but I got this so I could download my TOPO maps and not have to spend like $400 dollars on a unit to do it with. Whoever you buy it from just make sure they have a good return policy so you can try it out and see if you like it. The current firmware for it is 1.44 I believe. Vantage Point will update it for you if needed.

Test the buttons on it, especially the front toggle button. I have one that you have to really mash on it a couple of times now to get it to make a selection. It's a decent unit. Slow to scroll on the screen if you have anything loaded up. You can load up maps to it, I have street maps loaded.

They broke the map transfer also. It will only choose a whole state now.

I hope for one that they don't. The Triton series is an upgrade or two away from being a really good unit. I'm waiting for the next firmware to see what issues they fix and features they implement. Once you learn your way around the unit it's easy to use. Not as intuitive as a Garmin but still easy to use. Haven't had to deal with their customer service yet so can't comment on that. I have the Triton 500. It comes pretty bare but I changed out the basemap so it has some detail and installed my NG TOPO maps. I love having real TOPO maps with me in the unit instead of paper. The GEOCaching still needs a little work but it's pretty much point and click. I think people judged it too quick when it first came out and was given a bad rap. I may add some Accuterra maps to it next to see how those work. YMMV

It's a feature not implemented yet. Hopefully this will be added in the next firmware update. People are changing the icon to frog for found. :-) You can then hook up to Vantage Point, sync, sort by type in the journal and delete all the frogs, sync again and it will delete them off the GPS for you.

I just bought a Triton 500 the other day. I got close to the cache I was looking for using the map and switched to the compass to get a better fix of where the cache was hiding. Wasn't finding it too well using the map. Had the distance setting showing and walked in the direction the arrow was pointing until it said zero feet. Stopped, looked around for a second and saw the camo covered pill bottle hanging in a tree about three feet from me at most. It does come in handy.

Ankle hasn't been the same since I dropped my motorcycle on it last year! Haven't tried anything too hard yet since then. Yeah, poor me. :-) Summer is coming quick here in Colorado, just stationed back here. Looking forward to some good geocaching soon. Don't matter if I get it but pretty cool you are giving one away. woffles