lmcgisme

The only currently active cache in Chiang Mai is No Granny If using the Hide & Seek a cache page use latitude 18.7897 and longitude 98.996533 HTH

Do you know that your Magellans connect to a PC, use SD cards and display detailed maps? I do use all those features on my Meridian Color and love the unit, but was hoping for something less expensive, especially after you add in Topo maps. The eXplorist 500 I got for my daughter a couple months ago and she says that it is now completely dead. I did get her a refurbished 500 and I haven't had a chance to see her GPS for myself, so it could be just a bad battery or user error, but on the other hand I'm a bit leery about buying another one. While I haven't definitely ruled out another 500 I wanted to check what else is out there. Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far.

Yes, yet another "What GPS should I get" question. I've been reading the forum but am so confused with all the different options available. I'm looking for suggestions for a GPS that can connect to a PC (serial or USB), has an expansion slot for an SD or miniSD card, and can display detailed maps. I'm hoping to keep the cost down and don't need auto routing, electronic compass, altimeter, or any extras like that. Color would be nice if it doesn't increase the price too much. We have a Magellan Meridian Color and a Magellan eXplorist 500, but are quite willing to look into other brands anyone would suggest. Thanks for your suggestions.

Being locked in a campground while a very nice stranger hunts for help is my most embarrassing moment: Its All in the View log

Congratulations on finding your first cache! The difficulty of the hide can vary from really easy to evilly hard. On the cache page there are terrain and difficulty ratings. A difficulty of 1 star should be easy to find once you get to ground zero, while a difficulty 5 can be so cleverly hidden or camoed that its really, really, hard to find even if you're in the right spot. Starting off you'll probably want to stick with a difficulty of 2 or less, until you get some idea of hiding spots and styles. Good luck, and welcome to the addiction.

... dripping wet from being caught in a storm, only to find that your boss has scheduled a meeting for you that same afternoon with one on the vice presidents of the organization. I bet I made a good impression _that_ day. And I didn't even get the FTF

I'd avoid the Stearns at Walmart if you'll be out in the rain for long. I have one, and its fine for walking from my car into a building, but not much longer. Recently I went caching on a day with heavy drizzle. I was also going in museums and other buildings so I wasn't out all day constantly. By the end of the day the inside of the jacket was wet and my clothes were damp. A couple days later I was out in the rain - not a downpour but more than drizzle. We hiked a couple trails and watched wildlife for a while. I would have been no wetter with no raincoat at all. The rain leaked in through the seams and zipper and eventually just soaked through everything. For a brief walk its fine, but if you'll be out in the rain for any length of time you'll end up getting wet.

We really like them, but they are few & far between. I have one Hoot Owl Hike (Night Cache) and there's another about ten miles away, but no others anywhere near. All the logs are very positive, and most say they wish there were more night caches around. They are time consuming to set up, though.

Here's one of my stories from last fall: My log Boy did I goof on this one! Since this is probably the last nice day for a long time I decided to take a long lunch and grab a couple caches. Since the hunt was a spur of the moment thing I didn't have the description with me, but I remembered that it was at a park that started with 'P'. As I drive down the road I go by Pheasant Branch, with a nice paved path going in the right direction. "Aha!" I thought, "I'll just follow the nice path along the creek and be back to work in no time." Bad decision. By the time I realized I was on the wrong side of the creek I was running out of time and decided to cross the creek and bushwack back to the cache. Bad decision #2. I then proceeded to pick my way through the thorns, crawl under the big brush, and climb over the downed trees as I made my way up the steep hillside and along the narrow strip at the top. Once at the top the GPS wouldn't settle down, and I spent lots of time searching nowhere near the cache. Finally decided to give up, and followed a little path - out to this nice big flat park. The one I was supposed to be in to start with. oops. In the clearing the GPS settled down and I decided to try one more time, and once I was in the right area it was a quick find. Took an Indian Head nickle, left a 10 Ore coin from Sweeden, and turned a quick 1.5 terrain cache into a 3.5 terrain half mile or more hike. Nothing like returning to work all hot and covered with burs. I had a great time TFTC!

I have some knick-knack shelves by the computer that are covered with geocaching trinkets. If there's something small and cute, or otherwise desirable, in a cache I'll trade for it as a memento of that cache, and it will decorate my shelves for a while. Periodically I go through the goodies and recycle most of them into other caches. Some of the trinkets always stay, either they're from a favorite cache or I just like them (fossils, foriegn coins, really cute characters, etc). I'll seldom trade for a useful item, since I can just buy that myself. Instead I look for things that are unusual or unique.

While this would be a nice feature for all users, for Premium Members there is a work around to see the newest caches by distance. Create the pocket query clicking 'My Home Coordinates" for 'From Origin', and for 'Placed During' select 'the Last Week' (or month or year). 'Preview the Search' (either just after submitting or the preview icon in the pocket query list). Bookmark that page and view it as often as you'd like. Since its a preview you can run it any time you want and it won't count against your daily pq count. HTH

Create a pocket query from the route - go to the 'My Account' page and click 'Find Caches Along a Route' on the right hand side of the page. Find your route and click on the name. In the 'Route Information' box, toward the bottom is a link that says 'Create Pocket Query'. Click that and you'll go to the form where you can create a pocket query and it will send you a .gpx file of caches along that route. Since you're a premium member I'm assuming you know about creating PQs. If not I can go into more detail. HTH

I often get two files in my PQ zip file, but they're both .gpx files and they can both be opened with GSAK (or Easy GPS). Is that what you're seeing, or is the smaller file not .gpx? The big file contains the cache waypoints, and the small file contains any additional waypoints that the owner may have included, such as a parking spot or trailhead. The big file is not dependent on the small file at all. My zip files always have different names (numbers), so I can't help with the second part of your question.

Often a TB will have a paper with it explaining that it is a travel bug, not a trade item to keep, and it's mission or goal. Not that it always helps - if I pick up one saying that it wants to visit the state capital in all 50 states I still don't know if its visited the capital near me already, or cacher A put it there to get it close to the capital so cacher B could take it the rest of the way. I'll pick up a bug unless I know I can't help it - it wants to move north when I'm moving south. Otherwise chances are that I can help. It seems the main goal of many bug is just to move - at least that's been the goal of most of the TBs I've found.

I agree that having distance in the newest list would be ideal - then we wouldn't need to figure out a work around PQ's are actually pretty simple when you see the form, just hard to explain in words. They're well worth the cost of the premium membership!

For Premium Members there is a work around to see the newest caches by distance. Create the pocket query clicking 'My Home Coordinates" for 'From Origin', and for 'Placed During' select 'the Last Week' (or month or year). 'Preview the Search' (either just after submitting or the preview icon in the pocket query list). Bookmark that page and view it as often as you'd like. Since its a preview you can run it any time you want and it won't count against your daily pq count. HTH

That is NOT exactly right. Yes you can go and Preview a PQ that you have run. But it will not show any New caches hidden after you ran that PQ. It will only show what was in that particular PQ. It works fine for me. I have the PQ set up with my home zip code as the location and showing caches placed in the last week. I previewed it and saved the URL as a bookmark months ago, and run click that bookmark at least twice a week. It always has the newest caches sorted by distance from my home zip. edited to try & fix the quoting

There is a work around to see the list whenever you want. Create the pocket query as mentioned above, then 'Preview the Search' (either just after submitting or the preview icon in the pocket query list). Bookmark that page and view it as often as you'd like. Since its a preview you can run it any time you want and it won't count against your daily pq count.

I can understand being FTF, signing the logbook, and waiting to log online - don't like it but can understand it. However not signing the logbook, or signing it in the midle or at the end just to make other people look foolish claiming FTF is, IMO, being a calss A jerk. And for signing the logbook in the middle or last page - how does that prove you were FTF? If your name is on the first line of the first page its pretty obvious that you're first. Any other spot and you could have been second or third - who knows when it was signed. Just writing a date & time don't prove that you were there when you said you were. Taking a TB doesn't prove anything either - as mentioned before some people don't even look through the swag, and some don't take TBs, or take them only if they know they can help on the mission. The only way to prove FTF is to have your name on the first line of the first page.

The direct route is often not the best route - stay on a trail as long as possible, since many times it will loop around & get you close instead of bushwacking a long distance. Travel bugs (and many coins) are for travelling, not for trading. Mention how to know its a travel bug and how to log it - Geocoins meant for travel, too.

As others mentioned, I like to watch caches that I DNF'd to see if others find them after me. I also watch a couple hard caches near me to see if new cachers in the area start finding them. Thses are unlikely to be hunted by people just passing through and have already been found by the regular locals. I also like to watch caches where a TB I own was placed, in case there start to be logs about the TB being listed but not there.

For finding a local organization - Farther down the list of forums here there is a Grouping called 'Geocaching Groups by Country' and one of the forums is 'Canada'. If you post there someone could probably help you out with a name and/or website of a local group. For findng an event - Click on 'My Account' on the lefthand side of the Geocaching.com website. On the right hand side of the page, ounder your stats bar, is a box called 'Search Options'. One of the search options is 'List Newest in (your state/province)' Click on that. Events are usually at the top of the list. Their icon looks like a talk bubble with an = sign in it. Good luck in the hunt!

I plan on using the white ones I got - if it ever stops raining around here! As Mudfrog the mudcacher you'd be very happy here right now. Hopefully they'll blend in & not be noticeable, but if not & a cacher goes during the day it will not be as much fun when they open the ammo can - their loss. I'm not really concerned about muggles in the hide area.

I ordered some firetacks via the website about 2 1/2 weeks ago and haven't gotten them yet. They also haven't charged my credit card, so I'm not too worried about it. I went to Wally World & Gander Mountain to check out what they had. Neither carried the FireTacks brand, and neither had any kind of stealth tacks - just obvious white ones. Being impatient I picked some up anyhow, as the stealth part wasn't that imoprtant to me. I would rather have gotten the stealth from Firetacks.com, but didn't feel it would be worth the hassle. You may want to give them a call and make sure they actually got your order & it wasn't lost in cyberspace somewhere as mine seemed to have done.

Actually, most of my TB mover's got a nice email thanking them for moving my TB and taking such good care of it. It must be true that computers are good for speading information but terrible for communication. I thought it was hilarious that my TB almost beat me back home, especially since there was nothing in the goal to suggest it do so. I was trying to share a funny TB story & see if the same thing happened to anyone else. After rereading my post a couple times I still don't see where it sounds like whining, but more like tongue in cheek poking fun at myself - which appearently doesn't come across well on the computer. Lighten up and stop assuming people are whining when they're just relating their experiences.