Hotlanta

I’ve only hunted one true night cache, tho I’ve hunted many caches at night.Night Ringer. I took my son and one of his buddies and we had a blast. The listed coords take you to the trail-head, you have to use a flashlight to see reflective tacks in trees to find your way along the trail. It was too much fun! The only real tough time we had was returning back down the trail. I had called a fellow cacher to talk about this cache before hitting the trail and he said it was easy to see the tacks and I really wouldn’t even need my GPSr along the way. I didn’t need it going there, but going back down the trail the reflectors were on the opposite side of the tree from the direction we were hiking out. The tracking feature on my GPSr would have been very useful about then. There is a whole series of night caches near here that I've done one of, they can be done during the day but not as much fun. Night Caches Good luck with yours.

You have to be careful how you word the final cache. I’ve been denied a cache with the same theme. I was told that a cache where you had to go to other caches to find the coords to the final is considered and multi-cache. I was told I could not count the first parts as independent caches that could be logged as finds. But, I have hunted caches like this were the individual caches were owned by different cachers with the ultimate goal of finding the final mystery cache. We have one here named Superman Series Good luck with yours!

Congrat's! Have fun and Happy Cachin'

Did this one cache,Spiderman Guards Peachtree City now archived that just drove me nuts. I must have returned at least three or four times before finally finding it. Crazy! Since it is archived I’ll tell ya how it was hidden. This was an urban micro on the outer edge of a department store parking lot. Along this side of the lot was a wooden guard rail, just behind that a six foot chain link fence and about an eighteen inch strip of grass before a twenty foot drop off to rail road tracks below. Anyway, the name of the cache kept me looking at the guard rail…. Wrong! The container was camo wrapped, attached to a ten foot fishing line that was tied to the bottom of the fence and tossed over the ledge of the drop off. The grass hid the fishing line and you could not see over the edge of the drop off. But after I got my smiley, I had fun driving by and seeing other cachers suffering the same fate as me looking for this evil micro.

Geocaching started out as a curiosity and something neat to do with the kid. Quickly turned in to excitement, a learning tool, and a reason to explore. Now it’s an obsession; stickers on back window of jeep, 5 different hiking sticks, new boots, day packs, early mornings and late evenings in the woods, one trip to the hospital, and an opportunity to meet some really great people at caching events. Now when I get home from work I’m not grabbing a cold one and turning on the TV to be a couch potato, I’ve got a cold one and turned on the computer to see if a new cache has popped up in my area or if someone has found one of my hides. Ok, not all has changed I still have a cold one when I get home.

I think that leaving a note in the log book as well as a note on the cache page that you have stopped by and grabbed the coin is a good thing. That way folks who come along behind you have no question as to what happened to the geocoin that was listed there. Just remember to move it along as soon as you can. Geocoins and TB's love to rack up the frequent flier miles.

Man, I thought my trusty ball cap with a patch of Velcro sewn on top to attach my GPSr’s external antenna to be high-tech. But, I can just toss it in the top rack of the dishwasher to wash it when dirty.

A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult, than all the medicine and psychology in the world. –DR. PAUL DUDLEY WHITE, US cardiologist, 1886—1973 And finding a cool geocache along the way is good for the spirit.

Thinking back about the best coords. I was at a caching event were we played a game of who could plant a little flag closest to a given set of coords out in the middle of a large open field. Everyone was out there with their GPSr walking around in circles and trying their best to hit the mark. The winner was only 12 inches off using his high dollar unit. Second place was 16 inches off the mark, but was placed there by a 5 year old boy who just ran out and stuck his flag in the ground.

With the caches I’ve hidden, I’ve used both averaging and taking multiple readings. My GPSr will do an auto averaging. But I will also approach the cache from 4 or 5 different directions from about 100 feet and quick save each reading. Then I wonder down the trail a bit in the direction I think most folks will approach the cache and try each saved coord until I find the one that gets me closest. It does take me a few extra minutes to do these steps, but from the logs posted on my sites the coords are usually pretty darn close.

I also have been looking for a better type tote bag. I've been using a fanny pack for shorter treks, but I have to keep moving it about my waist to keep comfortable. For urban caches I've got a small canvas GPS pouch that attaches to my belt and holds my camera, couple batteries and TB’s. I like some of the backpacks and am trying to find one for day hikes that has a padded waist belt and good outer pockets. Although, on my last couple day long hikes I’ve taken my dog along and have thought of getting a doggy backpack and let him earn his way carrying some of the stuff!

My local caching area is thick with geocaches. About an equal number of micros and regular size, which makes it nice for a little diversity. The thing I've noticed about our local geocaches is that they seem to get recycled. What I mean is that caches pop up in a park or shopping center and last for a year or so, then they get archived and a new cache comes along shortly in the same area. We do have some older caches that are of exceptional value, such as scenery or history or geo-skill requirements. But I really do like the way our local caches tend to change types or owners. And this rotation a caches also helps keep down most social trails that occur at the more popular nature park caches. We have many new local geocachers joining and this recycling will give them a chance to place a cache that is close to home, which also makes it easier to maintain your cache. Just my two cents worth.

How about a scar in the making? I was caching with a couple buddies at Stone Mt. Ga. late last November, it was early in the morning. We had just found a couple of easy micros and I decided to go back to the truck and put on my hiking boots and grab the walking stick. I slipped on the wet granite, landed on my left knee and tore the Quad ligaments at the knee cap. It’s been 4 weeks since surgery and I have a 7 inch incision that should make a nice scar. Besides the pain, the worst part is the weather here has been super for geocaching but I’m still on crutches and will be for another few weeks. This did open my eyes though; it happened so fast on such an easy hike that from now on I will take more precautions when heading out to more aggressive geocaches, especially if going alone.