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Stories like this make me wonder what that whole "Free Trade" thing was about, anyway. *sigh* I might have said Groundspeak is trying to get customers to order directly from them so they can make more money on their products (which would be fair), but near as I can tell Groundspeak won't ship anyone outside the US, let alone Canadians. We're supposed to order from our local retailers... who I guess also won't be ordering from Groundspeak anymore. Huh. Are they going to be changing their policy anytime soon? This won't solve the OP's problem, but for what it's worth, I believe that if you're Canadian and mail ordering something from the States, you should be able to avoid duty and brokerage fees if your total order is less than $20 in value. It's often not worth the regular shipping charge to place such a small order ($20 item, $10 in shipping to Canada, ugh), but occasionally it works out.

I can't believe I went to see the maze (on the event day), enjoyed it, admired all the geocoins in the display case, and never once thought to look for tracking numbers to "discover" them. Boy, do I feel like an idiot. And I also didn't know there were to be geocoins for sale! If they're likely to show up in the shop eventually, I will make a return trip (possible because we happen to be members of the OSC) and this time I'll be sure to write down those numbers!

I've been using PQs for a while now, but there are still one or two finer points I don't quite understand. One of these is the very first option: "Choose how often your query should run." So far I've mostly been ignoring this, and I just select "Run this query once then delete it", so I generate a PQ and load it up on my iPhone. If I ever need to make another one I'll just repeat the process. So far this has been perfectly adequate. What is the purpose of the other two options, "Uncheck the day of the week after the query runs" and "Run this query every week on the days checked"? When would I need to use them? Or perhaps I should phrase that as, in what way are they meant to improve my caching experience?

Don't forget Limehouse. Which also has no admission fee. There are some cave features, and old mill, limehouse kilns and of course Geocaches. We went to Limehouse today with the whole family-- an excellent time was had by all. Thanks again, and Happy Canada Day!

I more or less commandeered a bag that used to be my hubby's, but has been lying dormant around the house for several years-- a small carry-all shoulder bag from Mountain Equipment Co-op. It's reasonably rugged, has a satisfying number of compartments, and has a long enough strap that I can wear it cross-body. It also has the advantage of not looking too conspicuous when I'm doing urban caching.

Thanks for the opinions! My sig item is currently too big to fit in very small containers, but it sounds like making a collection of little items won't be a waste of time after all.

I know small/mirco containers like film canisters usually aren't meant to hold much more than a log book, but I've started thinking about collecting small items like interesting/cute beads that could fit comfortably inside. What I'm wondering is, how many other cachers do the same thing? I know there is a core group of cachers on the forum who have little to no interest in trading for swag, but for those of you who are: do you keep small items in your caching bag to trade in small containers? Are you happy to find little swag items in film canisters, or are you more likely to just ignore it?

That's great-- thanks for the links and advice!

I hear there are some great places to go caching along the Bruce Trail. I also know there's quite a lot of it. We have two kids, 7 and 10, who would be up for a bit of hiking but nothing too strenuous. Can anyone recommend an area, or a series, that we should try? Caches large enough for tradables would be more fun for them than micros, obviously. We're east in the east end of Toronto, so while we're willing to do some driving to get to it, the peninsula (for example) would be too far.

On the other hand... speaking as a parent of two kids who aren't yet completely enamored by the idea of geocaching, we appreciate caches with a playground nearby, so there's something for all of us to do. In most cases the hide isn't in the playground, just in the same park as one. My daughter doesn't always want to participate in mommy's hunt for yet another geocache, but she's perfectly happy to be dragged along if we tell her there will be a new playground to visit. I get to find a new cache, she gets the Tour of Toronto's Playgrounds. Works great for us!

Now that I have a better understanding of maps (thanks everyone! ) I went looking at what Garmin has to offer for Topo maps... good heavens. Given that I regularly travel between Ontario, New Jersey, and Virginia, that's already three separate maps! How do folks who geocache in lots of different states afford all the maps??

Especially when you are playing the Pink Panther on your mental Ipod. Oh, great, thanks-- now I'll never be able to geocache again without hearing that song in my head. (And that'll be me, doing the Peter Sellers-style pratfall into the thorns. )

Thanks for the responses. Trying to process it all... c'mon, brain, you can do it! It took me a little while to figure out that 100k maps isn't actually referring to file size... At the moment I'm mostly doing my caching around the city and nearby parks/trails, but I have hopes of getting out to some larger parks and trails, if I can convince the rest of the family that this would be a good way to spend a vacation/weekend. I know we also plan to go to Spain next year, so I imagine that will require another map purchase. So it sounds like I'll want a Topo map, but to get the useful details I'm better off not paying for a preloaded one (the "t" models, correct?), but instead purchasing a unit without it and then buy a better quality Topo map. And if I'm reading this right, a "better" one will come with streets shown-- I may not be able to use it to navigate while driving (this is what "routable" means?), but I can use it for reference while geocaching. Yes?

So I'm trying to research the different Garmin GPS devices to decide which one I'd like to upgrade to (from my current iPhone), but despite combing through the forums and various other sites, I'm somewhat overwhelmed. What I'm stuck on at the moment is this whole Map thing. Hoping you guys can straighten me out gently, because I'm feeling like I must be dense or something. I understand the basemaps are the basic, mostly inadequate thing that comes preloaded on most devices. I also understand that I can expect to need to buy maps to install. But what sort of maps will I need? How many can I expect to have to buy? Topographical maps come pre-installed on some units. Are these what I can expect to use most for geocaching, or are they only occasionally useful? Is the City Navigator map the most similar to the sort of map I see on my iPhone/Geocaching app, and what I'll probably end up using most? Or will I need something else? (For that matter, what's the type of map that came preloaded with my Nuvi 265? A City Navigator?) How many maps do most of you own or use regularly for geocaching? Sorry for the flurry of crazy questions. ;-)

Thank you, Mr. Y! That list is very helpful.

Thanks! Your pocket query has been saved and currently results in 504 caches. This is in the east end of Toronto (also known as Scarborough). Considering that I live quite close to Lake Ontario, that's more than I would have expected! I'm still new, so I've got a long way to go before I run out of nearby caches to find.

I listen to a lot of podcasts and it finally occurred to me to seek out Geocaching-themed podcasts. A quick search of the forums tells me that PodCacher is a good one, but I'd also be interested in something slightly more local. Or at least in the same country as me. I saw there is a vidcast being produced by some folks in BC, but I'd prefer just audio. Does anyone know of any Canadian Geocaching podcasts?

See, and here I had to wait to start doing this stuff until my neighbor told me about Geocaching only a few months ago! That's what I get for not keeping up with my Games subscription. (Although as I recall, sometime in the 90s they stopped publishing, and I thought that was the end.) Hm, maybe I ought to go see if I can re-subscribe; who knows what else I might be missing out on!

I distinctly remember reading about Letterboxing in an article published in Games magazine, sometime in the mid-80s. I was fascinated by the idea and desperately wanted to try it, but I guess I realized that none of it was happening anywhere near me (I grew up in New Jersey). Lots of people I knew read Games. Interesting that it didn't spark a similar US-based interest then, if only a small one. (I loved that magazine so much I still have a big stack of issues from when I subscribed... I looked through them but I couldn't find the article. Frustrating.)

As delighted as I was to discover a pretty little geocoin in a cache I visited while on vacation, I was even more delighted to learn that I had picked up a coin that had been lost for nearly a year (ref# TB1VH7Z). It had been hidden really well (but not inappropriately-- it was the nature of the cache) in the cache it had last been dropped into, which is why it had gone unnoticed and eventually marked as missing. I see so many TBs and GCs listed as missing that it's sure nice to be able to share a story of a missing one finally found and back in circulation. Hooray!

Thanks for the advice!

I'm still pretty new to geocaching, but I would like to introduce the sport to some of my friends and family. I plan to take them along on a couple of hunts to show them what it's like. However, I don't know if they'd be interested in signing up at geocaching.com, either before or afterwards. If they aren't members but still participate in the hunt, should they sign the log? Or for that matter, trade any items? (I would explain the rules, of course.) I'm not sure about the proper etiquette in this case.

Speaking as another relatively new cacher... I spent a time during the week (when I couldn't get out to geocache) watching YouTube videos. There are a lot of really helpful videos out there, particularly those ones that are part of a series. Watching them helped me get a much better idea about different types of hides, what to bring with you, and how to deal with muggles. Of course, reading through these forums has helped a lot, too.

Because I'm still pretty new at this I also assume that if I can't find it then it's because I didn't look in the right spot and I need to try again, rather than there being something wrong with the cache. However... my very first DNF turned out to have been muggled! In this case, the cache owner was kind enough to contact me and let me know the situation. It was restored shortly afterwards and I was able to go back and collect the smiley.

Good heavens, I'm glad I read this post! I picked up my first TB from a cache recently and it never occurred to me that I might not be able to depend on the online info to help me keep track of its number until I put it in a new location. I have now written down all the relevant info into my little notebook. Just in case. Thanks for the advice!