Lodge Pole

Many EarthCaches as well as other type listings can be found without a GPS unit. I have used the driving directions from the cache page and google earth or some of my other maps to view the area. Urban caching is eazy this way, and with the new map layout on this site may be all you need. When you do get a GPS unit, look at some of the lower end Garmin units. Ebay can be a good source. I would like to have a real costly one that is able to communicate with the wireless beacons like the Garmin Chirps, but I won't shell out the money for one of the paperless units. I use a Venture HC most of the time. I used a map and compass before they "flipped the switch". I still carry a compass in my pack. I've been a hiker longer than geocaching has been around, and my first unit was used for recording locations of old cemeterys, as I'm also into geneology. There are some mounds and Native American burial sites that I would never disclose the location of on the internet. One of my listings, "Indian Grave Gap" which is the name of the mountain pass was a burial site that was looted many years ago. There is a village site nearby that is listed on the National Registery of Historic places, and the location is restricted. It is near Dungannon, Va. Quite sure that a mound existed there once, but farming has destroyed it. I remember the farm once had a different color of soil in the center, and it was a great site for surface hunting relics. I have tryed to pass my hobby of relic collecting and surface hunting to my children, and my young 10 year old daughter has really taken to it. My wife calls us rock collectors, which is true. Perhaps I have stated something incorrectly. I am 59 years, soon to be 60, and with a book, map and compass, ruller and pencil I can find anything I know about. Having a used first time gps will open the door to what ever normal cache hunting is. Having someone like you will open another door to earth caching, or historical sites caching if there is such a thing. I agree not all should be opened to theft, burial raids, and over use of the few wild places left. Places as you have allowed your children are ruined by farming, condo construction, parking lots, and other. Still in some ways these very items are a loss to the understanding and nature of the old ways, but your gains are yours, and I understand, as I have a smaller collection of plowed up items too. Some things man does when he is ignorant, not stupid, just happen, as it can be hard to know what is buried a few inches down, when 250+ years have buried an artifact and then normal anything we do brings something to the surface. I have been lucky to be able to work with the NH state geologist, and get to huntpaloe sites and cherts in Maine. We don't get to keep a thing, but atleast we can get a picture sometimes. I tend to not keep pictures of chards, which is about all that is found during these state digs. I also do historical re-enacting, have spent years learning woodlands skills, and get in a lot of hiking (modern), and trecking (not so modern), and last miss the last of the truely wild places.

Many a missing trackable has shown up months, or years later. Many cachers don't know how to log them, because they were not taught. So, they just move them without logging. So, it is considered the norm to wait, and see for a good long time, before releasing the copy. Not everyone is addicted to geocaching, and some people have very lite spare time to cache. Check some of the threads on TBs coming back. It's the natural flow of life. Some have turned at tag sales, even, found by tag sale browsing cachers. One has to have patience, if one wants to be a Trackable owner. This may be, I can't say. I am totally new to geocaching, this site and reading as I can. I'ld like to get off on the right foot, and not makes waves, or worse a total fool of myself. I was simply amused to read that a year can be a common time in this day and age for anything. I am a Buck Skinner, which is a historical hobbist/re-enactor for the French and Indian War thru the American Fur Trade, circa's 1750-1840. We are all of the people i would know accustomed to waiting a year for something. In the hobby/life style many itens someone like me might want is a year wait, since you can't just run to walmart and buy it. In geocaching, I am trying to learn the basics, which I hope will end with my first gps unit pretty soon, so I can go on with this new hobby, which has a modern flair to add to my old hobbies. In part what geocaching I hope will do for me, is to point out new places to see, and take more trecks, perhaps create a reason, or a destination. Well, Hello the lodge! I just learned something new, too. I think I would like the baker lodge sytle best, after the tipi. I checked out Buck Skinners. Looks like fun. I must caution you! Buck Skinning is life altering and addictive. Me: I am a hopeless case at this point LOL In theory I can't have a GPS at events, and if i do it must remain out of sight. But then I do trecking alone, and then I can have anything I want legal. A gps is just another excuse to get outdoors after work and chores. The Baker in reality is a tad late, invented after 1840, and 1840 is generally the year of the cut off point. But these are still used. What I prefer most for 3 seasons is a eastern/ western adaption called Hunter's Lodge. Correct in both places and over the 90 year span. It is basicly a A frame, but has 'Belled ends' making it look like a small tee pee from one end or the other. It can have fire anywhere on the center line, and it can have all or none of the 4 canvas panells open on a whim. No stakes are used to hold it up, but stakes are used to spread canvass to be the A or to be awnings. I would say this in a pm/dm, but i can't with my current membership I have here, and i would like a gps and some more ideas on what I am doing before i become a + member. So if you, or any mods have to delete this i am sorry.

And it is appreciated. Don't worry about asking questions. We are more than happy to answer even if it has been asked before. bd Thank you. I am reading all about geocaching, but without any gps yet, or some hands on experience, there is much I don't understand. I have to learn how to crawl before I can walk, then walk before I can run. I am using search, commenting on some older related threads here and there, but read the dates, and say I know it's an older thread, but some are still relivant to learning. I have no mentors around to teach me, so for now, it's all reading and prep for taking baby steps. Reading the board is helping, albeit slowly.

Many a missing trackable has shown up months, or years later. Many cachers don't know how to log them, because they were not taught. So, they just move them without logging. So, it is considered the norm to wait, and see for a good long time, before releasing the copy. Not everyone is addicted to geocaching, and some people have very lite spare time to cache. Check some of the threads on TBs coming back. It's the natural flow of life. Some have turned at tag sales, even, found by tag sale browsing cachers. One has to have patience, if one wants to be a Trackable owner. This may be, I can't say. I am totally new to geocaching, this site and reading as I can. I'ld like to get off on the right foot, and not makes waves, or worse a total fool of myself. I was simply amused to read that a year can be a common time in this day and age for anything. I am a Buck Skinner, which is a historical hobbist/re-enactor for the French and Indian War thru the American Fur Trade, circa's 1750-1840. We are all of the people i would know accustomed to waiting a year for something. In the hobby/life style many itens someone like me might want is a year wait, since you can't just run to walmart and buy it. In geocaching, I am trying to learn the basics, which I hope will end with my first gps unit pretty soon, so I can go on with this new hobby, which has a modern flair to add to my old hobbies. In part what geocaching I hope will do for me, is to point out new places to see, and take more trecks, perhaps create a reason, or a destination.

Some of the Chert tools I have found here in the Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky areas is a light tan color and is light in weight. I have seen some of the grey with black flecks, normally smaller points. One piece in my collection is a large, wide base spear type point about five inches in leangth. Our native flint is dark black, but grey is also common. I have a few with very long stems that I think are atal points. Also in one area I have found found some small clear points. Sugar Quartz is also found in the area, but not common. One Sugar Quartz piece I have is a Thunder Bird that was found local about 75 years ago. When I used to do farm work in the river bottoms when I was a boy I found a few of the fetish stones that are shaped like Turtles and one that looks like a buffalo. Some of the large blades that I have found have what looks to be cement on one side bonded to them. I was told by a old timer that those are likely burial items, and the cement looking stuff was a wood ash mixture that was poured over the burial. The last really nice relics I found came from Carter County Tennessee after the big flood. One Turkey Tail and a nice Dalton point. Any time I find a large blade I guess they are burial items. Many items that people find and call them arrow heads are just knapped down knives that got too short and were thrown away. I live in the area that the trade route became known as the Great Warriors Path, which part of it became known as the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail. I have placed a series of geocaches along this route from Kingsport Tennessee to Cumberland Gap Kentucky. Hard to believe but in places the old wagon road can still be seen. If interested google up Chief Bob Benge, Dragging Canoe, and the Long Island of the Holston. Or take a peek at some of my geocache listings here. I wish I could have bumped into you when I was in the area. I spent around 90 days in Tn between the Cumberland Gap and Greenback. I will be googling up the info. I am new totally to geocaching, and would wonder about historical caches, if these can't be earth caches. But who an I to say. We share a love for history, Early American. I am so new, that I have never even held a GPS in my hand yet, much less ever owned one. I am trying to get that sorted out, and not make some wild costly error in the doing.

I recently visited a similar mound that farming has almost destroyed, and another in the middle of a town with buildings all around. I plan on trying to list them as EarthCaches. I have found mica and arrow pionts made from coral, as well as the little objects known as Woodland cones made from local iron ore. Also a copper celt came from near the site, and I suspect it was from the Great Lakes of the North. I'm sure that the place was once a village and there is one mound still present in the area and one that has been destroyed by farming. Some of the points that I have found are made from Jasper, and was likely quarryed 100 miles away. Those trade routes were immense, and the local one near my location is where the trade and war route split. One trail linked the Shawnee in Ohio with the Cherokee in Tennessee. Along this route is another mound that is a listed EarthCache, and Clovis points have been found in the area. Evidence that I have found tells me that the Native Americans were here much earlier that thought. The Yucchi were here long before the Cherokee, and truth be told it was genocide that removed them. I feel like developing EC's at these sites help preserve our history, but there is always a certin amount of dread that I have when submitting one because I may not know enough about geology as I do Native culture. I agree a lot has been lost to history thru farming, and theft from sites. I wouldn't doubt you have Munsungon Chert from northern Maine, which was traded as far as the western Great Lakes, as tool stone. If you have any cherts that are gray with black flects, or a maroon colored chert these both might be from Maine. New science is opening the door for much earlier contacts and perhaps Euro contacts, in particular with clovis points, which are found more on the east coast than not.

Newbie here, but you are correct, Item C on the map is a solar clock. I am still finding out bare bones caching, but I know history some, and that is a solar clock predating Euro contact so far as that idea is known. I don't know if there is historical caching sites. This place would be one to me.

LOL wait a year? Ha Ha Ha, that takes a dyed in the wool Buck Skinner. Only that type of person can wait a year. LOL

Ok you big shots! I am a newbie muggle, and posts 18 and 19 were real informitive. Just sayin, since I read the rules before I play the game. Thought you guys might like knowing some of us do read. So far by chance i tripped over 3 caches, then with my bro in law, who cache hunts, came to find 6 more. Seems like fun, and I am looking forward to having this as a new hobby. And oh, I didn't take anything, I just left notes in the 3 caches I found, and left them as i found them.

Just as an aid here is where you can download the manual for the 60c. http://www.helpowl.com/manuals/Garmin/GPS60/13292 Thanks, and now if I could some how contact the OP he would have a sale... I sent him an e-mail thru this site. I don't know any other way to make contact.(figuers)

A lot of GPS units are cheap because they are no longer made. So technically they are discontinued, but they actually work just as well as they ever did. It's only very slightly like buying a PC where you can keep your old Windows 98 PC running forever but new software doesn't work with it. If you had something like (say) a Garmin Geko (a very basic and now dated unit) you could still find all but a small number of new geocaches with it - it doesn't play Wherigo cartridges and doesn't support Chirp but aside from that it still works. Newer GPS units give you a faster satellite lock and hold the lock under tree cover. Higher end units will give you more features (electronic compass, barometric pressure, paperless caching etc). I've got an old Geko 201 that I bought in about 2004 that still works just as well as it did when I brought it home. It doesn't support mapping and it tends to drop the satellite lock under heavy tree cover. My old Garmin 60CS that I bought about the same time. It has an electronic compass and barometric pressure meter, supports mapping, street-level routing (if the map contains routing data) etc. It too tends to drop the satellite lock under heavy tree cover, and like the Geko it works just as well as the day I bought it. My Garmin 60CSx dates back to early 2006, has a high sensitivity chipset so you can take it through the forest and it won't drop satellite cover. It takes a memory card which means I can store far more track logs (like a digital trail of crumbs showing where I've been) then the 60CS, and also lets me put larger map sections on it. It's showing cosmetic signs of age (some of the buttons are worn where I've used them so many times) but still works perfectly. It's still the unit I use for day-to-day caching. Thanks for the info. On another thread I am looking at/for the OP Alex to come back, from asking the worth of his Garmin Map 60c, and hope to buy it. Can you comment on if that GPS will work in tree cover? NH sure has trees. I read about Wherigo cartridges, but not yet about Chirp. I tend to learn best doing, and starting at the bottom, so first getting my mitts on a gps, then finding basic easy caches is my first step. I know all about worn buttons, as the keys on this key board are missing most vowels, and several other letters from wear and tear. It's what I do

Cardinal Red, Thanks for the reply. That helped. If Alex, has the manual it woud be a good starter unit for me, and that is if he comes back. I can carry a note book and a pencil. I hope he comes back. I sent him an e-mail thru this site, but I bet that goes to his junk mail. Neither of us are + members, so I can't send a direct message. I might become a + member, after I have a little better grip on caching, but for right now I am just testing the water. If Alex shows up, it's a good bet I will take this unit. I am not familar with Craig's List either, but I am wondering if I should try and find him there??????? LOL LP

I don't do e-bay either. Talk to me a little. I am a total gps /geocach newbie. I just googled this gps you have, and it looks interesting, but the description is lacking details. One thing I don't see is the battery type. If that is normal pen light batteries this could be pretty cool. If it is some other battery and you don't have the charger, and or a manual, the device is over my top, and I simply wouldn't know what to do. The dollar figure is do able, but I don't do pay pal either. You would have to agree to a personal check and I would have to wait untill it cleared. This isn't excactly an offer, but a note of interest, which depends on if you will talk with me. Just incase you would like to know I live in NH.LP

Ray, I would like a used gps that does Geocaching for 100 bucks or less, since it will be my first. For me to spend more with out knowing what i am doing, would be the work of a bloomin fool. I have days where I do wonder if I am indeed a bloomin fool. What I do here is see an offer, and copy/paste it to google to try and understand what the offer is. That gets me a brief view of the item as new, and a price as it was new. That is all I know to do currently. 7RXC, I don't have a clue as to what 'WAAS ' means. (Think this guy is stupid, and you will have it.) I have no unit to use in any mannor, and that is a good part of the problem. I have nothing to base any judgements on what so ever. I have a good enough head i won't loose my car, no matter where I leave it though. The only time I have ever been lost was leaving Fla with no real idea of where i wanted to go and ended up in Oklahoma. That was after crossing the USA from my home of NH to Cal, and leaving Cal for Fla. I just made one wrong turn. Well once I pasted NY state I was plain lost, since I had never been west before. I figure with the coords, a good map, ruler, pencil and compass I could do this geocaching, but it would take a lot my time than I have left on Earth. A GPS with a pointer and telling me distance in yards, first, or meters 2nd would be a real good thing. I found 3 by hapstance, then with my Bro In Law found several of the 6 we found. I play at tracking game animals, so reading a man made trail to a hidden prize at this season in NH is childs play. Some of the hides are rather clever in hollowed trees however. I hope the mods will allow this discussion, as I don't know anyone with in 1,200 miles of me that is willing to help. One way to look at me, is like clay waiting to be molded. Thank you both for the replies. On edit: got WAAS figured. " Wide Area Augmentation System" Thank you for that lesson.

Thanks for the reply. There are so many makes and models, and the names and numbers of them is all meaningless to a total newbie with 0 experience. Reading this room, searching the GPS names, many are no longer made, hence my question. I know this isn't the correct room for this, but this is where the older GPS units are shown most clearly. I am trying to determine what a basic GPS is and have no need for every bell and whistel there is. Not when I don't know which end is up.

About how long is a GPS on the market, before it is replaced with a new model? I am looking for a used GPS, and have never before used one. All I want it for is geocaching. It would be nice if it wasn't so out of date, updates can't happen, like it is with Windows 98. Maybe that idea won't matter, but i don't know it won't. Thats an example. I am assuming GPS need to be updated too. Perhaps they don't.

What is the sale price? Are you willing to take it off e-bay? This is going to sound stupid, but I have never geocached myself, and have never had a GPS device or even a cell phone. I am mostly deaf. I am older and in NH. I don't do e-bay, and I don't do pay pal. You have great rep on e-bay, and this is why I am asking. What ever gps I end up with would need paper instructions, since I am clueless. I would like to start playing in geocaching, but am lost getting started as I don't know anyone else who does, that would help. How I got to this point is last week my bro in law from Fla does, but he is long gone now. He wanted to find NH caches, and I had a lot of fun with him doing that. I know I have already wasted too much of your time, as most replies are about one sentance long around here. So thanks for any consideration you may lend. See i told you this would sound stupid... LP