ToTheSummit

I've been hiking/backpacking solo most of my life. I never worry about the terrains or remote locations of the places I go. I have always known the inherent dangers involved but its the chances I take to do the things I love. Since I started caching nothing is different. I enjoy myself and don't think about the 'what-ifs'. I always carry survival gear and I feel just as safe on the top of a mountain alone as I do in the local mall, maybe safer.

That is a "velvet ant". Its not really an ant at all. Its more closely related to a wasp, and only the females have those cool fuzzy colors. I used to see them all the time near Lake Mead in Nevada.

I've spent most of my life exploring the deserts of the Southwest. I know Death Valley like the back of my hand (both on-road and off-road areas as well as areas only accessible on foot). I've driven to the most remote parts of the Mohave desert....just to see what was there. I've driven around for days on end, without ever seeing a paved road, in 120+ degree heat, in an old 4X4 truck with no a/c. And more then once I've woken up in the morning with a rattlesnake less then 20 feet from my sleeping bag (luckily I've yet to find one actually sleeping with me ). Maybe its not for everyone, but I can think of no place on Earth more appealing to me then the desert. The beauty, the solitude, the extremes, and the history....I love it all!

In the deserts of the Southwest a tank on the map usually refers to a collection basin of some kind designed to capture/collect/hold water for livestock or wildlife. Especially if you see one in an remote area away from developments, major roads or railroads. Here are some examples and explanations

I installed the updated firmware for my explorist 600. The installation went smooth and afterward everything was working fine and performing well.... ...that was yesterday! Today my unit won't start up. When I power it up I get a message that reads... "Press ENTER to configure NAND Press ESC to cancel" No matter which otpion I choose it doesn't help. If I choose 'ESC' the unit just goes dark (shuts off). If I choose 'ENTER' I get a message at the bottom that reads "Configuring unit...please wait" and then after a few seconds the unit goes dark. Now I can't even reinstall the firmware. Without being able to start the unit I'm dead in the water. So does anyone have any ideas for me or am I gonna just have to send the unit back to Magellan for repairs? Oh, and I have an e-mail request in to Magellan for help, and of course their tech support number is not answering today...

The wife got me a geocaching t-shirt (the new "focus" t-shirt) and a pewter geocaching hitch cap for my truck so other cachers will recognize me and say HI when I'm out there.

One of my best days spent looking for a cache (in the short time I've been at it) was a DNF I logged last Friday. The hike/climb was more satisfying then any smilie could ever be.

I have an idea for a cache that will sit right on my property line. It will be easily accessible to anyone, even wheelchairs. But if I do it right it will also be a challenge to find it. If I do it I will plan on making a note that you need not go onto anyones private property to reach it. However, it will be placed in a position that if they do decide to cross the wall and enter private property it will be my property only and not my neighbors. My wife (a non-cacher) has given full support to the idea. I guess it doesn't freak her out to think that a bunch of strangers might be poking around near our yard at any given point in time!

I'm with gas4cache on this one. Maybe I'm stuck in the last century but my maglights and mini-mags have always served me well and I see no need to change. However, I have taken to carrying a micro squeezable led light (link) with me at all times in the last couple of years. I keep em on my keychains and one in my pocket with my change at all times. You wouldn't want to rely on them for regular use but I always have a light with me no matter where or when it is. And they are small and light enough that you never know you are carrying them.

I log everything (even DNFs). But I've only had 3 DNFs since I just started a month ago. And the first two I went back and found later. Don't think I'll be getting to today's DNF for a while!

Yeah, I just assume about 5 feet also. You can't get much more accurate then that anyway.

ditto Me to.

I had to log a DNF today. I hiked for 5 1/2 hours today over some of the nastiest 4 1/2 star rated terrain to get there so I couldn't NOT log it!!

Best on-line prices I've found (from a reputable site that I trust) is 'newegg.com'. They have great prices on most electronic items. I've always had great service from them and the prices are very competative. You can get 1gig SD cards now starting as low as $50.

I've ben an outdoors person all my life. My earliest childhood memories are of camping out and having a black bear drag a cooler out of a tent I was sleeping in. I am more comfortable sleeping out on the ground then in my bed. And I spend all my spare time hiking and backpacking. Geocaching is just another way to enjoy what I would normally be doing anyway.

Here are some stats from a beginner (that'd be me). I logged my first find less then a month ago. 36 caches found. Avg. Difficulty = 1.96 Avg. Terrain = 2.39 Avg. Challenge = 2.54 19 hard caches found (53%) I doubt that I'll keep that ratio of hard finds over 50%, but you can see why I got into caching in the first place. I love to see terrain ratings of 3.5 stars or more. If my legs are burning when I find the cache then I'm happy!

I cache alone. But only because no one else I know wants to climb up a mountain just to find a box of trinkets hidden under a pile of rocks. Once I figure out where all the caches full of pirate treasure are at I'm sure I'll have more takers! Until then its a solo endeavor for me. BTW- Did any pirates hide treasure chests in the deserts of the Southwestern U.S.?

I've only been at it less then a month. I haven't sprung for the PM yet just because I am concentrating on learning one thing at a time. I wanted to first get comfortable using my GPSr. And secondly I am learning how to use the software I got with it. I have a Magellan unit and I gotta say that I love the Mapsend Topo 3D software. I just print out the top page for each cache that I'm going to visit (a little research and I can figure out where I'm going and which caches I want to hit) and then I go into Mapsend and manually create waypoints for each cache. Then a quick print gives me a topo map of the area I'm going with each cache pinpointed. I then just map out a route in my head and off I go. This system works well for me because I have been using topo maps all my life and I still feel funny not having a paper map to pull out and look at. But my next step will be to start eliminating the paper and putting all info on my GPSr. This is where I will now be getting a premium membership and start taking advantage of its features. I'll be paperless-caching in no time!

I've been caching less then a month and I've already inspired several new cachers. I guess I didn't even think about having to recruit people. One guy I work with got himself a GPSr and started hunting just a couple days after I took him to a cache by our work. And my sister and her two kids have re-written their Christmas lists after I took them out over Thanksgiving weekend. They now want their own GPS units! But I think its pretty obvious who is interested and who is not after about a 30 second explanation. You either get that blank stare or you get probing questions.

Joined on 11-3-05 (doing research on GPSr's) New GPSr arrived in mail on 11-12-05 First find on 11-14-05

As a beginner myself with only 20-something finds in my first few weeks I'll admit that the numbers seemed somehow important when I first came to the site. Having 1000+ finds is almost unimaginable at the stage I am at right now and its hard not to be impressed by the numbers. But I soon learned that the reason I was attracted to caching was very specific. I have always spent all of my leisure time doing things like hiking and climbing. I love to go to places that no one would ever go to by accident. When I am out there I like to meet only the people with similar interests, not some sunday hiker out for a stroll. Goecaching is almost a natural progression of that attitude. It inspires me to go places that no one would go otherwise. I have specifically sought out remote caches in my area that are terrain 3.5 or better and I find great pleasure in spending all day scrambling over the top of a mountain to gather up a couple caches. If I put the same amount of time into urban caches I could easily scoop up 20 in a day. I doubt I'll ever reach the large number of finds like some have. Its just not the reason I like to play the game. But although I will no doubt pick up my share of 1/1 urban caches along the way I will pride myself on logging some of the more difficult caches that none but the most dedicated attempt. And I will always have a greater respect for the names I see in those logs along the way.

West of town. It came out of a burrow in a ledge about 40 yards from longwalkers "Sweet End Of Russell" cache (just above and to the right of the cache).

Saw this guy on Tuesday while searching for a cache.... Edit: clicked wrong button, intended to quote.

That seems funny to me. I'm a newbie and I specifically have searched my area for caches that have not been logged in a while. Maybe I am not the norm, but there are some of us out there that prefer the challenge of a cache that is not visited often.

Rare earth magnets are the only way to go. Plenty of power in a small magnet. I've bought magnets before from K&J Magnetics. Check their surplus page for some great buys on rare earth magnets. But be careful with them, I have been seriously pinched by rare earth magnets that were deceptively small! I have some right now that are 1/2" diameter discs that are 1/4" thick. Its a real bitch to pull two of those things apart!