Ozarktroutbum

I spent my first weekend caching and located 6. I found several questionable items, one was dog bisquits, left by the owner of the cache which I left in place but the second bothered me enough to remove it and that was a cigarette. Don't get me wrong... I smoke, but I figured what was the point. It was dis-colored and no one would want the thing anyway. Alot of them contained what I call "cache-trash" just whatever the finder happened to have on them, plastic forks, quarters and what not. I figure that if I'm going to the trouble of finding a cache, I want to leave something cool for the next guy. Thats why I went to the C-store and loaded up on trinkets that I found interesting. Also I ordered 3 ammo boxes that I plan to place myself and I'll put a printed list of what I'd rather not find in there, ie: food, cigarettes and such. As for exploding lighters .... Does a lighter explode if you leave it in direct sunlight all day? Does it explode if you leave it in your car in direct sunlight? I really don't think thats a valid argument on whether its appropriate cache fare. I personally don't leave them, but is it really my place to decide whether they belong? I read in another thread about alleged "pirated" cd's being found. One user claimed he destroys them on the spot. My question to him was, how do you know whats on it? Could be someones vacation pictures or shareware or any number of acceptable items. Just because its on a CD-R doesn't mean anything. As for lighters, I say they are OK, because I may actually need a lighter. As for kids finding them, if they are smart enough to use a GPS then they OUGHT to be smart enough to know not to play with matches. Just my opinion. No Matter Where You Go... There You Are...

Well, I did my first weekend and was able to hit 6 or 7. I did the EZGps download and tossed out the unlikey ones. One I found I didnt have a sheet printed and found with coords only. Some things I think important to start with: nullDecent paper maps nullInsect repellant nullA "finds bag", I was lucky and got a small one from the first cache of the day. nullA hiking stick for poking around in the leaves and rocks. I saw 3 snakes in 2 days. "none on caches" but nearby. nullAs many printouts as you can carry, I guess I'll start a binder with possibles. All in all it went smooth enough. Happy Hunting O.T.B.

Well, I did my first weekend and was able to hit 6 or 7. I did the EZGps download and tossed out the unlikey ones. One I found I didnt have a sheet printed and found with coords only. Some things I think important to start with: nullDecent paper maps nullInsect repellant nullA "finds bag", I was lucky and got a small one from the first cache of the day. nullA hiking stick for poking around in the leaves and rocks. I saw 3 snakes in 2 days. "none on caches" but nearby. nullAs many printouts as you can carry, I guess I'll start a binder with possibles. All in all it went smooth enough. Happy Hunting O.T.B.

I've got the Mag Green, sandisk 64 mg card, sandisk USB reader and Mapsend Topo. I love the Green but was a little disapointed with Mapsend. The data is "mostly" accurate. It shows a few things that aren't there and some place/street names are mis-labeled. I believe this is due to their source data being inacurate. My What REALLY ticked me off about Mapsend, is that it lacks certain Windows features we have grown to love. Case in point is that when building a route, you have to add the waypoints one by one instead of shift/clicking a whole slew of them and dropping them on a route. Also certain features we have grown to love in spreadsheets are lacking in the waypoint area like being able to select and manipulate entire columns. All the features in EasyGPS.... I hope that they will be re-releasing Mapsend soon in an update as all the instructions refer to the Mag Map 330 and never mention the Magellan. All in all I think Meridian should concentrate on making GPS units, and leave the software/data development to a 3rd party. Oh, and while I'm on a rant..... WHO'S BRIGHT IDEA AT MERIDIAN WAS IT TO SELL ME A PRODUCT THAT IS DESIGNED TO BE USED OUTDOORS WITH THE FRIGGIN MANUAL ON CD-ROM. So here I am tromping through the woods lugging a laptop or worse yet 80 pages of loose copy paper trying to figure out the features on my new Magellan. Oh, but I did get a nice 80 or so page "Getting Started" manual printed in 5 or 6 languages. That was really useful the first hour... Things being what they are, I'd probably make the same purchase again but I'd look more closely at the software side. The way I figure it Meridian owes me an update.

I've got the Mag Green, sandisk 64 mg card, sandisk USB reader and Mapsend Topo. I love the Green but was a little disapointed with Mapsend. The data is "mostly" accurate. It shows a few things that aren't there and some place/street names are mis-labeled. I believe this is due to their source data being inacurate. My What REALLY ticked me off about Mapsend, is that it lacks certain Windows features we have grown to love. Case in point is that when building a route, you have to add the waypoints one by one instead of shift/clicking a whole slew of them and dropping them on a route. Also certain features we have grown to love in spreadsheets are lacking in the waypoint area like being able to select and manipulate entire columns. All the features in EasyGPS.... I hope that they will be re-releasing Mapsend soon in an update as all the instructions refer to the Mag Map 330 and never mention the Magellan. All in all I think Meridian should concentrate on making GPS units, and leave the software/data development to a 3rd party. Oh, and while I'm on a rant..... WHO'S BRIGHT IDEA AT MERIDIAN WAS IT TO SELL ME A PRODUCT THAT IS DESIGNED TO BE USED OUTDOORS WITH THE FRIGGIN MANUAL ON CD-ROM. So here I am tromping through the woods lugging a laptop or worse yet 80 pages of loose copy paper trying to figure out the features on my new Magellan. Oh, but I did get a nice 80 or so page "Getting Started" manual printed in 5 or 6 languages. That was really useful the first hour... Things being what they are, I'd probably make the same purchase again but I'd look more closely at the software side. The way I figure it Meridian owes me an update.

I used to be a netscape 4.75 fan till ver 6 Netscape caused me to have to do a low level format and re-install. That caused me to try Ie 5.5 and that seemed more stable and is certainly easier to obtain. All in all it really makes me miss the days when all I had available was Lynx running in a telnet window.

Could one or more of you "Old Timers" give me a clue or two about how to prepare for a weekend? I've got the maps and I've got the gear but as for getting waypoints loaded into my Magellan and descriptions printed is taking a REALLY long time. Basically I picked a cluster and printed all those but I'm within striking distance of quite a few. Do I just download all the waypoints for AR and MO and go out and have at it? Choosing "show other nearby caches" gives way too many that won't be accesible, looking at the state map and trying to "identify" is slow as a compass filled with molasses. I don't mind putting in a little effort but I'd rather do it in the woods where it counts. I'm currently saving shekels to buy a laptop which will really simplify things but until then any tips I can get will be greatly appreciated. Ozarktroutbum P.S. first cache found was 4/11/02

Worked like a charm. I'd have NEVER figured that out. Big time thanks to you.

I bet this has been asked before but... I got EasyGPS for Groundspeak to talk to my Meridan green but when I try to download cache waypoints Explorer5.5 generates a file called nearest_cache.htm If I open that file its the page where I pressed the download button. I'm guessing the problem is in my Explorer.. Any clues ??