Mary&Dave

I don't know that one, but if you can't get an answer here, check here: http://www.garmin.com/contactUs/techSupport.jsp They are usually very responsive and helpful.

Two answers here - Get a unit with a PC interface. You'll want to be able to download waypoints directly to your GPS rather than entering each one by hand. As for maps, that really depends. I like the maps a lot for biking or driving around town to unfamiliar locations to pick up caches in city parks. If I'm going to an open space area to hike for caches, the map is mostly useless. The topo maps are not very detailed and do not show most trails. Also, keep in mind that the PC connection for uploading the maps is not the only expense. The map software itself will generally run you around $100.

Just out of curiousity, how do you know that a cacher did not come in, ask for the cache container, take your travel bug, and then fail to log it online? I'm not sure I'd be so quick to blame it on the staff.

I asked Garmin support a while back about memory card size limitations - you can use a card up to 512 MB. I have a Legend Cx, but I haven't gotten around to replacing the card yet. I'm not sure if a larger card would mean slower performance.

Ah, I didn't know about that part of things. Thanks for the info.

Just put yourself in a potential finder's shoes. Would this cache be worth driving across town to find the stages? Will it hold your interest? Are the spots (or the caches) special enough that this would be a great adventure? There are some long multi-caches in my area - one requires over 100 miles of driving and over 10 miles of walking. Yet they are well enough done that cachers will come out and consider it an epic adventure.

Hey, my atlas has the same typo! Funny thing...

Here's what I'd suggest doing: (Also, I'd check with your local reviewer to make sure this is okay before putting a lot of work into it.) Create a puzzle cache in your home town with bogus coordinates near where the actual cache is hidden. Make the "puzzle" be to travel to the frequently visited landmark thousands of miles away. Offer coordinates of an engraved plaque or another permanent object that has been there many years and will (hopefully) remain for many more. Have them take something out of the text of that plaque and offer a formula to translate that into cache coordinates. When they return home, they can use that to find their cache and share their experiences. The problem with doing a multi starting in this tourist location other than the obvious maintenance issues is that most people living near or visiting this area will NOT be returning to your hometown when they're done. To them, your cache is just a waste of space.

I saw this category up for peer review a few days ago, but haven't seen anything since. Was it rejected?

Briar Patch in Tennessee? That reminds me of this race. There are lots of out of the way caches that don't get many visits. I was happy to find one whose log book hadn't been signed in almost a year. It was a great cache! Just because something is a 1/1 doesn't mean it'll get a lot of traffic.

I assume you're looking here? These are just updates to Mapsource and they will not work unless you own a previous version. The more detailed maps (either street or topo) run about $100.

Try using Gimp on your Linux machine to view the photos. Also, what sometimes works is to view the image in a web browser and select view source. You'll get a lot of garbage, but the parts in plain text (such as coordinates) will still show up that way. They'll generally be near the start of the document.

I brought that up a really long time ago, ummm like last year. About half said yeas and half said no. Either there should be a tab off the geocaching profile, or it should be totally separate (with a different front page). I don't really care which. I assume one of these will be chosen as the site matures.

You can get a pretty good approximation by typing the zip code into Google Earth, though that appears to be about 1/4 mile off for my town. It might be easier to search from your home coordinates if you need to know the exact starting location. Personally, if I'm travelling to another town, I'll often find a cache near where I'm going and use the GCxxxx ID as a starting point for a search.

Two of my caches give exact instructions on how to get to the spot. One of them, especially with the hint, I'm sure you could easily find without ever touching a GPS. I placed them to introduce a seldom used trail that's maintained by a small group of local mountain bikers. The challenge of these caches is the hike, not the searching. I've indicated that with a very low difficulty rating and a very high terrain rating. If you want something that is more of a challenge to find, search for caches with higher difficulty. Different people like different things.

I put an email address on my caches - usually both on the outside and on the found it note. It's not always intuitive to find someone through the gc.com website (especially for a non-cacher).

If you have an interesting story to tell or a nice photo to share, sure. I think it should be more about quality than quantity. If you're going to go climb a mountain, visit a museum, or eat at a restaurant and give a review or a description of your experience, great. You might come back another time, and the mountain might be covered with snow or the museum's exhibits might have changed. That sounds like a great reason to log another visit with another experience. Just don't log a "I drove past - again." I decided to a visit to log one of my own waymarks (a coffee shop) to post a picture of beautifully poured latte art. But I wouldn't log a visit every time I stop in for a cuppa joe.

I will, thank you! I'm not sure if geocaches really fall into the same category, as they're hidden from the most hikers. These are the kind of things that everyone walking by sees and (hopefully) signs. Here's an example of a trail register in Central Washington: They range from nice wooden boxes like this to ammo cans attached to trees to a notebook at a shelter, post office, or business establishment near the trail. Sorta like geocaches, I suppose, but not hidden! I've even found "swag" in them before - one of them had a discarded rain jacket. No McToys yet, fortunately!

Hiking poles are probably your best bet. No, not to attack the snake, just to warn it that you're coming. If you're sticking your hand in a hole to find a cache, poke around with a stick first. I've run into probably 2 dozen rattlesnakes in the last year (hiking the desert in southern calif), even a couple mojave greens, which are supposedly the most aggressive and venomous species. The old saying is true though, they won't bother you unless you bother them. Well, I've had them sit in the middle of the trail rattling away and refusing to move, and it was a bother to bushwhack around them, but you know what I mean. The same's true for the rest of north america - we don't have aggressive snakes here. Unlike some of the creatures on the "Crocodile Hunter", the snakes here can't eat you, and they aren't stupid enough to waste their venom on you if it means they don't get dinner later. They'll only bite if they feel you're seriously threatening their life. Ticks on the other hand... eeek. I've had two of them bite me. All I can say is at least they don't do any serious harm if you pull them off within a few hours. (edit: these forums need a spell checker )

It's bad form. There are plenty of good ways to make a cache hide evil, but intentionally marking incorrect coordinates just makes it frustrating and NOT fun. If a cacher I knew made a practice of doing this, I'd make a practice of not hunting his or her caches.

I think unique and/or historic outhouses would make a good category. Not just any old outhouse in a campground, though.

That link doesn't work for me. Should it?

Also, if anyone is interested in joining me on this, I've created an open group: Trail Registers

Trail registers are notebooks commonly placed at trailheads, post offices, shelters, restaurants, inns, and other locations along long hiking/biking/equestrian trails. Anyone hiking the trail can sign their name and leave a note in these registers, and they are often used for communication between hikers who are walking long sections or the entirety of a trail. In these journals, many people talk about their triumphs and hardships of a hike, offer humorous anecdotes, send greetings to friends along the trail, and/or report the current trail conditions. They're sometimes found in unusual places, for example, last summer we found one at a general store in Lake Hughes, California. The majority of the entries were from the 1970s when the Pacific Crest Trail used to go through this small town. Please note, these are NOT the same as summit registers, which are usually stored in ammo cans on top of mountain peaks. There is already a category present for those. What do you think of this idea for a waymark category?

Why does the website even allow multiple finds on a single cache? It seems like most everyone agrees that this is not okay, and it seems like it would be fairly easy to restrict.