redwoodkestrel

My gallery is up for grabs as well. If there are any in there that you'd like a higher-quality version of, just let me know and I'll send it if I have it.

But like I said in my post above, you actually don't have to be patient - you can instantly update your statistics if you go to the correct statistics page.

Oh yeah, and the battery life on the eTrex far exceeds the battery life on the eXplorist series, which I appreciate.

You need to go to the "Statistics" link in the Quick View list, NOT the Statistics tab under "Your Public Profile." In the Quick View list Statistics, there is a button that says "Update My Statistics Now" which you can press to get instant updates to your stats. If you're not seeing that button, then you're looking at the wrong Statistics page. Here's a link to another forum thread where I posted an image of which Statistics page to look at: Statistics page

I don't think you'll ever get a forum consensus on the "best" GPS unit - everyone seems to have their own preferences and likes and dislikes of the units they've tried, so opinions is the best you can ask for. That said, I'm happy to give my opinion. I've cached with an android phone, a Magellan eXplorist GC, a Magellan eXplorist 510, and a Garmin eTrex 20. I liked the 510 for the touch screen, but overall I've been the happiest with the eTrex 20. I've found it has greater accuracy, especially under trees, and it's so nice to be able to get good, free maps for it as well. Learning how to navigate the unit with the joystick took a little time, but I've gotten used to it now and it no longer slows me down.

I know that's where my stats are, but how do I know what kinds of things are "official challenges" or is there no such thing? People just try to fill up their stats and such. Also, one other thing, I heard sometimes there are challenges to find 10 different caches types in a day or something like that...? There are tons of different types of challenge caches out there. The best thing to do would to check for challenges near you so you know which you might be able to accomplish and sign the log for. Check out the profile page of shell1fish to look at a list of challenge caches in your state.

Oh very cool, these are even better! Is this just a standard item that people sometimes toss in a cache so I wouldn't know it's there until I see it? It depends - they're not tracked in the cache's inventory like TBs and geocoins are. But many times people mention when they drop them into a cache, so you can read the recent logs to see if someone has mentioned it. I try my best to remember to add it to my log if I put one of my pathtags into a cache.

If you're looking to collect items left in caches, pathtags might be more what you're looking for. They're tiny coin-like objects, around the size of a nickel. Cachers make them in batches and they all have the same tracking number, so you can log where you found it but you can keep them to collect or move them. I like them, since they're each designed individually by the owner so to me they have more personality than geocoins, and it's fun to try to collect them from multiple owners.

Here's a link to another forum thread where I posted an image of which Statistics page to look at: Statistics page

You need to go to the "Statistics" link in the Quick View list, NOT the Statistics tab under "Your Public Profile." In the Quick View list Statistics, there is a button that says "Update My Statistics Now" which you can press to get instant updates to your stats. If you're not seeing that button, then you're looking at the wrong Statistics page.

I've owned a Magellan GC and a Garmin eTrex 20 - my personal experience has been that the Garmin is far superior, especially in terms of accuracy. Having lots of available maps out there to choose from is also a pretty significant bonus!

I would do two things. First, I would change the coordinates for each puzzle on the cache page itself. Look for the pencil icon next to the fake coords - you can click that and change it to the actual coords you solved for. In c:geo, once you've changed the coordinates on the actual cache page, after you click the puzzle in the map, the icon will now show up in the new, correct position. It will look like the normal puzzle icon, but with a yellow pencil and a little red flag (?), so you can distinguish it from puzzles you haven't solved yet. To put the caches into your GPS unit, I would create a bookmark list of all 107 puzzles (or check to see if someone else has already made that list - it's quite possible!). I would run a pocket query of the list and download into my GPSr - pocket queries will download the corrected coordinates that you've changed on the cache page.

This was actually the reason why I returned my eXplorist GC a couple weeks after getting it - it kept shutting down, and the only way to turn it back on was to take out the batteries and put them back in. That usually fixed it, since it wasn't actually draining the batteries. For me it wasn't just in conjunction with plugging it in to my computer though - it would happen at random times too. So I'm not sure if it's the same problem as yours. But eventually I just got so frustrated that I took it back to REI and exchanged it for a different model of GPS unit.

+1 million I totally agree. I consider hiking alone to be a mobile form of meditation. Me, my thoughts, my breath, and the sounds of nature around me. Sometimes there's really nothing better!

The Magellan eXplorist GC is pretty much designed for geocaching, though it has some other functionality as well.

I almost always cache alone, and most of my caching is done while hiking. Rattlesnakes/mountain lions/ticks/etc are definitely around in my area, so I do my best to stay aware. Short hikes I do after work I usually don't bother telling anyone where I'm going, since I'm usually never getting exceptionally far away from an urban area. Long hikes I take on weekends, I always tell my boyfriend where I'm going and I always joke it's so he knows "where to send the police to find my body when I get bit by a rattlesnake."

Without knowing what kind of GPS unit you have, my answer will have to be a bit vague. To get the two unzipped GPX files onto your GPS unit, plug the GPS into your computer and open it up like you would a usb drive, so you can see the files inside. You can then drag and drop the GPX files from your PQ into the corresponding folder(s) on your GPS unit. Not sure about the GC number thing - though if you let us know what kind of GPS you have someone might be able to figure it out.

Pathtags are generally meant to keep or to move to a new cache, whichever you'd like. I'll have to let the wisdom of the forums weigh in on whether or not you're supposed to trade for a pathtag, or if you can just grab it, much like you can with a travel bug or a geocoin, which are meant to be kept moving from cache to cache and are not subject to the "trade up or trade equal" guideline.

This cache? Looks like by "key" they mean an encryption key - a way to decode the coordinates for the final stage. So they encrypted the coordinates using this key, and having the same key will let you decrypt the coordinates correctly. Yes, that cache. Im sorry, im still a little bit confused. Will i be looking for a physical cache with a code breaker hint inside, or something else like @AZcachemeister said Reading through the cache page more thoroughly, it is a virtual stage. Meaning there is not a physical container at the location, but something else that will help you get the key. I recommend looking at the related web page. It should help.

Go this webpage on the Magellan site to download the new firmware. I believe you'll need to connect your eXplorist to your computer and then run the program once its downloaded.

This cache? Looks like by "key" they mean an encryption key - a way to decode the coordinates for the final stage. So they encrypted the coordinates using this key, and having the same key will let you decrypt the coordinates correctly.

The eTrex can definitely do distance and bearing! When you are in Menu > Mark Waypoint, when the waypoint editor comes up, click the menu button again (the bottom button on the left side of the unit), and then select "Project Waypoint." It will have you enter bearing and distance from your current point, and will create the projected waypoint.

Why not use the geocaching map? That way you can look at the whole Sacramento area and find the green spaces - and the the caches that are hidden in those green spaces. Looks like there are quite a few parks in the area: Sacramento geocache map

No, since the smart phone is GPS enabled, once you download the Wherigo cartridge, it recognizes when you make it to certain spots and pulls up the next clue/question for the next location. So you can't see the second location until you make it the first location... can't see the third location until you make it to the second location... etc. So you need a device that can read the cartridge, and you use that device both for answering questions and for finding locations.

Not advocating one way or the other on percentage caches, but for some folks it doesn't mean a change in caching habits. I recently found and qualified for a 15% non-traditional challenge (yes, published before the guidelines changed). I would easily qualify for a 60% non-micro challenge. Looking at it from a different perspective: couldn't you think of it as not necessarily no longer going after micros, but simply finding more caches that aren't micros? Overall, interesting discussion. Now that I think about it more, I assume the guideline change would now also make it difficult to publish a challenge to have your average D or T above a certain number? I'm currently somewhat working on a challenge to get average D/T, added together, above 4. Yes, it has meant less P&Gs, but overall I'm happy with the quality of caches I've been finding, and the adventures to get to some of those caches.