YeOleImposter
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Posts posted by YeOleImposter
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Um, I ask why GC made it hard to for folks to find and read -- and as a reply you point out another way it makes it hard to find and read?...so Google or any other search bot doesn't index it....Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.
This was in fact unintentional and it has now been corrected. Thank you lee_rimar for pointing this out.
Dang! There go all my conspiracy theories.
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I'll check into the hotel thing.
Thanks for getting me off my kiester. Just booked my room at Inn America
No more king beds left, so got 2 doubles.
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The last time I checked you can't be in Alaska, Conneticut, Iowa, and Arizona in one day!
Dang! I finally thought I had found evidence of time travel. Imagine the number of caches you could find if time and space were no barrier.
lqtm (laughing quietly to myself)
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Why publish them all at the same time?
Take your time.
Make each cache interesting in its own right.
Issue one per week.
Let different cachers have a chance at FTF with each one.
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Yes, I have 12,000 geocaches in mine right now as POIs plus the associated child waypoints and even hints.
Like you, I also have a set of map POIs that are also stored for trails, office, and other places I want to 'goto'.
All told, I think gsak says I loaded over 30,000 POIs my last update.
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I am guessing that the owner did not want to advertise how far off his coordinates were. If nothing was said about deleting the log, I would just re-log it without mentioning the 200' part
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Inquiring minds want to know:
- Changed custom type designations (IDs, not styles) to accommodate types needed for upcoming Northwest Topos mapset
Northwest Topos? Upcoming? Woot!?
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I just looked at BiddingForTravel.com to see what kind of deals people have been getting when using priceline.com Does not look very promising:
2* Vacation Inn Victoria 6/21/08 $85
3* Holiday Inn Victoria 5/17-5/19 $111
4* Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort 6/20 $125
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I had an answer all typed out and re-read what I posted versus what was quoted and realize I read it all wrong.
My apologies to YeOleImposter.
Thanks for pointing out my error AndrewRJ!
No problem! I definitely was not complaining.
No harm, No foul -- just more maps
<Edited for inability to spell>
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A huge thanks to everyone who participated! I won't be able to offer prizes of this nature each month, but I will continue to offer a prize at the end of each month. Rather than make it a sweepstakes and select randomly, in the future I will just award the prize to whomever submits the most trail mileage by the end of the month.
For July, the prize will be Moun10Bike Geocoin #900, which is the last of the version 3 Moun10Bike Geocoins.
Thanks again, everyone!
I understand giving the prize to the person who contributes the most but wondering if it will cause the smaller contributors to feel they will not have a chance and so not contribute quite so 'enthusiastically'?
I am working on a couple of trails here in the Tri-Cities but (as any trail guide book will show) will never be able to match the contributions of those on the west side of the state.
Hopefully, every once and a while all of us will have a chance at the prize
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Thanks MarcusArelius for the walkthrough on recording the points. Believe it would be nice to have some more directions for the 'post production' phase. I just created my first map and have no idea if I did it right
1. How to label trail sections? I ended up using the split and join tools to create segments that I could name using the 'properties' function.
2. How to designate sections as main, minor, and paved trails?
3. We are asked to send in .gpx but this method appears to create a .gdb file.
4. The other question I forgot to ask.
Sorry for the long post but someone asked me how you go about mapping hiking trails for the NW trails project so I thought I’d take a few minutes to write it down. Now, I’m not the expert, so comment’s and corrections are welcome.
First off you need to configure the track settings on your GPSr. Of course the specifics of how to do this will vary by model. Since the Garmin 60 series is one of the more popular models I will use it as a reference (and that’s the one I’m looking at while writing this). Other models should have similar features but the options may be named differently.
From the main menu of the Garmin 60 select “Tracks” and then select “Setup”. For the recording method you can select “Time”, “Distance”, or ‘Auto”. Distance is more useful for driving than hiking. Automatic is too vague for me. I like the Time method. The interval increment options will differ depending of the method that you chose. In order to accurately map the turns in the trail (especially switchbacks) it is important to record as many points as possible. You could set the interval to one second but that’s a bit of overkill.
To determine an optimal interval you must first know how many track points your GPSr can store before filling up and wrapping, or stopping (depending on your setup choice). Most Garmins can store 10,000 track points. Therefore, if you set a time interval of 1 second the memory would fill up in 2.7 hours which is shorter than most hikes (for me anyway). Two seconds will give you 5.5 hours. However, I find a 3 second time interval optimal. That results in 8.3 hours of track time and that produces a point every 8 feet at 2mph, 14 feet at 3mph, 19 feet at 4mph, or 23 feet at 5mph.
Another useful option on models with the micro data card (i.e. 60c) is the ability to automatically store track as .gpx files on the data card. Select “Data Card Setup” from the same page as the other track settings and check “Log Track To Data Card”. In addition to the normal track log it will create one .gpx file for each day and I’d be surprised to see more than 2-3 percent of the SD card consumed with track data. I haven’t played with this feature much but you can store more than 10,000 points in multiple tracks for a day. I just not sure if you can store more than 10,000 points per track. Anyway, if you forget to download your track after the hike with this option enabled you can always go back and find it (the regular track clear doesn’t delete the .gpx files)
However, you should make it a habit to clear the track memory before you start your hike. This is especially important if you choose not to “Wrap when Full” and don’t have the log to SD card feature. Otherwise, your drive to the trailhead may waste some of the track memory. Also make sure to waypoint the trailhead before you start hiking.
While hiking the GPSr should be oriented so that it maintains a satellite lock. For Garmins with an “x” in the model number (Sirf star III chip) this isn’t hard, but for units with patch antennas you may need to hold the unit flat, for a helix antenna upright is the best position, or use an external antenna. I just use the belt clip to attach my 60Cx to the chest strap of my pack. I also like to waypoint all the trail intersections that I pass by. Sometimes I will walk a short way down the side trail to make it stand out in the track log. If possible try to take a different return route back to the car to map more trails. Turn the GPSr off when you get back to the trailhead. You can turn it back on for the drive home but this will create separate tracks for the hike and the drive home.
When you get home upload the track data to your PC. I use Garmin’s MapSource to upload and visualize the track data (Transfer, Receive from Device, Track/Waypoints). If it’s not visible then click on the “Tracks” tab then right click the track and select “Show Selected On Map”. Hopefully, you will see a single continuous track. You should have NW Trails installed so select it from the drop-down list or use “View”, “Switch To Product” to select it. If the trail is already shown in NW Trails it may be from old GIS data, your track data is still useful for validation purposes. That’s how I discovered that West Tiger 3 had been re-routed.
Now the track data needs some clean up. Delete any cache waypoints and any tracks that were not from you hike. If you forgot to clear the track log before the hike or you left the GPSr on while you drove home then the points before and/or after the hike need to be deleted. Here is a neat MapSource trick. Zoom all the way in to the trailhead then click “Tools” and “Selection” (or click the arrow in the toolbar). Now right-click on one of the track segments from the parking lot to the trail head and select “Track Properties” from the pop-up menu. This will open the list of track points with that particular segment highlighted in the list. Scroll up or down depending if you are trying to remove the drive to or from the trailhead then hold down the shift key and click the first or last point. The selected points should now be highlighted on the map. If the right segments are selected press the delete key, otherwise start over. You have to press the OK key after each edit.
Track points continued to be produced when you stop for a breather (or to hunt a cache) so those points should be removed also. While zoomed in use the “Hand” tool to scroll along the trail. The area to be removed will look like a big splotch from the GPSr wandering while you are still. Use the same technique as above to highlight a track segment outside of the splotch area. Now use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to highlight the segment just before the splotch. Next use the shift-click method to highlight all the segments in the splotch. You may need to select several pages of points to get the whole splotch. Don’t worry if you over select, just shift-click again on some previous point. Press the OK button. When you are done editing save the file and e-mail it to Moun10bike.
Lastly, if you accidentally cleared the track data you can recover it from the .gpx files on the SD card if you had previously enabled “Log Track To Data Card”. From the Main menu select “Setup” and then “Interface”. Select "USB Mass Storage" and the GPSr basically becomes a thumb drive attached to you PC. You can access it like any other removable media by double-clicking the “My Computer” icon on your desktop. Just drag and drop the files wherever you want. When you disconnect the GPSr if will revert to normal operation.
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Very cool! Please don't forget those of us down in S.E. Washington too!
I would love to have this available and would help in any way possible.
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Shutle64 and I were interviewed about geocaching here in the Tri-Cities and the video is available on the KNDU web site.
They edited it quite heavily, sadly cutting out technical info given by shutle64, but overall a decent local news story.
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I imagine everyone already has their motel reservations, but just in case, I just got a room for $60 on priceline.com for the Holiday Inn Parkside downtown. Looks like it's close to the starting point and the Holiday Inn website says rooms cost double what I paid. It's my first time using priceline, but it seems like a good deal.
I upped my bid to $58 and then $60 tonight and also am booked into the Holiday Inn Parkside for 2 nights.
Looks like a very nice hotel. The wife and 11yo will be able to find a lot to do right around the hotel while I cache away the day with Tominsons.
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/MSUMT/welcome
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Hotels....
Anyone use priceline.com for a hotel room? I just tried $55 for a 2.5* hotel and got turned down.
BiddingForTravel.com had a post that someone got the Marriot Courtyard at that price on 5/28. Will up my bid tomorrow.
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Location: Plymouth, WA - Status: Abandoned
Railroad: SP&S - Years: 1907-1951 Photo date: 8/2004
MadDogHunt Revisted is accessible by going through this tunnel near the WA/OR border on Hwy 395. There are 1/2 a dozen other caches nearby.
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There was a great cache here in the Tri-Cities that required dropping something metal down a pole to retrieve the magnetic container.
Problem was, it was so difficult to find that people began removing bolts on the retaining wall 'looking' for the cache that the owner finally disabled the cache to keep people from totally destroying the area.
I really dislike urban camo that trains folks to dismantle everything they come across on the next difficult cache. It is one thing to turn over a rock or block of wood, it is another to remove stones from a stone wall, plates from electrical panels, etc.
There was one cache that I thought showed well what cachers do to an area. The owner had placed a picture of the park sign as part of her cache. By the time I got to it, the large decorative rocks that were a beautiful border are now haphazardly strewn around the edge. argh!
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W007!
Looking forward to this. Have to decide if we will just drive over from the Tri-Cities for the day or if we will take the Travel Trailer and make a weekend of it.
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Hi again
I think it's a mistake to update the coordinates when a reference mark has it's own PIDs. Why? At least around here, most reference marks with their own PIDs are bench marks with scaled coordinates which are MUCH less reliable than the computed coordinates using the box score. In another thread I mentioned a reference mark to a station on the palisades set in the 1930s, was used in a leveling in the 1950s and the scaled coordinates from its separate datasheet put it on the wrong side of the George Washington Bridge! Not good. Keep the computed coordinates.
If you are going to change anything, change the scaled coordinates on the reference mark's datasheet to the computed coordinates from the box square. In other words the other way around. I do this in my own GSAK data and set the GSAK "Coordinates Corrected" flag. That way I can see I "fixed" the scaled coordinates from the datasheet. In fact that's just what I did for the Az mark for the station on my map. I moved the mark from the datasheet's (scaled) location so it would fall on my yellow line at x feet from the curb (as per the description) from where they put it (about a block away). Remember the rule we all memorize: NEVER TRUST SCALED COORDINATES!
Well, I'll be. D@mn good point. The original reason I wanted to update coordinates from the main datasheet was because I didn't trust my calculations on projecting. (At the time, had plenty of sample functions that gave me the distance and direction, but not the other way around. Math isn't my strong point, so it admittedly took me a while.) However, now that my functions done, that's a good point to make. It's an option right now to update or to not update, I'll have to re-work it and transfer some information both ways. (Coordinates from projection to main sheet, description and other data to child.)
Cheers,
Mike.
I agree. I have found the computed coordinates to be much closer to the mark than the scaled coordinates on the data sheet. I manually change the scaled coordinates to the child coordinates calculated by NGSGPX.
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Hi FX:
I had to set aside a 1.XX something version of yours, and go back to the old original BMGPX, because of the way your BMGPX stuffed the whole datasheet into GSAK "long description". That came out a total mess in cachemate on my PDA. And I haven't had time to get back to it.
Has this been addressed? Old news, all fixed? Or news to you?
I have the datasheet in cachemate just fine -- just like it looks in GSAK. Must have been a fluke.
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Bringing up a dead topic, because some may be interested..
Version 2.0 of the BMGPX replacement is almost ready. It's grafical<tm>! Anyways, the not-yet-finished help for the program is here, if you want to head over there and scan through the files, I'm open to any comments, suggestions.
Looks good! Will be interesting to see how it plays with the stuff created by version 1.0
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I believe many are in fact findable. I have found at least two of this individual's not founds, one being a hundred foot tall intersection station. Even more amusing to me, I noted at least two stations that were reported FOUND in July of last year (with details) by another geocacher (Z15) then not found in August by the Unnamed Individual from the Unnamed Group.
As I am sure you will, make sure to check that the geocacher actually found the actual disk. We have a some cachers in this area that will mark a disk as found if they find the survey marker (with a note that the disk must be buried) and willl mark a disk as found as long as they found some disk near the coordinates -- never mind that the stamping does not match at all.
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Everyone, Please upload some of your favorite shots of the cache machine to the cache page -- or tell us here how to view them online if you have them up on Flickr or somewhere else.
thanks!!
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I hope we don't eliminate caches from the previous machine. Most of the people that will attend were not caching yet when Yakima I was held and the few old timers that were there can just skip 'em.
I understand, but realize
1) Travis has done them
2) even many non old timers have done these if they have passed through Yakima at all in the last 5 years.
3) only 1/2 of the ones on the original route are still active and of those that are active many have not been found in 3-6 months -- a good indication they really are missing, just no one bothers to post DNFs
4) and most important -- there are still plenty to do on the cache machine for everyone if these are skipped. If these and the micros are skipped, then on Sunday everyone can have another full day of caching.
BTW, the Vancouver cache machine weekend ended up being my best MONTH worth of caching with 135 finds!
26 on the way to Vancouver, 77 (+2 previous finds) at the cache machine, and 32 on the way home to the Tri-Cities. Here is a link to my stats for the weekend
Endangered caches
in Northwest
Posted
They are strongly against geocaching because they post no trespassing signs? Maybe they just don't like trespassers? Maybe they don't want to get sued when someone hurts themselves? Or have caches created a situation where they had to post the signs to keep out problems?
Not sure what a brush picker is -- or why somone would pay to pick brush -- but we have same thing here -- farmers not wanting us to plant caches in their wheat fields cause they want to rape the land so I can buy bread. Not sure if it (Mexicans) who are doing the harvesting or not for those greedy corporate types.
Now that I have that out of my system, lol....