clayton994

Hi, I'm new to geocaching and GPS devices. I bought a Garmin 2495LM just a few weeks ago. Earlier this week I created several pocket queries which retrieved geocache locations within 30 km of a few places I would be visiting. I downloaded the GPX files for each pocket query and copied it onto my Garmin into the directory Internal Storage > GPX. I only wanted them in my Garmin temporarily so I deleted the pocket query GPX files from my Garmin after I returned home. Even though these GPX files were deleted successfully, the geocaches are still in my 'Favourites'. There are well over 1000 of these and I've reached my limit in my Favourites so can't add any new ones until the geocache locations are removed. I believe that there were transferred to Current.gpx. I had saved a back-up of my Garmin directories a couple of weeks ago, so I tried copying the Current.gpx file from this back-up onto my Garmin (this back-up didn't include the 1000+ geocache locations that I'd added later). The smaller back-up file seemed to override Current.gpx OK, but when I turned my Garmin back on, the geocache locations were there again! When I re-checked the files on my Garmin again, the large Current.gpx file had returned. Is there a way to replace the Current.gpx file with an older back-up, or is there any other way to remove the unwanted geocache locations from my Garmin favourites as a batch, or do I have to go into each one and individually delete them which will take several hours since there are so many of them? Thanks, Clayton

Thanks for the tips Dave. Actually, I worked out the puzzle overnight - it was a word search puzzle and I've already solved it to get the true coordinates (which were some distance from the original 'bogus' coordinates as expected).... so I *will* return to that cache next time I'm in the area (it was out-of town)! Thanks again, Clayton

Thanks kunarion & Mrs. B. That's a great help. Since the cache I couldn't find was a puzzle cache, it's little wonder that the location on Google Earth wasn't much help, and the description of the area didn't really fit. I have no idea about how to solve the puzzle though, but I guess that's another problem again. As I get into it more, I should get better at recognizing the types of puzzles that are given, but at least I know not to spend too much time looking for that cache until I work out the solution to the puzzle which is a great help. Thanks all! Clayton

Thanks Bear and Ragged. That makes sense now - the cache I couldn't find was a puzzle cache!

Hi all... I'm totally new to this so please forgive me if my question sounds stupid. I've noticed that each cache has a description page which has the coordinates of the cache near the top of the page. However, sometimes there's a puzzle to work out the exact coordinates of the cache. Are the coordinates at the top of the description page just rough ones to get you started, but not necessarily the exact coordinates of the cache; or are the puzzles simply something extra for geocache enthusiasts which, once solved, give the same coordinates as the ones already listed at the top of the description page? Another question, which is really the same as the first question I guess - I've loaded a .kml file onto Google Earth which shows the location of caches around the world. Are the locations shown on Google Earth (which use the same coordinates as the ones given on the description page for each cache) accurate enough for me to find the cache, or do I need to do more work to get more accurate coordinates? FYI - I don't even own a GPS or smart phone, but I like to explore Google Earth at home on my desktop. Today I noted the locations of a number of caches on Google Earth and went to look for them. I found two, but not the third. I wasn't sure whether the location of the one I couldn't find was a little off, or whether I just wasn't looking hard enough. I guess if I want to get into this I really need to invest in a GPS device! Thanks, Clayton