Northern Trekker

Any speculation on what the August Challenge will be?

I celebrated 20 years caching last year on 8/11/2022. My first year of geocaching, way back in 2002! I have been in/out of the sport since then, but I am trying my best to stay active and have found a renewed interest in geocaching. I am able to geocache more than ever before (retirement is great!). I read every one of the logs for my caches and try to respond to each.

If you have it then the prior carrier of the trackable forgot to electronically "leave it". When you can, drop it in another cache and carry on.

When I place a cache, I try to be quite careful to get accurate coordinates. I use my iPhone and I always let it settle into the coordinates for a good 2-3 minutes (reading 1). Then I move away about 20 - 30 feet, then move back and do the same again (reading 2). Finally I move off in a different direction and move back again (reading 3). I take these 3 readings (which only vary by 0.001 at the most) and average them to get my final reading. I then get home and plot the coordinates on google maps (same source maps as Geocaching), I see that my point is off on the map by up to 20 - 30 feet. An example is if I were to place a cache at a lamp post in the middle of a parking lot (clear sky above, very little or no tree interference). I can see on the map that the point is not at that lamp post, so I can correct the reading so that it is SPOT ON (usually, by adjusting both the northing and westing by up to 0.003 each. My question is: Which of these two coordinates is most accurate and should be used at the geocaching site? Example: Coordinates found on site with iPhone Adjusted coordinates to be very close to the lamp post

Fixed now - THANK YOU!

I was out of it for w while but have come back now that I have a bit more free time. Been geocaching since 2002.

For this final signal quest, the point total from the previous quest is still displayed.

thanks for your quick reply. I now have a better idea.

With around 4100 finds your cache is very far from the top. You can use project-gc country-wise e.g. for Germany http://project-gc.com/Statistics/TopLoggedCaches?country=Germany&submit=Filter (top cache more than 19000 finds and 199 caches with more than 4000 finds) or the Czech republic http://project-gc.com/Statistics/TopLoggedCaches?country=Czech+Republic&submit=Filter (top cache more than 21000 finds) My home country's top cache has more than 13000 finds. Your cache is #11 in the UK http://project-gc.com/Statistics/TopLoggedCaches?country=United+Kingdom&submit=Filter

I have a fairly popular geocache. I was wondering if it was near the top of the "Most Found" list. I dont know how to do such a search. Just curious.... Thanks!

Ok, let me know what I can do to help. Being from the state I better do my fair share! Sign me up for 20 and as a resource to help. Cheers, Northern Trekker

The noon-time NPR broadcast today had an article about GEOCACHING! They interviewed a Brian Roth - a PROFESSIONAL GEOCACHER ? (someone gets PAID to do this??) ... anyway it was a good description of the geocaching hobby and will without a doubt generate more interest. Tom

Mopar, You are right. I have learned a lot here during this discussion and after getting the data on 35 readings at the same location with a +/- of 24 feet, I have resolved to do the vertical the regular way (with a level). Yes, I was reluctant to accept this final answer, hoping for better news, but that is because I was thinking that someone out there may have "discovered" something that I was unaware of. I filed this under education in case someone in the education field had some experience with this. Again, sorry if this duplicated postings. I appreciate everyones input and helping me determine my final solution. Thanks a bunch! Northern Trekker

T2 (great name by the way) Thanks for this info! What you have done is answered a LOT of my questions with your data. I will forgo the elevation info, even though I think I can cover the entire site in 4 hours. I will shoot the site with a reglar level and add those to my waypoints afterward. I still do not know what software would be best to generate my topo map in the end. Any ideas? Thanks, Northern Trekker

I am a Civil Engineer and have operated many a level, however I was looking for something I could record all the data at once. I suppose I could rent a Total Station and do it that way (it records the angle, both horizontal and vertical and calculates the location and elevation AUTOMATICALLY) however, I wanted to use the GPS and invest in some software that I could use on my laptop / desktop machine to do the planning. I was hoping that someone with current experience would see this note and give me some straight-up advice. Still looking for the software / GPS solution to this .... Thanks to all so far. Northern Trekker

Thanks for the info so far, Here is some more info to fill in a couple gaps: The land is in Kentucky and I am in Alaska. I have the opportunity to get to the land about every other year. I am hoping to work on site plans in Alaska during the time I am not in Kentucky. See my dilemma? I need relative elevations. I have found a recent (1998) aerial photo of the land that is fairly good resolution, however I still would like to get a better than USGS topo. Thanks for the info to this point. More is ALWAYS APPRECIATED! Northern Trekker

For those out there with the knowledge, I need your advice: I have purchased some land and now I would like to get a topographic map of that land to plan for the house we will be building. I would like to do that using the data that I can collect with my GPS. Here are the details: The land is 45 acres in size and is mostly clear of trees (reception is good). I have a Garmin MAP 76 S that I will be using to collect data. I do not currently have any special mapping software (like AutoCAD) I do have Mapsoft so I can download the local maps to the GPS. Here are my questions: Has anyone out there done this? How did you go about doing it? (I assume I would place the GPS on the ground to get a reading or have it at a fixed elevation above the ground, like waist level) Did you get good resolution? I assume I would do this with WAAS enabled. What software should I invest in (buy)? Anything else you can do to help me would be greatly appreciated. I would rather do this than hire a surveyor to topo the land (if this is possible). Thanks in advance for all your help and advice! Northern Trekker

Alaska - My caches are all located above high snow line!

Hi. I don't mind speaking up when I have some constructive offerings. I don't much go for the flaming of others and have activly chose to not chime in to those ... so you may call me a lurker. I have more caches in my area (within 100 miles) than any other cacher AND I keep them up. I have Launched many a TB from my location because of the novility of it. Glad to help when I can and like to meet / share with others who think likewise. Take care out there, Northern Trekker North Pole, Alaska

Anyone have an idea of what cache has had the most visits (that is logged visits by different cachers)? What is the most visited cache in your area? and what makes it so popular? is it a travel bug hotel? or is it located close to an travel center? Or is it located close to the Garmin Dealer???? Northern Trekker

Hint: Bring your snowshoes and have fun! Is there any other way?? Northern Trekker North Pole Alaska

I own two now. Both at Garmin, but the second has mapping. Take a look at the mapping features and I think you too will want to get one that has this as a feature. I have a 12 XL and also a Map 76S. Great products! My $0.02 Northern Trekker

I agree with a lot of the posts... leave some extra tracks, double back ... twice .. but don't leave a mess or messy snow ... Is that CITO option ? I make sure that all my caches (that I place) are 4 season caches.... even though we only have two seasons here, Winter and the other day of the year. Northern Trekker North Pole, Alaska

Ok, Had to add my $0.02 I went out yesterday and hid 4 part of a multi-cache. It was -10F tops, last weekend when I hid the final location of the multi it was -30 F (no wind chill figured in). Only problem is the screen on the GPS takes longer and longer to refresh . Be happy that we all have the time and freedom to do this, no matter what the weather! Northern Trekker North Pole, Alaska

Again, as stated by may others on this thread, you need to buy what you need, the other bells and whistles are for fun . I do a lot more than geocaching with my unit. I trek the backcountry where maps are REQUIRED. I will always pack a compass and a paper map with me, however with the mapping feature on the GPS makes locating myself on that map is much quicker . I have found that my needs are QUITE different than most. I live in an area of the world where I can travel 50 miles only be located at least 40 miles from the nearest person. I must be able to fend for myself in the backcountry and trust my equipment and survive (if or when my primary transportation fails - snowmobile) for days when it is well below zero (snowshoes make a great shelter at night, a snowmobile doesn't ). Things that make navigation easy are what I like. For years I translated coordinates to maps and back. Now electronic maps are great for this! For most, the background maps will help you navigate streets and such to a spot that close to the cache you are seeking. I don't know how populated your area is or how current the maps are, but even the maps in my area are dated in the mid 60's . The 800 mile pipeline across my state (which was installed in 1974-76) is still shown as a "proposed route" on the newest maps for some areas . If the map feature on the GPS makes short work of orientation and when in white-out conditions and blowing snow, I will buy it. But I will never leave my compass and map - you gotta have a plan B and neither of those run out of batteries, ever. Hope this helps, Northern Trekker