YooperSnowman

We've all experienced it...you park the car to look for a cache and there is an obvious trail leading directly to the prize. No technology needed to find it. So what do you think? Are these trails harming the environment or just part of the game? After a year or two, should the CO archive the cache so the site can recover and ask the reviewer if you can move it a bit? Do trails attract the attention of muggles? Thoughts? Thanks.

Thanks for the great stories. My wife and I were introduced to Geocaching about 10 years ago and have been steady players since then. And now that I will be retiring this summer, we hope to get out more. We live in the UP of Michigan and is a great place to cache where extensive tracks of forestland, Great Lakes, and history all come together for an awesome experience. Thanks again for your stories.

In addition to the benefits of PM, my membership supports Groundspeak and the game of geocaching. There are real expenses associated with the technology (website, app) behind the game and I simply want support it. With any organization that I am a member of, I not only enjoy the benefits, but look how I can contribute back to the organization that I am supporting. I appreciate everyone's comments. Just my $.02.

Very cool. Your 9 year old grandson is wise. As for Pokemon Go, players can actually help where stealth is needed in looking for a cache. Muggles assume everyone walking around looking at their devices is playing PG, so geocachers blend in. You still need stealth when grabbing/replacing a cache, but your general hunting for a cache can be camouflaged by PG players. Happy you showed your grandkids the joy of geocaching--thats awesome.

Thanks for sharing your story. Many of us can relate to your experience. I hope you share this kind of story in your logs. Welcome to the 'game".

I ran a simple PQ of 14 caches this past weekend and I received an email with the PQ attached.

By all means give it a try for a while for free and then consider PM. As for me, PM was not so much what I got from membership, as what can I give back to a hobby I really enjoy, supporting the infrastructure of the Geocaching website etc. Of course I do enjoy the benefits, mostly PQs. Best wishes as you learn more.

Thanks alandb for the info and advice. I will explore the Mapquest idea. I don't think shaping will be necessary and I will be sure to set via points and convert them to "stops". Since we still have nearly 3 feet of snow on the ground here in Upper Michigan, this will be a nice project to work on in preparation for the upcoming bare-ground caching season. Thanks again.

I want to create a route on my Garmin Nuvi 1450LMT that will get me close to a remote cache. I have set up a Path on Google Earth that will get me close to the cache with my vehicle. Any ideas how to save the the Google Earth Path (what format) and what folder to load it into on the Nuvi 1450. Thanks very much.

There is a place and time for P&Gs. I prefer caches that get me off the beaten path and require some hiking with a bit of challenging terrain. But, I will sometimes grab LPCs and other micros just because I want to hunt for a cache and don't have the time for a more extensive outing to the wildlands. When I travel for work, its the P&Gs that scratch my caching itch.

As mentioned, run a Pocket Query from your Bookmark List. You can then preview the PQ in the geocaching maps--not Google Maps, but you might be able to do a screen shot and print it or use your browser's print function.

"Finding geocaches is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get"

I have a Garmin Dakota 10 and have used it in rugged and urban areas as well as remote areas of Upper Michigan, Montana, etc. and has held up well. If I were to buy another, I would probably get a Dakota 20 or an Oregon. All these are tough units. They handle transferring PQs easily and its easy to add waypoints--important for mult-caches. As mentioned above, visit a store where you can play with them and ask questions. Buying a GPSr is kinda like buying a car. There are lots of models out there that do similar things, but its a matter of what you personally like. There's a model out there for everyone's preferences. Good luck and let us know what GPSr you end up with.

There are many reasons for a DNF on a bridge. Here's a log from a bridge cache near here: "My old explorist 200 had us walking over the brige, under the bridge, around the bridge, and so on. I started sticking my face in the obvious places behind the guardrails, and came face to face with a skunk! Thank God it stayed put while I screamed and ran away like a little girl. We had enough after that one and tore out of there. Thanks anyway, maybe we will be back next year."

Thanks AndyT1. Your advice worked great--an easy solution and just what I was looking for. I could select individual or multiple waypoints and simply copy and paste them into the other open MapSource program. Spring must be just around the corner for you. Fall is coming on here in the northern hemisphere--a great time for caching. Thanks again.

I have a list of waypoints (geocaches) showing in the MapSource window. Do you know how I can append an additional gpx file containing another list of geocaches. Thanks for your help.

Premium membership will really enhance your experience for reasons mentioned above. Good luck with your gps shopping and have fun.

Is the accuracy/resolution of Google Maps and Google Earth higher in urban areas than rural areas? Do the map makers put a higher priority on areas with higher population density? Is data storage an issue and therefore less information provided for remote areas?

Give this a try http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx?guid=e8fbd52a-a35f-4bf7-9f8a-a187e5d81050 You might need to log in.

Zinzah, I use a Dakota 10 and find it great. Like you I don't use a lot of maps etc. so there is plenty of internal memory for cache data. Also don't load hundreds of caches at a time, so again the 10 is fine. I also use a Nuvi 1300 to route me near the cache when driving. When out of the car I use the Dakota. Together they make a great team in leading me to the cache. Also, its very easy to load the same gpx PQ into both.

A two-dollar bill--unique. Scratch off lottery ticket--just plain fun.

Thats part of the fun of Geocaching--learning new things. Its actually one of things I enjoy most about it. Even old dogs like me can learn new tricks, i.e. I leaned how to use HTML in my cache pages Have fun.

Pair of quality hiking boots: $150 State-of-the-art handheld gps: $399 12 orbiting satellites: $1.0 billion each Finding tupperware in the woods under a rock: Priceless!

A fellow cacher (thanks Gitchee) connected me with 5bums and we are resolving the issue. I live nearby and removed the unpublished cache and tb yesterday. I "grabbed" the tb and will drop it in a local TB Hotel and it will soon be on its way. We are happy that we were able to help out a bit.