mgbmusic

Hey there! I for one would like to welcome you to the wonderful, and occasionally odd, world of GCing! I shared your sense of awe aobut the vast numberof GC's I had passed on a regular basis w/o even knowing they were there including - across the street from my church, near a grocery store I visit often, 800 ft away from my door at work. It's freaky and kinda hoo-hoo! Hope you enjoy it as much as I and I'm sure the rest of us have.

I know this is kinda like a Red State/Blue State issue, but here goes: This is ok news, but I can see both sides of the argument: On the one hand, it'll be nice to have one resource to go to for all your caching needs, but on the other hand, there is a strong argument for serparting containter and non-container caches. However, speaking from experience, Waymarking.com just palin sucks. The interface is clunky at best and frankly pretty hard to figure out. It's not even close to efficient. If Waymarking.com worked the same as geocaching.com (and I don't see why it couldn't) then I would use it a lot more because I like the idea of non-container caches. I like the thought of learning something and taking a nice hike to an unusual point of interest without having to stick my hand into a tree where God-knows-what is currently residing... Heck, I'd say quit beating aorund the bush, bring them all back to GC.com and simply add a checkmark (checked by default) that says "Ignore containerless results" Just my $0.02 Edited to add content

Heck I'm a boring old married guy with a kid. this is all i CAN do! Though I do read and watch an obscene ammount of TV, Movies, etc. Toodles...

This info. may help. From what I have read I am convinced the Magellan Platinum is superior to the newer units. I have used them for years and currently have 4 , 2 of which I got on ebay. They have a 3 axis compass, sd card slot, sunken-large screen, wonderfull operating buttons, quad-helix antenna all of which the new ones lack ( some have some features, but not all) The Mapsend software works great with these.....I'm including a list which may be of use to you......it was posted by a couple of us on our states website. You can get these on EBAY with extras. LIST OF USUFULL GEOCACHING ITEMS I can’t say that mine is better than any other because I have only used 1 other. But my Magellan Meridian Color with Mapsend Software gets the job done. I can carry the whole Southeast US on my 500 mb sd card and have plenty of room for more. That includes dirt and gravel roads. Last summer, I lead a column of cars carrying 19 people across the Florida countryside in the middle of the night for 4 hours, and I did it from the rear of the column via CB radio. Missing signs were not a problem. That’s real-time mapping capability in a practical application. Superior signal stability under harsh conditions, etc, etc. So Watcha, what kind of Magellan are you using? And what did you do to provoke it? Doggy is right.......again. Bamette and I each use a Meridian Platinum ( Magellan) with Directroute Software and I have a Platinum for a spare. With the SD card capability you can store maps, lists of caches, etc. ( an immense amount) and you also have an electronic compass, big screen, easy to use buttons, and maintain a lock under heavy canopy for hours. I also have two Garmins but the Platinums are the way to go. Grab you a couple of Palms on ebay, download spinner and plucker, and you're good to go. On a cross country trip you could load dozens of spinner files ( one for each city?) on your Magellans SD card and use plucker to put each one on your Palm, charge your batteries, and you're ready for weeks of caching ( you can also get the Platinum GPS on ebay w/ lots of extras for about $150.). A convenient holster will give you a place to carry and protect your gpsr. A PDA holster will do the same for your PDA. An adaptor for your cig lighter will stretch your batteries life. A probe will help you avoid biting varmints. A mirror with an intense pocket flashlight will get you past those out-of-sighters. I like to use a lensatic compass for precision. I also use a wrist compass clipped to my watchband for qlance orientation. That’s just on the weekends of course. I like it so much that I’m looking for 2 more, one for my dress watch and the other for my son. I guess they’re out of season? If you are really loaded for bear, bring along a metal detector. If the cache has a coin in it or is made of metal, it will give you the edge. I guess that’s about it. I’m not saying I do that. It’s an interesting thought though To add to the geocache tool list you must buy a top of the line MAHA battery charger ( I use three) and a supply of MAHA POWERX Ni MH batteries .....these are the best made ( don't take my word for it, look it up ) then you will have plenty of batteries for your digital camera ( my wife and I each carry one), GPS unit, flashlights etc. For a small , powerfull flashlight you can't beat a Surefire L4 Digital Lumamax ( 5 blinding watts of LED driven by two 3 volt lithium batteries.....the batteries are $15 for a box of twelve and have a 10 year shelf life....kind of pricy but well worth it...will light up the woods. I don't know if the most important thing was mentioned....a good walking stick. Local cachers and special guests can get one free at the View Carre' cache.......don't leave your car without your stick. Also a small pocket screwdriver for digging out micro logs and other probing. AND DON’T FORGET TO BRING A PENCIL. LIST From Above : 1. Magellan Meridian Platinum GPS Unit + Belt Holster (EBAY- If you will have a regular partner , get two ) 2. Palm M500 PDA and case ( ebay- buy an extra for backup ) 3. 12” metal probe for searching tree cavities etc. for micro caches 4. 2 “ or 3” extension mirror 5. Small, intense flashlight ( Surefire L4 Digital Lumamax ) 6. Pencil 7. Sharpie ( Fine Point) 8. Cotton Gloves 9. Pocket Screwdriver 10. Walking stick 11. Plastimo Iris 50 Hand Bearing Compass ( Great for offset caches) 12. C401FSDC MAHA NiMH Battery Charger 13. Maha 2500 mAh NiMH PowerX AA Batteries (GPS,camera,flashlights,etc. ) 14. Digital Camera 15. Access to computer w/ internet connection ( premium membership in geocaching.com is best ) INFORMATION ON PAPERLESS CACHING I got started with step by step info. I got from the Florida Geocaching website and I keep copies here at my View Carre' cache to hand out to others. I am not hi tech and can't quite use my cell phone but this guide is can't miss. If you can't find it email me and I can fax it to you. http://www.floridageocaching.com/paperless.htm = step by step instructions. This post was brought to you by Dodge - You can Take life as it comes, or your can grab life by the horns. Dodge...J/k This was a very detailed description. I wish I could be as detailed but - Off the top of my head - Belt pouch which carries multi-tool, flashlight, pen, tweezers, extra keys to both cars. Treo 650 phone w/ web/camera to cover many contingencies. Clipboard with printouts of today's caches. Back pack usually has water, extra socks, book, radio (for caching during Cubs games of course) over the counter pain relievers, knee brace etc. Now here's the sad part - aside from the clip board, that's what I carry every day.

So I've recently acquired the Garmin Rino 110, and I read on the GS FAQ that typically Channel 2 is a good place to start, but does anyone else, in general, but especially in the Chi-town area, actually carry one when caching? Just curious if I should give a shout out and see if anyone's actually there. Thoughts?

You sir are a steely eyed missile man! I swear by all the gods of geocaching you are da miz-zan! Found two previous DNF's right in a row, in under an hour using that. Never would've thought of that! I'm telling you my friend...You RULE THE SCHOOL!!!

--==--PG 13 Post --==-- Well, mine's not all that inventive either. It was the domain name for my now-defunct band - Money Grubbing Bastards. Just kinda stuck. I'm somtimes called the Master Bastard, since I was the band leader/front man, but that's a bit too PG 13 for most sites.

<FONT size="3"><font color="red">STEALTH -REQUIRED</font></font> STEALTH -REQUIRED <FONT size="3"><font color="red"><b>STEALTH -REQUIRED</b></font></font> STEALTH -REQUIRED I've always found this page helpful: http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/

But here's a copy of the original Text: (sorry i'm not yet caught up on the whole quote thingy, so I'll do it the old fashioned way): "We'll Never Forget 9/11 It's burned into our psyche. Men, women, children. Innocence attacked. Disastrous. Disgusting. Yet out of that arose a new patriotism, a new appreciation for who we are and what we have. Heroes. Men and women just doing what they do. We've developed a new appreciation for the heroes among us... those who serve and protect, whose names you'll never know until disaster befalls them while they look out for us. This cache is dedicated to that renewal of faith, hope and patriotism arising from the events of that day." Everything up to "Disgusting" is an agenda. "innocence" "Disasterous" "disgusting" are clearly worded to have an impact on how you feel about that event. Happy, indifferent, sad, or whatver. I personally agree, but there are others who may not. Perhaps if it was worded a bit differently: "It was a time that changed the United States forever. An attack from out of the blue that took so many lives...." Nothing but the truth there. No agenda. Take it for what you will. Basically, lay off the adjectives and you're ok. Ok....let the flaming begin.....

It is for this and MANY reasons that my number one rule for caching is "Never put your hands where your eyes can't see. I carry a flashlight at all times. Snakes scare the bejesus outta me. and I'm a city boy...only seen a couple of snakes in the wild in my time, and never while GC'ing. Very thankful for that.

<Groaner Alert> Do not keep reading if you are pregnant or have just finished eating!!!! Wouldn't that be an AARF discount??? Yeeeee-hah! I'm here all week! Try the veal!

Not to get off on a side topic here...But maybe humans are like Alien geocaches....I've always wondered by I had TNLNSL tatooed on the back on my head after that camping trip....

Not sure about a treo 600, but for my vacation to Minnesota, I took along Delorme's Earthmate Bluetooth GPSr that worked ok, but the mapping software can only measure in deg,min and sec as opposed to deg, min.min. I had downloaded a couple other programs from http://www.mytreo.net that are designed to test the GPS and displays coords in the correct format, but if you read some of my log entries from that trip, you'll see I had some issues. (added with edit:)BTW: This was with a Treo 650. FYI - the GPS fit nicely in my camera bag (open for clear view to sky) so I just looked like a tourist staring at my phone to other muggles around. Again, not sure aobut a treo 600, but it's always nice to know there are happy treo owners out there.

On the contrary, given the location, i think "paperless" would make things more gross. My question is, and I don't believe this has been addressed yet, how did you not bomb your own GPSr? There must've been some creative shaking or aiming involved... BTW: This is far and away the funniest thread I have read ANYWHERE!

Well yeah sure, Pink is the new red, dave is the new Paul... It's very cyclical...don't ask me to explain it....But I think it means that it's only a matter of time before we all start wearing corduroy again....

We would be happy to adopt Pushing up Daisies if you don't find anyone closer. We live about an hour and a half away but have lots of family in Montague and are over there often (at least once or twice a month, if not more!) We were thinking of placing some caches in that area anyway! Let us know!! Please PLEASE place some caches there. My wife's family has a cottage in that area (just outside Owasippee sp?) and there's virtually nothing in that vicinity. Was planning on placing some of my own next time we're up there (prolly not til next summer tho) So you have until then . Think Happy Mohawk area...

10. Bushwhacking is a polite term for "stumbling blindly through the woods" 9. If it forms a rash right away, the cache is not that important. 8. Spiders will always build their webs face high and in the most inconvenient place possible. 7. If you don't like bugs, take up go-kart driving instead. 6. Always add a waypoint for your car, or at least bring enough change for the bus. 5. Long hair and windy environments DO NOT MIX. 4. When a cache is listed as being 1,000 feet away, plan on walking 4,000. 3. If you're caching near a river, the cache will always be on the other side - even if you've already crossed it. 2. You don't know that area as well as your thought. 1. The average GPSr holds enough battery life for about 4 caches, 2 bottles or water, one sprained ankle, a couple of DNF's, and about 50,000 pickly seeds that stick to every available inch of clothing, hair, etc. What do ya'll think? Got any others to add?

My Driver's License says 29. I personally believe you're only as old as you feel...somedays I drop the 2 at the begining. Other days, I add a 0 at the end...

Just a thought for a low-tech option - dunno if it's been done, but have you considered the use of theatrical Glow tape? Most theatres use it to put on the edge of steps or to place "marks" for positioning of actors during blackouts. It's got a good shelf life (months) and would be easy to replace during maintenance visits. Comes in a variety of colors. I'm thinking green or blue to best blend with the scenery during the day. I'd find a nice hole to hide the container and cover it most of the way, w/ only the glow tape exposed. Also, to protect against the elements, I'd glow tape the container, then put a couple of layers of clear packing tape over that. Just my 2 lincolns.

I'm a life-long Cubs fan - patience goes with the territory Anywho. Being the competitive person I am, I hate, _H8_ giving up and walking away empty handed. I'm usually good at locating the places "I'd hide it" but man oh man. Sometimes, it's just crazy talk...

Ok, so I'm kinda a newbie and I've been curious, how long can one expect to actually look for a cache once in the vicinity as defined by your GPSr. I figure it'll vary depending on what the difficulty rating is. But there are times I'll look down and bam, there it is. Then there are times I'll wander around in circles over and over for an hour plus and just nothing. Is there any rhyme or reason to this? Is there a time a cache owner (or seeker) has to say "Ok, this is ridiculous" and make adjustments? I dunno, maybe I need a more accurate GPSr, but I don't know there are times my GPSr (rhino 110 BTW) says I'm standing on top of the thing, and nothing. Thoughts?