victorymike

It isn't enough to put an identifying "Official Geocache" cache label on the cache. People should also be filling out their contact information. Once a high school teacher contacted me because they were surveying a prarie for a planned controlled burn they were going to be doing with the students. And what if a land manager wants you to either move or re-move your cache...as opposed to simply throwing it away? I am sending out a plea to my fellow cachers...please be responsible cache placers. Please leave your contact info on your caches. If you are afraid of strange people contacting you then you should refrain from placing caches...you probably were too afraid to get permission from the land manager to place them in the first place and they shouldn't be there anyway. I would like to thank the originator of this thread for being an honest "muggle" and attempting to locate the cache placer. Best of luck.

I bought a Mountain Hardware Specter +20 goose down mummy bag for my upcoming hiking trips. Will post a review when I return from the Bruce May 22.

I love my 400t. And I found that it really shone a few weeks ago when I hiked 6+ miles for 6 caches. It nailed the hills and valleys and saved me some up and down in the long run. I am taking it on a 35 mile hiking trip to the Bruce Peninsula May 16-22...and hitting a handful or two of caches along the way. I am eager to see how it does there. As far as the "trackback" opinion goes? I might have used it once or twice. I generally just look at my breadcrumb trail as a guide to get back.

Just realize that it is ESTIMATED position accuracy. Don't treat it like its a law. Basically it tells you how well the receiver is picking up satellites and if it is using a good variety of healthy ones. Generally within 22 feet is what mine says when I actually happen to notice.

I used to have a cache called "Help Me...Not Exactly". I gave you the coordinates to a large fake birdhouse that I made, secured with a combination lock. Inside was a 1.5 gallon pretzel jar stuffed full of really good swag. When you opened it up I had 2 straps actually pop the cache out. The entrance was a 4" thick piece of lumber that I drilled a 2" hole 2" deep in and painted black to mimic the bird entrance but no bird could get into. I also gave 2 projections. The first one: I bought a large bundle of wreath type reed material at a craft store...it was even lacquered. I coiled it into a nest shape and used tiny bits of wire to secure its shape and to secure it into the crook of a tree. In the nest I put in a little hollow ceramic egg. I was just barely able to write 2 numbers inside the hollow ceramic egg, coil a loop of wire inside and down thru the fake nest...to secure the egg from walking away. Then back to the birdhouse. Another projection. This time it was to a tiny live trap that I'd cammo painted and hid under one end of a wooden bog walkway...the end where there was a concrete base. Of course it was tripped. Inside was a rubber mouse, hollow...with a 35mm film can shoved up its backside. Inside were the other 2 numbers. If you did it in the order that wrote the instructions on the cache page the combination numbers would be reversed (thus the "Not Exactly" part of the name). I considered (and still consider) this a tasteful cache. Anybody who thinks otherwise...I would have second thoughts about them.

Got the last of my gear today. But it turned out that the BioForm A/X Shoulder Harness comes standard on the pack anyway...so I have to return the harness I got in addition to the pack. It didn't say that on the description of the packs and the picture wasn't that clear. Oh well. I'll just use the money to get something else. Sorry about that.

I just bought an Osprey Argon 110 pack...well...ordered...supposed to arrive on the brown truck tomorrow. I also ordered the Osprey BioForm A/X Shoulder Harness. From the pictures it seems that this shoulder harness has much more padding than the stock one...and is more adjustable. In addition, I am planning on making a trip to a nearby REI to have the stock BioForm CM™ A/X hipbelt custom molded to me. You might want to try that alternative shoulder harness. Then again...you might want to wait for me to get back from my trip to the Bruce Peninsula (May 16-22) and just report on the performance of it (unless I don't get it before then).

Here is one more that I remembered (in Michigan). Don't know what it is...not a pit viper tho.

I've come across prolific numbers of garter snakes here in Michigan, although we do have occassional Massassauga Rattlers. And my favorite: And a rat snake we saw on Drummond Island.

This post timed out but still managed to go thru somehow. Darn double posts.

When I first got my 400t I bought a 2GB Extreme III card it would read but not write to it. So I bought a card reader, wrote to it, and then put it in the unit and it worked fine. Don't know if the updates to 2.40 and 2.51 addressed some of the higher capacity cards or not.

I'd prefer one quality cache than a bunch of crappy skirt lifters from my fellow geocachers. When I started I figured I'd put out a cache for every 10 I found (and I don't really place micros...just really full pretzel jars). Then I started caching in earnest. And I figured one cache placed for every 100 found would be good. Now...get real! That ain't happening. I've found 2706. It is hard enough to maintain the caches I have thanks to all the crapppy broken toys and dirty golf balls people keep putting in them. When I place a cache I fill it to the brim with goodies. New goodies. Still in the package. A cache with decent trade items, nicely hidden or well thought out is the type of cache I would prefer to find. Don't pressure people to put out a bunch of crappy caches in every lame blank spot just because they are enjoying finding geocaches.

If that old cache has been archived then congratulations on your find!!! That is awesome. In Michigan we have something that we call the "Archived Cache Rescue Mission". If a cache is archived and the cache owner does not specifically say that the cache and its contents and stages were retrieved then it gets put on the list. Other cachers go out to check to make sure no geo-trash is left behind. And in rare cases entire caches, still in decent shape, are found. Just look at the return of Michigan's 3rd oldest cache: Pine Bowl by wjghouse (GC1AG55).

I tried to drop and drag multiple .gpx files into the garmin gpx folder on my Colorado...it wouldn't let me. A dialogue box pops up and, basically, tells you that you have to pick one or the other. Just use GSAK and load up multiple pocket queries. Then export one .gpx file.

I already have vacation approved from May 16-22 for a trip to the Bruce Peninsula, including a kayak trip and overnight on Flowerpot Island. And I also have vacation approved and a schedule planned from Aug 18-Sept 5th for a 118.5 mile trek around Isle Royale. May 2, a new REI opens in Ann Arbor. I intend to be first in line. I have lots of new gear to purchase.

You are supposed to recalibrate the compass every time you replace the batteries. When I bought my 76C that was one reason (and the 30 hr vs 20 hr battery life of the 76CS). I turn my compass off on my 400t, like many others.

Most cache pages that I know of use magnetic. Most hikers will use true. Knowing what they are, how they vary, and how they affect you are the most important things. You will surely come across both of them in your travels. Here are a few things that you may or may not know. Magnetic North is always the same in that your compass needle will always point there. It changes from year to year (The Earth wobbles on its axis and the magnetic North pole drifts and the magnetic flux around the Earth is not linear...it looks like an apple with divits on either end). On maps the declination (difference between True and Magnetic North) is marked on the map. If you use that map several years later and use the current declination instead of what is marked on that map then you won't end up exactly where you want to be. True North is more of a standard and doesn't change. But you have to calculate it based on deviation from Magnetic North. The good thing is that your GPS is updated with current almanac data that includes deviation. For a test try walking across a parking lot (300 feet) following True North and mark you starting and ending points. Then try it from the same starting point using Magnetic North. It should put you just out of the search radius for finding a cache.

My good friends stopped by one morning and asked if I wanted to tag along with them to hit the Project Ape cache in Indiana (I am in Ann Arbor, Michigan). Sure! They gave me the coordinate and off we went. When we got to the area it was a farm field. We drove entirely around the waypoint on the farm roads. yep...field. So we checked the printout and found we'd punched in a wrong number...a BIG number. 120 miles due West. In Illinois. Pedal down Gary! We hit the cache at dusk. Then had a 5 hour drive back home. It was a blast! Wait. That was no DNF!!!

Today I placed a new puzzle cache with just my 400t (my 76C should be up for sale as much as I have used it lately)...lots of waypoint marking was required, as well as a lot of turning on and off when driving between parks. I just upgraded to 2.51beta and it seems to boot up a bit slower than it did with 2.40. No complaints. Just an observation. Maybe on the order of 10-20 seconds longer. With careful waypoint marking I was getting really accurate waypoints. I marked some points, drove to work, carved and painted a few "puzzle pieces", drove back, and used my GPS to return to the exact spots I'd picked out earlier. I am really happy with it. Found the "move waypoint to current position" feature when checking my freshly marked waypoints. It was, overall, and great learning experience. I really love my 400t! Sunspot activity peaks on an 11 year cycle. The sunspot activity was last peaked in 2000...you can tell because it has the effect of making an awesome aurora borealis that you can see further and further South (at least here in Michigan). My sister and I saw a great aurora borealis last in 2003, but nothing-not even a peep-since then. I am hoping to see a great a.b. during my hike to Isle Royale this year, but peak will be in 2011.

Thanks guys. I'll give those maps a try.

I just got a coupon for 15% off at REI out of a cache...on my upcoming planned purchase of $400 that is $60. Pretty good prize! Oh...here is a link to one of the caches this guy placed with the $50s in it. Elberta Beach Cache

I have a Garmin Colorado 400t. I also loaded City Select v7.00 on an SD card in it. Planning a trip to hike the Bruce Peninsula in Canada and, upon panning around with both the preloaded TOPO maps and the CSv7.00 maps I am not getting any details. Nothing but the main road going up to Tobermaury. I know that there are side roads. And I know that there are elevation changes. I am not getting a single elevation line. So I looked the area up with my GPSMAP76C which has CSv7.00 and Topo v3.02 North America...same thing. The preloaded maps on the 400t were better...but still no elevation lines or side streets. What's up? Do I need to buy some different maps? Which brings up another question. If I were to load another mapset to my SD card would it delete the CS v7.00 that I already have there or would it simply make another map file...or do I need to reselect the CSV7.00 AND the new mapset for (re) loading?

A doctor in the Traverse City, Michigan area was placing a few new caches (around 2002 or 2003) with a pair of $50 bills in them for the 1st and 2nd finders. I think he only did 3 like that...but WOW. I live around 5 hours away...but friends of mine found one that I know of (ABXGuy was one of them). If I was motivated I might spend some time looking them up...but I am at work and have things to do.

Yep you have to cut a large hole thru the quarter panel (and interior support panel). Depending on what model jeep you have will determine if it is on the driver or passenger side, as the air box comes on different sides. The kits come with a template so that you can measure twice and cut once, as it is a BIG hole from which there is no going back. I bought my kit used...no template. I measured several times before cutting. I also didn't have the exact size hole saw so I used exactly one size under and then used my die grinder and cutting bit to enlarge it a tiny bit. Then I deburred the edges and painted it and RTV'd it in place when I mounted it.

Darn double posts