PlantAKiss

Awsome ideas! I didn't know about the car tool. Thank you! I had thought about a dental tool but that's way to small. Camera idea is good too. I can see me now...forgetting to unvelcro the mirror and flashlight off my boot. I'd be quite an attractive sight stumping around the park with a mirror and a flashlight on my shoes. I wonder if someone would mistake my purpose ...as those could be put to some pretty unsavory uses! Thanks for all the ideas!

I am a noob so I only have 5 finds under my belt although I hope 2007 brings many more finds. However, in certain situations, I have poor balance due to an inner ear problem. Normally its not too much of an issue (except for looking like a total idiot occasionally). But I have found it to be a bit of problem when hunting for caches when I need to bend down and then turn my head to look under something. This is usually not a good idea or I could end up in a heap on the ground. lol This weekend I had a lightbulb moment and wondered if it would help if made a special tool. I thought I could take a small mirror and glue it to something (piece of coat hanger??) bent at a 45-degree angle so that I could hold it under things and be able to see without having to twist my head. I think a walking stick might be a good idea too. I know there are things like flashlights and compasses people use as tools for a hunt...but does anyone else have anything they have created and found useful for caching? Does anyone have any suggestions for what I might use to attach a mirror to?

I have recently purchased a Garmin Quest. And although I am very frustrated with the manual, a member here has been helping me with it so I'm getting better at handling it. It works great in the car AND I've used it for caching too. Any problems I'm having I chalk up to MY inexperience...not the Quest. I think once I have more time to play with it, its going to be great. I just found my 3rd cache weekend before last, fully guided by the Quest. So you can have both worlds...handheld unit and car navigation. I like my Quest.

"Satellite" by Dave Matthews. I love that song. Has new meaning now!

Being a noob, I haven't done all that much caching but I have to admit in some areas I am really nervous being out alone. Mainly heavily wooded parks where there is little activity. I don't worry too much about getting injured (although I did take a tumble this weekend...haha). Being female, I worry more about running into someone who might take advantage of an isolated situation. I took my dog with me once but that didn't go so well. He had a great time...me, not so much...untangling his leash from sticks and brush and trying to him to go in the direction *I* wanted to. So I'd like to find a caching buddy sometime for the more isolated areas. This weekend, while hunting in a wooded, new-to-me park at the bottom of a steep hill, I found myself being observed by a muggle from the top of the hill. He watched me for quite a while which made me nervous. He didn't leave, so after finding the cache, I climbed back up and talked to him a bit explaining what I had been doing so he wouldn't think I was up to no good. He turned out to be nice. Still...you never know...

Thank you Carleenp. I just got that same answer in the website forum. I will do that.

Ahhhh...you win the prize! Yes, their name does contain an ampersand. Thank you very much!

Hi I have been trying to respond to a member here via PM but every time I try, I get an error that says they are not a member. She PMed ME and I tried to reply (with the reply button) and I get the same error. How can you get a PM from a member and then be told they don't exist when you try to answer back? I have sent PMs to and from another member and everything worked fine. So its not like my PM feature isn't working at all. Any help would be appreciated! I'd like to be able to reply to her PM. Suzanne

Hi Cheeser I got your PM but it still won't let me reply. I hit the reply button and it says "No such member." ??? I will try to find out what the problem is. I wrote a reply to you...I'll save it til I get this fixed.

Hi Mac&Cheeser I tried PMing you but it said "No such member." ?? I bought a Garmin Quest. It has been a little frustrating because the manual SUCKS. But a forum member here has been very patiently and kindly helping me with it via PM. I wanted both a car navigation unit AND a hand-held so the Quest fits that bill. I think I will really like it once I am more familiar with it. I haven't had much time for caching lately. (I took in a rescue dog and there have been a lot of problems so all my time is going to the dog.) I'm hoping over the 4-day holiday I can spend some time with the GPS and maybe even get out to look for some caches. The two I've found were easy and good ones to start with. There are a couple that I have tried twice to find with no success and that is really frustrating! Especially when you see the log and see how many people have found them. Makes me feel like an idiot. lol What area of VA do you live in? What GPSr do you have? I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and good luck caching! Suzanne

I'm a newbie and haven't had much of a chance to go caching yet but I would like to have someone go with me, at least for some of them. I don't worry too much about getting hurt but I do worry about being in isolated areas alone. There is a heavily wooded trail in a park with a couple of caches and I must admit I'm nervous there. There have been a couple of murders in the park (not recently) and the trail is quite removed from the majority of park traffic. Other areas that are a little more populated don't bother me. I hope to one day find a caching partner.

Thanks for the help. I can't really do those things because since I don't have the bug in hand, I don't know the bug's number to print out the log or to find the owner. If he does give it to us, then I can do those things. I did suggest to my friend to recommend geocaching to him since he is already out crawling all over the place looking for caves. I think he would very much enjoy the sport. Thanks!

There are tutorials on eBay..."eBay University" I think its called. Selling is relatively easy. But you need to read all the rules yourself because they change commission rates and such every now and then so the most up-to-date info would be on eBay.

Hi I am a newbie and last weekend a friend and I went out caching. Afterwards she met another friend for dinner and was telling her about our days adventure. My friend mentioned a travel bug and the other person said "OH...my husband found one of those!" Apparently he had been out spelunking in western VA and found a cache near a cave entrance. He didn't know what it was...he found the TB inside and took it. He went to Groundspeak but still didn't know what to do with it so he just kept it. This was in the spring. So this TB has been MIA for about 6 months. I told my friend to try to get it back from him. If we can retrieve this TB, what is the best way to handle it? Put it in another cache? Email the owner? I am hoping he doesn't want to hang on to this as a souvenir. I am hoping he will understand the importance of returning it so it can get back on the road. Thanks for any guidance. Suzanne

Ohmigosh! That's terrible. I hope you mend quickly. Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated. I'll think on it some more.

Glad this came up. This might seem like a stupid question. I have yet to place a cache but I'm working on it. I had planned to place it in a park where there is a creek. The area I want to place it in is off the trail and down the creek a ways. While it would not be placed any great distance down the creek, the terrain is definitely not flat nor wheel-chair accessible. The creek bed is clay and, depending on the weather, the clay could be somewhat dry or extremely wet and slippery. So, while overall I think the terrain is not difficult, how would you handle the slippery factor? If I mention the slippery clay in the notes, it would give away the location. 2 doesn't seem quite right but neither does 3. I guess it takes practice to be able to fairly determine the ease and terrain factors.

My second find was an Altoid tin. Not the regular tin but one of the very tiny ones you slide the top open with your thumb. Definitely micro! It was a little hard to open but it handled the log fine and it was quite dry. I was wondering if a finger dipped in just a touch of WD40 along the rim of metal containers would help slow rust and make opening a tin easier. ???

What do I like about geocaching? C'mon...its a GIANT TREASURE HUNT! lol Does it get any better than that? I'm a noob with only 2 micros under my belt...but even so, I've hiked through a beautiful woods, found 2 new historical areas I didn't know about right in my own neighborhood and had to use my brain a little. Its a win-win situation because even if you don't find the cache, you still have a great time trying. Hopefully there will be many more finds to come as I learn to use my GPS better. But its fun, it takes you to new places, its exercise, its challenging, its stress relief... and you can find STUFF! Hopefully I will meet other cachers in the future. I also hope to place a cache soon that will be challenging and fun.

Hello Mac&Cheeser! I am also in Central VA (Richmond) and new to the hobby and just acquired my first GPS. I went on my first hunts this weekend...and found my first two caches, along with a friend. It was great fun and I found new places near to my house I didn't know existed. lol (I won't mention the other caches we looked for and didn't find... ...but we will try again!)

Very enjoyable thread! Its so sad that Ozzy was never found. But you never know! He might be found some day.

Thank you all SO much for the info. I think I'm going to purchase it today.

Thank you all so much. I am on the brink of a purchase. I kinda want the Quest 2 but really its too expensive for me. I shouldn't be buying either one. lol But I think I'm going to "just do it." I really don't travel much at all so this unit would be more than satisfactory. I just thought it would be very convenient to have all the maps preloaded. "it will round the distance to the nearest 100 feet or 10' if below 100" So...does that mean for cacheing, I would have a radius of about 90 feet to search?

Well thank you very much for the info Appletree. That's very encouraging. I've read mostly good reviews about the Quest. One more question...is it very hard to connect in your car? I know nothing about cars and wiring... I am hoping it is easy enough that I can handle it. Maybe I will try for this one IF I can find a good bargain. I will be very excited to finally get a GPS unit so I can join in.

Hi I am a total newb to geocacheing and in fact, haven't done it yet. I don't have a GPS unit. I did go once with an out-of-town friend to find a cache but his battery died before we could find it. We also placed a cache but its not logged yet. Anyway...I have been trying to decide on a GPS unit (cost being a big factor). I would really like something that can function as a car navigation unit AND a handheld for Gcacheing. I've read pretty good reviews on the Garmin Quest/Quest 2. I've seen some good deals on it on eBay. But most of the reviews revolved around its performance for car navigation. What I want to know is...would this unit work well for geocacheing too? If anyone has any other suggestions for a good beginner GPS, that would be appreciated. I'd really like to have both features (car and cacheing) if at all possible. But if the Quest is totally unsuitable for cacheing, then maybe I need to consider some other unit. Thanks!