Siberian Cacher
-
Posts
134 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Siberian Cacher
-
-
I first heard about geacaching while watching the travel channel. They had geocachers who were wealthy, who were going around the world finding caches. I went into work the next day and did a search on "geocaching" and it took me to geocaching.com. I did a search thinking Albuquerque,NM would not have any caches and was amazed that nearly 100+ were within 20 miles of my house - many within 5. Next day I headed down to REI and picked up my yellow etrex. The rest is history!
One good note is that after the initial investment of the GPS - no more money is required.
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
My dog rocks. She's a 17 week old Siberian Husky (living in the desert SW - go figure) and she loves going in the car and geocaching. I'm working her up toward some really long hikes and she's going to be the pack-mule with saddle bags(the sled-dog in her).
I like the doggie friendly caches since she can find them with her nose - saves me some searching time. She loves the car and loves the exercise - except for the occasional cacti...
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
I don't know. I left a new Leatherman Tool (has many knives on it) in a cache and the next guy, with his kids was very happy - at least according to his post.
Seems like a knife or tool with knive seems to go hand in hand with the outdoor wilderness types who geocache.
I'd also think that if someone, even kids, who could use a GPS to find the cache, exibit some kind of maturity. Like a prior poster said, I think I've had knives with me since I was around 6-ish.
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
Test
in How do I...?
Ok, Ok, I lied. I'm not ready for a test or pop quiz. I'm leaving...
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
Test
in How do I...?
quote:
Originally posted by Team_Shing:quote:
Originally posted by Cameron Clan (MouldMan):test
Sure it's not a pop quiz instead of a test?
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
B/C, I'm not ready for a test, but I am ready for a pop quiz...
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
Test
in How do I...?
quote:
Originally posted by Cameron Clan (MouldMan):test
Sure it's not a pop quiz instead of a test?
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
Remember, you are no longer like "them"...
Actually, I have yet to come across any people during my caching. I tend to go during the day during the week, when most "normal" people are at work. This way, my dog and I have the place to ourselves!
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
I've only found a few caches, but I'm realizing that I'm enjoying the "hunt" more than the cache. Typically, the cache finding is kind of a bummer since the "hunt" is over. Is this normal? Which do you guys enjoy more - the find or the hunt?
Also, what would be the next step up in terms of geocaching? I was thinking that maybe just post coodinates, with no maps or clues, and have people find the location maybe?
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
My lil' yellow etrex has always gotten me w/i 6-9 feet of the cache. When I'm within 15ft, I ususally try and find it w/o the unit: I try to find tracks and other "clues" as to where it might be.
The only thing I wish my e-trex did was to input street maps and download various other maps. I will upgrade to another unit, but I will probably always use the e-trex for geocaching.
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
quote:
Originally posted by The Delta-S Family:the shortest distance between two point in the wilderness is not always a straight line.
Couldn't you have told me that before I went out yesterday?
That was my reasoning for taking the direct path. I was thinking, "well, the shortest distance between 2 pts is.."! 
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
quote:
Originally posted by Mic or Mac:Should we include the elevation of our cache? In some locations this could be very usfull info.
And would a cache only 6" x 2" x 3" be considered a micro cache?
I'd add elevation as part of the cryptic clue, unless it's like out of normal sight range (say 20' up).
If you are talking cache location in general, I wouldn't mind people putting down the elevation of the cache location. Since I live near moutains, it would be a heads up to know that I was going up 5K feet so I could bring appropriate clothing (city base is 5K already).
I think your cache is borderline micro. If I wasn't sure, I'd probably say micro so people know to bring really small items to place in the cache.
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
quote:
Is there a way to hook my eTrex up to my PC and do it that way? Is it just as easy just to do it manually?I, also, have a trusty Yellow E-trex. I probably do it both ways equally. I do enjoy the data cable, though. I made mine for free using an old serial cable I found. It took about 10 minutes to make and it works great. I downloaded EasyGPS and I like it. I can mail you a picture if you want.
I also enter data manually to keep up on my unit. I always print off the cache information and keep it with me so if my unit dies, I won't be fumbling trying to enter the coordinates.
I want to overlay some tracback routes on some maps so I'll see if I can do it.
Bottom line: Get or make a cable. That way you can utilize your unit to its maximum potential.
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
While heading up with my trusty dog today toward another cache, I took a wrong trail. This left me around 400 feet away from the cache but the trail I was on was leading the other way. I decided to forge ahead into the underbrush with my trusty dog besides me. Little did I know that the way would be through many sharp bushes, carrying my dog, and crawling on my hands and knees under heavy vegetation. I was rewarded by findng the cache but then took the super easy way out - I was one trail-head off.
My question is, when do you realize that maybe you are going a little to far on this cache? This came to me as I was crawling on my hands and knees pushing my dog in front of me. I'm thinking, Lord if they find my body, let my dog be alive!
I did realize how valuable your GPS can be, though. I would have had no idea how to get back w/o it had I not found the trail since the sun was going down in around 1 hour. Thank goodness I carry extra batteries.
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
-
quote:
I have to ask. You were watching your GPS. What was your dog watching?She has her own "doggie GPS"....ok, not really, but...
My poor dog was on the lease and was taken, against her will, into the pile of cacti...
-
1. Don't be greedy on getting the car close to the location. To save me the extra .10 of a mile, I took my poor camary 4-wheeling. Now, was that extra .10 a mile worth the flat tire?
2. The GPS is only a tool, not the path. Today, while coming back from my "find", I was engrossed in my GPS unit(back-tracking feature) while not watching where I was going. My dog and I, at the exact same moment, stepped into a cactus plant. We both screamed like
little school-girls 3. Wear your hiking boots . Going along with point 2, I was lazy and wore my mesh Nike's instead of my hiking boots. Consequently, the cacti needles drove into my foot, through the mesh, and stayed there until I snapped them off by removing my shoe.
So, may my painful experiences save another neewbie from the same mistakes. The good news is that my dog has forgivin me, I think, and we will be back out tomorrow.
-
That's all I need! My little yellow e-trex, as many others have said, is simple, and easy to use - which is imortant with the dog on 1 hand and the unit in the other. Waypoints and routes a super easy to use and I made a homemade cable to download easy gps coordinates.
I live in the desert so I don't have too many cover or tree issues but I will be heading up to the mountains soon. I would like to upgrade to a unit with the street maps capability but I don't think I would ever give up my trusty yellow e-trex.
-
I've heard that tree "canopies" can alter the received signal. Is this pertaining to the denisty of the trees or the amount of leaves or is either even a concern?
-
I found 2 caches today with my dog. One cool side note for geocaching is that I am finding neat areas that I have not been too, or even knew about, - in my own town. Since most of the caches are placed in "natual" areas, you can find new spots to take the kids and dogs. The caches today were near a cool "For Sale" property that I am going to have to look into. It would be kind of cool to say "I found this place while 'caching"...
-
It's nice just to download the files on your laptop, change the icons and names, and then upload them to your unit. Just being able to upload the coodinates alone makes it worth it. Plus, you can have a master copy of the trips on your computer which you can always upload if your unit dies or you get a new one.
I have a yellow etrex and it's works great with the easy gps. I made my own cable so it didn't cost me anything.
-
Is there a way to add icons to my Yellow Etrex?
Maybe replace some of the existing ones I'll never use (say airport) with some different kinds of natural ones (more types of trees, rocks, open field, streams, etc)?
If not on the Yellow Etrex, how about other models?
-
I first saw it on the travel channel. They were doing a show on Geocaching and I caught it while channelsurfing. What amazed me were the people they were following were doing international searches.
I then did a seach and found this website which then convinced me to go buy a GPS and get started. -
I don't know if this exists or not, but does anyone know anyone who has left "clues" to solve a mystery?
I'm thinking along the lines that you are given the first cache location- which gives you clues to the next and so on, until you reach the final destination with the final clue. This could be a mystery type game or at least something like that.
Anyone ever hear of something like this?
-
Originally posted by The Leprechauns:
My own cache pages suck. Boring as a bank lawyer. Maybe because I AM a bank lawyer.
How about that? An honest Lawyer [laugh]
-
I noticed that during my first find - that the reading would get way off. I'd go from like 15 feet to 300 feet after only taking a step.
Another question then:
does the direction that the GPS is facing have a large effect on the readings, at least in terms of the bearing? If I'm walking along holding my GPS in front of me, say pointing straight ahead to the 12 o'clock position and I turn my hand to the 10 or 2 o'clock position (while still walking in a straight line), how will this effect the readings of the GPS? Does the compass that's built in with the Etrex (basic) depend on direction or travel or direction of the unit? (I hope you guys understand the questions b/c I many not be saying them correctly)
How's this idea?
in How do I...?
Posted
Sounds good to me. Not a bad idea, actually. Why have someone take the whole think? I'd leave stuff for the next guy/gal/dog - except for the lip gloss. Sharing a lip gloss with 200 of my closeset geocaching friends doesn't rank high on my "to do" list...
With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!