jackrock

I am highly allergic so I'm very careful. I watch every step, sometimes I wear slacks and make sure I don't touch them with my hands. Some caches I've put off searching for because there was no safe way in. I plan to go back this winter to search for them. But remember that you can still get a rash from exposure to poison ivy after it drops its leaves so you need to be able to identify it all year. If I think I may have been exposed, I wash thoroughly. Some swear by Tecnu. I find that any soap works fine, I've used several (whatever is most handy). I've prevented rashes after exposure by washing with handsoap in the sink of a public bathroom when necessary. I lather my legs thoroughly and have "rinsed" them with soaked paper towels. This may be primitive and weird looking but it has saved me more than once.

I bought the US topo 24k maps for my Etrex Venture Cx and am very glad I did. They are invaluable. There are many caches in the national forests around me and it really helps to know which side of the stream to look on or that there is a marshy area so maybe I want to approach from another direction, etc. I think the city maps would be useful but haven't sprung for those. I use a street map online to narrow down how to get to a cache in the city. One day I'll buy city maps as well though.

I just tried to activate TB tags that I bought recently and got the exact same message until I realized the O was really a 0.

I'm looking for a Cache Bandit coin as a gift for a friend who's a raccoon nut. I don't have coins to trade but am happy to purchase if anyone has one available.

I'm still training my "eye" to see where caches might be hidden. Yesterday I got to what I thought was about 30 feet of the cache, I stopped and started to look around for likely spots in the area. It was literally 1 foot from me but I didn't look that close. Two I have found by stepping on them. They weren't buried but they were in depressions and covered over by leaf litter such that their lids were even with the surrounding landscape. It can be really hard when there's no clue about what the container is because you can't look for a specific shape or size. That's the fun of it. It's also the frustration of it. Go back again. I've gone back two or three times before finding a cache and then was ready to kick myself when I found it because I was making it harder than it was. Most important, have fun.

I'm new to geocaching but so far I find a few things spark my interest. Gets me outside Finding caches in places that I've been to many times before, completely unaware of their existance Going to new and interesting places in the hunt The thrill of the hunt and satisfaction when I finally find an elusive one

I've seen some caches listed in National Forest land where controlled burns are done periodically. A managed forest area would have some inherent risks such as this. I'm pretty sure I've seen some caches listed that do fall on National Park Service property which struck me as odd since I understood they are not allowed in National Parks.

So you take your dog to a park and let it loose to chase down, and if it were able, attack and kill rabbits. Is that not a correct statement? How cute and friendly your dog must be. So essentially, the dog was unleased, running loose and beyond control of the owner, and then jumped on a child. Please explain how anyone can determine, in 5 seconds, if a running dog is friendly or not. No. You are not responsible dog owners. You let your animals chase wildlife and can't prevent them from jumping on people. Keep that point in mind. You are not walking dogs, you are letting them run uncontrolled to harass wildlife and jump on people. Your claim of respect is false. If you respected other people, you would control your animals. This response nearly knocked me out of my chair!

Yes, I always have hunters as a consideration while hiking and now while caching also. Ran into two hunters Friday (they were trying to catch up to their dogs which were following a wild hog). Saturday heard a lot of gunfire. I just move on to another area when these things happen.

I agree. I looked at several and decided the price/features mix of the Venture Cx was well worth it. I don't regret it at all. I would not have been happy with the screen on the etrex basic model, the mapping is very helpful, and the memory card is great.

Well, I'm new so take that into consideration. Here's what I've done so far: If I have searched one or more times and failed to find the cache, I log a DNF. If I arrive and abort because there are too many muggles around I don't log it. I find a time that I can search without muggles. Then I log my visit as having found or not found depending on the outcome of my search. I add a comment that it's my third attempt to find the cache or the first time I was able to search due to muggles on previous visits so that the efforts or difficulties are noted. I usually won't log a DNF on a first failed attempt if I plan to try again (unless there's an interesting experience to also relay).

The reality is that there are a lot of people that have time off sometime during M-F and work S-S. There are also a lot of people off during the day and working at night. So, caches show up all days of the week and some people are off all days of the week. No matter what, it will be inconvenient or impossible for some people to be FTF on some caches because they are working no matter what day of the week it is. On the flip side, some people will have a good advantage of being off work and able to go look and be FTF no matter what day of the week it is.

I just started a little over a week ago. I walk in circles every time except for one or two where my GPSr led me directly to them. Is there another way besides walking in circles? I get close and then start searching.

I just got my GPS this weekend. The first cache I tried was very close to where I live and looked to be an easy one. It was, my GPS took me right to it and I just had to figure it out. I tried two caches today that I did not find. I must have searched all around them but never found them. They were both in a moderately wooded area with a LOT of fallen trees, logs, branches and thick leaf litter everywhere. I saw all kinds of "likely" spots but never found them. While my readings jumped around some, it was clear that I had circled each cache without finding either. I'll try for these again another day. I think I need to build on experience to train my "eye" better for finding caches. Oh yeah, as soon as I got out of the woods I washed thoroughly. This area is one of the thickest poison ivy areas I've ever seen.

TomTom Navigator 5 on my Palm Zire 72 -- love it when I'm on the road! Garmin Etrex Venture Cx is in the mail along with Topo 24k National Parks Central. This will get me off the road.