TrailGators

Thought it would be fun to share stories about Geocaching started for you! My story: It was Christmas of 2002 and I opened a small gift. "What could it be?!" A few seconds later: "It's a GPS!" Thinking to myself as I was smiling: "What will I do with this?" Anyhow, later that day I got on the Internet and started Googling. I typed in "fun things to do with a GPS" and hit enter. After browsing for a bit I ran into Geocaching. I was instantly interested! Then I noticed that there were a few caches a few miles from my house! So I rounded up a couple of my kids and we drove out there to check it out. The area was awesome I had no idea there were cool mountain trails this close to home! Anyhow we hiked up the first trail and I found my first cache and...........

My Clie is getting old. When I upgrade I'll check out the Mapopolis idea. I show the Mapopolis version that supports GPS autorouting being ~$179. It will also be interesting to see what GPS's do in the next 1-2 years.

That is funny, I had no idea! Maybe you could hide a series of caches named after the album covers you've designed!

Welcome PC Painter! Your Avatar reminds me of a Journey album cover. I printed out some TT cache pages and I'm rubbing them on my head! Hey, I've tried everything else! Anyhow, I would recommend saving the TT's caches for the next time you are feeling a little masochistic. His caches have had the reverse effect on me, I Ioose hair when I do them.

Thanks for the advice. You are obviously more of a hardcore user than I am.

Can you give me some examples of cool apps? Also is there a way to communicate via the IR port? If I get a new Palm I wouldn't need a new cable if I had an IR solution.

Brian, she's a cutie! We have some cachers out here named Blondes Run Amuck (alias B.R.A.)! What a great caching name!

Convert to UTM then you can use basic Trig to do the calculations.

As an experienced geocacher, I wish you would log your DNFs. If you didn't find it, A the cache isn't there. B It is there and the owner didn't rate it properly or C As a novice, you took on a cache that was beyond your ability. But above all, a cache owner wants to know whats going on with his cache. The least someone who looks for it can do is to give the owner feedback. Its called courtesy. I agree. Plus it spares other cachers the same agony by letting them know. If I see a cache with 2 or more DNF's (and the cachers are fairly experienced) I will avoid that cache until the owner checks it out.

Thanks Flagman. I checked and the show World's Best is on again at 11PM tonight with the same "Lost Treasures" episode on Travel channel. It is also re-airing again Dec 1, 1300 Pacific!

The new Mapsource software beta now handles GPX files. So get your latest Pocket Query and dump it directly into your GPS from Mapsource. GSAK converts the GPX to a pdb for your Palm. The latest Cachemate can save several different databases of Pocket Queries to keep searching fast by limiting the number of caches in each database. You can even move caches from one database to another so your found list isn't in more than one place. I number my finds as I find them and write a couple of words down to remember them. If my Palm hooked up to my GPS I'd really have it made!

I've used a Legend for two years. It was only $150 and it has been great! Still waiting to see what new stuff will come out but will probably end up switching to a 60CS. They are down under $400 now ($500 with software).

Hey Parsa, I found/logged the bell at the SLO Mission! There were more bells than I could shake a stick at on the way up Hwy 101 up to SLO.

May I suggest the following caches to cut your teeth on as a newbie, so to speak: Pants on Fire (GCK1GE) Stay on Target (GCJTFE) Water Water Everywhere (GCM1E6) Spam Haiku (GCJE1E) Pay Homage to the Master (GCHQJC) and Pushing Tin SAN (GCHTR0) Try these just for starters I mean.... Welcome to geocaching and please feel free to come on over to the Dark Side of caching. It's not that bad over here, really. I could use an apprentice. --TT-- TT if you are Darth Vader then does that mean that Dan-oh is Luke Skywalker and Parsa is Hans Solo? Hmmm, now I am wondering who is Chewbacca? I know! Fattdog is Chewbacca!!!

If you haven't tried it, don't knock it. It's quite a different world hiking a long trail at night; and with a full moon, you won't need a flashlight until its time to look for the container. The stars in the heavens sparkle like no place on a city street. You might see owls fly overhead. And at twilight, you may see a colony of bats fly overhead. Of course, in the summer, the bugs can eat you alive, but that's what bug juice (deet) is for. Anyone interested in doing some night hunting on a Friday or Saturday night, say 10p-1a? I did try it once. I went out with Night Hunter in Blair Valley one night (after several beers). It was a trip and I almost did trip a few times! I had no idea what direction was what. To me it was a little disorienting but Night Hunter walked around like it was daytime. He must eat more carrots than I do! Anyhow, one of the caches that we did that night was only 500 feet away from one another that we just found so we decided to walk over to it through the pitch darkness (no full moon). When we got there we laughed because that cache was 15 feet off the dirt road. I guess night time caching makes you walk more because you have CSS (can't see squat). During the daytime, Rocket Man and I will drive around for 30 minutes to get out of walking an extra 500 feet!

You guys are a bunch of knuckleheads going out caching at 3-4AM.

I checked your list Parsa and only one bell has been found in SLO. Thanks for the tip, I'll keep my eyes peeled! We are going to the Farmer's Market on Thursday night. I'm also trying to talk the other TrailGators into doing a few caches while we are up there. An alumnus friend told me to hike up to the giant "P" east of the campus for a great view! I checked and there is a cache up there!

Actually I'll be heading up to SLO on Thursday mornin' to scope out Cal Poly with my oldest son and family. I'll be doing my own version of Fear Factor when I get the bill!

What time will the B-R-A S be takin' off for this fun event?

Here's a thread from the cacher with both sides.http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=83305 Interesting! My opinion is that cachers should remove caches from any location that is a security risk. Seems like common sense to me. But I guess common sense isn't so common!

JeepTBs are disappearing down here too. I had one of my caches taken shortly after a JeepTB was put into it. It is just a toy for crying out loud!

The site is running faster! Did the servers get upgraded recently?

All those caches are great suggestions and a couple are very tough! But the tough ones are also really fun! Another fun one I did was the Uno Dos Tres series over in Encinitas.

Was your cell phone ringing next to it? Project "Alpha"