skeezicks

I have been using an Old Town Dirigo XT 106 to kayak cache, camp, fish, and just have fun in for a couple of years now. It's nothing fancy, but it has been very reliable. I have had it in everything from dead calm water to some very rough conditions with no problems at all...using a spray skirt of course to keep water out of the cockpit area. It is very stable, has a small dry storage area, and has bungie straps on the front and back for strapping down dry bags for camping trips. Good luck on your search for a kayak...you will not regret getting one, at least in my opinion! Here are a few pics from in the water.

Here are a few taken in Montana while out kayaking and hiking. You can barely see my kayak in this one down close to the water On a ridgeline overlooking the still partially frozen Missouri River Kayaking Canyon Ferry Lake Hiking up Mann Gulch

Great call MuckSavage, that's exactly what I have.It is a Dirigo 106. I am lucky enough to live just a few minutes from the lake and the river...and within 20 minutes of several more lakes and other river access. I also enjoy using my kayak to get to some great secluded areas where I like to camp that are only accesable by boat. It's nice to run into other geocachers who kayak as well on here.

As far as using a GPS goes, anytime I am in unfamiliar areas, I make a waypoint at my vehicle and make waypoints along the way at places where there is a change...split in the trail,trail gets faint,etc...and I number them numerically as I go deeper in. Then you can just keep tracking your way back using these numerous waypoints. I also keep the breadcrumbs on all the time as well. I always make sure when I do stop to make a new waypoint that you have good satellite lock. If you try using just the breadcrumb trail, there are times along a trip in the deep woods that you can temporarily lose satellite lock, thus losing your breadcrumb trail temporarily. A compass and a topo map are always something you should have and know how to use.

I hike year round, but this year I'm going to try snowshoeing. I love to hike in the snow and have taken some long hikes in deep snow with just my winter boots, but it is very tough going and you get very tired after awhile. My snowshoes will be here in a couple of weeks...I can't wait. I have a perfect 6 mile canyon hike I take in the summer, that I have already taken with just a foot or so of snow on the ground a few weeks ago, that I want to try them out on. There is at least a couple of feet or more in this area now and I have been in this area before when there was waist high plus snow on the ground. Here are a some pictures of this trail a few weeks ago when I was out hiking it.

Another factor in caches getting "lost" are animals. Sometimes, no matter how well hidden and how well you try to keep enticing smells out of caches, a curious critter will find them and either destroy them trying to get inside of them, or drag them away to who knows where. I have had this happen a couple of times...twice to the same cache before I decided I'd probably better archive it and look for a better place to hide the next one...it happens.

I have started a series of hides using my kayak. I plan on doing quite a few like this next summer. I also found one a couple of weeks ago while out kayaking. Here is a picture taken from my kayak on the way to the cache site.

Here are a few more from some of my outings here in the Big Belt Mountains in Montana and surrounding area Kayak fishing in Gipsy Lake On the way to Mt. Baldy in the fog Kayaking the Missouri River early in the morning Starting my climb up Mt. Baldy...it is the left peak Natural bridge as I was getting ready to pass under it during a long hike in deep snow heading to Hanging Valley

Here are a few from my last couple of camping trips. A couple are from my kayaking/hiking/camping trip on the Missouri River. A couple are also from an overnight backpacking overnight trip deep in the Big Belt Mountains here in Montana. I also added a couple others just for kicks.

I use a Garmin Etrex Vista Cx. It has served me well over the last few years.

I also do most of my caching alone.My wife does a few with me once in awhile,but I like the long hikes and out of the way caches that my wife and son don't like to do very often.I actually enjoy going by myself on the ones that have longer hikes...peace and quiet in very scenic locations.I like the solotude.

I also use my iPod touch for paperless caching. It is so much easier then printing all of the cache pages out. I use the igeocacher app and have had no problems at all.

1. I heard about it from my brother-in-law when my family visited me on vacation. 2. I got involved because I love being outdoors...especially hiking.Geocaching is a great way to do both.I have discovered some great hiking and camping areas from finding caches in out of the way areas. I go by "skeezicks" as my geocache name.I live in Helena,Mt. and work in retail.

Welcome the fun of geocaching!

I actually ran into one of these on my way caching around halloween a couple of years ago...I hope to never have this happen again!

Hmmmm! I don't know.

From the geocaching.com website: Easy Steps to Geocaching 1. Register for a free membership. 2. Click "Hide & Seek a Cache." 3. Enter your postal code and click "search." 4. Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name. 5. Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device. 6. Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache. 7. Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location. 8. Share your geocaching stories and photos online.

I was a cub scout back in the 70's.One of my friends parents was our scout leader.Somewhere in her box of important items,my mom still has my scout shirt with all my patches sewn on it.I still have the cub scout tie clip in one of my dresser drawers.I haven't thought about those times in forever...thanks for bringing back some great memories!

I was just wondering if anyone else has had this same problem.I posted some pictures a few months ago in this forum.Most of them are there like the day I posted them,but a few of the now just have "IPB image" where the picture should be.I have always used the same site to host all of my forum pics,so why only a few of them have disappeared has got me stumped.Also,is there any way I can get them back in the posts that they are missing from?Thanks.

I celebrate every 100th find by having my son make me a colored sign with the milestone on it and I take a picture with it at the cache site.

I only have one premium cache within 50 miles of my house.I wanted to find it and it had been bugging me for a couple of years that I couldn't access it.I finally decided that there are a lot of other benefits besides just premium caches to becoming a premium member,so I became one.You should think about becoming a premium member if you can afford it...it is well worth the $30 a year,at least it has been for me.

You always have people out there that get their thrills from messing with others or just being plain old nasty in general.I've had a couple of caches muggled,but I have found caches by others that someone has found and just wrote some very nasty and vile comments into the log just to be mean.Unfortunately,you will always have those type of people around...you just have to ignore that type of stuff.

Sometimes,no matter what a person tries,it is almost impossible not to feel a little suspicious in this day and age.People are already suspicious of others now more then ever.Just try to keep in mind that you aren't doing anything wrong or illegal in looking for a cache.If someone does stop you and ask what you are doing ( I've had it happen several times,including once by a FWP officer ) just tell them about geocaching and you will be surprised at how nice most people will be about it.

Just havin' a little fun.

Wow...I'm impressed.You have a very strong grasp of the obvious.Just in case you aren't completely sure,here's another picture of the same cub.