Top Secret

Another suggestion is the first thing you do when your GOTO says you are there is to grab a stick, and use it to poke under leaves, bark piles, etc. I keep some old aluminum arrows in my truck for the same purpose. It'll save you some aggravation as plastic boxes and ammo boxes all make a pretty distinctive "thunk" when you hit them. You also avoid accidentally grabbing the fauna that tends to reside under said piles, like spiders, ticks, centipedes, snakes, etc.

Thanks for the suggestion, George, I hold it out at arms length, and have even held my son up on my shoulders and had him hold it horizontal at arm's length for elevation and it doesn't seem to matter. I know I'm in trouble when the readings on GOTO start changing slowly, then I'll back track and the readings still climb and the direction arrow doesn't change. Usually its in thick woods with stickers shredding my legs, mosquitos and ticks feasting on me, spider webs in my face and a long walk back to the truck, so its really aggravating. Maybe I should try foil on the antenna, it worked for the old B&W tv we had... Dave

I have been caching since January and am on my second E-trex, the first being replaced due to a cracked screen. In my experience, If you are in tree cover and can see little sky, the E-trex is worthless, won't even orient itself, much less get within 40 or 100 feet of a cache. This is in spite of what the Garmin site claims "works well even under tree cover." I'm more than a little ticked, having bought the unit based on the representations, then been on several caches and drove a long distance only to have the unit be completely non-functional when you get into the woods. I nearly pitched the thing into the river yesterday because of it.

I'm intrigued by the reflective idea but paint is very visible and permanent. Some office supply companies carry a clear transparent "ink" that is visible only under black light, similar to what Chuck E Cheese uses to mark kids and parents. Portable black lights are available from $20 on up to several hundred dollars on the web. Marking a trail with a squirt bottle or squirt gun containing the stuff might make for an interesting twist to after-dark caching, and its invisible to anyone but those with the right equipment.