DonB
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Posts posted by DonB
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Try dropping your smart phone in a creek and see how well it works when you retrieve it.
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I currently carry a Glock G20SF 10mm when I hike or backpack.
Nice piece, but what good will it do you against a bear or a moose?
Up in Canada where I live I'm concerned about a sow bear with cubs in the spring, and a bull moose in rut in the fall. The Glock is not going to help me in either situation. I think that pistol would be better suited to 'urban caching', though why would you be caching in 'that' neighbourhood?
All the people I've encountered 'on the trail' have been very pleasant people. I wonder what kind of experiences people have had that they think a pistol is the answer?
Play safe everyone!
Bluelamb03
I have news for you, some people hunt grizzles with a handgun, and many fishermen in Alaska carry a .44 mag or .50 cal. because there are some times bears close to where they are fishing.
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I don't think any handheld GPS's (made primarily for geocaching) have turn by turn navigation.
If you want to have that ability, you should probably buy another GPS that is designed specifically for navigating on the roads. Or, if you have a smart phone....you'll probably have an App or mapping APP that will give you turn by turn directions.
Some of the street navigating GPS's (like Nuvi) can be loaded with geocaches as POI's. You can search and click on a geocache and hit GO (without typing coordinates). It'll take you within parking distance of any geocache you've loaded in it.
My old 76CSx does.
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I open carry when out on the trail (in Oregon). Use to carry a Colt Combat Commander in 38 super, I now carry a Baby Eagle in .40. If I do see another person in the woods (not very often) I may or may not 'allow' the sidearm to be seen...not 'concealing' it, just keeping it out of view.
Open carry is not an option here. It would certainly make life easier in many ways.
That's kind of funny here in Wisconsin, open carry has been legal as far back as I can remember but there would always be a cop that was either ignorant of the law or had his own agenda and would bust you for disorderly conduct or some other trumped up charge. The gun owner would beat the charge but would cost him to do it because you didn't want to show up in court without a lawer.
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Hello,
I think that trying to navigate roads with a handheld GPS works, but it is sometimes is a lot of work! It can't help with questions like, which lane should I be in or when I exit the upcoming ramp and it splits, should I keep left or right. You can get a modest priced Nuvi e.g. Nuvi 50LM for around $100.00. It will be easier to find specific destinations, give you un-distracted driving and you parents will have a harmonious trip. Peoria Bill :>)
I've been doing it that way since I started caching.
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Just curious, what type of cacher are you? A numbers cacher, a challenge junky, a star chaser, do you go after favorited caches, or a just enjoy a nice hike? I consider myself a hybrid type of cacher, I enjoy all aspects of the hobby. While I enjoy a challenge, I also sometimes just want to pick up a bunch of 1.5/1.5 caches!
Not caring about numbers and the way caching has gone the past few years I am getting very choosey as to the caches I do, so I guess I would call myself a casual cacher.
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The latest version of GeoBeagle (on our website at http://code.google.com/p/geobeagle/downloads/list) does store the caches in a sql database and has preliminary support for gpx importing and viewing of all the cache details.
Also, GeoBeagle is not only free, it is open source (with the very liberal Apache License), so you can also help add features you think are needed
.--Steve
I just tried it and got an "address not found"
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They were concerned with the impact of containers on their land. He was willing to approve earthcaches that did not have that perceived impact.
Interesting. As if the grass you walk on and bush you walk through cares whether you're there for a virtual or a real cache.
The bush might if you break branches trying to get a cache out of the middle of it, which has happened.
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In a way much like if you block someone on facebook they won't see what you write and you cannot see what they write?
Don't read their posts?
Sorry, as much as some people want it to be, this isn't Facebook.
There were only two people I wanted to ignore. Thanls A-team, you made it 3 now.
You might want to ignore me too. My first reaction was exactly the same as The A-team's, and if he hadn't beat me to it, I might have posted the same answer.
You might try reading forum posts with a sense of humor.
You might as well add me too because with your attitude I'll offend you sooner or later.
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My research seems to indicate that the main reason for discontinuing virtuals was lack of a “wow” factor; either the cache was poorly placed, or someone replaced a “lost” container with a virtual.
I think it would be more accurate to say that the main reason for discontinuing the listing of new virtual caches was the lack of a workable definition of "wow".
I say you are both wrong, TPTB wants to get rid of them so they stand a better chance of getting physical caches in the national parks. I have done virtuals in many states that have had plenty of wow factor. How much wow factor does a pill bottle in a bush have?
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Instead of the subjective wow factor, how about the simple rule that they can only be placed where a regular geocache cannot? I don't particularly see the value of a virtual at walmart. However, I would like a virtual in a national park, state park, or some similar area. I thoroughly enjoyed geocaching Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. The problem is that only earthcaches can be placed there now, and sometimes it would be nice to have a non-geologic cache.
Problem with that is it significantly reduces our chances of ever getting real caches in those places. We've slowly been making headway with the NPS and other reluctant park systems. The fact that virtuals are off the table helps keep the focus on real caches.
I realize that Groundspeak isn't ran on a democratic basis but just because you and TPTB don't like virtuals it doesn't mean that they aren't as important to many cachers as a so called real cache. While traveling the country I have gotten as much pleasure from doing virtuals as any so called real cache. While in the parks in Utah I found the virtuals both interesting and educational, much more then a pill bottle under a bush or a nano stuck on a road sign.
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Not too embarrassing for me but....
I was caching in a nature preserve. During the weekdays it does not get many visitors. I had just replaced the cache and was off the trail by 15 feet or so and was leaning up against a tree looking at my GPS for the route I would take to the cache when I heard someone coming up the hill below me on the trail. It had started as very cool morning, but had warmed up quickly. A very attractive woman is hiking up the trail and stops near the top of the hill about 30 feet from me. She clearly did not see me, because stopped and pulled off her fleece and proceeded to remove her sweatshirt which she had nothing on underneath. She then replaced her fleece, tied the sweatshirt around her waste and started to hike again. At that time, I said, "hello". She turned bright red and I'm sure I did as well. She just paused.... and said, "Isn't it a beautiful morning?" I just smiled and said, "Yes, yes it is!"
I guess I couldn't have resisted to add "yes, and the scenery isn't bad either."
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As soon as Groundspeak figures out a solution to the problems that killed virtual caches in the first place, sure.
Until then, no.
I don't think there were problems that couldn't be corrected without too much effort. One problem TPTB mentioned was a cache owner had cachers looking for a tennis shoe in the woods. Couldn't that have been fixed by the reviewer just refusing the cache? Another problem mentioned was cachers were doing armchair caching. I have never done a virtual that there wasn't something that could be required as part of the answer that was impossible to find on the internet. I remember there was some talk about caches in national parks, I don't know if all, but some of the parks would allow virtuals but not regular caches and this is just my opinion, and I may be wrong, but I think this was one of the main reasons that virtuals were doomed. I think the theory was that if virtuals were dropped it would give regular caches a better chance of being allowed in the parks.
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The only caches I've seen on a electrical panel was a blank handibox cover with a magnet attached and a log which would pose no danger to anyone. If there were dangerous voltages in the panel it should be the responsibility of the owner to have it locked.
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Why not just enter the coordinates into one of the online mapping sites instead of the maps on your GPS?
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Virtuals have been replaced by challenges. Check out here.
Just for the record: every time someone brings up Virtuals and how much fun they are, someone else brings up that they've been replaced by Challenges or Waymarks. Then there's a debate about Challenges and Waymarks that eventually comes to a point where the advocates of Challenges and Waymarks complain bitterly about people thinking Challenges and Waymarks are replacements for Virtuals.
Suggesting the OP look at Challenges and Waymarks is a good idea, don't get me wrong. There are certainly similarities. But through repeated debates I've learned that it is simply wrong to call either of them replacements for Virtuals. Although it's also true that Virtuals will never come back.
Why wouldn't most people think challenges weren't a replacement for virtuals? For several months TPTB talked about bringing virtuals back in some form or another, and instead came up with a poor excuse for virtuals in the form of challenges.
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Some people have the funds that allow them to travel the world and some people have jobs that allow them to travel the world, so if that warrants an award more power to them.
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The bookmarks and Pocket Queries are worth it to me. For 8.2 cents a day I wouldn't worry about it.
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I watched a survival show last night and he used birch bark, he said it worked well wet or dry because it contained a lot of oil. Of course you have to find a birch tree for the info to do you much good.
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Hi there,
Sorry if this has been asked, and answered, elsewhere (I've googled it with little luck - perhaps I'm googling the wrong terms).
I've recently got hold of a Garmin, and I would to do a simple search for caches around a postcode, select all the geocaches I wish to find, and then download these in one go straight to my Garmin. But all I can see is how to download individual GPX files, or download all the checked Waypoints. Do I really have to download each GPX file individually? What am I missing? This seems a basic feature so I'm sure it's available, but where?
Thanks,
Owen
If I understand what you are saying, I create bookmarks and add each cache I want to do to the bookmark then create a Pocket Query and Groundspeak will send it to your email address unless it contains over 500 caches. If it contains over 500 caches you have to go and download it from Groundspeak. Either way you will receive a zip file that has the GPX file in it with all of the caches you picked. After it's unzipped I use EasyGPS to load them into my GPS. If you have one of the newer GPSr you can just copy the GPX file to it without needing EasyGPS.
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Is there anyway to block a message topic? Like for example challenges, they're just wasting space on my screen.
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My wife and i are going to be traveling down through Mississippi and Louisiana in the near future and are looking for someone to maybe show us the area as we stop over in these states. If someone could help us out with any info on where to look or go online it would be Greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Where to look for What, caches or sightseeing? we don't live in either state but we have spent a lot of time in Mississippi and there are plenty of caches to grab there. You also didn't say what route you're taking, but as a premium member just do caches along a route if it's caches you're after. If it's sightseeing you're after Mississippi has a nice tourist website just google Mississippi. There's the gulf coast, the casinos at Tunica, Clarksdale if your into blues, Vicksburg if you like civil war battlefields, and the list goes on.
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If it's something like a guardrail cache or a row of small trees you could plug the coordinates into Bing maps and use the aerial view to find a cache, I have done this several times. But if the cache is in the middle of a woods and all you can see is the tops of trees then it's time to dig the GPS out.
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It's actually .1 miles or 528 feet and as far as Groundspeak is concerned it should be the same anywhere.
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Flashlight in Apps
in Website
Posted · Edited by DonB
I wouldn't use a phone for a flashlight because of battery drain, and I doubt that the brightness of the phone's flash would match a 160 lumen flashlight that I paid about eighteen dollars for. I remember something my grandaddy used to say, "a jack of all trades and master of none". Kind of sounds like your iPhone.