Gps Says I'm Standing On The Cache But I...

[rgray]

I've tried looking for 3 caches now and haven't found one of them. When your GPS says your right on top of the cache how far away can it be? Are the coordanates exact or do they just give a referance point to start searching?

 

It also makes me wonder what people must be thinking when they see some one just walking around looking for something.

[+Moose Mob]

Typically 20 feet. It could be further with a poor signal (tree/heavy cloud cover).

 

Another bad habit many of us have is paying too much attention to the GPS and not enough on the search. When you get to ground zero (5 feet or less) put the GPS in your pocket and ignore it for at least 5 minutes. Remeber, YPU are the search engine!

[rgray]

Another case of relying to much on technology and not the Force.

 

Gotta work on that Force thing...

 

Thanks

[+JohnnyVegas]

Yes the Force, The force comes from experiance, the more you find the great the force

[+blindleader]

A consumer hand held GPS receiver typically has and uncertainty of 20 to 30 feet. The receiver has a read out of this number. But that number is no guarantee that you are within that distance of the true position. It’s usually pretty good but it’s only an estimate. In addition, all the same uncertainties apply to the coordinates published by the cache owner.

[earthshaker]

If your unit has a EPE (Estimated Positional Error) reading use it to guess how far you could be away from the cache if the regular readout says 25 feet away and the EPE says 100 feet you can extrapolate the location from that data. The force comes with experience and as stated it will come to you also. Of course there is the

"Where would I be if I were the cache?" Question, also known as just plain old deductive reasoning.

[+Ed & Julie]

Once you get close, stop looking at your GPS and look around.

If you was hiding a cache there, where would you place it?

Look for something out of place...an unusual pile of rocks or sticks.

Look up as well as down (ie: crook of a tree).

 

What size of geocache are you looking for? Microcaches can be *very* tricky and tough...larger caches may be easier to spot for a new cacher.

Look for caches rated less difficult (1 or 2 stars) until you get a feel for the game.

 

Hope this helps!!

Ed

TB&TB

[+Team_LPD]

Use the Force Luke..............

 

I looked for one the other day and according to my GPS, I was all over it.

 

I went back today, used the force.....and found it.

[+rockey_f_squirrell]

Here is my method, self learned, when a multi-cache led me to a sinkhole. I had to figure out what side of the sinkhole it was on, and I knew I would take a fall or slide, if I went circling around like I have been before....

 

This called for a new strategy. I circled the sinkhole until I seen the lowest number, then circled again till I got back to that smallest number, and it took me right to an area of piles sticks, and there it was.

 

Finally, I found what I call the 90* method. Now when I walk to a cache, I will do the trail, until I get as close as possible. The arrow will either point hard left, or hard right (staying on the trail).

 

This works best once you are closer then 100 feet...

 

When I find that point where the arrow is hard left or right (at the 90* angle), I make a 90*turn and head that way, but take a reference point, like a tree in my line of direction, and head for that tree, even though the arrow will drift, but when the arrow is at 90* again, THEN I will turn - that may get me 20 feet now.

 

I do that again, and usually about the 3rd 90* turn, My GPS ALWAYS gets to the Exact Coordinate, like 5 feet. Now how good the Hider's coords are, well that is up to the hider,

 

But that is how I track down an exact coordinate, and what I use when I hide a cache, and I get good comments on my coordinates.

[+Rubacava]

I would say to remember that the gpsr is only a tool, it will have error and the cache owners gpsr has error when the cache is hidden. So, if you get to a spot that the gpsr says you are dead on, clip it on to the belt holder for a few minutes and look, look and look. Whatever size it is, look for something that doesn't appear "right", whatever that could mean. It might be a pile of rocks away from the zero point which looks odd. Or, some piled up branches that don''t look normal. A stump with bark on it that wouldn't usually appear as it does. If you don't see any thing, try triangulating, that is make an imaginary line from where you are standing to where the arrow on the gpsr points from 3 different spots. Then look where the three imaginary lines intersect. I just found a cache that was about 30 ft from where my gpsr said it was. I read the hint and spent some time looking around a little pine tree. No cache, but I did notice on the way back to the trail, very close, a big pine tree with some odd branches at the base. That was the cache! And there is the Force feeling. Sometimes it's there. Sometimes not. I've been stumped and not found the cache a bunch of times. Sometimes ya just can't find it!

[+Airmapper]

The person who placed the cache may have had a 20-30 foot EPE when they placed it. If the coords were averaged, it would probably be somewhat better for searching purposes. Add into that your GPS current EPE, which on a normal day in a fairly clear area would be 20 foot. That means when you get to ground zero, the cache is possibly within a 40-60 foot radius of where you are standing. (Usually it will be better, that is just an example, there are many variables.)

 

Here is where you use your force like everyone else has mentioned, also use the hints and clues in the cache description, usually there is some play on words to give you a hint before you even realize it.

 

Mainly HAVE FUN, and don't over look for an easy cache, a 1 star can easily become a 5 star if you think it is going to be a hard one before you really start looking.

[+Sputnik 57]

A common source for being far from the expected place is that the datum set in your GPSr is wrong. Check to make sure that your datum is set to WGS84, and that your coordinates are set to hddd mm.mmm (hemisphere, degrees, minutes.decimal minutes). The wrong datum (NAD27 instead of WGS84, for example) can mean that you are 300 feet or more from the actual hide. You'd need more than your spidy sense to find one when you are that far off.

[+whatson II]

Though I am new to Caching, I have had a fair amount of experience with orienteering and rogaine. When using the "compass" mode on my GPS the distance is given in hundredths of a mile which is 52.8 feet, and not a very accurate distance. Using the lat./ Lon. coordinate readout will generally get you a more accurate number. Of course, your EPE is always a factor. If I am using the compass mode on my GPS, I also use a method similar to the "90 degree method" mentioned a few posts earlier. I will pick a landmark that is along my initial approach without too much concern for how close I am. I pick a landmark that I am sure is past the cache location. While on this approach, I also identify a land mark directly behind me, or will walk the azimuth until the GPS compass tells me I have gone past, I will turn around and pick another landmark). Then, I approach the cache area from an entirely different direction. I pick a landmark and walk to it ignoring my GPS and looking for the “intersection” with the line created by my initial two landmarks. It is kind of a triangulation method in reverse. I have also learned that just looking and trying to think like a person hiding a cache helps a lot.

[rgray]

Great advice from all of you. I went looking for a cache today but didn't find it. So far I'm 0 for 3 attempts at finding a cache.

 

I'll keep trying though. There are also allot of great places I've seen to place a cache.

 

Thanks again !!!

 

May the Force be with you...

[+WeightMan]

You might also post in your local forum and somebody might just volunteer to take you out on a caching trip and show you the ropes.

[+Chuy!]

Airmapper kinda alluded to this, but I will make point it out with greater fervor:

No matter how fancy a GPS you have, the hide is only as good as the the GPS used by the hider.

Urban hides can be tough no matter how good a GPS you use as there are buildings and underground power lines to deal with.

[+The Source]

This is just the way I started doing it. Ill have my tracking turn ON and I will use the map fuction and I will find the exact spot the GPS says the cache is. Then I will kinda walk around in a big 20-30 foot circle and see if my tracking on my GPS makes a circle around the CACHE. If it makes a circle on my GPS around the CACHE then ill start looking in the circle I made.

 

J

[+CraigInCT]

What are the "difficulty" ratings of the caches you are searching for? Are you looking for a 50 cal ammo box or a 35 mm film case.

 

Everyone gets frustrated during the first 50 finds - as well as the next 500.

 

Relax and look. I walked right past an obvious pile of rocks on two occasions only to find it within seconds of my third visit.

 

Welcome to the club!

[hide & seekers]

Great advice from all of you. I went looking for a cache today but didn't find it. So far I'm 0 for 3 attempts at finding a cache.

 

I'll keep trying though. There are also allot of great places I've seen to place a cache.

 

Thanks again !!!

 

May the Force be with you...

I don't know what type of cache you're searching for, but as already mentioned make sure it's a 1/1 in difficulty and not a micro. Also, don't look for a relatively new one, make sure it's one with quite a few finds and also recent finds (so you know it really is there).

 

I too rely on my GPS too much. My husband will say, duh, didn't you see the worn path leading right to that pile of sticks??

 

Now I don't think anyone mentioned this, but there's two ways to find your marked waypoint. My husband prefers to use the general map that shows him as the static point with the location moving around him. I prefer the "find waypoint" method that shows the statis waypoint and me moving towards it. With the second method, my GPS shows me how many feet away I am (in the upper right hand corner on mine), NOT the screen distance. I hope I'm not pointing out the obvious, but I only realized this recently.

 

Depending on what screen you're on (20 ft, 30ft, etc) you make think you're "on top" of it but you're really not.

 

Let us know when you find your first!

[+the hermit crabs]

When your GPS says your right on top of the cache how far away can it be?

In addition to what all the others have said about the cache not being exactly at the point that your GPS is showing as ground zero, there's also another thing to consider: your GPS might be saying that you're "right on top of the cache" -- but it could also be saying that you're right underneath the cache. Don't forget to look up.

[Zoptrop]

Yep... a cacher posted this in one of my logs (encrypted of course) :

 

...Don't wear a baseball cap while searching because it will obstruct your view of the cache hanging right over your head,

[+Harry Dolphin]

And then there was the time the my GPS insisted that the cache was 20' north. So I put my backpack down on a handy rock, and went searching. Twenty minutes later, I found the cache under the rock I'd put my backpack on.

DNFed one yesterday, where the GPS said the cache was 170' east, down the side of Garrett Mountain. (I don't read logs before I hunt a cache.) When I checked the logs, everyone said that the cache was 250' north.

Your GPS should be good to about 30'. The cache owner's should also be good to about 30'. That gives you 60' to search in, Unless there's a lot of tree cover, or the owner had a bad GPS day, or a lot of iron in the rocks.

Looks for things that Mother Nature doesn't do: Twigs in a row, scratched rocks, something out of place. That can help.

[+humanloofa]

When I first started I would go out with my 8 year old and while I'm trying to get the GPSr to point me the right way he has allready found the thing. I agree get within 20 feet and use the force, and if need be the hint. And there are days that the satalites don't like you and will bounce the coordinates all over the place.

Edited November 1, 2005 by humanloofa

[+rockey_f_squirrell]

 

Everyone gets frustrated during the first 50 finds - as well as the next 500.

 

Relax and look. I walked right past an obvious pile of rocks on two occasions only to find it within seconds of my third visit.

What gets me frustrated, is when the GPS arrow points the opposite direction, and when I know the direction it is in. And the Distance will still go down, but the arrow points behind me.

 

I know I am not the only one have that happen.... or am I?

[+WeightMan]

Assuming you do not have an electronic compass that can happen if you are moving too slowly. Most of the time when it happens to me I am under heavy tree cover. I assume that the GPSr is changing the calculated position faster than I am moving. If your EPE is fairly high that might account for it. I'm sure there are people that will correct me, if I am slightly off base, but this is what it appears to be to me.

[+CraigInCT]

What gets me frustrated, is when the GPS arrow points the opposite direction

This happend on my gps (garmin gpsmap60) when I go backwards. It does this sometimes when I stop walking.

 

Someone just told me that 'the arrow is accurate _only_ when you are moving at 4 mph. Not to say that less than that its unuseable, but it can move around a bit when strolling. Keep an eye on home many feet from the cache it says you are.'

[+pwcorg]

Assuming you are hunting a regular sized cache.....look for the UPS (unnatural pile of stuff). Mother nature is amazing, but not very neat.