Just Another Noobie Newberson

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

Okay... I realize I'm a neophyte and have a lot to learn... but I've learnded soooo much (probably incorrectly) by myself over the past 5 days ! ! !

 

Am I off base or is there a more efficient way of doing this?

 

1. I figure out what area I want to go to search so..

2. I look it up on my Mapsource mapping software or a topo map to get a general co-ordinates

3. I search for something close to this area on Geocaching.com

4. Check off and download any that are close to the area

5. They load into GSAK

6. GSAK loads the co-ord's into my GPS

7. Off I go

8. Find .... not find

9. Upload my new info in GPS into GSAK and Mapsource

10. Make a log on Geocaching.com if I found the item.

 

Often I do not find the item and then realize that the item is a puzzle or some other unique search and find that there were hints or more info I could have used but did not see...

 

Does/should everyone log their searches online?

Is Geocaching.com the only source of caches?

Is the software I use enough / too much?

I use a Palm too, but found that there is too much mukking around already.

I also often find that my eTrex Legend C will state that I am at the point then will say I am 10 ft.... then 25ft then south of it then north of it...... WTF?

 

Anything else you can offer would be appreciated.

[+New England n00b]

Does/should everyone log their searches online?

 

No, but I think they should since teh hider went through teh trouble of providing them with a cache. Als, log your Did Not Find (DNF) as it lets the cache owner know there may be a problem, and lets other geocachers behind you decide if they want to go for it, or wait until the condition of teh cache is known. Some cachers are VERY limited in their chances to get out, and can be nice for them to have an idea of what they are heading into.

 

Is Geocaching.com the only source of caches?

 

No, but it is teh biggest, and IMHO the best.

 

Is the software I use enough / too much?

 

If it works for you, great! If not you'll change. There are some who find caches without a GPS! Paper topo maps and plotting by hand. Others dump loads of coordinates into their GPS & handheld PDA. You are you, do what seems to work for ya'!

 

I use a Palm too, but found that there is too much mukking around already.

 

I use Cachemate with my old Palm III, and I love it. Best bit of (CHEAP!) shareware I've ever registered.

 

I also often find that my eTrex Legend C will state that I am at the point then will say I am 10 ft.... then 25ft then south of it then north of it...... WTF?

 

Normal operation for a consumer grade GPS. Within 30' it is time to stop looking at the GPS and start looking for likely hiding places with your eyeballs.

 

Anything else you can offer would be appreciated.

 

Always mark your car/parking lot, especially on long hikes or confusing trail systems. Bring a wal-mart sized grocery bag with you and take out trash you find on the trail (Cache-In, Trash-Out or CITO). Don't take candy from strangers...

Edited April 12, 2006 by New England n00b

[+4leafclover]

pppssssstttttt. NEn00b...

 

you broke that up into too many quotes.

[+New England n00b]

Shows up fine for me... I did have to edit for an open tag though. Does it still look wrong?

[+Miragee]

The things I would suggest are:

 

Premium Membership so you can Create Pocket Queries.

 

Load those 500 caches into GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife).

 

Send filtered waypoints to your GPSr from GSAK. Export those same filtered waypoints to Mapsource to see where you want to concentrate your search.

 

Then, Export the caches in the correct format for Cachemate, which you have installed on your Palm.

 

I solve the "puzzle-cache" problem by excluding them from my searches and Pocket Queries.

 

Make sure you look at the Difficulty rating, and the Size of the cache. In the beginning, concentrate on larger-sized containers (no micros) and easy-difficulty caches until you figure out how your GPSr works, and how caches can be hidden.

 

Once you are within 30 feet of the cache, put the GPSr away and just look for likely spots to hide a container.

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

Always mark your car/parking lot, especially on long hikes or confusing trail systems. Bring a wal-mart sized grocery bag with you and take out trash you find on the trail (Cache-In, Trash-Out or CITO).

 

Wal-Mart? Is that some big store that sells Walls? Must be a big bag to drag around.....

 

Don't take candy from strangers...

 

But..... I like Candy

Edited April 12, 2006 by BigBadger

[+hukilaulau]

Here's my suggestion for someone just starting out:

1) enter a couple of cache coordinates by hand into your gps

2) follow the arrow thingy until you find them

 

Then you can start complicating it with unlimited bells and whistles!

[+briansnat]

One thing to make it easier would be to become a member and get pocket queries. That way you can download up to 500 cache waypoints to your GPS and not have to worry about going through that whole routine every time you head out. I load the nearest 500 caches to my home to my GPS and refresh it every week or two.

 

And if you have a Palm, get Cachemate so you will have the pages for all of those caches with you too. It adds a step to your prep, but think of all the time you've wasted looking for a cache and not realizing that its a puzzle or otherwise unique.

[JohnX]

... edited for brevity ...

 

Often I do not find the item and then realize that the item is a puzzle or some other unique search and find that there were hints or more info I could have used but did not see...

 

... edited for brevity ...

 

Anything else you can offer would be appreciated.

You could do like I do and take the extreme step of actually reading a cache page before you go on the hunt, but I'm kind of strange that way. The down side is I don't get to whine about how I couldn't find the cache because all of the necessary information didn't get transferred to my pda.

[+Kacky]

John could have been less snide, but he is right, the cache page has vital information.

 

When your GPSr starts jumping around like that, it's good news! It means you're within 20 or 30 steps!

Edited April 12, 2006 by enfanTerrible

[+4leafclover]

Shows up fine for me... I did have to edit for an open tag though. Does it still look wrong?

 

fine now, n00b.

[+geognerd]

You may want to try using the geocaching.com KML for Google Earth. You'll need to download Google Earth to your computer and have a broadband connection. When you're logged into geocaching.com, go to My Account Details (correct me if I'm wrong), then look along the right side for the Google Earth link. Click on it, and Google Earth should launch.

 

You will be able to see caches on the map with icons indicating whether or not the cache is a traditional, multi, puzzle, etc. You can see where the cache is with respect to roads and get an idea of groundcover if there is high-resolution imagery for your area. Click on a cache, and you get a link to that cache's page on geocaching.com. Do note that the position of the caches in Google Earth are only approximate - geocaching.com intentionally throws in some positional error.

 

Briansnat mentioned pocket queries, a feature of premium membership. I run a pocket query of my nearest 500 unfound caches, bring the resulting GPX file into Google Earth, and use that to figure out where I want to cache.

[+emb021]

One thing I see missing is that you don't seem to be saving/printing/downloading information on the cache other then the coords.

 

For many, many caches, having the info on the page can be vital to actually finding a cache, especially if its an offset/puzzle/mystery. Many times in the info in the description, hints, and others logs can really help in finding it.

 

If you aren't printing out the cache page, you should be downloading it to a PDA or the like to take with you.

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

You could do like I do and take the extreme step of actually reading a cache page before you go on the hunt, but I'm kind of strange that way. The down side is I don't get to whine about how I couldn't find the cache because all of the necessary information didn't get transferred to my pda.

 

Ouch... pretty close to scathing... kinda like a shot to the ribs.... remember, I have virtually no experience at this..... hence the 'retarded' topic ...... I'm learning ..... be nice

[+JoesBar]

I'm pretty low tech. I use the gpsr, a compass, and paper. The paper being the cache page or a sheet that I've written down the cache coords. If I'm going to unfamiliar territory, I print a map on the back of the cache page. I also still use a paper, folded map to drive between caches or a trail map for large parks. For someone that's new, I suggest seeking caches near your home. Pick some, one or two star difficulty caches. If you are going on a longer hike, mark your starting point, in case you get turned around. I also frequently mark the trail before heading off to bushwack. Now you are probably tech savy, but I suggest finding some simple caches to learn different hiding techniques first. After you have some finds, you can add all the technology. Take small steps first.

[JohnX]

Ouch... pretty close to scathing... kinda like a shot to the ribs.... remember, I have virtually no experience at this..... hence the 'retarded' topic ...... I'm learning ..... be nice

 

I should have taken the time to notice the post was in the Getting Started section, and also didn't notice the bit about 5 days. Please be gracious enough to ignore the tone and wording of my previous post.

 

I suggest keeping things simple to start with, and to always read the cache page thorougly before going on a hunt. I have a couple of caches that are pointless if you don't read the cache page and I am sure you will run across caches that for very good reasons, give explicit instructions on how to approach the cache.

[+Adrenalynn]

You know, I went from writing just the bare minimum (name ((often a hint itself)), waypoint, difficulty, size, maybe hint) on a piece of paper, to the whole paperless caching thing. Then promptly went back to the minimalist thing. I generate pocket queries of all the areas I'm likely to use, and load 'em into my palm. If I'm in an area without anything written down, I'll use it. If I'm on a pre-planned run, I won't, unless I'm really stuck. That much futzing around with the palm really decreases my enjoyment of the hike...

 

Just imho.

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

You know, I went from writing just the bare minimum (name ((often a hint itself)), waypoint, difficulty, size, maybe hint) on a piece of paper, to the whole paperless caching thing. Then promptly went back to the minimalist thing. I generate pocket queries of all the areas I'm likely to use, and load 'em into my palm. If I'm in an area without anything written down, I'll use it. If I'm on a pre-planned run, I won't, unless I'm really stuck. That much futzing around with the palm really decreases my enjoyment of the hike...

 

Just imho.

 

Thanks Adrenalynn. I think what you stated is pretty much what I was gearing towards. Can I assume you use cachemate on your palm? I saw little else for Palm devices... it seems that to be useful I will have to register it... nice that it is so inexpensive.

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

Ouch... pretty close to scathing... kinda like a shot to the ribs.... remember, I have virtually no experience at this..... hence the 'retarded' topic ...... I'm learning ..... be nice

 

I should have taken the time to notice the post was in the Getting Started section, and also didn't notice the bit about 5 days. Please be gracious enough to ignore the tone and wording of my previous post.

 

I suggest keeping things simple to start with, and to always read the cache page thorougly before going on a hunt. I have a couple of caches that are pointless if you don't read the cache page and I am sure you will run across caches that for very good reasons, give explicit instructions on how to approach the cache.

 

No Problem JohnX ! ! I have fairly thick skin and run across misunderstanding on a day-to-day basis. I really appreciate all comments regardless of tone.

 

Happy caching ! !

[+Adrenalynn]

You know, I went from writing just the bare minimum (name ((often a hint itself)), waypoint, difficulty, size, maybe hint) on a piece of paper, to the whole paperless caching thing. Then promptly went back to the minimalist thing. I generate pocket queries of all the areas I'm likely to use, and load 'em into my palm. If I'm in an area without anything written down, I'll use it. If I'm on a pre-planned run, I won't, unless I'm really stuck. That much futzing around with the palm really decreases my enjoyment of the hike...

 

Just imho.

 

Thanks Adrenalynn. I think what you stated is pretty much what I was gearing towards. Can I assume you use cachemate on your palm? I saw little else for Palm devices... it seems that to be useful I will have to register it... nice that it is so inexpensive.

 

I started with MobiPocketreader (free) to read the ebooks. It was really cumbersome, but works.

 

I then went to cachemate. It has its own set of problems, especially on older palm devices. It also won't run on my blackberry, where MobiPocket will.

 

So now I kinda split the difference.

 

But I've been caching with people who will get up from a cache, and proceed to write their entire planned log entry, with graffiti, right there on site. It's like "come on, let's go sometime today!" "oh - if I don't write this down, I'll forgot."

 

On a piece of paper, I scratch "fnd" or "dnf", trade or tb if any, and one or two words to remind me about the hunt/hide. This works out for me. If you read my log entries, you'll see I remember enough, even on a 20 cache day, to often write a couple PAGES. YMMV, of course...

 

At the end of the day, I still like a little piece of waterproof scratch paper, a waterproof pen, and some tiny print...

[+emb021]

I'm pretty low tech. I use the gpsr, a compass, and paper. The paper being the cache page or a sheet that I've written down the cache coords. If I'm going to unfamiliar territory, I print a map on the back of the cache page. I also still use a paper, folded map to drive between caches or a trail map for large parks. For someone that's new, I suggest seeking caches near your home. Pick some, one or two star difficulty caches. If you are going on a longer hike, mark your starting point, in case you get turned around. I also frequently mark the trail before heading off to bushwack. Now you are probably tech savy, but I suggest finding some simple caches to learn different hiding techniques first. After you have some finds, you can add all the technology. Take small steps first.

 

All good advise. I would add:

 

On the cache sheet, I include the decrypted hint and the last 5 logs.

 

Because I may print out a cache sheet days (or weeks) before I go finding it, I usually re-check the info a day or so before I head out (ie, I go caching on the weekend, so I'll check on info on Friday). This way I know if a cache is still active or not. (its NOT fun looking for a cache that's archived or gone ) Also, its good to know if others have found recently. (no one has found for several weeks (or months) you could be trying to find a gone cache) Few things are more annoying that spending time looking for a cache, then checking gc.com and finding that it was archived a couple of days ago (or a lot of people noted DNFs).

 

The map is a must for urban (or non-park) caches.

 

As noted above, go for small/regular caches with low difficultly in urban parks near your home. No parking lot micros, no wilderness caches. I was lucky that my first few caches were in city parks a mile or two from home.

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

 

As noted above, go for small/regular caches with low difficultly in urban parks near your home. No parking lot micros, no wilderness caches. I was lucky that my first few caches were in city parks a mile or two from home.

 

Everyone has offered such good advice so far. Without being condescending, I have had a great week (20 caches) and have inadvertantly included a micros, multi's, a few other-than-traditional and even archived (wow, talk about frustrating). My software is now registered and full featured and I am a nerd-geek-dweeb of the 5th magnitude.

 

I know I'll have more surprises in store as will continue to make mistakes (really small mistakes)......

 

THIS IS FUN ! ! !

[firedogandpup]

badger, it seems to me you are doing just fine, you are finding things and enjoying your time doing so....I am a mimimalist, i use my gps and usually take a copy of the cache info with me, and i use easy gps ( a free download) to manage caches and download waypoints and send them to my gps...btw.. if u ever get up to the mid island to do some caching let me know would be glad to assit although i am no long time caching guru or anything like that

[Clan Riffster]

One other vital piece of advice others may have missed; Never run with scissors!

[Praetoriv]

I tried a divining rod and still couldn't find a cache, but I did not go thirsty.

[+BigBadger & Li'l SG]

Sheesh, now I'm just getting frustrated. No candy from strangers, no running with scissors, no instructions on how to make a divining rod...

 

It's like you just dont want me to succeed at this geocaching thing ! !

[+TotemLake]

You know, I went from writing just the bare minimum (name ((often a hint itself)), waypoint, difficulty, size, maybe hint) on a piece of paper, to the whole paperless caching thing. Then promptly went back to the minimalist thing. I generate pocket queries of all the areas I'm likely to use, and load 'em into my palm. If I'm in an area without anything written down, I'll use it. If I'm on a pre-planned run, I won't, unless I'm really stuck. That much futzing around with the palm really decreases my enjoyment of the hike...

 

Just imho.

 

Well the Palm software does make things a bit difficult. When I moved to a PPC, it was the difference of night and day. The software is easier to use, and drag and drop works. I don't have to worry about conversions or Plucker acting up and giving me fits which it was prone to do.