Just Curious

[+ADK 46-R]

Who caches without the description. i just put all caches within 20 mi radious from my house in my gps by waypoint numbers and just go blind. i never know what i'm looking for or any clues of any sort. i don't put multi caches and puzzle caches in there unless i read the description and wrote down what i need to know first. anyone else love the blind hunt?

[+welch]

only when the batteries die in the palm halfway threw a weekend !

[bogleman]

Still do from time to time if it is just one or two. I try to keep things simple for myself, I only load the waypoints for the caches that I want to try. I have somewhere around 250 caches 20 miles from my home. Way TMI for me

[+Kit Fox]

The majority of time, I download waypoints into my GPS and not into my PDA. The only time I use my PDA is when I cache in a different city. I may occasionally check the PDA, but normally don't.

 

I have enough finds on a variety of different cache types and hides, that I usually find the cache without reading the description.

[QuigleyJones]

I will be doing that today when I go on a little road trip.

Because I dont want to print out 100 pages for caches I might do.

[+Team Cotati]

I always carry the full descriptive info with me including the decoded hint.

[+Prime Suspect]

Who caches without the description. i just put all caches within 20 mi radious from my house in my gps by waypoint numbers and just go blind. i never know what i'm looking for or any clues of any sort. i don't put multi caches and puzzle caches in there unless i read the description and wrote down what i need to know first. anyone else love the blind hunt?

I do it all the time, but I usually filter out everything but the Trads. If I need the hint, I use the WAP site with my phone.

[+Tsmola]

I do that quite often, it can be pretty rewarding some times, incredibly frustrating at others.

 

I found my first cache blind actually, had no idea what I was looking for but I found it, a matchstick container in a cemetary.

[+Runaround]

Most of the time, especially when caching alone. When I'm caching with friends they like to know what's on the cache page so I'll be sure to have them loaded.

[+briansnat]

I won't say I love to hunt "blind", but I do a lot. I've encountered enough virtuals where I didn't know what verification info was required (or I wasn't awere it was a virtual) and enough puzzle caches where I had didn't have the info to determine the coordinates that I try to make sure I bring my PDA and have Cachemate loaded with the latest caches, but I often forget to.

[+BadAndy]

After my pocket pc died, I hunted blind for almost a year. Since I upgraded to an explorist, I have most of the pertinant cache info (hints, types ratings etc) right on my gps.

 

Life just got a little bit easier.

[+Renegade Knight]

I don't like hunting blind. For me reading the cache page and the last few logs adds to the experience. Without the flavor test, every cache would just be another box.

[+erikwillke]

I personally need the descriptions. I only have a little exp.

 

btw, Kit Fox. I like your sig under your avatar.

[+DocDiTTo]

Who caches without the description. i just put all caches within 20 mi radious from my house in my gps by waypoint numbers and just go blind. i never know what i'm looking for or any clues of any sort. i don't put multi caches and puzzle caches in there unless i read the description and wrote down what i need to know first. anyone else love the blind hunt?

 

Quite the opposite, I keep the nearest 1000 or so caches in my PDA at all times, just so I'm not going blind. Ya never know what you're going to run into around here -- puzzles, multis, and those stinking nanos that are spreading like the plague. I find caching blind is often a waste of my time. Knowing what size of a container I'm looking for, or if I'm even looking for a container at all is crucial to my not wasting what little caching time I have. My PDA is just as important as my GPSr, I don't go caching without it.

 

Now, if I only uploaded traditionals to my GPSr then I probably could get by without a PDA, but then I'd be missing out on half the caches...

Edited May 22, 2006 by DocDiTTo

[+Airmapper]

I've cached blind, with only coords and GC#. I found it frustrating and was constantly trying to figure out which cache is what, is this the virtual I have a printout for, or the multi I don't.......ARGH!!!

 

Now I have "more" info than before, with a Premium Membership I can now use GSAK to send the pertinent info to my GPS, but I still need paper for the multis, puzzles, and virtuals.

 

You can also see my thread in search of a PDA, I want to cache with full sight.

[+JakeBond]

435 in my 20 mile radius....

 

a few weeks ago i hoped on my bike and rode out to a cache that i had DNF a few days earlier. since i was already out there, and i had the day free I rode out to all the unfound cache in my garmin. about half i remembered reading the page for, but mostly i just winged it. kinda fun, but i did log quite a few DNFs...

[+dkwolf]

I've spent enough time looking at the caches in my area online that I can pretty well remember pertinant information about them (although a mistake or two has made a couple caches much harder than they were supposed to be) When I go caching, I just load the waypoints into my GPSr, hit 'find nearest' and go for it. Heck, I don't even use maps on my caching trips, just hit 'goto' and follow the arrow.

[+DocDiTTo]

I've spent enough time looking at the caches in my area online that I can pretty well remember pertinant information about them (although a mistake or two has made a couple caches much harder than they were supposed to be) When I go caching, I just load the waypoints into my GPSr, hit 'find nearest' and go for it. Heck, I don't even use maps on my caching trips, just hit 'goto' and follow the arrow.

 

I remember trying the "follow the arrow" technique early on in my caching career. I was on my cycle at the time, so I was more enjoying the ride than going for caches, which was good. Because I learned pretty quick that going where the arrow tells you to is much harder than you'd think. Eventually, you'll get there, but what might have been a quick trip can easily turn out to be many miles longer. With the price of gas and limited caching time, I'm all about "get there and get hunting". The days of following the arrow are past, the days of following the Voice of TomTom are the present. One PDA has all I need to make the most of my caching time - TomTom and the cache writeups stored in GPXsonar. My next investment will be a GPS upgrade to a 60CSx, so I can get signal under the canopy, thereby saving some more time when I'm in the woods.

[+graylling]

I still do it quite often but mainly because I inadvertently left the papers at home and was too lazy to go back and get them when I realized that. Going blind adds an element of mystery to the hunt. However if you are one who is easily disappointed then I certainly wouldn't recommend it as you will have quite a few no finds.

[+ADK 46-R]

well thanks for the info everyone, see i dont have a PDA and i dont plan on getting one. i have a magellan sport trak pro and i love it so i dont think i will be upgrading to a gps that can hold descriptions anytime soon. honestly i barley ever get a DNF and i cache blind just about everytime. i could print out 50-100 pages of descriptions at work and keep them in my caching bag for reference but then i would feel like an a** for printing 100 pages on works money and time (although i shouldnt feel bad lol). but i really like the feeling of not knowing what you are hunting for, a micro, an ammo can ect... i just make shure to avoid puzzles, multi's, and virtuals. That doesnt mean i don't do them, i print out the pages and put them in the gps if i know i am going to do multi's or puzzles that day. If i go out of state or out of the area i usually will print a couple pages worth, but besides that i am an extreme hunter . i just put in the GCXXXX points in the gps and go from there.

 

and i rarely have anyone to go caching with but when i do my buddy usually has the descriptions printed out and carries them with him.

[+Team Cotati]

I used to but then I started dating girls. Discovered that that was much more fun.

[+boda]

Don't cache blind all that much, but we often (always) take the GPSr with us when we travel on short trips. I have some of the caches along major nearby highways in the GPSr. We just watch the map display and if a cache pops up, and we have the time, we'll take a blind stab at it. (Lately we've had a PDA with the info available, so we often aren't blind now. I guess that's progress.)

[+johnc98]

I tried a couple times with my Palm but it wasn't as much fun as going blind. I filter out the non-trad's and head out. I only get to cache about an hour a week, but I like it much more blind for the reason most seem to not like it- you have no idea what you're looking for, all you have are the coords...

 

I keep my garmin in the car so sometimes I fire it up, take a scenic route home, and see what's nearby...

[+greyhounder]

Around these parts, we call this "Columbus Caching" -- I've done it frequently.

 

Bec

[+Miragee]

I often just glance at my GPSr, which has an abbreviated cache name, the Type and Size of the cache, along with the Difficulty and Terrain, thanks to GSAK's "smart name" feature.

 

But then, there are the occasional surprises where the cache owner has arbitrarily decided the cache is a "Virtual" even though it is listed as a Traditional on the site.

 

I spent ten minutes looking for a container that wasn't there . . . I would have known that if I had read the description in my Palm first . . .

[+ADK 46-R]

columbus caching...i like that

[+dkwolf]

I've spent enough time looking at the caches in my area online that I can pretty well remember pertinant information about them (although a mistake or two has made a couple caches much harder than they were supposed to be) When I go caching, I just load the waypoints into my GPSr, hit 'find nearest' and go for it. Heck, I don't even use maps on my caching trips, just hit 'goto' and follow the arrow.

 

I remember trying the "follow the arrow" technique early on in my caching career. I was on my cycle at the time, so I was more enjoying the ride than going for caches, which was good. Because I learned pretty quick that going where the arrow tells you to is much harder than you'd think. Eventually, you'll get there, but what might have been a quick trip can easily turn out to be many miles longer. With the price of gas and limited caching time, I'm all about "get there and get hunting". The days of following the arrow are past, the days of following the Voice of TomTom are the present. One PDA has all I need to make the most of my caching time - TomTom and the cache writeups stored in GPXsonar. My next investment will be a GPS upgrade to a 60CSx, so I can get signal under the canopy, thereby saving some more time when I'm in the woods.

 

I don't know what kind of situation you have for cache density where you live, but the travel time between nearest caches here can often be 15 miles or more. Add to that the fact that roads around here are laid out in nearly perfect one-mile grids (granted they vary between state highway, paved county roads, gravel roads and just plain old dirt, but odds are there's a road heading N/S or E/W every mile). Makes the follow-the-arrow method actually quite effective. Say the cache is 20 miles NW of your current location; hop on a paved road and head due west until the cache is nearly due north of your current position, head north on the next road you can and there ya go.

[+DanOCan]

anyone else love the blind hunt?

 

Nope, I don't. We have been trying that here while on vacation in the Netherlands -- downloaded waypoints for Traditionals to the GPSr, no maps in the unit or anything. Haven't been bringing the PDA because most of the descriptions aren't in English anyway. Not fun...I have looked for caches that were marked as Traditionals but are really Puzzles/Multis, walked a long way only to find a military base between us and the cache, just not having much success. I can't wait to get home so I can have descriptions, maps and all the hints I need.

Edited May 23, 2006 by DanOCan

[+ADK 46-R]

well there is about 500 caches in a 15 mile radious from me...i follow the arrow and always get to where i am going easily. i just hate the driving part of caching so i bought a bike and now thats not to fun either, it very hilly around here lol.

[+Night Stalker]

I have been known to cache blind, but I carry my PDa with me in case. Today my PDA died. I am now going through withdrawel just because I know it is not there as a back up.