Geo-noob's first adventure

[JimJenkins]

After several months (years even, I guess), my family and I are ready to jump into Geocaching. My son did a couple cache's with his TAC group in 1st grade and absolutely loved it. They even found a TB (my first geochaching abbreviation ), and then moved it on to another cache.

 

We have always talked about starting up, ever since we were in Colorado, but just never did.

 

I've tried to scan a few of the 'getting started' posts, but still have a few questions

 

I have yet to actually do a cache, some I'd imagine some of my questions my just becomre self-explanatory once I get going.

 

RE: Paperless Cache

Since I have a Treo650 phone, I think it sounds like I'm pretty well on my way to starting off paperless. It also has a decent camera, so I'm covered there also.

My question is - What applications would work best with my phone. I've heard of Plucker, & GSAK, but am just not sure which ones to actually get, and to load onto my phone. Will they be used to help me find the cache or to track which caches I have found. Or is there another way people are tracking where they've been?

 

RE: Items left behind

What kind of items are people leaving behind? I would love to have the ability to have geocoins made, and distribute those to each cache we visit, but that is probably a little too costly for me at the moment. Another idea that I had was to create my own wooden nickels with an email address so that who ever found it could just send me feedback on it's where-abouts. I realize that's kind of a self-trackable item, and wasn't really sure if that was frowned upon or not. The wooden nickel could be 'Keep-Me, Trade-Me, Hide-Me' item where I didn't really care what would happen to it, just as long as the finder gave me a little feedback as to it's whereabouts. Any thoughts on this?

 

RE:Road Trip caches

Is there a tool that will tell you what caches are, say 5-miles, off of my route from point A to point B?

In other words, if I wanted to take a day to travel to a cache 50 miles away, could I plot additional caches that would essentially be on my way?

 

I also got a pretty decent backpack list of items from another post here, but any additional items you want to throw in, please do so - No, I'm not taking your bowling ball, so don't even ask!!

Backpack

bottled water

extra batteries

insect repellant

letherman

pens

paper

ziploc bags

trache bags (Har Har)

compass

duct tape

whistle

matches

aspirin (if not in FAK)

water purification pills

tweezers

TRADING ITEMS

flashlight (AAA batteries would be best)

first aid kit

cord/rope

sunscreen

snacks

vest

toilet paper

 

That's about all I have right now, but I'm sure there will be more.

 

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[+admo1972]

RE:Road Trip caches

Is there a tool that will tell you what caches are, say 5-miles, off of my route from point A to point B?

In other words, if I wanted to take a day to travel to a cache 50 miles away, could I plot additional caches that would essentially be on my way?

 

As a premium member ($3/month or $30/year) you can get exactly that. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. You generate a route somehow (haven't looked into it too much yet), and then geocaching.com can use that to find, say, all caches 5 miles or less from that route. Welcome!

[+Miragee]

As a Premium Member, you can get PQs along the route/routes you think you will be taking.

 

Then, with your mapping software, or Google Earth, you creat a .gpx file of that route and use the Arc/Poly filter in GSAK to get just the caches you want to search for.

 

Yesterday we used that technique for a 300-mile trip to Yuma and back.

 

When you create Pocket Queries, you can specify you only want caches with a Difficulty of less than '3' and a Terrain rating of less than '2' for your road trip.

[+Driver Carries Cache]

Hello and Welcome!

 

RE: Paperless Cache (w. Treo650 phone)...

Mine's sitting on the desk in front of me! I upgraded to it specifically to cache paperless. I'm using GSAK on my desktop, to sort and organize and CacheMate on the Treo to view the cache info. One of the best tutorials on using these tools can be found at: Florida Geocaching. It's how I learned and it worked great (thanks guys!).

 

RE: Items left behind. What kind of items are people leaving behind?

Great things to leave include: little logo items (keychains etc.), GlowSticks, Carabiners, little dollar store toys (for the kids) or things you might need while hiking... sunblock, bug repellent, anti-bacterial wipes, first aid items etc. Remember, no alcohol, firearms, knives, lighters, multi-tools, corkscrews etc. (as much as I'd love to find them ) You don't know who's finding it, or even if the finders will be geocachers. If you're looking for a cheap alternative to GeoCoins try PathTags!

 

RE:Road Trip caches. Is there a tool that will tell you what caches are, say 5-miles, off of my route from point A to point B?

Yes, there are ways to do that if you are a premium member and can run a pocket query. There are instructions here on the site.

 

I also got a pretty decent backpack list of items from another post here, but any additional items you want to

One of the things missing from your list... a good knife. I know, there's a knife in the multi-tool but I'm talking about a good solid fixed-blade knife or a high quality locking knife. For a great reference on surviving in the wild (make sure you read his section on knives) visit Equipped to Survive.

 

Hope this helps,

 

DCC

[+Drainstar]

There are different ways to cache, and its all up to trial and error (unless you peg it the first time). Go out and cache, and evolve your game!

You will regret all the time you waited.....trust me.