Caches along a route question?

[+NaJoBe]

Ok We have a trip coming up from Anchorage, AK down to Alabama. Possible insanity you say I would probably have to agree just a little bit anyway on with the question. I am wanting to try and grab at least one cache in each state we go through hopefully more. The part that I am worried about is that I read somewhere that you were limited to 500 miles per route and I am looking at about 4000. I am trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this seeing as how I will not have any way to download new coordinates in-route. I have a Garmin Street Pilot C320 and Garmin eTrex Legend that I plan to use in conjunction with a Palm IIIxe which should hold a couple thousand, at least that is what I have heard. I Think I can probably limit the number of caches to 500 both requirements of my GPSr's and pocket query but I don't know how to get around the mileage limitation. Any help would be greatly appreciated and please feel free to let me know of any other suggestions.

Edited June 21, 2007 by NaJoBe

[+JamGuys]

Ok We have a trip coming up from Anchorage, AK down to Alabama. Possibale insanity you say I would probably have to agree just a little bit anyway on with the question. I am wanting to try and grab at least one cache in each state we go through hopefully more. The part that I am worried about is that I read somewhere that you were limited to 500 miles per route and I am looking at about 4000. I am trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this seeing as how I will not have any way to download new coordinates in-route. I have a Garmin Street Pilot C320 and Garmin eTrex Legend that I plan to use in conjunction with a Palm IIIxe which should hold a couple thousand, at least that is what I have heard. I Think I can probably limit the number of caches to 500 both requirements of my GPSr's and pocket query but I don't know how to get around the mileage limitation. Any help would be greatly appreciated and please feel free to let me know of any other suggestions.

Why not break your route into eight 500-mile sections (no need to be precise ... just pick a few big towns or cities along your way) and do a search for each section? I did something similar last year when I drove from Oklahoma City to Orlando and back .... nowhere near 4000 miles, I agree, but it worked out just fine for me!

Edited June 21, 2007 by JamGuys

[+NaJoBe]

Sounds like a decent idea. Will either of the street pilots overide the caches that are installed when I download the new ones or will I be able to download them at the same time. Not real sure on how the eTrex will work. I just bought it off ebay and don't have it yet. Thanks for the help.

[+StarBrand]

Sounds like a decent idea. Will either of the street pilots overide the caches that are installed when I download the new ones or will I be able to download them at the same time. Not real sure on how the eTrex will work. I just bought it off ebay and don't have it yet. Thanks for the help.

Use Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) to combine the results of the PQs and then use the features to edit the list down to 1000 or so (unit limit) and then you can load them all into your GPS as waypoints.

[+rdaines]

All great suggestions, I'm making a 1500 mile trek in two weeks:

 

I used Google two plan the routes (500 mile chunks)

Used PQs to run the route queries

Downloaded the waypoints int GSAK for reveiw

Uploaded those of interest ito MapSource for further review

Downloaded candidate caches to the GPSr.

 

You can skip the MapSource step by going dirctly from GSAK to the GPSr.

[+Thrak]

I'm taking a trip from California to Montana in a week or so. I looked at the Caches Along a Route PQ. ICK!!!

I didn't like the results at all. I'll do it the "old fashioned" way using multiple pocket queries, GSAK, and Mapsource. I'll likely have around 700 caches in the queries but, after I filter it using Mapsource and GSAK and set the filter to only show me caches .125 miles from my actual route, I'll probably only show maybe 50 caches or so. This isn't primarily a caching trip. I'll stop every once in a while for a cache - it makes a great break from driving - so I don't need a ton of caches loaded for along the way.

 

Doing it that way takes more steps and effort than the automagic way on gc.com but I get exactly the results I want.

 

I'll do a separate PQ for the area around Belgrade, MT where my daughter lives. No need to filter that one.

 

Edited for stupid spelling error.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Thrak

[+StarBrand]

I'm taking a trip from California to Montana in a week or so. I looked at the Caches Along a Route PQ. ICK!!!

I didn't like the results at all. I'll do it the "old fashioned" way using multiple pocket queries, GSAK, and Mapsource. I'll likely have around 700 caches in the queries but, after I filter it using Mapsource and GSAK and set the filter to only show me caches .125 miles from my actual route, I'll probably only show maybe 50 caches or so. This isn't primarily a caching trip. I'll stop every once in a while for a cache - it makes a great break from driving - so I don't need a ton of caches loaded for along the way.

 

Doing it that way takes more steps and effort than the automagic way on gc.com but I get exactly the results I want.

 

I'll do a separate PQ for the area around Belgrade, MT where my daughter lives. No need to filter that one.

 

Edited for stupid spelling error.

Use mapsource to create the exact route that you want and then use GPSBabel to make it into a compatible GPX file - use that for your route query online.

[+Markwell]

I guess my response is what portion of the results didn't you like? Did you not like the route? Did you not like the caches that came back? What was the deciding factor.

 

If it was the route, there are ways to build your OWN route in Mapsource or Streets and Trips and have the route be ultimately customizable. I think you can also limit the distance to the route to .125 miles (but I may be wrong). Heck - if you're geeky enough, you can build a route file in notepad with the turn points in decimal format.

 

Ultimately, however you choose your caches, I think the best idea for premium members is to research the caches well ahead of time, and then create a bookmark list of all of the possibles (overshoot - as some will get archived). Then right before the trip, run a pocket query on the bookmarked caches. You'll have up-to-the minute data on caches that you like to find.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Markwell