Lessons learned?

July 10, 2007

Okay, I'm new so don't laugh. I just recently got hooked on geocaching and bought me a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx (I love credit... and it came in the mail today!!) so thinking I could go anywhere I hike into the forest looking for a cache.

Long story short, I was too busy on my destination to think about where I started from. After hacking my way thru woods for about an hour trying to find my way back ... well, lets just say I'm MARKING my parking waypoint every time after today.

Anyone learn any lessons?

July 10, 2007

Okay, I'm new so don't laugh. I just recently got hooked on geocaching and bought me a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx (I love credit... and it came in the mail today!!) so thinking I could go anywhere I hike into the forest looking for a cache.

Long story short, I was too busy on my destination to think about where I started from. After hacking my way thru woods for about an hour trying to find my way back ... well, lets just say I'm MARKING my parking waypoint every time after today.

Anyone learn any lessons?

You should have been able to just follow your tracks back (the dotted line that trails behind your arrow) to get back to where you came from.

Congrats and Welcome to the Addiction.

July 10, 2007

Okay, I'm new so don't laugh. I just recently got hooked on geocaching and bought me a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx (I love credit... and it came in the mail today!!) so thinking I could go anywhere I hike into the forest looking for a cache.

Long story short, I was too busy on my destination to think about where I started from. After hacking my way thru woods for about an hour trying to find my way back ... well, lets just say I'm MARKING my parking waypoint every time after today.

Anyone learn any lessons?

Very foolish. You should never rely on your GPS for navigation alone. You could break down, run out of battery life or you could drop it. Always take a map & compass and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.

Philip

2k · July 10, 2007

I was never lost and I was in the middle of a city so I was in no danger, but I had a similiar experience where I definately learned a thing or two. You can read and view pics about it in my sig. Click on "My Oregon Geocaching Adventure"

38.2k · July 10, 2007

Marking the parking lot was one of the first lessons I learned.

Another one is to stay on the trail. I can't tell you how many times I left the trail, following the arrow and embarked on a tough bushwhack, only to encounter the same trail again.

You have to remember that unless its a cache with a high terrain rating, the hider probably took the easiest route there and that is usually the trail.

9.1k · July 10, 2007

Pay attention to the park's closing time, often posted on a sign at the entrance. Be observant of any gates that would block your exit from the park. If the posted hours are vague, like "closes at dusk," adopt a conservative definition of "dusk" rather than pushing the envelope by reasoning that you can still see without using a flashlight. If all else fails, bring a cellphone so you can call for someone to unlock the gate and let you out of the park. (Or, find an unmarked dirt road which also leads out of the park. )

I first learned this lesson in June 2002 when attempting my first "hard" hiking cache. I learned it again when hunting for my 1,000th cache. I learned it most recently in a Washington State Park last month, 2,500 caches later. Someday the lesson will sink in!

Edited July 10, 2007 by The Leprechauns

July 10, 2007

I'm sorry, but I read your adventure in Oregon and laughed quite a lot. I also have learned as others have, following the arrow in a stright shot is not always the best idea, mark the car, the trailhead, and where I left the trail all as waypoints. But so far the most valuable thing I have figured it is: "If the searching (or getting there) is no longer fun, quit."

22k · July 10, 2007

Whatever item you forgot to bring is the one you'll end up needing the most.

(Extra Batteries, Bug Spray, Current PQ data.)

8.9k · July 10, 2007

All great answers! Me, I learned to always wear proper attire and footwear! Carrying spare batteries is also a great idea!

July 10, 2007

Also, bring plenty of water! It is amazing how a simple hike on a city greenbelt turns sour when you've forgotten to mark the point where you came from a side trail, and you are hiking all over trying to find your way out!

Sometimes those nice fancy gated apartment complexes frown on dirty hikers that ask for water... they did give it to us, but we still had a VERY long hike back. Hubby had us wait on the side of the road (very busy road) as he hiked back to the car and picked us up about 30 minutes later.

And....we've never gone back to that particular part of the greenbelt. There are plenty of other caches to find.

July 10, 2007

I too now mark where my car is - and that is by no means foolish.

A few others:

1) Bring water ( I know it was already said - but its a biggie)

2) Always make sure things you bring are secure (I had a knife in my back pocket on a hunt - and on the way down a steep hill I slid - half way down i realized the knife was gone. Darkness setting in - and physically tired - there was no going back to look for it.

(I still hope someone finds it and returns it to me!)

3) When within 30 feet or so of the cache - put the gps down and start looking.

4)If they are game - include your family/friends - it makes geocaching just that much better!

Have a great time!

22k · July 10, 2007

put the gps down and start looking.

Remember where you put it.

I've done that. I was searching a very weedy area near a cliff so accuracy was really bad. I set all my stuff down, backpack, gps, etc, to do a really thorough search. After I found the cache I spent another 15 minutes searching for where I left my stuff.

8.9k · July 10, 2007

Whaaaat BD??? You didn't mark the place you set the GPS down??

6.5k · July 10, 2007

The short direct route may not be the easiest.

If there are trails around, use them. And if not consider looking at some maps and figuring out if you can make your route eaiser. You can just follow the arrow if you want, but you may end up crossing the same creek or ridge multiple times

Plan for where your going.

If your going into the unmowed parts of the park, there may be thorns, nettles & PI, and BUGS. Bring the bug spray and wear pants, try to avoid touching plants... especially those you don't know what they are!

18.9k · July 10, 2007

Very foolish. You should never rely on your GPS for navigation alone. You could break down, run out of battery life or you could drop it. Always take a map & compass and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.

Philip

Very foolish - you should never rely on your compass alone for navigation. You could drop and break it. Always take a sextant and star chart with you and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.

My GPS is just a technology tool. Not much different then the highly advanced technology of a compass (depending on your lifetime time period). Carry a few spare batteries and maybe a backup GPS is as good as the advice you are giving.

2k · July 10, 2007

I'm sorry, but I read your adventure in Oregon and laughed quite a lot.

No apology necessary. I take that statement as a compliment

July 10, 2007

When the terrain is one star, I shouldn't assume it means I can do it in my skirt. Even if it is my happy brown kick-a** skirt.

July 11, 2007

Bring a flashlight. Navigating with the soft glow of the GPS and the blinky lights of a cranky 4 year old's shoes while carrying a two year old is not a great adventure.

(Thankfully it was only 1/2 mile.)

14.3k · July 11, 2007

Very foolish. You should never rely on your GPS for navigation alone. You could break down, run out of battery life or you could drop it. Always take a map & compass and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.
Very foolish - you should never rely on your compass alone for navigation. You could drop and break it. Always take a sextant and star chart with you and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.

What if it's cloudy? :angry:

The only time I ever got lost in the woods I was hunting deep in the woods. I got cocky and thought it would be easy to get back. I was wrong. I eventually figured it out by staying very still. I eventually heard the very faint sound of a car in the distance and I got a bearing and made it out. It was not a fun experience and it won't happen ever again. If I had had a compass, I could have headed south towards the road much earlier.

1.1k · July 11, 2007

I grew up walking through the woods at night, going every possible direction and always finding my way back to the starting point when I was ready to head home, I won't get lost in Indiana. Confused for a few minutes maybe but I learned to navigate by nature and landmarks, not compass or map or gps.

My biggest mistake learning though was trusting the dog to lead me home once, took me three hours of walking to get home and I was only a quarter mile from home when I started. Don't remember the year but Superbowl 15 or 16 was on and I missed the entire game. Dumbest part though? THere was a foot of snow on the ground, I could have just backtracked by my footprints but I wanted to skirt a hill instead of climbing back up it, then I kept thinking "just a little further and I'll be home". :angry:

July 11, 2007

I too now mark where my car is - and that is by no means foolish.

A few others:

1) Bring water ( I know it was already said - but its a biggie)

2) Always make sure things you bring are secure (I had a knife in my back pocket on a hunt - and on the way down a steep hill I slid - half way down i realized the knife was gone. Darkness setting in - and physically tired - there was no going back to look for it.

(I still hope someone finds it and returns it to me!)

3) When within 30 feet or so of the cache - put the gps down and start looking.

4)If they are game - include your family/friends - it makes geocaching just that much better!

Have a great time!

I firmly believe in number 4. Of my few caches, less than five were alone. I always enjoy bringing a friend more.

24.7k · July 11, 2007

Okay, I'm new so don't laugh. I just recently got hooked on geocaching and bought me a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx (I love credit... and it came in the mail today!!) so thinking I could go anywhere I hike into the forest looking for a cache.

Long story short, I was too busy on my destination to think about where I started from. After hacking my way thru woods for about an hour trying to find my way back ... well, lets just say I'm MARKING my parking waypoint every time after today.

Anyone learn any lessons?

Yup, I learned that one. :angry: That and you can never have too much water on a long hike.

July 11, 2007

Anyone learn any lessons?

The most obvious things are the ones I've overlooked in my brief Geocaching history:

- Even in hot weather, bring a long-sleeved sweater for the hunt - nettles hurt!

- When planning a walk to a cache, count the contour lines on the map between the start and the cache site!

July 11, 2007

Very foolish. You should never rely on your GPS for navigation alone. You could break down, run out of battery life or you could drop it. Always take a map & compass and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.

Philip

Very foolish - you should never rely on your compass alone for navigation. You could drop and break it. Always take a sextant and star chart with you and know how to use them. You should always know where you are with this method.

My GPS is just a technology tool. Not much different then the highly advanced technology of a compass (depending on your lifetime time period). Carry a few spare batteries and maybe a backup GPS is as good as the advice you are giving.

Drop your map or compass, just pick it up again. Even if it has fallen off a mountain or washed down stream you'll have a better idea of where you are at that point.

If you disagree with me I suggest you ask your local mountain rescue team about heading out into the wilds with only your GPS arrow to guide you. I know in the UK a lot of them are very frustrated about rescuing people who do.

What if it's cloudy?

So what if it is? Walkers have been navigating through dense fog for decades. Map and compass works fine. You walk from landmark to landmark counting your steps to work out the distance. If it doesn't work out you retrace your steps and try again. At no point should you be completely lost, which is what could happen if your GPS fails. It has far more failure modes than a bit of magnetic metal and a sheet of paper!

You should always consider your GPS as an additional aid to navigation. I'm not saying it as a bad thing to have, far from it - it can be invaluable. But it is far far more likely to let you down than a good old map and compass. A GPS is no surrogate for proper navigation skills.

Oh and if you have navigated back by the sound of traffic - you've not really walked far!

July 11, 2007

Welcome to the game, and thanks for the story. I've started carrying my GPSr on trips to the shopping mall, so I can find my car when it's time to go home.

July 11, 2007

We write down the coords. of the parking area in addition to entering them into the gps'r and always carry extra batteries and a backup gps'r.

14.3k · July 11, 2007

Welcome to the game, and thanks for the story. I've started carrying my GPSr on trips to the shopping mall, so I can find my car when it's time to go home.

That reminds me of that one Seinfeld episode where they couldn't find their car and George had to "go" really bad...

14.3k · July 11, 2007

What if it's cloudy?

So what if it is? Walkers have been navigating through dense fog for decades. Map and compass works fine. You walk from landmark to landmark counting your steps to work out the distance. If it doesn't work out you retrace your steps and try again. At no point should you be completely lost, which is what could happen if your GPS fails. It has far more failure modes than a bit of magnetic metal and a sheet of paper!

You took that quote out totally out of context. Please read what I responded to when I joked about that...

Very foolish - you should never rely on your compass alone for navigation.You could drop and break it. Always take a sextant and star chart with you and know how to use them.
What if it's cloudy?

Edited July 11, 2007 by TrailGators

July 11, 2007

I have spent 10 days backpackng at Philmont Scout Ranch with nothing but a compass and map and I know how to use both thanks to the US Army. But I have a hard time using them in the woods becasue you can not see mountain tops or other landmarks to orinentate the map because of the trees (can't see the forest for the trees). That is said in half jest because you know about where you are at and what general direction to go and can follow the compass. I do not carry maps with me but I do carry a compass because I know what dirrection I am heading when I leave the car/road/tailhead therefore I know what general direction they are from me. Becides I am not out in the middle of no where as I am in an urban area. I also have a great since of direction very rarely will I not know what direction I am headed.

One thing I do take is plenty of water I have a 3 liter (100 oz) Camelback I fill up even if it is only going to be a hour or two and usually a 34 oz cup I leave in the car I would rather pour it out when I get home than have a problem from lack of water. I also carry 2 sets of batteries and a rain coat here lately with all the rain we have been having in Texas this year. I also have learned to wear long pants even if it is 100 degrees better to sweat a little over the many geostripes I used to get.

I also always carry a walking stick if for no other reason than to poke around where I don't want to stick my hand (dark places I can't see what creature is in) to search for caches.

July 12, 2007

I am in the middle of learning my first hard lesson now. Never post anything in the cache log that might upset another cacher. Be kinder than you ought to be every time you post, even if you feel your less than kind comments are justified.

July 13, 2007

I learned another today. If you decide to go benchmark hunting and it says "scaled" that really means that the gps won't be anywhere close. When I found one today the gps was 160 ft off (though only off 3 feet in altitude). Didn't have description sheet with me - so had to go back, print it off, then find the benchmark using the description! Lesson learned.

July 13, 2007

Great! Good info everyone!

You should have been able to just follow your tracks back (the dotted line that trails behind your arrow) to get back to where you came from.

Congrats and Welcome to the Addiction.

Difranco, I thought you were kidding but sure enough "tracks"... I love my gps even more now!

14.3k · July 13, 2007

Great! Good info everyone!

You should have been able to just follow your tracks back (the dotted line that trails behind your arrow) to get back to where you came from.

Congrats and Welcome to the Addiction.

Difranco, I thought you were kidding but sure enough "tracks"... I love my gps even more now!

Depending on what kind of GPS you can change your tracks to be a different color. I changed my 60CS to be bright green so they are much easier to see on the map view.

July 13, 2007

Great! Good info everyone!

You should have been able to just follow your tracks back (the dotted line that trails behind your arrow) to get back to where you came from.

Congrats and Welcome to the Addiction.

Difranco, I thought you were kidding but sure enough "tracks"... I love my gps even more now!

Depending on what kind of GPS you can change your tracks to be a different color. I changed my 60CS to be bright green so they are much easier to see on the map view.

The "trackback" feature is a really great tool..... be sure you know how to use it! We didn't really know, and that is part of what got us so lost on a city greenbelt..... (plus we didn't want to follow the track back to each cache we had gone to so we could find our way back to the car...)

Be sure you know how to use the various features of your GPSr... amazing how lost you can get in a city greenbelt!

38.2k · July 13, 2007

put the gps down and start looking.

Remember where you put it.

I've done that. I was searching a very weedy area near a cliff so accuracy was really bad. I set all my stuff down, backpack, gps, etc, to do a really thorough search. After I found the cache I spent another 15 minutes searching for where I left my stuff.

One time I set my grey Vista in a large formation of grey rocks. Took me a looooong time to find. I often wondered why people would buy the camo eTrex. Put that baby down in the woods and it can be gone for good.

6.5k · July 13, 2007

put the gps down and start looking.

Remember where you put it.

I've done that. I was searching a very weedy area near a cliff so accuracy was really bad. I set all my stuff down, backpack, gps, etc, to do a really thorough search. After I found the cache I spent another 15 minutes searching for where I left my stuff.

One time I set my grey Vista in a large formation of grey rocks. Took me a looooong time to find. I often wondered why people would buy the camo eTrex. Put that baby down in the woods and it can be gone for good.

I've sometimes wondered by gps units only in one standard color. Or does garmin sell covered coated cases? :blink:

3.7k · July 13, 2007

One time I set my grey Vista in a large formation of grey rocks. Took me a looooong time to find. I often wondered why people would buy the camo eTrex. Put that baby down in the woods and it can be gone for good.

I quickly learnt that a wrist-mounted GPSr is better for geocaching: you never have to put it down and risk losing it, and you're never going to drop it or let it swing against rocks... :laughing:

22k · July 13, 2007

put the gps down and start looking.

Remember where you put it.

I've done that. I was searching a very weedy area near a cliff so accuracy was really bad. I set all my stuff down, backpack, gps, etc, to do a really thorough search. After I found the cache I spent another 15 minutes searching for where I left my stuff.

One time I set my grey Vista in a large formation of grey rocks. Took me a looooong time to find. I often wondered why people would buy the camo eTrex. Put that baby down in the woods and it can be gone for good.

I've sometimes wondered by gps units only in one standard color. Or does garmin sell covered coated cases?

It was your cache by the way Mr. Welch. :blink: Up by the Wapsi.

1.4k · July 13, 2007

Never post anything in the cache log that might upset another cacher.

A better rule of thumb is "just the facts".

All too often people sanitize their cache logs and lackluster caches don't get the feedback that would allow the hider to make different choices the next time they are hiding a cache.

I stick to the facts, even if they might offfend someone. If I am in a urban greenspace and I have homeowners watching me search for a crappy film can in a spruce tree you can bet I am going to spell it out in my log, just the facts though, I won't say "crappy film can hidden in plain view of concerned homeowners who suspect I am doing something unpleasant over there in the trees" but I will say "several homeowners watched while I searched for this cache".

If it is a film can and it is exposed to the elements I always add the phrase "logbook was soaking wet". :laughing:

Lessons learned?

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