Homing in on the cache - what strategy?

[+PaulThBrit]

Is there a FAQ or other guidance information on how experienced cachers set up their GPSr and how they 'home in' on a cache?

 

For example - do you set 'GoTo' a cache and follow the map all the way until the distance to cache is zero? Do you get to 20' from a cache and then go to compass guidance mode? Bearing or course? Do you use WAAS? What other settings do you use?

 

Thanks. Looking forward to a lively discussion,

 

Paul

[+Trucker Lee]

To help narrow down the search area (keep in mind that there is a margin of error), I will deviate from the straight in approach and cut to the side a little ways. I then concentrate on the area where two or more bearings have intersected.

[+H2OBob]

I set my GPSr up to show Bearing, distance, and accuracy on the bearing page. some call it a 'compass' page, but it actually shows the direction to the cache in relation to your direction of travel. I usually check the map page too, to see if there is a trail or road that I can use to get closer to the cache. I've bushwhacked in through brush and briars, only to find that I could have driven to within 100 feet of the cache. When I get to within 500 feet, I get out the compass, and use it with the bearing to get really close. Then I usually just stop, and look around to identify any obvious hiding spots. I lay the GPSr down on a rock or log, and check those spots while the GPSr 'settles'. If I haven't found it by then, I go back to the GPSr, and get a more precise bearing and distance. That usually gets me within 10-15 feet. Sometimes, you just can't get a decent signal under the trees, so you have to change tactics. I go to two different places nearby, where I can get a good signal, and take two headings that will converge at about a 90 degree angle. I let the GPSr settle in well in both areas, to get the most accurate bearing. In my mind, I get a picture of the place where they intersect. that is a lot faster than trying to search a large area. And, if all else fails, I read the hint.

[dsandbro]

Even using two or more bearings, the margin of error often will still leave with a 20ft+ circle to search. Once I have that size area narrowed down, I carefully scan the area looking for potential hiding places (If I were hiding a cache here, where would I put it?). Look for 'out of place' objects. A pile of bark or twigs, a few rocks, etc.

 

9 times out of 10 I will spot the hiding place from 10 feet away, even though I can't yet see the cache container.

[+simpjkee]

I used to have a bottom of the line GPS so I would just match the coord numbers with the coord numbers on the cache page. I now have a decent GPS where I have downloaded about 400 caches in to it and now I use the "GOTO" function while I'm driving so I can glance at the arrow and drive in that direction. Once I get to about 20 feet, I go back to my old method of matching the GPS coords with the cache page coords. Once I'm at the spot, I pull out my minimag and start searching.

 

BTW, is that you in the red car at Watkins Glen?

[+briansnat]

I use the navigation (compass) screen and let the arrow point me to the cache and the distance count down.

 

When I'm within about 40 feet I put the GPS in my pack down and start searching. If I come up empty I'll pick up the GPS again and see if it's telling me anything different. Sometimes I'll walk away and re-approach the area, watching where the arrow is pointing.

[+poppoppig]

I'm just a rookie,but I'm successful using briansnat's approach.

[+PaulThBrit]

 

BTW, is that you in the red car at Watkins Glen?

 

Yes that's me at the Glen. I've been up there five times now at their 'Driving Schools'.

 

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I used some of the tips posted here yesterday when I went caching in the Ramapo Mountains. My technique has definitely improved with the suggestions posted here.

 

Paul

[+pittt]

Another part of the process for me is to look for the obvious place for the cache, once I'm within about 40'. You'll get used to looking either for something that "just shouldn't be in that terrain" - a rock in grassland, for example - or else something natural that's been disturbed - under trees, there'll be lots of fallen branches, but when you see a pile of them, that'll be where the cache is placed!

 

Tony

[+HuggyFamily]

To me, geocaching is a bit like golf. The GPS is the driver and 5-iron and wedge (i.e. it gets you most of the way to the hole). But your eyes and geo-sense are the putter.

 

I tend to use the Mapping feature of my 60cs to get to the general location (and save gas). Once there, I recalculate to "off-road" and get a bearing to the cache.

 

Most importantly, around 75 feet from the cache, I stop and let the GPS settle down. From that point, I get a good bearing and then walk in that direction. At this point, the geo-sense has to kick in to expedite the find. Often, the little Huggies run directly to (and find) the cache so the GPS has really just got us in the general vicinity.

Edited September 21, 2007 by HuggyFamily

[+blindleader]

Usually keep the bearing and distance screen on and get the distance within a few feet, then search a circle that expands till I find the cache.

 

I say 'usually' because what works depends a lot on the environment. In much of the Northwest, briansnatt's 40 feet method would be absurd, but if the ground is pretty open, often you can see the likely hiding places from some distance away. If that's the case, then that's what I do.

 

Sometimes I don't even need to use GPS:

 

I have never, ever matched coordinates on the display, and can't even imagine where it might be useful, unless you're stuck with some ancient device with no 'go to' function.

 

I was recently in the UK, and never encountered the kind of steep, tree covered ground we have around Seattle. On several occasions, I got the distance down to a foot or two and grabbed the cache without taking more than a couple steps.

Edited September 22, 2007 by blindleader