A beginner with a real stupid question!

[carolmil]

Hi All

 

Hubby and i are just starting out and i have a really stupid question (i guess once i know the answer it will seem really obvious!)

 

Well you pick a cache that you would like to do (in this case it's this one) http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ae-c855cc2fbc8e

 

We've downloaded loaded it to my gps.

 

My question is! how do i work out how to actually get there? my gps just shows (as the crow flies direction) so is no help at all

 

How do you know where to park?

 

I know it's a stupid question but i just can't seem to figure it out.

 

Many thanks for your help

 

Carolx

[me_chris]

There is a map on the cache page - if you click on it, then a google map loads - this is often how I start.

 

Figuring out how to get there is sortof part of the puzzle, but the maps help a lot.

 

Good luck! :-)

[+Walts Hunting]

You didn't say what GPS you have. Many of them also have street map capability and you can use it to drive you to the closest parking area before you go to geocache mode.

[+BlueDeuce]

Yep, look at the maps or just go to the area, take a look around and see what might be the best approach. I will still sometimes circle the whole location just to see if there might be a better (and closer) place to park rather than the most obvious place.

 

Another thing, stay on the trail longer than you might think you need to. I've started bushwhacking to the cache only to find the trail circle back around. 'Oh look, here's the same trail I just left. Oops!"

[+StarBrand]

Several methods you might use. My wife and I have tried them all and found some amoun of fun in each.

 

In the blind: Get in car, select cache, hit goto. Blindly find roads that generally lead you in the direction of the cache. May require some circling around the area to find the best approach. Get as close as we reasonably can find and then jump out of car and head towards cache. Often use this method when caching in unfamilar towns.

 

Look at maps on listing: Gives a general overview of the cache area - useful if you are familar with the roads in a given area.

 

Look at Google Earth, Microsoft S&T: Can sort of plot out the best route to get there and arial pictures give a good idea of where to park and best streets to get you there.

 

Use routing software built into the GPS - best method but leaves out a bit of the "sense of adventure" and discovery of new places. To us that is an important aspect of Geocaching.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Starbrand described my progression into geocaching perfectly! I think it applies to many people.

 

My first GPS was a Garmin eTrex Yellow, very basic, that had no mapping capability.

 

I found my first 500 or so caches just following that compass needle and paper maps. I used literally reams of paper printing cache listings and maps.

 

Then I started carrying my laptop in the car with Delorme Street Atlas maps and an external GPS (EarthMate). I used the laptop maps to navigate by car as close as possible and then the eTrex to find the cache.

 

Then I bought a Palm PDA to load the cache page text into so I didn't have to print all that stuff out (using CacheMate and GSAK software)

 

Then I bought a GPS with full mapping capability (Garmin 60CSx) and THAT is the cool tool for geocaching!

 

Use routing software built into the GPS - best method but leaves out a bit of the "sense of adventure" and discovery of new places. To us that is an important aspect of Geocaching.

Starbrand is quite correct that having a mapping GPS route you right to the cache takes some of the adventure out of navigating your way there... but if you're like me dead ends and u-turns and re-routing the drive is part of caching's grand adventure I can do without!

 

Now when I go caching I have 1000 cache listings loaded on my laptop map, my GPS and my PDA.

 

I can pick and choose areas and caches I want to go to or just hunt them as they appear on the map while driving along!

 

If you really enjoy geocaching and think you'll stick with it go ahead and upgrade to a mapping GPS and a PDA and skip all the paper learning curve!

[+mousekakat]

We use a TomTom ONE and it is a car navigator as well as usable for caching.

 

For the record, I don't think it's a stupid question at all! If we hadn't started out with the TomTom it's probably a question that I would have asked, too! I just never thought about it!

 

Enjoy!

 

Naomi

[Keystone]

I'm moving this thread to the "Getting Started" forum where questions like this are common, and *NOT* stupid. Hopefully you will continue to receive helpful advice there, like in the preceding posts. Good luck to the OP in their cache hunts.

[+ventura_kids]

Good Question!

 

I usually click on the link that says Geocaching.com Google Map on the cache page.

Then I click on the button that says Hyb to see a satellite view of the area.

 

In your case, it looks like you may want to enter the trail from the road to the West....

....some cachers that previously found the cache may give a hint in their logs too, so check those out if you are not sure.

Many caches list an additional waypoint that is called Parking or something like that....this one doesn't have one

 

Good luck hunting.

 

Be sure and mark the location of the car whenever heading out into unknown areas. It's nice to be able to return to it when you are lost and confused.

Edited December 26, 2007 by ventura_kids

[+Jeep_Dog]

 

In the blind: Get in car, select cache, hit goto. Blindly find roads that generally lead you in the direction of the cache. May require some circling around the area to find the best approach. Get as close as we reasonably can find and then jump out of car and head towards cache. Often use this method when caching in unfamilar towns.

 

This truly is a fun aspect. To avoid too many u-turns that seem to frustrate Alabama Rambler, I will look at available online maps to get an "overview" of roads - in other words, a general sense of how a town is arranged and the basic streets, which avoids some common mistakes of following the needle in a car.

 

In the addition to the adventure of following the needle, I have found the following to be positive aspects of Starbrand's method:

• finding roads or neighborhoods I did not know existed even in a familar village/town/city
  
• an easier approach to the cache that would not have been apparent by a map search and "forcing" the route
  
• "nearest" caches enroute that did not seem "logical" during a route plan
  
• finding historical features/signs/buildings
  
• getting a feel of the cacher owner's home turf, which helps in understanding their mindset/view and hence finding the cache easier
  
• finding future cache hide potential spots!
  

Your question is not even remotely stupid, by the way.

[carolmil]

Hi All

 

Thank you so much for all your advice - i'm glad it wasn't as dumb a question as i thought it was

 

I have a Garmin E trex venture HC and i havent really got to grips with it at the minute.

 

The compass doesn't seem to work that well so we're going to try by the map page and see what happens

 

I have seen a few waypoints mentioned for parking but as yet i havent worked out how i can add that either (i'm bordering on incompetent with this thing at hte minute)

 

At the moment i've been downloading the cache details from here onto my gps but im on a BIG learning curve

[+Arndtwe]

Did anyone else notice that the cache link that OP gave was logged before published?

[Keystone]

Did anyone else notice that the cache link that OP gave was logged before published?

So? That's quite common, for a number of reasons. For example, I know it's popular in your home state to hide caches in honor of someone, and then let them find it before publication.

 

Please stay on-topic, thanks.

[+Trucker Lee]

This was not a "stupid" question, that is the one that should have been asked and wasn't!

 

I generally transfer the caches into Streets and Trips (or did until I messed up the laptop) and could zoom in as I approached. Most mapping programs can do this, but you will most likely need to get GSAK to make this easy. You can also do this on Google Earth, enter the coords, then back the map out until you see the nearby roads to approach on.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Hi All

 

Hubby and i are just starting out and i have a really stupid question (i guess once i know the answer it will seem really obvious!)

 

Well you pick a cache that you would like to do (in this case it's this one) http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ae-c855cc2fbc8e

 

We've downloaded loaded it to my gps.

 

My question is! how do i work out how to actually get there? my gps just shows (as the crow flies direction) so is no help at all

 

How do you know where to park?

 

I know it's a stupid question but i just can't seem to figure it out.

 

Many thanks for your help

 

Carolx

Finding the answers to these questions is half the fun of the Game. You will find that some of the best logs are the ones where a Cacher accidentally hiked a 3 mile loop to get to a Cache that was 100 feet from parking.

[+vw_k]

Not a stupid question at all!

 

As has already been mentioned, there are links to maps on the cache page, I'd recommend always caching with a paper map, especially in areas you are not familiar with, even if I am caching in suburban areas a few miles from home I take a computer print out from Google map, they come in useful for finding parking areas, footpaths etc.

 

Welcome to the sport!

[Luckless]

 

In the blind: Get in car, select cache, hit goto. Blindly find roads that generally lead you in the direction of the cache. May require some circling around the area to find the best approach. Get as close as we reasonably can find and then jump out of car and head towards cache. Often use this method when caching in unfamilar towns.

 

This truly is a fun aspect. To avoid too many u-turns that seem to frustrate Alabama Rambler, I will look at available online maps to get an "overview" of roads - in other words, a general sense of how a town is arranged and the basic streets, which avoids some common mistakes of following the needle in a car.

 

 

I cache like this most times. Maps, I don't need no stinkin' maps- just a lot of gas. Even more fun when you have someone else with you so you can argue over which way to go.

[+hukilaulau]

I pretty much followed the course of SB and AR. I wish I had gotten a street routng program before I started caching around Boston! Trying to follow the compass arrow around the streets in that area practically drove me nuts!

[+Jeep_Dog]

 

I cache like this most times. Maps, I don't need no stinkin' maps- just a lot of gas. Even more fun when you have someone else with you so you can argue over which way to go.

 

I think that I would enjoy caching with you. You have character - and that is what caching is all about, u-turns or otherwise.

[+Outspoken1]

Most GPSr come only with a base map that is pretty useless for pin-point travel. As others have mentioned, use Google/Yahoo/Mapquest/Google Earth to figure out where the general location is. After you really get hooked (sometimes taht takes as long as 2-3 weeks), save your coffee money for the Garmin City Navigator 2006 DVD. Amazon had (notice the had) the best price during Christmas. That may have changed. It'll set you back about $120, but it is well worth it, IMHO. Once you have paid full price, Garmin will offer an update less costly price with each year. I licve in Denver and we have sooo much building going on in Colorado, that I get the yearly updates just to keep up. I did geocache for about 6 months before getting the DVD maps. The City Navigator has made my geocaching more efficient, but you still have to use your old noggin'. I have had the automatic route try to make me stop on the shoulder of a 6 land highway. Seems the cache was in the bike path tunnel under the highway!! I'm still laughing over that one!

 

Take care,

Outspoken1

[+apetro]

we are new too. most of the caches we have beenare within 10 miles of our house and i know the area pretty well so following the arrow as the crow flies hasn't been to big a problem. we have had to go into the country and i found the best way for us (my gps has no maps to speak of) is to copy and past the coords into google earth and get the driving directions or print it and take it along. since i am new to this i'm really not sure what to say about your compass but i have figured out that it only works well while moving. i usually switch over to that screen when i get out of the car and follow the arrow. good luck!