TravelingSquirrel Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I went caching for the second time yesterday. I double teamed them with my Garmin C550 and my Garmin Vista HCx. I pre-mapped the areas and pretty much knew how to get to 3 of the 5. I used the C550 to get me to the first one and the Vista to finish the job. But, there is always a but, the battery was dieing on the C550 and my powercord was in the other car! So it thought I knew where the others were and did find 3 of the next 4. I made two runs at the one I didn't find. It seemed to be in a private community. Then it seemed to be in the condo community next door. But when I got to the waters edge, I am cacheing around a lake, it pointed across the water! So I gave up and called it a day. Well this morning I did a little closer looking at the area with MapSource and found that I have to go way around the area by another road just to end up across a small cove. It must be at least 10 miles of driving to get 100 feet across the water. But now I know and I will make another try soon. What did I learn? Several things. 1. Make sure you have the power cord for everything or freshly charged batteries. 2. Take extra batteries for the Vista (didn't have any with me though I have plenty at the house) 3. Map the area more closely before going. 4. Get the City Navigator maps for the Vista and there would have been no problems. Quote Link to comment
ao318 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I live on one side of a river. A new posting came out for a new geocache 0.3 miles from my house. I looked up where it was and it was on the other side of the river. I had to drive 7 miles to get to it in evening traffic and made a FTF. It can be a little challenging living near mountains and bodies of water when you are planning your day. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 (edited) 4. Get the City Navigator maps for the Vista and there would have been no problems. Like you, I'm pretty new at this, and am not above using whatever tools I can find that will keep me from doing something really stupid! I'm not the least hesitant to take a peek on Google Earth or LiveEarth before departing for a cache that's in an "iffy" location. Even then, it isn't always helpful! Last week, I saw a cache that looked like an "easy grab" on the ride home from work. There's been a lot of construction (bridge replacement) going on in the area, and while the cache is probably no more than 10' from a major divided highway (on a bridge without shoulders, no less), I certainly wasn't going to block a lane to get there! Due to the construction, the presence of a number of roads that are actually private, and a number of other concerns including fences along the highway, I had a good, long look with LiveEarth before leaving in hopes that I could at least get to reasonable hiking distance of the cache without having to walk any major highways or climb any fences I shouldn't be climbing. I have really good city maps on my vehicle GPS, but they would have led me badly astray under the circumstances. I look at the online mapping software with satellite views as just another tool. No one would begrudge someone the use of topo maps, but in urban and semi-urban areas, they're usually hopelessly out of date. Their online counterparts are far more helpful. P.S. Even with the additional tools, I'd left myself quite a little hike, thanks to the construction! Edited February 17, 2008 by ecanderson Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Maps can be a great planning tool but sometimes the fun of Geocaching is in just trying to follow the compass arrow on the GPS to find where you want to go. Discovered a lot of new places that way over the years. Quote Link to comment
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