Caching in the winter

[+scavok]

Here in thornton, CO its a whole 4 degrees outside right now. The snow is that perfect level where you can't go out in shoes without being uncomfortable but I can't justify snowshoes yet.... I wonder where my snowboard boots are....

[XC_Tracker]

Had some awesome hikes in the mountains where no one ever ventures - had to take a shovel to dig for the cache though - talk about precision guessing.

 

That is awesome! You're officially my new hero!

 

Be careful not to confuse stupidity as a heroic trait.

 

I got a reminder this afternoon about the one downside of caching in the winter. Hunting Season!!!

 

We always enjoy hunting season because we can go hunting and when things slow down we pick up the GPS and start walking around in the woods to find geocaches.

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

It's 74ºF here in Southwest Florida, but I had the pleasure of the winter caching experience when I was up north during Thanksgiving.

 

When you're not used to 24ºF cold, it really works against your motivation to figure out a cleverly hidden micro!

 

When this happened, I went home:

 

What is that stuff, anyway?

[+Mr.Skully]

It's 74ºF here in Southwest Florida, but I had the pleasure of the winter caching experience when I was up north during Thanksgiving.

 

When you're not used to 24ºF cold, it really works against your motivation to figure out a cleverly hidden micro!

 

When this happened, I went home:

 

What is that stuff, anyway?

 

There was a Government Study called on that funny white stuff awhile back

Wonder if the results are in... LOL That tho looks a bit icy

SW Colo today is 12 degrees and 6 to 15" of new snow, GOT SNOW BOOTS?

[+Parabola]

You want to talk about some messed up weather. Today it got warm enought to melt all the snow and ice. I think just below 50 out. Well then this storm is starting to make it's way threw and it's now 14 out and dropping fast and sleet and ice are coming down at the moment with some snow to come in the next day or so.

 

And just when I thought the sidewalk was all cleaned off.

[+luckycharmer]

Illinois here, 58 this afternoon and 15 right now with sleet and snow. I'm heading out right now to check on a nearby cache that had a damp log.

[+mdplayers]

Maryland report... It was quite warm today, upper 40's lower 50's. Great for mid-December here. Sunshine, slight breeze.

 

We walked a long hike around a pond and found 6 caches for the day. Couldn't beat it.

 

Maryland's like that: really cold for a week and then bang! a great day like today then a whole week of rain.

 

We haven't been out in snow yet. Might try it once or twice and then decide if it's to our liking (probably not, I don't like snow).

[+MoxieBramble]

I worry abut hunters only slightly more than exploding caches.

 

Exploding caches?

 

My boyfriend and I are quite new to this, and we keep talking about the perversity of learning to geocache in December in Vermont, but we haven't stopped yet.

 

We were so excited because today was supposed to be so warm! 40 degrees! That never happened, it was 30 degrees at best and incredibly windy. We still managed to find one, but the snow and cold are turning out to be larger factors than we'd thought they'd be.

[+ladyleo191]

I worry abut hunters only slightly more than exploding caches.

 

Exploding caches?

 

My boyfriend and I are quite new to this, and we keep talking about the perversity of learning to geocache in December in Vermont, but we haven't stopped yet.

 

We were so excited because today was supposed to be so warm! 40 degrees! That never happened, it was 30 degrees at best and incredibly windy. We still managed to find one, but the snow and cold are turning out to be larger factors than we'd thought they'd be.

 

Moxie, the reference to an exploding cache is because every once in a while, someone will post a "what if" thread about terrorists stashing bombs in a cache for unsuspecting cachers. It usually ends up with them being persuaded that terrorists don't want to maim one person in the backwoods, they want to hurt a large number of folks at once.

 

I personally am of the opinion that I have a greater chance of being in an auto accident, falling and breaking something, getting ptomaine from eating at one of those out-of-the-way diners, or getting snakebit than being the victim of a Mad Bomber.

 

I despise cold weather, but I have been bundling up good and going caching lately. Someone here had a saying (and I can't give credit because I've forgotten who it was) that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. I've found it to be true.

 

Welcome to the game and Good Luck on your hunts!

[+bflentje]

Try caching in Tennessee! We cater to the weather personalities from all around the globe.

 

Take the middle of January for instance:

If you like cold weather, then the high temps on the 15th will be 24 degrees!

If you like warm weather, then the high temps on the 16th will be 75 degrees!

If you like caching in the rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, or penny sized hail.....then we gottcha covered on the 17th!

 

You haven't winter cached until you've cached in Minnesota. Just yesterday, my caching trip started out at a hot 37F degrees and raining. By the time we were done, it was -20F with blizzard like conditions.

[knowschad]

I hear there is also a way to hack your GPSr so it will do double duty and also function as a metal detector.

But lock & locks also make a distinct thump, as my wife likes to remind me every time I walk past one.

 

Probably comes from this:

 

Today I got yet another query about my book "Hacking GPS" asking where in the book it explains how to use a GPS as a metal detector. My usual reply is "Oh dear! Sorry. Hacking GPS doesn't actually cover turning your GPS into a metal detector!" and I then go on to explain that this mistaken idea came from the preliminary cover for the book that the publishers issued to online book retailers long before the 'real' cover text had been written.

 

Why this misleading text is there in the first place is a little harder to explain, so generally I cross my fingers and hope that they won't ask because I'm not really sure that I understand it myself. This is my understanding of how it came about (bearing in mind that I'm not privy to the processes that go on on the other side of the author/publisher divide) :

 

As I said earlier the preliminary cover is issed to Amazon and other online retailers and this happens long before I've written the real text for the cover - or even most of the book! So in readiness for that I guess the graphic designer or some other wag at Extreme Tech puts in some fake text on the preliminary cover - perhaps containing one of their little in-jokes.

[+Vater_Araignee]

I hear there is also a way to hack your GPSr so it will do double duty and also function as a metal detector.

But lock & locks also make a distinct thump, as my wife likes to remind me every time I walk past one.

 

Probably comes from this:

 

Today I got yet another query about my book "Hacking GPS" asking where in the book it explains how to use a GPS as a metal detector. My usual reply is "Oh dear! Sorry. Hacking GPS doesn't actually cover turning your GPS into a metal detector!" and I then go on to explain that this mistaken idea came from the preliminary cover for the book that the publishers issued to online book retailers long before the 'real' cover text had been written.

 

Why this misleading text is there in the first place is a little harder to explain, so generally I cross my fingers and hope that they won't ask because I'm not really sure that I understand it myself. This is my understanding of how it came about (bearing in mind that I'm not privy to the processes that go on on the other side of the author/publisher divide) :

 

As I said earlier the preliminary cover is issed to Amazon and other online retailers and this happens long before I've written the real text for the cover - or even most of the book! So in readiness for that I guess the graphic designer or some other wag at Extreme Tech puts in some fake text on the preliminary cover - perhaps containing one of their little in-jokes.

Can I build an antenna that will:

Block sat signal reception.

Send a false signal to the GPSr.

Adjust the signal strength indicator according to the amount if magnetic interference the metal detecting antenna receives.

 

Not exactly hacking the the receiver but it sounds doable.

 

 

For somebody better equipped than I.