Geocaching Organizational Tips

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

We love puzzle caches and up until this very moment all of our puzzle solutions have been written on pieces of paper that float around the living room. I thought the height of organization would be to input them into our GPSr. However, I just realized that I could make a personal bookmark list with the puzzle solutions (unshared, of course) and then when we want to find some of the puzzle caches we've solved we can do a map or PQ from the bookmark list to choose which one to go after. Doh! Why did it take months to think of this?

 

A month or two ago someone mentioned that they have a special pouch for the trackables they pick up and move. We pressed an old Eaglecreek passport wallet into service for this function and it's really helped us keep the travel bugs and geocoins organized and prevented us from losing them.

 

Anyone else have any geocaching organizational tips? Nothing is too obvious to mention. I can pretty much guarantee that I do not see the obvious for months.

 

Carolyn

[+ventura_kids]

I don't think I'm one of those very organized cachers.

If I was, I'd have everything filed alphabetically, or boxed and labelled.

I just looked around my house and started laughing.

Organized? Here's my method: the house is piled full of ammo cans, film containers, and assorted geo-stuff.

Why? Because the car is already full !

I keep a couple of ammo cans in the car. One is full of first aid stuff, and one is for geo-stuff.

We also keep a backpack in the car with anything we may need at a geocache....travelbugs, geocoins, toys, replacement logsheets, assorted tape, wire, magnets, pencils, string, etc..

[AZcachemeister]

I use GSAK, and I can enter corrected (solved puzzle) co-ordinates manually. Thus when I upload a set of waypoints to the GPSr, any solved puzzles in the area are automatically included...no need for a special PQ...and the co-ordinates in the GPSr are from my solution, no need to manually edit in the GPSr.

 

I also use a cloth bag for my trackables waiting to be dropped, but that does open up the possibility that the whole bag might get lost! So I tend to leave it in the vehicle unless we are on a longer hike with several caches planned.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

I use GSAK, and I can enter corrected (solved puzzle) co-ordinates manually. Thus when I upload a set of waypoints to the GPSr, any solved puzzles in the area are automatically included...no need for a special PQ...and the co-ordinates in the GPSr are from my solution, no need to manually edit in the GPSr.

 

GSAK doesn't work with the Mac. Thus the need for other solutions.

 

Carolyn

[+ngrrfan]

Organized??

 

Surely you jest!.

 

I've got a laptop computer strictly for GPS stuff, but it is slower than molasses in winter so I use another computer for searches, then zero in with the laptop. THEN.... I have another computer in my office that also has the cache stuff on it just in case I'm in there when a wild idea crosses my mind. So... let's see... that's 3 computers to try to keep synced, not to mention what is in the backpack (or where I set it down last)... AND trying to organize several trips for me and my partners and the church caching group.

 

I've got more scraps of paper with GC #s on them lying all over the place than there are grains of sand on the beach.

 

It's a miracle I know where the coffee pot and light switch are.

[+The Jester]

Surely you jest!.

Did I hear someone call me?

 

GSAK can run on a Mac - see this thread on the GSAK forums.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Surely you jest!.

Did I hear someone call me?

 

GSAK can run on a Mac - see this thread on the GSAK forums.

 

Thanks for the link. It is true that any Windows program can run on a Mac if the Mac is running Windows (using Bootcamp or Parallels). But what most people mean when they say a program doesn't work on a Mac is that it doesn't work with the Mac OS. That is what I meant. If I'm going to go to the hassle of restarting my Mac in PC mode, there had better be a good business-oriented reason for it and a paycheck at the end. For my recreation (really for everything) I prefer Macs and the Mac OS.

 

Carolyn

Edited August 22, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[+Cache O'Plenty]

I pressed into service one of the many travel bags I've received as gifts to hold just the electronics. It always has the two GPSr units (I upgraded), my Palm for paperless caching and our Nuvi for autonav. The nuvi is set up with the GSAK macro to hold the 4500 caches in our 30 mile radius home area. That bag goes back and forth from desktop to car. The three units are updated almost daily with new PQs for all the changes that occur.

 

The second GPS holds the 500 nearest home, all of them That way, I know where all the other caches in the area are when I'm in the mood to place a new one. Sometimes it serves as a "loaner" for friends/family that go with us caching.

 

The car has a box of pre-made caches ready to be placed. And a bag of all the TOTTs we've collected as well as swag stuff.

 

And then there is the work table in the garage.

 

And this was supposed to be a fun little hobby......

[PastorJon]

 

I've got a laptop computer strictly for GPS stuff, but it is slower than molasses in winter ...

 

Funny... usually it's the summertime heat that makes my computer run slower...

 

 

 

[+ngrrfan]

 

I've got a laptop computer strictly for GPS stuff, but it is slower than molasses in winter ...

 

Funny... usually it's the summertime heat that makes my computer run slower...

Nah.... this is an older Toshiba Tecra 8000. Max memory is 256 meg, cpu is 366 Mhz, and an 80 gig HD. Great as an in vehicle Nav system hooked to the GPSr in the van, but for almost anything else it is just too slow.

 

Nice part is it has a serial port as well as one USB port, so I can have the GPS II+ hooked up (nav system) and the etrex for caching, at the same time.

 

It works so I can't complain.