It's been a long while, here's why...

[+Bloencustoms]

Well, I have neglected geocaching for a long time. This morning, on a whim, I logged in to see what's available to find in my area, and wound up ordering some cache ID stickers and some other stuff from the website.

 

It's been about 5 years or so since I was really active as a cacher, and even then I was never a super cacher with hundreds or thousands of finds. But, I did enjoy the hobby a great deal.

 

What really caused me to lose interest was my urban location. At the time, I lived in New Orleans. I had already found every cache I could within a reasonable distance of home. It got so the places to hide "real" (regular size) caches were very sparse. Then, micro caches started popping up all over the place. FWIW, I don't mind the micros too much, but I got tired of the strange looks from observers.

 

I didn't like feeling as though I was doing something nefarious, and I didn't like having to wait for people to leave to conduct my searching. Finally, it was too much, and I stopped looking for caches. All the new ones being listed were caches hidden in high-traffic areas, as if the goal was to place a cache where the searchers will have the greatest chance of being observed.

 

Well, life went on, and I moved to a different state with tons of public land and lots of places to hide a cache. A quick zip code search tells me there's a lot of caches to find as well. So, I might get back into it if I can get all the software sorted out again. I'll need to decide on a GPX utility and something to use with my old Palm device to view pages. I have some fun ides for a cache I never placed back in LA, because we ran out of spots that could conceal a real cache. When driving 1 mile can take 45 minutes due to traffic, placing caches far from home makes maintenance extremely difficult.

 

Out here, there's soooooo much room, and plenty of places for caches. Once the snow melts in the spring, I think I might place a puzzle cache I've been planning for half a decade.

[+Y2KOTA]

Welcome back to the dark side!

[+Cardinal Red]

I'll need to decide on a GPX utility and something to use with my old Palm device to view pages.

 

Here is what I use on my Palm m500: CacheMate

 

Price: $10 USD (one time payment)

Requirements: Palm OS® 3.0 or later

Versions for other platforms are also available

[+Bloencustoms]

I'll need to decide on a GPX utility and something to use with my old Palm device to view pages.

 

Here is what I use on my Palm m500: CacheMate

 

Price: $10 USD (one time payment)

Requirements: Palm OS® 3.0 or later

Versions for other platforms are also available

 

Thanks again!

[+briansnat]

I'll need to decide on a GPX utility and something to use with my old Palm device to view pages.

 

Here is what I use on my Palm m500: CacheMate

 

Price: $10 USD (one time payment)

Requirements: Palm OS® 3.0 or later

Versions for other platforms are also available

 

Ditto on the Cachemate. Great app.

[Keystone]

Welcome back! Good to see you again.

 

Forum regulars will recognize Bloencustoms as the OP of the "Who are the Lurkers?" thread, which Jeremy pinned at the top of this forum section back in December 2003. It's right where you left it.

[+zoltig]

Welcome back.

Glad you are able to have Utah and Colorado as your backyards.

 

You are so right about having the open land for a quality caching experience plus you are not far from Moab or San Rafael Swell. Must do caching areas!! I have yet to hit SRS but it is indeed on my list.

 

 

 

<edit>Threw in another pic for the heck of it.

Edited December 12, 2009 by zoltig

[+carleenp]

Good to see you!

[+Team Wolf Clan]

I agree completely, I've thought about quiting also simply because of all of the city caches in my area, I don't like looking for them or all of the looks my team gets, but too many of us like caching. Including 3 of my grandkids. So we keep on caching for now anyway. We enjoy the caches that not are set in high muggle areas a lot more than the ones that are. In my area there's more set in high muggle areas than set in low muggle areas.

[+wimseyguy]

So have you been lurking all this time?

Welcome back; much has changed, many things are still the same.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Welcome back!

 

You will be pleased to know that you can still filter urban micros out of your PQs, you never have to find another one!

[+Bloencustoms]

Wow! I'm seeing a lot of old screen names from back when!

 

It's nice to know I'm remembered.

 

I dug the Palm T/X out of storage and I'm messing around with the trial version of CacheMate.

 

I wonder if there's a way to connect a 60csx to the pda directly?

[+zoltig]

<snip>

 

I wonder if there's a way to connect a 60csx to the pda directly?

I don't think so.

I run the PQ's through GSAK then you can dump the same info into your PDA and 60CSx.

[+Cardinal Red]

<snip>

 

I wonder if there's a way to connect a 60csx to the pda directly?

I don't think so.

I run the PQ's through GSAK then you can dump the same info into your PDA and 60CSx.

 

I have not tried GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) yet. It is a very robust application. It seems to be free to use WITH nag screens. If you decide you like it, you can pay to support the author and remove the nag screens.

 

If you are interested in trying something free and very easy to use, try EasyGPS.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I wonder if there's a way to connect a 60csx to the pda directly?

There is, you just have to know the pinouts for your PDA to buy or make a cable.

 

Here are the cabling pinouts for your 60CSx

 

http://www8.garmin.com/support/faqs/faq.jsp?faq=68

[+Wooden Cyclist]

If you have a smarphone you can use that. One advantage is the ability to search for the caches closest to your location and download GPX files on the fly.

[+Woodstramp]

Like the others have said, that Cachemate software works like a charm. I used it a long while on my Palm.

 

Also, you mention being out of the loop for a while and I don't know if you have topo maps on your Garmin, but if you need some you can get free ones here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/ Utah is listed in the right column. Those folks have done an excellent job building them.

[+Woodstramp]

"tick magnet"

 

 

Excellent tag line you got there!

 

Thought of something along those lines.

 

Mine would be "highly efficient poison oak tar collection unit"

 

Where's that durn calamine lotion? scratch, scratch...

[+Stunod]

Wow! I'm seeing a lot of old screen names from back when!

 

It's nice to know I'm remembered.

 

Welcome back! Hope you stick around (again)!

[+Jennifer&Dean]

Great to see you are back! Hope you get up and running and finding again!

Jen

[+Bloencustoms]

Like the others have said, that Cachemate software works like a charm. I used it a long while on my Palm.

 

Also, you mention being out of the loop for a while and I don't know if you have topo maps on your Garmin, but if you need some you can get free ones here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/ Utah is listed in the right column. Those folks have done an excellent job building them.

 

I do have the old US TOPO that Garmin had out for years. It's the low resolution maps. I bought the maps back when I was caching and had a 1st gen. Garmin vista. A couple of years ago I bought a 60csx for the larger, color screen and routing. I've been very pleased with it, use it regularly when hitting the trails on my ATV. I also like the cache icons it came with.

 

I did check out that site you linked, and their maps are higher resolution, so I downloaded the ones for Utah.

 

Thanks!

 

On another note, I couldn't have picked a worse time to get interested again, because last night it snowed a foot, and it's still coming down.

 

But, I spent a few hours last night backing up one of my computers onto a hard drive and gave it a complete format and re-install of windows. That will be my work computer, and I can use the little laptop for caching and internet.

 

I remember back when I was into it big time, I had a little honda civic hatchback, and I had built a homemade laptop mount in there. I used the GPS in conjunction with Streets and Trips to get close. My Nuvi has eliminated the need for a big laptop in the car anymore.