Tell me about how you go on a weekend geocaching trip!

[scrumpet]

I read in the logs of some caches that geocachers sometimes make a weekend out of going geocaching, maybe covering a large area and finding dozens of caches in one trip! If you have ever done this I'm wondering how do you do it? What's your process? Do you pick an area and then research the caches? How do you pick which ones to do? Do you print out all the info for each cache (essentially making a booklet of caches you want to find)? And then I guess you stay in a hotel somewhere? I'd love to try this but I don't know where to start! (I'm not new to geocaching, just the weekend trip part). I appreciate any input!!

 

(Also, any tips on convincing my husband to do this?? lol)

 

Thanks!!!

[+Printess Caroline]

Well, since one of your issues is convincing your husband that this is a great, fun idea (which I believe it is), I would first suggest a place to which he would be interested in going. Perhaps let him pick the place. Then, you would go about choosing caches as you would normally. You might also check out any forums for that area for suggestions from those who know the area best. May I also suggest that you keep your plans flexible. While spending your entire weekend caching may be just about perfect for you, it may not be quite so enjoyable for your spouse. Be prepared to mix it up with some other activities. If he enjoys the trip, he'll be more friendly toward more weekend caching get-aways. Good luck!

[+SkellyCA]

I do a PQ of the area, then make a list of the order I want to do them in

[+t4e]

you can start with Create a Route and get a PQ for all the caches on that route, its what we do

most times we don't bother staying overnight, we just come home, very late though

as for convincing your husband to do it...hmm kinda tough

i think picking somewhat easy ones so he won't get frustrated if the search takes too long, might help

is he into hiking and enjoying the outdoors?

i also think that trying not to do too many in one shot could possibly keep him interested, and with that i mean that you could do some "homework" when planning your route and if he is the type that enjoys the outdoors, find a place where you can stop and have a picnic, in general try to find caches that will take you to interesting spots

now, if he is not into the great outdoors i am out of suggestions

 

Good Luck!!!!

[+Printess Caroline]

Well, since one of your issues is convincing your husband that this is a great, fun idea (which I believe it is), I would first suggest a place to which he would be interested in going. Perhaps let him pick the place. Then, you would go about choosing caches as you would normally. You might also check out any forums for that area for suggestions from those who know the area best. May I also suggest that you keep your plans flexible. While spending your entire weekend caching may be just about perfect for you, it may not be quite so enjoyable for your spouse. Be prepared to mix it up with some other activities. If he enjoys the trip, he'll be more friendly toward more weekend caching get-aways. Good luck!

 

I'd just like to add that, if we're going to make it a weekend adventure, I prefer to get a campsite or hotel room in an interesting location and cache from there. That way, you can spend some time enjoying interesting and possibly more time consuming caches without worrying about moving down the road. It is more like a mini vacation that way.

 

We often do a day's worth of caching on a loop route, which is fun, but not as special as a weekend caching away from home.

[+BCandMsKitty]

As for the posts that said to do a PQ (Pocket Query) you need to be a premium member to do that. Once you upgrade to premium, there are lots of options for you, not the least is the ability to go paperless. We used to print out all the pages, but have gone paperless using an old palm pilot and a program called cachemate (costs under $10.00). Once you are a premium member and can do PQs, you simply choose the caches you want to do as per the above suggestions, and then load the same file into both your GPSr and Palm Pilot. There are GPSr units out there that you can load everything into and still not need to print maps.

 

As for convincing him that it would be a good thing, for the first one, make it a weekekd where you would like to go even without caching, and plan to do some caches while there, rather than emphasis on caching and then maybe do some other things.

Edited February 1, 2010 by BC & MsKitty

[+anakerose]

We do a lot of caching day trips. Usually I'll go on the google map view and pick caches that are near the road and make a list. Then when we get to a city I'll plan out a route so we're not jumping all over the place. Time consuming, but worth it.

[ThomasFamily102]

we pick a larger city and head there

[+SSO JOAT]

For road trip caching, we just PQ the area and load all the cache data into the Palm Pilot. Then put all the waypoints into the GPSr's and off we go. As the waypoints appear on the GPS screen, you look it up in the Palm Pilot to read the cache listing. It's an on-the-fly decision as to whether to go after it or not.

 

One of my caching buddies got the Colorado last year, so he eliminated the need for the separate Palm device. I'm going to have to go that way (Oregon) and have both the full cache listings and the GPS in one gizmo. That's the way to go. No need for any planning or printing ahead of time. Just head out the door and take things as they come.

[+Shop99er]

Well, since one of your issues is convincing your husband that this is a great, fun idea (which I believe it is), I would first suggest a place to which he would be interested in going. Perhaps let him pick the place. Then, you would go about choosing caches as you would normally. You might also check out any forums for that area for suggestions from those who know the area best. May I also suggest that you keep your plans flexible. While spending your entire weekend caching may be just about perfect for you, it may not be quite so enjoyable for your spouse. Be prepared to mix it up with some other activities. If he enjoys the trip, he'll be more friendly toward more weekend caching get-aways. Good luck!

 

I'd just like to add that, if we're going to make it a weekend adventure, I prefer to get a campsite or hotel room in an interesting location and cache from there. That way, you can spend some time enjoying interesting and possibly more time consuming caches without worrying about moving down the road. It is more like a mini vacation that way.

 

We often do a day's worth of caching on a loop route, which is fun, but not as special as a weekend caching away from home.

 

We'll get the hotel picked out, and I'll zero my PQ on it.

[+Bundyrumandcoke]

I will ramp it up a bit, but the process is the same for you, just on a smaller scale.

 

In just under 5 weeks time, Mrs Bundy and I are heading away on a 5 week geocaching trip. We did a similar trip last year. It was 29 days, and 8200+km (roughly 5000 miles) For that, and our upcoming trip, we had a rough itinery planned out. From that, we used Caches along a Route to search for caches along the planned route. At planned overnight stops, or even unplanned ones, a Pocket Query using the postcode is done, to look to see what is in the area.

Our trip is planned around things we want to see and do on the destination island, using 2 different routes for the journey to, and from (via a Mega Event) the destination.

 

For you, pick somewhere you want to see, or something you want to do, and work around that. Pick a nice place to stay overnight.

 

And quite frankly, we cant wait.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Bundyrumandcoke

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

We'll get the hotel picked out, and I'll zero my PQ on it.

 

I'll bet that I'm not the only one that has picked out a hotel based on it's proximity to some geocaches.

[+ngrrfan]

My (our) trips are based on three criteria:

1 - DeLorme Challenge for Colorado

2 - Mondo's 64 county challenge

3 - Escoffier challenge to get the oldest caches in Colorado

 

So I look at the DeLorme Atlas, figure out how to get the most pages and counties with the least amount of driving, and then see how close to the oldest caches we might come. My caching partner and I have been known to drive 380+ miles on a Saturday getting 40-50 caches. For us it's the fun of doing the various challenges we've decided to do.

 

I've got some other things planned for later this year, so we'll see how that works out.

[scrumpet]

Thanks to you all for replying! You've all got some great tips and have given me a lot of insight and a lot to think about! I have a friend who is interested in geocaching, so maybe I'll plan a short trip with her (just a few hours) to get my feet wet (so to speak). Usually I just pick a few close caches to try for and print out all the info, but I'm going to have to venture out a little farther from home soon!

 

I've dragged hubby along a few times and sometimes he gets into it, but sometimes he seems bored. So I'm going to think of a place he'd like to go anyway as you all suggested.

 

Thanks again! You guys rock!

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

I usually choose a destination, and then select Caches off the map(by location or interesting name) and then print them out. Sometimes I choose the destination for an event listing I'd like to go to.

Edited February 1, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[+StarBrand]

I make good use of the caches along a route feature to get all the caches on the way there and they way back to home. In addtion, I'll get a nice PQ of all the caches I wuld be interested in within 20 - 30 miles or so of my destination (Nebraska/South Dakota is mostly rural). Then I just drive - hit random caches along the way and then select Next nearest on the GPS unit. Most I've ever done in a 3 day weekend is 58 so I have never been real die hard about it. Just enjoyed myself.

 

I stick to rural areas around larger towns for most of my caching.

[+Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem]

for instance, this weekend i went to my college for a basketball game. 100 mile drive and there are 23 or so caches along the way. i skipped a few toward the end when it was getting dark out, but will be back next month to finish the route. then, i will start picking up some in the actual city.

 

this weekend i plan on staying in town and will take the kids to a park nearby that now has 17 cache. will go caching in the morning, grill lunch and maybe fish some that afternoon. sounds like a good day to me.

[+Team Cotati]

I read in the logs of some caches that geocachers sometimes make a weekend out of going geocaching, maybe covering a large area and finding dozens of caches in one trip! If you have ever done this I'm wondering how do you do it? What's your process? Do you pick an area and then research the caches? How do you pick which ones to do? Do you print out all the info for each cache (essentially making a booklet of caches you want to find)? And then I guess you stay in a hotel somewhere? I'd love to try this but I don't know where to start! (I'm not new to geocaching, just the weekend trip part). I appreciate any input!!

 

(Also, any tips on convincing my husband to do this?? lol)

 

Thanks!!!

 

Are you planning on obtaining a Premium Membership?

[scrumpet]

Ok, all of a sudden a lightbulb went on and now I get it! You really have to have a premium membership in order to do this, so you can USE the pocket query feature and user routes. (Although I'm still having trouble understanding exactly what a pocket query is!) I'm assuming the "user routes" is vital, since trying to figure out what caches are on your way without the premium membership is a royal pain! Does this sound right?

[+Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem]

that is correct. the pocket query lets you search an area for caches that meet whatever attributes you would like. then you can pair the PQ with being able to search along a route that you can create and get only the caches you want uploaded to your GPSr.

[+MyPalRudy]

I read in the logs of some caches that geocachers sometimes make a weekend out of going geocaching, maybe covering a large area and finding dozens of caches in one trip! If you have ever done this I'm wondering how do you do it? What's your process? Do you pick an area and then research the caches? How do you pick which ones to do? Do you print out all the info for each cache (essentially making a booklet of caches you want to find)? And then I guess you stay in a hotel somewhere? I'd love to try this but I don't know where to start! (I'm not new to geocaching, just the weekend trip part). I appreciate any input!!

 

(Also, any tips on convincing my husband to do this?? lol)

 

Thanks!!!

 

I'm new to geocaching and I took the hobby up with a friend. I leave the husband behind and its a girl's afternoon or weekend activity. Its a great form of exercise and gives us plenty of fresh air and time to talk.

[+flask]

typically i run PQs for six states and two canadian provinces, pack my gear, and head out on the road.

 

i sleep in my car and have compiled a pretty good set of waypoints for free legal campsites and good pizza joints. sleeping in my car means that if for some reason i don't feel like returning to a particular campsite and happen to be headed into another state, my "home" is already with me. hotel rooms and paid campsites would make things expensive, and i've simplified road life to the point that it's just slightly cheaper than living at home.

 

i stay out for upwards of twenty days and make no plans regarding destination; wherever i go is wherever i go.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Weekend trips are usually out, and back to the dolphinarium, or bear cave. Those are covered by my local GPX files. For the Paw Pilot, I load the nearest 500 caches.

Long trips are a different story. I haven't heard anything good about 'search along a route' for a long trip. I plan my route, motel to motel. Then I spend the time to bookmark interesting caches along the route. Usually about three times as many as I think we'll have time for. Turn the bookmark list into a GPX file. And off we go! 62 caches in nine states (including the D of C) in eight days. Bookmark list was about 250 caches. Maine DeLorme challenge (part thereof) was trickier, because we had to get all the proper DeLorme pages. Same concept. Here's a route to include those pages. Bookmark the caches that look like they'll work (times three). And off we go. Add most of a day to cache New Brunswick, Canada.