Geocaching Trip Planning

[+benandjo]

Hi there,

 

I'm new to the forums, and not sure if this has been discussed before, I tried searching but couldnt find anything.

 

I currently go out Geocaching with my Garmin Oregon 300, which has the Geocaching stuff built in and its great... however, when I'm out and about I have to be careful about which I pick when I do "Find another" to make sure I dont end up walking in circles, back and forth.

 

Recently, when I've planned a few hours out with the aim of grabbing a few I've knocked up a quick list into Excel of the code and name, with a little box on the end so I can tick them off and scribble notes on for my logs later (like maintenance required, etc).

 

How do you guys organise yourselves when your aiming to go out and grab a few?

 

Same way? Or is there some other simple way of organising myself that I just havent found yet.

 

Cheers,

 

Ben

[+briansnat]

I use the "Find another" feature, then look at it's location on the map to see if it makes sense. If it does, I'm on my way, if not I use the map on the unit to pick the next cache. Having topo maps is important when doing that because the next closest often isn't the easiest choice if there is a cliff or ravine between me and the cache. I try to select caches along the same contour lines where possible.

 

As far as keeping notes, I've never found so many in a day were I couldn't remember most specifics about each cache. The only thing I sometimes have trouble remembering is which cache I dropped a certain geocoin or TB in. In those cases I used the note feature on the unit and will enter the tracking number of the traveler that I dropped off in that cache.

Edited April 12, 2010 by briansnat

[+BulldogBlitz]

grease paint.... infrared night vision goggles... camo, head to toe...

 

and lots of beef jerky and water.

[hoosier guy]

I knocked off a little form I used to jot down info since my vista H doessn't do paperless caching. I have a spot for notes and and things to put in the log for the benefit of the CO. I generally pick a spot in an interesting area then work out choosing caches from there. Remember the GPSr chooses the next closest cache on a point to point basis. The next most accessable cache may be quite differenct.

[+benandjo]

I use the "Find another" feature, then look at it's location on the map to see if it makes sense.

 

I guess I should probably spend a good few hours getting more familiar with my device and see what it can do... IIRC I only rember a list of caches and distance, dont think it showed me a map breakdown.

 

As far as note taking goes, I guess I've always found it easier to jot it on pen and paper than tap through the device - although, again, I should probably try and give the device a good try and see what its full potential is. Thanks for prompting this.

[+solo63137]

I still consider myself a casual newbie to caching... Hope to get alot more done this spring/summer...

 

I use the geocaching Map tool and pick an area I want to focus on...

 

Say a Park nearby someone where we are visiting/camping, area around a hotel we are staying at, area around a family members' we are visiting, etc...

 

I focus in on that area and look at all the caches I might be intersted in, I then print out a map view that has them all on there and I circle the ones I want to hit... Then I print out each caches info, maybe write a few of my own notes on the paper, then put the papers in order that I think I/we will be able to do them in, then I push the cords/cache info into my Colorado and pack up....

 

I try to keep it simple on what I pack too, but it really adds up quick...

 

Stuff printed out mentioned above

GPS, Backup GPS,

1-2 flashlights and maybe a few glowsticks

Extra batts for GPS and Lights

Handy Knife

Cell Phone

Water (bottles if quick short hits, long hikes, I take the Camelbacks)

Cliff bars

small 1st aid kit

Digital Cam

Travel Bugs/Cache Swag

Trash bags

Roll of Parashoot Cord

Waterproof Matches

maybe a fuelbar for firestarter

Toilet Paper

few wetnaps

Travel size Sunscreen

[+edscott]

I look at the geocaching.com google map satellite version and plan a circuit that makes sense. I like to park the car in one spot and make a day's circuit of caches from that spot if possible, but zooming out a click or two and planning a driving circuit is also an easy task.

[+edscott]

I still consider myself a casual newbie to caching... Hope to get alot more done this spring/summer...

 

I use the geocaching Map tool and pick an area I want to focus on...

 

Say a Park nearby someone where we are visiting/camping, area around a hotel we are staying at, area around a family members' we are visiting, etc...

 

I focus in on that area and look at all the caches I might be intersted in, I then print out a map view that has them all on there and I circle the ones I want to hit... Then I print out each caches info, maybe write a few of my own notes on the paper, then put the papers in order that I think I/we will be able to do them in, then I push the cords/cache info into my Colorado and pack up....

 

I try to keep it simple on what I pack too, but it really adds up quick...

 

Stuff printed out mentioned above

GPS, Backup GPS,

1-2 flashlights and maybe a few glowsticks

Extra batts for GPS and Lights

Handy Knife

Cell Phone

Water (bottles if quick short hits, long hikes, I take the Camelbacks)

Cliff bars

small 1st aid kit

Digital Cam

Travel Bugs/Cache Swag

Trash bags

Roll of Parashoot Cord

Waterproof Matches

maybe a fuelbar for firestarter

Toilet Paper

few wetnaps

Travel size Sunscreen

 

I seldom hike more than 5 or 10 miles, but I still carry a map, a compass, and a pen.

[+boda]

We use a mixture of the above methods.

 

First, keeping notes: We used to use a PDA, but now with the Oregon, Field Notes are the only way to go. Not only are they easy to use; they also greatly improve the online logging process.

 

We usually set a starting cache. For instance, we will go to LA this weekend and will cache while there. We will pick a cache near our destination. Once found we then use the Find Another feature of the Oregon. We review the cache writeup. We have two Oregons and two iphones, so we can review several nearby caches at once and then pick one. We often change our direction, depending on where the nearest acceptable cache is located.

 

To help this process, we have a map printed from Mapsource to put the whole area in perspective. It allows us look at the whole area with a macro view.

[+GrateBear]

Well, I make sure I am fully dressed, appropriate for the temperature, have my GPSr and Palm Centro, most importantly that there's a pen in my pocket, and AWAY WE GO! Well, me, as wifey is not really into geocaching, and son is willing if there's nothing better to do--he's my chauffeur. I usually have a nearby destination in mind, but, overall, it's not a big deal. Oh, and gas in the car.

[+Ambrosia]

I use my laptop, and GSAK.

[+TXHooligans]

being premium members, we have a pocket query delivered to our inbox every day.. it gets all caches neares to our home coords.. we mostly cache near by.. as i find caches, the query ignores them.. thus we are searching in a donut of caches on the map.. we started in the center and are working our way out.. if the hole in the donut gets too big, i'll just expand the radius out a bit or start creating more donuts near by. we've only just started so we have a small hole in our donut right now.. but we keep nibbling away at it.. yummy..

[+jeepdelfuego]

being premium members, we have a pocket query delivered to our inbox every day.. it gets all caches neares to our home coords.. we mostly cache near by.. as i find caches, the query ignores them.. thus we are searching in a donut of caches on the map.. we started in the center and are working our way out.. if the hole in the donut gets too big, i'll just expand the radius out a bit or start creating more donuts near by. we've only just started so we have a small hole in our donut right now.. but we keep nibbling away at it.. yummy..

 

POCKET QUERIES! The last time I checked, I had around 30,000 geocaches downloaded to GSAK. I have pocket queries ready to go for most of the areas that I may end up in, or plan to visit within the next year. Obviously, I am not going to find that many. But, at least I will have a good chance of finding a geocache anywhere I might end up in Southern California, and parts of Nevada and Arizona. Now, I just need to save up for a touchscreen netbook to carry around. I've heard of some people having a worldwide database of geocaches that they have amassed with pocket queries and GSAK.

 

On my Oregon 300, and my wife's Oregon 200, I usually have about 40 pocket queries on the SD card in a directory I have named GPX backup. Our Oregon's are limited to 2000 geocaches. This amounts to about 4 pocket queries. These pocket queries cover my immediate home area. When I happen to go outside of it, I pop the SD card in my phone and move the GPX files around. This eliminates having to plug the unit into a computer. You would be surprised how many phones have a file mgr on them nowadays. This allows me to be able to geocache on a moments notice.

 

As for my donut, it keeps getting larger every month too. But, somebody always manages to hide a cache within a 5 mile radius of my home. I've told geocachers that it is off-limits to them. :-) I consider it my personal space.

Edited April 13, 2010 by jeepdelfuego

[+Crafty Turtle]

It's usually cos I'm travelling to a particular spot for work or other reasons...

 

I look at the town on the geocaching map, and read about the caches there. Any I think I'll have time for, I print out the page, or I load it into my Garmin.

 

When actually going out to get a cache, I grab my Garmin, and my backpack/knapsack that has all my swag/swaps, pencils, personalised stamp, compass, gloves, etc. And I just go.

 

Huge advantage in keeping all your stuff in one bag.

[+geodarts]

Load pocket queries. If I am ambitious, or will be going after virtuals, earthcaches or letterboxes, load pq into geosphere (iphone) as well as the Colorado. Download any wherigos. If I have a lot of time, then I give some of the puzzles a quick glance to see if there are some easy ones that I can add to the list. If I am going to be hiking, bring some water and pole. If I am going to be biking, bring the bike. If it is going to be a long hike or bike, bring the Camelbak. If I am supposed to be walking the dog, bring the dog along as well. Try to remember a pen.

 

Of course planning for a trip to do on my own (most furlough days) or with friends is different from planning one with my noncaching family (NCF). With my NCF, I spend more time looking at where we are planning to go and seeing what caches are nearby. Virtuals and earthcaches always get priority (as do letterboxes that are more than coordinates). Caches with interesting names, or ones that might take us someplace we would not have otherwise discovered, go on the list. There are only so many I can do with them, and I only have so much time to search -- so more planning is needed since I would not want to use up spousal credit on a lamp post.

[BCProspectors]

What we do is determine the area we will be caching in for the trip. We look up a list of caches in this area, and print off all of the ones that look interesting. We transfer all of the coordinates to our GPS through MapSource and slip the wad of listings into a folder. The listing for the cache we will be searching for first is inserted into a waterproof plastic cover and we're off.

[+brslk]

It's much easier for me. I just let my wife tell me where to go. I sleep better at night doing that.

[+Nutty_and_Evil]

Hi

I'm pretty new to geocaching as well, but an old hander at using gps

The way that I make sure that I don't go round in circles is to load all of the geocaches on to my satnav as well as my gps

Then I set up a warning so that it alerts me if I pass within 500 yards(distance can be altered) of a cache

If you are not sure how to do this you just convert the same pocket query that you have downloaded for your gps into satnav format

I use POI edit to convert from gpx mto ov2, put the file on my tom tom, then set up a warning

I always do this before a days caching

[+Auberdine]

What we do is decide on an area we want to go to. From here, we go into Google Map view and see where the caches of the area are. We then plan out a route we want to take.

 

From here, we use a template we created to map out the order that we are going to follow. This template has driving direction to each cache from the previous one, last found, difficulty/terrain, notes/hints and a general area to enter any info we have of the spot (like watch out for the spool of barbed wire on the ground). This allows us to know what streets to turn on, what side to look on, etc.

 

We then pack our geobag with our essentials, with a print out of our template, and we are off. This does take some time to prep, but it's worth it in the end.

[+DocDiTTo]

I run a few pocket queries including some for the caches along the route I'm taking. Then I run a couple special GSAK macros to find the few caches I want to visit out of the hundreds that came through in my pocket queries. Then I plot those caches out on a map to determine what the order in which I'll visit them. Then I set the order in GSAK so I can print a list of the caches for my trip in the order that I'll get to them. Finally I upload those caches into my GPS along with parking coordinates so I can easily navigate to them.