How do i find a cache that is 20miles away?

[djc53187]

I just bought a garmin etrex h and i am new to geocaching. When i enter a cache location on my gps that is say 20miles away from me....how do i get near it to start looking for it? This is really getting me frustrated please help. The rating on the gps is 4 out of 5 and everyone says it is great for geocaching that is y i bought it. any info would be greatly appreciated

[+JJball]

I almost never use my GPS to get me to the cache area (within walking distance of cache). I only pull the GPS when its time to get out of the car. Fortunately I have the $10 Groundspeak iPhone app which uses google maps and that gets us where we need to go.

 

Sometimes though, if I am going to lots of caches in a particular area, I click on the map on one of the cache's webpages here on geocaching.com and either print it out or write down directions on how to get there. If I zoom the map out quite a ways, it will show all the caches in the area I'm going, and the surrounding streets showing me how to get around the area to each of the caches. I then take a screenshot of the map and the list of caches with the cooresponding number option checked, and paste it into the Paint program, print it out and take it with me. This has severed me well on many caches.

 

I've yet to find an affordable map pack for my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx that comes anywhere close to being as good as Google Maps which I can use for free. either on my iPhone while we are driving, or on the computer before we leave the house.

Edited May 20, 2010 by JJball

[Motorcycle_Mama]

The eTrex H does not have maps and does not have the capability to add maps.

 

You will need to use some other means to navigate to the cache area such as Google Maps online, paper maps, etc. And then use the GPS unit to navigate to the cache once you get close.

[+Roland_oso]

If you have maps installed you can use the unit to provide turn by turn directions to get to the general area then switch to off road mode once you are at the park/location the cache is in.

 

If you do not have maps and until you get used to working with you unit to travel some distance to get near a cache, start with viewing the online maps that show the caches overlaid onto google maps to figure out how to best get to the general area.

 

Then drive to the area/park where the cache is located and then use your GPS when you get close.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

A question to you first... Why would you want to pursue your first cache at a distance of 20 miles?

 

True, it is possible that the nearest could be twenty miles away, but I just cannot imagine that, with as many cache placements as there are out there.

 

Beings how you (should) know the cache #, having seen it on geocaching.com, you can plug it into the Hide & Seek a Cache page, linked directly at the geocaching.com intro page. At that cache page, zoom out the map (there are two maps, one is zoom-able), so that you can pick your driving route for that 20 miles.

 

You can also bring up Google Maps from the intro screen, using your home coordinates, and scroll/zoom that map. It will show you pretty close to where the cache is in relation to hwys, intersections and towns. You can even print out this map to carry with you.

[+TXHooligans]

I use a Garmin Nuvi 500.. it does street navagation as well as paperless geocaching with geocaching.com. all built in by Garmin.

 

i load my gpx files.. pick destination and it routes me right too it. when i get out of the car i switch from driving to walking mode and get right to the GZ. it's great.

 

there are other gpsr's that do this.. not sure what they all are..

 

you can look at where you want to go with google maps right from the cache page.. or just start driving in the general direction.. if you are familiar with that area, it'd be easy.. if not familar with the area, get a map somehow.

[+StarBrand]

I just bought a garmin etrex h and i am new to geocaching. When i enter a cache location on my gps that is say 20miles away from me....how do i get near it to start looking for it? This is really getting me frustrated please help. The rating on the gps is 4 out of 5 and everyone says it is great for geocaching that is y i bought it. any info would be greatly appreciated

That unit is just not going to do it. The best it will do is point at the cache some 20 miles away.

 

My best advice is to drive in that general direction and watch the distance go down. Keep making appropriate turns until you get as close as possible on the roads. I've been known to use this method.

 

or....

 

Look at the maps on the listing page and get yourself close before turning on the unit.

[+FancoverFive]

I just bought a garmin etrex h and i am new to geocaching. When i enter a cache location on my gps that is say 20miles away from me....how do i get near it to start looking for it? This is really getting me frustrated please help. The rating on the gps is 4 out of 5 and everyone says it is great for geocaching that is y i bought it. any info would be greatly appreciated

 

You go 20 miles in whichever direction the cache is. You get the GPS out, and follow the little arrow until you get within about 30ft of where it says the cache is. You then ignore the GPS and search for the cache.

[+Prime Suspect]

People think that just because a GPS doesn't have maps, it can't give you driving directions. It can. You just needs some 3rd party software to create a route, which you can upload to the GPS. You won't see roads, but you will see a graphic point-to-point depiction of your route. That unit may even have the "bent arrow" function that my old eTrex Vista had, where the direction arrow would would bend to indicate the upcoming direction of travel.

 

Most mapping software that can communicate with a GPS will do this. I'd suggest the DeLorme products. But you may even be able to use Google Maps. There used to be a Bookmarklet that would create a GPX file from a route you've created on Google Maps. You just copied it to your clipboard, pasted it into a text program (like Memo) and saved it. There are a number of free software apps that could then send the route to your unit (G7ToWin, for sure, and probably EasyGPS).

 

I'd suggest also printing off the maps, so you'll know what's coming up. The GPS will let you know how far you are from your next turn. Years ago, I navigated halfway across the country and back this way, using my mapless GPS II+.

[djc53187]

A question to you first... Why would you want to pursue your first cache at a distance of 20 miles?

 

True, it is possible that the nearest could be twenty miles away, but I just cannot imagine that, with as many cache placements as there are out there.

 

Beings how you (should) know the cache #, having seen it on geocaching.com, you can plug it into the Hide & Seek a Cache page, linked directly at the geocaching.com intro page. At that cache page, zoom out the map (there are two maps, one is zoom-able), so that you can pick your driving route for that 20 miles.

 

You can also bring up Google Maps from the intro screen, using your home coordinates, and scroll/zoom that map. It will show you pretty close to where the cache is in relation to hwys, intersections and towns. You can even print out this map to carry with you.

 

I do have alot of caches around me within 3mi but once i exhaust all of them i wanted to know how to locate ones farther away. Thank you for all of your help i greatly appreciate it!!!

[+roziecakes]

Before we got our nuvi we would plug the coordinates into Google Earth or Google Maps to get driving directions, and write them down to get to the site, then pull out the handheld once we got there. Google Earth is a free download.

 

Best of luck!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

A question to you first... Why would you want to pursue your first cache at a distance of 20 miles?

 

True, it is possible that the nearest could be twenty miles away, but I just cannot imagine that, with as many cache placements as there are out there.

 

That may be the case for many places in the US but I have been to a few places in Africa where the closest cache was well over 100 miles away. In one case i was in a region of nearly 3 million people and the nearest cache was 47 miles away and required a 2+ hour ferry ride to get to it.

[+Chrysalides]

In one case i was in a region of nearly 3 million people and the nearest cache was 47 miles away and required a 2+ hour ferry ride to get to it.

So.. did you find it?

[+RkyMtnHootOwl]

Using Mapsourse, I set up a bunch of waypoints at the major intersections, and laid out a route that looked like a map of the area. Then when I loaded the GC waypoints, and my "map" waypoints it became clear where the GC was in reference to my grid! Using the baseline maps would usually get me within a mile of where I needed to be! RMHO

Edited May 21, 2010 by RkyMtnHootOwl

[+briansnat]

Every cache page has a map of the area where the cache is. Simply print that out. It's what I did in the days before I had a GPS with detailed maps.

 

Also each cache page now has a link for driving directions. If you've entered your home coordinates in your profile, they will give you directions to the cache. Well sort of. They will try to get you to the road nearest to the cache which isn't necessarily the best, or even possible route to the cache.

[+Smurf]

I used my old etrex for in car navigation for many years, only if i was going to a town or city i had never been before, I'd put in the co-ord for my destination, hit "go to" and follow the arrow.

 

No turn by turn directions 'cos there were no maps, just the arrow, but it used to get me there, but left all the decisions to me, a much better driving experience then listening to tomtom i thought.

 

but i must say i now have tomtom on the PDA

[+NYPaddleCacher]

In one case i was in a region of nearly 3 million people and the nearest cache was 47 miles away and required a 2+ hour ferry ride to get to it.

So.. did you find it?

 

No, I went in the opposite direction about 150 miles and found this one. I was working about 50 miles away from that cache for a couple of days before visiting the park where the cache is located. There was only one other cache within 100 miles of where I was working (Morogoro, Tanzania) but in a different direction. It was about 75 miles away as the crow flies, but probably closer to 300 miles away by road.

[+ADTCacheur]

what I do (the closest caches to me are 8km) is I decide on a cache, go to the cache page, click "driving directions" and print the directions it gives me (extra step of adding your current location if you haven't plugged in your home coordinates) I then walk to the geocache, and realize it's been muggled, and walk home disappointed...

 

note: I do not actually have evidence that they've all been muggled, but it makes me feel better then saying that I spent 30-45 minutes looking for 1* hides and couldn't find them...

[+WhoDis]

My car unit will let me enter the coordinates in it, so I just enter the coordinates into my car GPS, then use the hand held when I get there.