What does it mean and what do you do

[+ToonAl]

I was geocaching today in a forest. The geocache read 2m distance from the cache with and accuracy of 10m. As I stood there in the rain up to my ankles in water I thought to myself, "Am I anywhere near the cache?"

 

What does this all mean. And what is SOP in this case.

 

I never did find it.

[+entogeek]

I was geocaching today in a forest. The geocache read 2m distance from the cache with and accuracy of 10m. As I stood there in the rain up to my ankles in water I thought to myself, "Am I anywhere near the cache?"

 

What does this all mean. And what is SOP in this case.

 

I never did find it.

 

It means you need to wear better footwear.

Yeah I know not a helpful answer but I couldn't resist.

 

Tree cover will have an impact on the accuracy of your GPS so if you're within 2 m of the cache with an accuracy of 10 m it means you need a search "radius" of at least 12 m around what you think is ground zero. That means a circle at least 24 m wide.

 

My SOP is to continue looking for spots where I would hide a cache. Be sure to look at the container size and difficulty rating. If it's 2 or less, it should be relatively easy to find. Four or higher means its very well hidden, or the container has been very well camouflaged to blend in with the environment.

[+BlueDeuce]

I was geocaching today in a forest. The geocache read 2m distance from the cache with and accuracy of 10m. As I stood there in the rain up to my ankles in water I thought to myself, "Am I anywhere near the cache?"

 

What does this all mean. And what is SOP in this case.

 

I never did find it.

 

Sounds like one of the best times I ever had. SOP would be to put the gps away and start looking.

[+GEO This]

Also in those conditions its a good idea to just put your GPS down and let it settle for five minutes or so. It may lock onto a better signal.

[+narcissa]

Stop looking at the GPS, and start looking for the cache!

[7rxc]

I was geocaching today in a forest. The geocache read 2m distance from the cache with and accuracy of 10m. As I stood there in the rain up to my ankles in water I thought to myself, "Am I anywhere near the cache?"

 

What does this all mean. And what is SOP in this case.

 

 

Until quite recently, what you describe was my normal scenario... didn't stop me at all... in fact add mountains and valleys, no WAAS, and a low sensitivity receiver in the OLD GPSr. Also on my rig, that 2 would be 20 metres! There are ways of improving your chances though, but I'm not going to go on and on about stuff that exists in the KBase. Of course, getting a newer GPSr helped with some of it a lot... but I still like to start with the old one.

I'll send you an email with some info if you wish to discuss it there... I'm long winded sometimes.

 

Good luck

[+stagunner]

2 m accuracy at that current time and place may not be the same accuracy as when the cache was hidden.

especially when hunting older caches and in the middle of a wet forest.

Radio signals don't like travelling through water so the location may be off a bit.

 

just try this,, go outside and turn your GPSr on and get a location,, note the accuracy

then cover the part with the antenna in ( normally the top ) with your hand

leave it there for a few seconds and note the accuracy..

 

same applies to wet or snow covered trees,,

 

Your GPSR will give you the best location based on the current time and conditions,, and will vary from the original one that hid the cache,,

 

Time for the drunken Bee dance,,,,,,,,

[+Mike & Jess]

I have a newer GPS (Oregon 300), but I do run into issues in some areas. My favorite is the tall, second growth forests. These are forests planted in perfect grid formation, where you can bushwack without getting off the mtn bike.

These forests drive the GPS (and myself) nuts.

What I found works, is to do a clover leaf pattern. Get as close as you can to ground zero, take note of where you are standing, then do another pass. This generally reduces the search area to a smaller area.

 

This works pretty well in almost all situations.

[+Frankie & Johnny]

If the cache was hidden by an experienced cacher, and you are enduring a lack of a good signal, you can usually ask yourself, "where would I have hidden it?" This usually works very well for us.

If hidden by a newbie, "good luck!"

[+Frankie & Johnny]

If the cache was hidden by an experienced cacher, and you are enduring a lack of a good signal, you can usually ask yourself, "where would I have hidden it?" This usually works very well for us.

If hidden by a newbie, "good luck!"

[+RickOnTheRange]

If the cache was hidden by an experienced cacher, and you are enduring a lack of a good signal, you can usually ask yourself, "where would I have hidden it?" This usually works very well for us.

If hidden by a newbie, "good luck!"

 

I second that. We believe the best way to find a cache from a newbie, is to bring a "non-caching" friend with us for the hunt. They seem to think "outside" the coords.