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NEWBIE HERE! :)


MamaKatS

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Greetings from Atlanta, everyone! :D A couple weeks before Christmas, I was trying to find something fun to do with the kids (I have four, so anything involving $$ is pretty much out, as it adds up REAL quick, LOL!). I finally allowed my curiosity to get the best of me and signed up to go geocaching. :) My two oldest kids and I went out one Saturday (when it was 40-something degrees and drizzly, no less, LOL) to try to find three caches right near my home. We spent four hours tramping about two cemeteries and one closed-down carwash in search of these things, LOL. I only had a car gps, not a handheld/outdoors type, so it wasn't all that helpful.

 

Well, we never found a thing, of course, but that drove us batty and caused us to be thoroughly HOOKED. My 15 yo son, in particular, is addicted because he loves puzzles and clues and such. ;-) So I made a comment in passing to my hubby that for christmas, I either wanted a treadmill or a hand-held GPS for geocaching.

 

Much to my suprise and shock, Christmas morning brought me a brand-new Magellan GPS, just for geocaching!!! :D:D:D I was most surprised and delighted (Of course, Santa brought HIM an Atlanta Falcons playoff game ticket, so I guess that makes us even, hehe.) I absolutely cannot WAIT till me & the kids can get out there again and try to find those things. There are about a gazillion within a five-mile radius of home, so we don't even have to go far, LOL. But I'm definitely looking forward to having an excuse to wander far & wide in days to come!

 

I haven't had a chance to hook up my magellan to the PC yet and get started, though. My home computer is dead (taking it to a puter doc tonight!), not to mention the fact that it's SUPER-COLD here in ATL...we had the first white christmas here since 1882, and it's gonna stay cold for multiple days yet. Stupid winter.... LOL!

 

Well, better sign off here and go do the work thing... just wanted to stop in and introduce myself! :-) Rock on! :P

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hi and welcome i to am a newbie allthough i have been a member since june 2010, i have not logged any finds yet as i have been out with my son who is showing me the rops.my next step is to get a gps this week as i now have some cash from santa ,the only thing is to get the right one for the job and ill be out there searching well i hope all goes well for you and your family sukivit kirk

Edited by sukivit
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And "Welcome" from me in Wales...

 

When you go out to hunt again it will help a bit if you know what the container might look like and what size it might be.

Have a look at various containersand generally it's a bit easier to find a small/regular/large container than a micro for your first attempts.

 

Have fun and come back and let us know how you get along with your new GPS - Good luck!

 

MrsB :)

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Yep, I am new to this as well and have tried to find about 25 geocaches so far, and haven't found a single one!

 

How DO people actually find these! I've wandered around in the woods looking for these, heck, I don't even know what I am looking for! Is it a box, a sign, crate?

 

I will try a few more but between you and me I think this might be a rather short lived hobby.

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Yep, I am new to this as well and have tried to find about 25 geocaches so far, and haven't found a single one!

 

How DO people actually find these! I've wandered around in the woods looking for these, heck, I don't even know what I am looking for! Is it a box, a sign, crate?

 

I will try a few more but between you and me I think this might be a rather short lived hobby.

What type of device are you using? You need to remember that even a $400 GPSr is accurate to 3 meters -12 ft A smart phone with a weak signal can be way off. The cache page will normally have what type of cache your looking for.

Look for a easy one ie: 1 star difficulty Keep trying and before you know it thew AHAHAAAA!! feeling will come to you :laughing::grin:

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I just print the map page off the geocaching website and go out looking for it, but nothing is ever there. I end up walking around like a total nut job.

 

You can find caches using only the map but your map-reading skills have to be good, it's usually easier if you have some sort of GPS receiver...

 

If you can give us the GC numbers of some of the caches you've tried to find in your area then we could have a look at the details and maybe give some further help. :)

 

MrsB

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GCQK3Z was one of the first. I just don't think that one is there. Has anyone found that one yet?

 

Actualy, the more I think about it, is there a guide service or company that we could hire to show you where these are?

 

That would make it a lot easier it seems, then they wouldn't take you to the ones people have already found.

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Thanks for the tip, I haven't found anything close to that, but from now on I suppose I could bring my own and leave one since they say we are supposed to leave something.

 

We will give that a try, I know we have a few Tupperware boxes in the basement we can use.

 

No! Wait! You don't leave your own container at the spot! :lol:

When it says that you can leave something it means that when you find the cache container you can take one of the small swap items in it (assuming it has any in it) and leave an item of your own, something of roughly the same, or better value.

 

GCQK3Z was one of the first. I just don't think that one is there. Has anyone found that one yet?

 

Looking at the logs on that cache page, it was found on 18th December, a couple of days after you searched for it.

 

Actualy, the more I think about it, is there a guide service or company that we could hire to show you where these are?

 

That would make it a lot easier it seems, then they wouldn't take you to the ones people have already found.

 

:lol: But where would be the fun in that? I'm getting the feeling that you haven't quite got the idea of geocaching as yet... Geocaches are not meant to be found only once - It doesn't matter if someone has already found the cache - Geocaches are found many, many times over. You find it, sign the log book to show that you found it, replace the cache container where found ready for the next cacher to find it.

 

Can I suggest you do a bit more reading here?

 

Finding your first geocache.

 

As you're in Ohio it might help you to find someone local to you to show you the ropes. You might like to try posting in the Mid West US forum.

 

MrsB

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Good idea, but still, I'm going to see if any of these guys are for hire. After spending an hour trying to find one of these you realize it would be a lot cheaper to hire a guide than wasting my time searching in vain for something that probably isn't even there. At least they know what these things are supposed to look like.

 

Wasting my time is not exactly what call fun.

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GCQK3Z was one of the first. I just don't think that one is there. Has anyone found that one yet?

 

Actualy, the more I think about it, is there a guide service or company that we could hire to show you where these are?

 

That would make it a lot easier it seems, then they wouldn't take you to the ones people have already found.

 

This is the start of a pretty god idea. Check around your area and see if there is an experienced geocacher that would be willing to mentor you a few trips. I don't know about your area but around here the cachers I've met are very willing to give advice and often take new people with them. Another piece of advice I think has been mentioned already but just in case, look for less difficult, larger containers until you get the hang of it. If you are looking for micros, some of those can be tiny. I'm talking about pencil eraser sized. Next, when you get to the area where the cache should be start looking around for something that doesn't look quite right. For example, a pile of stick in the woods is fairly normal, a pile of sticks that are all lined up, not so normal. Or a bunch of mossy stones at the base of a cliff, pretty normal, a bunch of mossy stones and one that is a different kind of stone not so normal. Often you won't be able to say just what is not right, but you know something "over there" doesn't quite fit. That's usually the place to look.

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The fun and adventure is in the hunt, I think. The "find" is of course the goal, but the journey to the goal is an equal part of the fun of it all. :-)

Exactly! Personally I would prefer a "did not find" in an interesting place than a 55 gallon drum full of stuff in some store parking lot. Somewhere around here there is a thread that discusses cache sizes and which are best. My reply to that thread was along the lines of "I don't care waht size the container is, just take me someplace interesting".

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Good idea, but still, I'm going to see if any of these guys are for hire. After spending an hour trying to find one of these you realize it would be a lot cheaper to hire a guide than wasting my time searching in vain for something that probably isn't even there. At least they know what these things are supposed to look like.

 

Wasting my time is not exactly what call fun.

Waymarking. (Part of Groundspeak)

Geocaching Tour Guides.

Link

 

Geocaching Tour Guides

Managed By:Tour Directors

Description: New to geocaching and want some local insight into the activity? Want to meet up with another geocacher for a hunt? This is the place to go.

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The fun and adventure is in the hunt, I think. The "find" is of course the goal, but the journey to the goal is an equal part of the fun of it all. :-)

Exactly! Personally I would prefer a "did not find" in an interesting place than a 55 gallon drum full of stuff in some store parking lot. Somewhere around here there is a thread that discusses cache sizes and which are best. My reply to that thread was along the lines of "I don't care waht size the container is, just take me someplace interesting".

 

My theory exactly. Heck, I haven't found a darn thing yet... but me and my teens had SO much fun trampling all over those old cemeteries trying to find them. :) I'm looking forward to warmer weather, when we'll now have the perfect excuse to head up to the N. Ga mountains to go geocaching, LOL... my oldest girl is a HS Senior, and I may take her to Savannah for a graduation gift (I'm hoping, I adore savannah, LOL!) - she was already asking me last night if there are any Geocaches in Savannah. ;-) It's a great way to explore, and a neat way to look at familiar surroundings with a new eye.

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A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small small.gif size, regular regular.gif size, and large large.gif size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro micro.gif size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars stars2.gif. Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.)

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10'). That applies both to your GPSr, and to the GPSr of the cache owner, so you may find the container 15-20' from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate.

 

You mentioned that you're printing maps. It's hard to say how accurate your maps are. The satellite photos in Google Maps for the area I live are very detailed and well calibrated; I found hundreds of caches using them before I finally bought a GPSr. But I've seen other areas where the satellite photos and maps are poorly calibrated, much less detailed, or both.

 

It might help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak.

 

Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums.

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the more I read on the forum here, the more eager I am to get out there and hunt! :P Hopefully my computer will be fully resurrected today, and I can get back online tonight. :rolleyes: My Magellan has 1,000 caches pre-loaded on it... but unfortunately, the closest pre-loaded one is 126.7 miles away, hehe. Nope, not a one even in the ATL area, LOL! Curses, foiled again! The minute my computer is up, I have about a zillion local and slightly-less-local ones I'm going to download to my GPS. In the meantime, all the tips & hints on here are great! :D

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voiceroad, you should take a few minutes to read through all the helpful articles in the Knowledge Books:

 

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb

 

Geocaching can be as simple or as difficult as you make it to be.

 

Lots of people have been successful in finding caches with topo maps and compasses, but the game was meant to be played using a handheld gps. (I don't think that automotive gps's or smartphones were common back in the old days of 2001.)

 

If the cachers in your area are anything like the ones in mine, you can't go wrong asking for help on the local area forums. There's no need to pay for a guide...there's lots of people out there who would be thrilled to help you. They would be more than willing to take you out on some hunts, and give you guidance, all for the price of a cup of coffee.

 

Looking at the cache you mentioned, it looks like you picked a rather difficult cache to look for. A map can get you close to the hiding spot, depending on the location, but you're going to need more than that to find a cleverly camo'ed small/micro cache container.

 

Reading the previous finders' logs will often give you a hint as to whether it's a difficult to spot cache. Key phrases: "evil hide", "well camo'ed", "took a while to spot", etc.

 

Once you get those first few hides under your belt, it tends to get easier. But it's best to start out with caches with difficulty/terrain ratings of 1/1, and containers that are "small", "regular" and "large".

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Everyone here was a newbie at one time. Don't give up yet. Go to a local meeting and meet some people in your area. They will be able to answer all the questions you have quicker than typing them and waiting for an answer here. They can go with you and show you what you are looking for. I could find the coordinates when I first started but then what do I look for? I did searches for cache containers and saw all the different types of containers there are. Read all the topics you can in here. There are some very smart people that will help you in here.

 

Look through here: http://www.geocaching.com/local/default.aspx?state_id=36. Read through them and see where the closest one to you is. Then attend one. I haven't missed a monthly meeting since I started going to them. You can learn a lot from the more experienced ones, and get hints of where to look for certain caches.

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the more I read on the forum here, the more eager I am to get out there and hunt! :P Hopefully my computer will be fully resurrected today, and I can get back online tonight. :rolleyes: My Magellan has 1,000 caches pre-loaded on it... but unfortunately, the closest pre-loaded one is 126.7 miles away, hehe. Nope, not a one even in the ATL area, LOL! Curses, foiled again! The minute my computer is up, I have about a zillion local and slightly-less-local ones I'm going to download to my GPS. In the meantime, all the tips & hints on here are great! :D

 

I don't know what kind of Magellan you have but you ought to be able to remove all the waypoints store in it and add waypoints manually for some nearby caches. You're going to want to learn how to enter a waypoint into your GPS anyway if you ever do any multi caches so it'll be good practice.

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Just wanted to say "welcome" -- from one newbie to another. :)

 

My son and I joined a few months ago and just recently became Premium Members (highly recommended, for the search ability alone!)

 

Let me just say...we've had more fun doing this. We love the caches that have something to trade. Usually just dollar store stuff, but for my 10 year old, it is treasure. :) I enjoy watching him sift through the SWAG, determining what should be traded.

 

The strangest thing about caching is...it's like there is this entire hidden world surrounding us that most of us are unaware of (until we start geocaching). The closest one is like under a half mile from my home, and I would have NEVER found it or had an inkling it was there, had I not come across geocaching.com!!

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Everyone here was a newbie at one time. Don't give up yet. Go to a local meeting and meet some people in your area. They will be able to answer all the questions you have quicker than typing them and waiting for an answer here. They can go with you and show you what you are looking for. I could find the coordinates when I first started but then what do I look for? I did searches for cache containers and saw all the different types of containers there are. Read all the topics you can in here. There are some very smart people that will help you in here.

 

Look through here: http://www.geocaching.com/local/default.aspx?state_id=36. Read through them and see where the closest one to you is. Then attend one. I haven't missed a monthly meeting since I started going to them. You can learn a lot from the more experienced ones, and get hints of where to look for certain caches.

 

I'm new too, living in the UK, and at the moment testing the water without a GPS too, as money is tight, and I wanted to know wether I was going to get the ' bug' or not first! I started on Dec 2nd and have found 30, but it

does take a lot of work without a GPS, but as I am now ' smitten ' I will be buying soon and upgrading my membership. I examine the location as much as possible using Google Earth, which can even pinpoint which tree etc in some cases, read the hint and all the logs, and at this stage will even look at spoilers, I then take notes on these things into the field with me and my ' hit rate' has been quite good so far ( as a keen walker I do have reasonable compass/ map skills, so I suppose this helps ) where I have trouble is when there is a stretch of hedgerow or something without any distinguishing features, without a GPS lock, searching a large amount of possible hides can sometimes be futile. I hope that now I am hooked, that when I get my GPS, I wiil benefit from the steep learning curve I have given myself and enjoy the hobby even more, but yes caching without a GPS is much, much harder, so you are up against it Voiceroad, if you can afford or borrow a GPS, i,m sure it will fall into place for you, but as others have said you need to read whatever guidance notes are available.

I have a question of my own now! RE-VISITS, two part question, 1. Do many cachers re-visit previous finds to pick up or drop off trackables? 2. How does this compute in your records when you re-log? I have a coin I need to get moving and one of my previous finds would be the most appropriate at this time, rather than hanging on to it and waiting for something similar!

Thanks for your indulgance and HI to everyone, loving this game and the community around it!

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I will let the young guys do it.

 

That's the beauty of geocaching, too...any age can participate. Lots of grandparents find it a great way to spend time with their grandkids.

 

Don't know how old you are, but I'm 51, the odometer is getting really close to turning over to 52, and I'm definitely not a geek or technophile. If I can do it, so can you.

 

;)

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Just wanted to say "welcome" -- from one newbie to another. :)

 

My son and I joined a few months ago and just recently became Premium Members (highly recommended, for the search ability alone!)

 

Let me just say...we've had more fun doing this. We love the caches that have something to trade. Usually just dollar store stuff, but for my 10 year old, it is treasure. :) I enjoy watching him sift through the SWAG, determining what should be traded.

 

The strangest thing about caching is...it's like there is this entire hidden world surrounding us that most of us are unaware of (until we start geocaching). The closest one is like under a half mile from my home, and I would have NEVER found it or had an inkling it was there, had I not come across geocaching.com!!

 

THANK YOU for the welcome!!! There is one cache LITERALLY at the END OF MY STREET - much less than half a mile, probably less than a quarter mile, LOL. Never knew it was there (and still don't know WHERE yet...argh! LOL!). Such a small area, but so many hiding places. ;-) There are oodles of others within a 3-5 mile radius, so there is plenty to keep us busy right in our own neighborhood. ;-)

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I have a question of my own now! RE-VISITS, two part question, 1. Do many cachers re-visit previous finds to pick up or drop off trackables? 2. How does this compute in your records when you re-log? I have a coin I need to get moving and one of my previous finds would be the most appropriate at this time, rather than hanging on to it and waiting for something similar!

Thanks for your indulgance and HI to everyone, loving this game and the community around it!

 

Yes, you can definitely re-visit a cache that you have previously logged as a "found it" to pick up or drop off trackables.

 

But you would then log it as a "note", not a "found it" on the cache page.

 

You could write something like "revisiting this cache to drop off a coin", for example.

 

Your stats will now show the number of "notes" you've posted, as well as your "found it" and DNF logs.

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I have a question of my own now! RE-VISITS, two part question, 1. Do many cachers re-visit previous finds to pick up or drop off trackables? 2. How does this compute in your records when you re-log? I have a coin I need to get moving and one of my previous finds would be the most appropriate at this time, rather than hanging on to it and waiting for something similar!

Thanks for your indulgance and HI to everyone, loving this game and the community around it!

 

Yes, you can definitely re-visit a cache that you have previously logged as a "found it" to pick up or drop off trackables.

 

But you would then log it as a "note", not a "found it" on the cache page.

 

You could write something like "revisiting this cache to drop off a coin", for example.

 

Your stats will now show the number of "notes" you've posted, as well as your "found it" and DNF logs.

 

Thanks for that! so if I open a note log, will it give me ' action ' options for my trackable?

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I will let the young guys do it.

 

That's the beauty of geocaching, too...any age can participate. Lots of grandparents find it a great way to spend time with their grandkids.

 

 

I started geocaching at 53. One month later, while geocaching, I fell on a hill and broke my ankle. I used a tree branch as a crutch and hobbled about a mile to my car and drove the the hospital. A couple days later, I was again geocaching on crutches with my leg in a cast! Actually, those weeks were some of the most fun of all, except for the pain. If I can do it (58 now), anyone can do it!

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Thanks for that! so if I open a note log, will it give me ' action ' options for my trackable?

 

You will need to post the pick up or drop off of a trackable on the trackable's page.

 

Info regarding trackables:

http://www.geocaching.com/track/howtogeocoin.aspx

http://www.geocaching.com/track/geocoinfaq.aspx

 

You then post a note on the cache pages, to record that trackable's situation in the trackables inventory. On the cache page, when you click on "log your visit", there will be a dropdown menu. That's where you choose from the different log types: "found it", "didn't find it", "write a note", etc.

 

Generally speaking, there should be logs for two caches involved...the one where you grabbed the trackable (a "found it", presumably), and the one where you dropped it. If you're dropping it in a cache that you have previously posted a "found it" log, you should now post a "write a note" for the dropping of the trackable.

 

*Please note: one does not record the tracking number in the online logs.

 

The Knowledge Books covers everything involved in geocaching, broken down into sections:

 

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb

Edited by Pup Patrol
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Welcome to the addiction called geocaching. I would have agreed with your husband that it sounds dumb before I actually tried it, but after I found my first one I thought, "Hey, I can do this." It just gets better each time. You will realize how much you look but do not see. You have to really concentrate on examining every square inch of what you are looking at. It's so easy to scan a green and gray bush and not notice the green and gray container attached to it. Start with the easy ones and work your way up. If you don't find the one you are going for you can post a DNF and come back later or skip it. It's just a game and if you don't find it, there are hundreds of other ones to try for. I will be expecting a progress report when you get out there and get started. lol Good luck.

 

PS If you have other questions feel free to send me a email. I will share whatever knowledge I have and I'm sure many others on here would too.

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THANKS! One thing I noticed last night, that I'd failed to notice before - many of the 1/1 level caches in my area are either "small" or even "micro." I was able to find a few normal (and one large) sizes to add to my hunt list under the 1/1 category... along with a few 1.5/1.5's I figured couldn't be THAT much harder (or not... LOL). I am determined to find the two at the two cemeteries - one at the end of my street and one a couple miles down the road - at the very first available opportunity. We spent hours looking for those pre-Magellan, and knowing they are RIGHT THERE is annoying the heck outta me, LOL!

 

Definitely will holler if I have questions, thanx so much! :D

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THANKS! One thing I noticed last night, that I'd failed to notice before - many of the 1/1 level caches in my area are either "small" or even "micro." I was able to find a few normal (and one large) sizes to add to my hunt list under the 1/1 category... along with a few 1.5/1.5's I figured couldn't be THAT much harder (or not... LOL). I am determined to find the two at the two cemeteries - one at the end of my street and one a couple miles down the road - at the very first available opportunity. We spent hours looking for those pre-Magellan, and knowing they are RIGHT THERE is annoying the heck outta me, LOL!

 

Definitely will holler if I have questions, thanx so much! :D

 

1.5s shouldn't be much harder at all. a terrain rating of 1 is (or at least should be)wheelchair accessible, 1.5 indicates slightly rough terrain like the grass in a cemetery.

Don't blame you at all for being determined to find the cemetery caches. I almost always enjoy those because there are usually interesting things to see and photograph. Be warned though, a lot of those are micros.

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