Cache Hunt planning and prep

[+adrians.galaxy.crew]

Were still fairly new at GC, been at it about a month, were a little over 150 found. We normally go out with our 3 kids ages 9,7,and 4. So needless to say it gets a little complicated at time but they enjoy the heck out of it. I normally plan our weekend GC trips during the week by picking an area and routing our targets to maximize what we can find. I also read through all the GC's and weed out GCs that seem to have issues like a bunch of DNF's, maintenance logs and such. We use a Magellan explorist GC which is a "paperless" GC GPS, but I still find it easier to print out descriptions clues and maps(where needed). I drive and my wife reads out the descriptions, stories,history,clues and any logs that give any clues to everyone of the site were going to next on the way there. Ive found it easier to do it this way. Anyone else do this much planning before going out? Or will we eventually figure out the easy way.

 

BTW, i do some solo GC during the week around work (the kids are intent on keeping the streak going as far as we can). For these I just use my Android phone and app.

 

Pic: Big map is for routing and I print a new one every week with GC places. Small map has names of caches which are color coded for P&G, kid friendly, Bushwacking, etc. It takes me about 2-3 hrs total during the week.

[+StarBrand]

I usually just do a Pocket Query for the route I intend to take and/or for the area I will be in for the day. I load it all onto the GPS and call it good. Usually takes 10 minutes or so.

[+briansnat]

I usually just do a Pocket Query for the route I intend to take and/or for the area I will be in for the day. I load it all onto the GPS and call it good. Usually takes 10 minutes or so.

 

That's pretty much all I do too.

[+A & J Tooling]

I take the extra steps just as the OP does. I make it a big exciting adventure. The more paperwork and 'hard' stuff involved, the more the kids think it is something important/grown-up. My kids are 10 and 8. I've been planning a geo-adventure for every day of the summer around here for a quick grab or 3. We're setting up a large wall map in the basement with push pins for all the places we've been. My son is the offical 'Land Navigation Expert'. He has the compass and 'leads' us. My daughter is the 'Operations Liason Specialist'. Her mission is to engage anyone we cross paths with and not let on our true intentions unless they're LEO's or Staff at whatever atraction we happen to be at, then it is her responsibility to gain their trust.

[+adrians.galaxy.crew]

I take the extra steps just as the OP does. I make it a big exciting adventure. The more paperwork and 'hard' stuff involved, the more the kids think it is something important/grown-up. My kids are 10 and 8. I've been planning a geo-adventure for every day of the summer around here for a quick grab or 3. We're setting up a large wall map in the basement with push pins for all the places we've been. My son is the offical 'Land Navigation Expert'. He has the compass and 'leads' us. My daughter is the 'Operations Liason Specialist'. Her mission is to engage anyone we cross paths with and not let on our true intentions unless they're LEO's or Staff at whatever atraction we happen to be at, then it is her responsibility to gain their trust.

 

My kids love "acting normal" as they call it when muggles approach. The like looking at the treasure map were using for the day. As i mentioned before I only do this for the bigger trips on the weekend. If we do any during the week its just the phone app.

 

Ive tried to figure out how to load a query into my gps, but havent figured that out yet, I load them individually.

[+DragonsWest]

Sunday would be an ideal case examination for how I go about this - I had plans for a full day of caching along the peninsula (from Palo Alto, CA to just south of San Francisco.)

 

Charted a basic direction to travel - most caches will be purely opportunistic, depending upon ground-zero conditions, such as parking or people present (oh, this is such a great park bench, I could just sit here all day!!) Ran a few Pocket Queries and loaded them into my GPSr, started it up to make sure everything was copacetic and batteries were still strong. Made sure I had at least two sets of batteries.

 

Packed some snacks (left over blueberry muffins from Saturday event,) spare socks, travelbugs to move along, couple containers of liquid, a baggie with a small roll of toilet paper (this is an insurance policy, because you never know when a public toilet will be shy of this commodity,) floppy hat (to keep sun off neck,) sunglasses, light jacket and started with a full tank of gas (bit of a challenge finding an open petrol station on Easter Sunday!)

 

Biggest failure of the day was spending too long trying to find some hides. One I'm certain was missing and the others were too evil. I really didn't want to get caught up in any finds, but to keep moving along. Did (just) make my planned end point (Es Effo TB Hotel) as it was getting seriously dark. A pretty good day with a lot of walking about and great views. A successful outing.

[vagabond]

I'll download a PQ of an area I haven't visited in awhile run it through GSAK and kick out any caches that look like they have a problem, then download a csv file for streets and trips I'll then map out my run from there and download the file from GSAK to my gps

[+CacheTestDumbEase]

I'm also fairly new, have young children, use the same GPS, etc. I do most of what you do as far as planning ahead, with the exception of printing anything, because I don't own nor do I want to own a printer. I read through all the old logs in advance and take notes of anything I feel may be useful. I give the hubby a list of which caches we'll be doing so he can do the same if he so chooses. (He normally doesn't) On the way to the caches I read the description to the kiddos and give them any hints there may be.

 

I have a feeling that with time and experience I'll do less and less of this prep work. Right now we are all just trying to improve our "geosenses". My almost 6 year old had become extremely good at finding micros so when we have mommy and me time she and I only hunt micros. When I'm having mommy and me time with the 9 year old she wants to stay in the woods so I end up hunting the larger sized caches with her.

 

I think by the end of summer I'll likely just put the ones on my GPS that are in the general vicinity of where we're going and go. I do include the ones with problems though. We found one that hadn't been found in a year. The way I see it, just because some others DNF doesn't mean we won't. Plus...I like the searching.

[+the4dirtydogs]

I usually just do a Pocket Query for the route I intend to take and/or for the area I will be in for the day. I load it all onto the GPS and call it good. Usually takes 10 minutes or so.

This is how we load our caching runs as well. We always have our laptop with us when we are out caching(except for hiking caches). We perfer not to print up pages. We use the maps and look at the cache pages on the way to the next cache. This system works great for us, especially when you come across major traffic or road closures. Bringing the laptop just makes caching a lot easier for us. Try it out sometime, no paper needed.

Edited April 25, 2011 by the4dirtydogs

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

I'll do a pocket query for the route I plan to take, then use GSAK to place caches into order they will be found and have a simple print-out of the cache info.

[+Kameharem]

I use pocket querries for routes but I don't download the entire query into my GPSr. Instead I go through them and select which we will attempt and in what order. My family has certain types of caches they like to go after so depending on who is going on that day, I will decide which ones we will go after as well as removing those they look to be missing or too difficult for the kids to attempt. then I download the selected caches and write out the clues and any other important information because I can't download all of that into my GPSr. I probably spend as much time as the OP but I enjoy that part of as well.

[+NanCycle]

I think that most cachers who go by themselves or just with another adult would not do as much planning as you do. But with 3 young kids along, I think you are wise to have as much advance information as you do. I hope you and the kiddos continue to enjoy geocaching, and as they get a bit older you could get them more involved in the planning as well.

[+roziecakes]

I use Pocket Queries, but I always read the cache pages before I go to search for a cache. Sometimes the cache itself may seem lackluster, but the description of why it was placed can be really fascinating! I feel like I'd miss out if I didn't read the cache pages.

[+A & J Tooling]

...Ive tried to figure out how to load a query into my gps, but havent figured that out yet, I load them individually.

 

Heck, I still don't know how to look up my own # on my cell phone...

[+GeoReapers]

b] Anyone else do this much planning before going out? Or will we eventually figure out the easy way.[/b]

 

 

We have been doing this for almost a year now, have logged probably 5-7K miles in travel and have 8 children and I can say that you are approaching things just about how we do it. We, however, use a Delorme Atlas for all of our immediate navigation needs, though, since we are simultaniously working and three different challenge caches.

I think it is a good idea, too, if you want to save paper to just rely on the mapping program that is loaded into your GPS if you have one. Our Oregon 450 is loaded with the stock maps and we have a topographical overlay that is very helpful when negotiating a specific area.

For our part, we also use the PQ function along with the Cache along a Route, but it really depends on what kind of use you want out of those features. Cache along a route will give you everything within the designated zone that you have selected, but it doesn't search for DNF's or anything like that. I prefer to prescreen everything before we head out just to make sure that we are going to hit a 2/2 with 30 DNF's and no NM's logs on it.

[+neohiocacher]

I just use a simple Garmin Etrex Legend. I have a comm cable and download the caches directly to the GPS from my laptop. Any hint I usually place in the name due to the limited charactors allowed. For example If I have a cache hidden in our nearby Silver Springs Park and the Hint is "Look in trunk" I will use the name SS1TRUNK, 1 being the first one nearest my car. This is an effective method unless There is a multi whereas I usually copy and paste the hints to notepad and print them and take them along. Eventually I would like to upgrade to a more high tech handheld that downloads the caches automatically but do not know whether I should go some kind of i-phone or what. Any comments on specific models to purchase?

[+John in Valley Forge]

I love the prep work almost as much as the actual finding, sometimes it is even better. Looking at maps, making routes, trying to find how I can get the most caches while in an area on a business trip or with the kids. Last weekend we were at the beach and were able to keep two families, 4 14 yo kids and 5 17 yo kids (ours plus the friends they brought) quite busy and happy on a rainy day at the beach, running around the little town finding caches that will have huge muggle stealth issues in a few weeks. First we sat around the laptop looking at the area map, then reading the cache descriptions, then everyone voiced their opinions on where they wanted to go, which they wanted to find. It got everyone involved before we even went outside.

 

By the second day, when it was sunny, the younger ones just took my Explorist GC and headed down the boardwalk on thier own. The older ones wandered off looking for surfer boiz and t-shirt shops (I remember being 17, that is far more important than Tupperware) and the adults used our android phones. It was fun to see each others names every one logs as we didnt even realized we'd crossed paths. In the end, without really planning, everyone ended up at a TB Motel right near our parking space.

[+Lieblweb]

No kids here, just me and my husband. I'm taking in all suggestions!

 

Is there a way to find Hot Spots? Say for instance, I wanna take a day trip but don't know where to go for the best or most popular areas? And say I'm going out of state, I'd like to search for a trackable with a goal in that direction?

In most cases we're too busy from working to be that organized! I'm new also and taking it all in!

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

No paper for me except for a map [maybe]. A paper map does help, but the map on the pn-40 or Garmin Vista will work in pinch.

Now have an Android as well..I guess I must be hooked []..

Edited April 27, 2011 by alohabra

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

No kids here, just me and my husband. I'm taking in all suggestions!

 

Is there a way to find Hot Spots? Say for instance, I wanna take a day trip but don't know where to go for the best or most popular areas? And say I'm going out of state, I'd like to search for a trackable with a goal in that direction?

In most cases we're too busy from working to be that organized! I'm new also and taking it all in!

 

Android baby..android...Virgin Mobile for 25 buck a month..unlimited data..10 buck for the GC app [plus PM membership of course]..now you have total paperless [in the USA].

Edited April 27, 2011 by alohabra

[+Lieblweb]

No kids here, just me and my husband. I'm taking in all suggestions!

 

Is there a way to find Hot Spots? Say for instance, I wanna take a day trip but don't know where to go for the best or most popular areas? And say I'm going out of state, I'd like to search for a trackable with a goal in that direction?

In most cases we're too busy from working to be that organized! I'm new also and taking it all in!

 

Android baby..android...Virgin Mobile for 25 buck a month..unlimited data..10 buck for the GC app [plus PM membership of course]..now you have total paperless [in the USA].

[+Lieblweb]

No kids here, just me and my husband. I'm taking in all suggestions!

 

Is there a way to find Hot Spots? Say for instance, I wanna take a day trip but don't know where to go for the best or most popular areas? And say I'm going out of state, I'd like to search for a trackable with a goal in that direction?

In most cases we're too busy from working to be that organized! I'm new also and taking it all in!

 

Android baby..android...Virgin Mobile for 25 buck a month..unlimited data..10 buck for the GC app [plus PM membership of course]..now you have total paperless [in the USA].

[+Lieblweb]

No kids here, just me and my husband. I'm taking in all suggestions!

 

Is there a way to find Hot Spots? Say for instance, I wanna take a day trip but don't know where to go for the best or most popular areas? And say I'm going out of state, I'd like to search for a trackable with a goal in that direction?

In most cases we're too busy from working to be that organized! I'm new also and taking it all in!

 

Android baby..android...Virgin Mobile for 25 buck a month..unlimited data..10 buck for the GC app [plus PM membership of course]..now you have total paperless [in the USA].

[+hzoi]

I tend to plan out trips in advance -- go through caches in an area in advance, build a bookmark list, then generate the PQ and go through GSAK to screen out ones with a lot of DNFs I didn't see earlier. (When building the bookmark list, I don't always check the logs.) For earth caches, since the descriptions seem to get cut off half the time on our Oregon, sometimes I'll post a note to the cache just before running the PQ that has the logging requirements.

 

For local caching, I'll pick an area, pull up the caches, and just send the GPX file straight to our Oregon. I check the logs a little more carefully for these to make sure they'll be there. Then I just pick which one makes the most sense to start with, let the auromotive mode navigate us there, and start caching.