Noobs first day in the field

[+mcgreggor57]

I'm about a week in to geocaching and decided today was the day I was going to dedicate some time to find nearby ones in the state park. Prior to today I had a couple park and grabs.

 

I successfully downloaded a PQ to both my old etrek Legend C, as well as Android app, and set out with a vague plan of attack. Along the way I realized a few things.

 

1) Check to make sure my Garmin is changed from driving to hiking. One quest led me about a mile in the opposite direction trying to get me to the nearest road rather then GZ. A late check of my phone got me back to the correct area.

2) Bring extra pens. It was muddy out and I was crisscrossing a creek and ended up taking a spill, losing my pen in the process. Thankfully I was headed back to the car and grabbed another one.

3) Have a game plan. The map display on my phone was difficult to read in the sun and I had to keeping trying to figure out which cache to attempt to find next. I finally took a break, lit another cigar, and made some notes as to the order for the next several.

4) Bring a geo bag of some type. I thought today was going to be pretty straight forward but could've used several items that others have mentioned always carrying...including water.

5) Once near GZ the game changes. I don't know how many thickets I blindly walked through instead of putting the gps/phone away and looking for likely spots.

6) Magnetic micros are slippery devils. I spent 10 minutes searching the grass for the one I dropped.

 

It was a 3 hour 5 mile adventure ending in a 5/7 day. There are another 17 or so caches in the park and I know I'll be better prepared next time. Thanks to all who have shared their knowledge and advice here!

[+JockoPablo]

Sounds like a good first trip! Those are all good lessons to be learned. I started taking a small shoulder bag (actually an old camera pouch) with me on cache hikes with pens, swag, and a few extra items that sometimes come in handy (e.g. flashlight, sanitary wipes, band-aid, multi-tool, geocache info cards for curious muggles).

[+NanCycle]

So glad to see that you're keeping a positive attitude! Your next day out should be much smoother because of the lessons learned on your first day. But there will continue to be lessons to be learned--my most recent was: Although a fully charged battery lasts a full day, a half-charged battery doesn't last half a day. Luckily, the car-charger was in the car that I was driving.

 

Welcome to geocaching!