New to the hobby

[+redoak1953]

Hi, I am new to the hobby and have been introduced by a local Geo-cache trail in Martinsburg-Berkeley County WV, (Gadgets of Berkeley County"). The trail guide from the Convention Bureau lists the latitude and longitude of the caches as well as other info and clues. I have not seen any on this site that do that. Am I over looking a feature that enables that or are they usually not marked that way? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. I like messing with topos etc. and enjoyed the preliminary work to mark maps before going out on the local trail, it has been a fun run so far and I can't wait to hit the trails near where we have camped for 7 years and never knew there were hundreds near there! Thanks, Jeff

[+Panther&Pine]

It looks like you have found your way into the forums without logging a cache on the site yet, impressive!

I don't know if the caches that you found via the convention center are on this site.

Geocaching101 is a great place to start.

 

If you like maps and are good with a map and compass you can certainly do all your caching that way, my land nav skills are good but I much prefer my GPS for caching and my maps for navigating to the general area.

 

So, how far have you made it in learning to geocache? Do you know how to find caches near you?

[+ByronForestPreserve]

You need to be logged in at the geocaching site in order to view coordinates of caches. My bet is you were logged out after a visit and just need to log in again.

[+Panther&Pine]

You need to be logged in at the geocaching site in order to view coordinates of caches. My bet is you were logged out after a visit and just need to log in again.

Ooooo, good point. The things you forget when you have "remember me" ticked on important sites like geocaching.

 

Edit because ooooo =\= pool even if autocorrect thinks it does.

Edited April 29, 2014 by MooseJawSpruce

[+redoak1953]

I have found 7 of the 13 sites in the local cache trail and was just re-looking over some of the trails I had looked at earlier. Was a bit embarrassed to see the Lat-Long was there all along, I was just so overwhelmed at what was out there, I over looked something that if it were a snake it would have bitten me! I have a Garmin Etrex Vista that was given to me and had to look the owners manual up online to figure it out. I get near where I had marked on my maps then zero in on the cache with it. (The thrill of the hunt I guess!) Just started about a week ago with this after a 10 year old in my kids group showed some pix of things she had found. Trying to read-up all I can and this site is great. Will likely up to Premium. Thanks for the replies everyone! Jeff

Edited April 29, 2014 by redoak1953

[+Panther&Pine]

I have found 7 of the 13 sites in the local cache trail and was just re-looking over some of the trails I had looked at earlier. Was a bit embarrassed to see the Lat-Long was there all along, I was just so overwhelmed at what was out there, I over looked something that if it were a snake it would have bitten me! I have a Garmin Etrex Vista that was given to me and had to look the owners manual up online to figure it out. I get near where I had marked on my maps then zero in on the cache with it. (The thrill of the hunt I guess!) Just started about a week ago with this after a 10 year old in my kids group showed some pix of things she had found. Trying to read-up all I can and this site is great. Will likely up to Premium. Thanks for your reply. Jeff

It happens to us all... Mount10bike has pointed out some really obvious things for me.

Welcome to the activity!

 

The Vista is a great starter GPS, if it came with the cable you can download basic information directly to it, no risk of mistyping coords. Granted it might make you want to get a premium membership as well.

[+redoak1953]

It has already made me decide to do that this evening! No cord with it but I see them all over Ebay.

[+Panther&Pine]

It has already made me decide to do that this evening! No cord with it but I see them all over Ebay.

You also might see if any electronics you already own have the same cable, I found my external hard drives use the same cord as my GPS so the cord stays in the computer and the device at the end changes as needed.

I don't think the Vista supports paperless geocaching but using GSAK (another program) you can get some of the info onto the GPS. I think I used to do the GC code and the D/T combo.

[+NanCycle]

It has already made me decide to do that this evening! No cord with it but I see them all over Ebay.

You also might see if any electronics you already own have the same cable, I found my external hard drives use the same cord as my GPS so the cord stays in the computer and the device at the end changes as needed.

I don't think the Vista supports paperless geocaching but using GSAK (another program) you can get some of the info onto the GPS. I think I used to do the GC code and the D/T combo.

 

I have a camera that also uses the same cable; so you might check those also.

[+briansnat]

It has already made me decide to do that this evening! No cord with it but I see them all over Ebay.

You also might see if any electronics you already own have the same cable, I found my external hard drives use the same cord as my GPS so the cord stays in the computer and the device at the end changes as needed.

I don't think the Vista supports paperless geocaching but using GSAK (another program) you can get some of the info onto the GPS. I think I used to do the GC code and the D/T combo.

 

It all depends on the model of eTrex Vista. If it is the original Vista or Vista C, they used a proprietary cable which also happened to be serial. He'd need not only the cable, but probably a USB-Serial adapter. I think the USB cable was introduced with the Vista HCX. The thing is that if he has the older model with the proprietary cable, buying a cable and USB adapter could end up costing far more than that unit is currently worth. It might be more cost effective to buy a new eTrex 10. The older Vistas didn't have the high sensitivity receivers of today and were a pain to use under tree cover because reception would be poor to non existent. In a place like WV where there are a lot of trees Jeff might find the Vista very frustrating (if he has an older one).

 

If he has the Vista HCX then he can ignore the above. No need for a special cable as it's a standard USB that nearly everyone with a computer has at least one or two laying around, and it has the high sensitivity receiver that provides great reception under trees. If it is the older model I wouldn't recommend shelling out money for cables unless they are extremely cheap.

Edited April 29, 2014 by briansnat

[+redoak1953]

This one is updated through 2006 and has the weird end piece that would require the odd cable and the adapter. The two together would be around $16-18, but I am holding off to see how this goes. If I get another it would likely be the Etrex 20 or 30 (unless someone has a better suggestion for someone who will not be traveling worldwide, but would be running regionally at odd times to see what I can accomplish). I see they go reasonable if you look far enough.

[+Panther&Pine]

I've had the Vista HCX, the old blue Garmin, umm, something else, a Garmin etrex 30 and now an Oregon 450T. The Oregon being my favorite, it has basic road maps on it, it can have better maps added, holds 1,000 or 2,000 caches, shares wirelessly with some other GPS units, has a color screen and is 100% paperless but is a touch screen and eats batteries.

 

The question is how much do you want to spend.

[+redoak1953]

I've had the Vista HCX, the old blue Garmin, umm, something else, a Garmin etrex 30 and now an Oregon 450T. The Oregon being my favorite, it has basic road maps on it, it can have better maps added, holds 1,000 or 2,000 caches, shares wirelessly with some other GPS units, has a color screen and is 100% paperless but is a touch screen and eats batteries.

 

The question is how much do you want to spend.

[+redoak1953]

Just sizing up prices at the moment. What did you like or not like about the Etrex 30-just curious.

[+redoak1953]

It looks like you have found your way into the forums without logging a cache on the site yet, impressive!

I don't know if the caches that you found via the convention center are on this site.

Geocaching101 is a great place to start.

 

If you like maps and are good with a map and compass you can certainly do all your caching that way, my land nav skills are good but I much prefer my GPS for caching and my maps for navigating to the general area.

 

So, how far have you made it in learning to geocache? Do you know how to find caches near you?

[+redoak1953]

Loading up on locales tonight-now that the workday is done. Some of the Convention Bureau sites are listed some are not. The 3 best I have found are not. Not sure how to see that they get listed.

[Pup Patrol]

Loading up on locales tonight-now that the workday is done. Some of the Convention Bureau sites are listed some are not. The 3 best I have found are not. Not sure how to see that they get listed.

 

If they are listed with Groundspeak, you can use the lat/long coords to find them here:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/

 

There's a bookmark list here:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=7e158b7b-19af-4bde-b4aa-7dfc0a5e2434

 

From the cache description I read: There are 13 caches in this exciting new trail.

 

 

B.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Pup Patrol

[+Panther&Pine]

Just sizing up prices at the moment. What did you like or not like about the Etrex 30-just curious.

I liked the price, the paperless caching and that it can have added maps but ended up gifting it to my parents in favor of the Oregon.