Some beginners help please.

September 12, 2015

Hi everybody,

I am very new to this only discovered geocaching a few weeks back and am completely hooked although there is still a lot I don't understand, but I am enjoying walks and finding 'treasure' with my two year old. I have the £7.99 app and have been using my phone as a gps. However today we went on an 8 mile walk which took us 5 hours it was lovely to be out enjoying the views however it was a 28 cache loop numbered in order but 7 of them did not show up on my phone so I went from 2-8 with a large gap.. How do I get to see the whole loop? There isn't even a spot there to show what I could unlock, also with regards to gps if you buy one and send the ones you want to find to GPS does your gps show hint etc or do you still need the app for this. Thank you in advance for any help it will be gratefully received. Sarah

September 12, 2015

Hi, the caches in question didn't show up because they have been archived (removed from play permanently) or temporarily disabled (will be back in play once they are fixed, repaired, replaced). If you look on the map on this site, they won't be there either.

My understanding is that you require Premier Membership (not the same as the paid app) to see the full description, hint etc on the GPS but I may be wrong. The biggest advantage of a GPS is the long battery life and the fact that it doesn't break if dropped in a puddle!

September 12, 2015

Assuming you had cell reception, you should have been able to see all the caches in the area. I am not really sure why you didn't see all the caches unless you needed to click the button to look for more in the area. On the Android app, when you click to show caches in the area, it will only show a limited number. To see others located further away, you need to have the phone search for more.

Regarding the GPSr, when you DL caches, it will show everything including the hint.

1.5k · September 12, 2015

A little snooping showed me that 3,6 and 7 were archived and 4 is temporarily unavailable. I wouldn't wait for that one though as the cache owner doesn't appear to be big on cache maintenance. You should have been able to see #5 as that is still there. Good luck and welcome to the game.

9.2k · September 12, 2015

... also with regards to gps if you buy one and send the ones you want to find to GPS does your gps show hint etc or do you still need the app for this. Thank you in advance for any help it will be gratefully received. Sarah

To see all the cache information on a GPS, you do need to be a Premium Member. This is in addition to having a Paid App on the phone.

Garmin GPSs can get you a 30 day Premium Membership trial, if registered via: http://www.geocaching.com/garmin/freetrial.aspx

A decent site which explains things cahing-wise - written by one of the UK Reviewers- is http://follow-the-arrow.co.uk/

September 13, 2015

I had the same question when I was introduced to the addictive thing a few months ago. I upgraded the phone, got all intense with the phone and finding caches until I got my first telephone bill. It was cheaper to by a good GPS device, become a premium member and download the files directly to the GPS device. The added advantage of using a GPS unit is that it works where telephones do not. Pick your GPS unit that will give you the full downloaded GPX file.

Cheers and do not get disheartened

7.3k · September 13, 2015

Pick your GPS unit that will give you the full downloaded GPX file.

If you have Premium Membership.

With Basic Membership, only loc files are available.

Help Center → Finding a Geocache → Searching for a Geocache

2.10. How do I download geocaches to my GPS device?

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=532

Basic Members

Basic Members can download geocache information in the form of LOC files. This file type contains only general information: the geocache listing title, GC Code, and coordinates.

LOC files can be downloaded one at a time from geocache listings by clicking the "LOC Waypoint File", located under the geocache coordinates.

Up to twenty LOC files can be downloaded from a search results page, after entering in the required CAPTCHA. Check the box to the right of the listings you want, and then check the "Download Waypoints" button at the bottom of the search page.

Cache information can also be printed from each listing.

See the Resources page on Geocaching.com for software options that can help you manage .loc files.

Premium Members

Premium Members can download geocache information in the form of GPX files. This file type contains much of the listing information: the geocache title, description, public additional waypoints (such as parking coordinates), hints, and the most recent logs.

Premium members can download individual GPX files from geocache listings using the "GPX File" button, located under the geocache coordinates, or they can download groups of up to 1000 geocaches via Pocket Query (see related page below). Twenty logs will be included if a GPX file is downloaded from a listing; five logs if downloaded via Pocket Query.

Depending upon GPS unit, Premium Members may be able to send GPX files directly to their GPS unit. To do this, click the "Send to My GPS" button on each geocache listing page, or select the check box next to geocache listings on the right side of search pages and click "Send to My GPS" at the bottom of the search page.

If a geocache has hidden waypoints, geocache owners who download the GPX directly from the listing will receive these waypoints. No one except the owner receives hidden waypoints, and hidden waypoints will not be returned via pocket query.

7.3k · September 13, 2015

Hi everybody,

I am very new to this only discovered geocaching a few weeks back and am completely hooked although there is still a lot I don't understand, but I am enjoying walks and finding 'treasure' with my two year old. I have the £7.99 app and have been using my phone as a gps. However today we went on an 8 mile walk which took us 5 hours it was lovely to be out enjoying the views however it was a 28 cache loop numbered in order but 7 of them did not show up on my phone so I went from 2-8 with a large gap.. How do I get to see the whole loop? There isn't even a spot there to show what I could unlock, also with regards to gps if you buy one and send the ones you want to find to GPS does your gps show hint etc or do you still need the app for this. Thank you in advance for any help it will be gratefully received. Sarah

A number of them have been archived, so aren't visible on the map.

You can go to the map page to see which ones are still active, and the one that is temporarily disabled (box is grey on the map).

You can get to the map by either clicking on it in a page of a cache you have found, or by clicking on the owner's name on the page.

https://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx?lat=51.21628&lng=0.62227#?ll=51.223215,0.623042&z=14

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?u=Dan1983&sortdir=desc&sort=lastfound

Disabled: #4

http://coord.info/GC3MFG4

Archived:

#3 http://coord.info/GC3MFFR

#6 http://coord.info/GC3MFGP

#7 http://coord.info/GC3MFHN

#13 http://coord.info/GC3MFKD