Who else doesn?t use any maps?

[Guest Ramness570]

Who doesn?t look at the topo maps, map blast, road maps anything? Anyone, Anyone, Bueller? I find it extremely fun to just upload the cords from easy GPS, put the GPS back in its dash mount, and turn whichever way out of the neighborhood the arrow tells me too. So what if you take a few wrong turns and end up at dead ends! But generally I?ll just read the cache description and logbook entries and head out.

 

How ever I will tell you these few tips I have learned. #1, Streets ending in Court, Terrace, or cove usually ends in Cul-De-Sacs or dead ends. Way?s can be tricky and be either. #2, ?Dead end? signs are usually true, while ?No Outlet signs can be questionable? gone down several no outlet street and found? outlets some of them are there I believe so you don?t cut through to avoid traffic. #3, Pay more attention to the road than the GPS (duh) dump truck drivers don?t like it to much when you pull out in front of them, like I did on my hunt for ?Henderson Falls? GC2289 thus my decal ?CAUTION! Driver may be Geocaching!? was first imagined? I did cheat once not to long ago and had to pull out the big map book. I was 400? away from the cache? on the wrong side of the Chattahoochee River! So I cheated and looked for a route to the closet bridge and then on to the other park.

 

I do take a back pack with me containing water, long pants, walking pants, walking shorts, walking shoes, boots, and sandals. As well as compass, trade goods, Gerber tool, phone. Depending on the weather my mountain bike and riding gear may come along too. So no matter where I end up I got the right stuff.

 

But on a side note its kinda irritating to pack up all the stuff, put the bike rack and bike on, go all that way, spend time driving up and down dead end streets, only to be able to park close enough to the cache where I can actually safely leave my truck running when hunting and logging the cache? oh well another one down many more great ones to hunt!

 

------------------

Brian & TabascoX

Senior Member Southeast Xterra Club

Geocaching since October 2000.

[Guest Ttepee]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ramness570:

Who doesn?t look at the topo maps, map blast, road maps anything?

---

 

I start off this way most of them time too. Unless my boyfriend comes with me... he can't stand the uncertainty, no patience. Or if I'm on a time limit.. then I will look at the maps too, most of the time that means just generally looking at the maps... most times I don't print them up, just try to get a bit of an idea then go blind. Getting there is half the fun.

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ramness570:

Who doesn?t look at the topo maps, map blast, road maps anything?

---

 

In general, I love going after the average cache totally blind. No maps, no clue or hints, not even the cache name. Just the waypoint. Some of my most memorable caches so far are ones that should have been easy, but due to this method turned into an adventure. Here's part of one such log of mine:

quote:

---

GPS was reading 1/4 mile or so from cache when we spied a nice open area to park near some RR tracks. GPS was pointing almost directly down the tracks, so this seemed like a good place to park the truck. Headed off along the tracks. Got to about 600ft and GPS was pointing off into the brush, so bushwhacking we went. Bushwhacking isn't the word, since this area consisted of mostly thorn bushes and poison ivy vines (with no leaves this time of yea, just to make it harder)the diameter of my forearm.

Took like 30 minutes to pick our way 500ft. Got to 70ft from cache and whats that in front of us? A #$%@ river!

I had noticed a trestle bridge down the tracks before we headed into the brush, so now we picked our way back thru the thorns to the bridge. Crossed the river. Started heading down something that was marked as a trail, but was really this 12 inch wide strip, with a 40ft dropoff into the river if you misplace a step. It eventually turned into a real trail, and led us straight to the spot we had guessed the cache was in when we were looking from across the river.

---

That cache was a 1.5/1.5 that took me 1.5hrs to get to, and less then 10 minutes to return to where I parked. Also one I'll never forget.

All that being said, my daddy didn't raise no fool. Lately I've been concentrating more on 4/4 and up caches. Trying those without preparation is just plain dumb.

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ramness570:

Who doesn?t look at the topo maps, map blast, road maps anything?

---

 

In general, I love going after the average cache totally blind. No maps, no clue or hints, not even the cache name. Just the waypoint. Some of my most memorable caches so far are ones that should have been easy, but due to this method turned into an adventure. Here's part of one such log of mine:

quote:

---

GPS was reading 1/4 mile or so from cache when we spied a nice open area to park near some RR tracks. GPS was pointing almost directly down the tracks, so this seemed like a good place to park the truck. Headed off along the tracks. Got to about 600ft and GPS was pointing off into the brush, so bushwhacking we went. Bushwhacking isn't the word, since this area consisted of mostly thorn bushes and poison ivy vines (with no leaves this time of yea, just to make it harder)the diameter of my forearm.

Took like 30 minutes to pick our way 500ft. Got to 70ft from cache and whats that in front of us? A #$%@ river!

I had noticed a trestle bridge down the tracks before we headed into the brush, so now we picked our way back thru the thorns to the bridge. Crossed the river. Started heading down something that was marked as a trail, but was really this 12 inch wide strip, with a 40ft dropoff into the river if you misplace a step. It eventually turned into a real trail, and led us straight to the spot we had guessed the cache was in when we were looking from across the river.

---

That cache was a 1.5/1.5 that took me 1.5hrs to get to, and less then 10 minutes to return to where I parked. Also one I'll never forget.

All that being said, my daddy didn't raise no fool. Lately I've been concentrating more on 4/4 and up caches. Trying those without preparation is just plain dumb.

[Guest Snowtrail]

Most of the ones I have found recently were easy caches, so I did not use a map, or even look up the maps on the cache pages.

 

However, I also went out of town recently to go caching, and had to enlist a local friend who was able to navigate to the places without a map. Otherwise, I would have had no idea how to get to some of those places, or which parts of town to avoid while getting there.

 

In addition, I went to a local park recently where a multi cache was placed. I grabbed a map at the entrance, but put it in my pack. I marked my car and proceeded to hike in without looking at the map. At one point when I was on a dead end trail leading up to the lake, with the E-Trex pointing directly across did I have to pull out the darn map. At least I had it when I needed it.

[Guest breaktrack]

Well, since I do this with my kids, rather than on my own or with other adults, I look at the maps to help give me an edge when looking for a cache. I really hate to NOT find one as the kiddos get a bit dissapointed. However, when I've had the chance to hunt on my own, at night, using night vision goggles, I didn't have a map one to use on the spur of the moment. Was one of my best hunts!!

[Guest Hamster]

rt. I look at topo maps, aerial photos and street maps. Now despite all this preparation, I still make mistakes. For instance... with a Topo map printout in hand, it can often be very difficult when at the site to determine your "starting point"

 

It became clear from the path I took out, and the topo that I took the worst possible path in. However, while standing in the middle of the woods overlooking a deep ravine, my map did not do me much good... but I had it with me, and trying to use it was a part of all the fun!

 

 

[This message has been edited by Hamster (edited 04 January 2002).]

[Guest rusty]

I don't always do it but I think flying blind is fun also. When the weather warms up here in Michigan I am going to create a multipart "driving cache". In my mind I have it covering maybe 5-10 square miles with plenty of small dirt roads. The first waypoint would take you to a place along the road with the next coords which would be a few roads away with several "which way to turn decisions". I figure maybe 2-3 points which then lead to a traditional short hike to the cache.

 

It's a way to force people to see how "fun" it can be to go without a map.

 

Rusty...

 

------------------

Rusty & Libby's Geocache Page

[Guest madphatboy2]

I looked at them at first. Now that I am working my way out of the city it doesn't do me any good. (and I'm too lazy to zoom out) I kinda like the challenge. And one thing I have . . . what honey? It's time to go geocaching again? OK. . .

[Guest Ttepee]

quote:

---

Originally posted by rusty:

It's a way to force people to see how "fun" it can be to go without a map.

 

Rusty...

---

 

Rusty I love that idea! Exactly the way it's most fun to get to alot of them. I think that you also have to be prepared to have a greater failure rate that way too... for us anyways..plenty of hunts we've driven more or less than needed to accomplish before nightfall. I usually like an excuse to go back to explore an area more anyways....and we learn from our mistakes...and it adds to the adventure

[Guest Ttepee]

quote:

---

Originally posted by rusty:

It's a way to force people to see how "fun" it can be to go without a map.

 

Rusty...

---

 

Rusty I love that idea! Exactly the way it's most fun to get to alot of them. I think that you also have to be prepared to have a greater failure rate that way too... for us anyways..plenty of hunts we've driven more or less than needed to accomplish before nightfall. I usually like an excuse to go back to explore an area more anyways....and we learn from our mistakes...and it adds to the adventure

[Guest kablooey]

Heh, I went out on a hunt today and forgot to bring the coordinates. So, I tried to find a school library at a nearby college, which took me nearly an hour because the school map I found only had building numbers, which wasn't very useful without a legend. I finally found the building marked library, went inside and couldn't find the library. Turns out that you can only access the library from the third floor on top. After all that, the library was closed (still on winter break). So, I drove to a city library, waited for an internet terminal where nobody seemed to care about the 20-minute rule if people are waiting, got the coordinates in 30 seconds, and drove off toward the site. Found a road that warned me three times there would be no parking, drove the four miles all the way to the end of the 10mph road anyway and verified that there's no parking anywhere on the one lane road, though luckily there are a few turnouts, which allowed oncoming traffic to pass. Drove back out and found another road that led into somebody's backyard. Drove back out and finally found a sign leading to a park entrance but realized that I'd forgotten to bring my hiking boots, and it was getting late enough that I wasn't going to be able to finish the hunt before sunset. Anyway, I guess I'm more prepared now for when I go back...

[Guest HIltonfamily]

Ok, so we use maps but not the topo maps on the site or any of the directions that you can generate from your home. Fearless is the map guy (also is an Air traffic controller so explains the need for maps). He relies on whatever we have in the caror what we can get from places we stay when doing out of town/state caches.

 

Sometimes this approach can make finding the cache most difficult. Last week we went 2 hours from home. We had a devil of a time trying to find the road the cache was on. We ended up drilving to the extreem end of town and back tracking. Once we found the road we discovered that we had driven over it 10 times. The cache was easy to find. The road to it wasn't.........

 

DxChallenged

[Guest glenn95630]

Rusty posted, "It's a way to force people to see how "fun" it can be to go without a map."

 

I think you are assuming they don't have a Thomas Bros or other map in the car. Also, I think the higher end GPS units display maps on the screen.

 

For myself, it depends. Near town by myself without time constraints - no maps is a lot of fun. With kids, time constraints or in the boonies - maps add to the overall enjoyment.

 

glenn95630

[Guest rusty]

RGET=_blank>Rusty & Libby's Geocache Page