Compass?

[Guest Pat in Louisiana]

How many of you use a compass along with your GPSR when hunting a Geocache? And how do you use it. Do you just set a heading and head straight through the area?

 

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Pat in Louisiana

30:27:13.392N

91:02:55.054W

 

I never get lost!

I simply investigate alternate destinations!

[Guest arffer]

If I got to a cache site and realized I'd forgotten my compass, I'd leave and go back home. Yes, it really makes that much difference...

 

When my GPSR gets down to within 150' of the cache, I stopp for 2 minutes to let it settle down. Once it does, I take a compass bearing from the GPSR and sight my compass, looking for an obvious target. I then pace off the distance the GPSR says is the cache.

 

Let it settle down again for 2 minutes, take a new bearing and start the physical hunt.

 

If I get conflicting readings from the GPSR, as happened yesterday during a rainy, cloud covered day, I will take two to three GPSR bearing from seperate spots, and see where the compass bearings line up.

 

To date, I have found 12 caches in this manner, no misses. The compass has always lead me to the spot.

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by arffer:

If I got to a cache site and realized I'd forgotten my compass, I'd leave and go back home.................The compass has always lead me to the spot.

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Absolutely the best procedure for a successful hunt. This technique is also a great way to verify your coordinates for a newly placed cache particularly if its in heavy tree cover.

Happy Caching, Olar

 

 

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"if you come to a fork in the trail, then take it!"

[Guest ClayJar]

entry. (Easy and non-damaging are often the same, but sometimes you have to take a harder way... first, do no harm.)

 

Once I know how I'm going to go in, I'll sight a tree/rock/puddle and go to it, then I'll take another bearing from my GPS, sight another landmark at the new bearing, and go from there. Depending on how well you've honed your distance estimation skills, it may take a few legs to approach the waypoint, but this method will help you get better at estimating distances, and it'll help you not trample foliage (and snakes) unnecessarily.

[Guest Pat in Louisiana]

Thanks, I might have to dig out my old trusty "Silva" The two caches that I've found I just followed the pointer on my Eagle Explorer and when the arrival alarm went off I was within 10-15 feet. By the way I do stay on the trails until I'm within .01-.02 miles and then I look for a minor trail in the general ditection I need to go.

 

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Pat in Louisiana

30:27:13.392N

91:02:55.054W

 

I never get lost!

I simply investigate alternate destinations!

[Guest Team JackQuest]

Ditto on the switch to compass when close and experiencing poor gps coverage. I don't take just one but two compasses. Gotta have a backup, some day there will be a spare GPSR in the pack.

 

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TEAM JackQuest (8H/11F)

Jack & Cyber

www.jackquest.com

Base Camp N 40° 20.268' W 75° 37.969' (WGS84)

[Guest Sluggo]

I bought a cheap compass at REI for two reasons.

 

1. On the rare occasions I do venture into the deep woods (actually desert around here) I have a backup navigation system. (Coupled with a map of course).

 

2. My GPSR is useless for vectoring withing about 75 or 80 feet. (It's a Garmin III Pilot and it was designed for aviation not hiking or geocaching). When I am about 100 feet away, I get a vector (bearing and range for some of you guys)and then I follow that bearing and get the scaler value (in feet) off the GPSR). I continue until I get the lowest value(i.e. when the numbers start to get larger) then I start looking.

In heavy tree cover I sometimes go to a clearing oposite(or at right angles) to the one I entered on and shoot another vector. Where the two vectors cross is where the cache is if the published coordinates were reasonably accurate.

 

Oh yeah, I like to keep my GPSR set to "True North" so I have to account for the difference between "True" and "Magnetic". (Here in Eastern Washington that is usualy 18 degrees East.

 

- Sluggo

 

Give me a vector Victor, get me a clearance Clarence, and roger Roger...huh!