0-for-2

[+Cache N]

Greetings,

I am new to Geocaching, in fact, one-day new. Yesterday I scribbled down the location of a few caches within a mile of my house, sped off to the store with my wife to purchase a GPS receiver, then settled down at Starbucks for some java and to figure out how to use the thing. It was simple enough, I entered the locations and off we went. The weather wasn't exactly stellar. Rainy mist with gusts of wind... typical for Oregon this time of year, but where we were headed, I was pretty familiar with... in fact... I took a hike up there about 30 years ago when I was a kid, and have been back numerous times since.

I had decrypted the hints for the two caches so we could start off successfully, and off we went. Part of my brain remember the cache camera picture on one of the sites... and we started heading right up to it because I could tell from the picture where it was. Somewhere along the way, the cold must have affected my brain... because instead of continuing to the top of the hill, I was mesmerized with our new little gizmo, and when it said to 'go thataway' we did. Well... I'm sure you can figure out what happened... when entering the digits into the GPS receiver, I apparently made mistakes on BOTH locations. (Yes... I did read the warnings that said to check and double check these...) but the excitement of the first search got the better of me I guess. We trounced all thought the woods and searched and searched where we thought one cache should be. Was it buried? In a tree? These were very dense woods with a lot of ground cover, and it could have been anywhere. After we both had legs stung with nettles, we gave up and headed to the next location... and something in the back of my head thought... geee these are a bit close. Again though, reasoning lost out to my GPS. The second location was a bit clearer, but of course... the locations in the GPS were wrong so we were not going to find anything. We did however run across some deer which was neat. Dejected (at least me) and out of time, we headed back to the car. It wasn't until we were home and I rechecked the locations that I found we were looking in the wrong place. Strangely enough, the GPS trace route shows we did walk right over where one cache was... the one that didn't see camera pictures for so at least I know how to get back there.

So there you have it. First search... 0 for 2 and lessons learned already. I do have a few questions, but I will post them in another thread. Hopefully our next outing will be a bit more fruitful. (If I can convince my wife to go with me again) =)

[+Smitherington]

Does it feel better if we tell you that you are not the first one to experience that? I never posted them as not founds because I was not even sure what was wrong. I needed some help and an experienced cacher helped me via email by having me do an easy one. I have enjoyed it a lot every since. Best of luck next time out.

[+Moore9KSUcats]

Well, I am sure we have all done that same thing... I know we have transposed our share of digits, or put in the wrong one entirely! One way we avoid that, is to print out the cache page, so we always have a hard copy of the coordinates, the cache description, and any clues. Other people use a data cable and download the coordinates from the computer to the GPSr, but we don't have a data cable.

Good luck on your future hunts, though! I hope this hasn't discouraged you!

[+rayt333]

Welcome to the world of Geocaching.

I am glad you didn't let one bad experience ruin it for you. At first (if not always) you should print out a copy of the geocach page so you have the information with you. This can come in handy when someone asks you what you are doing, geocaching can look awful suspicous to an "outsider" and different things run through their minds (drugs, spies, terrorist, ect)

[njunderground]

Today also was my 1st day at this. I was 1-2. The first place I tried kept giving me false readings. I got within 50' and the GPS told me to go 180 degrees back where I came. I kept going back & forth but couldn't get readings closer than 80-90' now. I tried restarting the unit figuring a better satalite fix would help but it got worse. I gave up after 45mins and went to another cache closer to home and found that one but with similar problems but not as bad. Before I went out today I had been praticing at home and had always been able to get back to the waypoint within 5' so I knew how to use it. Whats going on??

[+RJFerret]

quote:

---

Originally posted by njunderground:

Today also was my 1st day at this. I was 1-2. The first place I tried kept giving me false readings. I got within 50' and the GPS told me to go 180 degrees back where I came.

---

 

One thing that can cause this is "signal bounce", when (cliffs or buildings typically) reflect the signal to the GPS...

 

Either way, the problem doesn't matter, the solution is to use a compass along with your GPS. When you've got a good signal, have the GPS show your bearing to the cache. Use a compass to point to that spot and estimate where it is from the GPS's estimate of how far away you are.

 

To triangulate, walk roughly an equal distance perpendicularly and do it again. Where those two spots intersect is where to start your search.

 

Hope this brief explanation helps, you can do a search on "triangulation" for very detailed instructions.

 

Randy

[+Jamie Z]

I started my geocaching career 0-2 also. In fact, my story was quite similar. I got the GPS, played with it at home for about an hour, then entered the two closest caches. A friend and I headed out in the dark and rain. I came home muddy and wet, but eager to log onto the site just so I could post my no-finds.

 

I didn't find the caches, but I was giddy about my hunts and wanted to tell everyone what happened and couldn't wait to get home to log my two new no-finds.

 

You'll get the hang of it. Even having the correct coordinates doesn't make it as easy as some people think. It takes some experience.

 

Jamie

[+Cache N]

Well today we were 2 for 2 today so I am feeling a bit better! I seriously wanted to sneak out last night with a flash light and find the darn thing. I didn't get a chance to look for the same two caches I missed yesterday, as they are in a gated area that closed too soon... but we did find two other caches. After finding the first... we were so exited we picked up our 9-year old daughter from her friends and went looking for a 2nd. When I spotted where the cache was... I acted like I didn't see it and ask me daughter to go do some searching a low and behold... she found it! Boy was she exited... I bet she'll be bragging about it for a week. And best of all... she's hooked now too. What a great way to spend some time with the family.

[+renriquez]

Thank you for sharing your story. I too, recently purchased my first GPS unit (Garmin eTrex yellow) and after telling my wife all about the sport, we proceeded to go and find a cache which is in a state park about one hour and fifteen minutes from our home. We could never find it. We looked for it for over an hour.

 

This is officially my second cache and my wife's first. My first cache, which was a virtual cache, was done with a borrowed GPS unit. That one was somewhat easy.

 

We live in Laredo, TX and I am currently looking for ideal locations for a few local caches since there is only one cache listed in our city. (That is the virtual cache I did with the borrowed GPS unit.) Hope this will attract more locals to Geocaching.

[+Renegade Knight]

My first cache was a skunk. We went back and found it later.

 

Since then whenever I start thinking I'm getting good at this, a few more skunks come my direction.

 

Over time I've developed a double edged sword in my caching ability. I can find the cache that has cursed the most people for the longest, and then get skunked on a easy one that makes people wonder about my sanity.

 

==============================

Wherever you go there you are.

[+Night Stalker]

I think the worst transposition I did was while visiting Portland. The result was that it showed the cache to be on an island in the middle of a very large river running through the town. Happily I rechecked my coordinatate before I rented a boat and discovered my mistake. It was a lot easier to find with the correct coordinates locked in. One thing to consider. Even when you have the coordinates you may have a very difficult time. Some cache hiders are very sneaky. Renegade Knight is one of them. Most of his caches will drive you crazy trying to find them.

 

[+Bill D (wwh)]

When I got my GPSr I'd already done some caches without one. One of those is less than a mile from me, so I entered its co-ords and set off, just to play with the unit.

 

Funny, I thought, if I'm reading this right the cache is 150 miles away. As I got near I noticed that the arrow was pointing away from the cache. I stood by the cache and the GPSr still said it was 150 miles away. S**t I thought, the stupid thing's broken before I've even started.

 

Then I realised. My GPSr is an MLR, and that's a French make. France is east of the Greenwich Meridian and the default longitude of the MLR is East. I'm in the UK, and my longitude, like most of the UK, is West. Duh!!!

 

Bill

[+Chichikov]

My first time out I couldn't find the cache either. I was on the shore of Casco Bay in Portland, ME and the GPS was showing that the cache site was about 100 ft. out into the water. I didn't believe that, so I spent about an hour crawling all over huge granite blocks on the sea wall and still came up skunked. Decided to go try the next one and found myself walking down a residential street and almost up someone's driveway instead of the park it was supposed to be in because the GPS told me to. It suddenly occurred to me that I had read somewhere (the manual? these forums?) that there were different datums used. I checked the unit and found that it was set to something other than WGS84. I changed the setting and went a-hunting again and found the cache. Went back to the first one and found that one too. I rarely RTFM, so I had to slap myself upside the head for missing this fairly important info before heading out.

 

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

Where am I going? I don't quite know.

What does it matter where people go?

Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow

Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

-A.A. Milne

[+Bluespreacher]

quote:

---

Originally posted by njunderground:

Today also was my 1st day at this. I was 1-2. The first place I tried kept giving me false readings. I got within 50' and the GPS told me to go 180 degrees back where I came. I kept going back & forth but couldn't get readings closer than 80-90' now. I tried restarting the unit figuring a better satalite fix would help but it got worse. I gave up after 45mins and went to another cache closer to home and found that one but with similar problems but not as bad. Before I went out today I had been praticing at home and had always been able to get back to the waypoint within 5' so I knew how to use it. Whats going on??

---

 

It's called the Drunken Bee Dance. GPSr'sare dependant on many things. One is motion. If you are not moving, the unit will give you funny info on the direction you must go. Another is refresh interval. The reciever only 'refreshes' from time-to-time. It might be every second or it might be a *lot* longer if you are in Battery Saver Mode or have WAAS enabled. So the reciever directs you based on where you just *were*. You turn, and it directs you based on where you just *were* again. Soon, you're walking in circles and the GPSr is perfectly happy.

 

Solution? Walk in straight lines, sight ahead and stick to that course. When you get close, slow down. Back off and approach again, and see what the pointer does. Last, when you're really close, turn the thing off and use the 'Force'.

 

You will get the hang of it, for sure, just keep at it and get some finds under your belt.

 

Bluespreacher

 

"We've got the hardware and the software, the plans and the maps ..." -- Citizen Wayne Kramer

[+Delta-S]

I see from the original poster's profile that he/she is off and running now. good job!

[+Hiemdahl]

Since no one else said it, welcome to the sport! But be careful, it can become addictive.

 

Fortunately, some of us are immune. Lets see now where is my GPSr.... it was on the desk.... possibly in my briefcase.... PANIC!!!!!

[+Team Shibby]

You are far from alone, my friend!!

 

Team Shibby (Krs & I) searched for our first cache and were bushed also. Headed home to re-check the coords and headed back to try again and this time the smell of success was in the air, along with rain and snow and sleet....

 

Kar!

 

TEAM SHIBBY!!!!

 

Krs, Kar & Na

[The Buzzard's]

Being skunked on a cache is a normal everyday event in this sport. I've gone on a few outings last year and so far this year looking for 3 DNF's and they are still DNF's. It gets very personal when you are skunked so many times, but we never give up. The remedy for this is to take kids with you...They seem to be able to find all that is lost.

As noted before, always try to take a printout of the cache with you, especially when you are searching in towns or near certain areas. During these times, many people call in suspicious activities.

Just remember: "If you give up, you have been beaten and no one likes to be a loser all of the time".

 

The Buzzard's: ZiggyStardust