I Must Be The Worst!!!

[GlacierSki]

OK I just started getting into geocaching this past weekend-8/28/04- and I did pretty good finding just one cache. However the last two days I have gone to the same cache area and have not been able to find the stinking thing. I dunno if I am just an idiot or if the cache is really hard to find. I have been hunting it after work around 6:30 PM in a very dense woods. Most of the time I cant get a good signal and my GPS is sending me all over the place. I understand that the trees cause problems with my GPS and that I will be traveling a little, but this is like from one end to the other, no median whatsoever. so just if you guys could give me some helpful tips to geocaching or just speak your mind, that would be great.

- GlacierSki

[+Thot]

Pass on these and try the next on the list. Come back to them after you've found 10 caches. With experience you learn the patterns and how to find them. Also, some caches are just crossways with certain people. They try again and again to find caches everybody else says are easy. It's the nature of the game. Also, some micros are very hard even though micros are very freqiently marked one or one-and-a-half stars.

 

Move on.

Edited September 1, 2004 by Thot

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

When you get close and still have a good lock on the satellites, stop and look in the direction it is telling you and check the distance to go for an amount. Locate what appears at that distance and mark it mentally. Now do the same thing from a different direction. where the two distances meet is close to where the cache should be.

 

Good luck,

 

John

[+Spencersb]

Which cache is it (what's the name or the GCxxxx number)? Do other recent logs indicate that others have had trouble finding it? If it's just a reception problem, you might try standing on one spot for several minutes to let your GPSr settle down, or try to find a clearer view of the sky nearby and get a good vector on it, ie. it's 60 feet away bearing 271 deg, almost due west. Or for another example: your GPSr says you are standing at N35 14.603, W089 55.121, and the cache is supposed to be at N35 14.599 W089 55.120, so you know that it is just a little east and several feet south of where you are standing. At times like this, a good old fashioned compass helps!

[+Muirwoody]

Read the the recent logs. Have other people been finding it? Is there a hint on the page that you can decrypt? Keep Looking - if they were all easy it wouldn't be any fun! Don't forget to log those "did not finds" Good Luck!

[+Sputnik 57]

First, GS, welcome to the Recreational Activity/Sport/Hobby. It's always nice to have new people participate.

 

As for some good tips for getting started, I highly recommend:

 

Markwell's Update to [Geocache] FAQs

 

and

 

Geocacher University

 

There is a lot of other good info out there. Hang around in the forums (ignore the topics that are just gripes). You'll learn a lot.

 

There is nothing like experience to help you spot that certain something that seems out of place, leading you to that elusive cache.

 

Hang in there.

 

Sput

 

Edit: to add this link

Edited September 1, 2004 by Sputnik 57

[GlacierSki]

Thanks Thot, thats what I was gonna do, I just thought I would put that out there. It just bugs me that I cant find it, but I will come back to it.

 

Please post more replies.

 

GlacierSki

[+Thot]

It just bugs me that I cant find it, but I will come back to it.

Oh how I know -- drives me crazy. If I can't find one I put a watch on it to be sure others are finding it. Then go back again and again.

 

By bad luck, when I started I immediately ran into a string what I now know were hard ones. But, I’d had no positive record to keep me going. I got discouraged and almost quit after two or three weeks. Fortunately I kept going just a little longer and things improved a lot. I’ve gone back and cleaned ‘um all up except a couple that are too far away – finished the last one within range a week or so ago.

 

The other advice you got was excellent.

[+briansnat]

Don't be too dependent on your GPS. Remember, with your unit's margin of error and that of the hider's, the cache can be 20, 40, or 50+ feet from where your GPS is telling you it is. A common novice mistake is go to where their GPS says the cache is and concentrate their search there.

[GlacierSki]

Heres a dumb question that kinda relates to this topic: Should I attempt to hunt caches at night? I know if parks say they are closed dusk to dawn it night not be a good idea, but in open areas and regular woods should I hunt at night?

Your thoughts?

 

GlacierSki

[+Team FUBAR]

Heres a dumb question that kinda relates to this topic: Should I attempt to hunt caches at night? I know if parks say they are closed dusk to dawn it night not be a good idea, but in open areas and regular woods should I hunt at night?

Your thoughts?

 

GlacierSki

I prefer to cache at night. Just something about it I really like. I would recomend if your going to cache at night tho invest in a good quality flashlight. You don't have to go out and spend $150 on one like I did(my life depends on a good light while at work) but get a good one that has a good solid penetrating beam Like a surefire G2. You can pick one up at a shooting supply center or sorting goods store for qbout $35. It'll help light up everytihng in those dense woods. And a powerful beam means you can use it for emergency signaling if you get into trouble, or even as a self defence weapon by using it to blind someone if you need to while on the trail. I would also recomend getting a blue filter for that light. It won't kill your night vision so you can still switch your light on and off and walk the trail by the moon light. Also make sure you mark your vehicle when you night cache. Even for experianced outdoorsman it's easy to get turned around and loose your bearing in the woods. Especially when your hunting for a cache. Just use common sense, and keep an extra eye open while caching at night. Also make sure you tell someone where you'l be going.

Cache you on the trail. Enjoy

[+Team Shibby]

Try to not follow the GPS till it goes down to single digits, your gps is giving you an "estimated" position, so you could be anywhere in the radius of that error. Combine that with the error in the hiders GPS and like BrianSnat mentioned, you could be looking way, way off!!

 

Heres what I do: I follow my GPS till I get about 150' away and I stop for about 30 seconds and let my GPS settle down. Then, I continue forward till I get down to 20' and I begin looking for the cache. This works a good 90% or more

 

Kar of TS!!

[virgo91967]

Use the 'Where would I hide...' mindset.. works for me 90% of the time

 

Be Persistant when possible ( excluding road trips n such) keep slugging away at it.

 

There will be caches that almost jump at ya and there will be some that will make you think youve lost your mind:(GCGBTJ - Commodore Confounder took me 8 trips. Some logged , some not)

 

And being a cacher that marches to a different set of coords (UTM! UTM!), I make certain to jot down the posted coords, or bring a print out ( use your PDA if you wish). Once I hit 'ground zero' (within about 50ft on my maggie 310) I play the 'match the coords' game. If the original coords were shot true, matching UTM coords well often get me to within 3 feet of the cache. O course that doesnt mean I'll find it anyway.. but it does help and beats chasing that frillin' arrow

[+The Leprechauns]

Let me know what cache it is that's giving you fits, either by posting here or by sending me a forum private message or an e-mail through my profile page. Although I won't tell you that it is hidden in the hollow stump on the west side of the trail, I will let you know if the coordinates on that cache are said to be "off," or if it is a particularly difficult hide. Generally it is best to start off with caches rated 1/1 and then work your way up to the more difficult ones. But there is one very prolific hider in your home area who rated nearly all of their early (2001-2002) hides as 1/1. They just didn't know any better, as the rating system we used now was not in widespread use at the time.

[+SixDogTeam]

Put fresh batteries in your GPSr. If you lose your signal in the canopy, go to a place where the sun shines on your GPSr, to reaquire the signal, then haul a** to the cache site.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Yeah, I'm with those who say skip this one and come back to it later. Particularly this early in your career.

 

So far, the cache that has given me the hardest time was really very easy, a true 1/1 in hindsight. And my GPS got me closer than it sometimes does. But it took me three trips at nearly an hour each, poking around within 30' of the thing. It was under a rock, but there were a thousand rocks and tree stumps and hidey holes, and a useless clue. And I was just cursed on that one.

 

Go knock off some easy ones. Make yourself feel better. And don't be surprised if the easy ones sometimes aren't all that easy.

[+briansnat]

Heres what I do: I follow my GPS till I get about 150' away and I stop for about 30 seconds and let my GPS settle down. Then, I continue forward till I get down to 20' and I begin looking for the cache.

 

What I do is wait until my GPS says about 50 feet, then I put it down and start looking around for the cache. First I look for the obvious like an unnatural looking pile of sticks or rocks, then large hollow trees and rock crevices and underneath down logs. If I'm unuccessful I'll pick up my GPS and start walking and see if the distance changes for the better or worse. I'll try to get down to 15, or 20 feet and concentrate my search there, then widen it.

 

After I've checked the obvious spots and come up empty, I'll start looking in the less likely spots, or for a uniquely camoflaged, or hidden cache. This includes looking for fake rocks and stumps and up in trees to see if the cache is above ground.

[BassoonPilot]

If your gps has a built in compass, turn it off after your initial scan of the area. The directional arrow on most GPSs will point towards the coordinates as long as you are moving. Or you could simply "follow the numbers."

 

I like BrianSnat's suggestions, but if you do literally "put down" your gps to allow it to stabilize, don't forget where you placed it.

[+briansnat]

I like BrianSnat's suggestions, but if you do literally "put down" your gps to allow it to stabilize, don't forget where you placed it. :blink

Thats a biggie. I once spent a panicked hour searching for my grey Vista that I put down on a hillside of grey boulders. Now I usually put my pack and hiking pole down alongside my GPS.

[+PeachyPA]

There was one micro cache at a rest area just less than 15 miles from me that I had to return to FIVE times in order to find it. Most of the time there were folks around where I needed to look; but, still, it took a time when there was no one there, leaving the GPS sit and find its location and thinking about where it might be. Also, I have gotten into the habit of using the lat/long lines on my unit to get me closer to the cache. On one cache, I had a borrowed unit (before I received my own). I didn't know how to program it, but it did show lat/long. So we bushwhacked off the trail once we neared the cache; I placed the unit on a log when it said the exact coordinates that the cache page gave. The box was under that log! But, like the others have said, go and do other caches in the mean time. Maybe you can get a feel for this particular hider's method and return to be successful.

[+evergreenhiker!]

check the hints if the page has it. Caches in woods might have bad coords...40 or more feet off if the placer didn't take his/her time in getting them. REad prior logs...often they'll help out. Sometimes prior finders will post their coords.

 

Look for parallel sticks, stumps, and/or ask yourself if I was hte hider, where would I hide this thing.

 

A fellow cacher I know says she starts hunting 100 ft away for boxes and she's got over 1900 finds.