What Gets You Started?

[+Muddler]

I am relitively new to GeoCaching (January '05) and KC7LFG and I were talking the other day and we got wondering how everone else gets ready to make a cache run. What sort of plans do you make, and how far in advance do you start? Do you pick one to start the day and pick the next when you find the first one or do you plan the route between several cache sites in advance? Do you do the research on each cache and read about all of the ones you plan to visit several days in advance or the night before you go, or is it more free form and plan as you go? Do you put yourself on a timetable, and allow only so much time at a cache site before you call a DNF and move on to the next site on your list? What KC7LFG and I were wondering I guess is what works best for the other cachers out there?

 

Muddler

[+briansnat]

I have the closest 700 waypoints on my GPS and the pages for them on my PDA. About a third of my geocacaching finds come as "caches of opportunity", where I happen to be in an area for one reason or another and I flick on my GPS to see what's close.

 

About another 1/3 of my finds come when I'm targeting a specific cache. It might be something on my "to do" list, or one that pops up that I know will be good judging from the owner. Those are easy because I just select the waypoint, hit Go To and I'm on my way.

 

The final third come while I'm hiking. I'll select an area that has a cluster (usually between 3 and 10) of caches. I'll plot the caches on National Geographic Topo!, then consult a trail map of the area and decide how to best approach the caches and what order to do them in.

[+tirediron]

My methods are similar to Brian's. I also check out my PQs each time they run, and if I see a new 'cache pop up, I will try and make a dash for it.

[+Muddler]

Brian:

 

I am not familiar with the Nat.Geo. software, but with DeLorme TOPO you can let the software create a route by selecting a start piont (current location), several "via" points (caches in between start and finish), and a finish piont (maybe back at the house or Hardees for lunch) and the software will create a route based on the quichest, shortest or severl other options. Its pretty cool! We have been using it hooked up to the LapTop in the truck, to keep us on track so we do not miss turns and have to backtrack as much. Before we started using the combo we spent a lot of time going in circles. Be aware though that the software can try to take you down roads that do not exist, or can miss a shorter route because it is not aware the there may be a new road in the area. But when you are new to the area it really can help get you close to the cache most of the time.

 

muddler

[+briansnat]

but with DeLorme TOPO you can let the software create a route by selecting a start piont (current location), several "via" points (caches in between start and finish), and a finish piont (maybe back at the house or Hardees for lunch) and the software will create a route based on the quichest, shortest or severl other options.

 

NG Topo can also create routes, but because they don't necessarily follow the hiking trails, its not of much use to me. Going in a straight line between caches is often the most difficult route.

 

For road routing I just use City Select on my GPS.

Edited March 26, 2005 by briansnat

[+Muddler]

For the caches I have done so far using the TOPO software, it will use the trails, unimproved roads or what ever it has to create the route if they are shown on the topo of the area. You can even create trails and the software will use them to create a route.

 

Muddler

[+Boot Group]

We usually pick an area that we want to find geocaches in the night before going out. Typically, we are "weekend" geocachers, so we pick a place that we want to go for a day. Then, I enter the zipcode, and start looking over the caches available in that area. Once I find one that looks like a good start for the day, I click on "nearest caches" from that cache. Then, I'll print a bunch of cache pages from that starting point. I usually bring way more than we could possibly do in a day, so we have options. I tend to read each cache page thoroughly, including what all the other geocachers have said about it. I enjoy reading what the others have said, and I like to see who has been there before us. Then, I enter all the waypoints, including parking waypoints. This may not be the quickest way, but I enjoy the time spent "researching" each cache and area before I head out.

[+hb'sbear04]

Gosh, I've already learned one thing and been reminded of another, just reading through these entries! Yippee! We've been looking for a routing software - I'm going to check out the DeLorme - thanks! The second thing was the clicking on nearest caches - I always forget about that button.

 

We're also weekend cachers and start by figuring out where we'd like to spend the day. Then I pull the zip code and read through the caches. I do most of the pulling and just recently figured out the downloading straight to the GPSr, as opposed to manually entering waypoints. I always entered them manually because it gave me something to do on the ride. :-) Gotta say letting the computer work for you is nicer than I thought it would be originally, plus you know the coords are in right.

 

I usually pull way more than we can possibly do, so we can all talk about them on the way over. I have gotten to where I map them and print the map page so we can get a better idea of where they all are in relation to each other. Then we usually start with the furthest out cache and start working our way back to the house.

[+Muddler]

So far we have picked a general direction where we can visit a number of caches in some sort of loop. Since we are starting out here in Lower Alabama (LA) there a number of areas we can go and have groups of caches to select from when making a circuit. We pick one in a general direction and kind of go form there. We have all of the waypoints loaded onto the Laptop and display them on Delorme's Topo software. This lets us select the next waypoint from each location and the software with the GPS connected to the Laptop will show us the route to the next site.

 

Muddler

[+robert]

We were talking about this on our site just the other day. My preference? Load the GPX file to the GPS and PDA, get in the car, turn it on, and ask questions later. That's the extent of my planning. I don't spend much time looking at cache listings, new caches, etc. I just go out at it for the fun, and only a few times have I not had any. Each time was when the caches were placed in spots that I couldn't figure out why I brought there. I don't mind a few lamp posts, but caches behind office buildings on the other hand....

[aquarose]

We have also started using DeLorme on our laptop when we go out. We do most of our caching on the weekends so we decide which ones look interesting to us and we use those to plan a route with Street Atlas.

[+Kai Team]

Being mostly weekend cachers, each Friday we receive a fresh Pocket Query from gc.com with the 500 caches that are closest to our home coordinates. On Friday night or Saturday morning I run a one click Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) macro that:

• Imports the latest pocket query into the GSAK database (updates all existing caches and adds the new ones)
  
• Filters it according to my pre-set "available" criteria (not found by us, not archived/unavailable, not an event or locationless cache, etc)
  
• Exports the resulting caches to my GPSr, MapSource MetroGuide, NG TOPO!, and Cachemate on my PDA (we have GSAK set so that the cache name in each export is the gc.com code minus the "GC" prefix, plus one character each for the cache type, difficulty and terrain rating, which gives us a lot of info at a glance on the maps and the GPSr!).
  

My wife and I then look at the MapSource map to pick an area we feel like going that has at least a few caches, then we look at those caches in the GSAK off-line view to see if they're what we're in the mood for, and, if getting to them might be a challenge, we look at them in NG TOPO!. We set the user flag for the ones we want to seek, then export just those caches to a MapSource file to decide on the order we want to do them (we also print that map - we've found it's handy to bring a paper map with the caches and an overview of the area if we want to be more spontaneous once we're out and about).

 

It's sounds a lot more time consuming than it is - everything up to the point where we start reviewing caches takes less than 5 minutes. Then we spend 15-30 minutes reviewing caches and deciding where to go. Since everything is loaded on the GPSr and the PDA, we get up Saturday morning, grab the map of the caches we want to seek, and head out for a fruitful day of caching!

 

PS - we use the same process when we're caching in an unfamiliar area - e.g. on vacation - by generating a unique pocket query for that area, and doing the research in advance, since we don't own a laptop!

[CamoCachers]

well me and the girlfriend are just starting. but so far its just been, hey wanna go do a few caches before i go to work. or on a day off well plan to go all day. and well just wake up and leave.

 

as far as what caches to do, we dont really plan specific ones. although there may be a few "wanna dos" well give special priority to.

 

we keep track of it a lil less high tech then some ive read. instead of a pda, i simply write them all down in a lil notebook. i started at 001 and went from there. 1 page for each cache and each page number correlates to the page number. on the page ill write the name, coordinatesas, what kind of container its in, and the clue. when we find them, well delete the entry in the gps so we dont repeat the search. and rip the page out of the notebook. which gives us a handy list of the caches we found for the day when we come home to enter our find here .

 

so far its worked great. i have almost 200 of the closest caches done like this. and im adding more in my spare time.

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

I guess I'm similar in a lot of ways to most of the other responses. I get my weekly PQ on Thursday (I'm cache a lot on Fridays). I then use GSAK to export the Pq into TOPO USA, my GPSr, and PDA (Cachemate). I look at the TOPO USA map and look for areas that I might go to. Often times, there may be a puzzle cache that I want to work towards. Lately, using my 60CS, I've just started at a handpicked cache and then do the next closest, ending up where-ever. Once I'm out at the first cache, before driving to the next cache, I check the PDA (Tungsten T5) and read about the next cache. I normally go to the past logs page and insure that the cache hasn't gone missing. Then off to the next cache. Since my GPSr will display maps, I use the map screen to view the routes to the next cache. I haven't gone so far as to use the auto-routing feature yet.. Bottom line, Find what works for you.

[+Muddler]

Wow, so many great ideas and new thing to try. I have seen several that I will incorporate into my cache hunts. I am kind of free form and only do minimal planning usually on Friday night. I use the PQs., load them to GSAK and then export to Delorme Topo after filtering for area and archived caches. I cache with the family, both my wife and daughter are getting into the fun. My daughter is soon to graduating from Auburn University's Vet school and she likes to go caching to get out and away from the pressure of school. There a good number of caches near Auburn, Alabama. She is currently down in Florida doing the final phase of her training and she got a Sporttrac Pro to do a little caching on her own. I usually plan a few caches whenever we travel. We have started to use the Laptop in the car when we travel and look for caches as we drive and have hit several along the road between Home and Auburn, and Birmingham where our son lives. It makes for a slow trip but the trips are a lot more interesting. It usually looks like some kind of fire drill when we pull into the parking area near a cache.

 

Muddler

[+WARedBear]

It all depends on the caching trip as to how I plan for it.

 

Out of town trip. A few weekends ago we took a day trip across N. Idaho. I looked at all the caches along the I-90 since I didn't want to waste a lot of time looking for caches. I looked at each cache page and printed out (I don't have a PDA yet) those caches I wanted to hit. I then planned the stops for the east bound caches first and the west bound ones for the return trip. We were able to hit 11 caches that way.

 

Caching a certain area. About a month ago a fellow cacher was in town and wanted me to go as a guide. I headed for cache rich areas so we could get the biggest bang for our buck. I routed a trip through two areas with a lot of caches. Patudles was limited on time but we still were able to find 10 caches with ease. In both of these cases I would not include multi caches or caches with high difficult/terrain ratings since I am looking for fast caches. When I am caching by myself and have the time then I will include the multis and higher rated ones.

 

The most important key to any trip is to check the cache page the day before to make sure the cache is still active. I can't tell you how many trips I have made that ended in a DNF only to find out the cache was archived. The other thing I do is read down through 5-10 logs to see what people are saying about the cache. How many DNF are logged...a lot of DNF would not make my fast/easy list. They also can give a hint that might be needed once I get in the field.