Finding A Cache Away From Home

[hide & seekers]

Over Memorial Day my husband and I will be travelling a couple of states away. I'm still pretty new at this, but I'd like to incorporate geo-caching into our mini-vacation. How do I go about finding a cache? Do I try to get the address of where I'll be or where I think I'll be and go from there? Is there a different way to search the database of caches other than using a zip code? Thanks for the help.

[+Milbank]

Hello and Welcome,

 

Advance Search

[+Chuy!]

Over Memorial Day my husband and I will be travelling a couple of states away.  I'm still pretty new at this, but I'd like to incorporate geo-caching into our mini-vacation.  How do I go about finding a cache?  Do I try to get the address of where I'll be or where I think I'll be and go from there?  Is there a different way to search the database of caches other than using a zip code?  Thanks for the help.

If you were a premium member, a pocket query would help alot by downloading caches near your destination(s) and filtering out caches by various parameters (e.g. active caches, puzzles, multis, size, etc...)

 

Still no problem. Pick any cache near your destination, then click the link, "find all nearby caches". You will get a list of the 20 closest caches. From this page I find the following info useful: size of the cache; type of cache (puzzle, multi, virtual, etc...); the date it was place; the date it was found; and, if it's archived/temp down (the title will be striked through).

 

On the far right, you will see checkboxes. Check the boxes of the caches you want to download and hit the download link. It will save all the caches you checked as .loc files. Go back to the webpage and go to page 2 to continue reviewing and downloading caches. Remember to change the name or you will be erasing the previously downloaded .loc file.

 

Now, you need software to view the .loc files. The two popular programs are EasyGPS and GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife). Since you are a beginner, I recommend EasyGPS; it is much more user friendly. And both are free!

 

A beauty of using the software is you will be able to print a copy of the caches you downloaded. I used to include a short hint on the comment line for each cache, so when I printed a list, I could refer to the hint if I needed to. It also helps to print in landscape. I still use EasyGPS but I don't print out lists 'cause my new Garmin 60CS downloads waypoints with the hint; yee haw.

 

Another way to download caches is to click on the "Geocaching.com Maps" link on any cache webpage, then click on "identify" and you will get a similar list of caches as mentioned above. The downside is the webpage takes a little longer to download if you are on dial-up. And you can't zoom out or move the map unless you are a premium member.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited May 23, 2005 by Chuy

[uber_bike_geek]

Chuy has said pretty much everything- I will comment, however, that GSAK is technically free, but after 21 days, nag screens start coming up- it is a great program, if you decide to continue using it, you really should pay- the creator, Clyde, is a great guy, very responsive to feature requests and/or complaints- see the most recent GSAK thread in the "GPS Units and Software" section and you'll see what I mean

 

Happy caching

Jeff

[+BigFurryMonster]

A beauty of using the software is you will be able to print a copy of the caches you downloaded.

 

You mean you have to go back to geocaching.com and print from the browser, don't you?

 

my new Garmin 60CS downloads waypoints with the hint

 

You mean you can upload the cache coordinates to your Garmin, right? Where do the hints go, then?

[+Markwell]

A beauty of using the software is you will be able to print a copy of the caches you downloaded.

 

You mean you have to go back to geocaching.com and print from the browser, don't you?

Well - no. GSAK will print the cache pages (or a good mock up of them), but the info will be stale. However you can go directly to the cache page and display the live one in GSAK and print from there. Edited May 24, 2005 by Markwell

[+Chuy!]

A beauty of using the software is you will be able to print a copy of the caches you downloaded.

You mean you have to go back to geocaching.com and print from the browser, don't you?

 

No, you print from the software.

 

 

my new Garmin 60CS downloads waypoints with the hint

You mean you can upload the cache coordinates to your Garmin, right? Where do the hints go, then?

The Garmin Map60cs has a dedicated section for hints. But I believe you have to upload with the unfound caching icon. 30 characters, I believe, uploads with each waypoint directly from the comments section in the software, but you have to manually enter the hint in the Comments section for each waypoint. Email me for more info.

[+MaritimeFox]

When I'm away from home, I just use my WAP enabled mobile phone, submit coordinates (from your GPS) and it lists nearby caches.

 

If you can't use your phone, you can use sites like http://www.multimap.com and find the place where you are going. Then you'll see the coordinates and can find nearby caches from geocaching.com by coordinates.

Edited May 25, 2005 by obc

[+Night Stalker]

Before I was a premium member I would arrive at a new place, turn on my GPS and gett the coordinates then enter those in the hide and seek page. I didn't have a printer so I would hand copy the waypoint, coordinates and clue onto a piece of paper and go caching. This was not the easiest way and made caching a lot slower, but it worked.

 

[hide & seekers]

Thanks for the help. I'm not quite ready to dive into downloading anything. I'm still learning how to use the GPS without any extras -- anything more might confuse me!

I was able to look up the zip code of our campground and was able to find several within just a few miles. Hope to find a few!