Any other GeoCachers here?

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Everything Offends Me
Hey y'all. I have been geocaching for a little over 3 years now, and it occurred to me that this could be a fun thing to do while flying. Anyone here geocache, and if so, anyone fly to the caches?

If you don't know what it is, check out http://www.geocaching.com
 
Liz and myself geocache when we get the chance, and I've mentioned to her that I'd like to fly out to some places where there's some nice caches... but so far no go.

We're "MINI Motoring Geocachers" on the geocaching website.
 
Thank goodness I'm not the only 'nerd' out there. :yes:

A lady/girl that my wife works with mentioned geocaching at a meeting and it sounded interesting, so we checked out the website when we got home. That afternoon we went to Scheel's to get a handheld GPS.

That was about 3 weeks ago. So far, we've only done 4-5 'hunts', but loved EVERY one of them. When my wife told the lady that we had started and that we also fly, she said "You'll be PERFECT for moving Travel Bugs!"

We're "TwoJoneses" on geocaching.com.

-Chris
 
SkyHog said:
Hey y'all. I have been geocaching for a little over 3 years now, and it occurred to me that this could be a fun thing to do while flying. Anyone here geocache, and if so, anyone fly to the caches?

If you don't know what it is, check out http://www.geocaching.com
Click to expand...

Could anyone reccomend an entry level GPS that would strictly be used for geocaching?

Thanks,

Purdue
 
Yes Purdue - I use a Sport Trak. They're really inexpensive now. I also have a Garmin E-Trex Vista. It is also slick and getting cheaper.

Both will work fine for entry level geocaching.
 
purdue1014 said:
Could anyone reccomend an entry level GPS that would strictly be used for geocaching?

Thanks,

Purdue
Click to expand...

We got the Garmin eTrex Legend at a sporting goods store for around $170 if I remember correctly. So far, on 4 'hunts', it has done everything we needed it to.

-Chris
 
bah you need at least a garmin 396 so you can tell when the bad weather is going to hit and you need to hide under that big tall tree... ;)

i have not geocached, but it sounds like fun, i can imagine flying and geocaching would be double the fun!
 
Wow, I didn't know that this was as popular as it is. I use my Magellan 315 (with aviation Database!) to do some geocaching. It was pretty fun, but my wife wasn't as excited about it as I was. We're still looking for a hobby we can do together.....

--Matt
 
About the cheapest you're going to find for strictly geocaching is a Garmin Geko. Simple design, will get you close. I've had better accuracy with the eTrex Legend.

If you want REAL accuracy though, get a GPSr with the highly sensitive SiRF chipset. Garmin's 60Cx/CSx series is perfect, though a little more expensive (still want one though, and will load it up with road maps for Liz to use while driving to clients).
 
Ok this sounds like fun. I am going to be driving by one in Puerto Rico “on the way to the airport” today and I was wondering what you leave behind. I did not read the complete site yet (yes I am working lol) but would like to see if I cold swap in PR. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob
 
rmciottijr said:
Ok this sounds like fun. I am going to be driving by one in Puerto Rico “on the way to the airport” today and I was wondering what you leave behind. I did not read the complete site yet (yes I am working lol) but would like to see if I cold swap in PR. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob
Click to expand...

Generally if you take something from the cache, you leave something else. Almost always it's not supposed to be something valuable. Just a little trinket or something. You don't have to take anything or leave anything either, you could always just sign the logbook and leave it at that. Either way you've left a lasting mark of your visit to that place :)

Hope you enjoy it!
 
rmciottijr said:
Ok this sounds like fun. I am going to be driving by one in Puerto Rico “on the way to the airport” today and I was wondering what you leave behind. I did not read the complete site yet (yes I am working lol) but would like to see if I cold swap in PR. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob
Click to expand...

William got your answer, but I wanted to point out - you'll see caches with "TNLN" or "TNLNSL." That's what it means when you don't take anything - Took Nothing, Left Nothing (Signed Log).
 
wbarnhill said:
If you want REAL accuracy though, get a GPSr with the highly sensitive SiRF chipset. Garmin's 60Cx/CSx series is perfect, though a little more expensive (still want one though, and will load it up with road maps for Liz to use while driving to clients).
Click to expand...
What estimated error are you getting? Any of the WAAS enabled units should get you pretty darn close. Of course, who knows how accurate the GPS was used by the person planting the cache.
 
Thanks guys. Some of those are a tad out of my price range. It looks like I am leaning towards an eTrex, either legend or venture.......

Thanks for your help!!
 
AirBaker said:
What estimated error are you getting? Any of the WAAS enabled units should get you pretty darn close. Of course, who knows how accurate the GPS was used by the person planting the cache.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if it is true, but I read some where today that the US WAAS bird is offline until September.........
 
AirBaker said:
What estimated error are you getting? Any of the WAAS enabled units should get you pretty darn close. Of course, who knows how accurate the GPS was used by the person planting the cache.
Click to expand...

Oh, I could nail a supposed 3ft on both an Etrex Legend and a 60 Cx, but if it starts to get overcast or I walk inside, the Legened will lose signal. The 60 Cx won't :)
 
SkyHog said:
Hey y'all. I have been geocaching for a little over 3 years now, and it occurred to me that this could be a fun thing to do while flying. Anyone here geocache, and if so, anyone fly to the caches?

If you don't know what it is, check out http://www.geocaching.com
Click to expand...

Yes and yes. My wife and daughter are more into it than I am but I often go along on the hunts. We've also looked for caches at airports (there aren't that many but maybe PoA'ers could fix that?) and have moved several travel bugs in our travels by airplane.
 
purdue1014 said:
I'm not sure if it is true, but I read some where today that the US WAAS bird is offline until September.........
Click to expand...

First, there are two. Second I'm pretty certain they are both up and running.
 
wbarnhill said:
Oh, I could nail a supposed 3ft on both an Etrex Legend and a 60 Cx, but if it starts to get overcast or I walk inside, the Legened will lose signal. The 60 Cx won't :)
Click to expand...

The estimated error on your GPS only relates to what's called "geometric dilution of precision". If it says the error is less than 3 ft this doesn't mean the indicated position is that accurate as there are many other factors that affect accuracy. One of them is multipath which is especially likely to occur if your view of the sky is obscured by trees or buildings which tend to be common around cache sites. Also there's a good chance that the listed location is fairly inaccurate so even if your GPS were accurate to within a few cm, it might take you exactly to somewhere a hundred feet from the actual cache.
 
Well all, I thought my first GeoCacher was going to be in PR I entered the Lon/Lat in to Google Earth and found the location (I didn’t have a GPS with me, is that cheating :dunno: ). When I got to the location I looked around from the car but did not see anything. I was not sure about going out and looking in the guys Mailbox like he said to. See my Spanish stinks and if got in to a situation where I needed to explain myself I could of ended up being dog food. So I thought I would IM (if I can) and let him know I am coming and if I could poke around. I know poking around is what this is all about and if it was in a park I would have but this is on this guy’s property so I passed.

I have one in my township not to far from my Mom’s house so I am going to find that one. It is in the woods and it is a public place so I won’t get shot :no:

Thanks,
Bob
 
rmciottijr said:
Well all, I thought my first GeoCacher was going to be in PR I entered the Lon/Lat in to Google Earth and found the location (I didn’t have a GPS with me, is that cheating :dunno: ). When I got to the location I looked around from the car but did not see anything. I was not sure about going out and looking in the guys Mailbox like he said to. See my Spanish stinks and if got in to a situation where I needed to explain myself I could of ended up being dog food. So I thought I would IM (if I can) and let him know I am coming and if I could poke around. I know poking around is what this is all about and if it was in a park I would have but this is on this guy’s property so I passed.

I have one in my township not to far from my Mom’s house so I am going to find that one. It is in the woods and it is a public place so I won’t get shot :no:

Thanks,
Bob
Click to expand...

The containers usually aren't out in the open, simply because they don't want muggles finding or destroying the cache. The GPSr really helps to make sure you're in the right area, and you're supposed to use the GPsr to lock in on it, so it's not cheating :)
 
lancefisher said:
The estimated error on your GPS only relates to what's called "geometric dilution of precision". If it says the error is less than 3 ft this doesn't mean the indicated position is that accurate as there are many other factors that affect accuracy. One of them is multipath which is especially likely to occur if your view of the sky is obscured by trees or buildings which tend to be common around cache sites. Also there's a good chance that the listed location is fairly inaccurate so even if your GPS were accurate to within a few cm, it might take you exactly to somewhere a hundred feet from the actual cache.
Click to expand...

Everything I've read on the SiRF receivers just makes me really think it's worth the extra cash. The more sats you have locked, the better your position accuracy, right? So if a SiRF based GPSr can lock 7 or 8 satellites and maintain the lock even indoors, where most other GPSrs hit around 4 or 5 outside, I say it's worth it.... :)
 
purdue1014 said:
I'm not sure if it is true, but I read some where today that the US WAAS bird is offline until September.........
Click to expand...
My 396 shows it using WAAS lately.
 
Gonna resurrect this thread...

Haven't done any finds in over a year (GPS was stolen last fall) but we got a new unit for Christmas (stupid Magellan eXplorist 200) so I've been surfing the geocaching.com website to find some new places to go.

Anyone else out there still caching?
 
CJones said:
Gonna resurrect this thread...

Haven't done any finds in over a year (GPS was stolen last fall) but we got a new unit for Christmas (stupid Magellan eXplorist 200) so I've been surfing the geocaching.com website to find some new places to go.

Anyone else out there still caching?
Click to expand...

Not for a year or so. I did see an advertisement recently for a GPS that had terrain contour maps and satellite images stored in the GPS. Seems like that would be ideal for geocaching.
 
lancefisher said:
Not for a year or so. I did see an advertisement recently for a GPS that had terrain contour maps and satellite images stored in the GPS. Seems like that would be ideal for geocaching.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. In my 'catching up', I've seen people d/l'ing topo maps onto their handhelds via SD cards or just direct connect to PC. Unfortunately, the Magellan we got for Christmas, while the price was perfect (free), it doesn't have any way to connect to a PC, so I have to manually input the Lat/Long for waypoints.
 
I've been wanting to get back into it, but I've been so busy lately. I should though, its great exercise.
 
Thanks for reminding me of this. I haven't doenthis for a awhile. For some reason, there's a lot of caches around Lincoln, NE....
 
tlglenn said:
Geocaching is one way of getting rid of expired charts :)
Click to expand...
As an aside, another way is to hold onto them until next year when we'll be doing the Girl Scout Badge Day again and send them to us for the girls!:yes:
 
gprellwitz said:
As an aside, another way is to hold onto them until next year when we'll be doing the Girl Scout Badge Day again and send them to us for the girls!:yes:
Click to expand...

This summer I asked MnDOT (who supplies each active pilot with a state chart each year for free) if they could provide a bunch of charts for a Girl Scout Jamboree activity and they sent a box of 300 current charts!
 
I used to do it up in Alaska. I like to hike and looking for caches gave me ideas for different areas to hike around.
 
I've gotta find my eTrex Legend C... and I wish the prices would come down on them.
 
My wife and I try to go on cache adventures at least once a month. We also make a point to find some caches whenever we travel. We use a Garmin 60CSx these days. It rocks for finding caches. It's brought us to a long list of amazing places which we never would've otherwise seen.
 

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Used to, but my wife won't go with me anymore since our Montana experience a couple years ago.

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure the bear isn't around. He looks like he finished it a long time ago."
 
I carry my GPS around with me on trips... Geocaching gives me an excuse to get out and walk on the overnights. Upgraded from a Magellan 315 to a Vista hCX and the reception is way better! Have also found myself on some rather entertaining treks with the FA's. :-)
 
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