My first Geocache!

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:17 pm

Well, I tried to find my first cache today. I'd like to say it was successful, but it wasn't. First mistake, I had just got my GPS barely an hour before so I didn't really know how to use it too well. Second mistake was selecting a "microcache" which in this case was a camouflaged pill bottle. The cache was rated 2.5 on a scale of 1-5. Definately NOT beginner stuff. Third mistake (and this was the biggie) was not making sure my 4 year old son had gone to the bathroom before we left! Well, needless to say, I never found the cache and 40 minutes into hunting for it, Kyle suddenly blurts out "Daddy, I gotta go BAD!" Well, it was one of those situations where a bush simply wouldn't do so I had to haul him out (the terrain was a 2.5 also) and make a fast run for home. Fortunately we live close by because we barely made it! In spite of our almost disastrous first try, I think I'm hooked on this Geocaching thing. We're going to go out again tomorrow and try again but this time, I picked a much easier one and I'm going to make sure of other, uh, "preparations" before we go.

Geocaching? I like It!

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:00 pm

Love that you tried it. I hope you did not start out on a microcache.

I started on them but, I would stay away from them until later. HJ has a bunch of hints to help make it a better family outing.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:39 pm

f9k9 wrote:Love that you tried it. I hope you did not start out on a microcache.

I started on them but, I would stay away from them until later. HJ has a bunch of hints to help make it a better family outing.

I did start out on a microcache but it wasn't really intentional. I had loaded the waypoints for several sites into my GPS and was trying to round up my son to go. In all the confusion, the GPS was all I remembered to bring. I forgot the map, the cell phone, even my wallet. I just "zeroed in" on the closest one to the house. It turned out to be a microcache. Oh well, live and learn!

I've got 2 more planned this week and Mrs Rusty even wants to go on one. We're looking into ways to combine camping trips with Geocaching. I'm sticking to the 1/1's for now. No more microcaches for a while!

Post by **HenryJ** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:24 pm

Start out with the traditional caches. It is much easier to find something the size of an ammo can, or tupperware.
Take the hints with you.
You are searching an area the size of a large living room. Don't forget to look up and down.
After a while you will get a "feel" for a good geocacher. The old joke in eastern Oregon is that if there is a pile of rocks near the coordinates, you will find the cache

It does take some practice, maybe take turns running the , or following the GPS.

Use the map mode at the highest resolution until you get within 30 -50 feet of the cache, then switch to the artificial horizon and distance from target to zero in.
Take your time and approach the coordinates from several directions if you are having problems.
Be sure to think about how someone might have approached it when hiding the cache. THEY DID NOT USE ROCK CLIMBING GEAR , OR A HELICOPTER! Use some common sense and your paper maps.
Draw a line from the population center to the cache. This is usually the direction to approach. Follow the roads as far as possible, I have hiked way over the mountian to find the road went around the other side to the top.

Most caches are only as difficult as we make them.

Look for some caches that are popular and skip the ones that have little feed back , or failed to find notes.

We like to say "Which direction do you want to go?" Someone picks (N. NW, W, SW, S, etc) Then I look up some caches within the time available , we toss in refreshments and go

It takes some effort to "Just do it" , but once out there you wonder why? It is well worth the time and life is fragile and way too short not to take the time

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:03 am

Thanks HJ! I know the one about climbing over the top versus the road that goes around! I was following the GPS literally off the trail without thinking that the trail wound around to the bottom of the hill. Kyle (and his stuffed tiger) and I ended up tumbling down this really steep hill and had to crawl through some pretty rough stuff at the bottom only to end up back on the trail again.

Learned that lesson well! We had a lot of fun though and can't wait to go out again. Like I said in the other post, I didn't really intend to go after a micro, it just sort of worked out that way. I have 2 traditional caches planned (both easy ones), and Sharon wants to go on one of them. I think we're hooked!

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:18 am

Another mistake I made (that has since been corrected) was not knowing how to load topo maps into the GPS. No fun when all you have is 2 dots, one for your position and the other your destination and no idea what is between the two (the steep hill we slid down)!

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:39 am

One more suggestion is if they have a "clue" that is scrambled, take the time to "decode" it. Most of the times it will help but, I have had a couple that made no sense what so ever.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:14 am

f9k9 wrote:One more suggestion is if they have a "clue" that is scrambled, take the time to "decode" it. Most of the times it will help but, I have had a couple that made no sense what so ever.

I tried that after I got back. Here is what it said: "Hollow of a tree. Feeling (not seeing) is believing." I figure from this that I have to stick my hand in the hollow of a tree and feel around for something. Well, there ain't no way I'm sticking my hand into a hole in a tree when I can't see what might be waiting for it! Something that might have sharp teeth!

I did see a couple of "hollow trees" nearby and I was probably closer to the cache than I realized. If I had heavy gloves and another half hour, I might actually have found it. I'm going to include a mechanic's mirror and flashlight in my pack for future trips.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:17 pm

FOUND ONE!!!

Found my first cache. It was a 1/1 so it wasn't too hard. There was a black snake about 4-5ft long that was "guarding" the spot but it didn't hang around and took off as soon as I got close. Only thing with the snake was that I didn't see where it went when it took off so I was a little nervous sticking my hands into the hiding spot to retrieve the cache!

I'm hooked!

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:58 pm

barch97 · Post by **barch97** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:52 am

Thanks for bringing this up, Rusty. I just looked and there's a few new caches in my area. With the weather finally improving maybe the barches will get out this weekend.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:46 am

barch97 wrote:Thanks for bringing this up, Rusty. I just looked and there's a few new caches in my area. With the weather finally improving maybe the barches will get out this weekend.

Well, I took Mrs Rusty and "Rusty Jr." out with me today. We had a very nice time. Made both a Geocache expedition and a family picnic out of it. Found 2 more today!

I also learned a valuable lesson: No matter what the GPS says about the location of a cache, if it's across a fence on private property, either the coordinates or the GPS HAS to be wrong. NEVER cross the fence!

Apparently, I was not the only one (by a long shot) but I was the one the owner caught and I got chewed out pretty good for it too! I don't blame him and I should have known better. I made sure to mention it in the log (on the website) and noticed others had the same problem.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:41 pm

Sorry for the bad experience but, you make a very good point!

I do not know about your GPS unit but, most are not accurate when you are not moving about 3 mph. Once you get down to 30-40 feet while moving I would suggest using a decent compass to continue the bearing you were on. Just make note of the bearing your GPS was on.

By "decent" I mean a bottom line Silva and not one that comes with a whistle at wallyworld

This Boy Scout one at under 15 bucks is plenty good enough.

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:56 pm

Don't forget that the coordinates are only as good as the unit and person who hid the cache.

You do have to use your head and not just blindly follow the GPS. I have passed up several caches that "Just didn't look good."

Make sure that when you decide to hide your first cache, take and mark several waypoints approached from different directions. Average them all for the best fix. If there is any interference in the area , leave good hints.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:40 pm

f9k9 wrote:Sorry for the bad experience but, you make a very good point!

I do not know about your GPS unit but, most are not accurate when you are not moving about 3 mph.

I may have gotten my feathers fried a bit on that one cache, but I'm not quiting. Even Mrs Rusty had fun on this trip and wants to do this again. I think she's hooked!

I have noticed that I have to keep up a brisk walking speed top keep the heading from dancing around. I did get a compass but haven't quite figured out how to use it yet, other than finding north. No, I was not a boy scout!

I really never learned to use a compass! I did buy both the "GPS for Dummies" (which does teach how to use compasses and maps) and "Geocaching for Dummies" books. Lots of really good stuff in them!

HenryJ wrote:Don't forget that the coordinates are only as good as the unit and person who hid the cache.

You do have to use your head and not just blindly follow the GPS. I have passed up several caches that "Just didn't look good."

The coordinates are also only as good as the person who programmed them into the GPS waypoints. I'm horrible at typing! So far I've done fairly well with the GPS and have learned not to just follow it (when I went over that hill on the first cache!) but going over that fence was just plain stupid on my part. I could tell at a glance it was private property and even if somebody did put the cache there, I should have passed on it and not gone over the fence. If there is a good side to it, I was able to put in the online log (at geocaching.com) info that will hopefully keep others from making the same mistake, without giving away the location! Ironically, the cache turned out to be right at my feet where I went over the fence.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 5:58 pm

Just another thought............no two GPS units are exactly alike. I don't care if they are the same make, model and made on wednesday. They are just like snowflakes and fingerprints

No two are the same.

I remember getting a lat/long on a "garden" from a military OH-58 helicopter (in a dead hover) with a 1/1000 of a minute reading and knew we were close. We wore the hillsides out looking for it and then I plugged the same lat/long into five different GPS units.

All five gave us different bearings and distances. We went out and pounded the hillsides some more and finally found it.

Compasses are useful, just don't worry about magnetic declinations and the such or you will get confused. Just think of 0 degrees as north, 90 as east 180 as south and so on.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:48 pm

From what I've read already, I figure there are just too many variables for a GPS to be dead on accurate. Operator error for one (me for a perfect example). On the one I found yesterday, my GPS (Magellan Meridian Platinum) said I was 2ft away from the cache and well, sure enough, I was 2 ft away! I'm sure it was just a fluke though! I figure the thing will get me close, anywhere between 30ft down to 10ft or so but after that, I put it aside and start hunting manually. I've learned that everything on the geocaching site regarding the cache can be a potential clue. Today was a good example. The web page of the cache mentioned X's and a line and it hit me that it was referring to barbed wire. Sure enough, it was right next to the fence, under some rocks! I love it!

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:17 pm

Rusty wrote:From what I've read already, I figure there are just too many variables for a GPS to be dead on accurate. Operator error for one (me for a perfect example). On the one I found yesterday, my GPS (Magellan Meridian Platinum) said I was 2ft away from the cache and well, sure enough, I was 2 ft away! I'm sure it was just a fluke though! I figure the thing will get me close, anywhere between 30ft down to 10ft or so but after that, I put it aside and start hunting manually. I've learned that everything on the geocaching site regarding the cache can be a potential clue. Today was a good example. The web page of the cache mentioned X's and a line and it hit me that it was referring to barbed wire. Sure enough, it was right next to the fence, under some rocks! I love it!

Sometimes the clues are to good to believe

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:04 pm

Rusty wrote:...I've learned that everything....can be a potential clue....

Now you are starting to think like a cacher!

Next problem will be when you are sitting at Mac's Lounge feeding on Happy meals to supply the caching bag, you look out the window and think...Hmmm that really looks like a good place to hide a cache

Steve2003 · Post by **Steve2003** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:33 pm

Hi this is Steve's wife Marsha. I come on here and read a lot of this stuff along with my husband and find a lot of it very interesting. This is particularly interesting to me, what is a cache and how does all this work? It sounds like a blast! What is it your are looking for and what is the object that you find? This sounds like something I would like to do with my husband and a possible

for spending more money

.
All this other stuff he still wants to do I don't know about, but this sounds like something worthwhile that might be something we can do this summer, now that skiing season is over

Can you guys tell me about the GPS stuff and the web site you were talking about?

Marsha

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:46 pm

Steve2003 wrote:... this sounds like something worthwhile that might be something we can do this summer...
Marsha

Hi , Marsha

"Marsha, Marsha, Marsha...It's always about Marsha!"

Sorry, I had a "Brady moment"

You need to check out Geocaching.com

Rusty started a thread here that may be of help: GPS , advice on what to get.

It is a wonderful family sport. They can be found anywhere, and everywhere. It gets you out of the house to explore places that others have found nice. Best of all it is done on your time schedule, night or day

Anything else I can do to help set the hook, just ask

Steve2003 · Post by **Steve2003** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:57 pm

HJ wrote:"Marsha, Marsha, Marsha...It's always about Marsha!" Sorry, I had a "Brady moment"

Do you know how much I get that? Especially since I have long blonde hair

I can relate to the Brady moment, grew up during that era! Sometimes I can see it on people's faces that they want to say it sooo bad that I just say "go ahead, say it, you'll feel better!" You got a good laugh out of me

Thanks a lot for the info and I will definitly be doing a lot of looking into how it all works, it sure sounds like a blast!!

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha always Marsha

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 4:44 am

Steve2003 wrote:Hi this is Steve's wife Marsha. I come on here and read a lot of this stuff along with my husband and find a lot of it very interesting. This is particularly interesting to me, what is a cache and how does all this work? It sounds like a blast! What is it your are looking for and what is the object that you find? This sounds like something I would like to do with my husband and a possible for spending more money .
All this other stuff he still wants to do I don't know about, but this sounds like something worthwhile that might be something we can do this summer, now that skiing season is over Can you guys tell me about the GPS stuff and the web site you were talking about?

Marsha

Hi Marsha. My wife gets on here a lot too. She even got her own ID and goes by Mrs_Rusty. I have to watch what I say now!

Sharon (aka Mrs_Rusty) went with us yesterday for her first geocache and loved it. She was all over the geocaching.com site last night looking for new places to go. She's totally hooked on it now which really surprised me because I didn't figure it would be something she would like. It started out with just my son and I but now it's a family thing!

If you and Steve like to get outdoors and explore, you will love Geocaching. Even if I never found a cache, I did find a really good playground close by I never knew was there (my son will be 5 in May) so there are lots of side benefits as well.

Gary.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Mon May 02, 2005 4:53 pm

Have got to tell this story and will be brief as possible.

Work at a 3 yr old federal courthouse so have stuff that is pretty high tech.

The guys working in "control" (has all the cameras and alarms and can control many of the cameras to PZT or pan tilt and Zoom to 18x) reports a "suspicious couple with a dog" next door at a bank (which has the DEA office on 3rd floor).

A young deputy US Marshall gets on the radio and is all excited wanting us to get a tag number if they get in a vehicle. He jumps in his official Crown Vic undercover rig (yeah, right

) and is directed to where the crew in control saw the female place a film canister.

I already know what is going on but, am kicking myself in the rear end for not looking for this cache before now. It is definitely an "after hours" cache and the site clearly warns of this

Spent three hours explaining geocaching to all involved.

He runs them down and they are from MI and he is thinking a drug deal

I guess I am a "Muggie" now

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Mon May 02, 2005 5:13 pm

Gotta love it!

I've been reading a lot of posts on the Geocaching forums and love reading stories like this. Some of the funnier stories are what the geocachers themselves run across while hunting in the woods. I don't think I need to say any more about some of them!

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Thu May 12, 2005 11:58 am

Since I named this topic "My First Geocache", seems a good place to write that after 16 finds, this is also "My LAST Geocache". Well, for the summer anyway!

I don't know what it's like out on the west coast, but here on the east coast, things get a bit overgrown in a fast hurry during the spring. Add Poison Ivy and Deer Ticks (Lyme disease anyone?) to that and I don't think anyone can blame me. The briars I can deal with.

Actually, I really enjoy Geocaching for the most part but I really think I'm going to make it a seasonal thing since the Ticks, Poison Ivy, Bees, Mosquitos, etc, tend to take the fun out of it for me. I hear a lot of others around this area are the same way. They only go out from late fall to early spring. Now I know why.

Post by **HenryJ** » Thu May 12, 2005 2:27 pm

Rusty wrote:... I'm going to make it a seasonal thing since the Ticks, Poison Ivy, Bees, Mosquitos, etc, tend to take the fun out of it for me....

Time to move to the urban caches

or do some research for some less risky caches

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:18 pm

Rusty wrote:.... but here on the east coast, things get a bit overgrown in a fast hurry during the spring. Add Poison Ivy and Deer Ticks (Lyme disease anyone?) to that and I don't think anyone can blame me. The briars I can deal with.

Actually, I really enjoy Geocaching for the most part but I really think I'm going to make it a seasonal thing since the Ticks, Poison Ivy, Bees, Mosquitos, etc, tend to take the fun out of it for me. I hear a lot of others around this area are the same way. They only go out from late fall to early spring. Now I know why.

Don't forget the copperheads, timber rattlers and the cliffs in the areas that I spent 20 years tromping around in from May - mid October looking for the devil weed

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:24 pm

HenryJ wrote:
Rusty wrote:... I'm going to make it a seasonal thing since the Ticks, Poison Ivy, Bees, Mosquitos, etc, tend to take the fun out of it for me....
Time to move to the urban caches or do some research for some less risky caches

,,,or at least find caches in parks that are better maintained than the last one! One problem with the "urban caches" is the traffic around here. The other drivers are more "risky" than the poison ivy is!

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:27 pm

f9k9 wrote:
Rusty wrote:.... but here on the east coast, things get a bit overgrown in a fast hurry during the spring. Add Poison Ivy and Deer Ticks (Lyme disease anyone?) to that and I don't think anyone can blame me. The briars I can deal with.

Actually, I really enjoy Geocaching for the most part but I really think I'm going to make it a seasonal thing since the Ticks, Poison Ivy, Bees, Mosquitos, etc, tend to take the fun out of it for me. I hear a lot of others around this area are the same way. They only go out from late fall to early spring. Now I know why.
Don't forget the copperheads, timber rattlers and the cliffs in the areas that I spent 20 years tromping around in from May - mid October looking for the devil weed

Oh, we have copperheads too. So far I haven't seen one though. At least not while geocaching. I did see something that looked a little like "devil weed" one one trek.