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Flash Intro-"Geocaching"
6 minute Movie-"Searching for a cache"
Basic Info
- Buy or borrow a Global Positioning System receiver. A basic unit is the Garmin eTrex GPS or Magellan GPS 315. Both cost about $100 and can be found at stores such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy or online at http://www.amazon.com
- Find a cache near you at <http://www.geocaching.com> Enter a ZIP code and the site will list nearby caches. Select a cache, such as "Geocache by Ray" or "Arboretum One" and click on its "details" button. Write down the cache's coordinates and print out the description. Use the online mapping site link at the bottom of the page to get driving directions to the location.
- While still at home, enter into your GPS receiver the coordinates of the cache as they are listed on the Web site. Coordinates -- such as N 39 degrees 24.661; W degrees 094 14.86 -- describe the latitude and longitude of the site.
- Follow the driving directions until you can drive no closer to the cache and park your car. Follow the arrow on your GPS receiver as it leads you to the cache. Be aware that heavy tree cover can block the GPS signal. Once you leave your car, it could take anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes to find the cache.
- The GPS signal will fluctuate once you are within 100 feet of the cache, so from that point on, you're on your own. Check around stumps and under rock and leaf piles. Remember that almost all caches are placed above ground, so no digging!
- Congratulations! You've found the cache. Take an item, leave an item and record your experience in the logbook. Reseal the cache and put it back exactly the way you found it.
When you get home, e-mail the person who hid the cache and let him know you found it. Also, post a description of your experience on the cache's online page at <http://www.geocaching.com>
Have Fun !GPS info ... Minnesota Geocaching Association ... Geocaching videos
Attachment: etrex.jpg
But, would you know which way is north if lost in the woods?
yes you would...
Kitch, you have the same software I have?
yes
I'm glad these guys talked me into getting a GPS. I will not go anywhere without it.
Okay, going to talk to hubby about this. Maybe he will agree that this is one gadget we can't do without. Thanks for all the help.
OTS, might be a good idea to turn the compass off when you don't need it, those electronic compasses suck down battery juice pretty quick. I found I rarely used mine anyway.
Yeah I noticed that. Plus the thing really doesn't have a purpose for what I'm using the unit for.
I gotta try the one on my new cell phone. I'm not hoping for much. But at least I'd have it with me at all times anyway.
GeoJoe!
[Edited 2 times. Most recently by on Feb 8, 2005 at 11:58pm.]
Hey Kitch, are you still collecting geocoins?
North Carolina is selling one (payment by check), I've also talked to a geocacher in Georgia, they're having one minted, but it's being pre-released to members of the association there (hopefully having an in there will help me aquire one now though). Here's the link for the NC coins.
http://www.ncgeocachers.com/geocoins.html
thanks.....
I'm staying in here awhile. It's safe ... I hope.
Got a helmet?
At least geocaching is pretty tame..
*sets up camp*
If you only knew....
hay...we are a clique....
who's that?
Ian, Kcorgn, Mucky, diggin' 4 it, towlebooth, OTiS, you want in???
Â
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**fuel on the fire???
don't forget CM, course he hasn't found a cache in a while..
Hasn't logged one in awhile you mean. I'm a lazy bastard when it comes to that. ;-(
lol hey that's right, I don't think you ever logged failin at phalen, though I'm pretty sure ya found it. Oh well, you're still a geocacher, and thanks for gettin me hooked on it.
No prob - I'm glad to see you took it and ran with it. Damn!! You're fast too!
clique... Do you know how many people I hunted and hung with this year?
I was all over the place.... ASK CM.. he has pics of the aftermath
haha - I was wondering if you minded if I posted that.
Hell man.. it's all on the table... go with the goods....
All of you just know.... I carry a camera all the time!@
Good point.Â
"What picture of OTiS could you be possibly talking about? I don't know anything"
Carry on.
Whew, that was close - we good now ;-)
[Edited by on Feb 10, 2005 at 02:40pm.]
LOL..
lol forget it I'm clueless anyway. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, actually usually it is in my case.
so what's with this new type of virtual: count the number of bridges and boulders? lame
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e2ea16d7-65ec-48fb-87af-082b9614c1b5
[Edited by on Feb 10, 2005 at 03:38pm.]
hmm another virtual on pike island. it's a shame that didn't come up last week.. yeah earth caches are odd, but I'd like to do one for the icon. I doubt they'll ever be terribly popular.
is this the area where the riverboat captn sees you??
I'm thinkin I'll head out there Satruday sometime to get it. If anyone else is game that's cool.
Wow, Way Cool!
I can't wait to do that one,I hike Pkie Island all the time and have seen the sign but can't remember the word on it...darn memory, I'm getting old!
NO
I'm going to take my youngest out today. Seems one of Ians caches are out near my place.
http://websports.8m.com/HTML/advice.html
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Some Free Advice From King Boreas
We never go into the woods without some of the gear listed below (the amount is based on how far into the woods we are going, and how long we plan on being gone, but our backpack contains
 the following:
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Tell someone where you are going and a "panic-by" time (or date), after which they can alert somebody to come and look for you.
Most authorities will tell you that if you are lost, you should sit down, and wait for someone to come and find/rescue you. We think that is pretty good advice in many cases, but...
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If you take a minute or so before you head out to look at the map you have of the area you will be exploring, you will often find a barrier in one direction (N,S,E,W...this assumes you have a GPS unit or compass) that extends for miles (making it difficult to miss. This barrier could be a road, a stream, railroad tracks, a power line, or something similar. Fix the direction of your "escape route" in your head, and also think about whether you will turn left or right once you reach the "escape route". A couple of minutes spent on this before you go out in the woods can save you a miserable time once you get lost.
Wait a second...can't I find the "escape route" by using my map once I am lost, you ask?
Don't plan on your brain working at peak efficiency when you realize you are lost, take the time ahead of time, I answer.
Statistics show that people who take these kinds of precautions are not the same people who generally wind up getting lost in the first place.
Another freebie gained through forehead-slapping experience...start you GPS unit when you park your car, and set the parking spot as a waypoint...that way, if you get lost or just decide to quit for the day, you can easily find your way back to your ride home.
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like the premade cache thing. Was out caching with zoejam72 and brjzn and we ended up placing a cache in this little residential park, just cause we happened to drive by and noticed it didn't have a cache. Neighbors gave us some weird looks. lol
Anyone else see this out at Mr.E?
What is that?
It's strange....
JOE?
An old concrete Frog. Perhaps an ancestor to the frog pond frog? It was stuck in the tree, which grew around it.
Weird
I don't recall seeing it...but darn it was cold that day..
Stoned Frog?
This is the wrong thread for that stuff Korn ;-)
[Edited by on Feb 13, 2005 at 07:47pm.]
Funny thing was it didn't look like a frog on the other side of the tree, more like a chunk of cement. Went around the other side and there it was. Too bad it's all the way over in Minnetonka, it'd make a wonderful spot for the medallion to end up at.
What's red and green and goes 175 miles an hour? A frog in a blender.
What do you get if you add milk? Frog nog!
What happens if you drink frog nog? You Croak!
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a3fb2324-8b9d-4516-8955-4d11b0d8853b
Yeah it's too close. Those trains were making an awful racket at the cache site.
After last year's mock hunt, I tried HARD to put a cache in that area. Couldn't get it anywhere I liked.
I'm thinking the only thing that would work in marydale is a micro, there's not a lot of area for a bigger sized cache. I'm guessin that one might get archived, kinda why I nabbed it tonight, plus I was kinda curious as to how close it actually was.
Which side of the "trail" ~ train side or lake side?
Train Side. If I measure from the cache to the picnic table, it's about 50 feet, and the cache was almost in between the table and the tracks.
OK.
Jake and I are going 'caching on Monday
I don't know how many we'll do, or where, but I know the first is this one:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c7c9ef9a-c3fd-4a46-ae0e-5fe0533d3a40
Anybody else in? OTiS? Clue Master? KC0GRN ? me2 ? mucluck ? Anybody?
[Edited by on Feb 17, 2005 at 10:36pm.]