Anyone going Geocaching this weekend? **NEW CACHERS...POP IN!**

[Pin Wizard]

Had to share this from our Yahoo board. Too adorable!

Merry Christmas to all fellow cachers! I came across this poem
written by another cacher in NY and wanted to share it....

Twas the month before Christmas, and all through the park, not a
cacher was stirring, because it was too dark.
The caches were hid in the logs and the trees, In hopes of a first to
find before it got zero degrees.
The cachers were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of
first to finds danced in their heads.
And mama in her kerchief and I in my cap, Had just put away the GPS
for our evening nap.
When on the computer there arose some new chatter, I sprang from the
bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the keyboard I flew like a flash, Refreshed my unfound page
to find a new cache.
Away I went, now walking in fresh fallen snow, No footprints to
follow, making it harder, you know.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a tree decked out
in ornaments and holiday cheer!
The cache...how it shined! The ornaments...merry! I hung a white jeep
bug on the tree that I just happened to carry!
Standing back, I admired the tree with a bow, And the body of the
jeep was as white as the snow.
I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work, Signed the logbook,
hung an ornament then turned with a smirk.
Had a nice walk back on this beautiful day, Back to work I had to go,
I'm sorry to say.
Thanks for the find! I said with a whistle, 'Cause it was a Tazwalker
cache with not a thorn or a thistle.
And then I exclaimed as I drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night"!

 

[MiJo]

Sandy,
Thanks for the poem! That's pretty neat.
Most of the new models of GPSr have a compass page that shows the direction to the cache using a compass and arrow. Many also have an alert that comes up when you are near the cache (100 feet, 200 feet, etc.). These units are really not that expensive. The Garmin Geko 110 starts around $99; the Garmin Legend and the Magellan eXplorist 210 (ours) run around $160 or so. The Geko 110 does not allow waypoints to be downloaded, though. Of course, I can understand concern with any purchase. There were many years that we went without because our budget couldn't take any unnecessary purchases. Even today, it took us a while to decide if we really wanted to upgrade our GPSr. When our old 310 went on the blink, that helped us decide to upgrade!
That's weird about some of the things that happen with caches near you. Around here, we do have cachers who "adopt" caches in need of maintenance and fix them up. Other than those that were stolen in 2004, I haven't heard of any being moved.
We managed to get out with the dogs today and we found a couple caches in a park in Allentown. The first one had been covered with snow and ice, which kept us from finding it the first two times we looked for it. Today, it was simple. The second was pretty easy, too, but would have been tough with snow on the ground.
Good caching!
Mike

 

[Pin Wizard]

Glad your hunt was easier today! Must be difficult in the snow. Congrats on your finds! We had a good weekend of caching ourselves. I seem to have much better luck running between individual caches than I do in the parks. Guess that comes with practice and knowing the parks better. If the parks are difficult in winter with less tree cover, forget the summer!

Went to a cache today just off a trail. It's called The Green Mile...ivy!!! Ivy doesn't die!! LOLOL! It's as thick in the winter (at least so far) as it was in June when we last attempted it. This area is covered with ivy on the ground. Really something else. Apparently, it was moved to a new location...in the ivy...since I last printed the info out. Ugh. We'll have to try this again next weekend.

Thanks for the GPS info! I'll be using that. Yes, these certainly are (or can be) a major purchase. I'm telling myself to wait until this one dies.

Here's a waypoint. Would you check it and tell me if you see two strips that somewhat look like green grass? LOL! GCRMET

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCRMET&Submit6=Find

I don't know if that link will work, but it's worth a try. Is there a code in there? He mentions that coordinates are further down the page, and this is the only thing I see.

Happy caching!

 

[hdecker]

Those green strips have the code in them. You have to keep staring at them until your eyes basically cross and then try to write them down. I tried several times but couldn't concentrate long enough. Pretty sneaky way of hiding the code, but you've got to love their deviousness. Good Luck!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Thanks! Last night I stared so long I could start seeing tiny white letters, L being one of them. But coords are numbers! I'll try crossing my eyes. Any way of "decoding" it?

 

[MiJo]

Sandee,
I tried this one using hdecker's method of focusing. It worked pretty quickly. I have the coords if you need them.
Mike aw: aw: aw: aw:

 

[hdecker]

I'm glad you figured it out. It's driving me crazy and I'm halfway across the country. I've stared myself into a headache for the last 2 evenings. I keep figuring the code will come up in a darker color green but maybe I'm just missing it. Oh well, guess I'll stick to my own neck of the woods. Going after a couple on Sunday and according to the description one of them is in an old abandoned storm cellar out in the middle of no where. Ooh - can you say spiders? Good luck Pin Wizard with your grass!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Would you share the code with me? I will mention you both in the log if I find it! I've stared at those strips without luck. I think I see a "W" in the bottom one, then a 7,5, 8? Then I stare again and see 7 to the third power. Can't make out a thing in the top strip. What are your geo-names?

hdecker...so sorry for the headaches! Thank you for the attempts!! Enjoy your geocaching hunts, and be careful!!!

 

[hdecker]

Our names are TwoHd's&thekids. I have the last 5 numbers on the top row - I was right, it is green on green. Anyway it's 06 434. Going back for more. Can't believe this is becoming such an obsession. Guess I need a life on Friday night

 

[Pin Wizard]

I know the feeling. There's a guy around here who uses a signature line in all his finds...Not obsessed, passionate.

Thank you for those numbers, and I'll note your name! Now, to see if MiJo is around this weekend.

 

[MiJo]

Hi Sandy,
Try this: N36 54.242 W76 06.434
We had 3 finds today but failed on one called Liar Liar. We need to figure out what the lie is. We've been thinking about it and might have it but don't know when we will get back to try it.
Mike

 

[hdecker]

Our caching did not go well at all today. Got to the location where we were supposed to park for the first one. GPS says we are 4 miles away - thru a shooting range. Um - I don't think so. So off we go trying to park closer, the weathers pretty nice today but I'm not walking 8 miles. Go down the road a bit - what's that funny noise? Why that would be the rubber flapping on the gravel from our flat tire. Hubby will not drive down any more dirt roads with a dummy tire so our day was cut short. DS is getting married next weekend so I guess we'll have to wait a little longer to get back out there.
So how long will it take Pin Wizard to go out and find that cache? I can't wait to hear about her search.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooo much, Mike! I will try those numbers. If they work and I find the cache, not only will I mention you both in the log, but I'll e-mail the owner and ask him if you both can count them as finds since this is definitely a TEAM effort! Liar Liar sounds interesting. Hope you figure it out. I'll have to look that one up on the web site.

hdecker...That is TOO much!! I hope your tire was easily fixed and didn't take too much time. And the story of that cache! LOL! Don't think I'd be hiking through a shooting range either. I know the city park here has an area for archery, and I stay far away from that! But I would like to try archery again myself. Haven't done that since high school. Was lots of fun! Congrats on the wedding!!!

We had four finds today. We started out in Williamsburg. We found three there yesterday. Went back today since we had a late start this morning, and I couldn't see the drive to VA Beach with darkness starting earlier, too. I always have a difficult time in Williamsburg for some unknown reason. Found nothing today. Finally headed back to our area where we found four. Tomorrow will be our VA Beach day, and I'll be hunting for that cache, Mike!!

Better catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzz's if I'm making it to VA Beach in the morning. Thanks for all your help, both of you!! Will let you know how it goes.

Oh, is there anywhere online where we can plug in waypoints and hopefully get at least a general area where it is? LOL! I know, I'm dreaming.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Okay! So it must be the general area of his original coordinates. I know where that is.

 

[MiJo]

Sandy: I don't think we can take credit for a cache we didn't physically find but thanks for the thought. Maybe we'll try it if we head down to NC this summer. I'm back to work tomorrow (Tuesday) so we'll be back on our weekend caching schedule again.

"Oh, is there anywhere online where we can plug in waypoints and hopefully get at least a general area where it is?" I'm not sure what you mean by this.

We are planning to head back to "Callie's Farm: Liar Liar" (GCRBRT) today to try our theory on that one. We're supposed to get some heavy rain so it depends on when that starts. It was pretty muddy there yesterday from melting snow.

hdecker: That was quite an outing! You had better recheck your coords; I have never heard of a cache hike quite like that one! And the flat tire would have definitely discouraged us. Have fun at the wedding. Our DD was married in July and they are living happily ever after about 30 minutes from here.

Good caching everyone!

 

[hdecker]

The coords are right, I did recheck them but I'm sure there is another way around the area and will try to find it sometime this month. The distance to the cache is not that uncommon around here, in fact when we first started we probably hiked 3-4 miles one way with each cache. After about 15-20 of those we finally started wising up since they don't have a difficulty scale for overweight/out-of-shape people (I asked but no one would oblige me) and started being a little bit more selective of the caches we went to depending on the weather. 4 miles in the spring is alot more fun than in July. We have alot of conservation areas here, hence alot of caches that you have to be careful to find - especially during deer and turkey season. Have fun caching today guys.

 

[Pin Wizard]

For checking waypoints, I'm thinking Map Quest, etc. where we could enter the numbers and come up with a location. I just did that with Rand McNally. I tried entering with the first numbers (degrees) and without them. They both put me in the same place...which is a huge distance from the original numbers! Miles! I bet there's people that do this all the time, and I'm just discovering it. LOL!

Good luck! I hope it's a fun and successful caching day for everyone!!

 

[hdecker]

When you are on the cache page, scroll down to the bottom and it has a section that says something like pinpoint this cache on a map? It then gives you several mapping options like mapquest; mappoint etc. We use this when going into really unknown areas and they pinpoint really well. You can zoom in or out and when the cache looks like it's in the middle of nowhere the farther you zoom in will start showing you dirt roads and such to help you get closer.

 

[MiJo]

Yes. Just before the section of the page where visitors log their find, there is a section of various maps that you can choose. We sometimes use Topozone but that is not always the most up to date. It shows terrain changes in elevation contour lines.
We found Liar Liar but it wasn't what we were thinking. We just missed a couple of the 5 parts yesterday and it was the last one we found. Pretty neat cache located on an old piece of farm equipment.
Now, there's an FTF out there we might go try for.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Thanks for the info on the maps! Yes, I've used those. I was hoping to find a map and put in the coordinates from what was in those green strips. [] When there's a will, there's a way! I ended up starting a new cache (which I will now have to update with a real cache when I place one.) When you enter all your info on the cache, it will pull up a map and show it. So I put the numbers in there and found where to go! Yea! I'll tell you, I went back to the neighborhood with the original coordinates to not find anything even close. Went to the other area that Rand McNally sent me to without luck. Finally said forget it, just create a new cache and found it. So next weekend will be spent on that one, I hope.

A decent day today, found 6 caches in VB. Glad to hear your found Liar Liar, Mike! Did you get out for the other?

hdecker...Any caching today or was it an inside day?

Happy caching!