My Geocaching Device Experience

This blog is a personal condition of used devices. This is my experience. Everyone's is different. I was introduced to geocaching by a relative. He had a handheld device that was easy to use. After doing a few I really enjoyed it and started doing some on my own. 

There was an issue I had to start with. The only GPSr I had was a car navigation portable. This worked ok, but I had to triangulate my position. I had to use 'where am i' and keep moving until I found the coordinates. They could be hard to find when I didn't have a lot of room to walk about. I had to keep good notes. 

Eventually I got a Garmin Etrex. It was a lot better and I didn't have to walk around so much. It also let me make finds a lot faster. Still needed notes because it only stored names/GC codes and coordinates. This made puzzles very hard to distinguish. 

I later got a smartphone and downloaded the geocaching free apps. Finally decided on the official groundspeak app. Now I could go paperless and keep my information updated. . 

I still need my etrex for areas if bad cell service, but now I can see types easier. 

I still use a combination of the three devices. I program my car navigation to get to the area. Etrex to get close to area, it's got only 20 foot accuracy. Smartphone to hone in better since it's closer to five feet unless in bad area. Then I can log on smartphone. I have also started using Geosphere on smartphone. But that will be covered in a later posting

Boys Night Out

Sometimes it really pays to go outside of your comfort zone.  While on a recent trip to Oklahoma to visit Country1919 and family we went on an amazing expedition.  After some clever deciphering from Country1919, we had the starting coordinates for a night cache.  So when we loaded up the truck to head out on one of our caching days, we also included head-lamps, flashlights, and bug spray.  We cached while waiting for the sun to go down and arrived at the puzzle solution coordinates just as the last rays of light disappeared across the lake.  We calibrated our GPSr compasses and we left the parking area (and remembered to mark a waypoint) and startled some deer making their way through the open space.  As the deer snorted at us and departed, we hoped that we were what scared them off!  Our heads hung down as we focused the beams of light on our next steps.  We occasionally stopped to get our bearings  and to swat at a few mosquitoes that had made it passed the chemical barrier.  After a 10 minute hike into the woods we arrived where our positioning devices displayed 0 feet to destination.  It was very quiet out there except for the two of us stepping on twigs and branches but soon we found the first stage of the trek.  It was marked by a reflective tag about 6 feet up on a tree.  We walked past it not really knowing what to look for next.  Country1919 discovered the second set of reflectors about 200 feet from the first and he noted that the two tags at this stage were positioned one on top of the other one.  The meaning of this arrangement didn't dawn on us until we found stage three which were two tags side by side.  Another 15 minutes of stumbling in the dark and we had followed various combinations of tags to a set that were only about a foot off of the ground.  As M looked for other stages, Country1919 was convinced that this was the X that marked the treasure.  Sure enough, under a couple of unusually placed rocks was a plastic container filled with all kinds of Geek Goodies.  A quick inventory of the treasure revealed a chess strategy manual, a chess board, a walkie-talkie, batteries and more!  M tried to transmit on the radio to see if the cache owner was listening nearby, but the batteries were still in their package and not in the device.  We signed the log and "reflected" on the amazing journey that a fellow cacher had led us on by proxy.  We pulled up the waypoint to where we had parked and we hike out of the woods in single file.  Aside from a few bug bites we both agreed that this was one of funnest caching experiences that we have participated in.  We did take away a couple lessons learned: 1.  Long, focused,  light throwing beams are more useful than the wide, short distance flashlights.  2. You can never have too much  bug spray on.  If you want to experience a well thought out puzzle/night cache then visit Knight Moves GC2MRT5.  It is a 4 Difficult/3 Terrain Puzzle cache southeast of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.