Park Hoppin'

Rosebud Revenge
GCW5Y7
Challenging find, but I got it!

Sacajawea Cache
GCTEFA
I'll come back when no one is napping under the cache.

Went out this afternoon to find a few micros in the parks. The first one really took me quite a bit of time to find. Man, I looked everywhere. Luckily, it was pretty deserted, so I could search without feeling self conscious. I finally found it though, after about 30 minutes of searching. It was a fun hide and a nice park that I didn't know was there. I might have to take my lunch hour there sometime. Perhaps stop by Subway and pick up a sandwich, and relax under a tree.

I had 3 other caches lined up, but the previous cache took up a good chunk of my lunch hour. So I went to the next park that was close by. 'Course today was absolutely beautiful and everybody wanted to enjoy the park too. Well, as discreetly as possible, I located the general area where the cache is located. Unfortunately, someone was picnicking in the exact area I want to search. Well, so much for that. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. Pick up the other two as well.

As an aside; I was just thinking that caching with somebody probably works better. Not only because you have 2 looking, but because you look less suspicious when there is two of you. You just look like you're being social. But when you are alone, people eyeball you a little closer trying to figure out what you are up to. Crawling around or lurking, people think that you are up to no-good. Or at least that's my perception.

My wife has shown casual interest in Geocaching. Meaning that she'll go out with me on occasion. Just tagging along because there's nothing better to do. But, she certainly wouldn't suggest the idea. But that's OK with me. I like doing something on my own. Besides, I usually only geocache during my lunch hour anyway.

Stupid Construciton Workers!

Elephant Nuts!!
GCRF9B
Easy Find

The last action Hero
GCM3Q4
I'll Come Back Later

Home Away from Home
GCQ6DH
Found On Sunday

I had 2 caches that I went out for today at lunch. The first one I found pretty easy. It was a lot of fun. This was a traditional cache with some trinkets in it. This was the first one of this kind that I have found. The previous ones were either micros or small containers that didn't have room for much more than a button or two. At any rate, it was a lot of fun to find the 'treasure.' I signed the log and looked through the swag. Not much worth taking, but I wanted to leave something behind. So I took some hand sanitizer and left a metal puzzle/brain teaser.

The next one I think I know where it is. But again, there's construction going on in that area. Too many construction workers giving you the eye. So I guess I'll have to do this one on the weekend when no one's around.

Yesterday, I got the elusive Home Away From Home cache too. This one was also near a construction site and couldn't search discreetly. But on Sunday, while at the hardware store, I slipped down and found the cache pretty easy! This was a micro as well. I thought it was hidden in a different area and felt pretty stupid when it was right in front of me the entire time. I tend to make things much more difficult than I should. But as I gain more experience, I'm sure I'll find them quicker.

At Least It's A Find.

Mall Madness (GCKM2D)
Found!

I had to get some new tires for my car. While there, I knew there was a cache close by. After getting my car taken care of, I went looking for the cache. It was pretty easy. Yup, a LPC. I grabbed it and signed the log. Unfortunately, a muggle was approaching. He was there to get something out of his car that happens to be right next to the cache location. So I couldn't discretely put it back. So I went into a local store and looked around for about 10 minutes with the cache in hand. When I came out, the muggle was gone and I put it back.

My very first cache that I found was a LPC. It was very exciting to find something that was under every one's nose. Now that I've found a few other caches (5 at the time of this writing), I find the LPC a little unsatisfying. But, at least it's a find. Tally one more for my record. Other than that?... eh. Do I hate the LPC yet? Yet is the key word here. I have a feeling it won't be long before I do. But right now, I don't hate them. I just find them a bit boring. That doesn't mean that I won't log it though! ;)

The Importance of Research

On my lunch hour, I decided I'd find a cluster of caches. This way I could park, and walk to 3 or 4 nearby caches. Unfortunately, I just found a cluster and my GPS and went with it. This cluster said it was about 7 miles away. Kinda far, but I could do it on my lunch hour. I followed my GPS compass and parked near an area that looked like a trail head. I thought, "OK, this must be the trail head I must follow." The trail looked pretty steep, but since my pocket query was set at 3/3 and below, I knew it should be relatively easy for a person to get. I started hoofing it up the trail. The stupid trail was between 20 and 30 degree incline! I walked a bit, breathing harder than I have in a long time. I'm in no shape for this! Geocaching shouldn't cause your lungs to bleed! I stopped and looked around. A little deductive reasoning between gasps of air, I decided it was probably on TOP of the Rimrocks instead of below. And I'd bet money you could just park on top and a easy walk later, you'd be there. So the moral of the story? Do your research BEFORE you decide to go caching. Look at maps and areal photos. I bet there's a great place to park. I bet it's easy to get to.

So no luck on my caching today. Tomorrow, I'm gunna do some research. Stupid trail.

Lunch Hour Caching

Who's Got The Button? GCKDD9
Found

Meadowlark Millace GCMMP6
Found

Home Away from Home GCQ6DH
Be back another day.

OK. Now my GPS has a bunch of caches loaded now. It took me awhile to figure out how to get the coordinates to my GPS from GSAK, but I got it. I went off on my lunch hour and parked my car next to a park that had my first cache I wanted to visit. My GPS lead me right to the cache and found it pretty quickly. It was a micro, but after looking at pictures of caches on geocaching.com, I spotted it pretty quick. I grabbed the Micro and sat myself under a tree. Man, what a beautiful day. The park was empty and I had half a mind to stay there and relax under this tree for awhile. But no. There was one more cache I wanted to visit before heading back to work. So I signed the log, rolled it up, and put it back. Off to the next cache.

This one was another easy cache-n-dash, but I decided to walk it since it wasn't too far from this one. Besides, a day like this needs to be enjoyed. This one was in a shopping complex. The area was pretty descrete and really didn't see anybody around. This too was pretty easy to find. It was a small Altoids can. Had a few small trinkets which was fun. I thought the theme of the cache was rather clever. I didn't take anything or left anything but my signature on the log. I put it back and I decided I'd try to find one more cache before heading back to the grindstone.

This one I've seen on Google Earth and Google Maps. I thought I knew where it was, but the maps showed it was in a different landmark than I origionally thought. My GPS pointed to the correct area. Unfortunately, there is a lot of construction nearby and the workers were eyeballing me. Since this was a micro, it would need a lot of careful searching. So I left. I'll come back after hours.

More Memory!

I went out on my lunch hour to find a cache that was close to my work. I figured it would be a great walk. And since it's close to an office supply store, I thought I'd pick up a MicroSD card for my GPS. I'm tired of punching in the numbers by hand. So I stopped by the store and got a 1 gig for about $35 (plus a $15 rebate...so only $20!). After picking up the MicroSD card, I went to find the cache. Guess what! It wasn't loaded into my GPS yet! Man, I thought I had it loaded. Disappointed, I went back to work and proceeded to load 200 of the easier caches (3/3 difficulty or lower) into my GPS. Now I won't get stuck without having a cache close by.

I guess I'll try it again tomorrow.

My First Caching Adventure!

Cinco de Mayo (GCVRTK)
Difficulty: 1.5/1
DNF

Wag The Dog (GCTMV0)
Difficulty: 1.5/1
DNF

Thanks! BGCG (GCQ6HW)
Difficulty: 1/1
Found

Well, I got my GPS yesterday! I spent all evening reading through the manual and checking out the cool features. It was very exciting to see all the stuff it can do. I think I'll have to get some of the maps to put on. It'll be great for traveling!

Anyway, when I got to work this morning, I organized the caches I want to visit. I spent a good part of the morning flagging the ones I wanted to transfer to my GPS. When I hooked it up, however, the coordinates wouldn't transfer. I think its due to the fact that I don't have a microSD card installed. So instead, I entered about 17 caches into my GPS by hand and printed out the info pages. What a pain! I guess I'll have to get one tomorrow!

The GPS seems to work great. I get a strong signal and lead me right to the cache! No hassle at all.

So how did my first afternoon caching go? Well, I went caching on my lunch break. So after I ate, I only had about 30 minutes. I attempted 3. I tried to find Cinco de Mayo first. It lead me to the right area, but I felt self conscious hunting around. I just paced back and forth a bit, hoping I would see something that would catch my eye. I think it's probably under a bush or something, but like I said, I felt self conscious about really looking. I felt I looked suspicious.

I gave up and went to Wag The Dog. Well, the description says its on private property. I didn't feel right poking around a business during these times. I think I'll try that one when it's after hours or on the weekend. So I kinda know where it is, but didn't really hunt for it.

The last one was Thanks! BGCG. I only had 15 minutes left on my lunch hour. But I thought I'd give this one a go, anyway. I knew where it was. It was in a remote area, so I shouldn't feel self conscious about trying to find it. Before, I was using Google Earth to find the general area. I attempted to find this cache numerous times, but with no luck. Well, my GPS lead me to the exact spot I thought it would be. So I gave it another look and found it right away! I felt so stupid because it was right in front of me the entire time. It was a micro in a clever container. Well, I thought it was clever, but I only have one other cache to compare it to. So what do I know. I signed the log and put it back, and logged it on GeoCaching.com. At least I found one cache before I called it good for the day!

Figured Out My Problem

After tweeking the Pocket Query several times and comparing it to caches that did not show up, I finally figured it out. It was in the date section I was screwing up. I said to get the caches that were placed within the last year. I just assumed that most caches that are still active are at most a year old. Little did I know, there are a lot of caches that are several years old! I find that rather interesting. At any rate, I made the query look for any cache within 60 miles that were placed after March 2000. That did the trick. Now I can tweek it to get exactly what I want. See? I told you that it was easier than I was making it out to be!

Ordered My GPS!

I ordered my Venture Cx this morning from Amazon. Hopefully I'll be able to get it by midweek next week. I'm anxious to try it out. Until then, I'm trying to play around with the Pocket Queries from www.Geocaching.com.

I'm having a tough time getting it to work properly. Whenever I type in my zip code or coordinates, it will pull up 300+ caches near me. But when I put together a pocket query, I only get back about 100. I see a few that I wish I got in my pocket query, but didn't show up in my results. I thought I had it set to grab everything within a 60 mile radius. I've probably done 7 pocket queries over the last two days in hopes to get the info I want. But no luck. I'll still mess around with it. I'm sure it's more simple than I'm making it out to be. Until then, I'm just going to hand select the Caches I want to visit and put it into the GSAK.

I Got A Premium Account

Well, all of the eBay stuff is done and taken care of. I mailed everything out, processed payments, and transferred the money to my checking account. It should be available by Friday. That's when I'll be buying my GPS (Venture Cx). I can't wait! I'm really chomping on the bit.

I did get a premium account with www.geocaching.com. I'm not sure what to think about the premium account yet. I'm still trying to figure out the pocket query option. I know there's 300 plus caches in my zip code. But my query is only bringing back 100 caches. I guess it'll take a little playing with before I get it totally figured out. It's all a learning experience for me. Although I've only had a premium account for only a few hours, it seems as if $30/year is a little steep for what you get. But then again, maybe it's worth it. I guess time will tell.

So Close!

Well, my eBay auctions are going well. I've already received enough to buy my GPS and I still have 2 days on the auction! I can't wait. As soon as the money comes in, I'm jumping on Amazon and getting myself a GPS. I decided to go for the eTrex Venture Cx. I think it looks like the most versatile and can expand as I need it.

I tried to find the eTrex Venture Cx locally, but with no luck. I hit every sports store, electronics store, Walmarts and Targets! No luck at all. So I'll be going with Amazon. They have the best price and I suppose I can wait for a week for it to arrive....I think. ;)

Until then, I've been playing with GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife). Pretty sweet application, I must say. A lot of options and configurations. I don't have a premium account with www.geocaching.com, yet. So I can't take full advantage of the program. But after this weekend, I'll have one.