I did a few caches today and on one of them I almost lost my GPS... As most of you know a few months ago I bought a new GPS, A Garmin 60CS that I spent a fortune on, well I was doing a cache in Canada and it was real steep, terrain was 4.5. (Four Falls) And I was slidding and next thing I know I have my hand on tree branch holding me up, trying to get footing.
After I gasp my breath, I realize I have only have held onto my digital camera and the paper with the cords on it, where did the GPS go?
You have to realize I am full of branches going left and right and scratches all over my arms from the fall. You have to realize its fall, leaves are on the ground everywhere and the angle of the slope I am on.
I looked down and couldn't see my GPS. I figured, GREAT! Its probably in in the river, or whatever cause it slid down. Well, I looked and looked (I was alone) for about 20 min. I wasn't going to give up, I just bought it and wouldn't be able to replace it. I knew it had to be around, just had to backtrack and see how far down the slope it could have gotten before getting caught up in the muck and leaves. After 20 min I finally seen the top of my GPS. Was I ever relieved...
Heres where the peice of the puzzle gets worse though... I went to Four Falls for the earth cache first and make it back to the truck. Got in the truck and left then realized the Limestone cache is in the same place, so I did the walk twice (the second time is where I lost the GPS) and come to find out, the Limestone cache was deleted a few weeks ago or so... I think the Four Falls eart cache took its position. I didn't know this. So I looked and looked, and looked... and didn't help my GPS was where the sun don't shine and I wasn't getting any kind of signal so it was going in and out... I gave up looking the better part of an hour (I hate to give up!!!) came home to find the Limestone cache doesn't exist anymore...(I had printed the paper a few months ago when it was first posted) Arg... caching is fun.. but what a long, tiring day...

I remember those days... Print them out, hope they are current the next time you go out. Time to step up to a PDA Jordan. Update before going out on a hunt and this won't happen again. Glad to hear it all worked out.

Poor Jordan,glad you found your GPS but that's why it is always a good idea to get updated pocket queries whenever you are going caching. Sure can save a lot of headaches sometimes,I know from experience.

Ah the joys of paper"less" caching
Ya... I know, PDA is a good idea, but that would mean bringing a camera, PDA and GPS! I guess next time I will just double check before I head out. Lesson learned--the hard way I guess. I have my GPS, thats the main thing. I tell ya...I would have looked until nightfall then gone back with a flashlight!

Yup, Been down that road. Get yourself a palm, (so you can lose both of them LOL)


I never thought that I would like the palm. Affraid of getting to technical. It's so much better. And not wasting all that paper and ink.:D

Hey Jordan you can get a cheap PDA on Ebay for loading Cachemate and other stuff for under $50 dollars really easy. I won't buy another expensive one again when the cheapies will do just as well.

Thats what I did, Nothing fancy when it's gets broke it doesnt matter

Ya, don't get me wrong, your going to laugh at me, but I have a PDA. Just don't use it. Its actually nothing cheap either, I bought it for college, you know, you get that boring 3 hour class where the professor talks the whole time... ya wireless internet works well. Its a Dell Axon I30 or something like that ring a bell? Anyway, last November I paid $350.00 for it, so its got to be pretty good, got bluetooth and a memory card (I bought later on) 1 Gig... I guess I could set a few cords up on that lol... Yes, so I do have one, do I use it no... thats me I guess.. lol.

I'm just glad you weren't hurt. Those caches and gagets are not important!

I think it was the most terrian I ever been to, a 4.5 I mean its not real bad, but there are points there where you have to grab something to get footing... but believe me if you havent been and get the chance, its worth doing, just not for the faint of heart. :)

I just bought a Garmin Foretrex, it straps to your wrist, it's small, lightweight, and has all the cool features of my GPS72

I got a clip on min, but I never use it, might be a good idea. Although I am always wearing my pager, my cell and sometimes my radio when I'm on call... whats one more thing around the belt...lol

I got a clip on min, but I never use it, might be a good idea. Although I am always wearing my pager, my cell and sometimes my radio when I'm on call... whats one more thing around the belt...lol how do you fit between the trees with all the stuff strapped to you!?! it's no wonder why you fell, that's why happens when 500lbs of electronics tries to walk across soft land, gravity takes affect. :D

I know! I was kinda happy I was alone though, it wasn't fun slipping and slidding and the embarsement of falling.. but when I was searching alone for my GPS, thats the part the I could have used another set of eyes.

After reading about your great adventure, I may just cross the Four Falls off my list for next week.... I'm a bit of a klutz on easy terrain as it is.

Quite a trip from FL! :)

It was fun though and a wonderful site. I haven't uploaded a pic yet, so I have to still log it. I would definitly reccomend it. Anyone can do it, but I wouldn't bring my grandmother down there ;) with a little time, patience and good boots, your there.

There's things worse than losing a GPS...like a headlamp, right Jordan??? :p

I lost something when I was 15 and am still looking for it.LOL:p

15????????

Was that when you went to the Pentecostal Church!?!?!?!

as a matter of fact BC you listen very well and yes that was the day. THe good old days

:D

LOL - I wondered!! Hard to forget conversations like that - hehehehe

I got a clip on min, but I never use it, might be a good idea. Although I am always wearing my pager, my cell and sometimes my radio when I'm on call... whats one more thing around the belt...lol
(Firefighterjake attempting to sing theme song) -- NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa . . . Batman. NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa . . . Batman.

:)

This thread has got me thinking . . . for someone who is considering going into paperless caching what are some makes/models out there in use . . . what are the approximate costs . . . and what features should you be looking for. I assume you can buy them in most big box electronic stores.

(Firefighterjake attempting to sing theme song) -- NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa . . . Batman. NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa . . . Batman.

:)
Actually, it's NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa...Batman:D

Actually, it's NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa...Batman:D
Ka-pow! Blam! Whiff!

There's things worse than losing a GPS...like a headlamp, right Jordan??? :p
Right... actually BL... you should she the one I replaced it with from Walmart, double the power... 4 LED lights on it... I could light up the town! :D

I went cheap and bought a Palm IIIxe on ebay for $43. I presently have 1400 caches in the memory. That is for a trip from Niskayuna, NY to Waterville. It includes all the cacheswithin 75 miles of home, within 10 miles of the routes I planned on taking, and those within 60 miles of Waterville. I've had it about a year and a half now and have not had any problems. I use Cachemate as the program for keeping track of things. I think it was $20 when I got it.

I use Geocaching Swiss Army Knife as the program on the desktop. It does a great job of recordkeeping, uploading to the GPS and the Palm.

I found it pretty easy to put the cords right on the GPS as I view them online and then when I am ready to do them, I can check to see if they are still there/updated then do the cache. Also I know I can hold like, well heck alot of waypoints on my GPS but I never keep them, after a cache, good bye way points. 1.) I already know where it is, 2.) its much easier selecting a waypoint rather then to scroll through 4,487 others :)

Also I know I can hold like, well heck alot of waypoints on my GPS but I never keep them, after a cache, good bye way points. 1.) I already know where it is, 2.) its much easier selecting a waypoint rather then to scroll through 4,487 others :)
Are you using the find geocaches function of your 60c? Once you mark them as found, they don't show up on the list anymore. It also makes for an easy to see what caches you have found while you have been out on a trip.

Paperless is the only way to go. I finally made to plunge earlier this year, and I can't imagine going back now. It's amazing how much time you can save by just downloading your gpx files and hitting the road. Instead of planning trips and printing pages, it's 5 minutes to download caches into the GPS and Pocket PC.

Actually, it's NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa...Batman:D You're both wrong it's "NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa BATMAN"

I usually keep my slips/slides and losses to myself <G> Glad to see someone admit to a slip. It is dangerous out there. Got to thining how "they" would get me out if I broke a leg on the back side of Sand Beach rock formation at Acadia. Would I be one of those people they have to pack out, groaning the whole way about the stupid tourist? I'll never again attempt something like "Turkey Buzzard" which was above my level of climbing on slick, shale rock.

Any recommendations for a PDA to watch for on Ebay? Something simple.

Anne - probably never a #5 terrain cacher.

Any of the Palm Zire series are fine. The 21 is greyscale and not alot of memory but it works. I have the older 71 which is great. It has an expantion card slot, color screen, and a built in digital camera. The new 72 is that with a few upgrades. For a middle of the road model you can go with the 31. Color screen and more.

I have the zire 21 it will work jusr fine. No lit screen makes it hard sometime but oh well

Paperless is the only way to go. I finally made to plunge earlier this year, and I can't imagine going back now. It's amazing how much time you can save by just downloading your gpx files and hitting the road. Instead of planning trips and printing pages, it's 5 minutes to download caches into the GPS and Pocket PC.Ok and I havent done a darn thing since I became a premium member.. good idea!

Also, no I havent used that function yet. I am teaching myself slowly how to use it, I have only mastered how to mark, delete and edit waypoints! This thing has games, etc, etc... the manual is the size of a stephen king chapter book! :D

This is to Anne, try to find a really cheap Palm Zire 31 it should do you real good.

Anne - I've had a few slips and falls myself! One was at Turkey Buzzard, another of my favorites was into a mudhole in the woods - ai yi yi - that was not a pretty site - the words that came flying out of my mouth were far more problematic than the mud that I got on my clothes - lol!! And of course there was the time I stepped into mud on a river bank that only went up to my knees - my goodness - getting my feet out wasn't the problem - it was my sandals - almost had to finish that trek in bare feet - ouch!! Fortunately, I haven't been hurt yet (unless you count that blasted bee sting after the Hampden event) and haven't experienced what Jordan described - yikes!!

As for watching on eBay - I use an iPaq and though I like it and have figured out how to use it for caching, there are definitely more people using palm technology - particularly the zire line. If you end up going with a windows based item like an iPAQ, feel free to let me know, I'm happy to share what I have learned along the way! It's fun - you'll see - paperless is great!!

Haffy and others - define "really cheap". Under $100? Under $150? Most of the Zire 31s listed at the moment on Ebay are under $100. Immediately was outbid on one for $75. Watching pennies since just retired :o

Joe has always been amazed I didn't already have a unit since I love gear.

Anne

Like duh Anne. Palm Zire 31 lists new at Staples for $115. Looks like they get bid up pretty quickly on Ebay but will keep a watch.

Anne

Talking to self..... now proud owner of Palm Zire 31 with 512 memory card. One of our rod/gun club members had a note up on our bulletin board that it was for sale. Hotsynched all my outlook contacts, etc., set up calendar, downloaded a couple of free file cabinet type programs.

Oh Haffy - you ever written up how you download caches to the PDA? Is it under an older discussion you can point me to? Wasn't I the one that said I'd NEVER go paperless?

Anne - with one more piece of gear to carry around

LOL Anne, I went from paperless, just go out and find with no notes to paperless on my PDA :) Only bit me a few times cause it died on me but I love it. I have a windows CE unit and what i do is useing the Geocaching.com pocet queries I download 2 sets of waypoint files. 1 files is the caches that I have not found the other one is for the caches I have found. In setting them up I also download them in pocket reader format and copy thoose files to my pda. I also had to install a pocket reader program on my PDA. There are probally better options for the palm os but I just do not work with the palm os much.

Robt

Hey Anne,good choice on the PDA, you won't regret it. I just usually get pocket queries from GC.com and load them into Cachemate and when I hotsynch they go directly to the PDA.I think there a few threads in here about just what you are talking about. I'm not very good at giving directions but if you are still having trouble I'm sure one of us who use the Palm for paperless caching can help you out.

Will find and load and play with Cachemate. I think that is what I was missing. I do get pocket queries so already used to them.


Might head over to Pettengill Farm today and see what they are doing for geocaching. I saw a new cache put out by the ladies running the farm day.

Anne

Oh Haffy - you ever written up how you download caches to the PDA? Is it under an older discussion you can point me to? Wasn't I the one that said I'd NEVER go paperless?


Ann -

You should get GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) as well. You can do ANYTHING with that cache management software: export waypoints to TDS/GPS/laptop, etc. You just load your pocket queries into it, and you're on your way. It's great!

Bruce

A question from someone who is most definitely not a tech geek . . . Would a Handspring Visor work for geo-caching or is the technology too dated? I'm not exactly sure how old this unit is since it was given to me.

Handspring uses Palm OS. Although I'm not sure which version it would have. A simple database like Cachemate should work fine with a Handspring PDA.