How do you plan a day of caching?
I am not sure if this is the correct place to post this question. If it is not, please let me know!
How do you go about planning a day of caching?
I have a book of Maine Scenic Drives and I plotted a route from it in to Google Earth, then uploaded that to geocaching.com to find caches along the route. I think I did something wrong, though, because the route my Garmin came up with to visit all of the caches was significantly different than my original route.
Other than that one route, all of the caches we have found have been by chance. We have 500 nearby caches loaded in our Garmin (we used PQs and the GSAK software) and whenever we drive by one it beeps. If we hear a beep and have time, we stop and find the cache.
I suppose I could drive down random roads and wait to hear the beep, but I would rather do something that takes us further off the beaten path. Any suggestions? Do you just go on geocaching.com, pick a spot on the map and hit all of them? Is there a more organized way to do this?
Also, if you can suggest specific routes/areas in Maine we could plan geocaching day trips around I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!
Random who cares where you end up caching!
First things first. The beer has to be cold so put a lot of ice in the cooler. If you're doing easy caches then 2 beers should get you through the day.
If you'rfe doing RoundTop or Looking Ragged, you will look ragged after so bring 3 beers.
Bringing sandwiches and snacks is also of critical importance. No time to stop at ma and pa convenience stores and load up on bad carbs. Bring the celery sticks and carrots and don't forget water and treats for the dogs.
Now you're ready to cache and unless you map out a complete route before you leave the house, you going to "random cache." Most of the time I'll use Portland, or Lewiston or some other city at the center point on gsak and use 20 to 25 miles as the filter. This will result in lots of caches being downloaded. Usually when we head "towards" Portland, the closest ones start around Falmouth or Cumberland. If you let the Nuvi pick the next closest cache each time, you may end up in Windham, Biddeford, Oxford and never get anywhere near Portland!! And you know what, some of our best days caching have been when we just go where the Nuvi takes us and usually when we've done enough and Di says "Where are we?" I don't have a clue! Doesn't matter. We were caching and when we've had enough I hit "go home" on the Nuvi and that's it.
I really do believe the picnics we pack add a lot to the caching experience!
Things that make you say....huh?
I once said I would not drive by a cache I could walk to. Then I realized, ( thanks TAT ) that you can walk to most of them.
After we had been caching for awhile I started to read posts, and see places I wanted to visit. For us it was our fascination with water and waterfalls. So we chose to try and find caches around waterfalls, lakes, and rivers. Searching cache names with waterfalls in them was where we started. Then it was logging caches above 2500'. Every so often we shift our focus and look for something different. It's not where, but that you are out enjoying the hunt.
Or. Just load up the GPS and hit the road. An Uncle Wiggly adventure.