Southern California Club Xterra
Southern California Club Xterra => SCCX General Discussion => Topic started by: Ghost65 on August 18, 2010, 07:51:46 AM
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Anybody here into geocaching? ???
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Excuse my ignorance but what is Geocaching?
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It is a "game" for some that involves a GPS and finding hidden treasures located almost everywhere, and then logging your experience. Kinda like Indiana Jones with technology.
Check out the YouTube video here that explains what I can't type:
http://www.geocaching.com/
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I've got three picked out along the trail for this Saturday in Big Bear.
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Yes. Geocaching was once a favorite SCCX past time while on the trails and still is. I remember back then, some of the old school and original fellow SCCX members would print out at least 50 geocaches and do them all in one day. Over the years, perhaps due to change in vehicle preference, change of residence, price of gasoline and all other factors, the sport has sort of diminished in the process.
For adventurous families who would like to try a new kind of family activity, this is definitely an awesome experience.
Would love to see it become a part of Xcursions again.
PS: Just be prepared with upcoming hot weather and be extra careful with kids searching through rocks and other things... it's rattlesnake season after all.
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I've got three picked out along the trail for this Saturday in Big Bear.
Which trail are you running? I was just in Big Bear, and there is a host of geocaches up there to choose from. We found quite a few along the Dishpan Springs, John Bull, and Gold Mountain trails. What kind of GPS units do you use?
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I found this when I put together my last buyer's guide for the magazine. I haven't used it, but it seemed like a fun and inexpensive way to get into geocaching. Especially if you have kids, as the units are inexpensive enough by gps standards (around $70) plus they're pre-loaded with tons of locations.
No affiliation.
http://www.mygeomate.com/Home.action
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Which trail are you running? I was just in Big Bear, and there is a host of geocaches up there to choose from. We found quite a few along the Dishpan Springs, John Bull, and Gold Mountain trails. What kind of GPS units do you use?
2N01 to Burns Canyon Trail. I have a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx
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2N01 to Burns Canyon Trail. I have a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx
Just did a brief search at Geocaching.com, there are several caches in the area to check out. Log on and get a free membership to see the locations along the trail.
The Vista HCx is a nice unit, I looked at it before I bought my Colorado.
How is your battery life? The Colorado is a AA consumer, especially with the backlight feature turned up.
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Battery life is not bad. I do try and keep it plugged into the 12v socket when traveling.
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Battery life is not bad. I do try and keep it plugged into the 12v socket when traveling.
Well, having used the Colorado now, I have learned to keep a couple of extra AA's in my pack, and also to adjust down the backlight.
The ability to download and view the cache descriptions and hints is very helpful, and saves a step of having to write down all the specifics and carry and unfold notes.
My son and I also placed our first cache, and have had a lot of fun creating the hints and hiding place.
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Ran the Bee Canyon/San Jacinto Truck Trail from the Hemet area up to Pine Cove in Idyllwild yesterday. It was a 28 cache weekend with my son, and we saw some great views from the trail. ;D
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That's a lot finds. Enjoy your time with your son, they grow up fast.
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That's a lot finds. Enjoy your time with your son, they grow up fast.
So true...tried very hard this summer to spend as much quality time as possible. The geocaching this past weekend was very cool, as we discovered Virtual Caches. You visit a spot and there is no traditional cache, just a view, or in this case, a historical marker that you answer questions on and then send to the cache owner to "log" your find. This landmark was involved in the experiments done with reflective light, and measuring the speed of light in the mid to early 1920's. So, it was not only a fun weekend, but educationally stealthy! ;)
Kind of like putting cheese sauce on brocolli.... :D
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Okay guys (& gals) reviving this THREAD, as I just logged over 50 caches this past week while on a road trip to Moab, Utah.
Here are a few pics:
Cache near Fisher Towers:
(http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae195/DzrtX/Moab%20Thanksgiving%20Trip%202011/AlexatFisherTowerSquidBox.jpg)
Cache at the Top of The World view point:
(http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae195/DzrtX/Moab%20Thanksgiving%20Trip%202011/DadatEdgeofTheWorld.jpg)
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While in Vegas this weekend we did some caching....found 102. We used to be hard core one full day a weekend cachers but have mellowed out and now focus on off road caches and make good use of the new "favorites" feature on gc.com. Basically, for every 10 caches you log the site gives you one point you can award to any cache you logged that you liked. It's a simple rating system that helps weed out the "good" caches from the lamppost hides. So we ran a pq for Vegas and filtered for ones with favorites. Loaded those in the Garmin 62s (simply the best caching gps around IMHO) and off we went.
There are a couple really creative cachers in Vegas. This cache is a spoier but hands down one of the most creative I have found in a long time.
This is along a well maintained walking/biking trail next to a wash.
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6221/6415767677_d17ed72fae_b.jpg)
When you remove the lid you see a Skippy jar lid at the bottom but no way to remove the container.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6415768553_5cbcc73573_b.jpg)
But if you grab the base of the pole and lift
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102? Man, you are hardcore! ;D
My best streak is 41, and that was the Trona Series up in the Mojave Preserve. I haven't used the Favorite feature as of yet, have to check that out for a filter for the future.
We are also into trackables, I love the bugs!
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I've actually found 400 in 8 hours before. That was half of the Route 66 series near Amboy. The goal for the series is to find them all in a day if you can and many people have. The joy isn't in the hunt but in the numbers. I'm just not into that kind of caching so won't be doing that again. There's the ET Highway series of 1500. Some friends recently made the trip to find them....over four days there count was; 200, 800, 800 and 200. Again not for me which is why I didn't go with them.
Used to do urban caching each weekend but the caches have become so similar with no or little thought put into them that I'd rather do off road caches or search for the favorites only.
On this trip we did a simple off road series on a powerline road. The series is the "Grandpa series" on Grandpa Road. Mostly small caches but it was a beautiful day and I was driving on dirt not pavement so that made it fun.
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This looks like a fun event. I'm thinking about going and thought you and the kid would like it.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=fefff9f4-be76-4b44-96ea-7f75c2d42e1b
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This looks like a fun event. I'm thinking about going and thought you and the kid would like it.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=fefff9f4-be76-4b44-96ea-7f75c2d42e1b
Thanks Max, I think we will be checking this out. Lots of time to prepare and plan for the time camping. I appreciate the link and posting this up! Glad to hear the bumper and winch are mounted!