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Post by mad4wool on Jun 19, 2005 14:02:27 GMT -5
Hi all ! At 8am yesterday morning, I had never even heard of "geocaching" ... by 11am yesterday morning, with the guidance of a couple of more in-the-know geocaching friends, I had found my first cannister of goodies! Can't begin to tell you what fun I had!
I have spent the better part of today investigating geocaching.com and now your site. I would really like to learn more about this amazing and fun activity - I am very much in the dark, sorry to say. As much as I would like to attend your picnic/gathering on Weds., I am afraid I cannot make it that day.
Can anyone recommend any good books, or be willing to correspond with me privately via email or phone so that I can learn more? Starting out in this seems a little mind-boggling to me (I know nothing about GPS or geocaching) but I totally enjoyed my first experience and eager to learn...
Many thanks in advance. Cassi in Bradley County
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Post by James On The Elk River on Jun 19, 2005 17:06:03 GMT -5
Hi all ! At 8am yesterday morning, I had never even heard of "geocaching" ... by 11am yesterday morning, with the guidance of a couple of more in-the-know geocaching friends, I had found my first cannister of goodies! Can't begin to tell you what fun I had! I have spent the better part of today investigating geocaching.com and now your site. I would really like to learn more about this amazing and fun activity - I am very much in the dark, sorry to say. As much as I would like to attend your picnic/gathering on Weds., I am afraid I cannot make it that day. Can anyone recommend any good books, or be willing to correspond with me privately via email or phone so that I can learn more? Starting out in this seems a little mind-boggling to me (I know nothing about GPS or geocaching) but I totally enjoyed my first experience and eager to learn... Many thanks in advance. Cassi in Bradley County Welcome, Cassi, to the fun and addictive game of Geocaching, and to the GEOSET group! Congratulations on the first find, without even having a GPS!!!  We found our first cache about 2-1/2 years ago near Hot Springs AR, using an old GPS, and we learned the hard way that the shortest straight-line distance (.18 mile) up to the cache was way harder than the longer zig-zag park trail from the cache back down to the parking lot (note to self: always look at the trail map first, and take one with if available)! There are many helpful folks here... experienced members and newbies, too. If there is anything you are curious or confused about in the caching game, feel free to ask. The only stupid questions are the ones not asked! If it looks like it's too quiet and there's not alot of activity here on the GEOSET boards... ask a question, make a comment, tell a story, and you'll find we're not as quiet as we seem (we're probably just out caching). A good way to get started and get the hang of the game is to do just what you are doing.  Check out the geocaching.com forums, and message boards/forums of the caching groups around Tennessee, and Georgia and Alabama, and other places, too. You'll have to sift through some chatter on all the forums, but there is alot of information there, and alot of helpful cachers. It's not as mind-boggling as it looks! If you know how to navigate around the web, and how to program a number into a cell phone, you can get around the caching web sites, and programming a GPS will be easy! You're already on your way! Here are a couple links to a book and a DVD that you can buy through the geocaching.com web site... "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching" shop.groundspeak.com/productDetail.cfm?CategoryID=4&ProductID=55"The Complete Guide to Geocaching DVD" shop.groundspeak.com/productDetail.cfm?CategoryID=4&ProductID=77You might also find them at a local bookstore, in the 'outdoors' or 'hiking' section, or at least they would be able to order them for you. Again... Welcome and Congratulations... and we're glad to help share the enjoyment of the game any way we can! James on the Elk River |
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Post by TeamBearCat on Jun 19, 2005 17:18:16 GMT -5
Hi all ! At 8am yesterday morning, I had never even heard of "geocaching" ... by 11am yesterday morning, with the guidance of a couple of more in-the-know geocaching friends, I had found my first cannister of goodies! Can't begin to tell you what fun I had! I have spent the better part of today investigating geocaching.com and now your site. I would really like to learn more about this amazing and fun activity - I am very much in the dark, sorry to say. As much as I would like to attend your picnic/gathering on Weds., I am afraid I cannot make it that day. Can anyone recommend any good books, or be willing to correspond with me privately via email or phone so that I can learn more? Starting out in this seems a little mind-boggling to me (I know nothing about GPS or geocaching) but I totally enjoyed my first experience and eager to learn... Many thanks in advance. Cassi in Bradley County Glad to hear that you had such a fun start! Geocaching is a wonderful sport/hobby that has taken us to a lot of interesting places that we probably would not have found otherwise. We were into hiking and orienteering before we discovered geocaching, and it just fits right in! As James said, there are no dumb questions! He has recommended some good books and sites. To that we would add that we are happy to answer questions, either via forums, or e-mail, or phone if necessary (Geocachers LifeLines via phone are actually pretty common!) Also, there will be a Geocaching demo at the Chattanooga Audubon Acres on Saturday July 2nd. That is the organization's free family day -- lots of various events and activities. We will be there that day; the geo-demo will be around 1:00 pm. There are 9 caches (and two letterboxes...) on the premises; CAA is a very cache-friendly organization! Look forward to meeting you soon! Team Bear-Cat (Nancy & Mike) |
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Post by mad4wool on Jun 19, 2005 19:55:24 GMT -5
Thank you guys so much for your kind and encouraging replies. It is much appreciated.
I will definitely try to get to the event at Audubon and look forward to meeting some of you learning about your adventures!
In the meantime, I did go out and purchase the Idiot's Guide (can you tell I am a little bit excited?!) and think I will be ordering the DVD. I'm grateful for the links! :-)
A last question (which I am sure you have been asked hundreds of times! gah!): I am interested in researching/reading reviews of GPS devices. It seems there are SO many out there, and I have no clue about features. Don't know what kind of capabilities/features are needed for geocaching (must-haves vs. nice-to-haves)? Perhaps you can direct to me a good link or two, or an older discussion of this in your forum somewhere in the archives?
Again - I greatly appreciate your help & encouragement and patience while I try and learn about all of this. Enjoy the evening!
Cassi in Bradley Co.
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Post by AB4N on Jun 19, 2005 20:33:21 GMT -5
Hi Cassi!
A warm welcome to geocaching and GEOSET!
The mid-week event is not the best time for many people, but there should be another weekend event listed soon.
I live west of Cleveland in Bradley Co. as well! I am meeting another new cacher (RudeDog6) tomorrow afternoon around 4PM at Panera Bread off of Paul Huff. We will be there several hours I am sure, and you are certainly welcome to stop by. I will be showing him some of the gadgets that we use, and will have a couple different GPS models that you can look at. There is wireless internet available, so I will have my laptop to show some of the different web sites and software that is avaible to help you out.
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Post by Xangxa on Jun 19, 2005 21:39:37 GMT -5
Welcome Cassi!
There's tons of help available here in the forum, so ask away. We also have terracachers, letterboxers, and benchmark hunters here that can help with the other flavors of caching. So you'll find assitants with both a depth and a breadth of experience to share.
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Post by Xangxa on Jun 19, 2005 21:55:01 GMT -5
A last question (which I am sure you have been asked hundreds of times! gah!): I am interested in researching/reading reviews of GPS devices. It seems there are SO many out there, and I have no clue about features. Don't know what kind of capabilities/features are needed for geocaching (must-haves vs. nice-to-haves)? Perhaps you can direct to me a good link or two, or an older discussion of this in your forum somewhere in the archives? I can give you a few links, but it may be like drinking from a fire hose! Here are a couple to get you started: gpsinformation.net/www.gpspassion.comBut if want a summary, here's mine. Get a Magellan Meridian Gold or Meridian Color. I nearly bought a Garmin, and after caching with a Vista owner, I'm glad I didn't (but I hear the Garmin 60CS is alright). If somebody bought me a GPS, and said money was no object, I'd still ask for a Meridian. Can you tell I'm biased? Most GPS owners are, and will pipe in any minute now to correct my misguided delusiions ;D Second, buy mapping software. I tried doing without, but finally caved in and bought a topo package (for the Magellans that would be MapSend Topo 3D). It also has very good street maps as well, so it has made caching a lot more convenient. I'll stop now, although it .. is ... taking ..... great effort. |
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Post by Hilltop Hiker on Jun 20, 2005 12:49:39 GMT -5
Welcome Aboard, Cassi!
What Xangxa said! I LUV my Magellan Meridian Gold! ;D And someday in the not too distant future, I hope to have a Meridian Color. It really works for me.
Rick, are you meeting with RudeDog6 TODAY at 4:00?
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Post by TeamBearCat on Jun 20, 2005 12:54:32 GMT -5
;D 'Magellan vs Garmin' ... 'Coke vs Pepsi'... 'Ford vs Chevy'... 'UofA vs ASU'... similar feelings! Actually, we first decided to buy a GPS after renting a car for a business trip in Chicago that had Neverlost, which runs on a Magellen technology. A few months later, after playing with quite a few different ones, and choosing to spend a little of an inheritance on a GPS that could be used on land, water (we are kayakers so wanted a waterproof GPS...) and air (working on private pilot's licenses...), we chose a Garmin 176C. The large screen (we both have worn glasses way too long!) and the auxiliary antenna were both major factors. That said, we are participating in the Magellen Challenge and if we end up with a Magellen unit from that, or from the Xplor drawing, or some other means, well, that's OK too! (We would just have an additional back-up unit!) We would not get rid of any of 'em! Mapping software is a great treat-- a little harder to get for our Macs, but it can be done. The main thing is, don't spend so much time on the gear that you don't have time to go out cache-hunting!!  TBC |
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Post by AB4N on Jun 20, 2005 15:18:27 GMT -5
RudeDog6 has had a change of plans so I guess we aren't meeting. Well, no we aren't meeting considering that it is now 4:15 PM But, another more organized event is now under consideration. I'll post more in the event area.
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Post by mad4wool on Jun 26, 2005 11:24:24 GMT -5
HI! Yes - pls let me know if you will be at Panera (or elswhere in Cleveland area) anytime soon. I was away this past week, but things are slowing down and my schedule will be open ... (except for the time I plan to spend researching a GPS to get me started in all of this!  ) Thanks - C |
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Check out the geocaching.com forums, and message boards/forums of the caching groups around Tennessee, and Georgia and Alabama, and other places, too. You'll have to sift through some chatter on all the forums, but there is alot of information there, and alot of helpful cachers. 
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