Wow, that sounds like a spam subject, doesn’t it?

I’ve been meaning to start geocaching ever since I got my first gps (which is why my gc.com profile shows me as a member since Tuesday, November 30, 2004). I hadn’t gotten around to it until 7/4/06, though. Once I did – wow, addiction. Instant.

I initially had a free iPAQ from work, so I got a Navman GPSr sleeve for it that came with Pocket CoPilot Live. After using that for about a year, I decided I needed to upgrade the whole lot due to slow acquisition and route re-calcs.

I then got my current setup of a Dell Axim X50v and a DeLorme Earthmate BlueLogger BT GPSr. These work MUCH better. I tried using CoPilot for caching, but it doesn’t cut it. It’s great for getting driving directions to near the cache area, but the ‘walking’ screen doesn’t work for actually making a find. So I tried out CacheMate for a bit, and got tired of the 10 limit, so I regged it. This makes things much easier, to be sure. I also got the gc.com membership for the gpx files – that’s another big time saver.

I actually wrote a php script to convert .loc to .csv in order to import into CoPilot, since my GSAK trial had expired long ago. CM does a direct gpx import, so I don’t really see the need for GSAK at this point. I’ll probably write a similar script to get the few fields out of gpx I need into csv for CoPilot’s POIs and do bulk imports from my PQs.

I’m currently looking into other options – I grabbed BeeLine and will also try BackCountry Navigator soon. Today, I just signed up for EarthComber. I’d like to try out iGuidance, TomTom, Destinator, and a few others before I decide whether to get a new navigator app or upgrade my CoPilot.

At this point, I’ve found 32 caches. I saw the container for GCRN4J last night, but I refuse to mark it complete until I’ve logged it.

As for other gear, Fly and I grabbed cheap $4 walmart hip packs and some other misc supplies. I already had a walking stick and FRS radios, so we really didn’t need much except hats and sunscreen/bugspray. That first day, we got burnt crispy as well as eaten alive.

The roughest time I’ve had so far was with fly on GC713B Mild Manor. We weren’t prepared for it, and we chose to try it on a really hot day. I was starting to get heat stroke by the time we called it and headed back to the car.

The most memorable so far, if it’s not already obvious, is GCRN4J. I looked around for a bit, saw it, and said “no way.” I’m going to complete that one soon, one way or another.

I’m open to going out in a small group after work on weekdays for a quick couple easy caches, or on weekends for more challenging ones.

Thanks.