GPS - less Geocaching?

As geocaching gets more and more exposure in the media, more and more would-be geocachers log onto the Groundspeak forums to ask the question, "Do you really need to have a GPS unit to find geocaches?" Hmmm, difficult question. But an intriguing idea. Geocaching is usually done by following the lead of a GPS unit. However, geocaches can be found without one. If you are interested in a more traditional follow-a-pirates-map-to-secret-treasure, I would suggest Letterboxing. But if you are intent to find geocaches without the GPSr, here's a tutorial on how to do it.

Access to a couple of websites makes the task a little easier.

• Geocaching.com
• maps.live.com
• Terraserver

Downloading Google Earth would help too.

Satellite photo coverage may vary from location to location, so it's best to check the views of each web site. Some areas may have very poor satellite photo coverage, and the method for finding geocaches described here may not work. You just might have to break down and purchase that GPSr. Sorry.

The first step is to log onto geocaching.com and identify the geocache you want to find. For this exercise, we are going to use geocache, GC10XBK, Sugar and Spice. We can see from the geocaching.com web page that it's an easy cache to find, and that people are still finding it. ( Don't go looking for a cache that's got a bunch of DNFs posted.) Also, it might be easier to find a cache that is larger in size, but this one will do for our example.

Here's the satellite view of the cache in Google Earth. I've stuck a yellow pin to the cache location. (Click photo to enlarge.) I wouldn't rely on the cache icons on geocaching.com. I've verified that the pin stuck in that photo is the exact location of the cache. Although the scale is not visible in my screen shot, with it, you would see that the exact location of the cache is about 10 to 15 feet south of the main Luce Line bike path. But how do you find that exact spot on the Luce Line Trail?

Here's a shot of the same area on maps.live.com. The views look very different don't they. One is a summertime photo, the other, early spring or late fall. I know that the maps.live.com view is more recent - and probably more reliable because it's early spring right now. Plus, I can see through some of the trees.

I planned the screen shot of the upper photo so that I could draw a line from the upper left-hand corner of photo, straight through the house, and hit the pin. Now I do the same thing with the other photo and it should reveal the visual location of the cache.

Now I shoot a close up of that photo and I can see a second trail - the horse trail that parallels the bike path. So the geocache has to be located about 10 to 15 feet south of the main bike path, within a few feet of where the horse trail intersects the main bike path! So if I were to seek this cache without a GPSr, I would walk along the trail until I came to the spot where the horse trail connects with the main trail. Then walk south about 10 feet. That would easily put me within 20 feet of the cache. On an average day, with that kind of tree coverage, that's about how close a GPSr might get you.

I would use this method for seeking larger cache containers. There's not too many places to hide a large container in a circle with a 20 foot radius. The hiding place should be pretty obvious at that point.

Technorati Tags: Geocaching,GPS,Google Earth,maps.live.com

Lovely Weather for Geocaching

Millions of people in the Upper Midwest got their first taste of spring today. Including us. It was 62 degrees - heavenly! It's the time of year when people don't know how to dress. You'll see some in shorts and t-shirts. Others are wearing jeans and sweatshirts.

But I'm sure you're not reading this for a weather report.

We took a walk down the Luce Line today to place our peanut butter jar hide. We went east this time. Not west, where we had placed our other Luce Line caches. Earlier today I had picked out a great hiding spot for the PB jar on Google Earth. Wayfarer wanted to get a good walk in, so we parked 1 & 1/2 miles from where we would actually place the cache, and started on our way. The sun was brilliant, and a soft breeze blew in from the south. Perfect walking weather! We heard several barred owls' warning calls. They are either on eggs or already have young in the nest this time of year. Their warning call is quite different from their "come hither" call. Very aggressive sounding. A whitetailed deer from across a wetlands spotted us. See if you can spot her.

Click on any image to enlarge.

How did you do?

When we got to the wooded area that I spotted on Google Earth, the woods were full of geo-beakons. Perfect! We could have hidden the thing in a dozen different spots. We settled for this one. Right there in the end of that downed tree. It's an OK hide, but won't be listed as winter accessible. One other spot really intrigued us. It was a tree that had the entire inside rotted out. A great place for a really large container. And the thing is, I've had my eye on an empty plastic container at work. It was one of those supersized things that you get at a warehouse foods place. It was full of pretzel rods. It's empty now, and that would make a great hide. And that tree would make a great hiding place.

Dilemma: should I leave the PB jar where it is and publish the cache? Or should I get the really big, pretzel rod jar from work and put it out there instead. Any suggestions?

While we were hiding the PB jar, another deer spooked and ran away. I snapped a quick picture through the trees, and caught her as she was in flight across a downed tree. Can you spot her?

How did you do?

Milk & Cookies Geocache

For local readers that hunt geocaches in the Twin Cities West Metro, this post contains spoilers. So if you don't want to know the truth . . .

We placed another geocache on the Luce Line this afternoon - Milk and Cookies. It's not published yet. We are going to wait a day or two so some of the snow can melt. Following our tracks right to the cache is way too easy.

That's not a cookie on the right - that's the cache container! (Click on any photo to enlarge.) Found that baby at the Dollar Store. So I went to my trusty Google Earth file showing all the geocaches on the Luce, zoomed in, and found the perfect place in the aerial photo.

When we got to the trail, it was a sloppy mess. Snowmobilers that weren't quite ready to surrender the trail to the melting snow, have churned up parts of it into gooey mud.

Anyway, when we found the perfect hiding spot and set up the trusty Garmin GPS unit, the actual coordinates were .002 N, and .001 W degrees off my Google Earth estimate. Who needs a GPSr for this stuff? Just look at that tree. Does it not cry out, "Hey there's a geocache hidden here!" When I first saw it, the thing brought tears to my eyes.

Well, that right-hand limb, the one split wide open, has the perfect hidey-hole on the back side.
There's plenty of wild rose bush to make getting to it just a bit of a challenge. Keeps the muggles from wandering off the trail too. If you enlarge the photo on the left, you will see the Oreo Cookie hidden way back in there. A small piece of bark covering it makes the whole thing complete. No one could accidentally find this one.

Just for scale.

Geocaching & RSS Feeds - Why?

OK, so I'm off the geocaching topic again. It's still cold outside.

Here's a quick & clever video that I think is really important to bloggers and those who read blogs. It may not be as fun as geocaching, but explains the mysteries of RSS, subscriptions, and why everyone should use them. Subscribe. It's fun!



Maybe the weather will change and we can get out and do some geocaching!

A Most Devious Geocache

This geocache would be brutal, but quite a thrill when finally found! This set of photos is from a series posted on flikr by SEDCClint. He also blogs at GPS & Geocaching in Education.

Here's a fence post like many others in the desert.

Nothing unusual here.

An ordinary railroad spike.

Ah, but is it?

The end of the spike was drilled and tapped. Then a hollow bolt containing the log was screwed in the end. Another symptom of microsiscannotfindus.

Luce Line Crossing Geocache

After our disappointing DNH of Saturday, we braved the balmy 32 degree weather to place the Luce Line Crossing Geocache. It's on the nearby Luce Line, a Rails-to-Trails type of trail.

Here's a shot of the Luce Line in its day

Here's the Luce Line Today (Actually, there's a lot of snow on it today)

It's a small cache, not too far from the parking area, so it will be great for families with small kids. We use the Luce Line a lot. For hiking, biking and geocaching. (There's room for a few more out there.) The far west end was were we had that very disappointing DNF at the Trestle Collapses, but we've also found a lot of very cool caches along the Line. I hope the Luce Line Crossing lives up to the expectations of its siblings.

Update: I got the email that our cache was published at 6:38 pm. At 7:19 pm, I received another email informing me that jrest had claimed the FTF - less than an hour from published cache to FTF. Now that's some geocaching!