Geocaching Journal

More on "12 of 12"

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:17:00 +0000

Last Thursday, November 12th, was another 12 of 12 opportunity. The "12 of 12" is a photography project designed to capture a day in the life of people through 12 photographs on the 12th day of each month. Eventually, geocachers got in on the action, and began submitting geocaching-specific 12 of 12 photos on various web sites.

Here are some samples I found from this month's submissions from different geocachers (click on each photo to see the entire set):

And finally, here is my submission, from my 56-cache-find day on 11/12/09:

Cache On!

World Wide Flash Mob VI - 11/14

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:54:00 +0000

The next World Wide Flash Mob (WWFM VI) event is scheduled for next Saturday, 11/14/09. "What's a Flash Mob", you say? Well, in the geocaching world, the World Wide Flash Mob Events occur all around the world, coordinated so they happen all at the same time; Oh yeah, and, they are only 15 minutes long! Everyone appears at the exact same moment (10:00 AM PST), signs the log sheet, partakes in some specific act of silliness determined by the event organizer. Then everyone disperses at exactly 10:15.

As of this posting, there were over 100 WWFM VI events planned world wide. This link simply displays the results of a standard geocaching.com search for keyword = "WWFM VI". Unfortunately, this listing won't help you find a flash mob event in your area, as it seems to be sorted somewhat randomly; or not at all. Luckily, a geocacher named Novac has gone to the trouble of creating a bookmark of all the events, sorted by country, then state/province.

If you can find a WWFM VI event near you, I highly recommend attending.

Cache On!

Weekly Updates - New Look and Feel

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:12:00 +0000

If you've been a long-time subscriber to Groundspeak's "Weekly Update" newsletter, then you have to be happy with the new format. After years of sending out the newsletter as a text-based document, Groundspeak has finally converted it to an HTML formatted page. And very pleasing to the eye, I might add:

Of course, content is king, and luckily, that hasn't changed at all. I always loved getting all the latest geocaching information sent to my inbox each week. But now it's even more fun to read than ever.

Thanks Groundspeak!

Cache On!

You Have 10 Days To Tell Google Where To Go

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:12:00 +0000

When I first started geocaching many moons ago, the geo-referenced aerial imagery that was available back then was of such low resolution, that it wasn't really useful at all for visualizing the location of a geocache. Times have sure changed since then. First, Google Earth came along and made it easy to "see" the location of a geocache with this tool's continuously improving imagery. Then came Google Maps with the Street View feature which practically showed you a picture of the cache in its hiding place:

This works nicely, of course, as long as you are urban caching. But for those of us who do most of our geocaching "off-road," Street View doesn't offer much help; until now. Lucky for us, one of the Google engineers on the Street View team also happens to be an avid mountain biker, and decided to devise a way to take Street View off-road. The result was the Street View Trike:

You can read more about it on this recent Google Lat Long Blog post. Google would like to know where you'd like to see the Street View Trike go next. Do you have a favorite trail, park, pedestrian mall, campus, etc.? Cast your vote by October 28 to make sure you get your favorite off-road location added to Street View. Go to this site to make your voice heard, and to see some of the areas that have already been captured, including one of my favorites, the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail.

Cache On, and vote!

Offline Pocket Queries

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:38:00 +0000

If you have visited your profile page on gecoacaching.com lately, you may have noticed a new feature was recently added for premium users called, "Offline Pocket Queries":

If you click on the link, you won't get much information about the feature. But luckily, there is a good explanation of it, as well as some discussion of its usefulness, in the forums. Following is the feature description that is provided there:

"Offline Pocket Queries allow Premium Members to upload customized .GPX files to the website for later use by the Geocaching iPhone Application and select mobile devices.
This feature allows you to download a customized Pocket Query, alter the data in your preferred third party waypoint manager and upload the altered version to Geocaching.com for later download to your mobile device.
The website will currently accept GPX version 1.0 uploads in either .GPX or .ZIP format.
Premium Members may save up to 10 Offline Pocket Queries, which will remain on the website for a maximum of 7 days. The Offline Pocket Query will display in red when there are 2 days remaining before its removal.
Please Note: .GPX files must be limited to 500 waypoints."

From what I can tell, this new feature is only for people who use their mobile devices (iPhones/Blackberrys) for geocaching, as it allows them to upload modified pocket queries (ie: pqs with corrected coordinates, user created additional waypoints, etc.), and then retrieve those pocket queries onto their devices.

While it seems like a nice way to get caches with corrected coordinates onto your iPhone, I tend to agree with most of the people that commented on the forum that it probably won't benefit the majority of geocachers. The feature doesn't really have any value to people with traditional GPS receivers that load waypoint coordinates (corrected or otherwise) directly onto their devices; and for those cachers that do use iPhones, it's difficult to imagine too many of them using this feature on a regular basis.

Even though I use the iPhone geoacaching application on my iPodTouch since I can store my regular (unmodified) pocket queries and field notes there, I really have no need for this feature since I load all my waypoints on to my Garmin.

If you are an iPhone geocacher, and you use, or plan to use this new feature, I'd love to hear your reaction, and whether or not you think this is a great enhancement.

Cache On!

Geocaching Goes Prime Time

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:45:00 +0000

While geocaching has been around for years now (almost 10, to be exact), most of the media attention that our hobby has generated has been limited to local, small-town newspapers. Recently, however, it seems that major television studios and even Hollywood has started jumping on the geocaching bandwagon. Following are some recent examples:

Law & Order: SVU
Aired September 30, 2009

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Aired September 27, 2009

In Hawaii, the Hubers are out on the ocean, and when they return, they get to open the package Ty gave them before they left - it’s a GPS for the family to do one of their favorite things - geo-caching - which is a scavenger hunt in which you follow co-ordinates on the GPS. They are led to a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid car - Ty phones and tells them they can keep it! Jesse notes that it will make so much difference in their lives!

Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Aired May 8, 2005

STREET SHOOTINGS RAISE PUBLIC OUTCRY AS POLICE PROBE FEMALE STALKER -- AND HIGH-TECH TREASURE HUNT GAME -- After a young actor Mike, (guest star Jeffrey Hephner) is wounded and his fiancee is shot dead on the street, Detectives Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Eames (Kathryn Erbe) are pointed towards the surviving victim's former girlfriend, who is known to have stalked him. The key, however, might turn on their probe of "geocaching," a high-tech treasure-hunt game that could yield vital clues. As the media and public mourn the man's tragic loss, the police want to take another look at some of his acting buddies, especially one who never lets go of his Palm Pilot. Jamey Sheridan and Courtney B. Vance also star.

Splinterheads
Coming to a theater near you

Cache On!

EveryTrail

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:27:00 +0000

In previous blog posts, I've mentioned some of the web-based GPS mapping sites I like to use. One of my favorites right now is the feature-packed EveryTrail. This site lets you do it all, including search and find GPS tracks that others have uploaded that you can download into your GPS device. You can upload your own GPS tracks, either directly from your Garmin device (if you have one), or from a multitude of different file formats that you may have saved on your computer from your GPS, including Google Earth (KML) format.

There's also a "Guides" section, that lets you download detailed travel guides for your next adventure, including the GPS tracks for the route described in the Guide. Check out this Yosemite Valley hiking Guide page.

In addition, there are EveryTrail mobile apps that let you record and save your tracks with your GPS-enabled mobile device, including the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile devices, and the Android phone. And, you can easily share your trips on Facebook and Twitter.

I also like all the trip details the application provides about the trips you upload. Not only does it create a map of your GPS tracks, but it also includes trip stats including duration, length, vertical up and down, and even a time slider that let's you play back your trip:

EveryTrail even lets you embed your trips into your blog:

TRT-Tahoe City at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Share and Plan your Trips

If you haven't used EveryTrail before, I highly recommend giving it a try. And if you have used it previously, but not for some time, check it out again, as they've made some major improvements to their site.

Cache On!

Show Me

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:37:00 +0000

In one of my very first blog posts, I explained how I like to save some of my frequently used geocaching. com pocket queries and searches as bookmarks. Well, now I found a nice little tool called Screenr that let's me show you how to do it. In addition, Screenr gives you the option to post your finished "how to" video on Twitter with the click of a button.

Although my presentation skills need a lot of improvement, below is my attempt at creating a screenr "how to" video.

Cache On!

Geocaching 12 of 12

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:25:00 +0000

Today marked the "Geocaching 12 of 12" event, where geocachers worldwide were encouraged to document their day of geocaching with 12 pictures, taken today, the 12th day of the month. Thus, 12 of 12.

The concept of 12 of 12 has been around for a few years, where people document the 12th day of the month with 12 pictures that exemplify their day. Here's a bit of history. But today was the first attempt to create a geocaching-specific 12 of 12 effort. Here's the official web site with lots more information, and instructions on how to submit your 12 photos if you happened to be one of the lucky ones who participated.

Unfortunately for me, I had to work today, so I will have to settle for enjoying everyone else's photos.

Cache On!

Crowdsourced Maps

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:43:00 +0000

An article appeared in Wired this past week that discussed how OpenStreetMap relies on people with GPS devices to upload their road and trail network data to contribute to the generation of a universal map. This crowdsourcing technique works similar to the Wikipedia model, with the end product being a non-proprietary road and trail map available for anyone to use, for free. This is different than the Googles and MapQuests of the world that rely on proprietary data from Navteq or TeleAtlas. And now that almost everything in the world is becoming GPS-enabled these days, more and more people are able to contribute to the public mapping effort, and thus, the data quality can only continue to improve.

The other nice thing about OpenStreetMap is, not only can you upload your GPS data to help out the mapping project cause, but you can also download the map data to your GPS device as well; something you can't do with Google Maps or MapQuest. In addition, OpenStreetMap seems to contain a lot of bike and hiking trails that you don't see in most online mapping products:

Thus, OSM offers a less expensive alternative than paying Garmin $100 for their Street or TOPO maps. While the Garmin maps may have more features, like routable trails and more POI's, it's nice to know there is a less expensive option available.

If you are primarily interested in acquiring free trail maps for your Garmin GPS device, and you happen to live in, or will be traveling to, the northwest, then you'll want to check out Northwest Trails, created by cacher, Moun10bikes. If you're looking for a similar mapset for the greater Arizona area, then checkout the Southwest Trails site, created, ironically, by "GoNorthWest".

For GPS maps of most other locations, I strongly recommend the GPS File Depot, which I've mentioned in this blog numerous times in the past.

Speaking of crowdsourcing, you may have noticed Google's announcement that they are now using crowdsourced GPS data from people using Google Maps Mobile to update their real-time traffic data on Google Maps.

And finally, a big shout out to EMC of Northridge, CA for setting the record the other day for the number of caches found in a 24-hour period: 413! It took me years to find that many, and she and her pals did it in one day. Amazing.

Cache On!

Drawing Pictures With GPS Tracks

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:04:00 +0000

It was only a matter of time before people would decide to do more than just generate tracks from their hiking, biking and off-roading outings with their GPS receivers. This article, titled, The Big Draw of a GPS Run, appeared in the NY Times this week, and links to it were all over the twittersphere. The article gives examples of people using their GPS-enabled devices to create huge drawings by following routes through city streets in the shapes of faces, dogs and other interesting things.

Check out these other impressive examples of "GPS Drawings". You have to especially love the effort that went into creating this Depeche Mode logo:

So the next time you download your GPS tracks, look beyond your total miles traveled and elevation gain to see the work of art that lies within.

Cache On!

Geocaching's 10th Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:15:00 +0000

It seems hard to believe, but the very first geocache was hidden over nine years ago on May 3rd, 2000, and shortly after that, Groundspeak, the company that runs Geocaching.com, was born. This means our beloved hobby will be celebrating it's 10th anniversary next year, and the interweb is beginning to buzz with hints of plans for appropriate events, activities, and festivities.

The biggest hint to date is this blog post by Jeremy Irish, Groundspeak's president and co-founder, where he mentions plans for a big celebration next year, most likely in coordination with GeoWoodstock VIII on July 3rd, 2010. And there's also this August 14th Twitter post from Jeremy, which suggests more than one celebration, but possibly a year long extravaganza may be in the works!?

It appears some geocaching groups are also planning celebratory events of their own, as well:

The Geocaching Maritime Mega Event 2010 in Nova Scotia
MidWest GeoBash 2010 event in Ohio

to name a couple. And I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more to come. So keep an eye out for an anniversary event near you, and other surprises that Groundspeak may have in store for us!

Cache On!

Garmin's BaseCamp Now Free

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Garmin announced this week that they are making their BaseCamp software, for both PC and Mac, free. Some of the features include:

Allows you to view 24K or 100K topographic maps and other topographic data from Garmin
Displays maps in 2-D or 3-D, including elevation profiles, and allows you to view and rotate them at any angle
Allows you to create waypoints and routes on your computer and transfer maps, waypoints, routes, tracks and geotagged photos between your computer and your Garmin device
Shows animated playback of routes and tracks over time
Supports geotagged photos
Lets you easily organize data into foldersPrints full-page, color mapsExports user data for viewing in Google Earth
Includes advanced geocaching support; can import data from geocaching.com

Notice the first line above about viewing TOPO maps - what it doesn't mention is that you have to purchase them separately from Garmin. Otherwise, you can use the BaseCamp program with the standard, sparsely detailed base map that it comes with. Other than support for geotagged photos and animated route/track playback, most of the features listed above are already available in Garmin's MapSource program that comes with most Garmin handheld GPS receiver devices. What I like about MapSource is I can add other (aka, "free") TOPO maps to the background and view my GPS data on top. See GPSFileDepot for more information on downloading free TOPO maps for your Garmin and MapSource.

For now, I think I'll stick with MapSource. But if you happen to already have some of Garmin's 24K or 100K TOPO map products, you may want to give BaseCamp a try. The price is right.

Cache On!

Google Adds Data Layers to Google Maps for Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:02:00 +0000

This week Google released version 3.2 of Google Maps for Mobile. If you have a Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile phone, you can now access and interact with content such as Wikipedia, Transit, Traffic, and best of all, My Maps by tapping "Layers" in your main menu:

What's nice about the My Maps option, is you can save your cache data as a KML file, and then load that data into My Maps (all you need is a Google account). Here's a video that shows you how to add content to My Maps:

A while ago, I created a "My Maps" map to monitor my progress on conquering the "The "Lil" Devil Made Me Do It Challenge!" cache. This post describes how I created the My Maps page from my cache data. Now, with Google Maps for Mobile 3.2, I can access my Mt. Diablo cache map from my phone:

And, by clicking on one of the map icons, I can get the cache information:

This is great news. I can't wait to take advantage of the new features in Maps for Mobile 3.2 during my next cache outing.

Cache On!

Gotta Love The Groundspeak Forums

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:32:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the latest release of the iPhone Geocaching application, and how I was especially pleased with the new feature that lets you download your pocket queries to your device. This is especially useful for people like me that only have an iPodTouch and not an iPhone, so we only get internet access when we're within range of a wifi hotspot (in other words, rarely).

I've been wanting to test-drive this new feature so I can decide whether I want to switch from my current paperless caching solution: Cachemate on my smartphone. So I set up a special pocket query that pulls all my "unfound" caches within a 10-mile radius of my home coordinates. I never actually downloaded this query, since I typically load other PQ's that cover a larger radius into GSAK (and then just filter the caches I want for any particular cache run).

But to use the iPhone/Touch app., you don't need to download the pocket query, as it pulls the data directly from the Geocaching .com servers; or so I thought. Up until today, I've been frustrated by the fact that the iPhone app. only lists some, but not all, of my pocket queries. And unfortunately, my "10-mile radius" PQ was one of the unlisted queries on my iPodTouch.

So I headed over to the Groundspeak Forums to see if other people had run into a similar problem with this application. As it turns out, I quickly learned that the iPhone app. only lists pocket queries that you've downloaded within the last 7 days, as described in Skippermark's most helpful post. I took his advice, downloaded the PQ, and now it shows up on my iTouch, just as promised.

Over the years I've come to rely on the Groundspeak forums to find answers to almost any question I've had about geocaching and the many gadgets we use. There are so many helpful people there, like Skippermark, who are ready to offer up a quick solution to any problem imaginable. In fact, you would be hard pressed to come up with a geocaching question that hasn't already been addressed in the forums.

So the next time you get stuck, turn to the forums for the answer.

Cache On!

GPSFileDepot

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:58:00 +0000

One of my favorite web sites is the GPSFileDepot. It's a great source for free map data for your GPS receiver, assuming you have one that lets you load your own files. The home page maintains a running list of the latest data files that have been added, along with the most popular. You can also search for available maps by location, and the tutorials and forums are both very helpful.

A while ago, I downloaded the California TOPO map for my Garmin, and I've found it to be very detailed and accurate. While you cannot navigate by roads or trails like you can with Garmin's $99 TOPO product, I find that the TOPO file in the GPSFileDepot library includes many, many more trails than Garmin's 1:24,000 TOPO version does. In fact, I have yet to find a trail missing from the map.

The maps available for dowload here are all free because they have been created and donated by generous users. As of this writing, there were 187 custom maps available and there had been over 91 thousand downloads. Take some time to look over the site. You'll be glad you did.

Cache On!

Geocaching Goes Mainstream

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:37:00 +0000

I think whenever your quiet little hobby/obsession/addiction becomes the subplot of a major motion picture, it's no longer mommy's and daddy's little secret. Thus seems to be the case with geocaching thanks to a movie called Splinterheads, which debuted at the South-by-Southwest film festival in March. I believe the movie, starring Thomas Middleditch, Rachael Taylor and Lea Thompson (of "Back to the Future" fame), is set to be released at a theater near you this fall. Here's a sneak peak:

While geocaching seems to steadily be gaining in popularity on its own, we'll see how much of an impact Hollywood has on our fun little pastime.

Cache On!

Thank Geodness For Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:03:00 +0000

Very early yesterday morning there was a fire and subsequent power outage at the Fisher Plaza building in Seattle, Washington, which is the data center that houses the Geocaching.com servers. This resulted in the web site being down for over 24 hours, and a lot of disgruntled geocachers. You can read more about the details of the damage and the server outage on Jeremy Irish's blog post.

Lucky for those of us that follow Jeremy on Twitter, or monitored the #fisherfire Twitter hashtag, we were kept abreast of the events and the status of the repairs as the day progressed. For those geocachers that weren't aware of the problem, and especially those who use the geocaching.com iphone application, or GeocacheNavigator on their Blackberry, who rely on a network connection to gc.com, it must have been very frustrating. Of course, those of us who geocache the old fashioned way; by maintaining their cache lists and information in an offline database like GSAK, weren't impacted as much.

But I have to say, following the Twitter activity on this topic throughout the day was quite entertaining. You could read the panic and confusion in peoples' "Tweets" as they tried to figure out why they couldn't access gc.com. This was ultimately followed by relief once those of us who knew what was happening reassured them that there was nothing wrong with their ISP's, or their modems, or their iPhones, etc. Here is a sampling of some of the tweets from yesterday:

I guess geocaching.com is down because of #fisherfire... I should have checked Twitter before pressing F5 so many times.
#geocaching Software for the #IPHONE is now completely useless? Says: No Network. Unable to search for caches. No network is available.
#fisherfire explains why #geocaching app for #iPHONE is down. Sorry guys! Will wait patiently for the fix!
Long live the offline #geocaching database! Long live #GSAK !!
5 DNF's, aided by the site being down all day.
trying to research some geocaches (#geocaching ) but the blasted #fisherfire has ruined my plans.
who else is bitting their nails over the #fisherfire? I had plans to go #geocaching.
i finally bought the #geocaching app for my iphone and now their data center is on fire.
been #geocaching, found 11, can't log 'em, bored now!

I wonder if there was this much panic during the stock market crash of 1929? I have to say, it sure was nice having a service like Twitter to turn to for geocaching.com web site status information. Now, if Twitter ever goes down, then we're all in trouble. For information more about Twitter and Geocaching, see this earlier post.

Cache On!

Geocaching Live

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:26:00 +0000

In case you weren't aware, a new beta service has been launched by Groundspeak called "Geocaching Live". Geocaching Live is a new "project focused on real-time social interactions among geocachers. While geocaching outdoors you can post logs, images and video related to your current geocaching adventure for others to see in real-time!".

While you can follow people's caching adventures in real-time from your desktop PC, it's really intended for use on mobile phones and PDA's. Unfortunately, my GPS-less mobile phone is not one of the supported models. If you look at the live map, you'll notice that the service seems to be more popular in Europe than in the U.S. at the moment. I have to admit that it is kind of fun to follow other cachers in real-time:

If you have one of the supported mobile devices, you may want to give it a try and see what you think of it. If you do, please post your experiences here, as I'm very curious to hear your reactions and see if this service will start to enjoy widespread use.

Thanks, and Cache On!

New Geocaching iPhone App. Version Released

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:35:00 +0000

You may have noticed that Grounspeak released version 2.1 of their Geocaching iPhone/iPodTouch application this week. If you're not familiar with this tool, you can read more about it here, or, visit the Apple iTunes Store download page.

Some of the features added to this latest version include:

Updated user interface.
Three different map options now available: Street, Topo, and Satellite.
For each map type, you can select the map source.
Custom waypoints can be added to the navigation map - a must for multi-caches.
Your active pocket queries can be downloaded to your device and accessed while you are outside of network coverage!

That last bullet is my favorite, especially since I have an iPodTouch and not an iPhone. I usually bring the Touch with me when I'm out caching, but only to listen to music. Up until now, it had no real caching capabilities since the only way I could get geocaching or navigation information was if I happened to be near a wi-fi hot spot. I can't think of too many caching locations I've been to where a wi-fi signal was available.

But now that I can download my pocket queries to the device, I may start using the iPodTouch more than my current smartphone/cachemate solution. Following are some screenshots of the new pocket query feature on the iPodTouch:

New Interface With Pocket Query Option

List Of My Active Pocket Queries

Selected Pocket Query Ready to Download

List of Saved Pocket Queries on Device

Cache List From Selected Pocket Query

(each one contains all the cache info.)

The other nice thing is that downloading the pocket queries to the Touch goes much faster than loading them into cachemate on my smartphone. My only complaint so far is that not all of my pocket queries show up on the active list in my device, and I haven't figured out why that is.

But for now, this is good enough to start testing to decide if it will become my new paperless caching solution. Stay tuned.

Cache On!

Get Your Log Sheets Here

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:17:00 +0000

So you've been geocaching for a while now, and you've decided you're ready to give back to the community and hide your first cache. Well, good for you. But before you do, you'll definitely want to check out geocaching.com's brief guidelines and helpful hints in hiding your first geocache.

Whether you're getting ready to hide your first cache or your hundreth, one of the most time consuming parts of the process is creating an appropriate log sheet for your container. Lucky for us, there are plenty of kind cachers out there who have already created numerous log sheet templates and made them available online.

Following are links to some of the web sites I've used to download and print different log sheets for some of my caches:

TechBlazer
This site contains a slew of different size, styles, and colors of log sheets; free for the downloading.

Cachebox
You can purchase rite in the rain sheets here, or scroll further down and print out pdf versions of 4 different sized templates.

Micro-cache log sheet, by Lil Devil
A micro log sheet in MS Word format that you can modify to suit your needs.

I'm sure there are other sites out there besides these that provide pre-made logs, but these are definitely three of my favorite. Now, go hide that cache!

Cache On!

New and Improved "Cache Along a Route" Filter

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:08:00 +0000

With the summer traveling season approaching, it's nice to know that geocaching.com allows you to select out just the caches you want along a route that you define (point A to point B), which you can then load into your GPS receiver. Those of you who have used this function in the past may be interested to know that there is a new and improved means to accomplish this task. You can still do it the old fashioned way if you prefer, but why would you when it's much simpler now?

Now all you do is click on the "Create A Route" link under the "My Profile" page, select your begin and end points and your search radius (buffer), and then "Save Route Changes":

This takes you to the "Create/Edit a Route" page, where you can add additional information about your route, and then save it as a pocket query and/or a gpx file:

Once you save the route as a pocket query, you will now have access to a list of all the caches along that route, within a given radius of the route, for your use. It doesn't get much simpler or sweeter.

Cache On!

The Saga Continues

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:25:00 +0000

I recently posted a piece on a Challenge Cache that a friend and I are doing called the Lil Devil Challenge which requires the successful geocacher to find all the hidden caches in Mt. Diablo State Park. During our most recent outing, we were able to find 9 out of the 10 caches we attempted that day.

One of the problems we're having, besides a few DNF's, is that new cahces keep getting added within the Park boundaries almost as fast as we find the existing hides. Three new caches were hidden there just in the last week.

In any event, here are our current stats:

Total Finds: 37
Total DNFs: 4
Total Yet-To-Find: 38

You can follow along on this map of our progress.

Cache On!

Shout Out To Geocachers

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:13:00 +0000

This post is simply meant to thank all you geocachers out there for hiding your treasures for the rest of us to find. Even though I live near some of the best parkland and open space areas imaginable, if it weren't for the caches that you all hide, I most likely wouldn't visit these locations nearly as often as I do.

On a recent outing, I had decided to visit Anthony Chabot Regional Park, located in the hills above Oakland, California, to grab a few new caches that had been placed there. Of course, I brought my bike, as this park has miles of dirt trails for horses, hikers and bicyclists. The trails are lined with huge Eucalyptus and Oak trees everywhere you go, which made the ride even nicer (I almost forgot I was looking for caches at times). And even though spring is quickly turning into summer out west, there was still quite a bit of Monkey Flower blooming.

After finding five caches in this park, I headed north to the neighboring Redwood Regional Park. This amazing place is home to a forest of Coast Redwood trees, and I love it whenever a new cache is hidden here, as it gives me an excuse to return. I was after one particular micro cache on this day; but it was definitely the journey that made this visit worth while. Here's a sample of what I saw:

Towering Giants

Fern Grotto

Trail to the Cache

It's worth noting that the location of the first picture was only 6 miles away from the others, which speaks to the tremendous natural diversity this region has to offer. So once again cachers, thank you for getting me out there to enjoy it all!

Cache On!

Get Cache Data Via E-mail

noreply@blogger.com (GeoJoe) — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:36:00 +0000

At some point when I wasn't looking, a nice new feature was added to GSAK that lets you automatically interrogate a POP3 email server to download attachments, and then optionally load any GPX/LOC files into your current database. I had always wished my email client had an option that would automatically send my pocket query files to my hard drive without me having to download them manually each time, but no such feature existed. Now, with the "get data via email" function (under the File menu) in GSAK, you can automatically pull your pocket query files from your email, load them into GSAK, and then delete the email messages when finished (if you want); all in one step. It's very slick.

Here's a screen shot of the dialogue box that you see when you select this option:

It's pretty straight forward, and this feature should work with any email system that uses a POP3 server. There are, however, some quirks with gmail accounts, but these are addressed in the help files and in the forums. Give it a try. I think you'll be impressed.

Cache On!