The adventures of Geokid

Skunked!

2007-12-05T06:43:00.001-08:00

Skunked!

Last weekend was an unfortunate disappointment. My wife and I went out try do two cache’s in our area, Jay Rec Area and French Falls with ketchup, and we came up empty handed both times. It was an overcast fall day and we were having a hard time keeping a good signal on my Garmin Etrex. I can honestly say that this has never happened to me before. My Etrex has never let me down. Was it the weather? Does having it be overcast really make that big a difference? It seemed like it was working fine until we were within 30 feet or so of the cache. Once we were within the 30 foot mark thing took a turn for the worse. It seemed like with every couple of steps it would change directions and the distance to the cache would change. This was driving us crazy! At both caches’ we tried we eventually gave up after searching in vain for what seemed like hours. This had never happened to us before. The only factors that were different was that it was fall and overcast. I am curious if the fact that it is fall has anything to do with the accuracy. It seems a little far fetched that a change in the seasons would have such an effect on the GPS satellites and such, but you never know. The most logical conclusion that I could come up with was that it being over cast was the cause of the inaccuracies.

I am certainly curious to hear back from you all with your input!

Until next time,

~Matt

Flashmob Event!

2007-11-17T09:53:00.001-08:00

Hi folks,

Check out this pic from the flash mob event that took place last Saturday!

1st Flash mob in Maine

2007-11-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

This weekend was the first every flash mob put on by the Maine Geocaching Society. This Saturday in Bangor at noon we all gathered in a park down by the river. We had a great turn out. I must say that I am very impressed with the amount of people that turn up to support the events put on by the Maine Geocaching Society. The last event they put on was the Georally, and the turn out was incredible. We had something like 30 teams, all with 4 members. That's a lot of geocachers put running around!

This Saturday we all were to gather near ground zero. We were supposed to either stay in our cars or make it look like we were muggles out for a stroll. Under no circumstances were we to acknowledge that we know each other or give any indication that anything was about to happen. Then, at 12 noon on the dot, the leader sounded an air horn and we all ran to ground zero and gathered as group. There were buckets with paper in them so we could all sign our names so we could log this as a cache. We just kind of hung around and talked amongst ourselves. Some folks exchanged travel bug and geo coins. Most folks just kind of milled around and used this as an opportunity to meet new people that share there love for goecaching. Next, at the stroke of 12:15, another horn sounded and we all dispersed very quickly. We all ran to our vehicles and took off. That was it, it was over. We were all gone like nothing ever happened!

It was a pretty neat experience. I had never been part of a flash mob before. I saw one on an episode of CSI Miami, other than that I had never really heard of one before. It was cool to be a part of something new and it was very cool to meet other geocacher's in the state. It was a good time had by all!

I can't wait to hear from you!

Until next time,

~Matt

Bonney Woods Cache

2007-11-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

Bonney Woods

Last week end my wife and I checked out a new cache in our area. Bonney Woods Cache is the name of it. It is a nice little walk through the woods. I wouldn’t really call it a hike, though. Bonney Woods is a nice little park with a walking trail in town with an old cemetery in the middle of it.

It was a beautiful fall day in Maine, tailor made for hunting for buried treasure with a GPS device. There were a few muggles about so we had to be on our guard and do our best to look like a couple out for a stroll, not geochachers.

Easy terrain and a nice view will be your reward in this cache. This is an excellent cache to hit if you don’t have a lot of time, or if you don’t particularly feel like exerting your self. The cache was well hidden and somewhat challenging to find. It was pretty neat being one of the first finders of a brand new cache. Sadly to say I didn’t log a first to find, I haven’t had that pleasure yet.

If you’re every in the Farmington ME area, I recommend checking out the Bonney Woods Cache.

My GPS Units

2007-11-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

The two GPS units that I use are a Garmin eTrex and a Garmin GPSmap 176. The eTrex is the unit that I use in the field. It’s a great rugged GPS unit that can take a licking and keep in ticking. I bought a USB interface for it so I can connect it to my PC and download cache’s straight to my GPS unit. The other unit that I use is a Garmin GPSmap 176. I original bought this unit to use as a chart plotter for marine navigation to use while I was sailing. It worked great on the coast detailing island and the cost line and such. When I got into Geocaching I bought Garmin Mapsource North America and a memory card and converted my chart plotter into an on road navigation system.

2007-11-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

This set up that I have works pretty well however, I would love to upgrade. I would love to purchase a Garmin Nuvi to use for my navigation system and have a Garmin Trex Legend for my field unit. I want to upgrade to an eTrex Legend for the mapping capabilities the my regular eTrex doesn’t have. I want a Garmin Nuvi because they are awesome! A friend of mine has one and there’s nothing they can’t do. They are amazing!

I’ve never really had any experience with any of the other brands of GPS units out there. I’m sure they are all pretty decent, but in my opinion, Garmin is the best and pretty hard to beat.

I love geocaching!

2007-11-04T07:16:00.001-08:00

I love Geocaching. I have been into the sport for about for about six months now and I can’t get enough. Geocaching is the perfect marriage of electronic gadgets and outdoor activity, two things that I enjoy very much. I also love the excitement of the treasure hunting aspect of geocaching. Searching the woods (or under park benches), following the hints, looking for signs that a cache might have been hidden near by. I just love it!

Geocaching has also opened up a whole world of parks, hiking trails, and scenic vista’s that I never new existed, and otherwise never would’ve found, right in my own town! I recently took a vacation to the cost and went geocaching while we were there. It was, without a doubt, the best tour guide we could have ever hoped for. Talk about sight seeing! We found trails and parks and parks that weren’t mentioned anywhere else. Geocaching has certainly opened up a new world of outdoor fun!

I have recently participated in a Georally. Myself, and three other team members competed in a twelve hour rally. We traveled all around the state; logging thirty six cache’s total, along with a number of other scavenger hunt items. It was a long day, but an amazing experience. Our team placed sixth out of forty five competing teams. Not to bad for our first ralley! All total, counting the ralley cache’s, I have logged about fifty six caches. I’m curious to see what geocaching is going to be like in the winter!