GSAK Tip - Elevation

I received a question about my Geocaching stats and the elevation information that was listed. In the past I had used the macro GetElevationUSA to pull in the elevation data but recently came across a note that it had been integrated into GSAK itself. As of 8.2.1.40 there is a native elevation lookup under the Database option in the menu. It is towards the bottom of the list and is named "Update Elevation..." it will then prompt you if you want to only check caches without elevation information or all caches in the current filter. It can take a bit of time if this is the first time you are running it, are working off a slow internet connection or if there are many caches in the filter so just hang in there. After you have populated your database it won't take so long after that. To take a look at what clyde has put into this feature go over to the gsak forum tracking this feature http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=23659&st=0&#entry175757 where there is an explanation of how it all works and the way that it stages the information and uses crowd sourcing is pretty cool. Once you have your elevation populated in your database it will be used in the BadgeGen macro as well as the FindStatGen macro. You will have to turn on the report for FindStatGen for it to show. Just click the option button after starting up the macro then click the elevation button on the right side check the boxes and off you go. I hope this tip helps you get a little more out of GSAK.

Pirates of the Potomac: Voyage to VanDeventer Isle

This weekend we took a voyage into the Potomac River to join other cachers in an adventure of Pirate Proportions!

I racked up 10 new Terrain 5 caches in the process with a great pirate crew.

Below is a video that one of the other Pirate crews took on their adventure. We ran across this group at Ode to the MGS Elizabeth and we can be seen around minute 10 in the video.




Here are links to my cache logs for the day. They tell the story of Team Slow and our Pirate Adventure.


Pirates of the Potomac: Voyage to VanDeventer Isle


Dead Men Tell No Tales


Dead Man's Chest


Ode to the MGS Elizabeth

RAGE QUIT! (dickory dock edition)


Cohongarooton (2 of 3)


The Tempest


Just Another Island Cache


A Cache with a Story


Treasure Island

I won!

I recently entered the "Tell me your stories, win a prize" contest over on Only Googlebot Reads This Blog and as luck would have it my story was picked.

Head over to the contest page to read some of the other great submissions.

My story was about my trip with PaddleAway in my first year of caching to finish the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. Below you will find my entry.

Hey this is OBXGeek here from northern Virginia outside the DC metro area.

One of the most fun adventures with caching was in November of 2010. My Mom PaddleAway and I decided to complete the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. I took off Friday and Monday and headed north to meet her in Northern Pennsylvania about half way between my house and the eastern tip of the trail. On Friday morning we got up early and drove to start the trail and had our first find at about 9 in the morning. That first find though was an accidental letterbox in the same park as the trail cache. After locating the proper container we continued the day in and out of rain storms for most of the time. By the time day light was falling we had finished one of the 5 regions and were started in on the next. Some driving in the dark and 10 more ammo cans had us finishing the night with two regions under our belt and headed to the third. That first day found us in state parks, visitors centers and some of the prettiest locations that the area has to offer.

Saturday morning we got on the road early again and were headed towards Rochester NY. This region was one of the hardest with longer walks to get to each of the caches and harder road navigation between sites to find the best places to park. We moved on into the Buffalo Niagara Falls region at the end of Saturday and spend the night near the falls so that we could visit them Sunday morning. We were able to take in most of the tourist spots and completed a few earth caches while we were there. Then back on the road to finish up the region and leaving us with just one region to go. We worked our way through the Lake Erie region doing lots of research work on the way to make sure that we were going to be able to find the caches as there were a few disabled in the region and we had to get atleast 10 to earn our coin. We opted for some multis with more walking over a puzzle that had stumped many people sending them back to the first spot to redo their math. We ended up racing the sun to one of the hides at a winery where they didn't allow night caching so we had to hurry. We pulled in and managed to find the cache just before the sun dipped below the horizon. Then off to visit a lighthouse in Erie PA to pick up the last cache in the region.

All told we found 50 caches in the trail with another handful of earth caches and nontrail caches along the way. The trip racked up nearly 1400 miles from the time I met up with my mom and just shy of 2000 total for me. They were 5 of the hardest earned coins I have and resulted in my favorite caching memory.

2012 Goals - Sept 1 Update

The summer just flew by and a lot of caching has happened in that time. Some new goals have been added, some have been smashed, and some may not be as important. So here is where we stand at the end of August.

My hard number goals for the year are

1. Complete CAM 2012 - Found all the caches and attended the picnic with PaddleAway.
2. Hit total find count of 2000 with a stretch goal of 2500 - 1600 currently. ~400 caches to go in 4 months. There hasn't been any really high volume caching days this summer.
3. Get to 200 found days of the year - Now at 216. Working on the 100 day streak blew this one out of the water. Making it to the 250 or higher mark will be no trouble at all.
4. Keep my hide count to find count at least at 1 to 100 - 30 hidden to 1600 for a ratio of 1.9%
5. Get finds in my other 10 MD counties I am missing - 7 counties to go.
6. Pennsylvania Delorme Challenge - I was at around 35 pages complete until the ASP GeoBash in May, a road trip in June to Pittsburgh and NEPA and then another one day blitz in August. I now have 8 pages left to go. A cluster of 4 in the very north east and a cluster of 4 in the south east.
7. Get a 100 Day streak to qualify for the various challenges - 100 consecutive days with finds from 04/25/2012 to 08/02/2012

Soft number goals

1. Fill in more of the 2000 and 2001 months that I am missing - I picked up State Game Lands in Erie for my September 2000 and The Spot in New York for the May 2000 slots. I also picked up the last of my 2001 caches while In Pittsburgh in June. That leaves me with June, July, August, October, November 2000 to go.
2. Add more of the North East States - No trips
3. Get on the water and find some paddle caches now that I have the kayaks - Found 4 paddle caches. Two different trips out with two finds.
4. More hikes! - I decided to complete the Top 10 Fulfillment challenge in June and racked up 3 different hikes in a week. At ASP GeoBash we hunted all the night caches that were available as well as making the hike to State Game Lands. The Spot and Jump Off were two great hikes with PaddleAway.
5. Captain John Smith Trail: Finish it and visit more of them - Didn't make any headway here
6. Dig through the ? caches around and find the ones that are challenges rather than puzzles and find the ones I qualify for and work on the ones I don't - Rate Your Favorite, Looking the Wrong Way, VPDJ's 2.5 and 5 mile clear out, The 3 10-10-10 challenges 10 types, 10 counties/day and 10 days in a row, The Top ten fulfillment challenge, Riddlers Revenge, Play Ball and Varrezat udhëtimi were all found. I also have all the 100 days challenges now on my list to go hunt as well as some complete the whole month challenges.
7. Find a 5/X and a X/5 cache or few - Found Psycho Urban Cache #8 - Ghost in Ancient Citadel, Marsh Maple, Roanoke Sound P&G, Sunshine & Sandy Bottoms, and Silver Island. 4 paddle caches and one of the most awesome multi-caches I have experienced.

Awesome Locked Maze Puzzle Box

This is an awesome cache idea. I don't know how well it would hold up in the field seeing how hard people are on caches but this is really creative. Admittedly I have a cache design I have been trying to figure out similar to this with the child lock but I wasn't going to build a maze.

2012 Goals - May 1 Update

My hard number goals for the year are

1. Complete CAM 2012 - The Event is this Saturday and nothing is conflicting.
2. Hit total find count of 2000 with a stretch goal of 2500 - 1337 currently but there are ~20 caches that I haven't logged yet because of CAM. ~640 caches to go in 8 months
3. Get to 200 found days of the year - Now at 165. 35 days to go.
4. Keep my hide count to find count at least at 1 to 100 - 23 hidden to 1357 for a ratio of 1.7%
5. Get finds in my other 10 MD counties I am missing - 7 counties to go.

Soft number goals

1. Fill in more of the 2000 and 2001 months that I am missing - No new ones this month
2. Add more of the North East States - No trips
3. Get on the water and find some paddle caches now that I have the kayaks - Boats are in OBX to be ready for Memorial Day weekend.
4. More hikes! - Hiked for Nevermore 4/10, Hiked the GW Forest picking up two hard ones on 4/21, Hiked the CAM 2011 location on 4/27 and did a loop in Sky Meadows on 4/28. Picked up a bunch of points for the Mountain Trailmasters series.
5. Captain John Smith Trail: Finish it and visit more of them - Didn't make any headway here
6. Dig through the ? caches around and find the ones that are challenges rather than puzzles and find the ones I qualify for and work on the ones I don't - Picked up CAM 2011 Icebreaker Jigsaw. Qualified for YCH Challenge: Debunk a Dozen DNFs just have to go visit the cache now.
7. Find a 5/X and a X/5 cache or few - Picked up Willingham Knolls' Prickley Pick

2012 Goals - April 1 Update

My hard number goals for the year are

1. Complete CAM 2012 - Finished this on March 17th with 2 long days on the CAM Trail. Now I just have to make it to the event.
2. Hit total find count of 2000 with a stretch goal of 2500 - 1311 currently but there are ~20 caches that I haven't logged yet because of CAM. ~670 caches to go in 9 months
3. Get to 200 found days of the year - Now at 157. 43 days to go.
4. Keep my hide count to find count at least at 1 to 100 - 21 hidden to 1311 for a ratio of 1.6%
5. Get finds in my other 10 MD counties I am missing - Picked up Baltimore City, Howard and Queen Anne's Counties (once the CAM caches are logged) leaving 7 counties to go.

Soft number goals

1. Fill in more of the 2000 and 2001 months that I am missing - No new ones this month
2. Add more of the North East States - No trips
3. Get on the water and find some paddle caches now that I have the kayaks - I got rained out at the end of the month from either hunting or fixing my paddle caches.
4. More hikes! - CAM 2012 should be called the hiking year. Pretty Boy Dam and Watershed was a killer.
5. Captain John Smith Trail: Finish it and visit more of them - Didn't pick up any on the CAM trail
6. Dig through the ? caches around and find the ones that are challenges rather than puzzles and find the ones I qualify for and work on the ones I don't - Picked up the MD 20 Souvenir Challenge and the Jasmer Lite Challenge
7. Find a 5/X and a X/5 cache or few - None this month

2012 Goals - March 1 Update

My hard number goals for the year are

1. Complete CAM 2012 (and manage to keep the picnic weekend free so I can attend it) - 2 weeks until kick off.
2. Hit total find count of 2000 with a stretch goal of 2500 - 1267 (1273 across all sites)
3. Fill in Feb 29th on the calendar - 4 Events, 4 Virtuals, 5 traditionals and 1 Earthcache
4. Get to 200 found days of the year - 4 new days filled in for 144. 13% done 56 days to go.
5. Keep my hide count to find count at least at 1 to 100 - 18 hidden to 1267 found for a 1.4% ratio. On all sites 29 to 1273 or 2.3%
6. Get a find that was hidden in Aug 04 and Sept 03 - Finished this on Feb 29th
7. Get finds in my other 10 MD counties I am missing (hopefully during the CAM run)

Soft number goals

1. Fill in more of the 2000 and 2001 months that I am missing - April 2001 May 2002
2. Add more of the North East States
3. Get on the water and find some paddle caches now that I have the kayaks
4. More hikes! - The Winter NOVAGO event was a great hike, Tinker's Folly was a nice 1.5 mile hike on the AT
5. Captain John Smith Trail: Finish it and visit more of them
6. Dig through the ? caches around and find the ones that are challenges rather than puzzles and find the ones I qualify for and work on the ones I don't
7. Find a 5/X and a X/5 cache or few - I found That was...easy a 1/5 and Cave a 5/4.5

Podcacher.com DIY Micro Cache

This is a video from Podcacher.com on how to make a micro cache container from recycled parts.



The only bit of added information I will share is an improved version of this. I do not remember what show or webpage I saw it on but it was suggested that instead of glue that you use an old soldering iron to melt the plastic together. by melting it instead of using glue the seal should last much longer. If I remember where I saw that first I will be sure to post an update to this entry.

2012 Goals - Feb 1 Update

My hard number goals for the year are

1. Complete CAM 2012 (and manage to keep the picnic weekend free so I can attend it) - 1.5 months until kick off.
2. Hit total find count of 2000 with a stretch goal of 2500 - January saw 15 finds 1228 total so not even 2% of the way to the goal. 1.78% with 771 to go of the 786. (1232 across all sites)
3. Fill in Feb 29th on the calendar
4. Get to 200 found days of the year - 5 new days filled in for 140. 7.7% done 6 days to go.
5. Keep my hide count to find count at least at 1 to 100 - 17 hidden to 1228 found for a 1.4% ratio. On all sites 26 to 1232 or 2.1%
6. Get a find that was hidden in Aug 04 and Sept 03
7. Get finds in my other 10 MD counties I am missing (hopefully during the CAM run)

Soft number goals

1. Fill in more of the 2000 and 2001 months that I am missing
2. Add more of the North East States
3. Get on the water and find some paddle caches now that I have the kayaks
4. More hikes! - We had a hike planned this month intending to pick up a number of caches for the GC2H6AW Mountain Trailmasters challenge cache but it snowed and we didn't think it a good idea to drag kids along a snowy, wet, muddy trail.
5. Captain John Smith Trail: Finish it and visit more of them
6. Dig through the ? caches around and find the ones that are challenges rather than puzzles and find the ones I qualify for and work on the ones I don't
7. Find a 5/X and a X/5 cache or few - Still no 5's in either column

I was interviewed on Cache-A-Maniacs

I was interviewed on November 23rd by the Cache-A-Maniacs. It was a great evening and I enjoyed talking to them about my experiences caching over the past year and a half. The interview came just a day after I returned home from a cross country trip from DC to Seattle.


The discover coin for my episode is TB23G2Q


My Guest Coin is TB23GBM

Happy New Cache-year 2012

I decided to create a new blog about my geocaching adventures and to keep track of my goals for 2012.

So here they are:
My hard number goals for the year are

1. Complete CAM 2012 (and manage to keep the picnic weekend free so I can attend it)
2. Hit total find count of 2000 with a stretch goal of 2500
3. Fill in Feb 29th on the calendar
4. Get to 200 found days of the year (sitting at 135 right now)
5. Keep my hide count to find count at least at 1 to 100
6. Get a find that was hidden in Aug 04 and Sept 03
7. Get finds in my other 10 MD counties I am missing (hopefully during the CAM run)

Soft number goals

1. Fill in more of the 2000 and 2001 months that I am missing
2. Add more of the North East States
3. Get on the water and find some paddle caches now that I have the kayaks
4. More hikes!
5. Captain John Smith Trail - Finish it and visit more of them
6. Dig through the ? caches around and find the ones that are challenges rather than puzzles and find the ones I qualify for and work on the ones I don't
7. Find a 5/X and a X/5 cache or few