Archive for January, 2010

I’ve been hard at work adding new clothing designs to the shop. While I love my “Princess” series, I understand that not every geocacher is a princess.

So, here’s a new design for you: Been There. Found That. It’s available in 4 colors of text and on a variety of tees, sweatshirts, mugs, bags, and hats.

You can find this design at http://www.cafepress.com/eatstayplay/7026611

AND you can see all the other designs at: http://www.cafepress.com/eatstayplay

It’s nothing for me to plan to do a whole series of caches in a day. I always plan for more caches than I know I can possible get to in a day. That way, if one turns out to be muggled, or the quest for lunch takes me a different direction, I have plenty of back up caches ready to go. A lot of pre-planning goes into a caching adventure; especially with MY caching buddies!

Caching with ESP Boss means that we simply MUST take the geocache printout with us.

Gee, one time of writing down the PARKING coordinates instead of the cache coordinates! Just one time of saying “Oh, it’s a terrain 1.5!” when it was ACTUALLY a 3 and the man just won’t let me write it down!

I know there’s a lot of discussion in the geocaching world about caching paperless or printing out the geocache’s information before heading out. For those of you that just need to hang on to something, here are all my tips and tricks to taking printouts with you when planning a caching adventure.

The advantages I like to printing out the cache information are:
You can see the size and terrain. This is especially important if you have kids, limited mobility, or are really into swag. When my family & I first got started geocaching, it was really important to us to be able to trade swag. That meant that not knowing it was a micro was always a disappointment when we got to the cache and there were no trade items to be found.

You have the hint! I know a lot of experienced cachers don’t decode the hint until they absolutely have to, but as a novice cacher, that’s just making the game harder than it has to be.

You can see the inventory. Doesn’t always mean the travel bugs will be IN the cache, but at least you can get an idea.

Prior logs. Wow! This has helped a LOT. I like to know that the cache was found so I’m pretty sure its still there. It’s also helped when the logs give subtle clues, like mud, muggles, or which side of the fence to park on.

Overview map. As the navigator on most caching adventures, this is a big help for me. It’s not very large, but usually enough for me to warn my father (ESP Boss and designated geocaching chauffer) when to start slowing down.

You have plenty of room to write your notes. I can say found, if it was in good shape, what I took, what I left, etc. That way, when I’m back at the computer and typing up my logs, I can say something intelligent.

And the biggie: You don’t have to rely on your memory for the details!

Now, if you live in an area where you can drag a wireless laptop around and see the screen, that’s really cool. A friend of mine, kmazy, actually opens all the cache pages on her laptop screen and then leaves them open while she’s driving. When they find a cache, she closes the page. That’s GREAT if you have a good battery on your laptop!

And, if you’re lucky enough to have a web-capable cell phone then you can always look caches up on the fly. That’s especially nice if you find you have a spare minute or two. I’d LOVE to have this ability since I always look at a spot and think, “Gee, I wonder if there’s a geocache there. It’d be perfect!” There’s this one spot in Jerome, Arizona, that I always look at and think would be PERFECT for a micro.

So, here’s my system if you simply MUST take the print outs with you. But be warned, this might not work on all printers!

Click on the printable version: ’5 logs’

On the printable version, be sure to click on the ‘Decrypt’ link for any hints! (If you’re into decoding the hints before time, that is!)

Then, click on Print from the ‘File – Print’ menu. You want to do it this way so you get your printer dialog box.

Somewhere in this print dialog box, there SHOULD be the option of how many pages to print per page. You want the print 2 pages per page. On my HP printer, it’s under the ‘Finishing’ tab. But, I’ve found this option on EVERY printer I’ve looked at!

Click ‘Okay’ until you get back to the main print screen and then print away!

In my family, we then punch the pages into a 3-ring binder and take it on the trail. If you wanted to get REALLY fancy, you could tape a string to a pen and then fasten the other end of the string to the binder so the pen is handy for making notes on the sheet.

Me? I’m not that “with it” so I just lose the pen after EVERY CACHE in the truck!

Here are my questions for all you cachers out there:

Paperless or printed logs?

What are YOUR tricks when you print the logs?

Do you just write the information down? If so, what are the most important details to keep in your notebook?

Since I wrote about Cache In Trash Out yesterday, I thought I’d share a new tee shirt design. I think this would be a PERFECT giveaway for any event and totally awesome for a CITO event. Introducing the new City/State Geocaching Tee!

Love geocaching in your home town? Here’s the design that features YOUR city & state! 100% custom — just email Kim the city and state & she’ll design the tee for you! Perfect for events or as a FTF mega prize! You can also leave a comment on this post and I’d be happy to put in the city and state that you want. Then, you can get the tee through CafePress.com.

The Casa Grande Arizona Geocacher design is available at:  http://www.CafePress.com/EatStayPlay/7027775 but I have a few other cities already made up. You can see the ENTIRE line at:

http://www.CafePress.com/EatStayPlay

Don’t you just love getting into a new sport or hobby when it seems like EVERYBODY around you is speaking in some sort of weird code? That’s exactly what happened to me with the CITO term in geocaching.

I kept trying to make that into a word instead of an acronym. I was thinking to myself: “See-To”? “Sit-o”? “Chee-to”? (Gotta say THAT one with an Italian accent!)

So, I looked it up and found that it stood for: “Cache In, Trash Out” Ah! Now I know what this is all about!

Not!

Then, I came across a cache where some previous cacher had written in the log that this would be a great place for CITO. After visiting the cache, I agreed that this place would really benefit from some trash being removed. But, I still didn’t understand the underlying principals of CITO.

The geocaching.com website explains:

Cache In Trash Out is an ongoing environmental initiative supported by the worldwide geocaching community. Since 2002, geocachers have been dedicated to cleaning up parks and other cache-friendly places around the world. Through these volunteer efforts, we help preserve the natural beauty of our outdoor resources!

But it isn’t until further down the page that the whole concept begins to make sense:

Cache In Trash Out doesn’t just happen once a year. It can easily happen on every geocache adventure. Bring a trash bag along with you on your walks in the woods and pick up the occasional piece of trash you see on the trail. Even this small act can make a huge difference.

Get the grabbers!
Wow! Now, that was something I could get my head around. For YEARS I’d been making ESP Boss pull over in the woods for me to pick up glass bottles and aluminum cans. I would even keep a special bucket in the back of the truck for my recyclable “treasures.”

But, unfortunately, like any geocaching novice, I didn’t put 2 and 2 together and realize that CITO wasn’t just an event, it was a philosophy. Like ‘Leave No Trace’ principles or ‘Pack It In, Pack It Out’ it was up to every geocacher to do their part.

In doing more research about how to have a CITO event, I ran across the CITO Handbook, put out by the Florida Geocaching Association.

Wow! I highly recommend reading this guide even if you aren’t planning an event. It gives excellent tips about how to incorporate CITO in your everyday caching experiences.

And don’t be afraid to look for other ways you can help in your area! In Prescott Valley (about forty minutes away from my city) the Parks & Recreation Department had a great program where businesses or organizations could adopt a park.

For a year, EatStayPlay.com adopted Fain Park and participated in cleanups about every 6 weeks. (For all the photos of our Fain Park cleanups, please CLICK HERE!) We tied it into a picnic or going for coffee and invited the families of all my staff. The best part was that even the littlest trash picker-up-ers felt that they were really making a difference. Since I’m back to being a one-woman-show in the EatStayPlay.com office, I’ve asked for another organization to continue the efforts. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t bring gloves and a trash bag whenever I visit the park!

My big tip:
LOTS of water to drink and LOTS of hand sanitizer because, well, YUCK! Trash is just — YUCK!

I encourage all cachers to not only practice CITO when they are caching, but also just when they’re out and about.

What’s in YOUR geocaching kit that allows you to pick up trash?