HeadHardHat Appearing at Cachercon 2010 Metro Detroit

HeadHardHat is heading to Troy, Michigan for the Cachercon 2010 Metro Detroit on Saturday, February 6th, 2010!

That's right the host of GeoSnippits Geocaching Videos seen on You Tube and weekly on Michigan Magazine TV (RFDTV Network) will be discussing Geocaching in the Media: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Besides HHH there are no less than eight other geocaching speakers sharing their passion and wisdom about the game, sport, okay obsession known as geocaching.

This is going to be held at the Detroit Holiday Inn in Troy, Michigan. We really want to see a great turn out so set your calendars and above all be there for the fun!

Check out http://www.motorcitycachemachine.com/cachercon-2010 and/or GC2158P at geocaching.com for all the details.

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Twitter me at @headhardhat

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

A Full Day Of Geocaching With My Daughter

I personally have felt the "Geocaching Bug" over the past week or so. You know what I mean, that unstoppable urge to go do some serious geocaching and you can think of nothing else. I was at that stage this weekend and today my full day of geocaching came to fruition.

8:00am and out the door with Daughter Geoness. My daughter has her moments, what pre-teen doesn't but when it comes to geocaching she is all business.

Now I know there are the hard core geocachers out there that said "8:00am? The sun is already up." Normally I would agree with you but it is only February and I don't want my kid getting sick for two weeks. I'm her dad, so there. Nanners. Anyways.

We are out the door with the car stocked with all the needed equipment, multiple gps units, back pack with grabber, army shoulder pack for the quick carries and coffee. Okay maybe a case of water, snacks and other munchies but I can't function without my java.

We hit our first cache of a potential 30 for the day. It covers a CacheRaid area from Knightdale, NC down through Clayton. Why only 30 geocaches you say? Our personal best so far is 18. Respectable sure but the issue we run into would be the numbers just don't matter that much to us. Once we start walking the trails and seeing what is around us the numbers loose their punch and the time together has more meaning. Today though we wanted to beat our record.

It turns out to be a quick skirt hide which was a great way to start. Nobody wants to begin with a DNF so we were off to the races. Next an ammo box in a brier patch then a lock 'n lock behind a fallen log and on we went.

What I am showing you here is something I never came across while geocaching. I won't say anything because it is worth watching the very short video. Enjoy.

The whole day was like this, one cool cache after the other. In fact, we found so many cool geocaches of every type, size and location we are making a GeoSnippits Video called "A Whole Day of Geocaching". Where our viewers will see what it is like caching in the Piedmont of North Carolina.

By the time we were done we had 21 Finds, 4 DNFs, 254 photographs and 25 segments of film in the can. Not to mention the shared memories that will last us a lifetime.

Here are a couple of photos from today to tide you over until the video comes out.

The GeoSnippits video should be out in the next couple of days. Be sure to check our GeoSnippits Website for further details...

Geocache Navigator version 2.0.5 Review by HeadHardHat

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to all things geocaching. No really, I am and one of the many things that pushes my geek button is all the gadgets, gizmos and applications out there designed to make my life as a geocacher easier. So when I found out about an application that works on my GPS enabled Blackberry phone and made specifically for geocaching I couldn't wait to see what it was all about. This review is going to give you an honest perspective from a true laymen who would be me. I will not pull any punches and will give you the straight facts as I see them. When you are done reading this and after seeing the application in action in my two videos you should have a great all around knowledge of how it works and how well it works. So lets begin.


Some First Time Thoughts Before We Start

For the record I own a BlackBerry Curve 8310 and my cell phone service provider is AT&T.

Before you even start with all of this, there are a few things you need to consider. Besides the obvious like do you have the correct phone and/or phone service for this application. The BIGGER question is do you have unlimited Internet access? If the answer is no, you need to adjust your phone plan. Geocache Navigator connects through your phone the same way your phone browser works. Which means you are pulling a boat load of information back and forth over the Internet. If you only have the five meg of data plan you are going to be hurting after a very short time. Don't say I didn't warn you... You can find out all the compatible phones and phone services for Geocache Navigator here. You can look if you want but come right back. We'll wait.

Getting Geocache Navigator On My BlackBerry

The process of getting the application onto my BlackBerry was quick, easy and painless. Hard to believe in this age of making things complicated the whole thing took a few minutes and it was up and running. You start off by going to http://www.geocachenavigator.com/ and purchase the usage fee of about $5.99US a month depending on your phone carrier. Once the formalities are done you will download the application directly onto your phone. It will need to know your Geocaching.com user id so it knows who you are. If you do not have one I highly recommend going to http://www.geocaching.com/ and sign yourself up first. Many geocachers already have an account so it should not be a big deal but I thought I would mention it.

Once you have Geocache Navigator installed and configured to you it is time to hit the trails. Again the whole process took me a matter of minutes to complete.


Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your GPSs

This type of paperless geocaching is very exciting to almost all of us. With this application you technically do not need maps, geocache listings, geocache pages, log books or any other pieces of paper. It is all done online and in real time. If you watch my GeoSnippits Tutorial Videos Part One and Part Two, you will see about 95% of all the functionality involved so I am just going to do a quick fly by here so you can get a good feel for the application.

When you start up Geocache Navigator you observe a simple menu which include inventive and easy ways of pulling up a nearby cache. Your top two choices are:

• Quick Cache - Many times geocachers are out doing things of everyday life. Going to the store, taking the kids to practice, dropping your spouse to the gym or salon. It is then that you suddenly realize you have some time on your hands. Let's Go Geocaching! Quick Cache pulls up for you the ten nearest geocaches from where you are standing. Very handy and I personally use this functionality a lot.


• Find Caches - Maybe you have a specific geocache you are looking for or of a specific type or size. Find Caches gives you the option just as if you were on Geocaching.com to select any cache anywhere. Depending on the query you choose up to 10 caches matching that search will become available.

Those two options are what you are going to use the most. Your other menu options are:

• Settings - Which allows you some simple configurabilty for the application.
• Enter Manually - Which allows you to put any legal coordinate into the device just like a standard GPS unit.
• Getting Started - Want to learn some basics about geocaching in general. This pulls up all you will need to get you started. A great feature for beginners.
• Quit - Takes you out of the application.

A Geocaching Opportunity

Lets take Geocache Navigator through the paces once so you can see it in action. So for the sake of argument we start with you dropping your significant other at an out of town location. Because you are not in your normal stomping grounds your regular GPS unit does not have any nearby geocache waypoints stored in it. Basically a big paper weight at this point but now you have Geocache Navigator on your phone. Woot, let's get some geocaches.

You start up the application which takes a minute or so for the GPS to kick in. This happens with any GPS unit out there. You click on Quick Caches and watch the application connect with Geocaching.com and pull up a list of nearby possible finds. Great there is a bunch within a couple of miles. You select one that looks good to you. Let's roll.

The first of four main tabs open up to you and the default is the Compass tab. Here you get a digital compass pointing you in the right direction. Followed by information like your current speed, heading, altitude and distance to cache. That's great but you need to drive the 1.56 miles to the cache and are not familiar with the area. No problem. Simply select the Map tab and you are greeted with a red arrow (you) and a red dot (the cache). By clicking the menu you have a choice of three different types of map backgrounds at your disposal.

They are:

• Street Maps - Which when chosen works just like any map based GPS with all the current streets shown for you to get to the cache.
  
• Topo Maps - This works just like the big boy GPS units and provide topographical information around you. If you are in any kind of changing terrain this is a godsend to let you know like if you are on the right side of the river, cliff, swamp, etc.
  
• Aerial Photos - Ever want Google Earth in your pocket? Well essentially now you do and it does come in handy when trying to figure out a trail head or other key information that only a satellite photograph can provide.

HHH Note - If I had one suggestion for the maps it would be the ability to have the map center on me the user and have the map scroll underneath. It gets a bit tedious using the 2,4,6,8 buttons to scroll unless you start using it only a short distance from the cache.

Get Out And Start Walking
You are now close enough to the geocache so you park your automobile and check out exactly what you are looking for. Time for the real details and to get them you select the Details tab. Here you get all the description information just as if you were on Geocaching.com. Name of geocache, waypoint, coords, difficulty and all the details you need. If you get stuck there is even a menu option that will tell you a hint or you can browse through the recent logs. It's all there.

Now that you are properly educated about your cache you flip back to the Compass tab. The cache is about 120 feet away so it will quickly guide you in the right direction. When you finally get to about 35 feet away it's time for the Radar! Click the Radar tab and you see what looks like a big bullseye. There is a big red dot in the center (the cache) and a red arrow (you). The object is simple. Get the arrow to touch the dot. When you get there you are at ground zero and where the geocache is supposed to be. There is a handy-dandy readout that tells you exactly how far away you are from the geocache and it counts down quickly once you are heading in the right direction.

Found It !!!

Well now, aren't you the happy cacher? You found that large ammo box hidden so well in that big tree log. Never would have known if it wasn't for Geocache Navigator getting you there. The best is yet to come. After you sign your log book and put everything back in place you no longer have to write down what you just did. Simply click menu and you are presented with the choices of Mark as Found or Mark as Not Found. You of course choose Mark as Found and GeoCache Navigator logs on Geocaching.com an entry for that cache. You can go online later and fill in all the cool details but at least you don't have to worry about loosing your finds anymore.

That's it. Geocache Navigator has all the features a geocacher needs to get from point A to point B and then some. I found the combination of the BlackBerry phone and the application to be a really handy tool for some well needed occasions of geocaching. I do have a few things that I think you should consider before buying.

1. There is a cost for using this application. Be it by month or year it can cost you some added expense. Not saying it's not worth the functionality but just to keep in mind.
   
2. You need unlimited Internet access for this to work and not declare bankruptcy.
   
3. You are taking a very expensive cell phone out into terrain that you have to be mindful of dropping into hard, wet, muddy surfaces. Standard GPS units usually can be dropped into water or onto rough surfaces and bounce right back. BlackBerrys - err, no. So if you mind having your $500 phone in the rain or something else bad happening. Watch where and when you use it for geocaching.

Conclusion
When it comes to pure functionality at a great price I say Geocache Navigator can give those big boy GPS units a run for their money. It is great for spur of the moment geocaching when standard GPS units do not have their coordinates loaded and ready to go. I found it very useful when FTF (First To Find) situations come up. Again new cache nearby, my regular GPS doesn't have the new coords because the cache just published. Boom it pulls it off of Geocaching.com and you are on your way to signing clean sheets. Fantastic.

This application is extremely easy to setup and use. If you are familiar with GPS units this will take zero learning curve. If you are not familiar with GPS units it will take you next to zero time in learning curve. My advice is if you take geocaching to the serious and/or obsessed level this is a must have. Your next big decision though will be going for that next geocache on the list or go back and pick up your significant other you left at the store? Hmmmm.

If you want to see Geocache Navigator in action I highly recommend you watch one of our GeoSnippits Tutorial where you will discover with HeadHardHat three different geocaches using this amazing application.

GeoSnippits Geocache Navigator Tutorial Part One

GeoSnippits Geocache Navigator Tutorial Part Two

You can also visit HeadHardHat's Geocaching Blog:
Geocache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?

and finally you can see all of the GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Vidoes
http://www.geosnippits.com/

Bring Us Your Geocaching Videos - New Geocaching Video Group

Hey all, HeadHardHat here...

We just started up a You Tube Video Group and all geocachers are welcome. Bring us your geocaching videos and link or upload them so other geocachers can enjoy them. This can be a really nice place to show off your stuff. No prereqs or judgements, good, bad and ugly we want them all!

Geocaching R US
http://www.youtube.com/groups_layout?name=geocachingrus

Bring 'em on!

HooHaa TB Race Cartoon - Hick's World Gets Schooled

Hick's World has been sitting in the hands of a geocacher for months now.

Finally this weekend he was dropped in a geocache in California and has over 500 miles under it's belt. The interesting thing is that the cache it was placed in was constructed by 32 6th graders.

Oh what interesting experiences must be awaiting Hick's World...

You can see all of HeadHardHat's HooHaa TB Race Cartoons at the bottom right of this blog or visiting here.

Paperless Geocaching: A Video Tutorial To Go Green

It was not all that long ago I started straightening some of my "paperwork" from geocaching. It was several months worth and even with that short amount of time I had a stack several reams thick of maps, geocache pages and CacheRaids. I quickly realized that if this continued the pile of paper and ink would be amazingly huge in even a year or two. Was there a better way?

Fortunately the answer is "yes".

Many of the newer GPS units are now allowing geocachers the ability to retrieve geocache information directly from geocaching.com. This means you can read all the information instantly right over the Internet. They also have the functionality to "log" your finds directly into geocaching.com which cuts down on a lot of unnecessarily paperwork as well. This is a tremendous surge in the right direction but not everybody can afford the high end GPSs that do this. It is also not the complete solution we need. Many geocachers like to keep personal notes about our caches that should not be included in a standard log. For example, I would note something like:

"Took me 15 minutes to find this small grey and green colored cami lock n lock box. It was extremely well hidden inside the far end of a log right next to a large bolder. You had to remove the bark on the left side to actually see the cache."

This kind of information would be saved in a personal log book and saved in case someone else called asking for help usually referred to as a Phone A Friend. If we want to keep paperless, where can we store that kind of information?

So here's the deal, you want to go paperless. Great but you are going to need a couple of things. Most are either fairly inexpensive or down right free. Let's make a list and I will explain as we go.

First, you need to get a $30.00 membership at Geocaching.com. Most geocachers have this anyways and you may already but it is necessary to get the Pocket Queries and the geocache information.

Next, you are going to need a PALM PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). In the tutorials I use a PALM TX but there are several versions to choose from. You can learn more at http://www.palm.com/.

The two other applications you are going to need is GSAK, which loads onto your PC and stores all the Pocket Query information http://www.gsak.net/. Then finally Cachemate which is an application that stays on your PALM PDA which you take with you while geocaching http://www.smittyware.com/palm/cachemate/.

Below is a tutorial using two YouTube videos in which I created. They are included in an ever growing series known as GeoSnippits which explores and teaches about Geocaching.

Part One:

The first video goes over the initial basics of how to get the needed information from Geocaching.com. Then to take that information, get it onto your PC and into an application known as GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife).




Part Two:

The second video shows you how to export all that nice information from GSAK and put it onto your Palm PDA. Then we take a quick look at an application on your Palm called Cachemate which you can now read. Bye - bye printed cache papers.




Well I hope you found this tutorial into paperless geocaching informative. It may look like a lot to setup but once done you will find geocaching a whole lot more enjoyable and less paper intensive. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me directly or contact me through my blogs or YouTube videos.

***HHH - Please note that this is the best way that I have found to accomplish Paperless Geocaching. This by no means says this is the only way of accomplishing it. Find what works best for you and go for it...

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UPDATE - HERE IS A MORE RECENT UPDATE VIDEO INTRODUCTION TO PAPERLESS GEOCACHING !!!

http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/2010/03/geosnippits-introduction-to-paperless.html

It's The CRINKLESCHNOTZ 5000. Order now.

Hey anybody can do a GOOD holiday gift list, but what about the BAD geocachers out there?

Read on...

It’s the CRINKLESCHNOTZ 5000.

Just in time for the Holidays and brought to you by the same disgruntled elves that created the Double-Hangover-Flingy-Doo. We give you this season’s greatest GPS gadget the CRINKLESCHNOTZ 5000.

This is the gift giving present every geocacher is going to want under their tree. Just look at these amazing features:

Ultra Sensitive Digital Compass – which automatically points to the nearest face level spider web or impenetrable briar patch.

Extra Long Lasting Battery Lifespan – guaranteed to work right up to the point where you either are 75 feet from a cache or half of a mile out into the woods.

Super Clear Audio Alert System – It won’t play your favorite MP3 tracks but it is loud as all get out when it belts out “Flight of the Bumblebee” any time you are near a muggle prown geocache.

Moisture Activated Notification - Never worry about getting your CRINKLESCHNOTZ 5000 wet. The MAN automatically jolts the user with a tazer force bolt of electricity whenever directly above any water source.

Secure Anti Theft Functions – Don’t worry about ever having your CRINKLESCHNOTZ 5000 getting stolen. Simply place it on the ground and a cloaking shield envelopes the GPS with invisibility and then randomly moves up to 45 feet in any direction.

So order now while we still have the amazing CRINKLESCHNOTZ 5000 in stock. They are going fast.

Dial 1-800-353-8447 that’s 1-800-ELF-THIS.
Do it now.

All offers are final and price is adjustable to whatever the hell we feel like asking for at the time of the order… Don’t like it? Elf This!

Ahhh Tupperware in Da Woods

Can you think of a better way to be using a billion dollar satellite system? This is bliss for a geocacher. Miss Geoness and Dad Headhardhat out in the woods finding geocaches on a nice crisp Fall day in Cary, North Carolina. Featured above Miss Geoness goes through a regular sized cache. We ended up trading some objects and left one of my signature first aid kits and traded some travel bugs as well.

Cache found Cary, NC

First find of the day.

Darkness Is Interfering With My Cache Time

When I started caching in the early month's of this year the days were getting longer. Even though I did not have a whole lot of time in the morning there was always time in the evening to hit a few quick caches before the sun dipped below the horizon. Now after Daylight Savings Time has kicked in I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. How does one find our weekday smileys? Sure the first thing that comes to mind is caching during our lunch hours. That's all fine and good when you have caches available but I cleared out all the caches near work months ago. Now What?

Night Caching? I have hunted in the dark before and quite frankly I have a lot to learn. First if it is an urban cache I really feel uncomfortable using a flashlight. That whole burglar thing just doesn't feel right. Sure I have my geocaching speech for the boys in blue but why put myself in that position? There is always hunting in the woods but again, you never know who or what you can run into after dark. What do you think?

Now with winter approaching the weather is becoming a factor. Sure in the Piedmont of North Carolina I do not need my parka and knee high boots but we do get ice storms. It may not be blizzard weather here but it is a factor. All in all it looks like for the next few months I will be doing the majority of my caching on the holidays and weekends.

If you have suggestions for winter and night time caches, send them in. We will post for all to see.

HeadHardHat Graphic For HooHaa TB Race

Ya know, when you have a taste for doing graphics and about a billion pieces of clip art sometimes the results can be fun. Here is my first of what will be no doubt dozens of cartoons featuring our eight HooHaa TB Racers.

Shown is Just A Nut about to give the other racers a little bolt from the blue.

Please be sure to check out the race score board in the bottom right of my blog. Also there is an area to type in your favorite smackdowns.

The HooHaa TB Geo-Challenge Race Has Begun

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Travellers!

My Travel Bug "Just A Nut"(TB21K6E) is now active in the HooHaa Geo-Challenge Race. It waits to be picked up in my Oxford TB Hotel (GC1C8A2) and taken on it's TB Race for the most miles tracked within the next year. So from October 16, 2008 - October 16, 2009 eight racers are going to be talking smack and feeling the exhilaration of the adventure to come. We all have blogs, a passion for geocaching and of course smackdown events like this race. Each of us come from different lifestyles and parts of the world. One of us is a Marine, another a professional singer, some are into computers, others into sports writing and some we just can't tell right now. You will have to check out our blogs to figure out who's who. No matter which of us you want to find out more about you are guaranteed a good read.

Just A Nut is made for speed and actually comes from a race car. So it knows how to race and wants to see that checkered flag big time. It doesn't mind drafting behind it's next victim then without warning whips around and flies ahead for the lead. Nothing personal, just part of the game.

I think Just A Nut will continue to show that it is a front runner; a leader. No sitting back in the pack like the rest of the competition. It's pedal to the metal for this hunk of steel. For your convenience I have made a quick viewing section in the bottom right of this blog. You will be able to see all the key information of all the racers. Be sure to send in comments and root for your favorite travel bug. We love hearing from you.

One Cache Found In Fuquay Varina, NC - Good Enough

I just had a day at work today and was in a mood that stated, "Must Get Out" or maybe it was my wife giving me a loving suggestion to go geocaching for an hour or so. It was late in the evening and I only had about an hour before the sun was completely gone. So with no particular place to go I decided to head over to Fuquay Varina, NC. As I approached a likely caching zone I remembered about a particular DNF I had from a few months ago. Why not, it was in a particularly wooded spot and with the sun fading fast I would have to look quickly. Boy what a difference that little amount of time makes. The area was now extremely overgrown and there was a ton of places for bad things to happen. A slightly steep but climbable downgrade, rusting metal, leg eating holes, spots for snakes to ambush and I personally saw four different types of spiders I had never seen before. Pity it was so dark out cuz I would have loved to have taken some nice closeup photos. Anyways, I finally made it down to what was left of the trail and looked at a very familiar spot. Shook my head and walked right up to ground zero and chose a likely spot. Sure enough there was the cache. Now in the photo I took out the actual cache for others who may recognize the background can enjoy the hunt as well. It is an area where an old mill once stood. Very peaceful with the sounds of the woods and water flowing over rocks which once powered a huge wheel.

It felt good being out in the fresh fall air and as I climbed out of the greenery my phone rang; it was Mrs. HeadHardHat wanting to go out for dinner. With the pangs of the day now subsided it just goes to show how geocaching can be such a stress relief. So the grand total of caches today was exactly one but that was more than good enough to help me find a little inner tranquility. Ahhhhhhh.

Drive'n in Bah-stun in My Kah

Welcome from beantown... I flew in this afternoon and instantly realized how much traffic is going to be a factor here. Boston has an awful lot of it. I am definitely going to be doing some caching tomorrow but I do not think it will be as much as I first thought. The forecast is not looking too great for Thursday so it's tomorrow or nothing and I do not want to go home without at least one. I have it all picked out and everything. About a mile and a half from the hotel is a likely candidate and it was just found today so I know it's there. It is big enough to hold travel bugs and I brought a couple with me. Should be fun. So even though I do not have a smiley to show for, I wanted to at least show you the more interesting photos of the day. Let me know what you think.


Boston is history, plain and simple. It is also is in constant growth and the combination of the two is fascinating to see when observed at the same time. For example the photo to the left shows a sentinel on an old church and the John Hancock Tower which watches over it.











Here is another example of older architecture via Copley Square. Note the rounded corners of the building.








Talk about an unexpected find. This is a photograph I took of the actual Finish Line of the 112th Boston Marathon. Wonder what my time would have been... In days... Turns out that it was 2007 where over 20,000 runners finished here. What a cool thing to find wandering around this fascinating town.