Starting our Geocaching Day in Heaven

Mmmmmm KK Donuts

Hop On Over To My Ingenious Blog To See The Latest GeoSnippits Video

The latest and greatest GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Video shows how to paint ammo boxes. An ammo box is a military based metal box that is frequently used for geocaching.

Though before you use it in it's natural state you need to do some prep work to make it more user friendly. Hop on over to here : VIDEO to see the entire tutorial. Made for geocachers of all experience. Enjoy!



You can see all our GeoSnippits videos here: http://www.geosnippits.com/

Hello Mr. Ranger Smith Sir! This Isn't A Pik-In-Ik-Bas-Kit

When geocaching there is an infinite probability that something interesting is going to happen while on your journey. Today for me the probability became a certainty and the interesting was well, interesting.

It started out quite innocent like it should be. Another 4.5 geocache had showed up on the radar and was on my way home from work. This time instead of a traditional cache it was a Mystery/Puzzle type. I salivated while driving to this geo-site because even though puzzle caches can be torturous they also can be a boat load of fun. Since I was on my way home from work the sun was already on it's daily exit and I would have if I was lucky an hour of light left. No problem I thought to myself after reading my tasks. All I had to do was find a particular tombstone in the middle of a woods in a State Park, solve the puzzle based off of what I found on the tombstone and find the cache that was extremely well hidden somewhere off of the State Park grounds. No problem. At the very worst I would get the information off of the tombstone and come back tomorrow to find the geocache in question. Piece of cake.

When I arrived at the parking area my heart began to quicken as it usually does. This particular find would be clocked as it were with the big ball in the sky as the main time keeper. I pulled out my trusty army over-the-shoulder pouch and loaded it with my GPS unit, BlackBerry and all the assorted geocaching stuff I normally carry. Then it was out the door and into the woods for a tenth of a mile jaunt to the cemetery. There was already a sizable trail to follow and the bushwhacking would be to a minimum. At least to the first stage of the puzzle cache and before I knew it the tombstones in question were in site. I know for many people graveyards are a bit unnerving. I would think being by yourself in the middle of a deep woods and the sun going down might frazzle the weak hearted but it only fascinated me. Being from Michigan you get some historic things to see but down here in North Carolina you are IN history, absorbed by it. There were tombstones there that were dated before Michigan was a state.

So before I began I do what I always do while entering a graveyard down here, don't laugh, I did my customary moment of respect and ask those who would be interested that I meant no disrespect and I would be looking around for a little bit. I am a Yankee you know and back then us northerners were not very well liked. Why take chances?

Looking for about ten minutes I found the tombstone in question and quickly did the mathematical functions to contrive the needed coordinates. Luckily for me it was not deeper into the State Park and yet not a dozen miles down the road either. In fact it was in a spot that I might still have a chance to find it before my time was up and the sun down. So I quickened my pace and found ground zero. Of course with the difficulty the way it was I did not expect the cache to be exactly there but you never know. Five minutes later I must have picked up the caching vibe of the owner and had a pretty good hunch where it would be. A minute later I had the cache in my hand TA-DA! I pulled out my BlackBerry and used Geocache Navigator to log the find. Then I examined the cache itself and signed the log. Only two other people have found it to date until me. I was giddy with excitement and was just putting everything back when I heard distinct footsteps coming up from behind me. I turned and was given privy to the sight of two State Park Rangers coming up to see what I was up to.

"Well Shyte", I think to myself as I check out their authenticity.

To my rather sudden surprise was not of the rangers themselves but the obvious fact that they holstered 45s as side arms. For that spit second I am remembering the countless years of camping with my family all over the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan and Ranger Smith never packed a weapon back then. How changed was now Yogi and Booboo? My thoughts focused when they approached and asked what I was doing.

My father who is a retired cop always told me in these situations, no bullshit and tell the truth. "Geocaching", I replied. "Are you familiar with it"?

The tall fellow in green said yeah he new all about geocaching in general. I asked if he or his lady partner ever saw one before while pointing at the small harmless container. They came over and checked it out and he took the log from me and started reading it.

"You Head Hard Hat?", says he.

"Yep, that would be me", says I and he nods his head a few times.

"So if the geocache was over here. Why were you coming out of the Park over there on the other side of the highway road?". Obviously these two were watching me at least for a little bit. I explained what a puzzle cache was about getting part of the puzzle from the gravestone. I told them that I was very respectful of the area and nothing was moved or even touched for that matter. They seemed to be understanding what I was saying and I was mostly sure that I had done nothing wrong.

That was when my mouth got into the way. "I know that you have to have permission to place geocaches on State Grounds, right?" They nodded in unison.

"... and the boundary of the park is over there so this one is legal to be here, right?"

That was when he asked the question that momentarily jarred me. "Who's land do you suppose this is?", pointing to where we were standing. Now in the back of my brain I flash to a time where my mother had once told me that the swath of grass between the street and the sidewalk was owned not by us but by the city. If the same happens outside the city limits then it would be owned by the county.. or the...

"Ohhhh", says I. "Is this going to be a problem then?"

He stopped for a second and said that it wouldn't but he would have to make sure with his supervisor to be sure. With that I showed them exactly how to hide a geocache and asked if they needed anything else. They said no and wished me well. I returned the statement and went back into my car and left. You know that both of them headed straight back to where the graveyard was. Which I can only assume they were checking to see if anything was disturbed.

It only goes to show that when out geocaching it is in your best interest to have a behavior to be kind to the environment and surrounding landmarks. Because you never know when Ranger Smith may be watching you.

GeoSnippits - A Day of Geocaching with HeadHardHat Video

Hosted by HeadHardHat this GeoSnippits is more of an experience in Geocaching. Think of it as advanced tutorial or introduction into the world of geocaching.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to spend a day with an experienced geocacher as you go from one geocache to the next then this is the video for you. Filmed near Raleigh, North Carolina.

HeadHardHat takes you through the Piedmont including the Knightdale area down through Clayton. You will see every known size of geocache and some extra surprises.

So sit back bring the kids and enjoy a little walk in the woods with everybodys favorite Geocaching mentor, HeadHardHat.



Okay, enough with the You Tube descriptions and stuff. The truth is everything you see in this fun video is as it happens. When you see me surprised or joking or dead tired, that's me all over.

Sure there are videos out there with the well polished adventure super hero type who uses X-ray vision to pull finds from thin air or will jump on the nearest snake just so they can pick them up and show them to the camera. Sorry, my biggest task on geocaching day is where the best deal for coffee and donuts is. Oh, and as for jumping on a snake to show it for the camera? I don't think so. I will promise you this and that is if I do come across a snake I promise not to go screaming down the trail like a little girl. Unless of course I do and you will then get good video either way.

I really hope you enjoy this video and judging from the comments we are getting back you are. I love hearing from people how this encouraged them to go out and try geocaching. Then there are the others who for the first time get to see what a true geocache looks like in the wild. That just makes my day like you would not believe.

See you out on the trails folks...

You can see all our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos at You Tube or our GeoSnippits Home Webpage at http://www.geosnippits.com/

That Would Be A 4.5 Baby!

I don't know how I have missed these caches along my route home but here is a 4.5 difficulty in my hand. The challenge was no description nor hint and a healthy distance from GZ.

Basically it was the cache and your skills. I started with my dog chasing my tail technique then ended up just looking. At this point you relax and think geocache.. Oooohm.mmm.

I suddenly went way out of the zone looked down and knew I had it before moving the cover. There is few things that give such satisfying thrills as when you make a connection like that.

Woot!

Early morning Cup of Cache

Stopping for a coffee and some quick geocaching. Woof, you can see why people take their children and run for the hills when I haven't had my java yet... Yikes!

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...

That Would Be A 81MM Mortar Carry Tube, Alex.

One of my recent GeoSnippits tutorial videos called "GeoSnippits Geocache Navigator Tutorial Part Two" had an unusual geocache of which I found. It was a large tube that was two feet long, three inches in diameter with a large cap on the top and a nice handle on the sides. After the video aired on You Tube I received several posts and emails asking what this strange tube was. Quite frankly I didn't know.

At first I looked over the internet, called several Army Surplus stores and still couldn't find an accurate photograph or name of the plastic object. Then today I stopped by my local Army Surplus store and there it was. The very item I was searching for. I again asked the store attendent what it was and they did not know but they said they had a few more in the corner and one had a label on it.

It said that it was a Cartridge for an 81MM Mortar M889. There was a bunch of category stuff most likely warehouse information but there it was. A transport cartridge for a mortar.

I purchased one for $7.00 and will most likely use it for a unique cache. Below are some shots to show you the inside and with the cap off.

I Have Got To Get Night Vision Goggles

Another glorious day in North Carolina. It was quite cool out and the air hung still and had that electric snap to it that immediately told you there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Yes I was on my way to work but I also was on a mission. A mission to get me an FTF (First To Find). Late last night a geocache that was sorta-kinda-mostly on my way to work had published. I thought to myself that no one would go for this this late and I would be able to swoop in first thing. Best laid plans...

As I drove to the geocache site with the idea of arriving with just enough morning daylight that I would not need a flashlight. The cache was in a wooded area but not too crazy that I needed extra equipment. Driving to where the coords said I would be closest was when I hit my first bump in the road, there was no where to park. Semi-busy street and no side streets for half a mile either way. Well that sucks. Then I noticed just up the street a bunch of construction workers parked on the road. Hmmm, I wonder. Rolling down my window I asked a kindly looking construction worker if I could park in front of the five or six trucks and cars. He said that it wouldn't be a problem because they had to work across the street at their work site. I thanked him and quickly parked.

The geocache was about 400 feet away down a steep ten foot slope from the sidewalk to the base of the hill. Not bad enough that I thought "no way" yet steep enough that if not careful I would have sounded something like a VW Bug rolling sideways down a ski slope. So I grabbed a tree here and pulled a branch there until safe on the woodsie floor. I used Geocache Navigator on my BlackBerry just to be sure if no one else may have found the cache yet. There was a log entry but the cacher stated a DNF! This surprised me that someone actually was here earlier than me but maybe it was too dark out at the time to find it. So I continued thinking the FTF was still there for the taking.

In short order I found the hiding spot which was a three foot high gnome hole embedded into a huge oak tree. I banged around the area enough to be sure that something besides Winnie the Pooh wasn't sleeping inside. Then carefully I pulled away the camouflage and saw the cache way in the back. There was enough wood in the hiding place that I could not see everything as clearly as I would like. Then taking a deep breath I reached in while chanting the mantra "Don't get bit.. Don't get bit.." Luck smiled upon me and I had the clean Lock 'n Lock box in my hand.

"Yes!", I said as I opened the lid.

I had read in the description that the FTF prize was a cool LED flashlight. I moved the rather large logbook that was sitting on top of everything out of the way and searched. Wait a minute.. Where was the flashlight? Oh NO!

Sure enough after opening the logbook there was one entry sitting there and quite obviously mocking me. A cacher who not only found the cache at one minute after midnight was kind enough to note it in the log. "$#&^!#$%!#$", says I. Signing the log I too noted my time of 7:24am and phrased "Missed it by that much". Oh well, you can't win them all.

So the moral of the story is kids... Be sure to hide away that extra cash in poker winnings 'cuz daddy's getting a pair of night vision goggles.

HooHaa TB Race - EMC's Chocolate Chip Cookie Sighting

Something strange is happening near Mt. Rainier, Washington. No one is allowed near the area but it is reported of strange music echoing from the dense mountain forest It is said the HooHaa TB Racer EMC's Chocolate Chip Cookie may be involved. Details to be disclosed when available.

You can see all of Headhardhat's HooHaa TB Race Cartoons at the bottom right of his blog.

Nice Geocache Find in Gnome Hole

On lunch break in Henderson, NC. Found this little guy snug and happy in an ivy draped gnome hole. There is something a little scary about them. You never know what you are going to find be it a snake, geocache or a pot of gold.

In the south and other areas in the east coast homesteads kept their most prized gold and monies in gnome holes and other secret spots in the woods. Especially during war time. There have been reports of found treasure... Yarrr.

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/

GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Has New Home

That's right. I couldn't stand it anymore and I bought the domain http://www.geosnippits.com/. I really have been having a such a blast making these fun videos and the responses have been outstanding. In fact, I am having a hard time keeping up with the suggestions so getting the domain just made good sense.

Since I am still going to use YouTube as the focal video point. My You Tube Channel HeadHardHat's Geocaching Channel will remain the same but the new website is going to have so much more. Not only will there be all the great tutorial videos but there will be geocaching contests, challenges and content not shown for the general public. Kind of a secret stash of geocaching hints, tips and other goodies you can only find on GeoSnippits.com.

So bookmark the new URL and check back often for geocaching news, updates and the latest and greatest in geocaching tutorial videos.

Nano - Nano, Shuzbott and Stuff

For a quick lunch time grab this was a great day. One particular geocache on my way to work has plagued me for almost a year now. This little bugger geocache has caused me more Did Not Finds than a guy trying to seek Paris Hilton's virginity... Just popped in my head don't ask...

After way more attempts than I will ever admit I went out today during lunch and took another stab. Then as if by magic there it was, just sitting there. Now I know I have looked there before. I know I have and yet, BINGO - Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, there it was. How weird is that? Could I have been so obsessed with trying to find this nano that my mind blocked it when I looked in that area? Dunno but it is signed, resealed and put back in place.

Really does make me think that some caches do have mini cloaking devices and only reveal themselves when they want. It would explain a lot...

Put This In Your Burrito And Smoke It!!!

Okay this story has nothing to do with geocaching but is a real keeper and one of which I will not forget in a long time. It started out so innocent where my wife, daughter and I were invited to a surprise birthday party for my neighbor and good friend Al. I feel truly blessed because I live in one of my neighborhood's cul-de-sacs. You know when the street suddenly ends and you do a quick circle around to head back from whence you came? Usually there are six or seven houses that follow next to each other all pointing to the center of the circle. Well all of those seven houses have fantastic neighbors and we get together for one heck of a lot of food, libations, poker and good old fashioned laugh till your jaw hurts fun.

As usual the party was going great and Al blew out his birthday candles (cannot disclose the amount but a fire extinguisher was nearby) on his birthday cake. Jokingly he exclaimed, "No Girl?", as if one could come out of the sheet cake, I mean really... But next thing we know Steve comes out of the room looking like Madonna on a bad hair day and put on a show that brought down the house. Everyone laughed so hard we couldn't stand it. Just shows how much fun we have when we get together. Great times.

After we settled down the food started appearing everywhere and we started digging in. The other cool thing about my neighbors is ALL of the wives can cook.. I mean cook with a capital "C". We were indulging in some home made Spanish-based cooking including burritos. I fill up my plate with all sorts of delights and I ask "where's the hot sauce?". Steve now de-boobittized agrees and we looked around. A bottle was placed in front of us by our friend Dick who happens to be quite the expert on home growing chilies and making of hot sauces.

"Do you like heat?", he says with a slight smile.

"Sure the hotter the better", echo Steve and myself.

"You sure?", repeats Dick. Now any normal person would have caught on right away and questioned the situation, but after a couple of cold ones and all the testosterone being tossed around we were ripe for catastrophe. "Try that" as he points to the small bottle before us.

It was called Black Mamba. The bottle was so tiny and the coloring of the sauce was not scary in appearance. Sure it had the words "Venomous Hot Sauce" and "Extreme Heat" on the label but that was just clever marketing.... Right?

Before I go any further let me tell you right off the bat that when the words "Extreme Heat" are on the label take heed. I mean seriously, take fricken heed. So being all macho and stuff, Steve and I pour this stuff on top of our burritos, give a salute to each other and dig in..... Nothing. Bit of smokey flavor and 30 more seconds later... nada.

We look at each other and then to Dick who is completely at a loss of words. Another 30 seconds go by and we take a few more bites. Not a dang, wait a minute... a slight tingle in the back of my throat starts ups. Kind of a feeling like you just swallowed smoke from a nearby campfire. More of an annoyance really, Hold on. A small ember of heat begins to form on the back of my tongue and it's hot like you tasted some fresh Wasabi at your nearby Sushi Bar. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would say it was at a solid 6 with just enough heat to.... Holy Cow! Somebody just fanned that little red ember into a white hot charcoal and it brought twelve of it's briquette buddies with him.

RED ALERT!!! In one swoop I apparently turned seven different shades of red, my eyes started popping out of my head, I involuntarily started tearing and my hands clenched so hard that it had bent the fork in my hand without realizing it. The experience can only be described as extreme searing white hot pain followed by a demanding that someone put me out of my misery before my tongue completely flame broils my Medula Umblingada!!!

That has been without a doubt the most unbearable pain I have ever had in my mouth without being physically set on fire. I could only imagine what was going through Steve's mind but since he no longer could talk and had tuned white as ghost I figured that he was fighting his own demons right now and apparently they were winning...

It took me about an hour before the "heat" settled down enough for me to actually go back and enjoy the rest of the party. It took a bit longer for Steve but at least he didn't go into antiphalactic shock through the process. I will not even go into the fun I had the day later but the intestinal distress among other flaming orifice was enough to remind me that I will never again partake in such searing activities... at least until next time.

Finally Another DNF Found

Phew, another DNF off my list today. Tried this one four times and a PAF to finally get it. It was a whole this or that side of the fence sort of thing. Doh, okay I thought the property was private...

This is a great example that the most direct path to a geocache is not necessarily the correct one. Let me divulge the meanings of my statement. The geocache shown above stated in the description that there was indeed patch of private property nearby and to beware. I parked about 100 feet from ground zero in what I ASSUMED to be the correct spot. Sure enough there was a wire fence near the cache site. With some heavy trees overhead and ground zero appearing to be only a few feet on the other side of the fence I ASSUMED it was just off a few feet and the micro I was looking for was somewhere on the fence itself.. Do you know the Benny Hill-ism about the word assume? That it can make an ASS out of U and ME.... Well...

I scoured the place and found nothing.. Few weeks later I repeated the perplexing ponderance. Another week again, the same thing. Put out the PAF in an email which was sent back to me and then months went by before I tried again. Only this time it was different and with the subtle hint (like - Hey HHH drive down a 1/4 of a mile and drive to this spot.. note lines and arrows) I parked on the correct spot and walked to ground zero.. yes, yes it was on the other side of the fence and still not on private property. After a quick walk and thrusting myself through some really rosebush thick Charlie Brown kite eating tree like thorn bushes I eventually made it to the cache and my prize. Hokey - Smokes...

So again a little hint from the HeadHardHat. If you are out and about geocaching and your GPS is not getting the job done no matter how hard you try. Come back around from a different angle. You will be surprised how the correct pathways will open up to you and your new found smiley...

That Time of Year To Cleanup Your Geocaches

Yeah the new year has come and I am noticing that several of my caches have shown to be needing repair. Either the log books have been wet due to the snow or rain, several have just plain come up missing or they just need a boost of new swag to fill them back up. Either way I feel it is just good policy to make sure your caches are in fine working order and worthy of a find to others.

Today I was at the outer ridge of my territory and had noticed a couple of caches that I was either told the velcro was worn or the host was recently hit by a car and I should check them out, that sort of stuff. So on my lunch hour I validated that two of them were indeed in place and people are just not finding them, one was several yards from where it should be and put back in place and one was just gone. Not sure if it was moved or taken, though it was in a very non-muggle area.

I replaced the missing cache and then topped it all off by stopping by my geocache hotel and filled what I could back up with swag. Love that dollar store. I guess I am going to have to go through my other 94 caches to see who needs what. It might take a while but if I can provide quality geocaches to the finders. I did my job right.

How is your caches?

Awesome Spun Cast Geocoin

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know how much I love geocoins. Getting one each month is just like having Christmas morning to me. When I know the time is near I restlessly wander to the mailbox the second I get home from work and this year, well Santa really delivered for December. Yeah I know it's now mid January but the coin was delayed until now and it was well worth the wait.

I have been a member of the GeoCoinClub for over almost a year now and the December 2008 coin was supposed to be a real first of a kind collectors piece. They were not kidding.

It is 9mm in thickness and made of pewter and red enamel. The 3D sides are edged in such a way to look like three circular saw blades stacked on each other. It feels awesome when you hold it and really is something to see.

Look below:

Here is a shot of the back:

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!

GeoSnippits - EasyGPS Loading Geocache Waypoints Into Etrex GPS

I spend quite a bit of my forum time in the "Getting Started" threads. It allows me to help out newer geocachers with any questions that may come up. The idea to do my latest GeoSnippits video came from one of these threads. The geocacher wanted to know if there was an inexpensive yet easier way of loading .GPX files into their Etrex GPS. A little light bulb went off and I thought to myself, "I could do a tutorial on that one." Since I already owned an Etrex Vista already this would be a snap.

So I whipped it out (sorry, just saw Blazing Saddles last night) and took some good photos of the Garmin workhorse in many different stages of loading and unloading of geocache waypoints.

Then I remembered the geocacher wanting an inexpensive application to load waypoints into the Etrex. Normally I would use GSAK but there was another useful application that is also FREE. It's name is EasyGPX by Topografix and you can get a copy at http://www.easygps.com/. For an application with a free price tag it does the job and a bit more. So here was the perfect solution.

With all the pieces in place I commenced to doin' my video'n and voice-over'n then the next thing you know: Tada! GeoSnippits Tutorial:

You can see all my GeoSnippits Geocaching Video Tutorials either

on You Tube : http://www.youtube.com/user/headhardhat

or my new GeoSnippits Webpage: http://www.geosnippits.com/

If you have any comments or suggestions about GeoSnippits you can email me

here: headhardhat@gmail.com

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Get The Latest From HeadHardHat's Blogs

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
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HooHaa TB Race Cartoon - Kiss My Cache Finds Nirvana in Oregon

HooHaa TB Racer "Kiss My Cache Peace Luv and Travel Bugs!" has taken a rather lengthy trip (pun intended) to a rather unexpected place - Portland, Oregon. This apparently has not even slowed her down because she is on the move again to unknown places. For the moment we join her in a backpack that is holding an unusual herbal substance and we ain't talking oregano.

You can find all the HooHaa TB Race Cartoons just below all the race statistics on HHH's blog.

Go here to see the entire series: http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/

Cheezed Me Right OFF

Yeah - Yeah, I know these things happen but this was a real first for me. One of my fave geocaches Kidz Mealz Toyz was officially muggled recently. It must have just happened because it was just found a couple of days ago.

Now don't get me wrong, I have around 100 geocaches out there and I have replaced a couple from controlled burnings and the occasional 35mm being broken or lost, no biggie. This one though was made specifically for kids. It is off a fairly travelled road with no side walks and is well hidden next to a large tree and covered by a flat rock, wood and nearby foliage.

The hide was a large lock 'n lock box filled with unopened kids meal toys from the local restaurants. I came by today for my once a month checkup and refill only to be surprised to see only the lid sitting perfectly upright in it's hiding spot but the rest was gone. I think the finder knew what they were doing because the words "Do Not Remove" was clearly on the cover.

Sure this happens and I will get over it. In fact it has already been replaced. Still cheezes me off what some people do just to be cruel.

Why DNFs Are So Important In GeoCaching

Yesterday was beautiful out with all that bright sunshine yet chilly temps. Here in Raleigh, NC we have had a week or so of cold and gloomy days. Not the norm and when I left from work to sparkling blue and that big bright shiny thing in the sky I just had to try for one geocache.

One in particular has been on my radar all last year. It was an exit further than I usually travel when going home and was next to a lake. "Why not?", I thought to myself. The sun this time of year is out just a tad longer so I would have plenty of time to find this regular sized cache.

I was rather giddy when I took my walking stick from my car trunk. This was a nice 300 foot walk in the woods and I could see the setting sun reflecting off the lake. At the very least I can get a couple of good photos. In no time I was at ground zero and poking everywhere with my walking stick. Then I poked some more, even more and more after that.... nothing. I spiralled out from GZ until I had about 45 feet all away around - nada. Checked every possible hole, log, hill, tree, bush and still nothing. With the sun now close to setting the wind had kicked up and it was getting dark. "Well shoot", guess it was time to call it a day.

I hate marking DNFs or "Did Not Finds" at Geocaching.com but I still do. Lets face it, nobody wants to say, "hey look at me, I failed!!!". Many geocachers do not log their missed finds for just that reason but that does not help anybody. I don't care how many finds you have or have not found. Nobody checks your stats that closely and then ridicules you because of them. In fact, DNFs have a very important purpose. I went back and checked the latest logs for the cache and sure enough there were half a dozen logged DNFs for the sight. Now if I had done that in the first place I wouldn't have even tried but this just goes to show you that this cache is either really buried somewhere or just plain gone. Having a bunch of DNF logs is a clue to the geocache owner that maybe they better check and see if it is still there, but they won't know that unless geocachers log their DNFs.

So that was what I did. I logged the DNF, uploaded a couple of my photos that I had taken and then flagged the cache for maintenance. This way I know the owner is aware of the possible condition of the cache. Hopefully I can find it after the all fixed is sounded.

See ya on the trails!

Stuck Between A Rock and a Soft Place

It's always the easy ones that drive me nutz. Here I am at a 2/2 geocache park and grab just a cuss'n and a swear'n. It started easy enough. A new geocache popped up on my radar just a few miles from where I work. Somebody had already picked up the FTF over the weekend so I wasn't in a major rush this time. This would be a terrific lunch break grab or so I thought.

The drive to the cache site area was quick and as I stepped out of the car the cooler air let me know that a cold front was making it's way into the Piedmont. Not a problem, though I almost had to zipper my coat, almost. Firing up my phone I went into Geocaching Navigator and started towards ground zero. I was at a treeline with the median of the road next to it. The cache appeared to be slightly to the left which meant walking into the woods instead of the nice cut grass. No problem it was only sprinkled with waist high briers. How bad could it be? By sixty feet in and within 10 feet of the cache my legs felt like I was the loser of a fourway bobcat fight. Either way I was near ground zero and THAT was when I did my fatal mistake. I saw a logical spot for the cache instead of verifying the coords on the GPS. Needless to say I spent the next 15 minutes swallowed by a huge holly tree (more tree than bush) getting scratched and torn up all over the place. Did I mention I was looking for a bison tube? Oh the fun of it all.

When I reached the 15 minute mark which meant I was no longer having any "fun". I decided to come in from another angle. This time I was out of the woods and onto the grass. Sure enough the GPS pointed this time more towards a huge boulder. Naw, couldn't be. I walk closer towards it with that sinking feeling that the brier patch drag through may not have been necessary. Sure enough... @!$%^!@^!@!!! Right smack in the upper middle of the boulder was a stone painted bison tube wedged in a hole. The whole thing should have taken a couple of minutes and have been a lot less painful. What can I say all part of the adventure of geocaching...

Oh and if you are wondering about what the soft place that was mentioned in the title? Have you looked at a photo of me lately?

GeoSnippits How To Cut and Paste HTML To Your Geocache Profile

One of the reasons I enjoy making GeoSnippits Video Tutorials is to help other fellow cachers. I am recieving an ever increasing flow of emails and posts filled with kind words and thanks. That really lets me know that I am giving back to the sport, game, obsession of geocaching. This tutorial comes from a couple of Geocaching forums I frequent and that has been asked several times. Hope it provides value and choices you may not have thought about.