GooTech-Athon slated for Jan. 24!

Come one, come all to a GooTech-Athon in the Santa Maria Valley! After a long discussion along the trail, OreoPony, PointSalJim, BooBooBee and Geo_Cat decided it was time to gather in search of these sometimes diabolical hides by a relative newcomer.

Get the low-down here.

Safety on the Cachin' Trail

Fellow 'cacher and blogger Johnygeo has some wonderful points about safety, particularly around electrical outlets, lights and boxes.

Poison Oak Cachers web page updated

In case anyone's checking up on this blog, or the site...

Thought I'd let you know the website has been updated to include the upcoming Wine/Whine GeoCACHEathon, set for Father's Day Weekend. Local cachers have been filling the area with new hides in prep for the event, some of which are in play already, some of which won't be revealed 'til the Big Day! If tradition holds, the weather should be spectacular, and the company exceptional.

Wine Whine GeoCACHEathon coming up

Mark your calendars!

After two great events recently, it's time to up the ante and GooTech and Dadbo are ON IT!

Check out this cache event slated for June 14!
GC19Y22

Vegas caches

Summer's just around the corner and, well, I don't know about any of YOU, but I'm makin' my travel plans! MooseMob must've been reading my mind 'cause they sent us a link to the best caches in and around Las Vegas. Heading that way? Check out these as potential diversions from Vegas's...well...diversions! ;)

Thanks, MM!

Results from the March 1st "How Do You Do... Geocaching?" Event

Results from the March 1st  "How Do You Do... Geocaching?" Event

Saturday was such an informative gathering. It began as an information gathering session - the attendees completed this survey and then the fun began. Every piece of electronic equipment was set up and put through its paces in front of various individuals who were interested in that topic. Discussions varied widely - 1) types of PDAs to purchase; 2) features and abilities of GSAK, Cachemate, GPXSonar; 3) a demonstration of the routing feature - routing your way through a series of caches in a cache-rich area in a sequential (gas-saving) manner; 4) fun & handy GSAK macros (one to pull cache statistics, one to make special icons on our Garmins, etc.). My main regret of Saturday evening was realizing later that questions went unanswered. Too many conversations to complete to satisfy all. As a courtesy, I have written to some of those individuals and answered the questions I remembered them asking. Please contact me if I missed you. OreoPony[at]gmail.com. I would encourage those who feel so inclined to download, fill out and email the survey to me. As it stands now, the survey of 15 responses are as follows:

• 10 own Garmins
  
• 2 own Magellans
  
• 1 owns a Delorme
  
• 6 use "routing"
  
• 4 use "tracking"
  
• 8 own PDAs
  
• none own a SmartPhone
  
• 12 own a laptop
  
• 13 utilize "pocket queries"
  
• 10 utilize "insta-notify"
  
• 6 utilize the "bookmark" feature
  
• 6 utilize the "cache along a route" feature
  
• 2 are benchmark hunters
  
• 2 are Waymark hunters
  
• 7 utilize the Groundspeak forums
  
• 14 want to place caches
  
• 8 want to learn html code

Overwelmingly folks wanted to participate in group outings such as hiking, biking, camping and CITO events.

Using the information from the survey, I have reserved the same conference room at the Atascadero Library for Sunday, May 4th from 9:00-11:00 a.m. for an additional, more specific, session of learning and sharing. It will be a community effort of workshop stations. I am looking for folks whose knowledge is better than average on the above topics. You know who you are...

The Geo_Cats are spearheading a 12:00 p.m. event/gathering/picnic over at Stadium Park that same day at the base of Pine Mountain). Come to both and in the afternoon practice some of your newly-learned skills.

   

Cachin' Bi-Coastal

Hi -

I'm Miss Heck's mom, and I was at the Pizza with Everything event in January --
I won a stocked ammo can and brought it back to Connecticut!  I finally got it
placed; I waited for the right weather so I could place it by snow-shoe!  Check
out GC19MAM for the "California Dreamin'" cache, thanks to you and the Poison
Oak cachers.  Please share this cache site with anyone you know who contributed
to it.  Thanks!

NorthofForty

Finding cachers on the trail

Isn't it grand when you're seeking out a cache, you KNOW you're looking the wrong direction 'cause you just have "that feeling," and THAT is when the cache owner pulls up and says, "Did you find it yet?"

Well, it happened to me this week. I love meeting cachers on the trail, though it doesn't happen often enough. Mr. Blue 57 caught me in the act this week. I guess the big fat GPSr gave me away!

If you don't run into enough cachers along the trail, attend a POC event. I believe there's one coming up, right OreoPony? Check the event links over there <------- for the latest.

Anyone else care to chime in? I'm looking for other authors for this blog 'cause, really, who wants to listen to me yammer on?

Happy Cachin'!

The Hits Keep On Coming

Our page has only been up a few days, but already it's had 1,213 hits, according to our handy-dandy statistics provided by GoDaddy. Keep spreading the word. WHO KNOWS what kind of showing our future gatherings will have!

Happy Cachin'

It's HERE!

OK...it didn't take a week,but that's because they're basic pages. The links page isn't up, nor is the "contact" page. I need some feedback from members regarding what they'd like to include on those pages. :)

Welcome to a new era in Poison Oak Cacher history

Next week we'll introduce the new Poison Oak Cacher website, an information portal to the geocaching group serving California's Central Coast. That page will be static while we sharpen our html skills, but will link to this blog on which members may celebrate their hunt victories, opine on all things geocaching, organize group cache hunts...the possibilities seem endless.