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I hike a few times every week. I prefer 3.5-8 mile hikes. Anything longer is a little too rough on my knees. The hillier the hike, the shorter so a very hilly Pine Mountain Recreation Area hike of 3.5 miles is very satisfying just like an 8 mile hike at FDR State Park. Almost all of these hikes will require hydration. In the summer, even when getting started very early in the morning, I’ve needed 3 quarts of water for some of these hikes, but most only need 1-1.5 quarts.

The List – Google Map Links

These are links to the trailheads and/or parking for each trail. Handy if you have a GPS.

For about the last week, I’ve been in the Fort Collins, CO area for my niece’s wedding. That required about 6 hours total, but if I’m going all that way, I want to make it into a mini-vacation.

During the trip, I saw elk, bear, bear cub, rattle snake, rabbits, HUGE grasshoppers, millions of grasshoppers, gray squirrels, ground squirrels, and a few fish. A few interesting photos are below.

On Saturday, I went GeoCaching with an expert Geocacher (over 1000 caches found and logged). We went to a trail that I’ve hiked twice before, so I knew the terrain and was prepared for the effort required. At least I thought I was prepared. It turned out, I was not.

Equipment

I have a Nokia N800 that gets tethered via Bluetooth to a GoPass GPT800 Bluetooth GPS Receiver SiRF Star III. At the time of purchase, this was a highly regarded GPS receiver chip.

My sister had a hiking-specific GPS unit from Garman with a big antenna. I don’t know the exact model, but think it is a metal grey color with black and white screen. No color, since that uses too much energy.

My brother-in-law uses a few applications and scripts that he wrote to grab GPS point data for any geocaches near where we are planning to be. His scripts also grab hints and comments from other enthusiasts.

The Issues

So, we’re hiking on the path and we both have waypoints/POIs entered into our units marking the cache locations. I keep walking on the path, then my sister heads off into the brush. Not just a few feet off the path, but out of voice yelling range. We both have whistles, which is good hiking practice. My GPS was still telling me to continue on the path. She found it. I didn’t realize the cache locations wouldn’t be fairly near a trail. Since I’d already hiked these trails with my GPS tracking enabled, I had that prior track loaded into my map and could see approximately where the best place to take off into the bush would be.

GPS units appear to be designed for movement, somewhere around 10mph or faster seems ideal. I can’t walk that fast. When we stopped to get readings, mine jumped around a lot – hundreds of yards. Further, if the GPS signal gets lost due to trees, hills, whatever, then mine takes you back to a previous location as an initial guess. With tracking enabled, the map gets really busy with a pseudo-star pattern of lines.

Cockpit Error – i.e. user error ;)

On about the 3rd cache, I realized that the built-in compass for the GPS software wasn’t really working the way I thought. Fortunately, the same tool that my whistle is on has a compass, signal mirror, magnifying lens, thermometer and an LED flashlight . It is a really handy little plastic tool for hikers to have. I don’t mind that it is cheap, it does work. The compass was more than accurate enough for my needs, but sadly, the GPS location was still off. My sister kept making a beeline to the caches and found almost all of them in this area.

Final Result

I’ve decided that geocaching with my current setup isn’t fun. I get frustrated when technology doesn’t work as expected. To resolve the issue, wiping the original OS2008 included with the N800 will be needed. I’ve been unable to update the GPS mapping tool software since it was loaded due to some underlying libraries that couldn’t be updated too. A fresh OS install with the newer release will be good and get me out of Application Manager hell. Maemo 5, here I come. Then I’ll re-visit the same location and see whether the new software helps with the accuracy of the GPS. Knowing where some of the caches are located, will be helpful.

If this doesn’t work, perhaps it is time for a new bluetooth GPS receiver. The current receiver is really good for driving – seriously, so that $35 was well spent.

So, I’ve been hiking a bunch this year and searching for waterfalls is a hobby. If you have access to my photo gallery, you get a feel for the lengths that I’ve gone thru to find them.

Anyway, as I was planning my next trip to NC, I came across this site: http://www.northcarolinawaterfalls.info/ FANTASTIC! It places markers on a google map for where all the waterfalls are located and occasionally provides links and directions.

It has more waterfalls which appear to be accurately located on a map than anyplace I’ve seen before.

Summary:

1. Computer Keyboard problems
2. Flight
3. Fernando
4. Bed and Breakfast
5. Afternoon activities
6. Dinner? TBD

Ok, the computer I’m using is configured for English, but doesn’t have a US Keyboard. You’ll see that I use odd wording because some of the keys simply aren’t available. For example, the asterisk key is nowhere to be found (important for this blog), least not shift-8 or on the key that displays it. Ok, enough about that.

The flight – what can I say. I’ve never been on an airplane with more children in my life. Seems spring break and family vacations to Costa Rica are in. Most seemed spoiled too. The kids next to me lived in Raleigh, NC. When I asked about their Spanish – they’d lived in Venezuela for 3 years. The brother and sister were pleasant enough for teenagers. The last 5 minutes in was bumpy and the landing was a little rough.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention it – the airport. Warm with long lines for Immigration. I’d read in a guidebook that there would be lines. There definitely are, unless, you are a citizen of Costa Rica. No lines for them. We landed at 12:10p and I found Fernando a little before 2p. My luggage was waiting for me, already pulled from the luggage belt. They say if you are at the front of the plan – RUN for immigration to beat the lines. There was a line in the main hallway to enter the line. Turns out that line was to get to the end of the line to go into another, larger room, with an even longer line before getting to Immigration folks.

Fernando picked me up outside the airport entrance. He speaks ZERO (nada) English. That wasn’t important – he had the sign with my name on it so I got in the van with him for a 10 minute drive to the Bed and Breakfast, Santa Maria Inn. I’m only here 1 night. No crazy driving experienced or seen. Also, no charge for the drive – which was unexpected. I figure he’d waited at least 90 minutes on a holiday for me when he could have been with his family. I wish I’d snapped a photo of the madhouse at the exit with taxi drivers trying to get fairs. It was crazy and I was offered all kinds of unwanted help.

Santa Maria Inn – In Costa Rica addresses aren’t absolute. They are relative to some local landmark. The Inn is relative to the Pacific Coast Gas Station. Nice. The Inn seems nice. The razor wire all around it makes me feel secure. There is razor wire, seriously. I think this is a nice neighborhood. The home across the street has some nice trucks with alarms.

More after I get my bearings, grab some snacks and figure out what’s for dinner. There’s nothing within walking distance according to the manager. They offer a taxi service or he could order a pizza – that’s a quote.

I must have been tired. After going back to my room, I slept until 11pm. Woke up long enough to close the windows – a few mosquitoes were buzzing me. No bites. Then I watched a movie on HBO-S and went back to sleep for the night.