How to find GPS cache?

After you select a cache you want to search for, the next step is finding it. This might be a little bit more challenging than you think. Remember that your GPS receiver will only get you within 10–30 feet of the cache location — perhaps even farther away if you have poor satellite coverage or the cache hider’s coordinates are a little off. After your GPS unit gets you to the general vicinity of the cache, start using your eyes and your brain, which at times might be more reliable than your GPS receiver. Sometimes a series of caches are located close together, usually separated by at least a tenth of a mile. Because you’re already in the neighborhood, consider trying to find several instead of going for just a single cache. Check out the link on the cache description page that displays all the nearby caches and how far away they are from each other.
Finding a cache boils down to following these general steps:

1. Enter the cache coordinates in your GPS receiver as a waypoint and then add a name for the waypoint on your GPS receiver. The methodology for entering waypoints differs from model to model. Check your user manual for specific instructions about how to enter and name a waypoint on your GPS model. You can use the six-character waypoint name on the cache description Web page for the name of the waypoint. Double-check that you’ve entered the correct coordinates. Many caches haven’t been found on the first try because of an typo in the coordinates in a GPS unit. If you have an account on Geocaching.com, you can download the cache waypoint to your computer from a link on the cache description page and then upload the waypoint directly to your GPS receiver. Doing so helps to eliminate errors caused by typos in GPS coordinates.
2. Print a copy of the cache description Web page so you can bring all the information you need to find the cache with you. If your printer is out of ink or you’re being frugal, scribble down the coordinates and any other information that you think might be useful in locating the cache.
3. Gather your equipment, including your GPS receiver, map, compass, food, water, and other essential items mentioned in this chapter.
4. Head out to the cache’s starting point. Drive or bike as close to the cache as you can get. Sometimes the cache descriptions give you exact instructions, like at which parking lot or trailhead to start from. The more challenging caches give you only the coordinates, and it’s up to you to decide where you’ll start from and how you’ll get there. One of the pleasures of geocaching is it’s usually not a timed event (although a few timed competitions are starting to crop up), and you can take as long as you want to reach the cache site, stopping to smell the roses and enjoy interesting sights.
5. Turn on your GPS receiver and get a satellite lock. Hopefully! If not, you brought that map and compass, right?
6. Save a waypoint for your starting point. Getting back to your car can sometimes be a challenge after finding a cache, and saving a waypoint with your car’s location can make life much easier (and get you home in time for dinner). Your GPS manual contains details for setting a waypoint for your particular model.
7. Double-check to make sure that you have the coordinates, cache description, hints, and the rest of your geocaching equipment in your possession. (Keeping it all together in a backpack is convenient.) From personal experience, I can tell you it’s never any fun arriving at the cache and remembering that I left vital clues in the cache description that’s now a couple of miles away in the car.
8. Activate the cache’s waypoint. Activating a waypoint tells the receiver to calculate the distance and direction from your current spot to the waypoint’s location. Your GPS unit will let you know how far away the cache is and what direction you need to head to get there. (This often is as simple as pressing a button on the GPS receiver and selecting the waypoint you want to go to.)
9. Follow the direction arrow, road map display, or compass ring on your GPS receiver toward the cache. A local map can come in handy as you move toward the cache because you can use it to figure out what the terrain is like and whether any rivers, cliffs, or mountains lie between you and the cache. Don’t feel compelled to always head in the direction your GPS unit tells you to go. It might make more sense to walk around a pile of rocks or downed trees than to go over the top of them. After you get around an obstacle, you can check your receiver again to get on the right course. Watch your step! As you head toward the cache, don’t get so caught up in staring at your GPS receiver that you fall off a cliff or trip over a tree root. And watch the scenery, too. Sometimes the journey is the reward.
10. When your receiver says you’re within 30 feet or so of the cache, move around and find the place that reports the closest distance to the cache.

Begin your search at that spot. This is where the real fun starts. You now shift from relying on technology to using your powers of observation and common sense. A cache could be inside a cave, tucked in a tree hollow, hiding behind a rock outcropping, or concealed under a pile of brush. Some caches are easy to find, and others are devilishly difficult.