Caching Along a Route
by Dale Smith
There was a time when the thought of a taking a road trip would give me hives. The vision of packing
the children into the family van and then spending hours upon hours listening to them fight and complain as
we passed through endless miles of sagebrush was, at best, enough to make me seriously consider my own sanity.
And then….I discovered geocaching.
Instead of seeing the never ending deserts and wilds of Utah as a hurdle to be overcome, I now look at
every sagebrush, tree and rock as yet-to-be-developed cache sites. In short, traveling has the potential to be
fun again.
The first time I took a road trip, I was a little shocked at how hard it was to plan out the caches.
Being a premium member of Groundspeak, I could download pocket queries for the areas in which I would be
traveling, but it was a chore to get the job done.
Later, I read articles in which cachers described how to use their mapping software to cache along a route.
I followed the instructions and the process worked, but it still demanded a great deal of work and required that
I have a very healthy (large) database of caches on my computer. In short, the system worked, but it wasn’t easy
to use.
Having tried these other systems, I was a little skeptical when Groundspeak announced a few months ago that
they had software available for caching along a route. I finally tried it and was surprised at how easy it was to
use. Planning the route was a piece of cake and I didn’t need to run a half dozen pocket queries in order to make
it work. I have used it to plan out several long trips and it has worked very well. The software really works.
Although I am certainly not an expert user, here is my tutorial for using this software to plan a caching
trip along a specific route:
Important Note: In order to make this work, you will need to do two important things:
First, you will need to download Google Earth. It is a free software program that is downloadable from
www.googleearth.com. They will try to get you to purchase the premium
membership which is a paid service, but you won’t need it. You will be able to do everything that you need to do
with the free version of the software.
Second, you will need to be a premium member of Groundspeak, www.geocaching.com.
Without a premium membership to Groundspeak, it just won’t work.
With Google Earth loaded on your computer and the purchase of a premium membership to Groundspeak, you are
ready to start...
- Open Google Earth. In the upper left hand corner of the screen are three tabs. "FLY TO", "LOCAL SEARCH"
and "DIRECTIONS". Google Earth normally opens with the FLY TO tab selected. Click on DIRECTIONS.
With DIRECTIONS selected, you will see two white boxes appear directly below the tabs. The first box
is labeled "start" and the second box is labeled "end". Type in your starting point in the first box (for example:
Salt Lake City, Utah) and your final destination in the second box (Kanab, Utah). Click on the blue box to the
right of the second box. A few seconds later you will see a purple line drawn along route that you have selected.
Carefully examine the map and the route that you have selected. Google Earth will always try to plan your
course using the quickest route and the best roads. If the map planned by Google Earth is not the one you want, you
may need to break the trip down into smaller segments. For example, if you have the software plot a course from
Salt Lake City to Kanab, the software will plot a course that will keep you on Interstate 15 until you reach the
outskirts of Paragonah (near Cedar City) and will then have you head east to make contact with Highway 89 in Panquitch.
If you want to travel on Highway 89 from Nephi to Kanab, you will need to "trick" the software by breaking
your route down into smaller segments. For example, instead of planning a route from Salt Lake to Kanab which
would take you on I-15, you could plan a route from Salt Lake to Salina and another route from Salina to Kanab.
These two routes would take you on I-15 from Salt Lake to Nephi and then route you along Highway 89 for the rest
of the trip.
Once you are satisfied with your route, you will need to save it. Click on the FILE button in the upper
left hand corner of the screen. When the drop down menu appears, select SAVE AS. Identify the location on your
computer where you wish to save the file. Type in a file name that will help you easily identify the file in the
future. THIS IS IMPORTANT: The default file extension for Google Earth is a Kmz (*.kmz) . You will need to change
the extension. Click on the pull-down menu and select the Kml (*.kml) extension. Click on the SAVE button and close
Google Earth.
Go to www.geocaching.com and log on
Select "My Account" from the menu on the left.
Under the "Premium Features" section on the right side of the screen, select the "Find Caches Along a
Route" option.
Across the top of the page are three options: "Search for Existing Routes", "Search by Keyword", "Upload
GPX / KML". Select the "Upload GPX / KML" option.
Using the browse feature, locate and select the (.kml) file that you had saved in Step #4. Click the
"Upload" button and wait for your computer to do its job. Repeat this process for each of your saved routes.
The name of your route file will be displayed below the green bar. Select the file by clicking on the
box to the left of the file name. After you have selected the files that you wish to use, click on the "Save
Selected Routes" button at the bottom of the page.
At this point, the screen will change and you will NOT see the results of your efforts. You may think
that you have done something wrong. You haven’t. Find the line that contains the words "Latest Routes" and "Your
Created Routes". Select the "Your Created Routes" option.
You will see your file name and the length of your route. On the far right side of the information
line is the "Create Pocket Query" command. Select this option.
If you have run pocket queries before, this screen will look familiar. However, there is one unique
function on the page that does not appear in a tradition pocket query. About the fourth selection down the page
is the "SEARCH" option. The Search option allows to you to limit your search to caches that are within a certain
distance of the road. You will need to carefully consider how you want to complete this blank. Please note that
the default is .5 miles (1/2 mile) not 5 miles.
Complete the remaining options on the pocket query and submit your search.
The pocket query that is returned to you will contain only those caches are within the prescribed
distance of your route. Use the results of this search as you would any pocket query.
When traveling with very young children or when traveling on a timetable, I can customize my route by adjusting
four key variables in the pocket query: distance from the road; terrain; difficulty and cache type. If you are in
a hurry to get to your destination, you can eliminate some of the more difficult caches by using the following search
strategy:
- Limit your search to caches that are within ½ mile of the road. Although there is a temptation
to expand the search area, you will want to seriously consider how far from your route you are willing to travel in
order to find additional caches.
Restrict the search to caches with a terrain rating of 1 or 2. Simply because a cache is near
the road doesn’t mean that it will be a quick grab. For example, Mount Olympus in Salt Lake is within ½ mile of
the road, but it is at least a 4 hour climb to the top. Reducing the terrain rating will increase your chances of
being able to easily access the cache.
Only search for caches with a difficulty rating of 1 or 2. I must admit that I am a little
skeptical of my own advice on this one. There have been times when I have looked for caches with a rating of
4 and found them in seconds. There have been other times when I have spent fifteen minutes or more looking for
what was supposed to be an easy cache. Another option is to include all caches, regardless of their difficulty
ratings, in your search and then limit yourself to a specific amount of time at each cache,
Limit your search to Virtual and Traditional caches. Both virtual and traditional caches are
likely to be at the coordinates listed on your GPS, which makes them perfect for caching on a trip. Multi-caches
are fun, but you never know where they will take you. The final stage could be as close as few feet or as far
away as several miles. Puzzle caches have the same problem as multi-caches, there is no guarantee that the cache
will be anywhere near the posted coordinates.
These are just suggestions. If you love a good puzzle cache that takes you to the top of a mountain,
then by all means, set your search criteria to capture those caches. But, if you are traveling with your family
and want to limit the length of your caching stops, then these suggestions might work for you.
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