Time for Winter Streaking

Ah, snow. The bane of geocaching cache-a-day streaking. According to the Weatherman (who is a Geocacher and should’ve ordered better weather), Michigan is about to get hit over the next 24 hours. 

Several years ago, I wrote a post about Top Tips for Winter Streaking. Today, I will employ two of them listed below. Now that I think about it, these are excellent tips for caching during high heat, too.

PLANNING

Snow is supposed to start around 4 am tomorrow and continue through Sunday. So, TaGeez and I will grab tomorrow’s cache after midnight – before going to bed – so we can settle in for the rest of the day. If we plan to leave early enough, we can grab today’s cache before midnight, saving two trips.

[Yes, in answer to your thoughts, we don’t cheat. We will physically grab one before the Witching Hour and one after it]

POCKET QUERY – Premium Members Only

This has helped SO many times! Setup a pocket query for geocaches found in the last 7 days [Thank you, Mr. Grundalow!]. Nothing worse than driving from one lamp post to a pine tree cache trying to find one not buried in a mound of snow. If there’s a storm and need your geocaching fix, you will have better luck with a cache found within the last week to target.

Pocket Queries are custom geocache queries that can be downloaded from the website. They are in a format you can bring along with you on cache hunts on your GPS and/or smartphone. [Source: Geocaching.com]

I run the following Pocket Query and save it to an offline file within my geocaching app. I’ll include links to larger images for easier viewing.

To start a Pocket Query, go to Geocaching.com and click the Play button (1). From the drop-down menu, select Pocket queries (2). When the Pocket Queries window opens, click the Create a New Query button (3). Click this link for easier viewing.

Complete the form based on your preferences and geographic location. I’ve highlighted a few key points, but this is not all inclusive. Click this link for easier viewing.

Days to Generate	I picked Monday to include the heavier caching traffic over the weekend. I also check the box to run weekly until Winter is over.
Selected Type	Pick and choose based on the types of caches you mind find at -26° F
That (And)	I’m looking for enabled caches I haven’t found or don’t own that have been found in the last 7 days.
Terrain	Let’s face it – I don’t normally do 5 Terrain in summer. Why would I hunt for them in winter?
Output	Check the Include Pocket Query name in download file name box. When it appears in your email Inbox you will know which file it is and update your offline folder on your geocaching app.

Hopefully you will find this a useful guide. Happy Winter Caching!