This Cache is one of 93 Virtuals in Georgia. Find them all to complete the Georgia Virtual Cache Challenge
Want databases for your favorite Geocaching programs? Download all 93 Virtuals in the following formats:
GPX - GaVirtualChallenge.gpx, GeoNiche - GeoNicheGaVirtualChallenge.pdb, CetusGPS - CetusGaVirtualChallenge.pdb
Remember: Follow Leave No Trace practices such as staying on marked trails, complying with posted signs, minimizing impacts to plants and fragile mountain habitats, and always packing out trash. While searching for the cache, be sure to follow Lift-Look-Replace practices and put all stones or logs back where you found them!
This cache highlights the advantages of paperless Geocaching. Located inside Stone Mountain Park is a compass orienteering course. I have used the functions of CetusGPS (a great paperless Geocaching program) to turn the orienteering course into a twenty three stage virtual cache. There are two ways to run this course: Using a compass and the data below (or from the sheet provided at the nearby Stone Mountain office) and run the course just as it was originally intended. Or go high tech, load up your GPS and Palm PDA and decide for yourself which method is more accurate. In my opinion the easiest way to do the coarse is to download both CetusGPS and the Orienteering.PDB database, install them on your Palm PDA, connect your GPS and go. Even if you don't connect a GPS to your Palm PDA, Cetus is still great for going paperless! Just take a look at some of the screen shots further down.
3-25-2018 UPDATE: This Cache was placed exactly 14 years ago today, and while it is possible to still find working Palm PDAs (I still have several) and download the program and database, we live in a world where IOS and Android devices far more the norm than the exception. I have updated this cache page with all 24 waypoints, so now you can once again experience this virtual cache just as it was intended back in 2004. Whether you use your new tech, or go retro, I hope you enjoy this journey.
The coordinates above are for the starting point for the course, which is on the back side of the stone chimney. Each stage is marked with a pipe painted green or white and sticking out of the ground about two feet. Each pipe is marked with the Bearing and Distance to get to the next marker. There is also a Pacing Marker exactly 100' from marker #1 for hikers to measure their stride on the way to marker #2. I have included the Station, Bearing, and distance data as it appears on the sheet given out by the park:
One thing we noticed when we did the course is that there are three markers that have a distance on them different from what is on the sheet given out at Stone Mountain (I duplicated those differences in the table above). To get credit for this cache you have to email me which three station numbers are different along with the numbers from the markers. The course itself it a little over 1 mile and can actually be completed in just under an hour.
Below are screenshots from CetusGPS, Generating databases can be easily accomplished with GPSBabel
Databases like Orienteering.PDB, and Track Logs like smoc.PDB can be used along with GPS Visualizer to make some great maps!
Look at all the Stone Mountain Caches!
