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WVTim Trip Logistics

Plan your group hikes/get-togethers, discuss caches in need of TLC/adoption plus new & favorite caches, as well as park/geocacher relations.
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sallysomd
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Location: Dentsville MD

WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by sallysomd »

We are planning a trip up to try WVTim's trails and the Martinsburg bike trail (and others of course) later in the summer. Can anyone give us some pointers? How is Verizon's cell reception up there? Im compiling a "manual" of instructions from cache pages to carry along. Does anyone have any tips they'd be willing to share? :D
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OhMelli
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by OhMelli »

Download EVERYTHING you want to find to an offline list or your GPS -- or both! Robinjoy and I have a horrible time with reception up there. She with her iphone, and me with my droid. We had gone up to get the WV series one weekend and ended up having to can the mission... :mad:
rmnedrow
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by rmnedrow »

I have Verizon and my service was great. I would still put it on an offline list just to be safe. One of the scbc series that near a lake I think it was poor house but I'm not 100% sure, I had bad service.
Zepp914
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by Zepp914 »

We have AT&T and the only place we didn't have service was near the Sleepy Creek night caches.

Tips:
1. There are no restaurants in the Shanghai and Sleepy Creek areas, so make sure you plan to be closer to Martinsburg or Inwood during lunch or dinner. Also gas stations aren't common on the west side.
2. As the crow flies vs the car drives is very different in this area. A few miles can be a 20 minute drive.
3. Dogs 11 has the best hotdogs we have ever had. There is a cache there for an older trail.
4. If you have kids, plan to pick some fruit at Orr's orchard. There are 2 WVTim caches there, so you can't miss it.
5. End your trip at Belle Boyd's house as you have to go there for the coin anyway.
6. Everyone we encountered seems to know about Geocaching, so no need to be stealthy except around the hotels.
7. Bring lots of batteries and backup batteries. Also bring some water. Luckily Tazscouter had one on hand for us when we needed it.
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acadiacats
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by acadiacats »

Warlock0714 and I just got back on Tuesday from a 5 day mini vacation out there, we always stay over at Cacapon Lodge and spend some time in Berkeley Springs, but it adds a lot to the driving if you are doing the SCBC trail as some caches are on the other side of 81, and also further south and north. But we like it over there. We did the trail in two days plus the night cache on Sunday night, we both have ATT/apple iphones and had no problem with any of the reception even up on the mountain.
Biggest suggestion is to bring sunscreen and lots of bug spray as we did run into a lot of biting gnats and skeeters, and we had a particularly hot weekend so even an umbrella for shade is great because a few of them are in sunlight and take a bit of time (some for us a lot of time, lol!), so the bit of shade is great. Of course bring the required batteries and a little water and matches, the LONG fireplace ones are super (only needed for one cache, but the long ones came in handy as it was breezy and we had less trouble keeping it lit long enough to accomplish the task).
Have fun, it is a great and varied trail!!!
4lostmarbles!
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by 4lostmarbles! »

We have AT&T and we didn't encounter any problems in the Martinsburg area. (Although when we went to do the Hatfield and McCoy trail, At&t had no service, it was only Verizon, we had to go to the Walmart to get wifi to get the pocket queries and call home to check on our boys, LOL.) We did make a pocket query and my husband like the L4C app on his phone. I think it downloads coords as well as makes a list of the caches to find. I'd like to let you know if you are going to stay the night there, call the Quality Inn Spring Mills-Martinsburg North and tell them you are a geocacher coming to cache WVTim trails and they have a special discount rate of $65 a night. You'll need batteries, flashlights, water and a lighter or matches for the trail if they are all active. We haven't done the bike trail caches, but any of the other ones, use can message us asfor a hint. Good luck on the trails!
Dradicus
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by Dradicus »

If you need any local info while you're up here or directions or help with anything, I live just across the river a few miles from 81 on the MD side of the Potomac. Bring some jumper cables, a strong flashlight, 9v and AA batteries (although there are two Walmarts over there among the other stores) Verizon cell coverage doesn't seem to popular around here as AT&T and sprint pretty much have everything up here. I don't have service out in Sleepy Creek except on top of the mountain but every where else it's LTE 4g. There are a lot of awesome caches out this way so I'd plan on a few days if you haven't been up this way much. The bike trail in itself is up to atleast 50 caches now and it's maybe 10 miles so bring bicycles because it's got some hills and parking areas aren't that frequent.


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sallysomd
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Re: WVTim Trip Logistics

Post by sallysomd »

Thanks to everyone for their helpful hints. We are leaving tomorrow and I have packed all the necessary tools, printed out info from cache pages in case of no reception, and even fit in a visit for a hotdog. I cant wait! If anyone wants copies of the printouts I made, they are attached here. There is info from cache pages for general caches in the area, including some of MD's top favorites (for our MD Favorites challenge) the Bike Trail, the SCBC,GCBC and MCBC. I kept it a Word file rather than PDF so that if anyone wanted they could make their own edits to customize it. :dance:
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