By prepare, I mean loading up your GPS with information that you will need while on your hike. The following should work with all recent Garmin Handheld devices.
Part 1 – Find Tracks To Load – Where Are You Going
This first part explores how to load up a trackfile or course using Garmin connect. We’ll use the “send to GPS” feature to send it directly to our unit. Garmin Connect is a useful resource to explore and find activities from other Garmin users.
Part 2 – Load Up Some Maps – See Where You Are Going
This second part explores how to load up a Birdseye Satellite Imagery using Garmin Basecamp. In this example, I’ve signed up to an annual subscriptions, but you can download a smaller subset of images to demo on your device.
Part 3 – Load Up Geocaches – Find Something Where You Are Going
This third part explores how to load up geocaching using opencaching.com. In this example, I simply browsed to the opencaching.com website and centered my map to the location of my hike, and from the results downloaded the entire data set to my garmin device.
This process is similar if you were to use geocaching.com as your listing service. However, you may need to add a few extra steps in order to get the same results.
Now you are ready to do some paperless geocaching while on your hike.