Jedi Cacher

You're clearly ignoring a subset of the group that most definitely sees this as a competition. A further subset of that group is prepared to generate bogus find logs for the purpose of furthering their position in that competition. Those bogus find logs can and do confuse both cache owners and fellow cachers, causing them unnecessary time and expense. The force is strong with you young ecanderson! I totally agree with KBI that Geocaching is not a competition, but ecanderson has said it well, that there are those out there that see it as a competition. I have experienced this but care not to elaborate. I have played all different kinds of sports and there are those that cheat all the time. These type of people want to win at all costs whatever the consequences. This used to really irritate me, but later I learned that cheaters are only cheating themselves and they are the ones missing out.

Thanks for uploading the video GeoWizard, it was very interesting to watch. I have never taken part in a geo event that involved group caching like that. Also it was interesting to hear the perspective on geocaching from the forest service point of view and that of a geocacher. Even got to see the the geocaching legendary "Snoogans" in action on the video.

What a cool idea for a cache. I ski Deer mountain and Terry Peak in SD and found out there is a cache on top of Terry Peak ski area lookout that I haven't found yet. Maybe I might ask the owners down the road to place one at their resort.

What a cool spot Snoogans. I happen to know TFA and didn't know they had placed a cool virtual in the Caymans. I live near the Mt.Rushmore area and am very surprised that nobody had placed a virtual there. Now it will never become a virtual and you cannot place a cache on national memorial property. I did check out the virtual and earthcache at Devils Tower, and that was a cool adventure.

I noticed today that we have a CITO event scheduled in our area in April. Our club would like to give away 2008 CITO coins as prizes and was wondering if anybody had any idea of when and where these coins will be made available? Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

Good point. I'm 6'3", I'm wondering how the Approach will work out. Any thoughts, owners? I also own the Mountainsmith Approach 3.0. It is still on sale at Campmor and runs $49.97, you can't beat that price for a quality pack. It was highly recommended by Briansnat and have not been disappointed of my purchase. I am 6' and it fits perfect, however you are 3 inches taller than me. This medium size pack has allot of cool features and storage pockets. I especially like the giant clam shell pocket for stuffing in a jacket or rain gear. The clam shell pocket also holds an ammo can quite nicely. It also has an internal bladder holder in which I placed a 3 liter Camelbak Unbottle. I like the unbottle because it is insulated and keeps your fluids cold, and I can transfer it to my larger overnight pack. Overall the Approach is perfect for my needs for geocaching and day hikes in the hills. It is lightweight and comfortable, and well constructed.

That is way too cool! I spent most of my day at scouting winter fun day and that would have been a cool contraption to have with us today.

The half hour show aired here on South Dakota PBS on Jan.27 at 10:30 am. Unfortunately I missed it and found out from a coworker that it was on this past weekend. My coworker has never been caching, but said the program was very informative and now wants to start caching. Hopefully SD PBS will air it again on next months schedule.

What an awesome coin! I've been a huge Star Wars fan since the first movie came out in 77. Unfortunately over time, allot of my collection has since vanished with moving around the country and out of the country. I have been kicking around the idea of designing my own geocoin. Maybe one day it will become a reality.

My first thoughts were that of Elk or Deer rubbing their antlers. Especially because the markings were 7 feet and below. I have seen Elk do that to trees in my area too. However, the gouge markings are so irregular that a woodpecker could have done the damage once he started finding some delicious treats. Another scenario could be aliens. There have been numerous sightings in that area recently.

Finally found additional information pertaining to Oak Bucks. Check out the Oak Bucks link and it will give you more info on this subject.

I just checked out your website Rogheff and those are some nice Diamond Willow staffs that you make.

A new cache became available in my area today and the only thing that is stopping me from being the FTF despite the 7 inches of snow and 15 below windchills, are the NFL playoff games. Go Packers!

A correction on my previous post. After double checking the Campmor website the Voyager and Switchback are Campmor models made by Leki.

I also see that Campmor sells there brand of poles made by Komperdell. Right now they are on sale for $49.99. With all of the good reviews so far on trekking poles, I am going to have to give them a try. The sad part is there is only one store in my area that carries higher end poles and they do not have much of a selection. I would like to see what I am purchasing to check out the feel, but will have to place an order. Does anybody have any likes or dislikes for the types of grips or the way the shaft adjusts? I see that they make cork or rubber grips, and some shafts adjust by push button or standard expander locking system. Right now I am looking into purchasing the Leki Voyager or Switchback, they are both on sale now through Campmor for $49 & $59. Anybody out there own these poles?

I found my first tree cache last week and the hider did a good job of sending you on a wild goose chase to deter you away from the actual hiding spot. The hider made several fake hiding spots such as piled rocks and tree branches as decoys. The cache owner used a metal cable on a pulley system that was then attached to a camouflaged 5 gallon bucket. The bucket was suspended at least 40 feet off the ground blending in with the foliage of the spruces pine needles, never seen anything like it.

I will never surrender the coords to the secret Rebel base. The dark side is cloaked in many forms and to list the coords could lead to the fall of the Rebel Alliance. Good luck on your quest and may the force be with you!

Anybody ever use Mountain Smith trekking poles? I use a hiking staff and am looking into a set of trekking poles. In my research I have found that the Leki poles seem to be the top rated. I recently purchased a mountainsmith pack so I noticed that they also make poles too. It looks like they make the 6061 series for an affordable $47 and make 2 other series at a higher price. Just wondering if anybody has used these poles and if they are worth the price or are they junk.

My guess today is 132.

Thanks for your reply. I just wanted someone to verify this. I thought it was quite strange that I received an Email from the cache owner requesting that I must trade a TB for TB or $6 plus worth of swag for the TB. The owner doesn't seem like a bad guy, just maybe a little misguided.

When I first started geocaching back in March, I had always thought that when you find a traveler you were supposed to replace it with a traveler. But after reading the forums, I soon discovered that as long as you have the ability to help the traveler on it's mission, you may take it. I know that most TB hotel owners have a take one leave one policy, but what is the protocol for finding a TB in a regular cache? Also, must a cacher trade swag for a TB? I have never traded swag for a TB, so am I wrong on this? I found a few TB's and was told by a cache owner that I didn't trade TB's or even swag for the TB's, so that is why I pose this question. However, I always trade up or even on all swag items. All helpful advice is appreciated so that I know to do the right thing.

My guess for today is 120.

Just as Tabulator32 explained, either they are going to love it or hate it. I have talked about geocaching at work and everybody thinks it is the most stupid thing they have ever heard of. Even my wife has talked about it with her coworkers and they say, why would you waste your time and effort on finding junk in containers. Geocaching does not seem to be very well received hobby, at least around here. However, I have managed to get one coworker and his family started on geocaching and they love it. When my nieces and nephews are in town visiting, they enjoy to go out caching with me, so it seems like the younger crowd are more enthuseastic about it. My son is involved in scouts and I have even talked about organizing a geocaching event for his pack, but none of the leaders seem interested. We have at least 500 geocaches hidden in my area (Black Hills National Forest) and the number is growing, despite the small number of geocachers.

I have been thinking about this topic myself the past few days as I have received my first Geocoins as a Christmas gift from my family. There are 5 coins in all and I hate to see them disappear. We have a Coin Bandit in our area and that really torques me off when things like that happen. Especially when the locals know who it is, but that is another story. I really love to find geocoins in caches and would never think of stealing one. This topic is sort of a double edged sword, on one hand if everybody kept their coins instead of releasing them then there would be none to find in caches, but on the other hand the percentage is high that they will be stolen eventually. I kind of like Steinwalzer's idea of purchasing the cheaper coins to release and taking the more precious coins with you to events. I just might do that myself.

With the new additional hint I will go with 225 ( a Mopar standard, slant six)