Knight-Errant

Of course if it really was stolen by a "mugger" the local authorities (i.e., police, sheriff, etc) should be notified immediately.

Not necessarily. The activation code varies by batch. Just becase all of the ones you may have ordered (probably from the same batch) have the same activation code, doesn't mean most travel bugs have the same one.

Number 1 is largely incorrect. The issue is and has always been one of private property and tresspassing. Doesn't matter if the line is currently in use or not. From the RR point of view the issue of safety is a distant second to the issue about tresspassing. You say that the 150 foot prohibition is really only one of private property, not safety. If this were true, then caches would only be prohibited on the actual railway right of way (property of the railroad) which is often only about 50 feet wide (but occasionally much more). If you do the math right, the prohibition by Groundspeak is at least 300 feet wide. It is very rare that the property line of a railway is anywhere near that distance. We can assure you that the railroad companies are HIGHLY concered about safety. You can ask any railroad engineer that has been on the job for about ten years or more and they have very likely have been driving a train that has killed someone (almost never the railroads fault). Safety IS the primary reason they are so concerned by trespassing.

First reaction to this proposal is wondering if it is actually possible. While many cachers have all their caches in a relatively small area (a 50-100 mile radius), how useful would the map be if their cache dispursement was several thousand miles or more?

Unfortunately the expiration is not just for the individual product, but it seems the military has stopped using them like they used to do.

Thanks, we're gonna need therapy now!

Thanks! Very cool!! (Scouting emblem SE of Payson, Utah Just so you'll know, this scouting one isn't quite finished yet. Also for your information Jigsaw Jim keeps a bookmark list of shaped cache placements. http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...22-23659b239811 He would appreciate being advised of any such shaped caches so he can add them to his list.

Keep in mind that, while most events have this problem in some form, for many reasons (valid or not) Mega Events are much more likely to have cachers actually attend but NOT log a will attend.

Keep in mind that Geocaching.com (Groundspeak) does not have any responsiblity for any caches, they do not own the caches. However, Groundspeak does attempt to be reasonably proactive in reducing incidents that are likely to create big problems for the sport of geocaching.

Sounds like there may be two issues involved. 1. Groundspeak's prohibition on caches within the 150 feet of an ACTIVE railway. In most situations the railway right of way (railway reserve) or land owned and controlled by the railway does NOT nearly extend the full 150 feet. The prohibition on caches within 150 feet of an ACTIVE railway is Groundspeak's margin of safety to attempt to reduce seaches for caches near ACTIVE railways (there could be a whole thread regarding the specifics of why and why that distance, but for now let's just leave it as that is Groundspeak's decision). 2. The ownership of the property near the railway (which may or may not be an active railway). However, this is usually only an issue for INACTIVE railways as the property around active railways are almost always included #1 above. If the railway is INACTIVE (and not likely to become active in the coming years), then it is just a question of who owns the property (which may or may not be a railway company). However, if it is a rails to trails situation, it is usually the city or county that "owns" the property.

For user names, the website does NOT distiguish between upper and lower case so "AO318" is the same account as "ao318", but not the same as "A0318". Also, for geocache waypoint numbers you can use upper or lower case and some interchangable characters ("O" and "0", for example), but this interchangability does NOT apply to Travel Bug codes.

Actually, according to Groundspeak, there is no way to delete an account period. The account can be abondoned, but never deleted. Best suggestion is to consolidate the accounts (correcting log entries and adopting caches and travelers as necessary) and then abandon the unwanted account.

Keep in mind that the name at the top of the cache page "A cache by . . . " is what ever the cache owner decides to enter--it is NOT necessarily their geocaching name. So probably the best suggestion is to set up your account, but then list your caches as "A cache by Girl Scout Troop ###". Also, if the individual girl scouts want to set up their own accounts, they can add the troop's caches to their "watch list" and still get notified of logs to the caches, they just won't be able to edit the cache.

We use maps a lot, but are a very confused by your question. First, we have never known there to be cache icons on Yahoo Maps, Geocaching.com Google Map, yes (but not even on Google Map either). If it is the Geocaching.com Google Map you are actually asking about, we have occasionally noticed this, but it has been rare enough that it hasn't really been a problem.

In addition to letting someone else know the general area you are headed (ALWAYS a good idea--geocaching or not), we like your idea as well. However, what if you are going for that difficult to solve puzzle cache?

In addition to the good advice by Knight2000, you should also be aware that you can complete this drop (for you OWN cache) either before or after the cache is actually published. (If it is not you own cache, you must wait until after it is published.)

While we have proven it is definately possible (we found about 500 before benefiting from a GPSr), we have found two big limitations: 1. While you may be able to find that one cache that you are searching for, the GPSr allows you to easily find the five others that you past while getting to that cache. 2. The benefits of maps are seriously reduced in non-urban areas because there are fewer landmarks and/or because the resolution of the maps is much less. (NOTE for those that will disagree: We did NOT say you couldn't use maps in non-urban areas, just that they aren't quite as helpful.)

Shouldn't this question be under the Canadian Immigration section? Seriously, it sounds like you have a great opportunity for traver movement. In addition to the suggestion of logging your travelers locally before dropping them off in Canada, hopefully you will have the opportunity to retrieve some travelers in Canada before returning home.

While an edit-the-original-log option would be nice for forgot-to-log-traveler-drops, as stated, it is not an option. Many cachers will also go back and delete their "Oops, bug drop" Note log to reduce the clutter on the cache page. Deleting this Note log on the cache page will not in any way affect the traveler.

Actually we were not addressing the issue of log deletion notifications, just that items that we thought automatically generated a log entry were not visible. Thanks for letting us know that reviewers and lackeys can change coordinates without generating a log entry. While we don't like the idea, it is helpful to know it is possible. We seem to be leaning to the cache owners deleting the log entries, but we are at a loss to imagine why a cache owner would intentionally delete many of the multiple logs that are missing--hence the question wondering if there was another possibility.

Keep in mind that you CAN use the reference number OR tracking number (tag number) to post a note for a traveler. This may be helpful in advising the traveler owner and others that a traveler is no longer in the cache last logged.

Attempted unsuccessfully to find a existing post regarding the issue, so appologies if we just couldn't find it. We have noticed multiple instances of log entries that seem to be disappearing. Nearly all that we have noticed have been for archived caches, but there is no note by the user or reviewer indicating when or why they were archived. Just today we encountered a cache that had the coordinates changed, but again, no log entry indicating when. Anyone else encountered this?

It sounds like you are asking for one of the purposes of waypoints to be be considered Virtual Caches, just by another name.

Curious to know how binoculars could be required--not that we are suggesting they can't, just we are wondering how?

Please explain how the teacher acted unethically. In what way are administrators tracking inappropriate behavior and 'dealing with it'? What rules were being ignored? I feel that any teacher who only teaches part of any subject is being unethical. Take as an example a driving instruction who only shows kids how to start a car and put it in gear but doesn't show them the brake or explain the purpose of stop signs... A teachers job is education, not just enough information to justify his overtime for a weekend fieldtrip Administrators CAN track viewing of Members Only caches online. The "rules" are as follows: Easy Steps to Geocaching 1. Register for a free membership. 2. Click "Hide & Seek a Cache." 3. Enter your postal code and click "search." 4. Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name. 5. Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device. 6. Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache. 7. Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location. 8. Share your geocaching stories and photos online. The teacher is REFUSING to register (#1) and log online (#8) Apparently you would also be mortified to find out that there are lots of REGISTERED geocachers that regularly disregard #8 (no online log) and even both #7 & #8. We have been caching with several that fit into this category. While we don't encourage it, it is THEIR choice.