admo1972

I think it's fine, but there are several pitfalls: 1. Expect angry logs from users who don't have a wifi device when they get to stage 1. Clearly mentioning on the cache page that stage 1 leads to a url will help alleviate that somewhat. 2. You'll have to make sure that the url people are visiting is up and running all the time. Perhaps a more traditional multi would be the way to go. Or, be more creative using the wifi. Perhaps when you get to stage 1, you hop onwhatever URL, which leads you on some kind of guided tour of the park, giving clues or directions to the next stage. If you include interesting facts or historical items, you are more likely to have a good cache here.

I don't think you can set the time manually on the Vista (I have a greyscale Vista as well). You can set your timezone, but that's about it.

Nothing yet (knock on wood). But I think I've come quite close a few times. One of the last caches was a multi had me seatching around. It was about a 30 minute search, which as various points I put my gps down on one tree, my palm on another, and my bag on a third, and even my gloves at one point on a fourth. What felt like I kept looking in a small area, I looked up at one point and nothing seemed familiar, and had a moment of panic that I wouldn't find all the stuff I left laying around!

Returning to a previously visited cache to retrieve a TB is perfectly fine. Travel bugs are meant to move and the bug owner would appreciate the activity. Just post a note not another Found it. Someone more familiar with coins would have to answer simpjkee's post. Edited to include post reference. I agree and understand, and wouldn't log my visit as a find. However, I have a slight issue with the ability to quickly run to the final stage of a multi solely to grab a coin or bug, when another cacher would have to trudge through the various puzzles and stages, only to find a cache that had been cleaned out by me just a few moments earlier. That's all I am thinking about.

Here's a slight variation: I know that coins and TB's can be taken without a trade (unless the owner of the coin and/or cache specifically request a trade be made), but what are thoughts on returning to already found caches solely to take coins and TB's? I have this urge to revisit a half dozen or so caches just to take some coins and such, of course to move them one though...

No. The iPhone does not know where it is on the earth. You can use google maps on it to have it give you driving directions, but requires you to tap the screen to go from one step to another on your route. Logging your finds on the iPhone could be useful, but using AT&T's cellular network for internet is painfully slow (notice it is never shown in the ads). I think the iPhones usefulness for caching is limited at best. I'd stick with a handheld GPS and a Palm.

Hmm. Did you read the logs on the cache page to see who may of left it and what it may be for? Maybe someone gave you a house!

All I've used is Mapsource to put some US topo and national park maps onto my Vista. But I am stuck booting into XP via bootcamp.

Be warned. When you get that first email that a cache has been published, the urge to stop doing whatever you are doing and run out the door is immensely high.

Yes. You need to become a premium member, and then you can sign up for instant notifications. You will receive an email when new caches are published in your area (as well as get notifications for a whole bunch of other things if you wish.

I work in a hospital, and IC here is Infection Control. Perhaps someone picked up some rare virus or bacteria while caching?

I think that searching for words 3 letters and under when part of a phrase should be allowed. I was looking for any posts which talk about the documentary "Adventures in Geocaching", and I can't search for that phrase simply because of the word in. Seems silly. Searching for +Adventures +Geocaching brings up tons of irrelevant topics. Can the 3 character limitation be removed when searching for phrases? Or is there some other work-around I am missing?

For the love of god, as soon as you get out of your car, MARK YOUR CAR. That can save you hours of frustration at the end of the day. It's amazing how different trails look when heading back...

That Jeep game is great. Played for a bit once I got home. Silly me, I kept driving up to the cache and getting out to get it. Who knew you could drive right over geocaches in Jeeps without destroying them?

I demand that if a geocache.com member is a nudist AND named Sexy Sally, photographs MUST be included on the profile page. That is all.

I couldn't agree more! And let me muse for a moment as to the origins of this. Way back when, there were just a few caches out there. One had to make a concerted effort to go and find one. Now that there are often hundreds of caches within 20 minutes of most peoples houses. This has a two-fold effect: 1) It makes people want to have as many cache finds as possible. 2) caching has become so much a part of our lives that we now have to work it into our routine. Out to the grocery store? Grab a cache. Barber in the next town? Grab a cache there. Because of this haphazard caching, consulting the cache page isn't always possible. Sure, you could have all the required info in your Palm or PocketPC (and this is truly the best way to go), but some people don't have the tech savy to do that, or the expences to support it. So, the downside is that we cache differently now than in the past, but can run into the unfortunate situation that the OP ran into. The ground speak distinction between puzzle and multi makes sense and logic. But so does the OPs wished to be able to distinguish caches that can be foun dsolely with the published coordinates and those that can't. That logic is just as valid, but just isn't the way the types are broken down.

Well, according to googlemaps, the whole Area51 area is just an irregularly shaped gray blob. 37.239, -115.816

You wouldn't. But that's no different than a traditional. You wouldn't. But that isn't always indicated in the cache page either. You won't. One multi I did was a 4 stage that I did over 4 days. Luckily, parking was only 5 minutes from work, so I did the stages during my lunch. I called it my multi-stage-multi-day cache

That's certainly not true. Granted, I've only done 4 multi's, but 3 of them could have been done without anything more than the coordinates to the first stage. The remaining multi was an offset similar to what the OP was/is complaining about, which would have required to print the cache page to get to the final.

Again, you are missing my point. I'm not talking about degrees of difficulty. What I am saying is that any cahce that REQUIRES the use of the cache page other than the posted coordinates, should be considered a puzzle. Again, consider heading out only with 1000 caches in your GPS. Those that are possible to be found should be traditional or multi, those that can not should be puzzle. Note I am saying should. It is clear what the actual definitions are for multis and puzzles are. And again, it is a moot point for me. I have the caches in my Palm, so I could care less when I get to an offset. All I am saying is that I understand where the OP is coming from. And the OP's problem with encountering a plaque when a cache was expected, made me think of puzzle caches, where you know for a fact that the posted coordinates won't get you to a cache or any part of a cache.

Already solved GC119WF, thank you very much (it's in the same park as the other). Welcome to my ignore list, troll.

This is true. It is the offset variation of a multi, not a puzzle. I still have a problem with the logic of it, though. I think of a true multi being an extension of a traditional. Go to the posted coordinates and get coordinates for the next leg (or a portion of the final). I think of puzzle caches to be those where the posted coordinates don't bring you to the cache. Basically, my logic goes like this: If you only have coordinates to the first stage and no other information, can you get to the final? If yes, it's a multi. If no, it's a puzzle. But, this is not the Groundspeak logic. Good thing I have all my area caches in my PDA. If I was simply storing waypoints in my GPSr, I'd be out of luck on a lot of multi-s.

GC11N9K is an example of a multi that I think should be considered a puzzle. The posted coordinates bring you to a plaque, to which you so some simple math to get the final. I guess these kinds are in a bit of a grey zone. I'd lean towards puzzle.

I think I agree that it is a puzzle, but would have to see the GC# as an example...

I fine the EC a great tool. I usually turn it on once I leave the trail, and leave it on until I get to GZ. In many cases, when say about 200 feet from the cache, you simply can't walk 20 feet in a straight line to get a non-EC GPSr to point to the general direction of the cache. Also makes trying to triangulate the cache much easier. I can eyeball a spot about 200 feet from the cache and just stand there, and get a bearing to the cache (making a mental note of what I see on the bearing). Then I can pick a different spot about 200 feet from the cache and get a new bearing. More often than not, the triangulation works and makes short work of the cache.