S Keillan

That's 6 May for the benefit of this thread.

Yeah, Team Shydog did sneak those two in. They were in the 350's when other caches in the series were close to 400. Hopefully I'll get around to adding Tippecanoe County to that list soon.

Is this going to be an event cache or an informal gathering? Just curious.

I would add that if a cache is cleverly hidden, it's no real change. A perfect example would be Shelter II, which is internationally renown. No increased accuracy will improve locating that bane of many cache hunters.

One cemetery cache that was mentioned earlier in this thread was Indiana Spirit Quest #400: Fallen Hero by SixDogTeam, the founder of the ISQ series. I've taken on the task of creating bookmark lists of the over 400 caches of the series. Most of the time, it's been just a matter of seeing the listing show up and adding the bookmark. However, this particular cache drove home the point of the ISQ series. Indeed, so moved was I by this particular cache that I made it my 500th find. Feel free to read my rather longish log entry for my visit. I suppose that ultimately there are three kinds of cemetery caches. First, there are those that are disrespectful. However, I have confidence in our community to weed those out. I for one would comment on a cache of this category, but I've never had the opportunity. Second, there are those that take the extra effort to honour the departed in some way, either in the cache or cache listing. I doubt that only people who find any activity in a cemetery would object to these listings. However, the general issue will be brought up with my next point. Finally, there are those caches that are neutral to the grounds; just a decent place to put a cache. I suppose that here is where the debate lies. I would guess that the nature of such caches are in the eye of the cacher. Some will take the time and effort on themselves to pay tribute in some way to the denizens of the cemetery. Others will think nothing of the grounds and simply be there to find yet another cache, which I think is the crux of this thread. Do we feel that they should have the priviledge of cache hunting there? I suppose that would be the same question posed to others who use the grounds for other purposes. Until I married about two years ago, I lived in an apartment complex across the road from a well-maintained modern cemetery. There are a lot of paved tracks in that place, and I would use them to ride my bicycle to and from work. (The main road was lacking in shoulder space, so this was the safer option.) Should I be criticised for that? Frankly, people are entitled to their opinion, just as I am entitled to mine. Ultimately, it boils down to whether or not we want to legislate a particular opinion. The default position is that geocaching in cemeteries is fine and legal with all else being equal. If you disagree, then you can either work for legislation to the opposite (as they are doing in South Carolina) or do nothing except hold onto some offence. When one looks at it, eventually everyone will be offended by something. How far we wish to deal with this will be determined by how far we choose to impose this on others. Just my 47 cents.

APE Cache Run Update Team Shydog has presented a tentative list of caches planned for the APE Cache Run of 7 January. I have them listed in a GEOCACHING bookmark which can be reached from the link below. APE Cache Run List While not on Shydog's list, I've included a quartet of puzzle caches along that path that I would be interested in checking out. If there are any adventurous cachers interested in checking them out, let me know. One of them involves gathering information from a point near Marion, INDIANA.

Welcome to the 500 club. And keep those puzzle caches coming.

Maybe I should show up in my Superman T-shirt just to complete the picture.

Well, I wonder how everyone will be celebrating tomorrow's non-denominational, non-supernatural holiday. I refer everyone to Festivus, a holiday for the rest of us! (There's an event in Kansas commemorating it. I think next year INDIANA should consider one.) Anyway, I'm to the wilds of southwestern Virginia to visit family for some other holiday that they tend to give too much credence to. I, of course, plan to go GEOCACHING while I'm down there. What amazes me is that two years ago, there was hardly anything in the area, at least around the Tri-Cities of Tennessee. Now it's super-cache-dense. Do I smell double-digit cache days ahead? Anyway, Happy Festivus to all! [edit for stupid spelling error]

Yeah, I've heard of Michigan's inane policy. Not exactly knowing my history, but I presume that it is similar to what was going on in Minnesota a couple of years back and what is happening in Parks Canada. Honestly, I think that the permit policy is a reasonable compromise. Both sides want to preserve the integrity of what is of interest to them; for the DMR, the landscape and natural environment, and for geocachers, good PR and a place to play. The only complaint that I would have is the inconsistancy between differing DMR properties. Of course, I have to keep in mind that park rangers are human beings, and we all haven't agreed on anything ever! It would be nice if the more closed-minded parks were more like Pokagon. (That and the entrance fees reduced as well!)

In regard to the physical cache checks, in the words of Wayne Campbell... "Wow. I did not know that!" It's true that different parks have differing rules, along with varying degrees of difficulty of going through the permit process, such as Difficulty 1 for Pokagon S.P. and Difficulty 5 for Charlestown S.P. (Hey, perhaps that could be included in the cache ratings! )

Agreed. Up in the wilds of Tippecanoe County is our state's new park, Prophetstown S.P. Even though I'm not far from it, I've been there exactly twice, both times to visit RPW caches that he had to jump hoops to place. Paying the $4 each time was a pain on my ever-thinning wallet. Given the hassle that the DMR is requiring to maintain a cache in a state park (does it really need to be checked every month?), I'm not anxious to either place or hunt for caches in them, unless there's an added factor (either a cache of historic nature or I'm with someone with a permit).

This has been discussed in the main Indiana thread, but I'll summerise the main points. The park management decided to start requiring permits for geocaches in the park. Mountain Climber, one of our local admins, archived the caches in the park, saying that either the caches need to be removed or a permit needs to be filed in order to unarchive a cache. MC's just doing what is needed to maintain good relationships with park officials. Hope that helps.

Just to add to SixDogTeam's contribution, CINCO is getting together a cache run to the Project APE cache in Illinois on 7 January. We'll be starting out in Lafayette and carpooling, hitting the APE cache and some others on the way back. It's not an official geocaching event, but you might still be interested.

Since I was the one who spill the beans on this, I suppose that I'll have to offer the services of my auto as well. I should be able to carry three others (maybe four) as I doubt that my lovely wife will want to put up with an all-day geocaching adventure. Sort of as a passing thought, I wonder if renting a large passenger van might not be too bad of an idea. I would rule it out as it would probably be rather expensive, and it still might not be large enough. Still, I thought that I'd toss about the idea. Another passing thought would be to have radios for vehicle-to-vehicle communications. This I think would be a good idea since I already have one. I'm guessing that there should be at least one per auto.

Aw, shucks! Thanks to everyone for the accolades.

I'm not sure if there's a group specific to Indianapolis in operation, but the city does fall under the IndiGO banner. Perhaps there'll be a local chapter in operation within the next few weeks. (I myself wouldn't mind being involved in a local group there.)

Thanks, SixDogTeam, for the accolades. And again thanks for the most appropriate cache to hit this milestone on.

How about "No Muggles Here". Sounds like it could be fun. I might be interested in coming if we can get a carpool up and going.

Indeed. As far as I can tell, there's an event in Indiana for every weekend. Besides the APE run and the TrailMix, there's an event up in South Bend that I'm planning to attend on the 21st. Then there's the CINCO Poker Run on the 28th, which a few IndiGO members are planning on attending. As if that's not enough, there's InKy's event on 11 February. That leaves the weekend of 4 February open. That would be a great time for IndiGO to have an event, or perhaps someone else. Or perhaps we would need a break from each other.

Nothing has been planned for April in terms of CINCO. Perhaps we could have a CITO event somewhere then, in conjunction with the national CITO day. If anyone knows of a place in need of clean up, let us know. And to SixDogTeam, perhaps Patrick can be of use then. If he can sniff out Tupperware, he surely would be able to sniff out discarded beer cans!

Está tan.

Does this mean the issue of secession has been revived, and the "south has risen again"? Of course there's secession, but it is we in CINCO that have seceded. Indeed, perhaps we should announce our actual name: La República de las Cinco Ciudades de Indiana Central.

OK, here goes: I AM A MEMBER OF CINCO! Yea, me! Does this mean I can come in the steakhouse and eat BBQ PORK? We might be able to get you in if you have some grandious title that requires your presence at any event.

Speaking for CINCO, anybody who wants to be a member may simply be a member just by saying so. Furthermore, anyone who would like an official CINCO office may have one by simply requesting one, and this is only to add the office to our official list. Attendence is voluntary, but the benefits of membership are best realised through showing up.