Mule Ears

I've replaced a few cache containers, usually with the owner's prior permission. But I've also replaced a couple in the field without permission. My criterion for doing so was that the cache was in imminent danger of total ruin (e.g., rainy season coming and no other way to fix the leaky cache container). I've also been on the receiving end of a container 'upgrade' that cost me a long hike to undo. Somebody decided my nice metal box sheltered in a rock grotto needed the additional protection of being placed inside a plastic box. The extra container would have trapped moisture and rusted out my box inside of a year. Sigh. If it ain't well and truly broke, don't fix it!

Stats like this will lead you seriously astray if you let 'em. I am a terrible searcher, but I have a low (4.25%) DNF rate. How can that be? Well, I restrict my caching mostly to backcountry caches where the getting-there challenge is very high and the finding-it challenge is very low. When I DNF a cache, it's either because the cache is not there or because the owner seriously understated the finding-it difficulty. Occasionally, on walks or bike rides around town, I'll visit the site of some devious micro and actually stumble upon the thing, but that's about the extent of my dalliance with the sort of cache that generates DNFs. I've seen these DNF threads before, and I'll caution the pro-DNF crowd: Scolding people for their less-than-perfect DNF habits, or drawing conclusions from their stats doesn't accomplish anything, and smells like self-congratulation. Some of us simply dislike tricky hides and try our darndest to avoid them. Some sadistic cache owners know this, and employ a two-pronged strategy: (1) Lowball the difficulty, (2) Moralize about DNFs. Sorry, no sale.

Might have gotten a better reaction if the cache in question had been a hike in the woods rather than the roof of a parking garage. Reminds me of the King of the Hill episode that mentioned Geocaching:

They are cute, but they're practical footwear for certain uses, such as canyoneering and rock scrambling:

Nope. But lilac:

I'd allow the online log of a valid find--even one that resulted in damage to or loss of my cache--to stand. Once you start deleting logs as a punitive measure you're already a long ways down a bad road. (I would also re-engineer my cache to be less susceptible to damage/loss. Usually just moving it farther from pavement does the trick.)

When you log online without having signed the physical cache log, your online log exists in a limbo of uncertainty until the cache owner decides whether or not to allow it to stand. This phenomenon is the subject of the famous thought experiment known as "Schrödinger's Cache."

I like these promotions. Maybe it's a failure of imagination on my part, but I don't see the occasional release of product-themed TBs into the caching world as being the same thing as hearing the Evercleanse commercial 623 times a day ("...trapped to the colon wall like spackle or paste!"). The problem, if there is one, is self-limiting, as the number of niche promotions that would conceivably work with a TB tie-in is very small. In the case of the Jeep TBs, I recall folks outside the US were indignant that they weren't getting those commercial TBs.

Yoga class or tape? I've been really curious about it myself, and could use the extra flexibility.

I didn't mean to be disheartening. And don't stop exercising; that will make your AT worse in the long run. Tendons heal in a dual-channel process of repair and remodeling. If you cut out activity, they'll remodel themselves shorter and tighter than before. Then, when you resume activity, you'll be more vulnerable to injury. Try the stuff on my list and anything else that seems sensible. Be patient. And realize that unless you suddenly take up pro basketball, parkour or Olympic broadjumping you're probably in no danger of doing any real injury to your tendons. Ask your doc--unless he's an orthopedic surgeon looking for a last big score before private medicine is outlawed, he'll counsel patience. I see my list as being mostly good news. Since almost nothing works, you can save a lot of money on useless gadgets and therapy. If you have to buy something, get some cheap 'night splint' gadgets. Stretching your calves while you sleep will make a big difference. Edit to add: +1 on the cycling!

I've had plantar fasciitis and achilles tendinitis (which most docs now call '-osis'). What I found is that most remedies for these problems do not work, and that if you're middle-aged you're in for about a year of recovery. Efforts to accelerate the process only delay it. The good news is that for the most part benign neglect works fine. That is, every day that goes by that you don't make the condition worse, it's getting incrementally better. Things that didn't work for me were structured insoles, shoes and boots, stretching regimens/calf exercises, and anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., Ibuprofen). What did help was: walking barefoot on sand (for PF) stretching my feet upward, toes-toward-shins before getting out of bed substituting some cycling/elliptical exercise for running/jumping gradual conversion from heeled boots to flat sandals during bad spells, sleeping with my feet trussed "Strassborg Sock" style "Stretching" appears on both lists for a reason: It's helpful as temporary relief, but not as any sort of therapy for tight calves. Calf muscles are too strong, dense and tenacious to respond well to stretching. Lengthening the muscle against resistance for a solid minute does not begin to overcome its endurance. But flexing your feet/toes upward (toward shins) a few times before getting out of bed will really help with the pain and stiffness. Good for morale, which is 90% of the battle with this stuff. Disclaimer: Your situation may be entirely different than mine. I'm a fitness fanatic about to turn 50. I haven't been kind to my joints and connective tissue, and I'm paying the price. What worked for me may not work for folks who acquired their aching feet by different means...

Excellent. Good work!

Ayn Rand? Is that you? Cool. We have much to discuss. You are entirely right. Even the hair-shirt brigade chooses their positions because they like to itch. What they hate is for us to notice their enjoyment.

Correct, they did not sign the log. They did, without argument from the cache owner, find the cache. Is the game about finding the cache or signing the log? There was argument from the cache owner, that's why he started this thread. He felt that they missed (or avoided) "the whole point of this cache." So in this particular case the game, as designed by the cache owner, is about signing the log. My take on this discussion is that cache owners have free will and a delete button.

Just checked the cache page, and there's no log matching the OP's description, so the problem's apparently solved. I'd be interested to know who deleted it, the cache owner or the (non) finder. I see this particular cache as analogous to a multi. Finding the container is stage 1; getting inside is the final. The cache description makes the nature of the cache clear as day. I wouldn't accept a found log for a multi based on finding only the first stage, so I'd also disallow a find here. Since the (non) finder in question was a newbie, I'd drop an email first explaining that it's customary to sign the log in order to claim a find unless the cache owner allows otherwise.

Wonderful. They're nudists, and I'm the one who's weird. Story of my life.

I do some barefoot hiking/running, but the terrain here in southern AZ calls for some level of protection for even the toughest feet. If the Tarahumara wear sandals sometimes, I guess there's no disgrace in it. There's pretty much no hike or climb I can't do in minimal sandals, though I do like the Vibram Five Fingers for rock scrambling. The Hiking and Backpacking thread "Hiking in the Heat" evolved into a discussion of hiking in sandals, Vibrams and bare feet. You might want to check it out.

Even if the most dire predictions come true (i.e., the device becomes popular and hoards of newbies wreak havoc on the class of caches selected for inclusion in its database) there is a possible upside: A renaissance of physically, mentally and navigationally challenging caches. Long hikes, steep climbs and puzzles of any kind will likely be filtered out of the device's database. Those that slip through will not be reached by Geomate Junior users without reference to the cache page, topo maps, etc. If the Geomate Junior hoard turns out to be the plague of locusts that some fear they could be, they'll inflict the most damage on the lowest-hanging fruit. This could be the end of the parking-lot cache as we know it. If so, I will not waste a single tear. And the fact that these locust-cachers can't place caches? That's not a bug, it's a feature! Finally, how much worse can these unwashed, uninitiated users be than some of the knotheads we have now? How much forum time has been spent discussing all manner of bad behavior, and how many distinguished cachers have defended bad practices as just a different way to cache? I'd argue that someone who's signed up through the web site and been exposed to the guidelines, etiquette and culture of this activity and still does the wrong thing is worse than some random kid shopping with Mom and Dad at REI. So, the silver lining? This could be the cleansing fire that sweeps away the accumulated debris of years of decline. I, for one, welcome the Geomate invasion!

Go with the slicks, it'll make a huge difference. They don't even have to be particularly light. I have two very similar bikes, a Redline D460 (the one in the picture above) and a D440. The '460 is set up for dirt, the '440 for street. The '440 is outfitted with 47mm Michelin City Tires. The 47mm size are actually heavier than knobby offroad tires, but they roll very smoothly and efficiently on pavement. They seem to be impervious to flats, even from those evil goathead thorns.

Tacky, probably. Offensive, nah. It used to bug me a little until I thought about it like this: The cacher who posts 'find xx out of yy for the day' is expressing pride in a successful cache run that took planning, time, patience, endurance, etc. It's not my kind of thing, but as a hiker/biker, I regularly post something to the effect of 'total of xx miles and yyyy feet of elevation gain in z hours.' Tacky, gratuitous chest-thumping. Heck, sometimes I look at those numbers and the swath cut by the hardcore numbers-cachers and think, "that's too much like work!"

My caches tend to involve arduous hikes/climbs. I hide the containers well if I believe there's a possibility of accidental discovery by muggles, but I generally put a spoiler photo on the cache page in those cases. Example (from my "Namesake" cache): Placing the cache required a 17-mile hike with 6000' of elevation change, so I didn't want anyone who made the trip to come up empty-handed.

Not so sure that an owner can't protect the secret of the cache via log deletion. Under Owner Maintenance, the guideline still says: "The responsibility of your listing includes quality control of posts to the cache page. Delete any logs that appear to be bogus, counterfeit, off topic, or not within the stated requirements." A pretty good case could be made that a truthful log on a liar cache amounts to a spoiler. It's probably rarely necessary to actually delete a log to enforce the liar requirement, but it does not seem to fall under the recent ALR guideline change.

Kashi bars, fruit leather, salmon jerky, beef jerky, turkey jerky, summer sausage, mozzarella sticks, salty nuts, bananas... For electrolyte replacement, V8 juice. Don't consider myself a health-food guy--I like a charred steak accompanied by a baked potato (butter and sour cream) and an ice-cold martini--but I found that the Powerbar/Gatorade combo was really poor hiking fuel. Haven't figured out how to conveniently carry the steak/potato/martini combo on day hikes, though.

I do this deliberately. The town I live in, Sierra Vista, Arizona, lies at the foot of the Huachuca (pronounced waa-chew-kuh) Mountains. When caches pop up on the other side of the Huachucas, rather than drive to them, I bike or hike around or over the mountains. A lot more inspiring than the long, dusty drive it would otherwise be, and pretty good cardio to boot. I've also biked to caches near Tombstone and in the Dragoon Mountains for as much as 96 miles of on/offroad mountainbiking in a day. A few examples: Dragoon bike ride Trans-Huachuca hike Round the Huachucas to Parker Lake "Rough Ride" Kind of an open question as to whether it's still "stupidity." But I like it. (edited to fix bad link)

I've been using the "Field Notes" feature, and I prefer it to WAP for logging. When I used the WAP site, I would post a placeholder log like "Found it. Logging mobile. More later." Later, I'd edit that log and flesh it out. Now, I text a field note (which appears on a private list that only I see) and later post a single, final log. One of the nice things about field notes is that in areas with spotty cell reception you can usually squeeze out a text message more easily than you can get 'net access.