OmegaLimit

I am partial to the "US Completed Counties Map" on "It's not about the numbers." I use it as a background on my computers. By the way, I am proud of my 3.070 find per county average.

If everyone followed that approach, then a cache with a 4-star difficulty rating wound never get a DNF, since you can never be sure that a cache that well hidden is really missing. This really depends on the cache. I haven't seen all of the possible tricks to hide caches, but when I've run out of the tricks on my list and have searched throughly, I log a DNF. If I am still searching and something interrupts me, then I have no basis for a belief (which is different than certainty) that the cache is missing. I don't want to clutter the log page with that information. A high difficulty cache does not need a lot of DNF's to communicate that it is hard to find. I'll post a DNS (Did Not Search) as a Note, which covers situations like the one with too many muggles. But if I spent time really searching, then I'll log either a DNF or a Found It. I assume you only log a "Found It" if you've actually found it. [] Have you considered that those who use such searches are trying to filter out caches like the one you couldn't find, and might appreciate a DNF log so their search works the way they intended? I am assuming that a person would only filter out caches with recent DNF's to get rid of the ones that are likely to be missing. I don't want a lack of full effort on my part influence their searching. They may be more experienced or just have better luck. To me, a DNF really needs to communicate to the cache owner and other seekers "there may be something wrong here."

I suppose I will add a desenting opinion, even if it is for the off topic discussion. I tend to limit my DNF's to one per cache. I am also stingy with my DNF's. I only log a DNF if I've put enough effort into the cache to believe that it is missing. Otherwise, I just log a note saying I visited and was too stupid, or there where too many muggles to find the cache. I do it this way to try to prevent a cache from being filtered out from searches eliminating DNF's. On the original topic I agree with everyone else, make a new log reporting your find.

My geocaching name is a term from the area of mathematics in which I did my Ph. D. You can read more details at Wikipedia.

My geocaching name is a term from the area of mathematics in which I did my Ph. D. You can read more details at Wikipedia.

My geocaching name is a term from the area of mathematics in which I did my Ph. D. You can read more details at Wikipedia.

I think it is a bit dangerous to think of geocaching as a sport. In my mind, one of the key aspects of a sport is that all participants agree to compete according to the same rules. However, after reading a few forum posts, any geocacher would see that not everybody geocaches the same way. The forums appear to be full of posts of the form “I’m a better geocacher than you.” It is like the people on the highway who think they are driving in a NASCAR event. Those people are (literally) wrecking our commutes. To me, thinking of geocaching as a game is a fine, if you think of it as a game between the hider and the seeker. The hider has challenged all geocachers to find their cache. I am pretty sure that rogheff thinks that way. It’s fun to be able to get in the heads of prolific hiders in your area. Perhaps the most positive way to think of geocaching is as an opportunity. I’ve seen and learned quite a bit while geocaching. For me, the exploration around geocaches is a positive experience, the occasional animal carcass aside. Also, going off the highway to get a cache is a better vacation side trip than a very large ball of string. BTW: A noncompetitive sport is called “transportation” or “exercise.” I suppose “very sweaty, sometimes brief vacation” could also apply.

I have a problem with step 3 in your algorithm. You are assuming that you can get to the base of the object that you are measuring. I've been planning an EarthCache where you measure the elevation of a radio tower on the top of a hill from the bottom of the hill. You could never legally hike to the top of the tower to get a GPS reading of the elevation, but you can measure it from a nearby parking lot using a similar procedure to yours. Then, one only has to take two measuremets and solve an ASA triangle. I would explain every step. But then again, when ever I hand out a math test, I always say, "I didn't intend to make this hard."

If I were to change one thing about geocaching, it would be a rule that you could only park your car once during a day while caching. You can walk, run, take a bus, ride a bike or horse all you want, but only drive to a site, and away from a site. I hope that this would have the benefit of promoting the health aspects of the hobby, would cut down on the "microclutter," and make finding twenty caches in a day a real accomplishment. To further encourage the use of non-motorized transportation, you can allow cachers to post the routes they took to the cache. These would be available to other cachers after they found the cache, to eliminate spoilers. We can check that a cacher never exceeded 60 mph or so. Also, uploading routes from GPSr's can help cut down on arm chair caching. If two cachers took exactly the same routes to a cache, that would be evidence that one copied the route in a computer file from another. If I were allowed a second change, it would be the elimination of the “log cabin” cache. I am more interested in the find than the swag. That means I like a well placed micro better than an ammo box that is buried under a conspicuous pile of sticks.

I have a hard time getting my wife out. She complains when I go caching near her parents. Somehow, I should be spending more time with my in-laws.

In this part of Kentucky, most of the hides are park and grabs. They are placed by one person. Every find I get I imagine him driving his Jeep to a parking lot, tossing the cache out the window, and driving off. Be thankful for a good walk every now and then. By the way, I took my two childern on a 1.2 mi multicache this past summer. They were 2 and 4 at the time. Both enjoyed the trip, and my oldest was the one to find the cache. If I could only get my wife to walk that far .