PathfinderMark
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Posts posted by PathfinderMark
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Since there is no attribute to discover these …
what are gadget caches in RI, CT, and MA that you would recommend?
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On 7/10/2022 at 8:16 AM, JL_HSTRE said:
I've seen a few of those too. It made a lot of sense when those fizzy challenges originally came out in the 2007-2010 time period. Thus was before Project GC or the API (GSAK did exist though). Challenge caches of any kind were also far less common then.
I agree 10-15 years later such a restriction is an annoyance. I'm not sure what a Fizzy Difficulty typically was in 2007, but with that restriction it's effectively a D5.
Not just the bookkeeping, but the rarity of some combos. In the USA, there are only 39 active caches rated 5/1 and published before July 1, 2007. That's approaching Jasmer difficulty. I wonder how many really should be D5?
Other rare combos before that date:
4.5/3.5 - 40
5.0/4.5 - 31
5.0/3.5 - 25
Those combos are getting truly rare. I may never find those…
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On 7/14/2022 at 12:46 AM, niraD said:
Gag. I like real grids….finally have one loop after 12 years of caching.
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On 7/13/2022 at 5:22 PM, Hügh said:
Out of curiosity, I did some digging. Here is a table showing the number of active (as of now) caches, placed before 2007-04-06, for each D/T rating combination.
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 1 8381 4920 2224 971 985 500 320 156 214 1.5 3019 12162 5575 2681 1843 849 439 178 208 2 2078 4888 9293 5137 5343 2363 1534 355 440 2.5 758 1940 1859 2635 1799 1070 575 152 162 3 701 1348 1507 1042 2198 1165 844 279 226 3.5 235 435 471 368 402 528 369 154 92 4 225 398 390 239 318 205 501 181 100 4.5 74 102 95 59 82 64 59 162 74 5 59 98 96 60 61 31 51 37 284
In addition, the (current) "oldest possible" D/T grid can be completed using only caches placed before April 10th, 2002; GC4B8A "Spy Ring" placed April 9th, 2002 is the oldest active cache rated 4.5/2.5. All other squares can be filled using older caches.
Anyone up for the challenge?
That is impressive statistics. I still argue that as dates get further and further away from current time it becomes harder….much harder than when published IMHO. I saw one fizzy that says “four years prior to the current year on such and such date. That seemed equitable IMHO.
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I know that Adventure Labs are supposed to be free and thus many (fee) museums and the like are not allowed. However, National Parks seem like they COULD be either a “gray area” or exception since there is a Golden Eagle (retired folk, lifetime) and annual pass option thus making individual visits “free.” Any wisdom you can share? I have two credits and am eying nearby fee National Parks.
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Hey Michaelcycle,
Note I said consider -- as suggested by another blogger. Truth be told, consider is about as far as it gets....
What tools have you found easiest to search for caches published before a certain date?
Thanks for the two fizzy #s "close by" that I do qualify for
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Yeah, its kinda depressing. I spent years attempting to get my Fizzy filled so that I could be eligible. But I guess I never checked the nuance rules. I started geocaching in 2007, but really began serious caching in 2010, but only last year finished the frizzy (4.5/3, 4.5/3.5, 5/1 were my last ones). Now I have it but "legally" don't have any fizzy challenges I'm eligible for.
Of my 12000+ finds, only about 6100 were published before July 2, 2007, and of the missing boxes, no remaining find are available within 1,000 miles (1800 km). Guess I'll have to consider logging them and posting the grid image from my profile instead of the project-gc checker (since that one doesn't clear me). I wish there was a better solution (that COs updated stuff as time changed for example)
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According to Geocaching.com I have filled my Fizzy Grid (finally). HOWEVER, I am finding that most of the Fizzy Challenges, at least in my area (I live in Maryland), have cut off dates. That is, caches created after the publication date of the cache (2007 for example in Kentucky), are not counted in the grid. 2007 is a LONG time ago.
Any idea WHY Fizzy challenges have that rule and WHY that rule is "allowed" by HQ? Its been a LONG time since 2007/2013, 2015 (whatever date used). Why does it matter when the D/T cache was published?
Thanks for any help you can give.
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On 6/12/2019 at 11:12 AM, Blue Square Thing said:
Adding English doesn't make it any easier for someone who only speaks, say, Spanish.
I am glad that at least my caching app has a "translate" button built right in to change a listing in say Spanish into "google translate" style English. Its usually close enough.
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When I visit https://labs.geocaching.com/ the list of "upcoming" locations for lab caches ends in June of 2017. Have we stopped Lab caches or do I need to learn where to find the updated list of lab cache event locations?
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Why does it seem that the https://labs.geocaching.com/ page has not been updated in awhile? I would love to know when / where lab caches are being awarded next! Any ideas on where to find a more up to date list?
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4 hours ago, Moun10Bike said:
You do have it - it's just that it's named "The Lost Treasure of Mary Hyde", so it falls in a different spot in the alphabetized list of your souvenirs than the other ones in the series.
How absolutely DUMB. If they aren't going to allow us to sort our souvenirs, couldn't they at least name them in a way so that they "hang together" in our list?? Absurd.
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WHEN and WHERE do I see the week 1 Mary Hyde souvenir? I logged on time, and I even logged my kids accounts on time (grr on the time but anyway)...but I don't see any souvenir on any of our lists. Yes I received an email to confirm that we had achieved the goal.
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WHEN and WHERE do I see the week 1 Mary Hyde souvenir? I logged on time, and I even logged my kids accounts on time (grr on the time but anyway)...but I don't see any souvenir on any of our lists. Yes I received an email to confirm that we had achieved the goal.
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there are not any geocoins left. They were very kind when telling me (nearly a year ago) that they were out of geocoins.
https://www.geocaching.com/play/geotours/captainjohnsmith
It's been 5 years since this started...hard to believe there would be any geocoins left to give.
The Captain John Smith (CJS) Geotrail launched June 4, 2011 with over 40 caches within Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. A trackable geo coin will be awarded to the first 400 geocachers, while supplies last, for locating at least 15 CJS caches.Wonder if it would be worthwhile contacting a CO to find out for sure.
B.
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I totally agree!
Don't get me wrong: this is a cool feature, and it shows an integration of geotours into the system beyond what I knew about. Going to the geotour information page is certainly useful.
But I have to admit, I was disappointed: I was expecting it to turn the search into a search for the geotour. Add a filter, in other words. I want to see which I've found and which I haven't. I want to make sure the search includes the entire geotour rather than being accidentally limited to the area of my current search. I want to be able to click the "map it" button to put the geotour on the normal map. It looks like for now I have to continue doing that the old way by searching on the geotour's prefix string.
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now do the same with geotrails and it's a great thing.
honestly i feel geotrails should get some sort of special icon...or maybe just border around the standard icon....and be nice to have a nice filter for them.
apply this to geotours as well of course (geotours having like a shiny gold border around them maybe signalling them being super special)
then we will have an actual user friendly geotour and geotrail experience once we get out there and need to filter out the rest of the geocaches from the map view of the app.
of course that's my suggestion, but I would love to hear how fellow geocachers feel about my ideas. (for and against)
I keeps track of geotrails (and GeoTours) with GSAK. I have a number of caches that are of special interest to me, including GeoTours and geotrails. I alter the cache name and add special codes before loading up my GPS. That way I have a way of selecting these special interest caches while on the road. However, with some geotrails, I ran into a problem. In a few cases, the geotrail included finding a set of random nearby caches. For example, one geotrail listed around 10 specific caches. But you had to find 15 caches total. The remaining 5 caches were any five caches within 5 miles of the sponsoring town.
The other thing is that Groundspeak has no explicit knowledge of geotrails. They are not involved in the process like they are with GeoTours. It's only through the good graces of Rock Chalk (as a person, and not as a Groundspeak employee) that there is even a list of geotrails in a single location.
As for me, I am against the idea of treating geotrails similar to GeoTours for two reasons. The first reason is because of the problem illustrated above. Geotrails don't necessarily have a specific list of caches. And second, my own experience is that GeoTours are better maintained than geotrails. Now, that is just my experience, I know of others that have the exact opposite opinion.
I don't think they need to be treated the exact same, just i do think they both should be more organized (geotours basically already are). have their own categories to better filter them.....simply put geotrails will now have some actual rules and easy filtering. It's become a part of the game, and they continue to accept them....but I don't see a good reason to not go the extra mile to officially support them. You mentioned geotrails aren't well maintained....well i think any cache is at risk to muggles and poor owner maintenance...however geotrails don't have a guideline for how to set up their cache page either. if Groundspeak made it a sub type of cache or something to officially recognize them, it would also come with some great guidelines to help make them run smoothly. They don't even need any special icons on the map.....just perhaps a filterable header in the title is required that other caches aren't allowed to have. perhaps something along the lines "GCGT" for geocache geotrail. if every geotrail cache name had to start with this, then it would be easy to filter them regardless of what software you like to use.
or even easier.....make it an attribute....and make attributes filterable on the app (and anywhere else still attribute filtering limited.....geotours is an attribute right? why not geotrails? I mean we got attributes for picnic tables....I don't see how anyone can argue that attribute is more important then a geotrail attribute, I see no harm in adding it)
I like the attribute idea, but only if it is searchable/filterable from the app(s).
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I have noticed that some geotours are aging dramatically.
1. Some no longer have coins/prizes available
2. Some have A LOT of archived caches that are still in the download/bookmark lists
3. Some seem to have a MIA "owner"
Is there a way that GC.com could make it easier on themselves (and us as their community) to keep up with JUST the active geotours and listings?
Thanks!
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I have noticed that in MD, where I live, there are several "geotours" (even titled that) but they don't show up on the Geotour part of the Geocaching website.
Is there special paperwork that organizers have to fill out to get that special designation?
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Hi Skye,
I smiled when I read that you'd love to see a column for date in the spreadsheet. That's actually something that IS in the spreadsheet, but was hidden because most folks around the office who viewed the sheet felt that the date wasn't necessary. Personally, I like knowing when a GeoTour or geotrail started because I find that the newer ones are more likely to still have rewards :-)
So, I've unhidden the Date Created column so that everyone can now see it.
I wish there was a field that the Geotour owner could MAKE A NOTICE that was "searchable" that indicated if there WAS a geocoin/treasure/collectible AND if it was still available.
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It works for "real" GPS devices, but much harder on the iphone, UNLESS using an app other the official branded app.
By the way, have you ever used the very special Download this GeoTour feature found at the top of each GeoTour page?
It's essentially a Pocket Query that is available to all geocachers, both Basic and Premium.
The little "pop up tip" explains:
You can download all the caches in this GeoTour and save it directly to your GPS device.Most newer devices allow you to copy the file directly to the internal memory of your
GPS device using a cable provided by the manufacturer. If you are having trouble consult
the manual for your device or seek assistance from the community discussion forum.
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Number of EarthCaches published per year:
I find it interesting that the number of new ECs have been steadily decreasing since 2010. Why would that be? It is definitely not following the trend of the other cache types. Are we reaching saturation in Europe and the U.S.A., or is it more difficult to get a new EC published now?
I believe both are factors...not to mention certain very common types (historically) of earthcaches are not approved (artesian wells, erratics to name just a few).
I am fine with the lower number personally.
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And Oxsling is a really nice gentleman too
He has completed quite a number of my ECs. I haven't heard of anyone anywhere close to his finds numbers. Maybe in Germany? ECs sprout out of every park and peak there it seems. -
My guess is those "Techy" Earthcaches don't have many logged finds. That is pretty intense, and that's from a guy who has written and had published 100+ earthcaches. I don't think ANY require that level of techy. I guess one of the reasons is that many people now use the app and that doesn't have those features, though other small and usually free apps do. I too agree that often leans towards techy and forgets geology in the process.
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Wheel of Challenge “leaderboard”
in Official Geocaching® apps
Posted
And why it’s not on the app?