BookwormGoesGeo

What if Groundspeak did something similar to "Needs Maintenance" or "Needs Archive," but with warnings? It would appear differently on the cache page (with a little icon next to it instead of as a generic cache note) and would appear as an attribute just like "Needs Maintenance" does. I think a potential visitor would notice an attribute/special symbol more than a generic cache note, especially those who don't want to read the logs because they want the cache to be a complete surprise. They could then read the warning and decide for themselves if it's worth taking into consideration. For example, if someone left a warning note saying the area was covered in garbage, condoms, needles, etc., they could state that on a warning note and I would definitely not go. If someone posted a warning note saying there were a lot of muggles in the area all of the time, I'd still consider the cache. They are both fair warnings, but people can interpret them differently and therefore have different opinions on the cache's value. This way issues can be reported, get noticed, but ultimately get left with the cacher themselves to personally decide what they want to do.

Thanks again everyone for your help. I've gotten permission from a park ranger to place an EarthCache in a wetlands near my home! In my lesson, I talked about how the area was formed geologically and how the soil/water makes certain plants more likely to grow (the water flowed over rocks, which ended up making it more alkaline). I think as a logging task, I'll ask the cacher to take the pH of the water. I'm going to go look at the area again to see what other tasks I can think of. Just as another quick question, how many tasks do you personally include for your EarthCaches? I know it will obviously vary by the area you're placing the cache in, but is two or three an acceptable amount?

I agree that maybe glitter isn't the best option because it'd be impossible to clean up both at the cache site (totally defeating the purpose of CITO, LNT, etc.) and off the person's personal effects. Don't think cleaning it off you/your items is impossible? I once spilled a pinch of glitter on my floor and my cat rolled around in it - go figure. This was well over a year ago. Just a few weeks ago, he came up for some pets and lo and behold - he had glitter on his nose! While this was more of a funny story, it's an annoying mess to clean up and could also be a real pain with expensive caching equipment (think getting glitter out of the battery compartment of your GPS). I don't think you should be discouraged from making a surprise cache, though. While some people might not like them, there are plenty that do. I like the idea of having the cache make noise when it's opened. If you want to stick with some sort of bomb (maybe with different wording!) theme, maybe you could have the cache make an explosion sound when you open it. Or you could make it so something jumps out at the cacher when the cache is opened (see: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/331223751617?lpid=82&chn=ps). Both of these are both safer, more environmentally friendly, and easier to reset for other cachers. I would still use some cheeky wording to make sure they know what they're in for, though. =p

Thank you all so much for your help! I did look at the EarthCache guidelines, Pup_Patrol, but I found them to be a bit confusing because they’re so broad (understandably so). They mention things like glacial valleys, erosion, soils, etc., which could all play a role in the wetlands/swamps I’m working with if I spin my educational record right. I just wanted to make sure the ecology of the sites didn’t outweigh the geology, so to speak. I will be visiting at least a few more EarthCaches within the next week, so I’ll be able to get more data there. Pawn-of-chaos also seems like a great resource – thanks for pointing me in his direction! Thanks for your suggestions as well, Geo Walker! I think focusing on the soil might be an interesting route to take in these wetlands. For example, how did soil that supports two different kinds of forests wind up smack dab in the middle of my state? My guess is glaciers, which would be a way to tie in geology! That would also tie in how the area was made, which is what BlueRajah mentioned. I’m not sure if I will be able to make multiple EarthCaches in the area I’m focusing on, but it is definitely filled with unique features. Thanks for your advice, Touchstone. One more question. Do man-made features count as geology? I see some mines labeled as EarthCaches, so would the first man-made harbor be an acceptable EarthCache? They did alter the geology, so I would be able to discuss what the geology was originally and how/why it was altered to make it a safe harbor. Thanks again!

I am hoping to set up multiple EarthCaches in my home county within the next few months. Compared to the counties around it, which have upwards of ten EarthCaches each, mine shows a real lack of EarthCaches with only two. It's really a shame since I live in an area that had a good deal of glacier activity and is full of unique geological features that could be highlighted. I do have a few questions of what qualifies as an EarthCache, though. For example, would I be able to place multiple EarthCaches at a wetlands, which features such elements as Northern wet forest, Southern dry-mesic forset, Southern sedge meadow, shrub-carr, an open bog, and two seepage lakes? I'm not necessarily implying that every single one of these elements would get their own EarthCache, but I could have one for the forests/meadow, one for the bog, and one for the seepage lakes (for example). There is also a swamp near my home that has an unusual combination of southern and northern wet-mesic forests and a marsh which is the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United States. Do forests, swamps, bogs, and marshes qualify as EarthCaches if there is something unique about them and I explain what processes created them? These are the ones currently on my mind, but what about floodplains, quarries, etc.? I'm just having trouble understanding what exactly is "geological" vs. what's not. Does it depend on the review or is there some comprehensive list of what "counts"? Thank you in advance, BGG

I just recently bought my first travel bugs and will definitely be following all of the suggestions here to make sure they last as long as they can! I do have one other idea, but I'm not sure how good of a longevity strategy it is. What if I included a picture of my small brothers/cousins releasing the bug both on the TB page and with the TB itself (this one would be laminated, of course)? Would this make someone think twice about taking it for themselves if they see a picture of the children they'll be taking it away from? I know a guilt trip is kind of a cheap trick, but I think it would kind of be a cute idea regardless so people could see where the TB started its life. Thoughts?

Hello everyone. I'm just curious if there are any caching organizations, groups, etc. in Sheboygan County, WI? I know that there are great caching communities relatively close (West Bend, Appleton, etc.), but I am looking for something that's not quite so far away as most of nearest events are still over an hour away from me. If anyone could give me any information, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you in advance!

Remember that, especially in a more urban setting, most people won't pay you any mind. They're too busy getting where they need to go, looking at their phones, etc. With that said, though... Many of the previous posters have described my methods for remaining unseen, but two that I haven't seen mentioned here specifically are what I call the drop-and-grab and the clipboard method. The drop and grab is really good for caches that are under benches, along a fence, etc. All you do is place a quarter, key, etc. where you're searching and, if anyone comes over to ask you what you're doing, say you're searching for said object and then grab it and be on your way. The clipboard method is more conspicuous, but most people tend not to bother someone with a clipboard. What story you make up to justify your odd behavior is up to you - I usually say I'm doing a scavenger hunt of some sort and most people will just let you be. I actually have a little sheet up paper with some faked directions on it that I clip to my sheet. It's a little complex, but it works for me and is fun in a sneaky kind of way. I've seen people pair this with bright yellow construction vests to make it even more official. Also, just be aware of things like where you are, what image you're projecting, etc. If you're a man who's wearing sunglasses, has his hood up, and are searching around a playground by yourself, you're going to have the police called a lot faster than if you're wearing a tshirt and are with your children, nephew/niece, friend's kid, etc. Try and make yourself blend in as much as possible and people will be less likely to notice you. Also, when someone passes you, just acknowledge them with a head nod and smile. The more shady you act, the less likely that their eyes are just going to glide over you as they move along with their day.

Personally, I could not live without my PM after having it and it is well worth the $30 a year I pay for it. The bookmark lists and pocket queries are invaluable and save me so much time, especially when I'm traveling and don't want to have to plan a geocaching excursion on the fly when I'm in an unfamiliar area. They allow me to filter by favorite points so I make my short time in the area worth it, picking out and saving the caches I found beforehand using the lists, and then running a pocket query I can load into my GPS in seconds. Even when I'm in my home area, it's nice to be able to decide I want to only find, say, multi-caches with a difficulty of 3 or higher within 10 miles of my home and just be able to throw together a pocket query and get caching. I guess what is so confusing about this conversation to me is a.) many, many companies offer extra benefits for additional money and I'm unsure why Groundspeak is the specific target and b.) you by no means have to continue engaging with Groundspeak at any level. In almost every industry, the price for the product generally goes up as the number of features goes up. For example, when I fly, I fly coach, which is the cheapest and most basic form of flying. If I want additional perks such as more seat/leg room, early boarding, etc., then I pay for first-class, which you could say is the flying "premium." While airplanes were the first thing to come to mind, I can think of plenty of other business that do the same thing - regular tickets v. VIP tickets for a concert, basic cable v. having the movie channels, a regular bath v. a bath with whirlpool jets, 1 GB of data v. unlimited data, and I could go on. Many of these companies don't even offer their basic packages for free, which is something that Groundspeak does offer to users. When I went to WizardCon in Chicago this past August, regular admission was over $100 and VIP experiences ranged anywhere from $300 to $600. Groundspeak, on the other hand, are the top sponsors of the three Mega events I'm attending over the next year that I will be able to go to completely COST-FREE (save transportation) due to their generosity. This doesn't just get me into the event, but actually gets me event-specific swag as well - sometimes even free things like tshirts and geocoins, which are easily $10 each and make up a third of the cost for my PM. Hey - if I attend a fourth event that gives away some swag, Groundspeak will actually be giving me more money than I'm giving them, haha! To have events I can go to for no cost on Groundspeak's dime is amazing to me and I'm very grateful. Groundspeak models itself on what is arguably the most popular business model in the entire world and one that most of us encounter multiple times a day. If this is a business model you disagree with, you are entirely within your right to choose not to give money to Groundspeak or any other business that uses it. However, Groundspeak is also within its right to both model its business as it sees fit and make a profit as at no point do they claim to be a non-profit company. If they choose to make their profits through Premium Membership and an advanced app while another GPS-related activities chooses to make their profits through tshirts and mugs, that's completely fine. We live in a country that gives both the businesses choices on how to make a profit and consumers choices on which company they want to support. I am sorry that you are not currently well-off financially (if I can summarize some of the posts you've made yourself). By all means, if you find that Groundspeak is not a fit for you, enjoy other companies that are more in sync with your principles and price point and give them your business. However, speak negatively of Groundspeak and those who choose to spend money on this hobby seems unwarranted and harsh as we also have the option to support businesses we approve of and spend our money where we see fit the same as you do.

Again why should we have to bribe people to show up? I'll quote myself here: They got absolutely nothing out of it, not even a smiley. That's awesome that you have so many dedicated people in your area! I definitely wish more areas were like that and people didn't need the extra kick in the pants to get to the event (especially during a snowstorm). But since the OP seems to be having some trouble with this approach, I thought that maybe a raffle might help him with his specific situation. Additionally, I personally think it's nice to have a small reward for people who make the time to come out to help the environment and have seen many non-geocaching events like this (e.g. local park clean ups) offer raffle prizes as a sign of appreciation. It could even be something as small as a few lanyards - just something to let the attendees know that you really are thankful that they came and made your event successful. Is this the right method for everyone? Not at all. But it's at least something the OP can consider to see if it's right for him. =)

Well, what I leave behind changes from cache to cache. My favorite thing to leave is a book(wrapped in a thick Ziploc freezer bag, of course) with a customized bookmark. You can get books cheap from thrift stores and Target sells classics in their Dollar Spot - they're not the best quality, but they're probably good for a few reads. If a cache is too small to leave a book, I leave an author magnet with a small laminated card that includes a little bio and a link/QR code leading to public domain audiobooks by the author. If I run out of the more personalized stuff above, I leave behind some paracord trinkets I've made such as zipper pulls (my favorites look like dragonflies), monkey fists, lanyards, etc. I also carry around bags of goodies for when I find a designated kids cache. They include things like novelty sunglasses, gel pens, erasers, stickers, etc. No matter what, I try to vary what's in the cache. If it's full of swag geared towards children, I leave something geared towards adults. If it's full of swag geared towards adults, I leave something geared towards children.

I think an interesting idea would be to give away raffle tickets in accordance to how much trash the individual brought in. It could be by pounds of trash, number of bags, etc. and there could be either a main table or a main person that they report to. In order to get a raffle ticket, they would have to fill at least one bag of trash, which would keep people from just picking up a bottle or two while they wait for prizes to be dealt out. I think it would be good motivation and is pretty fair - the more work you do, the better chance of getting a cool prize!

Just an idea I've seen from some travel bug hotels I've visited, but why not put a lock on it? I've seen ones that look like some type of public works box (e.g. an electrical box, water main, etc.), which is a good way to hide it in plain sight as most people won't question an electrical box with a lock on it. Just include the combination in your cache description for cachers and the travel bug hotel is almost muggle-proof (assuming they don't have some mad lockpicking skills and a nefarious desire to cause blackouts ).

This is what I was thinking. I fully support people who want to challenge themselves in this way, but I think D/T is important because these factors do restrict some people (e.g. the very young, the very old, the handicapped, etc.) Since these people are generally already limited in the number of caches they can search for, having another whole subset of caches they could very well be searching for but can't because there's no D/T rating to guide them does seem a bit unfair. For example, a cache could easily be a 1/1 and they'd never know, which takes away one of the few caches they could find. I really enjoy your idea, though! I like the idea of people being able to customize the game to the exact way they like to play, so this might be a feature Groundspeak can look into. They could have it hidden or encrypted just like hints.

Thank you very much! Everything is working now and my little brother and I are going to find the rest of that multi tomorrow!

I recently purchased a Magellan eXplorist 510 and took it out to do a multi-cache today. I found the first stage and attempted to enter the coordinates into the GPS as a waypoint so I could find the second stage. When I entered the coordinates and hit "Go," however, the GPS put the waypoint in the center of Lake Michigan (I'm going to guess that's not where the next coordinates are hidden). I tried inputting a few more waypoints later in the day and got the same issue. My question is how to enter these coordinates into the GPS correctly. On the geocaching website, I notice that the coordinates are always N XX° XX.XXX W XXX° XX.XXX and on my GPS they are always XX.XXXXX° N XX.XXXXX° W. For example, N 43° 44.007' W 087° 47.579' on geocaching.com vs. 43.44007° N 87.47579° W on my GPS. Am I inputting them wrong? Is there a way to input coordinates other than waypoints? Any help anyone could provide would be incredibly appreciated. Thanks in advance! BGG

I'm relatively new, but here are some goals that I've set for myself. Reach 150 finds total - Find 24 caches in a day - Find ten of the following caches: multi cache, puzzle cache, earth cache - Find five of the following caches: virtual/webcam cache, letterbox hybrid Find at least five caches in these five states - Illinois - Indiana - Michigan - Minnesota Find at least one 5/5 cache

In caches that are big enough, I want to start leaving a book with a custom bookmark that encourages the finder to read it and then pay it forward. The front of the bookmark would have a "Congratulations" and recommendations for where to donate the book after the finder is done with it. The back would have lines for people to sign as they read. I want to be a librarian and work as a literacy tutor, so I think it's very fitting for me. I can often find cheap books at thrift stores, garage sales, etc. (I recently found classics such as Black Beauty and Peter Pan in the Dollar Spot at Target) that I can buy very inexpensively. I'd double wrap them in gallon Ziploc bags to keep them from getting damaged and/or wet. What do you think of this as a signature item?