DARKSIDEDAN

The 22nd May 2022 was Thank a Volunteer Day! Whether you found a new geocache today, found one on a faraway vacation, hidden a geocache, used Geocaching.com or the Geocaching® mobile app in a language other than English, or used our forums, you have a geocaching community volunteer to thank! A Huge Thank You from Darksidedan

What is the highest distance traveled on a TB that you own? Is it still traveling? I have never personally released a TB but I am curious as to how far the travel and how long do they last?

What largest &/or weirdest TBs have you come across? For me it was a super sized 40cm tall Green T-Rex. The last time I saw that TB it was tied to the bonnet of a car like a dead deer as Aussie Ben drove out of Alice Springs

How many TBs have you directly received from HQ trackable giveaway promotions over the years? This includes Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Geico Gecko, Michelin Man, NCEES surveying, Jeep, Magic the Gathering, Treasure X, Halo Top, Kamp Koral, World of Warcraft, Wild Basin, Math Love, Discover the Forest, Smokey the Bear, Tin Cup, Dream Big, Urban Adventures, DuckTales, Element14, Airstream, Ecokeepers, Generation Nature, Kennedy Space Center, Minelab, John Grisham, Mountain Warehouse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hurtigruten, etc. This is obviously assuming you requested them.

I am yet to see any of them in the ACT

Contact the new player and explain that a mistake has been made. Give them understanding and Instruction on how to play the game. Tell them how to fix the mistake. If that fails, then delete the logs.

FPs are a record of the caches I have most enjoyed and a thank you to the CO. When a cache is archived those things do not change, so I don't remove them.

‘"As it is known, it is not possible to publish a WebCam Cache today. We think this is unfair for players in regions where the WebCam Cache type is absent or outnumbered. We believe that this gap can be closed by starting a Reward event for this Geocache type as well. Our expectation from Geocaching HQ is to start a WebCam Rewards event.’’ As you can see from the attached picture, WebCam Caches are only available in certain countries/regions. It does not exist in some regions or even some continents at all. If you agree with us on this you can support us by sharing it with your Geocaching friends. You can also contribute to starting this event by sending a message to GeocachHQ

Thanks for clearing that up Max and 99

There was limited Social Distancing at during the Mega event in Wangaratta, loads of people without masks and even Anti Vacs people in attendance. However the organizers did try to limit the potential for exposure as best as they could. For that I say Well Done.

magpies22, If you have any more questions I am more than happy to help. You can send me a private message by clicking on my Profile Icon in this chat. Feel free to message me anytime. Dan

With luck we will start to see more Souvenirs for more places from now on. I am happy to get this one finally.

The wait is over

Im in Australia

I found this story on the Arizona Highway Website and though that I would share it. I dont Know about you guys but I would not be paying for a permit to place geocaches. Geocaching brings in a lot of money to local areas that they would not normally get. Seems a little greedy to charge for a permit. Geocaching, a game in which people use GPS devices to find hidden "caches," is now legal in Arizona thanks to a move by Governor Doug Ducey. Ducey's executive action recognizes the activity and makes it legal, but with certain restrictions. Previously, the caches had been deemed "litter" and the practice was banned in Arizona. Geocachers place objects in small containers, mark their GPS coordinates and leave them for others to find. Under the new rules, geocachers will need a $15 recreational permit, good for one year, and must not leave caches bigger than a shoebox or leave anything hazardous in them. The state also disclaims responsibility or liability for the caches and can remove them at any time without warning. And participants can't alter the natural landscape when leaving or retrieving caches. Here is an external link to the a Phoenix New Times News Story dated 8th Feb 2016 that started it all. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey Permits Geocaching Game on State Land | Phoenix New Times (Note: Credits for story to Ray Stern, Phoenix New Times. Links in this Topic are to external websites not associated with Geocaching.com)

Excellent tip

When It Comes To Filling Your D/T Grid, What's The Hardest Combo for You to Find? For me it is the following four Combos: D5/T1, D4.5/T3.5, D4.5 /T5, D3/T5. I cant seem to fill my grid with them.

11 Steps to Owning Your Own Geocache By Angelika Lyko 26.03.2015 Geocaching is the world’s largest treasure hunt which involves ‘players’ hunting caches hidden in a variety of places. This guide will show you how you can make and hide your own geocache. Geocaching is suitable for all ages and can be educational as well as a lot of fun. With different levels of difficulty, you can start off at a beginner level and work your way up to more challenging caches. As well as finding caches, geocachers hide their own caches for others to find. Here is a step by step guide on making a geocache. 1. Try Finding Geocaches First If you haven’t already, then make an account and give geocaching a go before you jump straight in and make your own. Spend a bit of time on this looking for several different types of caches. This will give you an idea of what works best, what you enjoyed the most and what you didn’t like about all the caches you found. It will also give you inspiration for locations, size of containers and what you could do differently. 2. Read the Guidelines Make sure you have read and fully understood the guidelines of the website you plan to list your cache on. geocaching.com has a short quiz to see if you are ready to make and post your own geocache. You must make sure your cache is in compliance with the website. 3. Decide on a Location for Your Cache One of the most important parts of designing your cache is where to hide it. The location should be somewhere where people would enjoy spending the day looking for your cache, near something historic for example. Try not to choose somewhere near too much traffic, you don’t want non geocachers to stumble across your cache by accident. Make sure the cache is well hidden and this shouldn’t be a problem. 4. Double Check the Location Your cache should not be near any other current geocaches as this could cause confusion with the co-ordinates. Caches need to be at least 528ft away from any other geocaches. Some parks require permits and others do not allow geocaching so make sure you have either obtained the correct permit or checked with park management that geocaching is allowed. If you plan on hiding your cache on private property then you must make sure you have permission from the land owner before you place your cache. Do not hide caches near airports, train stations or other places that might be deemed as terrorist targets. 5. Choose Your Container Military ammo boxes are a popular container, but you could use almost any type of container as long as it is waterproof, airtight and durable. The size of your container will depend on how easy or hard you want your geocache to be to find. A large container in a great location however could still be pretty tricky to find if you hide it well! The type of container you choose will also depend on what you wish to put in your cache. Some caches are extremely small and difficult to find, but this also means that they can’t hold any items to swap or track as they are too small. 6. Make Your Cache! For this you will need: - Log book – this can be a small notebook or a roll of paper depending on the size of your cache. - Small swappable items (optional)– these are commonly small trinkets or toys. - Pencil/Pen Place the logbook, and the geocaching note in a zip-lock bag. The rest of the items can be placed in the cache. Labeling the cache is optional but a sensible thing to do is to avoid any issues if any non geocachers come across your cache. 7. Camouflage Your Cache Camouflaging your cache is optional but highly recommended. This will be dependent on what type of container you chose and the location of your cache. Painting it in colors that will blend in to the surrounding area or gluing bark or leaves to the container can help conceal your cache. 8. Hide Your Cache Use your imagination to make the cache hard to find, it’s not as fun when it’s too easy! Always be aware of the impact on the environment. For example, don’t hide your cache on a steep hillside where constant searches would damage and contribute to erosion. Choose a spot where fellow geocachers can search for it without being seen by too many passersby, you don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to the spot. 9. Find and Note Down the Co-ordinates For others to find your cache they will need the co- ordinates. Make sure you have good signal then wait for a couple of minutes before marking the co-ordinates. 10. List your cache The last step is posting it so that other geocachers can obtain the co-ordinates to find your cache. 11. Maintain Your Cache Your cache will be reviewed and you may need to move it if it’s too close another cache. Being the owner of the cache also means you’re responsible for maintaining it including replacing logbooks or repairing the cache should any damage occur.

If i find any locations I would love to have a SideTracked Cache or two

I found this old article from 2012 on the Chattanoogan.com News Website. Thought it was a great idea to run Geocaching courses at TAFE. I wish they did this in Australia. I would 100% sign up to do the course. Note: All credit to Chattanoogan.com for the story and photos Cleveland State Offers Geocaching Course Tuesday, January 10, 2012 Shown, from left to right, are students in Mr. Cameron’s fall 2011 Geocaching course, Christina Gatlin, Natalie McConnell, Phillip Howell, Lyndsey Tinsley, Lauren Davis, and Robert Sandlin during a nighttime cache to “The Dark Place” in Reliance. When Chad Cameron’s dad first showed him a GPS unit a few years ago, he had no idea that five or six years later, he’d be putting it to good use teaching a Geocaching course for Cleveland State Community College. Geocaching is a high tech scavenger hunt that requires a handheld GPS unit to find objects hidden in an outdoor environment. For the traditional geocache, a person will place a waterproof container containing a log book (with pen or pencil) and trade items then record the caches’s coordinates. Typical cache “treasures” are not high in monetary value but may hold personal value to the finder. Common cache contents are unusual coins, small toys, buttons, CDs, or books. Mr. Cameron said, “It is kind of funny. I always ask the students on the first day of class their knowledge of geocaching. Most of the time, there are several who have no idea what geocaching is really about. They just read the description and think it sounds like fun, and sign up. Many of those end up really liking it and will continue doing it even after the class is over.” Before he taught the geocaching course, Mr. Cameron taught a camping course at CSCC. “I took my camping class to Cloudland Canyon in Trenton, Ga., and there are some caches hidden there. I got my GPS out and started finding them. I noticed that some of the students were interested in it, so I researched on the Internet to see if any other colleges in the area were offering geocaching classes. There weren’t any in the area, so I approached Nancy LaBine (Dean of Health, Wellness, and Nursing) about the idea and she liked the idea, and now, this will be my 7th semester teaching the class.” Mr. Cameron said he considers this class a P.E. class because it is a lot like a hiking class in that it is very active, and a lot of them are on hiking trails. “You walk by geocaches every day, and you don’t even know it.” Mr. Cameron said the class usually spends the first five or six weeks in the classroom learning the “in’s and out’s” of geocaching—basically how to log caches and how to use a GPS. The rest of their time is spent off campus. They meet at Fletcher Park, Tinsley Park, and around Halloween, they went to a place simply known as “The Dark Place,” their only nighttime cache. “Very few caches have a good story behind them,” said Mr. Cameron. “You definitely get a good story with this one; it is a puzzle cash and you have to find it at night.” According to www.geocaching.com, the story of The Dark Place dates back to 1898 when seven-year-old Mary Toutson was playing near a river bank in the Reliance area when her brother Joshua heard his sister scream. He saw what he described as a large man with long stringy hair dressed in torn clothing grab his sister and run off into the woods. A massive man hunt followed, but Mary was never found. To this day, it remains a mystery, as does the location of The Dark Place.

Thanks Goldenwattle, I love the idea of the SideTracked caches. It brings a new element into the game.

It could be lost to progress (Archived) if the Canberra Nature Park Management Plan comes into effect.

This is great news. I asked in the forum and on FB about 4 years ago how the ACT could get a MEGA. Well now it's coming.

I did my AL stages in order and got very poor reviews. People lost the point of why they were in order and just focused on the fact that they couldn't do them out of order. Makes me want to scrap the idea and start again.

I have Excellent News. In March of 2024 Canberra, Australia will be hosting a MEGA Event. See the Link Below: Note: Link below is to an external site not associated with Geocaching.com and contains an Informational Video about the upcoming event. https://www.bing.com/search?q=oz+mega+announcement&form=ANNH01&refig=62b9ff73d4b74a36b5b96bb69b492358&shtp=GetUrl&shid=3f57b077-3469-4323-b156-f758d8e5c167&shtk=T3ogTWVnYSBFdmVudCBBbm5vdW5jZW1lbnQgLSBzaG9ydCBjbGlw&shdk=VGhlIE96IE1lZ2EgQ29tbWl0dGVlIGhhdmUgYW4gaW1wb3J0YW50IGFubm91bmNlbWVudCB0byBtYWtlLi4uIFZpZGVvZ3JhcGh5OiBUYW5rZW5naW5lIChUaG9tYXMgU2NodWx6ZSkgRWRpdGluZzogTm9fVG9tb3Jyb3cgKExpbmRhIFBldHJpY2hvcikgTXVzaWM6IE1vbnVtZW50IGJ5IFRyYWNrVHJpYmUgKHNvdXJjZWQgZnJvbSBZb3V0dWJlKQ%3D%3D&shhk=UlyKmXsr8I4T1hcoLFXQyYYv4aiQbC9vAQuWZygBn6Q%3D&shth=OVF.HJDtXyfx%2fMEG6xkp8HyufA