sataraid1

Safari FTW, yo.

Do you already have some bookmark lists? If so, you've probably got too many. Somewhere around 15 or 20 is the limit, as far as I can tell. I get that error when I have too many lists and try to make a new one. HTH (Can we get that limit raised, BTW?)

Given the amount of raw data this site shovels out every day, it's astonishingly user-friendly.

Go for it. Make a spare, though. Your original is likely to get poked with a lot of sticks.

iPod.

I have a scrap spike taken from Tennessee Pass on my last trip there, less than a year before they closed the line.

Believe it or not, Gander Mountain was selling ammo cans back around Christmas for $5.99 each! They haven't had any since, but if they ever get them back, I'll buy more. The price was a little higher per can, but by not paying shipping, it was cheaper than ordering online.

Are there bugs on your windshield?

At least you can assuage your troubles with onion rings. If only pine thickets offered the same consolation.

Thanks for the input, folks please keep it coming. Since I would be also working in some railifanning along the Rio Grande, I would most likely be in the northern half of the state. I'd love to go back up over Tennessee Pass again, but since the railroad is shut down over the pass, there's not a lot of incentive. (Hmmm, but then again, there is having dinner a the Golden Burro in Leadville to consider ...) If I were to make it into Utah, it would be through Green River, Helper, and on up to Soldier Summit. Tahosa and Sons, you'd be definitely in the right area. And of course, following the railroad would take me right through Frutia. Ideally, some spots in either state with a decent concentration of good caches, and nearby camping would be optimal. If I get to travel at all, the cost of gas will assure my pinching of every penny possible.

I'm sorry, what was the question?

I may get to take my first vacation in several years this year. I'd really like to get out west again and see some familiar sights. Ideally, I'd like to combine some geocaching, some railfanning on the Rio Grande, and maybe even sneak in some horseback riding. It's early yet, but I'd like to open up some dialogs with cachers in the area, and find out some of the better places to hit memorable caches in the two-state area. Some great scenery, memorable locations, a good concentration of quality hides, etc. You can only tell so much by looking at a map and a cache description ... and I'd hate to invest a huge trip or a day's hike on a cache only to find out it's a lame hide. And perhaps most importantly, do they still make those awesome pork chops at Ray's in Green River? Let's talk. Scott aka sataraid1

Averaging is of the most help when you can't get any kind of consistent readings. If you take 5 or 6 readings, and three of them are the same, odds are that the identical ones are correct. In that case, averaging would actually be softening your coordinates somewhat. Bear in mind, though, that by the time you're splitting hairs trying to decide if that final digit is a 7 or an 8, you're talking about a nearly insignificant distance that's within the margin of error of even the most precise GPS units. No one's ever going to miss finding a cache because the coordinates were ~002" off.

How do you make these. I would love to do this for my caches There is a line of people waiting to know how to make those! Can you make your own travelbug that way? We have a laser engraver where I work, and I get to pick through the mismatched or odd color tags and play with them. The tags have an anodized surface that is etched away by the laser leaving a white underlayer. As much as I'd like to say I make them at home, and show everyone how, that's not how it's done.

I make customized FTF tags with the geo logo on the front, and the finder, cache name, and date on the back. They've been pretty popular so far. Here's a pic of one with a typo that I still had laying on my desk: I forgot to add that one of the things I like about doing them is it usually give me some one-on-one communication with the finder, and I take the opportunity to ask a few questions and see if the listing might need some tweaks.

That Kelly Vivanco is a spectacular artist.

Write some of the previous loggers and see if they retained the number in their records. I tend to write TB numbers in my notebook the moment I find them, in case I decide to drop them again later the same day. I can't be the only one.

I skip urban "front/backyard caches" outright. If I realize what they are beforehand, they go in my ignore list. FWIW.

I'd like to add one to those listed above ... A sufficient degree of difficulty. I like a cache to be just challenging enough to make me work for it, yet not be insanely difficult. (Like a film can in a giant brush pile or a nano in a bank of 2 dozen electrical boxes.) Sure, spotting an ammo can under a piece of bark from 50 feet away can still be fun, but I get a bigger kick out of an earnest search and then thinking to myself, "bravo, you sneaky %@*!#" when I finally find it.

I would enjoy being able to build a bookmark list of benchmarks as well.

It's a safe bet you've never owned a horse. Geocaching is a cheap hobby. Yeah, gas is expensive, but if you plan your routes, you can cache all day on $20 worth of gas. That's a pretty good ROI. And my (excellent perfoming) GPS unit can currently be had for well under $50 on eBay. Everything else is optional.

I've never replaced a cache because I assumed it was missing. If there's nothing there, I assume I just can't find it. Only when there is clear and obvious evidence of a damaged or destroyed cache do I perform any maintenance. But you're just continuing the problem - a cache with an owner who's not maintaining it. Why not let it be archived, and then put out your own cache? Just to clarify: I don't replace caches because I "think" they're missing. If I can't find them, then it's a simple DNF, not a case of "well, there should have been something here so I'll drop a new one". In fact, I recently found a cache where someone had done exactly that. It's creating a lot of confusion, but the owner hasn't had a chance to get out there and find out what's going on. Regarding work on damaged caches: unless I know the maintenance record of the particular hider, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that either a) they don't know the cache is in need of maintenance, or that it's just happened and I'm the first to discover the situation. As I stated earlier, if the owner has a bad record for maintaining caches, I do nothing on site. I'm not in the habit of buying caching material for people who won't take care of their own stuff. If it's bad, flag for maintenance, if it's truly trashed, haul it out and flag for archiving.

Not only have I gone back to caches to retrieve rare or unusual items, I've gone back to lonely caches to drop off bugs in the hope that they will attract more cachers.

1. No find. 2. Sign the log, haul out the junk, log the find, flag for maintenance with a clear statement that there is NOTHING at the posted coordinates and that it needs to be disabled or archived immediately. Offer to mail the stuff to the owner, or at least just the logbook. 3. Of course. Be sure and let the owner know their cache has been compromised. 4. How did they "find" it without "getting" it? Depends for me. If you deliberately placed the cache where someone short couldn't reach it, or someone with large hands couldn't retrieve it, maybe you should allow it. Sometimes "lazy" isn't the problem. 5. Log that puppy! Luck trumps skill.

I've never replaced a cache because I assumed it was missing. If there's nothing there, I assume I just can't find it. Only when there is clear and obvious evidence of a damaged or destroyed cache do I perform any maintenance.