Sgt Stitches

So where does one get dog tags made up? I've been trying to find a way to make some for signature items... would also be appropriate FTF prizes for my caches. (Sgt Stitches and the Cruz Commandos)

That's kinda what I thought.... That's the difference between a "Prize" and a trade item. I'm glad I read this today, because my 11 and 9 year old sons and my wife just got a FTF prize that was a 30 year old buck knife... I would have had no IDEA what would be an even trade! Still, when they called me at work from the cache site, I just told them to dump all the "good" trade items they had with them into the cache as a thank you. Back on topic... I've left various items from Geocaching.com (pins, hiking medallions, stickers) that will fit in the cache. Also, since lots of people in our area like to collect signature items, I'll generally leave several of my signature items. My favorite FTF prize was a "Chalice" that fit the theme of my puzzle cache: The Holy Grail.

We prefer "In"-Sanity Cruz, thank you I also read your log for the water cache... Lt Happy Camper and I have been meaning to take our kayaks to the slough... now maybe I have a little more incentive.

Hi FFFF- I'd call you at home, but I'm stuck in San Pedro on a business trip....Take 101 instead, 5 is soooo boring. .. lots of caches in SLO, Santa Barabara, Ventura, along the coast. And the drive is so much nicer (and less smelly.... don't those cows ever take a bath?) To get a bunch of caches that stretch along the coast, just select an origin that is out in the pacific so the arc of the circle catches much of the area you are driving. That's what I did for a recent drive to SoCal. Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth since I'm bored here in a hotel room....

Just curious.... how many people are members of CCGC?

Here is an example of a well done floating cache... GCJJCT Just Ducky http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...98-3fcdba739966 Unfortunately, only one "geocaching" find before it went missing.. although there wre several logs in the log book by passing kayakers... (read the first and only found log) It was placed in the ocean without danger to passing boats.

deleting duplicate log.... at least I think I am

It would be nice if someone could check my Latin.... I was going from an online dictionary, so the words probably translate right, but I'm not sure about the actual grammar. I never could conjugate verbs very well. Any lawyers or priests out there who actually knows Latin? Hey Touchstone... thanks for thinking of me when you saw the muscular lumberjack guy... but you know I look more like this: If you want to add color to the coin... might I suggest green? As far as opinions.... I love adding a wave/ocean.... I prefer a family/group over lumberjack man.... (Could also use a grizzly bear (one of the local pioneers, Isaac Graham, is said to have fought a grizzly with a knife) (Graham Hill road is named after him). Looking forward to seeing how these turn out! Thanks for all the work Kealia!

Thanks for the recos! We leave Friday October 20, so this thread can close up soon. I've already scoped out a couple of the web pages. Hunting a few caches on the way home will help ease me out of cruise mode and back to real life...

Hi all you Texas cachers- My wife and I are finishing a cruise in Galveston and will be driving to Houston to catch a plane home. I was hoping someone could recommend a few good caches that could help break up the drive and provide something nice to do. We probably have 5 hours to get from the dock to the airport (already taking into account the time to get off the boat and to get through security at the airport). My wife is a bit of a "wimpy" cacher and does not like the "hot dusty trail", "back of the alley", "Deep in the jungle", or "surrounded by vicious mosquito and snake infested water" types of caches. I don't have anything against those kind of caches, but I'm trying to keep my wife happy here.. So... I'm looking for a few caches not far of the road between Galveston and Houston with a short walk in nice green parks, or places with a nice view, nice beaches, or river walks. Points of interest to someone who has never been to Galveston or Houston before would also be welcome.... Thanks for any suggestions you may have. -Lance (aka Sgt Stitches)

It turns out FFFF did grab little Tovah... so he/she will not need to spend the winter in Loch Lomond. FFFF did however put 2 Jeep TBs in the cache... so they will be sitting for a while. BTW.... The cache and all of its contents are NOT still in place.... the cache has been deactivated and PHYSICALLY removed from the park while the park is closed. I have arranged with the park rangers to have them hold on to it until the park opens again. The rangers wanted to remove any temptation for people to tresspass during the off-season... FFFF talked to one of the rangers on the last day, and the ranger was very enthusiastic about geocaching.... he even offered to lead a hike next season to help FFFF and I place a few more around the park. Of course, we would need to remove them at the end of each season, but that shouldn't be a problem.

If you want to experience caching under the Giant Redwoods (GPS reception is ALWAYS a challenge), you can drive towards Santa Cruz (about 45 minutes from San Jose International Airport). Henry Cowell State Park and Fall Creek State Park have a variety of caches from micros to large ammo cans. Some Fall Creek trails start at EL 300 ft and climb to almost 2000 ft. Here are a couple of caches in Fall Creek: Redwood Barely ThereGCG0WR at around 300 ft elevation Big Ben GCH38Z at around 1900 ft elevation Here are a couple in Henry Cowell. Turkey Bash Cache (one end of Henry Cowell) Nosey Neighbor Buckeye Cross the Creek (other end of Henry Cowell) While some of these CAN be done as park and grabs, you can also choose to create some fairly difficult hikes by using the trails instead of the car. There are several loop trails that climb steeply and also follow several creeks. Some of these caches have interesting historical logging, railroad, and limestone quarry sites. If it is HOT in San Jose, the Santa Cruz mountains offer a cooler alternative since these caches are under the giant Coastal Redwood trees.

Wish I had read this just a little bit earlier... my brother was heading out to Loch Lomond today and could have picked it up .... Oh well. Also, I have removed the "Member's Only" restriction on "Got Trout?". I sometimes make MO caches so I can see who has been looking at the cache for the first few weeks ... and MO is th only way to see who's checking it out... Sorry you missed that one Kablooey, you can always go for it next year.

Yea, Camel got it right (May I call you Camel? I mean we don't know each other or anything and I'd hate to use the familiar form of your full geocaching name ) .... I was refering to "just start maintaining it" as opposed having the cache "transferred" to your account.

I use three different items depending on the situation... Normal cache gets a Green plastic army man with my avatar attached like a dog tag. Micro cache gets a mini green army man with avatar dog tag. This one will fit almost any micro cache Finally, I just got a bunch of german army surplus camo sewing kits (Sgt Stitches...get it?). These I place in a cache that I really enjoy, or am a FTF, or I leave as a FTF prize option in the caches I hide. Of course, my Kealia shot glass sig item is one of the coolest I've found... I had to go out a night and re-visit a cache in a pet cemetary to grab it though.... well worth it. Other favorite sig items I've collected: engraved spoon from Iron Chef metal dogtags from Team Dakiba an untral light alchohol burning camp stove by Rockman El Jeffe Rhino Pin Wintertime crystal snowflake Fishpoet/cachefan/stantastic casino chip "Invade San Jose" event item Marky and Joani Smashed Penny Kablooey Smashed coin oh... and almost forgot... my Touchstone Marshmellow gun

Actually, it tasted more like the Ostrich I had in Santa Cruz

I've tried camel.... No really, in Alice Springs you can get a combo plate ... Camel, Kangaroo, Crocodile, and Lamb... the Kangaroo was the best.

Other problem with "adopting" without becoming the "owner" is that if another cacher is trying to e-mail/contact the cache owner with a problem, the "adopter" does not get the notification... eg: cacher thinks cache may be AWOL or "no tresspassing" signs may have appeared (or as is often the case, maybe wants a better hint from the owner or maybe wants to confirm coordinates for a puzzle cache) and e-mails the owner instead of posting to the cache page. The "Adopter" would never be able to respond. So, yes, an adopter can certainly keep a cache clean and hidden well, but the adopter is unable to update the cache page with changing conditions.

Hi Suzyqhoo- If you are going between Reno and SF, I assume you will taking Hwy 80. There are some pretty fun caches along the way, but my favorite is this one near Truckee: 95 Feet Under (Of course this is much cooler in the winter... take a look at the pictures to see what I mean) Also, in San Francisco, Sounds of the Bay is a cool location.

I'm one of those local cachers.... unfortunately I was gone last weekend and I the hike is long enough that by the time I get home from work It would be dark before I could get to the cache, find it, and get back to the car. I'm trying to talk my brother, FFFF, to go after this one with me this weekend. It's on my watchlist.... On the other hand, with the limited time available, I have two caches ready to hide, spots picked out and the cache pages ready to go... so do I seek or do I find?

I've just started reading the forums lately and have seen stories of people's favorite finds... one of my favorite geocaching hunts resulted in a DNF... after a total of three attempts over two days. 95 Feet under DNF log It turns out the cache was embedded in over 8 inches of ice that had formed in the winter months after the cache had been placed in the summer. I found this out after writing to the cache owner who verified that it was indeed buried in the ice. Turns out this one should have been a 5 star (Need Ice Ax to access cache!).. Anyway, does anyone else have a favorite DNF story? Here is my favorite DNF: (Use the log link above to see the actual pictures... they're pretty cool) WARNING: PHOTOS CONTAIN SPOILERS!!! That is, if you can actually post a spoiler for a DNF This is actually a DNF for both Feb 14 and Feb 15! We tried three times for this one over the weekend. This was the first time that I really didn't mind not finding the cache simply because the search was worth more than the find! By far our most spetacular DNF! I would have rated this cache at least a 3d/3t. GPS is useless anywhere within 700 ft of cache. Terrain... well at least in winter ice skates are more appropriate than hiking boots. I'll post a picture so you can see what I mean. First attempt was pretty typical. I was pretty sure what the location would be like, but followed GPS to posted coordinates to be sure (We were skiing at Donner Ski Ranch on Friday anyway). Confirmed that the cache would not be found the normal way. Walked around in the snow and discovered the eastern approach to the cache. Tried this approach, but the floor was covered in ice... slippery ice... thin ice.... and I had no idea how deep it might be. So I did what I normally do... stepped out on the ice to see what would happen! Just about fell over with first step. I could tell there was another approach... maybe a quarter of a mile away. Maybe that way would be safer. So I called Lt Happy Camper to meet me and Cpl Kiwi, Cpl Coconut, and Sgt Tiki below the hill to the eastern entrance. We sledded down to the road where Lt Happy Camper picked us up. Second attempt: Drove back up hill to Donner Ski Ranch and searched for western entrance. Found it fairly easily, though it was farther than I had originally estimated. This entrance was covered in huge ice waterfalls and icicles. Here, ice was less slippery, at least for the first 400 feet. Continued search all the while oohing and ahhhing. Followed almost all the way to eastern end without finding the cache. Since marking both approaches, I knew the cache should have been about halfway in. Gave up, but took lots of pictures. I will post some of the better ones. Third attempt: Came back the next day after purchasing new batteries and 100 feet of rope to measure distance into cave. (Me, obsess about a cache? Nooooooo.) Holding the rope with Cpl Kiwi and leapfrogging one another, we measured 800 feet, then laid the rope down to mark the 800 to 900 foot area. According to the coordinates, this should be where the cache was. Again, beautiful icicles, but no cache. Time spent searching: 2.5 hours. Rope: $7 Batteries: $9 Time with family looking for a cache in a spectacular setting: Priceless.

For some nice short hikes with spectacular views... you can try Point Lobos State Reserve. There is only one cache in the reserve (Wherewolf? GCC19). I haven't found that cache, but I've been in the area a lot and it is spectacular. There are several short (1-2 mile, mostly flat) loop trails that have great views. Nearby is Monastery Beach that has a couple of nice caches with short walks/hikes ("Musical Cross" and "Bunny Cache") Also... just north of Lover's Cove ("Love is in the air" GCH2JK) in Pacific Grove, there are a couple of caches close together with nice views of the ocean with tidepools below. (search proximity of cache "Silver and Gold" waypoint GC5083) Going a little ways north around the bay towards Santa Cruz, in Seaside, "Good Friday" is a fun cache, but there aren't too many others around it. Its on a nice wide beach that is ususally not crowded. Easy walk. Usually some pretty cool kites flying over the beach.

Check out this one: Wedding of Beckerbuns and Nurse Dave

The way my kids do yardwork, you'd end up needing to redo everything.... Of course, if you can train them to do it right, i'll send them right over!

Ah...sorry. My mistake.... I thought I had read somewhere above that you would supply a hint or two... Guess I need to read more carefully. Anyway, I still think supplying clues, giving a little direction, and helping people when they get stuck is a more friendly way to do puzzle caches... even 5 stars. Once I had to supply four different clues over a period of about a month for someone to solve one of my puzzles. I had a good time thinking up clues that wouldn't give it totally away and they were happy when they finally got it. I don't mind helping and it is more fun to communicate with other cachers than to leave people frustrated. But that's me. The only caveat I have for helping people or providing hints is that I ask people to wait at least four weeks after a cagce first gets approved so that the really serious puzzlers out there have a chance for a FTF before someone with a hint. If no one gets it after four weeks, I will post a clue to the web page so everyone has an equal chance. Of course I've never had to resort to that.... too many great puzzlers out there geocaching!