CrazySanMan
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Posts posted by CrazySanMan
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SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
If you are in the Baltimore area this may spoil a fun cache!!!
I found one yesterday called Humpty Dumpty shaped like, well, a one-foot tall Humpty Dumpty hidden on top of an old rock wall.
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These are the kind of people that would be out spray painting a wall if they didn't have a computer...
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I have 12 hides published and 15 more in a massive series that I'm working on that will be published soon. I have some caches that are premium-only and some that are not. I make hides premium-only if the hide took a lot of time/effort/money on my part, if they are in high-muggle areas, or if they are very difficult terrain that I don't want just anyone trying for fear of them getting hurt. Hides that are open to everyone turn up missing more than hides that are premium-only. If I place a hide that was expensive and/or time-consuming I don't want anyone with a web browser to be able to go steal it and the swag I put in it, and I don't want a brand-new cacher to be spotted while searching for the cache and lead muggles to it who will then steal it and it's contents.
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I'd just like to say I have seen caches archived by reviewers when it became obvious the coordinates came from Google Earth. By two different reviewers in two different Countries, actually. Would I personally be the d-head to report such a listing? Probably not.
I had the opposite happen to me. I submitted a cache and the reviewer rejected it because on the satellite image map from Google the cache appeared to be in the middle of a highway even though I used 5 samples taken over 5 days with an Oregon 450 GPSr to obtain the coordinates. The location was a wooded area next to a highway with a large fence between GZ and the highway and a note in all caps at the start of the description saying DO NOT APPROACH THE CACHE FROM THE HIGHWAY.
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I've decided to put this out as 15 separate caches. Caches 1 and 2 are traditionals that each give you part of the coordinates to cache 3. 4 and 5 give you parts of 6, and so on.
The first round of caches are all traditional hides that are fairly simple - 2's and 3's for D/T. These should satisfy casual hunters, out-of-area cachers, and FTF seekers. The second round of caches is three multis and a puzzle cache that follow some of the main hiking trails in the area, though the stages are hidden well off-trail. These are rated in the 3's and 4's. The third round consists of a two-stage multi and a puzzle cache that involves encrypted coordinates and a projected point. These are 4/4 caches. The final is a grueling 4.5/4.5 multi.
I'm recycling some of the traditional hides I have in the area. When the other caches get published I'm going to insert the coordinate halves into my already-published ones so they can become part of the challenge. In this way I'm not taking up additional real estate and I'm making maintenance a little easier for myself.
After the first round, every cache is listed as an unknown cache with the closest parking area as the published coordinates.
I finished placing half of the caches this past weekend. Next weekend I will place the second half, then decide the order in which I will publish them all. There are three big events coming up in my local area so I'll use these to help spread the word about this series.
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Also, the lock has a resettable combination so I will periodically change the combo
If this multi has 10 stages, it might take a few tries to find them, so it is possible that when you change the combination, someone will have already found a couple of stages and wrote down the numbers.
The way to prevent that is to encourage people to watch the listing and to post notes when they find the stages. For an epic cache like this I would keep a table in the description listing the names of the cachers attempting the cache and the stages they have found. Then I can notify those who have found the various stages that the combo changed and give them the new number.
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I think I have a plan. I'm going to set this up like a tournament bracket.
Caches 1 and 2 will each hold half of the coordinates to Cache 3.
Caches 4 and 5 will each hold half of the coordinates to Cache 6
Caches 3 and 6 will each hold half of the coordinates to Cache 7.
This gives 4 caches with "no strings attached" and three additional caches for those who want to continue. 3 and 6 will be more difficult than 1,2,4, and 5 and 7 will be more difficult than 3 or 6.
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Why not make it into four or so multis? And let folks know how long each one will take. I feel that you'd get more finds that way.
This is what I'm leaning toward. I'll make a series of caches, trads and multis, that will each have part of the final coords. The final will be an unknown. That way if people want to do it all they can, if not they can grab individual smilies here and there.
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Been thinking of laying an epic multi myself... But I'm also thinking of placing regulars very close to each stage, then people can collect numbers whilst doing the multi, then everybody wins!
I like this idea. Maybe this is my solution...
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The stages are placed as a "tour" of the area around a reservoir near my home. They are placed near forgotten historical ruins, at great viewpoints for beautiful scenery, along nice hiking trails, etc. Some of the stages include difficult puzzles that use math problems, decrypting coordinates, converting alternate coordinate systems, and the like. None of them were placed just for the sake of adding more stages to the thing. As such, all the stages are several miles apart. I envision people finishing a few stages a weekend and working on this one for a month or so to finish it.
Since the stages are placed apart from each other, it seems logical to break it into many smaller caches and make the final an unknown that requires you to find all the others. But then I like the idea of a massive, epic cache.
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People could still PAF the final stage, of course.
I thought about that and I have some safeguards in place, though it wouldn't be 100% foolproof. Many of the stages are a small lock-n-lock with a logbook. I'd put in the description that I will randomly check logbooks and if someone logged the final without logging a stage I will delete the log entry. Also, the lock has a resettable combination so I will periodically change the combo (and the combo numbers found in the various stages as well).
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One of the problems I have is that in my area PAF's are rampant. I spend a lot of time and energy placing a very difficult hide, and it stumps everyone for a week or so, and then one cacher finds it and the next thing you know there are 15 "Found it" logs all talking about how they called so-and-so and were told where it was hidden.
If I made 10 separate hides, there would be people who would team up and each would make one find, then share information and claim the 5/4 final after finding one 2/1 or 3/2 cache. I want the cache to be a fun, challenging adventure for those who want to try it, not just more smileys to collect.
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I like to hide challenging caches that aren't your typical LPC or tupperware under a pile of sticks by a double-trunked tree.
For the past six months I have been piecing together a massive multicache that is 10 stages plus the final. Each stage is essentially a cache in it's own right. Some of the stages are unknowns. Some stages require hiking several miles or negotiating 4+ star terrain. I'm trying to secure permission to make one stage a nightcache. One stage is actually a 3 stage multi and another is a 4 stage multi, which I suppose technically makes this an 18 stage cache all together. Each stage holds coordinates for the next stage and a part of the coordinates for the final. The final container is locked and some of the stages have a number to the lock combination as well. The overall rating is probably going to be 5/4.
My question to everyone here, since you will be the cachers hunting this thing, is this: Should I keep this as a massive, epic, 10 stage 5/4 multi, or should I make it 10 separate hides varying from 2/1 to 4.5/4 with the final being an unknown cache that requires you to find the other 10? Do you prefer to find one massive, difficult, epic cache or ten "normal" caches?
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I use an iphone 4 with the geocaching.com app and a few other geocaching apps as well. I also use a Garmin Nuvi and a Garmin htrex Vista HCx. The phone app is great for on-the-fly caching and for most caches that are in obvious places, like guardrails or LPC's. But for difficult hides, hides where there are plenty of places it could be, or back country hides I use the Vista.
If I plan a day of caching in advance (I have off work every other friday so on fridays I hit the road to cache in different areas)I create pocket queries and save them to the Nuvi and Vista. I use the Nuvi to drive from cache to cache, then use the iPhone to make the find. The iPhone 4 accuracy still isn't great and the geocaching.com app tends to freeze up a lot (and sucks up a LOT of battery power) so if I don't make the find after a few minutes with the iPhone I switch to the Vista and grab it.
The iPhone is no good for entering coordinates from multis or puzzles. The geocaching.com app won't let you add aditional coordinates and navigate to them and the other GPS apps I use are made more for tracking your trip on a trail and make it hard to navigate to a coordinate that you entered.
Other than the obvious paperless caching on the fly and logging from the field advantages, the iPhone allows you to see satellite view maps which often tell you exactly which light post to look in when out caching. That's a huge advantage (or spoiler). You can read descriptions, previous logs, and hints in the field, as well as view photos. You can email the owners of virtuals and earthcaches from the field so you don't have to write down notes and try to remember to log them later.
The iPhone has other advantages, like using an app to tell which county you are in or quickly figuring out which DeLorme grid you're in. The calculator is useful for multis and puzzles. You can access geochecker in the field to verify puzzle coordinates. You can get email notifications for new caches that pop around you if you like to play the FTF game.
In short, the phone app is great for urban areas but once you step off the sidewalk or move away from the roadside a handheld unit still reigns supreme.
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I was on a road trip from Baltimore to Dallas and I found a bug just outside Baltimore that wanted to visit all 50 states. I dipped it in a cache in each state along the way and set it free outside Dallas.
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I have a nano hidden in a shopping center near me that I often walk to. I remember the first time I was walking home and saw a family poking around searching for my cache. I was going to introduce myself as the CO, but instead I just watched them for a moment and continued walking. I felt good knowing I was helping this family get out and bond instead of staying at home and watching TV or playing video games.
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Don't just look down, look up too. Caches can be hidden anywhere but underground.
Do a Google image search for "Geocaching container" so you can get an idea of what you're up against. The cache could be an actual log with a secret compartment chiseled in it. It could be a rock with a hole drilled in the bottom. It could be a little round magnetic container smaller than your thumbnail. If you still can't find it, wait until you get 10 or even 20 finds under your belt and then go back to it and try again. You get better at finding them - we call it "geosense".
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Keep an eye on your goals for this hobby as it can quickly turn into an obsession, but we really enjoy it and actually get withdrawal symptoms when we cant get out!
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What he said
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I use an iPhone and an etrex Vista HCx. I uploaded a pocket query (a premium member feature) of the closest 800 caches that I haven't found centered around my house into the Vista. When I'm out I use the iPhone to search for closest caches and to navigate me to a parking area, then I use the Vista to make the find. The iPhone is great for reading hints, descriptions, logs, etc., but it eats batteries like crazy when the GPSr is active so I try to minimize it's use. (In fact, my iPhone battery will go down if I am using the GPS while it is plugged into my car charger - the GPS sucks more juice than the car charger provides).
I make several long road trips each year (Baltimore to Dallas) and the "Caches along a route" feature of the premium membership has been awesome for that. You can use the maps to highlight the route you are driving between two places and get a listing of every cache along the way. These can be downloaded as one GPX file and uploaded into your GPSr.
There are a lot of caches that are Premium Member Only caches. It's a good way to protect cool caches so that only the serious geocachers know of them, so they don't get muggled as often. There have been many times when I'm out with my girlfriend (who isn't a premium member) and as we are looking at our iPhones for caches to find nearby, I get 20-30% more listings than she does due to the premium member only caches.
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Are you having fun? If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.
Perfect advice...
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I've never logged any of mine. I'm caching for the smiles, not the smileys. I like seeing new places via caching. I'm not concerned about my find count.
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Drop them in the next few caches you find that they fit into. Just don't put them all in the same cache. If they all go into one cache they might compete against each other to get picked up, or someone might come along and steal all of them in one shot.
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U.S. Navy, 1992-1998 FC2(SW) USS Mitscher DDG-57 Plankowner
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Hello everyone!
I got a Garmin in 2007 for hiking and backpacking and did a little caching, then stopped until this past summer (2010) when I started again. As a cub scout leader I've helped get some of my scouts interested in Geocaching, and having a fiancee who loves to cache is an added bonus.
I enjoy finding spots for new hides as much as I do finding caches. I'm currently working on placing a 5 stage multicache in my area. I want my caches to be creative, clever, and a little devious as opposed to a lock-n-lock with a few sticks on top of it next to a triple-trunked tree.
Happy caching!
Should CO's Delete False Find Logs?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I recently checked the log of one of my caches and compared it to the online log. There are roughly 30 online logged finds that do not appear in the physical logbook, about half of the total finds logged online. Should I delete the finds that are logged online that do not appear in the physical log?