hikemeister

Deal with it the same way you would any other rude person you experience in life -- in my case, if they are a negative experience, and I had no reason to interact with them, I would just avoid them. Chances are that the person is rude in all aspects of his / her life. Who needs that!

We recently have found some interesting micro geocoins (including the Evil Micro geocoin, and one shaped like a flower from California). Where do geocachers get these coins? I searched on Google for Evil Micro and only came up with some for sale on EBay (starting bid $11 !!). Is there a single web site that links to places where various micro geocoins (and regular coins, for that matter) are available for sale? I would like to introduce some new ones into the area. Thanks

We had a cache called 'Eight Feet Under' that was a waterproof Pelican box attached to a cinder block and dropped into about 8 ft of water in a bay adjacent to the intra-coastal waterway. Finding it simply required a boat to get to the site, a diving mask, and some relatively easy searching underwater. No one found it and then after a few weeks it went missing -- probably not heavily enough anchored. Who knows, it may be on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, waiting to be found. If you find it I will let you claim FTF even though it is archived.

Don't feel too bad, it happens to many of us. I lost a cache once in another strange way. It was an underwater cache attached to a cinder block and buoy in about 10 ft of water in the Loxahatchee River in Jupiter, FL. A week after placing the cache I went out to check it and noticed that (1) it was missing, and (2) an identical looking yellow Pelican box was sitting on the end of a nearby dock in front of a multi-million dollar home with about a million dollar fishing boat. My first thought was to grab the box...but then I got wondering about things like 'did it get caught in their propeller?" I chickened out and lost the cache!

460+ posts on the forum and 610 finds (61 hides). I have no idea what the post / find ratio means -- I guess that I spend less time online and generally come here when I have questions or am bored and want to see if questions have been asked where I might provide useful input. Recently I have aimed to keep my find / hide ratio at 10:1. I have no idea why, but wish everyone did this in my area because here would be many more caches to find and I would not have to be planning a drive to find those dreaded Jacksonville micros to reach 1000 before years end.

My 'PDA' is a Blackberry 8700c. Does this mean I am screwed in regard to use of those Palm programs?

THANKS!!!! Cache Long and Prosper!

After 600+ finds and 60+ hides I need to come into the 21st century and stop caching with paper. So now I have a question and hope some can steer me in the right direction. If I aim to 'power cache' in an area with about 100 caches, is there anyway to download something that has more than just the coordinates (which I already do with my GPS), but also includes the text description and hints? I'm talking about not having to look at every cache web page but instead perhaps pulling up a large number of caches on a zip code search and then capturing all of the essential information in one fell swoop into a file that I can store in my PDA or even print out as a single file as hard copy. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Please point me to the section of the listing guidelines where "gas lines, electrical connections or other inherently dangerous locations" are listed as prohibited places for a cache. Because then we would know whether hiders and reviewers were doing a good job of following that guideline. If there is no such section, then the reviewers would get flamed if they dared to impose their own "rule" to deny a fine electrical transformer cache. (BTW, I agree with you, and would support the addition of "utility equipment" to the list of off-limits locations.) Well isn't there a rule about getting permission from the owner when a cache is placed on private property?

I just logged my last one! Had to do one on this final day of locationless caches!

Sure -- if this keeps going for a few days I will report the average ratios.

Wow -- I can definately relate to both of these points. Lately we have been very slow in finding, largely because we have found all of the caches in this area, and as a result have hidden a bunch of new caches. Same feeling too about park and grabs...they are easy to do, but after you spend a day finding them you realize they are not that much fun. I too am back to my original idea about geocaching which was to hide in places that took folks on nice relatively short hikes where they might not otherwise tread.

What is your ratio of caches found to caches hidden? I typically have kept mine at around 10:1 (right now with 538 finds and 52 hides). However, I notice some geocachers with very high ratios and very low ratios. I wonder if there is a predominant ratio. Darn, it definately is a dull day to be thinking about something like this! Hey, here is another one -- what is your post to find ratio? Mine is about 1:1. Do you folks with 3,000 posts have the same level of activitity doing real geocaching? Just kidding - no offense intended.

I always log a DNF when I actually get to the location and have time for a good search. If I reach the spot and cannot seach because (like many of our local caches) it is hidden at the entrance of a busy shopping area and there are dozens of muggles nearby, then I come back later -- and do not log a DNF. As a cache owner DNF logs are helpful to me in regard to (1) knowing when a cache likely has gone missing, and (2) knowing when I have rated the difficulty of a cache too low. Some people I know never log DNF. I don't know what they are worried about -- it is not like they are going to get a black mark on their record if they have many DNF logs. Perhaps it is just a time issue.

OK, understood ... but I don't quite consider myself an old timer yet.

"So if I run into a statue on the way to cache, can I log a virtual because the statue was mentioned in the description as being near by??" Nope, you have to follow the directions provided by the person who hid the cache, same as with any virtual or locationless cache that now exists. It would simply be another set of instructions embedded within the page. For example: The cache is a camo ammo can hidden at the base of a large pine tree at an elevation of approximately 5000 ft, about a 1 mile hike off the main trail. The entry to the path is marked with a white blaze. Watch for poison ivy. After finding this cache and logging your find, you have the opportunity to post a second find log if you are up to the challenge. At a compass heading of 320 degrees from the cache location, and approximately 1 mile distant, there is an old railroad caboose. Post a photograph of yourself standing in front of this item, clearly showing your GPS unit, and you have my permission to post a second find log. I am not endorsing this -- just asking whether this is allowed or not. From the standpoint of the person who hid the caches and the cache seeker, this is no less effort than going out and finding a regular cache and a nearby virtual cache. The only thing not happening here is some extra pages / computer code on the GC.com website.

That depends on how it is done. If they find the part of the cache that is a container, and then go on to find the object identified by the owner as necessary to log the second find, that would be no different than going out today and finding a regular cache and a virtual cache.

So continuing the discussion but focusing on CACHES rather than possible waymarks, is there a rule against posting two finds for a single cache? If a person finds the first part of the cache (the container) AND then finds the second part of the cache (the object or situation)...and logs two finds...with permission of the owner...is anyone going to delete that second find log??

Good holiday humor -- a bit wordy, but I liked the punch line once I got there.

Yep, just ask them if you can join the hunt and then respect their wishes. We often geocache in groups of 4-5 persons, and one thing to be aware of, as noted already, is that you might end up with a day of 20 finds where one person found 18 of them. That can be pretty boring unless you are that person. However I like this approach to caching because we get an additional level of competition going with each other during the hunt and that makes it more fun. NOT recommended for your 100th or 500th find!

It is posts like this that remind me why I only rarely read or post on the forums anymore -- like this evening, sitting in a hotel room with nothing much else to do -- but instead focus on real geocaching. Wow -- all this about whether or not to post a log online. Who gives a rip!

Do you mean there really aren't snipes?

No GPS will hold its reception in all conditions. Just be patient and seek out a clear spot. Get your bearing and head to the cache if it is in a heavly wooded location.

No question in my mind. I recently upgraded from a Garmin Venture, and after looking at Magellan options, I went with a Garmin Legend. Fits easily in your hand, easy to operate, you cannot break it, it will survive being underwater (from personal experience), and the price is great -- I found it online for $132. Amazing! That is less than I paid for the Venture two years ago. You can get a super case at WalMart called a NITE IZE case, made to fit the GPS. It has a belt clip that will not come loose, and a place for spare AA batteries. Welcome to Geocaching!

My thoughts too. Pop for $5 and get a decent cache container. You can get an ammo can at the local army and navy for about $6 usually. You can get lock'n'lock at Target nowadays for under $5. All WAAAY better than "free" altoids cans, 35mm canisters and the like. I don't think you'll be doing anyone (including yourself) a favor by skimping on the container and risking a cruddy cache. I don't agree that this is correct in all circumstances (see note at end). I had about 40 caches out during Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne last year, with the eyewall passing over my home (the roof did not fare too well) and the caches. Yes the ammo cans and US army issue pill vials did great, but so did the $3 rubbermaid plastic containers and free 35 mm film containers. I'll admit that up north this all may be false -- I have no idea how plastic caches hold up when it gets below freezing.