therealwesty

St John's Wart, also know as Touch-me-nots, is a weed with an orange flower. You should be able to find a photo online somewhere. It is normally found in the same area PI grows in, which is handy. Anyway the pulp/juice from the stem will help stop the itch, but if the rash has already set there is really no getting rid of it. You just have to leave it alone and then let it run its course. The oil/puss can cause the rash to spread. I usually cover the drippy bits with light gauze to stop the oil from getting on everything. Touch-me-nots can help stop the rash as well, but you need to get the juice on the effected area as soon as possible, and no later than an hour or two after contact. It's an old farm remedy I learnt from an uncle.

What you need is a woman! From experience, it is usually my girlfriend who finds the micro caches when we are out searching together. Lately I am starting to wait to try the micros when she's coming along, I never have any easy time when I try them on my own. Sometime another set of eyes is a big help. You can cover more ground quickly and differing perspectives can go a long way sometimes.

So I want to go paperless. I am working a line on a used Palm of some sort. So I was wondering what the preffered software for transferring GPX to the Palm is. I have a Garmin eTrex Venture CX, and I use MapSource for most of my GPX manipulation so far, but I don't think it supports Palms.

I just make my log sheets using a spreadsheet. Check the depth of you film cann, then decide whether to go one column or two. I print the whole 8x11 sheet then cut the columns into strips and then just staple it like a log book. Roll it up and stuff it in the container. If you have a spare little baggie from a travel bug or something you can put the paper in there for some extra protection.

I think it would be nice to have a 'Date Released' field that we could edit. This way you could set the date to match the day you actually placed the item in a cache, rather than just the day it was activated. I have a couple coins in my caching bag that are activated, but I haven't yet found a good place to release them. By the time I do, the activation date may be days, weeks, or even months gone by. Maybe you could set it up so we can change the release date after the bug has been activated. Or you could just create a separate field for the activation date and the release date. Then release date could default to the activation date, but the trackable owner could change the release date when they placed the item. Maybe something that would help make the 'collection feature' even better when it is released...

I often try to find the best cache I can during the first two weeks. If I DNF a hopeful cache, or just don't find anything suitable I will just put the item somewhere vaguely on track but convenient just to get it back into circulation. I don't like to hold them any longer than 3 weeks tops.

I've got one of those obnoxious orange-with-neon-stripes safety vest in my truck. I've thought it would be a great idea for cover some time. It's like a licence for peculiar activity. I don't think anyone would give a second look to someone in a safety vest and a GPSr poking around somewhere. It would be pretty easy to assume you were on some official mission, especially if you had a hard hat too! Take a clip-board with the cache print-out even, helps make it look like you are filling out some official paperwork for 'your job.'

Just something random I thought of, that is helpful though. Bring a flashlight! Even a little AAA powered LED light is better than nothing. But a reasonable little light can save sticking your arm down any number of dark and grimy holes!

This hasn't happened to me yet. But, seems a bunch of my recent finds have had bugs or coins listed in the inventory that don't turn up in the cache. Sometimes I check the logs, and often the last log will be months, or even years ago. Anyway, likely safe to assume these items are lost. So what does the cache owner do? I stumbled upon a couple TB graveyards, can we grab the bugs and then drop them? We wouldn't know the tracking number though? I know we can contact the owner through the site, but you don't always get replies. Can the reviewers or other higher powers help here? Just curious, I wouldn't want a lost bug sitting in my an inventory of one of my caches, sometimes it's a little disappointing to the finders.

Add the note after you complete the cache listing. After you've set the cache active and submitted the listing, even while it is still waiting to be reviewed, you can do this.

I don't know much about the Nuvi series units, but a friend of mine has one and from what I can see it is definitely a car-based unit. These units tend to assume you are sticking to the mapped roads, so they aren't as accurate when you take them into the woods. The Garmin eTrex and Colorado series are both trail-ready mapping GPSr units. I think all but the cheapest eTrex models are "Geocaching friendly," which means the firmware (unit programming) has a special waypoint icon for caches, and you can send caches to the GPS right from the site using a USB cable. I have an eTrex Venture Cx; it was pretty affordable and it works great. This model has been discontinued, but the Venture HC has all the same features plus a high-sensitivity receiver, so it should be more accurate. If you want to upgrade, the Venture HC gets a lot of recommendations from other posters as well. Without upgrading the GPS it might be tough. No GPS is perfect, but you really need to be as close to the right spot as possible. Usually when we reach a GZ, the cache location can almost become obvious. The best advice is to consider the size and difficulty rating, and think about where you might hide a cache of whatever size. Look for stumps, logs, rocks, or piles of rocks that a container could be in, behind, or under... Get the kids looking, help them identify possible hiding placing. Suggest one or two of them go check "that stump" while you look under "this log."

I take Pippen my Jack-apoo caching with me all the time. That's a cross between a Jack Russel Terrior and a Poodle. He stands about 14" to the shoulder and weighs about 18lbs. Pippen is very attentive, and loves just to be involved in whatever it is I am doing. He loves walk, even some pretty good distance. He is fast and agile allowing him to fallow easily through even dense underbrush. He's a true companion so when he's allowed off the leash he never strays to far from me. My girlfriend often says he's more concerned about losing me that I am of losing him. All in all he's a great caching companion! Make sure you get a dog that fits the rest of your lifestyle though. Pippen doesn't minds sleeping 14-16 hours, so he's OK home during the day. My family works at scattered times anyway so he's not often left for more than three or four hours. When he's not sleeping he's active though. Without appropriate outlets, like chew toys and tug of war games the extra energy will drive him to mischief. He needs about a 30 minute walk every day as well, just to use up energy. You are much better to keep him active and tire him out than leave him to come up with his own trouble. But if you spend the time with him, he'll reward you by curling up beside you on the couch in the evenings. ----Pippen my Geodog----

Maybe 4096?

I take my dog on a lot of caching trips. He's pretty much the perfect alibi, no one tend to give me a second glance... you are just another dog walker really. It helps if the dog is cute too, or has other endearing qualities. Then the muggles just tend to get caught up in petting the animal and forget to worry about what you might be up to. Caching is a pretty good cover story anyway. I've never been questioned about what I was up to, but when you've got all the right equipment the story fits anyway. GPS, Palm or printouts, plenty of worthless junk to trade, maybe even trackable items. So far as cover stories go, it would be hard to dream up something this good.

I'm still pretty new to caching, but I've recently caught the geocoin bug. I've got a few coins and TBs out in the wild, but there is also a few coins that I don't think I will set free. I've already had the post, and the thinking about whether to activate my personal hoard or not, but I was thinking it would be nice if you could mark a trackable as active or inactive. This way people who activate the coins in their hoard can still have them discovered at events, or leave them in a cache if they change their mind. But, if we see an inactive item come through a search, we know not to expect to find it in a cache. Perhaps inactive TBs could be excluded from the inventory, making the list an easier reminder of any active trackables a cacher is holding that are waiting for release. Active and Inactive trackables could still be listed in the profiles, for the people interested. Perhaps the trackables tab could total up the number owned as well as the number active. Just some ideas I thought might be handy.

Today I got a Northern Hemisphere Planisphere, and two Tengwar coins, bronze and silver. And a set of three sundial geocoins. Pretty good day!

I usually just use a small notebook, like 3'x2' or something. I just jot down a few notes about the cache in the the notebook, including the d/t and size spec's. When I find a cache I usually mark the date, write a little note and then stamp the page with my logbook stamp. Keeps a bit of a log of my finds, sometimes they provide good inspiration for the online logs.

My 25km radius is still pretty full. Lots of each kind to choose from with a short drive. My local city/area is getting a little cleaned out though. I've got one cemetery micro that I am just waiting for the right day to search for. There is a handful of multi's left. I found my first multi this summer and have been slowly picking them off since. I've got the local Earthcache, though another on has popped up nearby recently. A lot of the mystery caches in this area seem pretty driving intensive... 'find two mystery locations, then taking a bearing from each to find an intersection point' sort of thing. So I tend to skip those, but I have started working on mystery cache that I hope to search for soon!

I think my most interesting and difficult cache to find so far has been 'Living on the Ledge' GC143XV near Sudbury, Ontario. My girlfriend and I found it while exploring the Laurentian University Campus up there. Despite being 'on campus' the cache is deep in the rock sub-forest that surrounds the nickle belt area. The cache has been archived now so I am not giving anything away; but the ammo box was nestled in the crag of a cliff about 45' above the forest floor below. The lay of the boulders and ledges made the climbing platforms wide and stable, but it still required a careful step! Another memorable cache is 'Lake Laurentian View' GC14F3X which is also on the Laurentian Campus. This cache actually takes you past the site of 'Live on the Ledge' and deeper into the hills for a wonderful view of Lake Laurentian. We launched our first TB here, Optimus Prime.

I haven't found any mystery caches, though there are quite a few around here. Usually I choose a cache where I can take my dog for a quick walk, or kill a lunch break when I working on the road. The mystery caches just don't fit into the plan often enough. Even when we have a bit more time, I usually seem to choose to go for a couple bugs or coins rather than working through one ? cache.

So when exactly should I activate my trackable items? I have been activating them ahead of time, before I head off in hopes of dropping them somewhere on that day. Occasionally though, I don't find a suitable cache, and then the trackable may sit a week or more before it is actually released. I've thought about completing the activation after I place them, then I could punch in the codes, and log the drop when I got home. But then could another cacher activate the trackable before me if they found it fast? I know they have the activation codes, but I've seen a few common codes already. I was just wondering what the normal practice is?

Seems kind of silly to me. If you hid the cache you'd better know where to find it. Even if you hadn't been there in a while I'd hope things would start getting familiar as you got close.

Yes. Just make sure that you log it as a "Note" rather than a find. You should also consider whether your cache helps the coin follow it's mission and that it's a "safe" spot for the coin. Placing a coin in a cache that has a high muggle probability is not a good idea. On the other hand, placing a coin in a cache that gets found infrequently will mean that the coin may sit in the cache for a long time. If that is the case, you can always retrieve it again and move it elsewhere. I like to leave a new coin or TB behind when I do a maintenance visit to my cache. Of course, your logging it as a maintenance visit then anyway. I'd say, just pack a spare container and log book etc and do any maintenance required when you get there!