15Tango

I just activated a traveler, and when I try to upload an image for it, I get an error message, both in the latest version of Chrome and Edge using Windows 10 on a PC.

When I find a cache with loose coordinates, I'll mark the actual location in my GPS. There used to be a special spot to add my coords to my log so they're bold and easier for others to read, but I can't find that any more - now, all I can do is just add them in the text of my log. Am I going blind and just no longer seeing this feature, or is it gone?

There has been numerous discussions about the "snowflake" icon, which means "Available in Winter," and I think the general consensus is that "Available in Winter" just means that where the land where the cache is located is open in the winter. There are lots of parks that are closed in the winter for various reasons, such as lack of personnel to shovel snow, plow roads, etc.; or caches placed on what is a hiking trail in the summer, but the same trail is for use by skiers or snowshoers only in the winter (for some reason, Nordic skiers get a little perturbed when there's a series of two feet deep holes 3 feet apart on their nice little ski trail). Of course, by local agreement (which some aren't familiar with) in most Northern Climes, some will put that icon on their caches if the cache is located off the ground where it can still be accessed with snow on the ground. Here in Minnesota, people will place "winter friendly" for caches located off the ground in the cache description, and I haven't found a way to filter for those yet in the PQs, but I'm sure someone with enough skill and time can devise something that could seek out "winter friendly" in cache descriptions . During a normal winter, I'll usually check the "found in the last 7 days" box on my PQ after the snow has been on the ground for a while. Of course, that didn't work last winter, and depending on which weather prognosticator you listen to, it might not work again this winter (unless said cache is on a ski slope where they manufacture their own snow).

How many of us Charter Members (people who bought Premium Memberships during the first year or so they were offered) are still active? I only know of a handful in my area. How about those who were Charter Members, gave up on geocaching for a while, then came back as plain ol' Premium Members (if that is possible - since I maintained my membership ever since I was first a member, I wouldn't know from personal experience if I would lose my Charter Member status if I let my membership lapse, then become a Premium Member again). On a related note, it would be neat if, say during during the 10 or 15 year anniversary of memberships being offered, or something similar, Groundspeak was to roll out a Charter Member only coin or travel bug, only offered for sale to those of us Charter Members who are still active in the pastime.

I know this has probably been asked and answered before, but when I search "Google Maps" I get over 1000 results. But what happened to Google Maps on the Geocaching Maps? How do I get them back? I'm currently using Google Chrome as my browser - I've seen fixes for Firefox, but not Chrome. Thanks!

Thanks for the quick fix on the dates and the overall look of our logs. As for having the avatars, I haven't had too much trouble getting cache pages to load with the new smaller avatars - if there is any lag, it's probably about the difference between cooking Minute Rice on the stove vs. the microwave. Speed aside, I'm still in the camp that thinks they're an unnecessary bit of fluff. I do like how premium members had a cool little icon next to where it says "premium member" on their logs, and us charter members get an even better little icon next to our membership status.

A few months ago I found the perfect park for a geocache. Looked at the maps and saw no caches within .10 miles, emailed the city manager who emailed the mayor who gave me permission to hide the cache, got my container loaded with swag, head back to the park with my container ready to hide, find the perfect spot to hide my cache, and find a big ol' silver ammo can sitting there. And it just so happened that the park was too small to get my cache hidden anywhere else in it - the farthest I could get from the puzzle final was around 450'. At first I was a little peeved that I'd put all that work into my cache only to find that someone else had bogarted my spot, then decided that life goes on, laughed about the coincidence, and used the TB I found in the puzzle final to find the listing and took advantage of the free smiley. In my log, I explained how I found the final without solving the puzzle, and the CO hasn't deleted it, so I'm still assuming they're okay with my "found" log.

I think you need to move the final away from the Canada Post mailbox in order for this one to be unarchived.

So I sent in the request form when they first hit the site, then I went to an Army school for a month, expecting to see a gecko in my mail when I got home. Alas, it wasn't there - so, am I to assume it's still on the way, or did I just not get one, and nobody had the decency to email me and tell me I got my request in too late? So if I did get my request in too late, when is another batch of these going to be available? BTW, I'm stateside this time, and not in Afghanistan like I was during the last Jeep contest, so I won't be involved in the same fiasco I was involved in with that contest (where I was excluded from ordering a Jeep to release because I was deployed and serving my country overseas).

Ran one about an hour ago and it still hasn't ran. Looks like I'm headed out the door with data from 2 days ago.

Mitsuko!

Mitsuko!!!

Test

Caches in Iraq and Afghanistan are the same as anywhere else - they run the gamut from bison tubes and film canisters to rubbermaid containers, and there's even a couple Earthcaches that I know about. I never used a military-grade GPS to find caches when I was in country - we are allowed to have our own Garmins and DeLormes and whatnot - we're just careful about OPSEC when we're plugging coords into our personal GPS. They aren't any more temporary than caches anywhere else - when the original cache hider rotates out, there is usually someone else on base that caches who can make sure the cache is okay - like everywhere else, where there are caches where the hider hasn't logged on in years, but they still have active caches where the geocaching community will replace logbooks, replace containers, etc.

Subaru Outback - My 2009 has great ground clearance, and the only time I've gotten it stuck was when I was driving on I-94 in Western Minnesota in blowing snow, got whited out by a passing truck, and had to stand on the brakes when there was someone (in a Toyota Rav 4) crawling along and practically parked in front of me when the dust cleared. Of course, I lost traction on the ice and ended up in three feet of fresh snow in the median. I get around 25 mpg, which is decent for an all-wheel drive. Mud, dirt, dried salt, etc. give it character, but it also cleans up pretty nice, too. Mine came with two sets of floor mats - carpet for summer, and rubber for winter and mud season.

Did you go check the physical log book? If they didn't sign the log book in the cache, and you have every right to delete his log, and you have every right to report them to TPTB if they continue to give you a hard time.

Sometimes my cell phone will cause some RF interference with the radio in my car, as well as the radio in my house when I leave my cell too close to the radio - maybe cell phones have the same effect on GPS receivers when they're too close together?

I just found a forum that has links to North Face, Outdoor Research, and Merrill - http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26437 - from what I see there, they mostly give deals to SOTF and SWAT - hopefully my future as a surveyor will be enough to work my way in.

I used www.usstandardissue.com to get prescription ballistic sunglasses when I was deployed, and I'm planning to use them again to get normal prescription Oakley sunglasses now that I'm back ('cause lets face it, when we wear our "deployment goggles" in public, we're cool for about 20 minutes, then after that, we just look like dorks). I also plan to look into the North Face deal - every winter, I end up leaving a couple pairs of my black North Face Windstopper gloves behind at caches, ski lodges, gas pumps, ATMs, etc., so it would behoove me if I can buy them in bulk with a military discount.

Vasque is a Red Wing brand, even though they aren't made in the Minnesota plant. I just wore out my second pair of Vasque Clarion GTX boots, and I normally get 5-6 years out of them, but I also have high arches and there's another bump on my feet aft of my pinky toes, so I'm hard on footwear (it has also made life interesting for me when rear-entry ski boots went out of vogue about 20 years ago, but that's a different topic). I also use them as my "daily drivers" (to coin a phrase from classic car owners) - wearing them when I know I'm going to do some light hiking during the day to find a few caches, or if I know I'm going to be in the field during my Land Surveying classes. And since my winter activities involve moving around which would make wearing heavier snow boots impractical, my Vasques with gators have been my winter footwear for quite a while, and I've also strapped snowshoes to them on a few occasions. Someone with "normal" feet who uses their hiking boots solely for hiking and keeps up with treating the leather should get at least twice the life out of them that I do. The only major drawback I've had with them has been the soles wearing out too fast - since they are a molded sole that is proprietary to Vasque, a cobbler can't replace the whole sole but will instead grind down the old sole and glue on a new sole. You can also send them to Vasque to get a new molded sole put on, but by the time you pay for shipping, etc., you're better off just buying a new pair of boots or having a cobbler work on them for $60. The Clarions I've owned so far have had to be replaced when the leather upper starts to split where my foot bends when I walk (and where there's a bump on my foot behind my pinky toe). Also, REI no longer carries them in the store, and they are available online only - like any boot you plan to own for quite a while, I'd suggest getting them fitted at the store and walking around for a while unless you are getting a replacement for a style and brand of boot you already own. My last pair of Clarions started splitting after winter started here in Minnesota, and I couldn't wait for another pair to arrive in the mail, so I had to buy a pair of Vasque Wasatch GTX boots. I've only had them for a couple of weeks, but so far I'm happy with them. They are a couple of ounces heavier than the Clarions. I've been able to go caching with them right out of the box and I haven't gotten any blisters. The leather is pre-treated, but I'm still going to subject them to Sno-Seal when I feel it's needed. They also came with a Vibram sole instead of the proprietary Vasque sole, as well as rubber toe pieces, which should prevent the splitting I've experienced in the the past. I'll repost here in 5-6 years to let you know if they've outlasted the Clarions I've owned in the past.

I've been geocaching for nearly 10 years, and attributes are relatively new - when they started attributes, I added them to the caches I currently had out, but I'm not in the habit of adding them to my new hides. I also rarely look at the attributes when I look at a cache page (besides, they don't even show up when I look up the cache description on my Oregon). Through looking at the D/T rating, cache size, and reading the description, I've always been able to have a positive attribute-free caching experience.

They just came through - now I can get off the computer and go caching!

Are the PQ's broken again? I ran one yesterday at 15:44 PST (after the update) and it came through right away, and I ran another one about 1/2 hour ago that hasn't. I looked for PQ's in them newfangled Feedback forums, but couldn't find them, so I don't know if this is a widespread issue or just me.

I've been geocaching for over 8 years and I still post quite a few DNFs. Evergreen tree micros, rock piles and playground equipment will usually require a couple visits. But the challenge is one of the reasons I keep caching - if I always found the cache in the first place I looked when I reached GZ, then the sport would have grown really boring really quick. Some of my best cache adventures have ended up with a DNF at the end of them.

Yep, they're starting to come in. Thanks, Jeremy!