ScottJ

quote:Originally posted by Pantalaimon:Its funny to me that you call this method "primative." I've been caching since September 01, and this is still how I do it. Don't read anything into the word "Primitive" that isn't there. It's just a comparative term. The difference between "cutting edge" and "primitive" might be about 20 minutes in this age of technological development. The GPX pocket queries I get now are helpful to me because I can carry the entire metro area's caches with me, and decide on a whim to go hit one. I have precious little free time, and this allows me to cache more often by removing the "planning" requirement. There's no reason anyone can't do it the old way, and I have on occasion. To each his own, that's the best part of this sport. Some don't even use a GPS -- now THAT's primitive, and I love it. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I've been caching since December, 2000, closing in on my three-year anniversary. Geocaching has changed a lot. Most of it's for the better. In the area where I live, Atlanta, there were very few caches when I started out. There were no "10-cache Saturdays" then ... if you found two caches in a day, it was considered something of a coup! I drove 60+ miles from my house to bag my first cache, and closer to 100 miles for my second. When I started, there were no "volunteer approvers", at least not of the sort we have today. Jeremy and his pals did everything, which even then must have been quite a workload. Approval guidelines were much more lax because we hadn't encountered many of the problems we have today -- caches were still legal in the National Parks, for example. The web site was much more primitive than today. If you wanted to hunt a cache, you keyed the coordinates into your GPS by hand and carried the printed sheet with you for hints! The new political climate, the new rules, the new guidelines, and the new attitude have changed the sport pretty radically, and that has an upside and a downside. On the positive side, more scrutiny over new caches has resulted in fewer incidents that give our sport a black eye. On the other hand, necessary or not, the restrictions do interfere with the fun. No matter what's going on in the forums, though, and no matter what's happening with the politics, the web site, or the people, it's still fun to grab the backpack and go find a cache. I am not blessed with the copious free time that some have, so my numbers are humble, but I can honestly say I've enjoyed every minute. Except for those #@*(&$ briars at Brer Rabbit, that guy is a SADIST SADIST SADIST! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

There are only a couple of major competing sites, and they're both far less popular than this one. Hardly worthy of the title "competition", really. I have noticed that a lot of caches are double-posted -- here and on n@v!c@c#e. That makes their existence even more ... redundant. I do think the insecurity and the censorship I see here are a little childish ... I've been in many Exxon stations, and it's not illegal to say the word "Chevron" in any of them. Likewise, it's not illegal to yell "TARGET" in a crowded Wal-Mart. If it were, one would really wonder about how confident those companies were about the quality of their product and the loyalty of their customers. You can say n@v!c@c#e as many times as you want in front of me, and my caches will still get logged HERE, on the "real" site. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Well, if it's on private property such as a Wal-Mart parking lot, we are supposed to assume that the placer had permission from the property owner. Otherwise, the approver would have denied it -- of all the reasons for which I've seen caches denied, this is one of the more clear-cut ones. Define "irresponsible". -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Edited ... mentioned the same cache mtn-man is talking about, THEN saw his post -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Admins steering clear of the forums? It's an extreme idea, but it does have merits. After all, the action of the antagonists would be no fun without the predictable REACTION from TPTB ... eventually, all the antagonists would just get bored and have to go geocaching. Unfortunately, it can't happen. If the admins stopped reading and posting, the rift would just deepen and the adversarial feelings would just get worse. Someone just needs to take the high road. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by umc:I don't think that it can be an issue if nobody can cite a specific instance where its been a problem. That's what I thought. Unfortunately, the reason no one can cite a specific example (if I'm to believe what I'm hearing) is that the people who CAN cite such examples have been banned from posting for a while. So much for that "mature attitude" I was alluding to earlier ... and remember in another thread when I mentioned that the admins are sometimes a little guilty of allowing their buttons to be pushed, and descending to the same level as the instigators? Case in point. *sigh* PS - I don't personally CARE if an admin gets FTF on a cache, so long as he didn't use his position as admin to his advantage -- going straight to the end of a multi, for example, or hitting it either before or immediately after it's posted. There are no extra points for FTF anyway, so who suffers? Let's be up front about it, though ... honesty never hurt, did it? Well, only when my wife asks if her butt looks big. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

GPS V: $500 Rino 120: $240 Rino 110 for wife: $200 Metroguide all regions: $100 MapSource TOPO: $100 Divorce: Pending -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Accidental duplicate -- now just taking up space because for some reason, I'm not allowed to delete my own posts! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Nice shot, Bilder. I was in Alaska back in April and May ... didn't get to do any Geocaching really, because I was working too hard, but there might be another chance. The caches seem densest around Anchorage ... I flew into that airport, then immediately drove 'way out into the middle of nowhere, a town called Glennallen about 180 miles up the Glenn Highway. Drove back to Anchorage 3 weeks later, just in time to fly out. I have to say that the wilderness between Glennallen and Anchorage was some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by mufasa1023:What if anything would be the correct action (if any) upon finding religious, political, social or commercial objects/literature within a cache? The question suggests the answer. NOTHING is the correct thing to do ... unless, of course, you're interested in trading for one of the items. Those items aren't forced on you -- you don't HAVE to look at them, and you don't HAVE to take them. If you don't agree with what those items have to say, leave them alone, ignore them. By taking any other action, you are putting forth your OWN agenda. If the cache owner is against that sort of thing being placed in his cache, he'd say so, and he's the only one who ought to be taking any action, in my opinion. This should not be construed to mean that OBJECTIONABLE material (pornography, guns, drugs, etc.) should not be dealt with immediately -- those are not politically, religiously, or socially charged, they're just plain inappropriate, and that's a horse of a different color. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Just let us know your full name, what troop you are the scoutmaster of, and your local council and district. Should be easy to verify that information, of course, and I don't see why any real scoutmaster wouldn't be willing to share it. And there was silence ... for 12 days. I was giving the guy the benefit of the doubt until he clammed up, I have an old GPS that needs a good home -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

It just means it was found and verified to be where it's supposed to be. Confusing term, but what do you expect from government?! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I'd like to think that our approvers have a more mature attitude than that, and would not do something so obviously improper. If you have an example, though, you should share it. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

My GPSV is always on the dash, and when I'm not headed for a cache, it stays in the "big 2 fields" mode with speed displayed. The GPS is far, far more accurate than most car speedometers, even under poor signal conditions, and I have found my car speedometer reports 65 MPH when I'm really doing 62 or so. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I read this thread again from the top and one question pops into my mind. What kind of person wants their land cleaned up, but "does not permit" you to cart off the really ugly stuff like tires and car batteries? Do they LIKE having that stuff on the premises? Scott -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

It's not the size of your first aid kit, it's how you use it ... in other words ... size doesn't matter? Seriously, a few essentials usually are good enough. A box of rugged fabric band-aids, your choice of antiseptic, snakebite kit, first aid tape, gauze pads, an ace bandage, scissors, and an epi-pen if you're allergic to bee stings. No need to carry a whole EMT kit -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

142 within a 10 mile radius of 30345 (NE Atlanta). Not exactly a contender but not bad! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by pdumas:I use my V almost every weekend and I'm not having this problem. Ditto ... I use mine every day, it's mounted to my dashboard. So far, knock on wood, no problems like that have befallen me! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

You would have to define "Standard". Sounds like some trips to the Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance, Cobra, and Brunton web sites would be a good start, those are the major manufacturers. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Make it easy on yourself. Most GPS units have an "automatic magnetic declination" feature, just turn it on, and then forget declination altogether ... it'll take care of itself. Leave your compass's declination setting (if it has one) zeroed, because with the GPS set this way, you're always going to work in magnetic bearings. Contrary to what some others have said, it is important to make sure that detail is taken care of. Having a good compass and knowing how to use it can really make a difference in finding some tough caches. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Phonetically? Depends ... either: "West thirty-three degrees, thirty-three point five eight three minutes longitude" in casual conversation ought to suffice for the first one. The second one isn't really valid -- it ought to have a decimal point somewhere, as in W33.85943°, which would be "West thirty three point eight five nine® four three degrees longitude". -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I have a Camelbak HAWG and it has worked out very well in terms of size. Nice big water reservoir. In the pack, there's a nice front pocket where I can carry GPS, compass, headlight, flashlights, mini binoculars. The roomy "main" compartment is big enough for my trade goods box, battery box, extra shirt, gloves, and a small (7.62mm) ammo box cache. The pack is designed so that it collapses down with elastic and snug straps so that it's still comfortable and tight when I carry less. The shoulder straps have loops and extra webbing where you can clip things that need to be close at hand. I keep my Rino clipped to my right shoulder strap with the antenna at shoulder level, and it maintains lock very well in that position. I'm sure the MULE is just as good, but when I looked at it it seemed too small. If you have the extra cash I would go for the military version (Team Shuey was offering a reasonable deal at one time) ... tougher stitching, tougher material, more compartments. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

My geocaching backpack, complete with Rino and trade goods, goes everywhere I do. Even if I forget the backpack somehow, my GPS V is right there on the dashboard! When I go on business trips, I whittle it down to just the Rino, a good compass, and a couple of choice trade items. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by Sir Cache-A-Lot:I would have to disagree. I have introduced several people to geocaching. None of them have viewed the forums. It's normally not needed. I have talked to them about issues I have read there, but most people don't seem interested in the forums. If you hear about Geocaching through some media source and decide to do some Google searches to read up on it, chances are you'll find yourself here, in these forums. Likewise, people who see Geocaching as a social sport rather than a solitary activity tend to migrate here from the link on the main Geocaching site. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)