Mr.Benchmark

I think stayfloopy's comments are right on the mark. Most of the guys here locally who seem to get lots of FTFs have done all of the caches near them. Wouldn't YOU try for a new cache a mile or two away from you if the next nearest one was 10-15 miles away or more? I don't want to seem unhelpful, because I appreciate your frustration. (Well - a little bit - I don't care much about FTF. The one FTF I've logged frankly seemed *exactly* like the other caches I've logged.) You need to be faster, or get up earlier or stay up later if you want to be FTF. (I got my FTF at about 1:30 AM.) I've got a friend who has nabbed a bunch of FTF's. He gets up really early to do them, or he gets them over his lunch hour on the day they are hidden. His schedule is fairly flexible. Frequently this is a key to getting FTF - being able to get to the cache as quickly as possible. If you aren't able or aren't willing to do what it takes to get to the cache first, there's not much to be done about it. Another thing I've noticed that seems to help is that frequently new caches are placed in areas not terribly distant from old caches. If you've done most of the caches in the area, you are liable to be familiar with the general area where the new cache is hidden. This has to be at least a small advantage sometimes. So find some more caches - whether you are 1st or 2nd or 50th. Most of the folks I've seen who get lots of FTF's spend a LOT more time geocaching than I do. So I figure they deserve what they get. That someone else has advantages that you don't that helps them with this aspect of the game may seem unfair - but that's life.

QUOTE ( @ --) You're right, you don%2 Thanks for confirming this.

Thanks, so much for your answer. I understand. I think that's a great attitude. I asked because I've heard otherwise very intelligent people say things that sounded foolhardy to me.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a great time if one or more of those things happened. Those are usually my favorite caches. Log: Had to jump off a 50 foot cliff, got a compound fracture to my fibula, ... I don't get it. I see this attitude a lot and it puzzles me. I've done a few caches now where I've had odd things happen to me during the cache, or where I did something really foolish and made my task a whole lot harder than it needed to be. I've gotten a couple of funny stories from these experiences - but I can't exactly use the word "fun" to describe the experience. I do sometimes have fun telling about them afterwards, though. Is that the part you enjoy about these experiences? But I don't go out caching thinking "boy, I hope I can find a way to make that 10 minute park-n-grab take an hour because I decide to park illegally and then bushwack a shortcut straight through the thorns so that I can start out 400 feet closer to the cache."

Yes, I tell little white lies sometimes. I never complain that I didn't enjoy the cache. Not all the caches I've done have been stellar. A couple have been kind of dull. A couple have involved a pointlessly long walk, or been overly complicated, or both. I don't feel like I should tell the cache owner "I hated this one!" because others might well enjoy it, and they did go to the effort to place it. I only complain if I feel there were issues with the cache such as a seriously incorrect terrain rating or pointless hazards on a low diff/terrain cache. (Stuff that could get a new player in trouble - on high terrain / high diff. caches I figure you better know what you are doing anyway, so all's fair.) Also, I only complain about these things if they aren't mentioned on the cache page - if you got fair warning about a hazard, that's all you can really expect. You can deal with it or not at that point - it's your choice and your problem. This is rare though. Usually I just blow it off and figure whatever I didn't like was in fact my problem.

This has happened to me exactly two times. I frequently cache in the middle of the night, though, so it doesn't surprise me that I don't meet other cachers very often.

I'm sorry, but this is just not a reasonable argument. You can justify *not* doing anything with this reasoning. Homelessness and poverty are difficult, seemingly insoluble problems. Saying "how can you do X while there's still homeless people" means that you'll never do anything at all. It does not have to be an either / or situation. It is most unlikely that someone will starve because of a letter about land usage in a game written to a congressperson. It is our representatives job to listen to requests like this. They spend lots of time trying to figure out who's going to vote for them and why, and how to get the money to get re-elected. You may as well tell 'em what it takes to get yours. It is their job after all. And hey - at least you are asking them about a problem that may well have a simple solution, unlike homelessness. It is perfectly fine if you think it is a big waste of time writing to your elected representatives about geocaching. It may well be a big waste of time. I find your attempt to take the moral high-ground by *not* doing anything to be somewhat lacking, however.

They will be equal. I'd use WGS-84, it's the default for coords on this site. UTM is useful if you are using maps that use it. (Then it's really useful.) Welcome to geocaching - this game is really fun!

Mostly it's a miniature version of the same feeling I get when I solve a problem at work. It's not quite the same feeling - after all I'm not really doing anything all that hard that a bunch of other people won't successfully accomplish before and after me. Still, I get a little feeling of success, and I like that. (I know this is a very silly way to feel!) Kind of depends on the situation: 1. I feel clever if I found something quickly. 2. I feel really clever if I found something that was kind of tricky, and took a moderate amount of work. (It's hard on the arms reaching to pat myself on the back like that!) 3. I feel mostly relieved if the cache was not fun (a rarity), or if I just had trouble finding it. Sort of an "I got you you little so and so" kind of a feeling. Surprisingly, this still ends up being fun too, because at least I don't have to obsess over finding the thing any more...

The pocket queries are kind of cool, I think, at least if you use a PDA. Whether that, and members-only caches are enough to justify the price of membership is pretty questionable - you do have a point. Mostly I joined just because I thought the site was nice and I have gotten a lot of benefit from it - don't want to see it flame out like so many other .coms. (And truthfully, I didn't think about sponsorships - I'm so naive sometimes!) I think they can afford a tiny little bit of arrogance here - this site seems to be about the best one I've seen for geocaching. (Meaning no disrespect to the other sites.)

I'm not sure I understand this. Why is placing a members only cache any different than placing a cache that can only be reached by an experienced rock climber? Both are exclusionary. Big deal, at least in my area, there's hundreds of caches - if you find one that excludes you it's not a big deal. Move on to the next one! I guess I could understand people being frustrated by MO caches if 90% of them in their area are MO. But even if that were the case, I'd still think this was less of a problem than say 90% of the caches being terrain 5's, or difficulty 5's. Either would exclude a LOT of people, and it would be a whole lot harder to get in the club of people who could find these caches. I have no problem with people placing caches that exclude me. This is a game. If they set one up I can't handle, that's my problem, not theirs. Maybe it will be terrific fun for someone else. It's their effort and expense, I see no reason why I should get a say in it. I vote with whether or not I find the cache. If I don't agree with the way local cachers are hiding most of the caches, I think the best way for me to do something about it is to hide some of my own that I think would be fun for someone else! He paid extra for the privilege - he can do whatever he wants! I don't think he was implying that non members are more likely to be thieves - we're talking about one or two bad apples in any area, no reflection on the general population. Briansnat's assertion is that people who plunder caches are also too cheap to join GC.COM. I have no idea whether or not this is true in general. It might be so - I can't say. I asked why people place MO caches just to get some insight on why people think this is neccessary or fun. I got that. I may or may not agree with them, but I certainly don't see any reason to be annoyed about it. I'm not sure I'd want to limit a cache to the smaller population of members, but maybe I will. (If enough of my caches had been stolen, I might try darn near anything! And I've got nothing against supporting this site - I've derived much benefit from it.) Hey, I'm not sure I'd create a cache that required highly specific skills to find, either, but people do, and someone apparently enjoys them. I know it kind of sucks to be excluded, but seriously, is a MO cache that big of a deal? I just don't see it... Thanks by, the way, for everyone who gave an opinion on this - I learned a lot!

I'm not sure anyone here can really help you - it sounds like there's other issues going on with your marriage, certainly it sounds as if your wife doesn't trust you very much. If so, that is a pretty fundamental problem. Are there any activities your wife would accept? If you took up golf, would she mind? Golf is a pretty "regular" kind of a game. I'm not suggesting you play golf - I'm just saying that it sounds like she wouldn't even approve of an activity like that. (And if she does approve of it, you can point out the expenses involved in golf - geocaching is pretty cheap!) My wife had no interest in this game whatsoever. So what I did was I went along with her on one of her hobbies, and convinced her to then go along with me on a couple of geocaches. (It was only fair - I went with her.) One of them was a virtual that involved an art exhibition. She's an artist, so I knew she'd like that. I was able to point out that without geocaching, we'd never have found this spot. The other was a cache that involved a short hike through some local nature trails. I picked a lovely autumn day to do the cache. We walked around the trails, and finally found the cache. (Sanity, by 9Key). She enjoyed it, and will probably cache with me sometimes now. Certainly it doesn't seem stupid to her anymore. (She drives around a lot, and has been telling me about places she's noticed where I could hide caches.) Both caches were rather well executed, which helped. She never had a problem with my going out caching, even when she thought it was a silly game. I usually cache alone and at night so she might have actually had fairly logical grounds for objecting for safety reasons. (Every now and then I wonder about this myself!) Hope things work out for you - best of luck!

I hadn't thought of that. Depending on where you live, that could be a mighty good reason indeed. Thanks!

I'm curious, what are the benefits of making a members only cache? I can see the benefit to geocaching.com - if there are great member only caches it gives people incentive to be a premium member. (Well, maybe - but there's about a buzillion great non-member caches, so the member only caches would have to be something else...) But what's in it for me? Is it purely a question of altruism - helping out gc.com? Not trying to be cynical or to knock geocaching.com - I'm extremely grateful to them - just wondering why someone would do this? (Not saying that helping out gc.com is bad thing, not at all!) I'm just starting to place caches, so I'd like to understand people's thoughts about member-only caches. If it's a super-fun thing to do, then I'd consider placing one. But it seems to me as though I'd leave out a lot of people in my area who aren't premium members, and that doesn't seem like a good thing. (But maybe I'm just not thinking about this the right way.) Sorry if this is a silly question - I really am just curious.

I usually cache alone, and most of the time at night. This is most likely an intensely stupid thing to do, but it's when I have the time. (Also, I kind of like nighttime.) I have some hope though - my wife is starting to get interested in this.

9Key, perhaps you could use a portable sonogram unit and have your baby log a cache while still fetal. Once born, you could count the age as a negative number from date of birth. That would be hard to beat! Congrats on the young'un, by the way!

I think there is a 97% probability that "lessenergy" is the same person as "vonbluvens". It is amazing, really, that such a person as "lessenergy" would immediately show up on the first day the forums reopen moments after the person who originated this thread was banned. I think only 97% likely, though, as the reopening of the forums could well have served as a synchronizing event, allowing multiple lunatics to finally froth at the mouth at the same time in a public forum. If they are the same person, they are relatively sophisticated - you have to give 'em that! Really, though, it makes little difference if they are two individuals or just one. Whatever the case, it certainly seems to me that they've derived several hours of entertainment from all of this.

This seems out of date! 3 remotes is not a mark of geekiness, not for the past few years anyway. My aunt and probably your cousin has 3 remotes. (TV, DVD, cable or satellite!) You are a geek if you need one of these to control your system, and you programmed it yourself: universal remote Without this, I'd have >10 remotes... I'd think extra bonus geek points were in order if your remote was insanely complicated to use for anyone who hadn't memorized the schematic of your home entertainment system. (Well OBVIOUSLY to listen a CD in the family room you "select CD as the source for REC OUT" - I mean Duh!).

The real question is why are you still debating this? People have basically told you the same things about 37 different ways. I see three possibilities: 1. You really want information so that you can be sure you've formed the correct opinion. 2. You saw a geocache once, didn't like the idea, and you are here to change our opinions - make us change our evil ways. 3. You are here to stir up trouble, albeit in an unusually polite manner. The longer you can keep this going, the better for you. Perhaps this is one big joke for you. Perhaps it's a bid for attention. The more spurious rationalizations you generate the better - it just keeps the topic going. I think we can discount reason #1. You've clearly made up your mind. You've decided it's OK to take a cache because it offends some abstract notion you have of the natural world. You've rationalized this, and nothing any of us will say makes any difference. As for reason #2 - well, good luck to you. You are unlikely to convince us that our game is harmful to the environment, particularly compared to many other activities. That leaves reason #3. If this isn't the case, and you really are sincere about this, please feel free to prove me wrong. List the caches you think are questionable, and I'm sure the person who approved these caches will contact you. The cache approvers typically know and talk with the local land managers, almost certainly to a greater extent than you do. Caches must be approved before they are listed on this site. This process isn't perfect, so it's possible you have in fact found a mistake. So please, list your specific complaints - the problem caches that are placed where they are not allowed. (Not there's 4 or 5 bad ones in the woods someplace - the cache or waypoint names!) Otherwise, I think this is an exercise in mental masturbation on your part.

If you saw an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road, would you feel you had the right to move it if the owner, or authorities had not done so within a two week period? Why are you looking for caches like this? Why would you not just contact the land manager if you found such a cache? If they want it to be gone, they will remove it - it's their job. I think it would be polite to contact the cache owner first, and if you get no response in a month or two, contact the land manager. How long you wait to do this is obviously your call, but this is seriously not your job.

Absolutely not. The caches are not your property, and you are not the land owner or manager. What gives you the right? Contact the cache owner and / or local approver. They may have been placed in a forbidden area inadvertantly - give the cache owner a chance to move it. Also, are you absolutely 100% certain that the cache is in an unpermitted area? Maybe the person who placed the cache got permission. In any case, it is not your business to enforce park rules. If someone places a cache on YOUR land, by all means, do what you will with it.

Generally people won't place caches in places where there's obvious illegal activity. There's a cache near me that was suspended for a time because the cache hider discovered car thieves had found the same location and used it to strip a car. (Car was found on blocks). He reported it to the police, and suspended the cache for several weeks. (It's open again now, car is gone, thieves are gone, and the blocks are now a festive decoration for the area near the cache.) Had it happened again, I am quite sure he'd have killed the cache altogether. I'd post a log on the page of the cache where you found these things - other people will want to know about this and avoid the area. Also, email the owner of the cache - I bet they will do something about it. Like suspend or relocate the cache. I think you'll find most of the cache owners in Dallas to be pretty responsible.

What about this cache: The Golf Ball Graveyard The cache container is a *lot* more valuable than the contents of this cache! (By the way, I really liked this cache - it made me laugh.)

quote: Caches should be hidden in a place that is visible to a person standing up There's a game that's really a lot like geocaching that many of us have played that exactly follows your suggestions! It's called "Easter Egg Hunt". Here's how you play it - you take eggs, you hard boil them, and then dye them bright colors. You then put the eggs in places where they'll be hidden - but not too hard to find! It requires a lot of creativity, especially the part where you get to dye the eggs pretty colors. I bet you'd really like this game - maybe you should try it! (And think about it, since the eggs are organic, if they aren't found, they'll eventually decompose and disappear.)

Get something with DEET in it. I usually use Repel 40% DEET. It works quite well. I sometimes use the 100% DEET if I'm going to be outdoors for many, many hours - especially if the mosquitoes are bad. However, there is an additional hazard with DEET, especially the higher concentrations - it can damage some types of plastics, so be careful how you use it. (I've had some problems with my red LED flashlights melting a bit when I used the 100% DEET from Off or Repel.) I've also had pretty good luck with Sawyer controlled release repellent. What it does is encapsulate the DEET so that it is slowly released over time. This sounds like BS, but it seems to work, and is way less nasty than some of the other sprays. (The Sawyer controlled release formula is a lotion, and it's about 20% DEET.) DEET is the most effective insect repellent known. It works extremely well on mosquitos and chiggers. I've heard that it's not as effective against some biting flies. (I don't know if this is true myself, we mostly don't get these in Texas - possibly the *only* biting insect we don't have.) Permethrin is another option. It is a contact insecticide that only works on clothing and gear. The oils in your skin actually break it down. The nice thing about this is that you treat your garments with the stuff, and for the next 10-14 days you don't just repel insects - you KILL them if the land on your clothing. (If that doesn't sound good, I don't know what does!) You can launder your garments a couple of times and the stuff is supposed to last.