Gan Dalf
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Posts posted by Gan Dalf
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This is actually something that I have given a great deal of thought to. As I said, I thought of this not long after I started caching but just never got it off the ground. I even wrote to Groundspeak at one point to ask about a way around armchairing it. When I first started reading this thread my fear was that I have been scooped. From the sounds of it the jury is still out on whether or not that is true but that is my own fault for taking so long to implement it.
I'm noit sure I would require a find in every town or city (speaking for myself and how I had thought about doing this) so it might not have to wait. If you'd like to take it off line, feel free to contact me and we can exchange ideas.
A few thoughts.
The King County Chanllenge (?) recognizes both the armchair and fresh finds. If you want to limit to fresh finds then the find must be on or after the challenge published date. Second finds not allowed.
Are you going to have a definitive list of cities/towns? Or a general definition of what applies and given number of finds to complete?
How are you going to nail down the town limits? Need some way to determine that.
What happens if I found all two caches in a small town and I can't hide a vacation cache? Perhaps a beer and some pizza for a local cacher will provide a solution
Yes J, all things that I have thought of and all reasons why I have not yet put it together. If this is really something that people want then perhaps a seperate thread to discuss it (as was done with the KCTG challenge) would be appropriate. I've got a few ideas, as I just sent to GeoReapers. If you think it's worth it lets talk about it and I'll put it together. It's something I've been thinking about doing more and more lately...
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This is actually something that I have given a great deal of thought to. As I said, I thought of this not long after I started caching but just never got it off the ground. I even wrote to Groundspeak at one point to ask about a way around armchairing it. When I first started reading this thread my fear was that I have been scooped. From the sounds of it the jury is still out on whether or not that is true but that is my own fault for taking so long to implement it.
I'm noit sure I would require a find in every town or city (speaking for myself and how I had thought about doing this) so it might not have to wait. If you'd like to take it off line, feel free to contact me and we can exchange ideas.
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About four months ago, our team completed the Geo-Triad, which was quite gratifying as relatively new cachers. As we were driving home from the APE cache, we were trying to figure out what would be a great new challenge for our team to complete. We didn't know anything about the Delorme Challege (hadn't even heard of it) so we decided that as a challenge to ourselves, we would find a cache in every city or town in Washington state (284 in total) in 12 months. We have made a good deal of headway since starting this, but it was a cache in Warden that made me sorta wonder...what is the perfect example of a cache in the cities we haven't hit?
So, please reccomend caches in your cities that are a perfect example of a good cache there. We have a good deal of Southweastern Washington (But nothing east of Tri-Cities-Pullman, etc..) and almost all sections of Northern Washington to cover (Actually, just about everything north of Lacey). We truly appreciate anything you can offer (and even maybe a place to eat, we love food) and thank you truly for your help.
Now, THAT'S a challenge I could sink my teeth into. Someone needs to create that officially so I can try for it! Great idea posted - using the favorites list and the new "favorite" feature.
I have thought of creating just such a challenge almost since I started caching (I've talked with jcar about it a couple of times) but wasn't sure how it would be recieved. If others are agreeable to it (sounds liek something they'd like to do) then I would npot mind taking on a project such as this.
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I saw a thread once in these forums where someone said that a good rule of thumb should be to strive for a caching karma of 1 where caching karma is the ratio of the number of your finds to the number of finds on caches that you have placed. That way you are giving back as much as you have taken from the game. I have found that can be easily obtained by keeping your hides between 1-2% of your finds and by placing a variety of different cache types and locations.
I agree with the OP that some cachers hide more caches than they should based on the quality of those hides. I've always thought that those hiders like (or even need) getting the notifications that Cache Owners get when someone logs their caches and so they place lots of caches to maximize the number of e-mails they are getting.
The problem I see with hiding so many caches is that it will be difficult for the CO to maintain them all and this is evident by the high number of DNF and needs maintanence logs placed on caches from CO's with a high number of caches placed.
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the problem I see with purging the data is that if you have any caches with updated coords in them, say from a Puzzle cache that you've changed the coords for, then that change you've made is going to be ereased when the data base is purged. I have anywhere from 50 to 100 puzzles that I have solved but not found at any given time and to go through and update the coords for those everytime I upload a new pocket query can be a very tedious task.
That is why I have a notification set up to let me know when a cache gets archived in a 50 mile radius around my home coordinates. That way, anytime a cache gets archived I can just go into the data base and manually delete it.
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Saw towtrkdug on Northbound I-5 today, sometime between 3 and 4 just before he exited to Southbound I-405 in Lynnwood. Tried to get his attention but he was too busy talking on his radio.
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Sunday, October 24th, around 2:00. Saw a large Blue SUV or truck with a TB Dog Tag sticker in the rear window turning into the parking lot of the Silver Lake Costco.
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This will be our first event. We've only been geocaching for a few weeks and have only 6 caches under our belt
What do we do as a brief recap here? From my understanding, we all meet at 6:30am on Saturday at location 1 of somewhere (looks like several drafts of the map have been made) and then just follow the pack?My advice is to come to the pre-event dinner at 6:30 PM at Chico's Pizza Parlor, 530 W Valley Rd, N 47.1396 W 119.2854. You should be able to get all of the cache machine and logistical information there.
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um... I was talking to the OP
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I wasn't sure I was going to post anything having only met Brian briefly a couple of times but after reading all of the logs on this thread I thought of something that I could add. The best I can do is to offer my condolences to all of you that knew him and whom he called friends, I am truly saddened for you and at the same time relieved for him that he is no longer in such pain. I can add a story though that might bring a smile to your faces, at least I hope it does.
It was almost 2 years ago now. jcar had related to me that he and Allanon were in need of a cache to be placed for a certain map in order to complete the Snohomish County Thomas Guide Challenge. I looked at the map in question and found an area that I thought would be a good place for a cache and took it upon myself to place one there. A few days before I placed the cache I was on a cache run in Monroe and decided to go and find his cache in front of his house. At the time I didn't know that is where it was but when I pulled up and saw his jeep in the driveway with Geocaching and WSGA stickers on it I figured that is where I must be.
When he first placed the cache he had put it in the ground and placed a flower pot over it. I think he must have failed to realize that flower pots have holes in the bottom of them and so every time he watered the flowers all of the excess water drained through the pot directly into the cache. The cachers who had been there before me had placed a travel bug in the cache that was a medium sized plushie, stuffed animal and it was thoroughly soaked with water. Not wanting to just leave it like that I decided to go knock on his door and tell him what I discovered. At first the door was not answered but just as I was turning to leave the door opened. I turned around and there was Brian standing there in nothing but a pair of shorts, bare footed with no shirt on smiling and looking very much like Budha himself instead of the Allanon that I had always imagined from reading the Shanara books. It was all I could do not to chuckle.
I explained to him what I had found in his cache and we chatted for a bit more before I told him that he might soon be able to complete the map that he needed for the SCTGC. A few days later the cache published and he went out and found it right away. Here's his log:
September 17, 2008 by Allanon (2574 found)
N 47° 46.890 W 122° 07.166
WooHoo...FTF!!!...errr, ummm...Fifth to Find!
I also parked at the closer coords making it about a .3 round trip walk. Much better for my sore feet and legs than the mile from the posted parking coords.
Arrived at GZ to also find the coords bouncing around quite a bit, but I obediently followed the GPSr where it led me for 5-10 minutes before putting it away and looking around. Spotted a likely looking item and checked it out and sure enough that's where it was. I signed the log and took a couple coins to move along...I also took a few new coords sets just in case they might help others.
Oh, and the squirrels must not be liking all these people visiting their 'space' because I could hear them but not see them...but they were throwing things at me...I kept hearing stuff crashing through the branches and hitting the ground. Luckily they're not very good shots...LOL...
Thanks you FobesMan for helping my Snohomish County Thomas Guide Challenge efforts with this cache that actually fits the requirement of this page...pg 477 complete.
TFTH!!!
From that log and the brief time I spent talking to him I came to understand what all of you have related to in this thread. That he was truely a nice guy and a valued friend to those that knew him. RIP Brian! I am sure that all of the caches you are finding now are great ones.
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this might seem like a silly question but have you actually checked on the cache to see if the ones that are listed there really are? I have a travel bug "rest stop" no restrictions on bugs or coins and I am pretty clear about that in the cache description but I have had so many problems in the short time it has been there with people coming and taking bugs and not logging them out that I've made it for Premium Members only and added a pretty terse reprimand to the description for people that don't log the bugs they take out. When I placed the cache it was not my intent for it to be a place for thieves to come and harvest coins and bugs from. Some premium members are thieves as well but at least I am able to see who they migh tbe now by checking the audit log...
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I agree with it being hooey. If I activate a coin and release it, it's still mine. I'm just putting it out there to see how long it will take to reach a goal or to give other cachers a chance to see a cool coin and get another icon. If I want someone to be able to "collect" a bug or coin and make it there's I'll stick it in a cache unactivated and let the person who takes it decide what to do with it.
I haven't read the notes but my feeling is that the INTENT of the trackable to be collectible or not is to set another level of deterant for those thieves or lazies out there that take bugs out of caches and then never move them. Like people who steal travel bugs would care about something like that.
Personally the whole travel bug ownership idea has left a bad taste in my mouth. So many of the bugs and coins that I have released have gone missing that I don't even let them out anymore and the ones that are still out there, no one pays any attention to their goals anyway so whats the point? I'll still move bugs and coins, but I've soured on the whole ownership idea...
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Once again Eartha comes to the aid of distraught cachers, thanks.
If Eartha hadn't come through what I would have done was find an archived cache I had found in the past and write a note dropping the bugs. When you drop it state what you did two years ago and since they haven't responded you have been forced to resort to this.
This:
1. Gets them out of your inventory.
2. Drops them in a cache no one is going to look for
3. If the TB's owners are still active it may prod then to mark them missing
4. The CO may choose to mark them missing. I wouldn't be upset if someone did this to one of my archived caches and explained it.
Another alternative is to drop the bug in a cache that you own and then mark it missing yourself.
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I had a nearly identical thing happen shortly after I first started caching. for me it wasn't a difficult thing for me to fgiure out who was supposed to own the bug becasue I found it in a nearly brand new cache. the owner of the cache alos owned the bug and was also relatively new and so didn't know how to activate their bug. I was able to contact them but only after I had activated the bug myself. After seveeral failed attempts to transfer ownership they were simply satisfied with just leaving the bug as mine and watching it themselves.
If you have never activated a bug before there are activation codes that come with the dog tag when you buy them. There are only a few of them so it usually isn't hard to figure out which one to use. I know of one off the top of my head, I'm sure others will be able to give you ideas as well.
the first thing to do is to contact the cache owner and seee if they have any ideas. If it isn't their bug and you can't tell who placed it in th ecache from the logs, I'd just claim it as my own. It will otherwise be very difficult for you to figure out who owns the bug. Good luck.
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OK so I looked for threads and did a search (and got some weird search result back) but I can't find the info that I am sure is somewhere inside the EC forums. I have a great idea for an EC in the State in which I live but the placement would be inside the boundries of a National Park. Having found several (recently placed) EC's inside of Yellowstone last year I am sure that it is possible but I believe there are several hoops that need to be jumped through to do it. I would appriciate any advice on how to go about placing an Earthcache inside of Olympic National Park on the Washington Coast. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
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I take my responsibility of protecting my family seriously.
So does that mean that those that have a family and don't carry a handgun (while caching or otherwise) don't take the resposibility of protecting their family seriously?
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Most of my time caching is done alone although I sometimes go with a group of other cachers and have three or four times gone out on a cache run with a friend. I enjoy both but I find that when I cache alone I am able to go at my own pace (usually much faster than others) and look for caches in a way that best suits my style.
I used to be a huge FTF hound and would go out on a cache run at night to get those but that is a rare occurance anymore. Thats not because I am uncomfortable caching at night. I prefer to find caches when I go out and find that much more difficult to do at night time vs. during the day. I don't have a concealed weapons permit and I don't carry a gun (or a big stick for that matter) and although I have been uncomfortable in certain locations before there hasn't been a time when I wished I had some sort of weapon while caching.
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This quote is from a comment made on the identical thread in the TB Forums:
I just had a look at your new cache page and I must say it looks very good - I enjoyed reading the history of Snohomish.
I wonder if the link to TB history isn't showing as yet because no trackable has actually been removed from the cache? All the items that you placed are still present, plus the extra TB dropped in by fatguybp, but nothing has been taken... Maybe that "TB history" link comes into play once a retrieval has been made?
MrsB
You could be right. I checked another newer cache of mine (GC23555) that didn't start out with a bug in it but has had a couple placed in it since then and the history link is not there either. I did try retrieving one of the coins I had placed in the cache and putting it back in to see if the history link showed up and that didn't work but perhaps a more extensive history needs to develop before the link shows up. I would like to see a developer comment on this whatever the case.
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edit: posted in the website forum thread. this one should be closed out.
Yes, it is being discussed in the website forum, please go there to comment or reply and if a mod could shut this one down, thanks.
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I apologize if this issue has been reported and acknowledged already but I'd still like to see a reply even if it has; 8 pages of posts to scroll through you know.
I noticed on a cache that I just published (GC22XHD) that the "See the History" link is not present in the inventory window. Is this an intentional design change, if so, why? It was a nice feature that is useful if you are trying to track down a missing bug or coin, among other things.
I posted this problem in the TB forums as well as a seperate thread in this forum and a couple of people noted that the see the history link is present with no bugs in the inventory or one but for two or more it is not. sorry for the triple post but I wasn't sure where I should put it.
Thanks
FM
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Possibly because no TBs have been retrieved from the cache yet, only dropped in. Try retrieving one of the TBs that is in it.
Good suggestion, unfortunately I tired it and it didn't work. the "see the history" link is still not there.
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I posted this in the Travel Bug forum too but it might be more apprpriate here:
I just published a Travel Bug Rest Stop (GC22XHD, check it out! I'm pretty happy with it) and the FTF noted that he left a bug in the cache. When I went to check out the history I noticed that the link that allows you to look at the history of the bugs in a cache is no longer an option. Is this true, or am I missing something? Did this occur during the recent "update" and was it intentional? If it was intentional, why?
I'm sorry but I really liked this feature and if it was made to go away I'm wondering if anyone else feels the same way I do and if there is a chance it will be brought back given enough pressure from us.
Thanks
FM
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I still see it on a couple of other caches pages that I checked when I first saw your post. But I did notice that if a cache has two or more trackables it does not currently show up. As you said mentioned it probably is a website issue.
Tell you what, I'll head up there tomorrow and clean out all the trackable so you can see the history!
What do we do as a brief recap here? From my understanding, we all meet at 6:30am on Saturday at location 1 of somewhere (looks like several drafts of the map have been made) and then just follow the pack?
cache placing addicts/hogs
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I think it is a relative thing that depends on the cacher that is doing the hiding. You have been caching for nearly 6 years and have over 4000 finds. Given those figures I would guess that for the most part your hides are decent and that you are fairly conciencous about maintaining them. I said that some cachers hide more than they should based on the quality of the hides, I did not say Don_J hides too many caches based on the somewhat arbitrary numbers that I gave in my original reply.
Let me give you a couple of examples. Last year a guy, new to caching, shrtly after Christmas, found about 10 or 15 caches and then proceeded to hide caches at every bus stop along main thoroughfares within a five mile radius. By the time he was finished he had nearly as many hides as he did finds and the quality of those hides left a lot to be desired. Consequently they were constatnly being muggled, getting wet and soggy logs or hidden under somewhat questionaable circumstances. He quit caching and has not been on site other than to archive the caches that people have complained about for 7 months now. I think that guy hid too many caches.
There is another person who write now (I found 3 of their caches today) is hiding lamp skirt caches in parking lots all over the area. It's the only way that I've ever found a cache that they have hidden. They currently have less than 300 finds and have hidden nearly 40 caches. I think that person has hidden too many caches.
There are a couple of people around here that carry bison tubes with them where ever they go. They like to hide micro caches in heavily wooded areas with bad coords in places where there are litterally thousands of ways to hide a bison tube and then call them "clever". Granted these people have several thousand finds between them but together they have hundreds of hides (they are friends) and the majority of them are the way I have described them. I think these people have too many hides.
Yes, I continue to find these caches (actually I don't look for the bison tubes in the woods anymore because it just makes me angry) because I am one of those cachers that likes to have my map clear, but believe me I would much rather spend time looking for a well thought out traditional or solve a cool puzzle then spend my time logging these caches. It's just that those types of caches are getting fewer and further between and I take what I get when new caches publish.