majormajor42

I've been using these maps on my Oregon since last year. It all started with me taking a short trip to Europe and I didn't want to purchase maps so got them for free off the garminroutable site. Since I didn't have USA streetmaps on my new Oregon 400t yet, I started using these OSM maps for my part of the country, in and around NYC. My main project has been populating the hiking trails that I walk on while geocaching and putting them on the map. I have several miles of the long trail complete, for example. I'm not exactly sure if I'm using the potlatch exactly correct, as far as labeling my trails go. I tried to see if there was a US standard but there really isn't yet. the most important thing is that I am tracing my hikes and putting the trails on the map. someone can easily come along latter and re-label my trails at some point if a standard developed. For now, I'm making hiking trails "footpaths", partly because I like the way the red dots stand out on the map, as opposed to a plain black or brown dashed line. Now, with frequent updates, those trails of mine show up as routable trails when hiking the same routes. As far as the OP goes, I do leave my GPSr on and trace and route my driving as well, whether I am geocaching. going to work, or just about anywhere. I've been told that the more tracing information that is loaded up to the site, the better. it helps more advance users determine what the speed limit is on various roads I guess. When I do spot a problem, like a disconnected road at a state boarder, or a screwed up highway interchange, or oneway road mistakes, I usually just fix them myself in potlatch. How long a trip did you take? usually about 45 minutes Did the maps get you there? usually If not, where did they break down? oneway roads, statelines, highway interchanges Did they take you to a road that wasn't there? usually not Make you turn too late or too early? a little late but that could be GPSr's fault Route you POI that aren't there? ? some of my work are these trails

my wife just got a verizon BB Tour. In the past I've been using my Garmin GPSr and, at times, the GC WAP to get cache info if I'm somewhere that I haven't already PQ'd and loaded up to the GPSr. Now, with her TOUR, I've experimented with some success, and have several PQs going straight to my new bcaching account now. But the number one thing is finding myself in someplace new, that I didn't pre-plan to cache and therefor have no pre-loaded PQs. So I've experimented with your directions quoted. My problem is, it won't let me "check all". for some reason I have to check one box at a time. everytime I check one cache, the screen reloads, which takes time. So, have you heard of this problem happening before? I don't think it is a blackstar problem but more like a problem between the TOUR, it's browser, and the gc website. any advice?

a free work around is to, if you aren't doing it already, hide/seek a cache, and run the search for the state of Texas. The caches will be in date order with the most recent on top. The very top will be the event caches which haven't happened yet but a little down the list will be the new caches. you may even see the ones that haven't been found yet. Probably gotta click on each one to see how close they are to you. it might get tedious. There are the easier ways for members. I started out by just buying a month membership. only a few bucks.

That's a terrible thing to say about your kids, although I am a little worried about the one wearing the marshmallow suit. This is arguably the funniest forum post I've ever seen. I'm still wiping away the tears... yep. That was like NSFW funny. Laughed out loud at work and got a couple strange looks. Thanks for that one. seriously loving the Tyvex/paper suit too.

I guess, in that scenario, in a game of wide opinions, some might think it isn't fair that the early finders are kinda being rewarded with a level five terrain that they didn't "work" for. but it is just a game. Of course, you are right that T/D ratings are more about providing information to future hunters than being a checklist for past finders. I'm still thinking that if I get a good proportion of DNFs, I'll reassess and increase the difficulty by a star. while on the subject: On my newest cache, I placed it so that a person in a wheelchair, depending on upper body dexterity, could reach it. I gave it a one star terrain. It requires them to take an elevator (or stairs for the ambulatory) to get to. Problem is that the elevator is currently out. so maybe I should increase the terrain rating till the elevator is repaired? this is a simple matter while I only own a few caches. I could see where these concerns might become a little tedious for the generous few that own many many caches. keep it simple, right?

I once asked a local for a translation for a hint. He was happy to help but a little confused. Added to the fun of the hunt. the hint was "las piedras lo cubren" and this was in Puerto Rico. Something to do with rocks. I wouldn't want to read a poor translation on the cache page if the owner didn't really have a good handle on the language. better off just letting the hunters use google translate or something and figure it out. One way the owner can tell if they should even bother with trying to translate to different languages is to reassess the situation after a few weeks or months, based on what language the logs are being written in.

If I gets a smiley for a 2/2 cache and then at some point later, due to several DNFs or something, the owner changes the rating to a 3/2, does this mean that I actually found a 3/2 cache? I guess this pertains to people who like to keep track of the difficulty of the caches that they have found. I would assume that services such as notaboutthenumbers and gsak use the rating information at the time of the last "my finds" PQ and have no idea what the ratings might have been two years ago when you found a particular cache.

yeah, for CITO especially, why not give the cacher some credit it they did their part to make the event and followed through by cleaning up. I would like to hold CITO events in the neighborhood of our oldest caches as they turn 10 years old. If I'm the only one that shows up, and cleans, at least I'll get/should get a CITO smiley for my efforts. In answering the OP, I think we are all presuming good intentions. The event was made in such a way to encourage attendance. I wonder if there has ever been an event published that seemed to almost discourage attendance, or at least make it extremely challenging? Would an Admin even publish an event that takes place at 3am on a schoolnight, or takes place in the middle of the ocean?

My PERSONAL rule has been to keep my posts:# lesser than my number of smileys. A little more than 200 finds, a little less than 200 posts. A new personal rule of mine, slightly unrelated, is that I should own at least as many caches as I've FTF'd. That way I pay the whole FTF thing forward and give others just as many opportunities as I have taken. I have some catching up to do this year. But it's not a numbers game so whether it is my finds or hides, quality is key.

Awesome. I love these type of stories. I've been involved with similar situations but with TBs/Coins that have gone MIA for only one or two years. FOUR years might be a record, especially considering that Geocaching is only 10 years old and that trackables have only been around for about nine years. My peeve is when I place a TB/coin in a cache and then it goes missing. Sort of makes me feel responsible. Twice this has happened to me, where the item showed up over a year later. Seeing the watchlist email pop up really made my day. That Trackable is cute. You should take new pictures of it. You may also want to post a note for the cache you found it in so you can dip it there. Post the note, to drop off the TB. Then grab the TB again. Then you may delete the note log. Perhaps not a big deal since it isn't that far from the old cache. I've done this to get the mileage up to date.

This is why I carry spare notepads (logs) in my cache pack, along with zip lock bags and things, so I can perform maintenance. If I came across a cache with a log that was so full that I couldn't find room, I would take the spare log out of my pack and place it in the cache. I would sign it too. I would then claim a smiley, and maybe log a performed maintenance or at least say what I did in my "found cache" log. is this case any different? I would certainly advise the OP to carry a couple 'dollar store' log books in the future just in case this happens again. In addition, if the caches are easily accessible, go back and do the owner the favor of depositing new log books in these burnt caches.

until you get a specific reply from a local who knows of a particular cache that would be good for you, let me just advise that you look at caches around your EXPO for starters. find caches that might have TBs in them. find caches that do not have a lot of lost TBs. obviously caches that do not have a lot of recent DNFs with no recent smileys. small, regular or larger size caches helps too. I'm wondering what your definition of "TB Hotel" is? Any good cache that is suitable for TBs, and doesn't have a recent history of MIA TBs can make for a good hotel. Sometimes, cachers might put the word "hotel" in the cache name but then request that the TBs in the cache not be removed unless you are willing to trade. So if you put your TBs in there, they might not leave till someone comes along with TBs to deposit. These rules/requests have been debated here in the threads before. So my point is, don't limit yourself to caches listed as "Travelbug Hotels"

right, so it doesn't look like you guys have this feature available yet over there. if you want to see the option looks like you'll have hover over the USA for now. hopefully, as with other things, google eventually gets worldwide coverage for this new feature. there are some great bike trails in Europe.

Hmm, lots of bike only trails showing up in NY where I live. granted, there are some roads that are mix use, cars and bikes as well, and they show up as a dotted line or another shade of green. Take Richmond, IN for example. Thanks to the new bicycle feature, I can quickly see that you have what looks like a great five mile long rail to trail that cuts through town north to south. It is showing up on the google bicycle maps as a dark green line. In the middle of downtown, there is about half a mile where, as you say, regular streets that bikes must use to get to the other half of the trail. Now, going back and forth between the geocaching map and the google bicycle map, I can see that there are about 10 geocaches right on the bike trail. cool.

If the cache was placed by an employee of the company that is collecting the fee, such as the local transport authority, that would put it over the top and make it commercial in my opinion.

Just heard that google maps has a new feature. they have added another "more" option to their maps. in addition to photos and wikipedia markers, you can now choose to show bike trails. They seem to be up to date. I've noticed some are missing in my area of NY but it is still a nice feature, especially for out of towners who want to get an idea of where to bike. many of their bike trails were already listed on other websites that serious bikers probably check in with, but google has once again compiled and simplified information for the masses. I like it. so, I'm wondering if geocaching.com might somehow include these bike trails on their maps? Right now, I think the four options they have are enough - map, satellite, terrain, and mytopo. I would not request to add a fifth tab. wouldn't want it to get too cluttered up and eventually their would be eight or ten tabs, who knows. But, what is the true difference between "terrain" and "mytopo"? I usually use mytopo when I want elevation data for my geocaching hikes. there is more information and detail there, I think, at least where I live in NY. "terrain" is nice, it gives you a more 3D appearance with the shading but doesn't let you zoom in much. On google maps, the bicycle option, allows you to show the green line bike trials over a map, satellite image, or terrain. The terrain map with the bike trails is very similar to the terrain map without the bike trails. therefor, what if geocaching.com was able to replace the terrain tab with a terrain (with bike trails) tab? then we can easily see geocaches that are along bike trails. PS: looks like the bike trails are only in the USA so far (looked at Canada and around London), but I wouldn't be surprised if that is just a temporary. I didn't realize that there were such long trails (rail to trails I gather) in some parts of the country - DC to Pittsburgh, Minnesota/Wisconsin, and Seattle east among others.

it was nice of you to place a cache after only finding a few yourself. I sadly waited and have only placed one so far. People who place caches are great contributors to the game/hobby/sport. thanks. If you want to FTF, if you haven't already, it helps to become a Premium Member. That way you can set up your accounts to get notifications (emails) of when a new cache is published in your area. maybe start a new thread asking for tips on how to FTF, if that is your desire.

not sure if this would help, but I got four out of five done this morning. the one that didn't go had 500 caches in it. the next highest was 200 and I got that one within minutes. don't know how big your files are but maybe try making it smaller?

well, worst case scenario is that the item is destroyed, perhaps melted down or ends up in a landfill. If they do end up in someone's private collection, I would hope that they would eventually be freed again. not many pawn shops around here but if there were, I suppose I would wander into them to see if a coin ever ends up in a display case. this game/sport/hobby is now going on 10 years. I'm not sure when the first Trackable was created (was it that can of beans?). But, I find it fascinating when, on occasion, a long lost coin/trackable makes it back out into the public again. Of the mere 100 that I have helped along, this has happened twice, where one has gone missing and reappeared over a year later. I wonder what the recorded is for reappear MIA bugs? of course, I would hope that no one purposefully contributed to "loosong" a bug for the matter of this record.

THEY will tell us perhaps?

thanks for the props MissJenn. Now that 10 years is almost upon us I can't wait for all this snow to melt and begin the 2010 caching season. So, I now see that many of this years official CITO events have been scheduled for Earth Day weekend. I'm hoping to attend the closest event to me in Northern NJ. Then, if my partner in life and caching is up for it, maybe a trip up to the Finger Lakes for the 10 anniversary of THE SPOT on Memorial Day Weekend. gonna send the owner an email to see if they have any interest. Also hope to find out from them, or other cachers in that area, if there is a particular area, within a mile or two of the cache, that actually needs a little CITO attention. wish me luck THE SPOT's 10th Birthday CITO and later this year SLEEPY HOLLOW-1's 10th Birthday CITO

just reading much of this for the first time. It certainly seems like they did catch an alleged serial-muggler. would be interesting if in a few months, the locals will notice a difference up-state there. Someone said they were in contact with them. Did they ever find out what this guy's reason was? Some have said it might be some sort of ELF-type thing. Were the missing caches only taken from caches in natural setting or urban caches as well, including even wal-mart skirt caches? what's funny/ironic is that if he had some sort of eco-radical bent, his own ideals might have prevented him from littering and throwing away the cache(evidence) once he grabbed it. did they ever get a warrant to search the house/property? if he didn't throw them out cause he collected them, who knows why, they would have been there perhaps. too late by now most likely. Was there any sort of pattern, besides a geographic center of activity? I mean, were the missing caches of a certain difficulty? easy, hard? some, in other threads, sometimes say the caches in their area are "too ____" or "too _____" . was he one of those? if he was doing PM caches, was he a PM? has he ever logged a cache, or posted in the forums, before/after all this went down? all in all, what a petty thing for this man to be involved in. considering who he is, based on what has been posted here, I would hope that, if he is dealing with sensitive information or property, he has at least earned himself a psych eval. okay, hopefully enough topics for discussion here to get the thread back on topic until there are new developments in the case.

so I can still look at what caches you have found but it just won't tell me how many you have found? Even without a tally telling me that you have found hundreds of traditional caches, if twenty are listed on a page and you have thirty something pages of found traditionals.... I just don't see a way of removing the numbers without also completely hiding the list of the caches that you have found. and what about an option to hide the number of caches you own? Since I only own 1, I might shamefully want to hide that fact.

Thanks for chiming in Nate. It is great to have an opinion from someone so close to the heart of control central. I have heard of these problems with reviewers being accused of being unqualified by reason of their find counts before. One more reason for the option. To be clear,though, I'd prefer that my find count was not available for public view anywhere on the site. Do you see a reason to limit it to just the cache logs? As for the value placed on my DNFs the local cachers know me and have an idea of my finding and hiding abilities. The number next to my name can't change that be it 1000 or just a blank space. so I wouldn't be able to click on your profile and look through all your finds and hides? I have looked at others players, especially the higher count ones that have been around awhile, for various reasons. I'm pretty sure it had very little to do with judging them in any way and more to do with using it as a tool, to find old archived caches for example, to improve my own caching experience.

read the logs. if someone else found it recently, after the most recent snow, then you mostly likely have a good chance. As an added bonus, you can follow their footprints in the snow to the GZ. With this in mind, when I find a cache in the snow, I try not to stutter step around the hiding spot so it doesn't look liked I stopped there. I might also make an extra couple laps around so to throw off others. Not that this is that effective with other cachers but I wouldn't want a muggle to see my tracks and multiple steps in one spot and wonder what I was doing there, and possibly spot the cache.