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ReZappers

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Everything posted by ReZappers

  1. I hope to hide many more caches in the near future since I'm moving close to the Gunks full time and have many locations I've been thinking of placing more caches, including some on climbs. Been trying to make the descriptions either about environmental education or climbing history, to go along with the mission and history of the Mohonk Preserve and the Gunks... takes time to do the research, but based on the nice comments from cachers, it's definitely worth it to me. ReZappers
  2. Sorry, didn't realize this topic had already been posted, then when I tried to post about it, the forum crashed and didn't post my content. My thread is locked so I can't update it now, but I was just posting the link to an article I saw today about her tatoos: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20231311,00.html
  3. Additional comment to my original one about Verizon disabling GPS. Google maps does work on my Blackberry, but it comes up with your location based on cell towers, not on the GPS. So it's not that accurate.
  4. Verizon is evil. Have you been able to use your GPS? I bought this phone specifically to be able to use it for work and for geocaching, and found out that Verizon locks the GPS so it can't be used for any other applications. It can only be used with Verizon's VZNavigator navigation software which requires a $10 per month subscription. And the software is only good for street directions, can't take coordinates as input. So now I have a phone which I can't use the GPS for. Evil!
  5. I know from experience that that isn't true. I climb in the Hudson Valley near New Paltz, NY, and every season I get chigger bites from sitting on ledges.
  6. I actually prefer caching in the winter in NJ. We don't get much snow. The worst part of caching around here in the warmer months is avoiding the poison ivy. So in the winter, there's no poison ivy, no undergrowth so bushwacking is very easy, and the ground is frozen so it's solid and not muddy. No mosquitoes, and less chance of lyme disease carrying ticks. Plus it gives us something to do when it's too cold for all our other favorite outdoor activities.
  7. ReZappers

    CAVES?

    As a member of the NSS (National Speleological Society), I would strongly urge you to not put the cache in a natural cave. For one, if there are any technical aspects to the cave, even the risk of a dropped and unrecoverable flashlight down a hole, you don't want inexperienced cavers without proper equipment going into the cave. Also, many caves are ecologically sensitive, whether it be protecting endangered bat species, or preserving cave formations which are frequently vandalized or broken off for souvenirs. Also, to protect caves, those who know where they are are often reluctant to share that information with the non-caving public, to avoid accidents and vandalism. Making it public as a geocache could bring about bad consequences. So when you say "cave", I hope you are only talking about a shallow rock shelter of very limited size, and not a real limestone cave that you can enter and walk/crawl into. Thanks in advance for your consideration in being sensitive to these issues.
  8. As a rock climber, I'm thrilled that there are 5 star caches that I am qualified to get to... makes me feel special, and such caches should be reserved for those who have taken the time to acquire the technical knowledge to retrieve it. Then again, there are 5 star caches that involve going underwater, and there's no way you're going to get this non-swimmer to look for those - leave that to those who are qualified. I don't mind that I can't get those and I wouldn't feel entitled to have anyone make it easier for me to log a find for those. We don't have to dumb down the ratings - if you can't do a 5 star terrain cache or if you're not qualified technically, then don't do it! It's OK to miss a few!
  9. So I guess if you leave something outside in a public place, even if marked that it's a geocache and do not remove... and someone maliciously steals it... it's not theft of property? What if you own the property and you publish a cache on it, and someone steals it off your property, is that theft?
  10. ReZappers found #200 while vacationing in Acadia National Park, Maine!
  11. I've hidden 13 caches so far, and my experience has been absolutely perfect. I usually submit them at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night, and by the time I wake up in the morning, the cache has been published. ReZappers (caches in NJ and NY)
  12. I would be concerned that the cacher may get the coordinates wrong, or have enough bounce that they'd be accidentally snooping through your neighbor's property instead of yours (unless you have major acreage).
  13. One thing I've noticed is with a cliff cache, it's hard to get a GPS reading because of the bounce, and it's hard to get a GPS reading because if you're on a small ledge, you can't easily walk around to accurately triangulate your position. So good hints (that at least hint the name of the climb) are probably required if you want people to ever find the cache.
  14. I am placing caches in a rock climbing area. Some of the caches may end up being fairly close to each other as the crow flies, within the .10 proximity, but they are a world apart because one is on a lower trail, another would be on a ledge in the middle of the climb (probably about 100 feet up), and another one might be on a trail on the top of the cliff. You can't get from the lower trail to the ledge then to the top easily. You would either have to 1. get the lower trail cache, then do the climb from the bottom to the ledge, then to the top trail 2. hike to the top cache, then rappel down to the ledge, then rap to the bottom and then hike to the lower trail 3. if you don't climb or rappel, you could skip the cache on the ledge and go from the one on the lower trail to the one on top by hiking all the way around (probably closer to a mile) to get to the one on the top. These 3 caches wouldn't be in a straight line either. From the lower trail to the base of the climb with the cache on the ledge could be around 400 feet, then straight up for 100 feet (so it doesn't add up to 500 feet as the crow flies). Then from the ledge to the top could be another 100 feet of climbing straight up, then another 300 to 400 feet across a trail somewhere to the upper cache. So based on the proximity rules, do you think a reviewer would reject at least 1 of these caches? I could put in a reviewer note about the vertical nature of the distances, but are the proximity rules strictly based on horizontal distance? Thanks...
  15. I have an unpublished cache near my home coordinates, but I don't store anything in there. I use it to "dip" my own personal geocoins and travel bugs in it to start the mileage count before I send them out into the world. I never would hold/hide anyone else's trackables in it so I could hoard them. That's just not nice.
  16. The following was my first draft. Does it sound too preachy or "agenda-like"? The guidelines I've based them on often are just commandments, not polite recommendations, so it's hard to make them sound non-preachy, and I'm not much of a writer... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Climbers as well as geocachers and other recreational users of this land need to pursue their activities responsibly, to protect the environment and preserve access. The following guidelines are based on publications from the Mohonk Preserve, the Access Fund, Leave No Trace Geocaching and the Gunks Climbers' Coalition. Please... Leave the environment without a trace. Encourage others to do the same. A well-hidden geocache should remain well-hidden and not in view. Tread gently, do not trample and destroy in your quest to find the cache. Replace rocks or other natural objects lifted during a search. Leave places looking as if the seekers had never been there. Use existing trails. Find routes that minimize impact. Off-trail use is not permitted in the preserve. If you are climbing, put your gear off to the side. Blocking the trail forces people to go around your belongings and off of the trail, encouraging erosion and trashing the vegetation. Respect the rules and seasonal closures to protect wildlife. Climbs are often closed due to endangered nesting birds. Climbers should be partners in protecting the area wildlife. Park and camp in designated areas only Be considerate of others, share these precious resources. Respect private property, whether it is someone else's possessions or a "do not trespass" sign. Leave the area cleaner than you found it. Garbage, even microtrash like pieces of tape or cigarette butts, ruins the experience for everyone. Pick it up even if it isn't yours, and pack it out. Being responsible land users encourages land owners to continue to allow us to play on their property, whether it be a private preserve or government land.
  17. I want to create a new cache on a privately owned nature preserve (that allows geocaching) with a theme about playing responsibly. Being involved with volunteer clean ups at the preserve and projects to educate climbers who use the area to be good stewards of the land, I wanted to place a cache there with a theme about responsible land use. In the description, I wanted to include a list of leave no trace-type ethics - picking up trash, not trampling an area looking for the cache, leave it as you found it, stay on trails, respect closures due to wildlife nesting areas, minimize impact, courtesy to others, respect private property, etc... I based the list on various brochures I've seen about responsible climbing and geocaching. A recent thread discussed a cache not being approved because it had "an agenda". Would promoting such land-use ethics be considered "an agenda", or is it an obvious no brainer that shouldn't offend anyone?
  18. There's a fun cache in the library in Philadelphia: Anne Rice's "The Mummy" GCGN0D
  19. I got a reply from the head ranger at the Mohonk Preserve (not the hotel). He says: The Preserve allows geocaching on our lands without any special permit. We do require all geocachers to follow existing policies for land use. Specifically, this means that any caches must be placed adjacent to an existing, authorized trail or carriage road since Preserve land use policy does not allow off trail travel.
  20. Minnewaska State Park is a preserve and I believe NY State Parks have guidelines about placing caches and you'll have to register it. The Mohonk Mountain House resort hotel & grounds are private property - so I would guess not unless they grant you explicit permission. The Mohonk Preserve is a private preserve (not state/gov't owned), however, I don't think they have a policy on placing caches (and a few already exist there). I asked a couple of ranger friends and they weren't aware of any rules against them, but I didn't ask anyone who may have known if there was an official policy. I should probably ask since I would like to place some caches there, as I climb there regularly. I'm friends with the exec director and head ranger, so they should know the answer. I'll report back if I hear anything. p.s. any frequent Gunks climbers out there?
  21. Don't know if any of the geocaching applications are written in java, but I recently heard that Palm is no longer providing the IBM J9 java virtual machine for the Palm OS based phones. They no longer have the rights to distribute it. However, if the applications are written natively, they should be OK. Just an FYI...
  22. I herd geeks at a computer software company.
  23. First time I took my 13 year old caching in Central Park in New York City, after she put the cache back, she tripped on a tree root, fell and broke her right thumb! (and she's right handed)
  24. We played something similar to multi-stage caches at home when I was little. My big sisters would write a note with a clue to a location, sometimes in the form of a riddle. When I found that location, I would find another note with another clue to another location. I would keep following the clues hidden around the house until I found the "prize".
  25. Can you "dip" a geocoin or travel bug into a virtual cache? I have my own climbing travel bug that I want to have dipped in rock climbing destinations around the world that I travel to. I'm in Joshua Tree National Park right now on a climbing trip, and there are only virtual and earth caches within the park boundaries. I'd like to dip my tb in a virtual along with a picture so show it's been here and grab the mileage. Is that OK? Would I log it as a dropped it off, then retrieved it?
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