ocklawahaboy

One unanswered question I have is whether these are new rules or just rules we didn't know about. I haven't been able to find the rule anywhere online but I did get my information directly from our district ranger's office who said they got it from their handbooks. I guess I need to go in and read their handbook sometime. What I got sounds close enough to the OP (especially the identical duration of the permit and the cost being exact) to make me think it's a federal rule. I'm not in favor of it and don't think it makes a ton of sense, just hoping that cooler heads prevail because I think this is a great opportunity for us to lose the national forests all together and I don't want to see that happen. Again, not saying $59 is a small sum but when I compare it to other annual activities I do, it's about the same. $50.50 for hunting/fishing license (I cache more than I hunt) Approx $60 for my boat and trailer registration The list could go on. I'm willing to pay the $59 (if I was given correct information and I can do multiple caches on one form) to support everyone's continued fun so we'll see how it goes. I understand that knocks a lot, if not the majority of people out of it though. As an aside, I once got a firewood cutting permit from the same office for $20 and this seems way less invasive than that. I would also like to know if GS has gotten any clarification on any of this. I did hear from my reviewer that they were seeking some but that's been about a week ago. Again, I'm just going on a phone call and email conversation I had with our district office so that's all I know for now.

Part of the reasoning, as it was explained to me is that the forest service would be able to keep track of geocaches in areas where they had activities like timber harvesting and controlled burns planned. I agree that $59 is a lot, whether it is a series or single cache but it might be nice to get a call to say that there is a burn planned where you cache is and to have a chance to retrieve it before hand.

My wife says to do a search for custom cake toppers on etsy.com. There are a number of sellers who would make that for you.

They may not jump sideways but they sure do drop from the tree canopies. We set up a white tarp each year at our FL Folk Festival campsite and you can hear the things falling on it all day. We'll have dozens of the boogers crawling around up there until the afternoon thunderstorms come wash them away.

I recently received similar information about the Ocala National Forest, in central FL. You might want to ask your local ranger office because my local forestry folks said that I could list multiple caches on one permit. Getting a nice series published for $59 isn't nearly as bad. There are requirements for personal contact information to be written on each cache and that makes me a little nervous. We have hundreds of caches in our local forest so slowing down the proliferation might not be an all-bad thing and might lead to better quality. It's still frustrating though. I'm going to spend the summer planning out a good set of caches and turn the permit application in this fall. If something happens that they simplify/cheapen it before then, I'll be ready with some sooner. Lets remember that "you catch more flies with honey" when dealing with the permitting folks too. This is an opportunity to show our best or worst side to the land managers.

With only 220something finds, I haven't tried any caches adventurous enough to allow me to throw an ammo can 150' down a canyon. I have however crawled on my belly looking for a cache without paying any attention to the poison ivy. Now, I'm no stranger to the stuff but this batch required steroids from the MD and a week or more to get over.

I was thinking a little deeper and glueing a stepping stone on top of the lid. Then it would just blend right in. pick up the stone and explore the cache. You'd want to have it a little above the dirt for dryness but you could fill around it with some mulch or stones.

Here is Mrs. Ocklawahaboy with our dog Sadie. I had found a black dog cafe (martha's vineyard) trackable so the wife had to put on her black dog shirt and go find a cache at our local dog park. We thought it called for a pic. She caches with me in the woods too: just haven't bothered with any pics yet.

If you look at the caches I owned, you'll probably be a little skeptical but I'm planning my first 5/5 cache now. It's going to be such that I would not expect a group of 8 or 10 to each make the trip to the cache individually. I will be happy with one person retrieving the cache. I would expect each person to physically touch the log and sign it. Also, when logging online, I would want them to mention in their log that so and so retrieved the cache and that they stayed behind and waited to sign it. As long as their honest about their role, I'm cool with it. I think it will make for better logs too.

I've found my last 175 caches with my droid 2. Some days it takes me right to the cache. Other days it gets me within about 20ft at best. I don't think I would use it to hide without a secondary way to verify the coords, ie landmarks, google maps, another gpsr etc.

Maybe this has already been said and I missed it: Some seem to think these trails have merit and some don't. I wonder if it were made an incredibly long 1000+ stage multi, would it have caused the same problem? Certainly the numbers hounds wouldn't have been there, even though it would have been almost exactly the same experience. There would have been some bragging rights to say that you've done the longest multi and some who would have tried to set a speed record but leapfrogging and container swapping would have been right out the window (no pun intended) Just a thought. (BTW, I'm not challenging anyone to actually create a 1000 stage multi on a road shoulder somewhere. I have a feeling it would have similar fallout.)

The answer to your question lies in whether you want this to be a dangerous cache or not. I've gotten PI so bad when looking for a cache that I had to go to the doctor and get some good ol drugs to get over it. I don't hold that against the CO because that's just part of being in the area where the cache was. I looked at it no differently than if I'd made a mistake navigating any of the other hazards that go along with certain caches. So, if you want a benign cache, which is fine, move it. If you want a more challenging and potentially dangerous cache, leave it and warn the cachers of the danger.

I don't think they're the best but I've seen a couple that were done fairly responsibly lately. The fake sprinkler head sits inside a buried piece of pvc so as to lift up with the most minimal of effort. A slight touch reveals that it's not a real sprinkler head. I agree with all of the concerns about damage to property but I think if these were hidden with permission (I know one was because I asked the property owner before searching) they are ok by me.

As I've said before, geocaching is another way for me to enjoy the things I enjoy already. Therefore, I usually go by myself but I team up with others about as often as I go fishing, hiking, camping or whatever else with other people. I'd say that about 20% of my finds had someone else along.

There is a neat place near Deland FL called DeLeon Springs state park. It's got a millhouse restaurant where you cook your own pancakes right on the middle of the table. Anastasia state park is really nice (St. Augustine). If you have an extra day to kill, stop by St. Mary's GA and take the ferry to Cumberland Is. and see the ruins and the wild horses. Also the most pristine beach you're going to see just about anywhere in the Southeast. Lots of neat places to eat in St. Augustine. Milltop Tavern, Pizzally's, Creekside Dinery. Then, of course there's the fort, Oldest structure in the U.S. I could go on but that's probably enough to keep you busy.

Reading this makes me think I need to make a confession (tongue firmly in cheek). I did once climb a tree, toss the cache down to my partner, let him sign both names and toss it back up. That's about the extent of others signing for me. To me half the fun of it is knowing my name is written on an pieces of paper all over the place. Kind of like when you were a kid and carved "bill was here" on the tree, or was I the only one who did that. Signing as a team just doesn't do anything for me.

Ok, my idea of a power trail is a dirt road in the Ocala National Forest that has a couple of dozen hides in close succession that have been placed by various cachers using various techniques. That makes for a fun afternoon and some good numbers. Both of the speed techniques sound down right dishonest. One serious question though. For those of you who move the containers: what do you do with the last container and log at the end of the run? Do you return it to the original spot of the first cache? Pocket it? Trash it? As I've read the various threads on the subject I've wondered what a "good cacher" does with a container and log that is not theirs and suddenly has no logical home because they've just rearranged everything.

Another one is http://coord.info/GC2M4HX You all fan out and have to bring back fake moonshine jugs. They even have the local deputies in on it.

I'll claim the record for the most recent post on this thread, although I doubt I'll hold it long.

I like caches that are realistic about the purpose they server and let you know what to expect. LP hides are ok if you're traveling through an area and want to log a cache in that county but don't place a cache in the median of a busy road and go on about using stealth in the description. Also, don't hide a bison tube in a hole in a piece of lighter pine and cover it with leaves and call it a 2 difficulty. One shouldn't have to turn over every piece of rotting wood in the forest for a d2. I really like creative caches but anything that accurately represents what it is can be nice. If I want a smiley during lunch I'll go after a LP and if I want a nice afternoon of 4wheeling, I'll go for a T4. My optimal cache would be custom cammo in a nice place, with no one around. Oh yeah... good coords too. It can be the greatest cache ever and bad coords ruin it.

Ok, now you all have gotten me thinking about this. Couldn't sleep half the night. Oh well... hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Lowes I go hi-ho hi-ho.

I wholeheartedly agree that it's relative. Other posters have talked about elements of skill and training should be required to make the cache a 5. That in and of itself makes it relative. If you're an expert climber the cache is way easier than if you're not. Same with water caches, 4x4 etc. If found a 4.5/4.5 the other day that took me very little effort and only about 2 min. It was at the top of a stone monument that would have been very hard for most people to climb. My build makes it a quick up and down. I would have rated it a 3T but someone shorter, heavier or weaker would have needed a ladder and then 4.5 is fair. I found a "4x4 only" that was rated a 5T. Could have gotten to it with any 2wd vehicle I've ever owned but someone who's never driven in the sand would have been stuck in a heartbeat. The part of the whole rating system that bothers me more than the relativity of the ratings is the fact that cachers tend to make the d/t ratings the same. The 4.5/4.5 did require a climb but it was a while film canister on the flat top of a monument. No camo, no concealment. The title led me right to it. I would have made it a d1, at most 2. That's my main gripe. Treat them like they are separate elements (which they are) instead of making one element difficult and then matching the other because it looks good. And just so you don't think I'm knocking the 4.5/4.5 cache I found, I think it was one of the coolest placements I've seen. Just wasn't a D4.5. Plus it looks good filling in a spot on my d/t matrix.

I think the issue is many people don't realize its happening. You probably hit the nail on the head. If people don't read the forums or the comments on the Market page they probably never look at the battery usage. Thanks. I've got the Moto Droid 2 and just looked. 25% of my batter use today was the app and the only time I opened it was to see the location of one newly published cache is. So I guess it's been running ever since. I charge mine every night so it hasn't made my phone go dead yet but it isn't going to do anything for the lifespan of a very expensive battery. I don't know about that... After using my EVO for a couple of days I went geocaching. Found one cache, had the app running for all of 10 minutes. A couple hours later my battery was nearly dead. "Whoa," I thought, "I usually can run for a full day. What happened?" And I clicked on settings, etc. and saw that 80% of my battery usage for the day was from the Geocaching app. That bit of information sent me to the forums in search of a solution, not the other way around. It's really pretty hard to miss. Run for days without running down your battery, then go geocaching, get dead battery. I don't think it's that people don't know they have the problem; it seems more like it's only a few phones, all of them made by HTC, that have the problem. So it only affects a few of us. But for those of us that it affects, it's a real deal-breaker. It's enough to make one switch to The App That Cannot Be Named In These Forums. I don't know, I was thinking, (I know, that's dangerous for me) maybe it's a phantom type of thing. I know that in addition to the app I always have the GPS running and it is a battery hog. Either way it ain't right. I have a Motorola Droid so it's not just HTC. Just cause the admins can't reproduce this issue it's not going to go away.

I've seen 50cal cans at Gander Mt stores for around $15. That's the only non-pawn/surplus store I've ever seen them at.

The app had been working so amazing well for me that I was getting ready to gift one of etrex units to someone to get them into the game. Hope they get this fixed quickly.