rockhoundbmw
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Posts posted by rockhoundbmw
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Anything in the planning stages for the week between Xmas and New Years? We will be visiting San Diego that week
. Hobbithiker & GrumpyBear (also from Reno) are going to be down there at the same time. We are planning to meet up for a day of caching. If anyone from the area is interested in showing us around, that would be awesome! On that note, I have cached with John (of Jahoadi & John fame) in the past....I'm not sure we could keep up! 
The North County Cachers have held an event during that week the past two years, and probably will again this year. Here's a link to last year's event: http://coord.info/GC2JT97
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I'm curious what would make a cache "Tourist Friendly". I'm even more curious what would make a cache "Toursit Friendly" [sic].
You can get an idea from the request.
So, since all of my cache descriptions and hints are in English, does that make all of them "Tourist Friendly" even though they are all hidden in California? (I am being mostly sarcastic there.)
I interpreted the new attribute to mean a cache hidden in a place a tourist might want to visit, so I marked one of my hides in a local park that has a cool art sculpture and amphitheater in it, and another hide that is on some cool hiking trails with good views and lots of other caches.
But after reading the feedback topic, it seems like this attribute is only for foreign (to Americans) caches that happen to also be translated into English. Does this mean I should translate my cache descriptions into Spanish, for example, to make them "Tourist Friendly?"
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I didn't participate, but I know there was a geocaching road rally held in San Diego because I found one of the geocaches that they left in place after the event: http://coord.info/GC1MKVG You may want to contact the event CO for more info on setting up your own event.
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Set up multiple notifications with "home" coordinates 50-150 miles away in different directions from your real home. Try not to overlap the circles, though, or else you will get multiple emails for the same new cache. That happened to me when I had a notification set up for my house and one centered on my work, so I had to shrink the radius at my work to get rid of the overlap.
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I have found a few caches along your route in AZ and NV, and of those, I recommend:
Hi Jolly http://coord.info/GCG1HB (a virtual in Quartzsite, AZ that also appears in Roadside America or Weird USA or one of those types of books)
Yuma Micro (it's really a large cache) http://coord.info/GC249ZX (just north of Quartzsite right off of Hwy. 95)
The United Kingdom Structure is Weathering Away!!! http://coord.info/GC1BAFJ (The cache itself kinda sucks, but if you want to take a detour to Lake Havasu City, AZ to see the London Bridge, it's cool and easy to get to from the main highway.)
Las Vegas has many virtual caches, especially along the strip, but try these on either side of it:
Welcome to Las Vegas http://coord.info/GC729A (Classic picture spot.)
Signs of the Times http://coord.info/GCHYED (If you're interested in getting a guided tour of the neon sign boneyard, make sure you make an appointment. Otherwise, you can get some decent shots from outside the fence/wall.)
Just outside of Las Vegas is Red Rock Canyon. If it weren't for me seeing other geocachers recommending that place in the forums, I wouldn't have gone, and I would have missed out on some pretty cool scenery (although if you're going to Zion, it might not be as awesome, but I haven't visited Zion). Here's a sample cache I found there: http://coord.info/GC2AP62
A non-geocaching recommendation is the Very Large Array west of Socorro, NM.
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I haven't visited the forums in a long time, and hopefully my answer isn't too late. Try this bookmark list: http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=af1e38fb-9d0e-4b8f-98fe-40a5065af12f
All of those caches started out as ammo cans, and they are hidden throughout North County (basically the area between and including Oceanside and Escondido). Some of the caches have been replaced with smaller containers, so check out the individual cache pages before heading out.
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The only cache of mine that's not been found in over a year is my first hide, UTNG's Tire Swing http://coord.info/GC1DYH1 It's a fun, short hike.
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I'll take 90-110F because it does get that hot where I live, but it is a dry heat with no bugs! I can always do some cache and dashes and jump back into an air conditioned car after each find if I wanted too. I also lived in PA for a year and tried caching in below-freezing temps and didn't like it. Spring couldn't have come faster! I have also found a cache across the street from my hotel in Arkansas at 10pm in August when it was still 80F and 80% humidity- that was suffocating to me, but I had to get a new state on my map!
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I may log a note saying I couldn't start a search because of a muggle near GZ, if that. It depends whether or not I will be revisiting the cache. When I eventually find the cache, I will usually say this is my x# time here and couldn't search the first few times because of muggles. To me, it wouldn't be a DNF but more of a recon of GZ to scope out the situation to see if it was clear enough to start a search. The only time I might log a DNF is if the muggle leaves, I start to search at GZ, but another muggle comes a minute later and I haven't found the cache yet and I have to leave.
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A cache near me started out as some type of wooden container, but by the time I found it (only about a week since it was published), it was already smashed into pieces either by a muggle or by the rocks that were used to cover the cache. (The log book was still there, so I signed it and logged a find and NM online.) So easy breakage should be considered in addition to the weatherproofing.
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Thanks to your help, I was able to find the cache site today. I was so excited when my gps announced that I was there. It was marked easy find and terrain, but I couldn't find it The name referred to a low bridge and it also said "duh". I searched all over, under and around the bridge. How far away from the bridge should I have searched? Being easy terrain rating,didn't think it would be down in the shallow but rapidly moving river that goes under the bridge. Any thoughts?
Depending on the setting, your GPS saying "you have arrived" could just be a warning that you are approaching the coordinates you are going to, but you are really still 100-200 feet or so from the cache hiding spot. My dad's GPS (a Dakota 20) does that, and it helps when we are driving to a cache so we know we need to find a parking spot, but when we are hiking it is a little annoying because we are going much slower. If what I am describing is the case with your GPS, then be sure to clear the warning message and continue following the compass arrow or map (depending on whichever screen you are most comfortable using) until your GPS gets as close to the given coordinates of the cache ("ground zero") as possible (there may be times when you won't get to "0 feet" due to signal bounce or accuracy issues that any GPS will occasionally have). Also, as you get closer to the cache, make sure you keep zooming in on the map if you are using the map screen, because it may look like you are on top of the cache when the map scale is at 200 feet, but you may be off the screen when zoomed in to 20 feet. This map scaling issue is one of the reasons I prefer using the compass screen.
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Check this cache again: http://coord.info/GC1ZMD3
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There's a geocaching event in Escondido next month: http://coord.info/GC2MED4 We had some new cachers come to the last event, and we always welcome more!
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I think as long as the other cache owners are okay with it, and you are okay with maintaining what will basically be a 7 waypoint multicache, and probably also as important- your local reviewer is okay with it, then go ahead. This cache: http://coord.info/GCMPEA is similar to what you are planning, and you might see how difficult it is to maintain when the other caches go missing.
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I have had two ammo cans muggled in areas that require caches to be within reach of the trail, probably because they are so big and can easily be exposed if not re-hidden properly. I replaced one with a smaller Gladware plastic container, but it recently was reported to be filled with water after a rain storm, so that was a poor choice. I replaced the other one with a plastic trail mix container from Target that has a screw-on wide-mouth lid that I spray painted, and it has held up perfectly. I also used to have a "small" pill bottle hide, but the log book got shredded from the narrow-mouth lid.
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I searched the profile for the FTFers, wewilldo7, and they had two FTFs on 5/28/07 mentioned in their profile. The log for the cache remains that you found matches perfectly with their log for this cache: http://coord.info/GC1380Y (other than they must have forgotten it was the 28th instead of the 29th when they wrote in the physical log). The other log entries on that date match the ones online, too. It seems that the cache was archived, but then found by other cachers 2 years later and moved. It was re-hidden by Unknown_2_You as: http://coord.info/GC1RW7D, but then that listing got archived too! The logs from the second cache listing match those of UCSBrandon and Jacs51 (again, the date is off by one day, but that is common when logging the find on the computer the day after finding the cache and forgetting to change the date). This second cache listing also is very near the spot that you were at when you found the cache remains.
I think the case is closed!
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Congrats to wesser26 and zackyattack on 1,400 and 300 finds, respectively, at Scooby Doo, Where Are You! and finishing my Scooby Doo series!
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If the blue flags on your map indicate caches, you may already have these marked:
Cadillac Ranch (http://coord.info/GCG71X) just outside Amarillo, TX is a cool virtual cache.
Shiny Rocks - Crater of Diamonds (http://coord.info/GCZNR8) in Arkansas is a cool earthcache, and you may even find a diamond!
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Another Escondido cacher created this bookmark list of virtual caches in San Diego County: http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...87-45c5ce80aab5
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North County Cachers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/northcountycachers/
"A group dedicated to sharing and implementing new and innovative geocaching ideas and types of caches in the northern area of San Diego County. Ideally, we strive to create caches in a clever, original or humorous manner. But it is certainly not beneath us to completely copy any cool idea dreamed up by someone else.
Primarily, we believe geocaching has been, is now and always should be FUN."
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The Palm Canyon trail is a great trail that I've hiked a few times. I have not done them, but there are 3 earthcaches along that trail. It leads to an oasis, and I've also seen bighorn sheep on the way.
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I agree that while there is a lot of white space/extra spacing on the cache pages, it also seems that the space between "short description" and "long description" was taken out, so they run together in the same paragraph. I'm using Firefox 3.5.7.
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I'm clear all the way out to 2 miles!
I'd have to find 577 caches to make it out to 12 miles. I have a backlog on my to-do list of ~70 solved puzzles, 100 Dalmations, 48 cards, 4 Scooby's and 7 more historic caches. Now there's a Delorme challenge?! Wow, my Scooby caches are mentioned with challenges like the Dalmatians, 52 Pick-Up, and the Historic caches? COOL!
I haven't been much into clearing a radius, mainly due to where I lived. The area around UC San Diego had too many puzzles that I couldn't solve (although I did make an effort to try to find all the caches with icons on campus), and Escondido just has too many caches (which isn't a problem for my brother). Now that I am temporarily living in rural PA, I think I will be able to keep clear a fairly large radius
(Especially once it becomes spring, and I can get out more often.)With puzzles, it just depends on if I'm in the mood to even look at them. Some I have solved but have not gone for them, and others I just stare blankly at them. I do like solve-in-the-field puzzles, and 2 of my Scooby caches are puzzles. I might hide more if I can come up with something interesting, but I am more tempted to hide (and find) multis instead.
Also, with micros and non-micros, I prefer non-micros unless there is something special (crazy camo, cool location/hike, part of a theme). I really want to only hide non-micros, but with my Scooby caches, I had to make some compromises due to the location/to keep with the theme. I definitely will not hide a nano.
Maybe I should check the forum more often so I don't reply to 4 things at once?
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. Hobbithiker & GrumpyBear (also from Reno) are going to be down there at the same time. We are planning to meet up for a day of caching. If anyone from the area is interested in showing us around, that would be awesome! On that note, I have cached with John (of Jahoadi & John fame) in the past....I'm not sure we could keep up! 
Delete DNF after finding it?
in How do I...?
Posted
I tend to delete my DNF log(s) after finally finding the cache, and I write in my Found It log that I have searched before without finding it (sometimes including the date or how many times I have searched without finding the cache, but not always). The reason I delete my DNF log is so I can clear it from my DNF list and keep track of which caches I still need to revisit (I don't use the watch cache feature, so every once in a while I go through my DNF list to see if anything has changed since I logged my DNF).
The only times that I do leave my DNF log intact after I found the cache is when my DNF log resulted in the CO determining the cache was missing, and then the CO disabled and/or replaced the cache, or if my DNF log was part of a string of DNFs/NMs/NAs that resulted in Reviewer intervention and archival. If I deleted my DNF log, it wouldn't really make sense why the CO all of a sudden disabled the cache or performed maintenance, or that the cache was archived by a Reviewer.