WalruZ
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Posts
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Posts posted by WalruZ
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1. look through all his cache logs and see if he ever mentions visiting caches with anyone else. try emailing those people with your plea - they'll understand.
2. the 'active' date don' mean nuthin. I believe the site updates this date every time it sends an email to anyone, even automatically. there is no other explaination for how people can go without finding a cache for months yet be shown as having visited today almost every time you check.
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the problem with missing tbs is that of casual who start and then just as suddenly stop. your tags are somewhere in a bag of hiking equipment which won't get looked at for at least 6 months. the someone will look in there someday and see the tags and feel a fleeting bit of guilt, then throw them away along with worn-out batteries and powerbar wrappers. it is really no different than how our hearts have been treated at some time or another by some bitch (or bastard, take your pick.) TB's are like love. you send it out into the world, some few people lift it up and appreciate it, then some SOB tosses it in the trash. Life is so cruel.
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journalists strive for facts. what's at issue is what facts, and how much striving goes on. if you talk to a land manager who thinks geocachers bury things and pull up endangered plants by the roots, (his comments, although wrong are 'facts' in that he did say them) - do you talk to geocachers who might present a different message? Imbalanced reporting is partly lazy reporting and partly a need on the part of most people (reporters included) to reach conclusions. Balanced reporting is often indecisive and somewhat gray. For example, the newshour on pbs. they get talking heads from both sides of an issue and stand back. 20 minutes later, you have their opinions, but do you know what the 'truth' is? Imagine, if you would, a land manager and a geocacher both on newshour.
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don't know. "like a mantra" in this context has some negative overtones.
Taken too literally, it sounds like we're brainwashed cultists
you mean we're not?
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So, you meet someone new in the great circus of life. Talk turns to what you like to do for fun. You say "GeoCaching". What is the likelyhood (in your opinion - that's what this is about) that said person has heard of GeoCaching, expressed as a percentage?
For me, it's been almost nil - 2% at best. How is it this obsession is such a well-kept secret?
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Hmm. dangers.
Ticks. (deet)
Snakes. (stick)
Lunatics. (pepper spray)
Poison Oak. (like I have right now. be careful bushwhacking, like I was not. shower when you get home washing all exposed areas with soap. Throw hiking clothes in washer)
Sunburned face and sweat in the eyes. (get a nice wide-brimmed hat)
Dehydration. (carry water, einstein)
Getting wet. (get a tiny emergency poncho from targ-mart)
Unexpected holes in the ground. (yes, watch where you're going)
Falling and not being able to get up. (tell someone where you're going and tell them you'll call them when you get back, and do. If appropriate, leave same info on car at trailhead)
Running into someone or something because you were watching the GPS while driving. (don't)
Forgetting how to get back to the car. (ALWAYS waypoint the car)
Forgetting how much daylight you have left. (I set my cell phone alarm to 1/2 the amount of remaining daylight and carry a small flashlight)
Forgetting to have fun. (It is NOT about the numbers! Pay no attention to the O-Cs)
Boring your friends to death. (GC is only part of a well balanced life)
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mildly ot - i wonder what it is about easily factored numbers that make them so special. Is it because they're nice and round? [
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I think the core issue that can be addressed is that of communication. I assume that GC has a formal release process of their web site - they code, they install somewhere, they test, they push out to production. At least I sure hope they do.
Part of that release process should be notification of changes. That much at least is do-able. Notification, and not just in the 'announcements' forum. Really, there is a lot of wasted bandwidth on the login page (I don't care about the last 20 caches hidden worldwide) that could be used for upgrade info, an MOTD, or a link to such. Updating of that information should be an integrated part of the release process. That it is not is a failing.
This probably belongs in another forum area.
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I'm in the same position as dana - 1 find, no more. I think that the end of daylight savings really affects caching activity. It's dark at 5. For most working stiffs that means it's dark when they pull into the parking lot and dark when they pull out again. Makes those hikes harder to schedule. Ah, ain't unemployment grand!
If that puppy were in my neighborhood (norcal) there would be a party at che cache site 1 hour after dawns first light.
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The best way to get FTF on caches is to get comfortable with night caching. A cache get's approved at, say, 11pm - go for it then.
also, this ftf'r. can you check and see that he is physically logging the cache? perhaps you can catch something going on there...
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I stumbled across this link some time ago.
http://www.cleanwhiz.com/first-page.html
apparently there are multiple reasons for shopping the site. put me right off, as the english say.
(here goes my warn level...)
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... When it's a Travel Bug.
I was just sort of musing on that. You take your standard garden variety licensed character from a burger joint, that no self-respecting adult cacher would trade for, slap a set of TB tags on it, and suddenly it's a sought-after commodity. Funny that...
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I've found that museum stores and park intrepretive center stores often have small and unusual items at trinket-level prices. The Oakland Museum (north of me) had pewter acorns for under a buck apiece. (get it? Oakland - Acorn...) A park near me has hand-made replica arrowheads for 50c each. Almost all of them have cheap gemstones. Also, don't just hit the dollar store - try a party store or two. They usually have lots of gift bag stuffers that are unusual and fun.
It's about the hike AND the cache. If the cache didn't matter then a missing cache would be no big deal, but it is. I try to leave caches better than I found them. BTW, sometimes junk comes from muggles who don't trash the cache outright. Don't always blame the cachers.
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I have a 101 and it works fine. I don't cache so much that I need waypoint download or mapping. When I bought it I hadn't gone caching yet and wasn't sure I would like it, so I went cheap and small. The small part is great. My only complaint is with the AAAs - it chews them up and spits them out and demands more more more. Next GPS will use D cells, that's for sure. There is a cache-a-holic in my area that has well over 2K finds and I'm told (2nd hand) that he uses a gekko.
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Hand ove r The cAche ANd NoBody gEts hUrt !!
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Interesting. WheresGeorge really had an issue with 'counting coup'. A buck left in a cache and then taken by someone else isn't really an issue with them - what they object to is what many TB traders do - copy down TB numbers and then log them saying, "I saw this TB". GC pretty much says that TBs are a game, and if you want to be weird about it (I think counting coup is weird) then go ahead. WheresGeorge says that counting coue runs counter to their game. Good for them.
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It really depends on how much you're going to be using it. If you're like me, 3 or 4 caches a week IF time permits, then anything is fine, including the yellow. If you can't go for a few hours without a cache fix then the more expensive models become more worthwhile since you can load them up with waypoints and always be able to cache on a moment's whim. I personally feel that paper street maps are a more detailed medium and a good investment. There have been times I would have liked a topo map, but I console myself by saying that being 1/2 lost is part of the charm of the game.
Oh, and I've seen a webtv. It's not bad. Not what I would use (low-res) but not bad.
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Typically I leave TBs in already-visited caches alone. TBs draw visitors, and cache owners deserve to have new visitors drawn to their caches by TBs that end up in them. Sometimes I see the more active cachers in my neighborhood blanket a park with TBs that they have retrieved from other places. They aren't just moving TBs along - they're trying to newer cachers interested in existing caches.
That's just my opinion. Exceptionally interesting TBs serve as exceptions to that rule (of mine.) Of course, I am more likely to go to unfound (by me) caches that have TBs in them.
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I'm sort of in agreement. I certainly would like visual indication of micros, that's for certain. I'm fortunate that the active placers in my area are sensative creative people, so we don't get so many of the 'lame' micros. Just for the heck of it I'll name names and talk about some of the micros I have found in my area.
Some Good...
Electric Kiss - An incredible super-micro. The hider is a very creative guy. Challenging, memorible, worthwhile.
Jim Howe Does Your Garden Grow - An FC in an urban community garden. It would be hard to put a full size cache here, but it's a neat spot - all sorts of flower gardens side by side with benches and paths and whatnot. Worth visiting, worthwhile.
Trigger Happy - an FC in (!) a really neat piece of sculpture in a somewhat out-of-the-way bit of parkland. No hiding place nearby for a full size cache. Not a hard find, but every visitor (myself included) thought it was a great place to have had attention called to. worthwhile.
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Some Bad...
Blarney-A-Blaze - An FC on the front of a restaurant. I suppose the hider really likes the restaurant. Many logs (even within the cache) said "This is IT??", and I have to agree. It was an early find of mine and I almost felt like it didn't count - there wasn't really any point as far as I was concerned.
Ugly Duckling Lakes - I reported this one muggled. It had been by an urban pond that was choked with garbage scum and worse. Read the 9/23 log - me too. It was ugly alright, and the placers are nice folks - why did they bring me here?
So I guess looking at these, it's not the 'micro', it's the 'lame' that I object to. Although it's certainly easier to place a lame micro, it's not a given. Pass up micros and you could be missing great places. Combating lameness, well... that's a toughie.
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I was wondering about you just today Pepper - I visited "You've got Mail" and restocked it with postcards. Later over dinner I was describing "Speckles". Here's hoping new bay area geocachers get a chance to meet you sometime...
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You know, you can get them at Target. They're just hanging there on a rack.
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4 out of 95, 2 were on 'first days'. Has always been a pleasure so far.
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God, it's awful. I mean, just for starters, all maps will have to be redrawn with North at the bottom! Everyone will be lost all the time - how do you give coherent directions in this sort of situation? "Gone South" will lose it's meaning. This could be the next Y2K!!!
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tangental, but...
Who wants to place or visit a micro in a grocery store parking lot? Thank goodness these don't show up in my area. (sf bay)
I have visited one outside a mediocre irish bar & grill. Many log entries read "This is it?"
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Rails To Trails
in General geocaching topics
Posted
The Iron Horse Trail runs from Martinez (on the sacramento river upstream from San Francisco) to at least Dublin (many miles south, inland from SF bay). There are plenty of caches along it - search for Iron Horse . Sure, there are more muggles than would be in the area of a deep woods cache, but it's still do-able. No Travel Bug hotels though.