WalruZ

In looking at this thread, I don't see why not. If you waymark a waterfall, and someone pipes up and says "I was at that waterfall in 1984. see? I really liked it. blah blah blah", how is that not a visit? I mean, you just waymarked the waterfall. You didn't create the darn thing.

Picture == 1K words.

Whatever. I'm glad you're having fun with the page layouts, but there's basic functionality missing still. I've worked at making Waymarking part of my geocaching experience. I've characterized it as "GeoCaching is still the Meat, Waymarking is the Potatoes" - and have argued locally that Waymarking is a positive addition to geocaching. I have a Waymarking T-shirt and I wear it to events, at much risk to life and limb. My local community refers to me as "waymarkin' WalruZ" and mostly scoffs, although there are a few converts. The scoffers argue that they won't even consider it without a pocket query equivalent. As far as I'm concerned, if I could ask for any one thing, it would be a "filter out visited waymarks" checkbox. I am over 300 visits, and without that it is becoming hard to find the newly added waymarks in the long list of what I've already visited. I can live with everything else, but that is my pain point right now.

they are a type of historic marker - they mark the route of the el camino real (the kings highway) from san diego to sonoma. there's one per mile (mostly) and they are maintained by the california highway department. I don't understand why there might be a new requirement that all categories be available worldwide. Isn't there some category for norweigian milk houses? And there's 'old world originals' where you waymark "york" as the original that "new york" is named for, and the category description flat out says you can only place waymarks in the "old world". I must have missed that fight, but I'm not down with that requirement.

Well, it's a worthwhile topic and I'll add my 2c. A cement shell, painted or even not, can do a very effective job at hiding a cache from muggles. It might not fool geocachers, but for those problem areas, like suburban parks, where a regular cache seems to come up missing over and over, they can be an excellent solution. They are not difficult to make. I recommend going with the quick set cement (don't bother with concrete mix). Prep the container by wrapping it in multiple layers of plastic grocery bags, enough to leave a 'void' around the container when done. The cement will not stick to these bags. Mix cement and shape as desired. If the walls are too thin the result will crack from handling. When dry, invert and the bags (and the container) come right out. What you have left is a shell that hides your rubbermaid/nutjar/whatever. Finishing helps, either flat spray paint, reject brownish house paint, any combo, glue and sand and dirt, etc. BTW, tufa cracks too easily. Go with pure cement. I have one of these in downtown san francisco, a very muggle-rich area 24/7. It has cracked once and required replacement, but never been muggled. Oh, the big rocks? Tie an FC to the very inside top of one.

A fair number of my caches are multis and I often go to that form because it's easier to direct the visitor to see or interact with a particular feature of the landscape with a multi than it is with a traditional. Here is an example, hidden near a really neat motor-themed playground. Rather than hide a micro on the playground that would be a headache for me to maintain and a pita for someone to look for, the features of the playground are clues and the cache is about 600 feet away, on an accessible undeveloped ridgeline that is part of the park. It even has a view. This example walks you through a park opposite a series of houseboat docks near downtown San Francisco. The multi form can also be used to bring people to cache sites that cannot support physical caches. Sutro Baths and Industrial Light & Magic are both on NPS land that does not allow caches. The physical caches for these multis are hidden elsewhere on city-owned land. To hide one of these, scout the area that contains the clues, then look for a nice traditional area nearby and hide the cache as you would normally. Then go back to your 'clue' area and find the features people will look for to come up with the final coordinates. The initial coordinates (and secondary waypoints) are of your clue area(s). Make certain that the clues are unambiguous. Write it all up and you're done. I've only hidden one multi-stage cache with coordinates in each stage. It was way too much trouble to maintain and I archived it.

That would only really be the case if you were dressed all in cammo, or in a fake tree costume...

"waterproof log paper" is actually surisingly available. The label from an odwalla juice container works, as do the labels for many 2-liter soft drink bottles. Take them off carefully and see for yourself, the reverse side is white, takes ink and does not run. depending on the exact hide spot, I suggest the match container or a beach safe (orientaltrading.com) with a rare earth magnet glued *inside*. These have o-rings that keep the damp out.

I've learned from a number of near-misses that I should never set down my GPS to free my hands for something else. Instead, I'm self-trained to always put my GPS in my pocket (geko) or in a small camera-bag that is looped to by belt with a carabiner. Same with camera - back in the pocket, and palm - always in the bag. In addition I have am self-trained to do an equipment check after every cache. GPS? camera? Palm? - ok, good to go. GPS's do break though, my 301 has been in the shop twice due to overuse. I have a geko 201 as a backup, it's very small and easy to pack. $75 off craigslist.

I used a folgers can like the ones shown and that was exactly what happened to it - rodents made a nest in it and it became one of the grossest things I've ever had to deal with. Replaced with a screw-top food storage container. Lesson learned. AFA containers go, the oldest caches I've ever found have invariably been plain white-top rubbermaid, hidden in really nice spots. It's the really nice spot that is important, the container less so.

if you want a particular person to be ftf, it seems to me that is the only way - and ignore any whiners who think that is 'unfair' in their version of the game. (edited to repair misspelling) It really doesn't have anything to do with unfairness. If the cache isn't published, someone who finds it isn't "first to find". The cache has to be published so that multiple people at least have the opportunity to seach for it.

You have a right to take pictures of whatever you can see in or from a public place.

Make the cache an offset multi. Hide the cache elsewhere nearby, use clues gathered at the site to determine the final coordinates. See this example.

You know, if you just need a gps, targets sells the yellow for about $99. Assuming that you are navigating seperately, that is just fine for geocaching.

Man, I've been visiting every waymark I can, and I would love to see them count as smilies! Finds++!!

If you like stats, take a look at Boulter's leaderboard. The numbers are broken down many different ways. The rankings change for each list depending on membership. Boulter removes inactive cachers from his list, so it's a bit more selective.

It's nice to hear the geko love. I've found over 3K caches with a geko 301/201/101 (mostly 301). My saying? "The GPS does not find the cache. YOU find the cache." The small size is an everyday benefit, as are the simple controls. A used 201 is a *great* backup unit, and if you just keep shopping eventually you'll find one cheap. What really works for me is a nicer palm (zire 71 qualifies) that runs not just cachemate but Mapopolis. That is what I use for figuring out where I am, where I need to go, how to get there, and what caches (and waymarks) are where. It is somewhat easier to manipulate than the map on a GPS. I haven't broken my palm since I started carrying it in a small camera bag looped on my belt. They are much more likely to break against your body. It's better (as the Scottish say) to have it swinging free. My wife really likes her new Legend CX. She often uses my palm for cachemate since the m- series is so awful slow and dim. The reports of incredible reception with the 60csx series are intriguing, but that unit feels awful big compared to my 301. If they put the sirf chip in the legend units, I'm there.

Unfortunately all you've done is messed with your honoree. They don't actually have an FTF because the cache wasn't published when they found it. Such a pursuit can't result in an FTF, even if they sign it first. There's nothing inherently wrong with finding a cache before publication, I've done so because a friend gave me coordinates of an unpublished cache that I was hiking in the area of, but I would never conceit to say that I was FTF, and, sadly, neither can your friend.

I'm suprised at all the new feature requests that I see in this forum. I hope GS is being careful about what they try to implement. Featuritis is very real. I've heard rumors through my local association that there are 'changes' coming to both GeoCaching and Waymarking, as well as a 'new game'. When are we going to get more information?

I have a 9 Month old. We go hiking with a front pack, a front/back convertible is really best. Try to keep the hike under 4 hours. Stop & Go urbans are actually worse for this age group because you have to get them in and out of the car all the time. Older kids probably love playground hides. Playgrounds are a Waymarking category, and I know one geocacher whose kids love playground Waymarking as a caching 'reward'. You might also consider putting out your own series of playground hides. Don't hide the cache on the playground, instead, make it a multi and hide the cache nearby. Here's an example that I put out recently.

Yes. Then you have to go back out and fix various caches you've hidden. After doing that awhile your desire to hide just any old cache lessens. You get very picky about where you might hide a cache and what you might hide there. Maintainability becomes very important. That coffee container? If it's metal, it'll rust (and they're not very good at keeping water out) - and the lids crack. If it's one of the all plastic sorts, those lids suck. I had one out and it got infested with mice. Most disgusting cache experience ever (and it was my own too). I replaced with rigid plastic and screw top food storage container. I opted against ammo can because of proximity to muggles.

perhaps useful... Mark the car when you get out. Refer to GPS to determine when sunset is. Calculate how much remaining daylight you have until sunset. Divide that number in half. Add that value to the current time. Set an alarm (GPS, cell phone or PDA) for that calculated time. When the alarm goes off, turn around and head back to the car.

I've always said that the single most popular trade item you can leave is a ready-to-go mini- or micro- cache. They are inexpensive to make and most experienced geocachers will trade well for them. Film can with log. Film can wrapped in cammo tape, with log. Film can wrapped in cammo tape, wire underneath for hanging, with log. Film can wrapped in cammo tape, magnet underneath, with log. Beach safe (orientaltrading.com) with above treatments (or just the lanyard) Small rubbermaid, cammo taped, as would fit in ammo can. etc. make them, leave them, revisit cache logs and you'll see them quickly traded for.

The same words apply to many forum posts...

I hope he doesn't create a sock puppet account for any job...