TrailJoy
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Posts posted by TrailJoy
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I SOLVED THE PUZZLE!!!
There's also Geocaching Puzzle Help, a Facebook group. Good bunch of folks, just a few rules: FTF has to have been logged already, and they don't just give you the answer. They will give you prods in the right direction until you get the idea.
THANK YOU FOR THIS!! This is exactly the type of support group, I mean help (
) I was looking for. While I didn't get any direct hints, I was to told that my methods were far more complicated than the solution required. The CO has also told me that the solution is "simple", and that I am GREATLY overthinking it. It was support and the gentle pushes away from getting stuck on the wrong solution, that guided me to the right one.
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Eight weeks is nothing. A really challenging puzzle may take months or years before it's cracked. The best thing about geocaching is the variety of caches. Keep plugging away at it but take a break if you are frustrated. It will feel really great when you finally break through.
I have one unsolved puzzle I put out in February that has a lot of watchers and I'm honestly surprised that it hasn't been figured out yet. It's eminently solvable...with clear steps that only lead to one solution, but I'm hearing that it's frustrating lots of folks out there.
Another one I put out almost two years ago was solved once. The guy who solved it picked up on the solution very quickly and got the answer on his first try, so I'm confident it's not something that's "fuzzy" or open to any interpretation. He didn't find the cache, though...so it also is unfound.
Eight weeks unsolved doesn't mean "unsolvable" and it's kind of ludicrous to claim it is. It's sort of like claiming a cache isn't there just 'cause you can't find it.
I bet it was the same guy who solved yours as the one who solved mine. As mentioned above, I don't think he's human. lol
Send me a message if you want to take a stab at mine... And I'm curious about yours! Would you mind sending me a GC code?
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Oh and for the record, this one took him "well under ten minutes". lol
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I saw that. Don't feel bad, I'm convinced he's not human. He can solve anything.
You're not kidding. I've been trying to pick his brain (mostly for clues as to what I'm doing WRONG, as opposed to hints towards the solution), and I sent him some other puzzles (because he seems to enjoy solbing them - i had already solbed them). One that took me the better part of half a year, he solved in about 90 seconds.And another (that I haven't solved) in about 2 seconds. He even all but told me the answer, and I STILL can't figure it out. 😂
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I posed on that fb group last night. Someone in the UK saw it, and solved it within hours.
HEEELLLPPPP!!! (lol)
Sorry. I posted before I read the last comment. Man. Soooooo frustrating. It's that dangling carrot I can't quite reach. LOL
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There's also Geocaching Puzzle Help, a Facebook group. Good bunch of folks, just a few rules: FTF has to have been logged already, and they don't just give you the answer. They will give you prods in the right direction until you get the idea.
Thanks! I missed this the first time 'round. I've requested a join.
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I found the puzzle you're talking about. I could see how it could be a "guess what I'm thinking" puzzle and since the CO created it (her first) she probably rated it easy (because, she could see the pattern she created, it appears easy). It's the kind of puzzle that someone could spend hours, day, or weeks looking at but never "see" the puzzle. Someone else might see it within minutes. Those kind of puzzles are difficult to rate and hard to provide a hint without giving the whole thing away. However, she may not be using her imagination well enough to come with a vague hint.
A few years ago I did a puzzle where the CO would answer yes/no questions and post the answer on the logs until someone (actually, me and someone I was working with) solved it. For example,
Does the pattern start in the middle of the image? or
Is that vertical line on the right side of the image signifiant?
Doing the puzzle that way was a lot of fun. If I recall, it had a 4.5 difficulty rating also and took 2-3 weeks to finally figure it out (even with the questions/answers).
The vertical line is from the copy machine. There are two repeating patterns, which give me a TON of coords, none of which are right - which leads me to believe that's not the solution to the puzzle. I did ask about math and she said "maaaaaybe on a kindergarten level", so there shouldn't be a ton of decoding to do either.
If ONLY she'd play 2O questions...
Thanks for taking the time to find the puzzle in question. I don't really want to say too much here as I don't know who is reading this thread.
Edit: If you, or anyone else, has any interest at all in helping me solve it, send me a message.
PS. I'm curious how you found the puzzle!
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Getting hints from the CO, assuming the CO wants to give hints (if it's a 5 star D puzzle it's *supposed* to be hard) is the first step. After that, teaming up with someone else that has not yet solved it is a fun way to solve a puzzle cache. Posting a note on the cache pages asking if anyone else is working on it might be an easy way to find someone else that is working on it. You don't need a PAF network to do that.
Her original rating I think was 2.5 At the event, and many theories later, she said "How smart do you people think I am?!" The answer is staring us in the face. Literally.
It's a 4.5 now. lol
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What makes you think it's solvable? After 8 weeks with no one solving it, I'd assume the only way anyone's going to find the cache is if the CO whispers the coordinates in their ear.
RIGHT?? According to the creator, the only hint she can think of is a dead giveaway to the solution. We're supposed to be able to look at the picture and SEE the solution. No special tools or research/knowledge required. All I see are colours.
This board doesn't appear to have a "bang head on wall". Ironic considering the nature of this forum. I love this game, but not finding it, or in this case not solving the puzzle to get the coords, can be the most frustrating thing ever.
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Yes, we just had our annual puzzle event. Everyone else is in the same boat as me. haha I thought I'd get lucky and there would be a group online somewhere for puzzlers. This one is killing me. I've sat and stared at it for 7 hours today ALONE. Frustration. haha
Thanks, all.
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Of course! The difficulty level was raised. Like that helps me at all. LOL
It's a colour puzzle. A coloured mandala. There's a pattern that will give me the coords, but I've found probably close to 5O at this point. Obviously the patterns I'm finding are wrong...
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Google this because I don't fully know how to do it, but there is a way to reset it to it's factory settings. Something to do with removing the batteries, then connecting it to your computer. Turn it on by pressing the power button at the same time as pushing the joystick UP.
That's about all I remember, as my search wasn't regarding resetting the device.
Good luck!!
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EIGHT WEEKS, I've been working on a puzzle (that has yet to be solved). Is there a group here, or somewhere else where people can go to bounce ideas and get general help in solving these nightmares? lol
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I did look at the editor, but it seemed a bit complicated in how to enter new coords, etc. I was hoping to find something like macCaching where I could just select "new", and enter my information. No html required.
I'll check out basecamp as well. Either one will beat using that silly little joystick to find one painful number/letter at a time. lol
Thanks for the quick replies!
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Sorry, no. I should have specified. It's a Magellan Explorist GC.
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I have a bunch of waypoints I need to enter onto my GPS. I noticed that if I enter them directly on my device, they all save in one GPX file. Is there a way to edit this file to add more on the computer, and then transfer the file back to my device?
I'm currently using MacCaching, but there doesn't seem to be any way to add more. And entering them manually on my GPS is giving me a serious case of "geo-thumb".
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Yes it will, but you need a premium membership for it to work. I recently ran into an issue with my GPS and having to use my phone as a backup... a LOT of data later, I decided to buy a new GPS. Someone told me to just download the caches offline, and disable my cell service.
I now use an older phone that I'm no longer making payments on - note, no data whatsoever outside of WIFI - and it works great!
If you're a premium member, you need to create either bookmark folders, or a pocket query. When you open your geocaching app, you will see them both in your lists. Click the little dots to "download offline data", and VOILA!
I use pocket query for my entire city, and bookmarks for specific caches. They both work on my phone that "isn't a phone". Even when I'm in the absolute middle of NOWHERE.
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Thank you. The problem is that there is no "unattempted" option. Just found and not found, needs maintenance, and post a note. I selected "not found" three times in a row to see what would happen, and when I went to recheck the stats not only did it keep the log to the original find, but it then logged all three DNF's as well. So both the lifetime found, and lifetime not found stats keep logging, regardless of how many times I press the button, but they never drop.
I read the link below and searched for "setting.xml", and not only is there no such file, but there are no .xml files AT ALL on my device. I have however opened all of the .inf files to look for somewhere that shows something that relates to lifetime found, and came up with one in the "awards.ini" file, but this changes ONLY the numbers in the awards tab. The stats label still has the incorrect number - and the cache I mistakingly logged still says DNF.
Frustrating.
Change the log from DNF to Unattempted on your device. If that doesn't work, then it's this complicated work around.
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Does anyone own this gps?
I have accidentally logged a few caches as "found", but because there is no way of "unlogging" them, I was forced to change the "found" to "not found". This is fine as it reminds me to go back and look again, but if I go into the settings my stats are wrong. I have way more "finds" than I actually have because of my too quick fingers. Unfortunately, due to the forcing of changing the find to a DNF, I also have an equal amount of DNF's. LOL
I use a mac, so looking at the files in Finder after connecting my device, I can't find ANYWHERE where the log is for me to edit.
Does anyone know how to "unfind" a cache on this device??
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Thank you! I will start with Podcacher and go from there.
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Does anyone have any favourite podcasts related to Geocaching? I found a few, but I'm looking for one that's full of entertaining stories and tips/tricks. If you have a favourite, list it here!
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Never mind. After learning how to download the caches to my phone for offline use (I HAD NO IDEA!) I decided to pass.
Admin: You can delete this thread if you wish, please and thank you.
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I own the Magellan eXplorist gc. I quite like it a lot when it works, but I find that it loses me a lot, and then takes a while to find me again. Which often means I walk right past a bunch of caches while it's looking for me. I LIKE it, but I find it frustrating when it doesn't work.
I have an opportunity to buy the Garmin 62s, but I know nothing at all about GPS units. I like mine because it's designed for Geocaching, and the Garmin DOES have a geocaching app... but what does that mean??!
Does anyone own it, and have experience with the Magellan? How do they differ? The garmin has a digital compass, wheras the Magellan doesn't... I think that's about all I know. And I don't even really know what that means... LOL
Can you help? The seller is holding it for me while I research.
TIA!!
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You just don't want to run it and keep it for more than a week. Caches may be moved, disabled archived, or changed spin some other way that you won't know about. So if it's been too long, you could be looking for a cache that's not even there anymore.
So if I wanted to save the entire city (because sometimes I don't know where I'm going until I get there) with all of the current information, I could run the PQ the day we go out, then sync it to my GPS right before I leave? I spoke with a friend about the happy faces, but I don't think I really care all that much. It would be easier to just delete the "city", then resave it each time I go... Right?
Unless there's another way to keep my "finds" without overwriting them... Maybe just unselect the ones I've already found? I'm still pretty new and only have 4O or so finds, so it was easy for me to organize them in their own little query or bookmark list. That said, I'm quite fond of my little GPS unit, and the happy face make me feel, well, happy. If possible, I'd like to keep them and only replace all of the other ones.
) I was looking for. While I didn't get any direct hints, I was to told that my methods were far more complicated than the solution required. The CO has also told me that the solution is "simple", and that I am GREATLY overthinking it. 
Mystery Caches
in General geocaching topics
Posted
In this case, the hint was a dead giveaway to the solution. It's more a matter of "the people aren't listening" than it is overthinking. The hint is VERY, literal. And it has been stated over and over again - even by the CO. But us humans aren't so great in the listening department sometimes, it seems.