ecanderson
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Posts posted by ecanderson
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As I noted earlier, it really IS important that you start with a bolt made of a softer steel. "How different could they be?" you might ask. LOTS different, I would reply. Check this chart and compare it to anything you plan to machine for a cache. It makes identifying them faster at the hardware store.I have a metal lathe that I use for my fly rod making. I've hollowed out two bolts and can say that it was a royal pain. The steel is so hard it screamed and smoked until I thought I'd blow something up.http://www.americanfastener.com/technical/...kings_steel.asp
Stick with an el-cheapo bolt of unhardened B8 -- or better yet, ungraded spec. You'll find your tools holding up a lot better. Best choice would be at an Ace/Lowe's/Home Depot and a bolt with no marking on the head at all.
And BTW, you don't want to see smoke while you're machining these things. That's a quick way to start replacing expensive tool parts. Lower speeds, machine oil, water, ANYTHING you can do will help.
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The only way to recheck them in realtime is to check them in realtime. My own solution to this is to use my rather minimalist cell phone. I have loaded Opera Mini on it to view the gc.com site as it is, but you can also use any WAP enabled phone to access the wap.geocaching.com web site. It's rudimentary in its information, but you'll see the most recent logs there as well.prob: how about updates along the route ? Looking for a recently archived cache once is fun, twice is boring and three times is a pain in the behind.
I assume your phone handles GSM, but it might be a bit expensive in the roaming department.
The alternative is to bring a WiFi enable netbook or small notebook along. We have tons of open WiFi sites here in the U.S.
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I set it down and sign the log. I never mark the cache found on GPS until I pick it back up after signing and am ready to leave the area, and I always mark it found before leaving the area. That one well disciplined practice is the only reason I haven't left it behind the way I did a couple of times when I first started caching.My question is what GPSr do you have and what do you do with it when signing the logs?
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Use the drill press and save some pain.Is there any alternative to a drill press if I want to make a hollow bolt cache?OK, so that's out.
Start with what you KNOW to be a soft steel bolt. The seriously hardened stuff with the nasty hard SAE marking on top isn't a good plan.
Got a vise? Got anything large and sturdy/heavy enough to hold the bolt? Drill a pilot hole of 3/32" or 1/8" to the depth you will need. Pay attention to keeping your drill in line with the bolt. Nice if you have someone to spot you sideways while you're looking down. Now come back with the larger bit to complete the job. Actually, I'd do that with the drill press OR the hand drill.
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You'll note in one photo above a post with a black and yellow natural gas pipeline sign at the top. There's an endless series of such markers for fiber optic cable and gas line out there. Odds are very high that should you stop at any of these markers within a very wide area, you'll find a 35mm film canister at the back side with a little stone on top (or not). That's what makes a run of this sort possible. You're not spending any time finding caches, you're just spending time running 10' to them and doing something with the log and running back, and moving on down the road.How do people manage to find so many hiding spots in such flat terrain? Looks like nothing but soil, weeds and hydro poles. I'm not even seeing any decent size rocks to hide tupperware under.
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Well, it would be easier if this person happened to be a male, but knowing the difference if physiology, odds don't favor it. Regardless, you have endless miles of options for "the perfect spot in the ditch" since there's rarely anyone out in the part of the world to observe. Nearest farm can be a mile away, and traffic is nearly nil. Of course, it helps to be caching with friends and not be too bashful -- there aren't more than a handful of bushes out there!If I have any doubts about the record it would have to be with bathroom breaks. I will probably get into trouble here, but one of the cachers is known for taking frequent bathroom stops.
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Since you are a premium member, you should avail yourself of Pocket Queries.How would YOU have done it (both in my position and your own)?
If I were in your place, I'd load up a full set of 500 "not found" in your area all the time. gc.com will send your 500 to you as a *.gpx file that can be directly loaded into your Garmin using Trip & Waypoint (comes with your Garmin), or as many of us prefer to do, load them up using GSAK (http://www.gsak.net).
When it was time to cache, I'd look at the area of interest, plan a driving route and simply write down the GC numbers of the caches of interest. I'm not paperless, so I keep binders of my proposed and found caches. I'd have them with me, although I do use my cell phone in the field to bring up the gc.com WAP website now and again.
Then it's off to the races!
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How about here in Colorado where the deed was likely started - this is as big as you can zoom without blowing it up due >500 caches. Pan around a bit.Here? I got 479 caches (but unable to get the exact url, just play a little bit and you'll get them) on a 16miles side square. Yes, it seems unsane
.Congratulations!
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And when you pop a flat tire 1/2 a mile from home, do you add that to the notes for your DNF log???The only grey area I see is the point at which you determine when you began the hunt. For me it is the minute I plug in the cache coords and hit Go To on my GPS.
I had a grand plan to catch a series of 8 caches one day this last spring. As I was driving towards the area, I spotted a family looking at an EOTR cache that I'd bagged some months before. Stopped to give them a hand, and wound up with a sprained ankle for my efforts. I had them all loaded up and was already navigating towards the first one when this all happened. I suppose I should have DNFd all 8 that I'd planned to visit that day? The family was nice enough to load me up with a couple of Tylenol gel caps and pour me into my car for the ride home. No caching that day (or for the next week, for that matter). I didn't DNF anything. What would be the point?
As you can see, your hard and fast rule can't ALWAYS be so hard and fast and still make any sense.
"Go", as you say, is a very relative thing based upon the circumstances of the moment.
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Last post brings up a new and interesting challenge... make a run at the same area here in Colorado, and set a new record for finds in a day without using a vehicle! Would need someone who is accustomed to running marathon distances in thin air, but ...
Just to note - not all of the caches out by the airport are at 0.1 spacing, but many are, and many of the rest aren't that much further.
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I don't own one or have a manual either, but dink around with it and be SURE it is set to WGS84 datum, not NAD27 or something similar.hey everyone, I have a magellin triton 300 and i am putting in the cordinates exactly how they are on here, but it is taking me about 25 to 60 feet away from the actual cache's . any ideas how to fix this, i don't have the manual to my gps and i can't open any adobe documents to read it online.. I placed a cache for the first time and sent everyone on a wild goose chase as it was way off even though i marked my spot right over top of the cache... thank you for any advice. -
And my recollection was wrong. GCC859 does get updated periodically by the owner, although not necessarily with every placement. Still, the owner has no way of knowing where the multi waypoints and puzzles are, either. There's never any assurance that the 0.1 spacing is being kept. What is interesting about these is that the owner seems to be under no obligation to restrict coordinate changes to any set limit. I've always been under the impression that the gc.com site would not allow large coordinate changes except with a reviewer's input.Since the ones I've seen never post new 'official' coordinates (the current coordinates of the cache are always simply noted in the cacher's log when dropping the cache someplace new),This cache does get its coordinates updated regularly by the owner.
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I'll have to 2nd the vote from Arizona. In some climates (you're in New Jersey, what do YOU know from a dry climate???That being said, Altoid containers make for abysmally bad cache containers, and should never be used, except, perhaps, inside a waterproof container.
) they can hold up very well indeed. We have a number of older caches here in the flatlands of Colorado that are still going strong. Providing you don't know from humidity, and keep them tucked in somewhere where they are never directly exposed to the elements, they can be used effectively.
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While these are no longer allowed, the ones still alive have been "grandfathered". Since the ones I've seen never post new 'official' coordinates (the current coordinates of the cache are always simply noted in the cacher's log when dropping the cache someplace new), they seem to get put just about anywhere, including within a 0.1mi radius of another cache. I've never seen a reviewer fuss about these since they're so few and far between. Besides, unless you know the intermediate waypoints to every multi in the area, and have solved every puzzle, you have no way to know whether you're violating a 0.1mi spread anyway.I picked up an active Traveling Cache. Now I need to know a few things about replacing it.May I put it in/beside an existing cache?
Wherever I place it - is it restricted to the .1 mile rule?
Could I place it and contact a local cacher to inform - so as to keep it in the area for a couple of weeks until a Meetand Greet coming up?
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If the trail is good enough to warrant the walk all by itself, definitely. Certainly wouldn't be the first puzzle cache I'd gone to find without any guarantee about a result.Would you bother to do a difficult puzzle that lead to a cache far out on a trail? I always have lots of puzzle ideas, might start dumping them on hiking trails depending on the responses here.If you're worried that some might not make the time commitment on a puzzle, you can always employ a geochecker to give them some assurance they've got it solved before they leave.
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On the assumption that they cached where I think they did - actually, they'd have had to in order to make that score - that is INDEED a correct description of the area. Just about the time you get the car rolling, you're stopped and out again for another 35mm against a post. If it hadn't been for the fact that I wanted to score GHP's rather nicer caches in the area, I wouldn't have even made the 50+ run that I did that afternoon. Seemed silly to pass them all up on the way. Seems almost sillier to have done it. Oh well. I got what I thought were the "good" ones, and haven't been back for the hundreds that I left behind.]Based on the descriptions of the area, I would guess that running to, retrieving, and opening the cache would take just a few seconds for most of the caches they found. They printed stickers to sign the log sheets, so getting the log out and putting it back in probably take longer than actually signing it. Meanwhile, everyone else is back in the vehicle, so the finder/signer replaces the cache and returns to the vehicle.Again, I did 50+ in solo mode in 4 hours, actually used a pen on the logs instead of stickers, and wasn't even trying to hurry. Multiply that by 6 and I'd have had an easy 300 in 24 hours. With more people, stickers, etc ... it would be a serious hustle, but clearly possible if you really wanted to do it. A motivated group would have no problem.
I don't know these folks from Adam, people, but I know this caching area VERY well. Before you chose to dismiss them, you'd better get your butts out here and actually see what they had to work with. To describe it as a "target rich" environment is an extreme understatement. Yo... tap, tap, tap. I LIVE here. I wouldn't jive you about something as insane as this. It's kind of a local embarrassment for some of us in the geocaching community.
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Not a problem, providing your cache tends to keep them moving, and you've already noted that this is the case. I do the same thing, especially with bugs and coins that I run across that have been 'stuck' for a while. I'm fortunate that I have a cache located in a very good spot for people traveling to Estes Park, and we get a LOT of that traffic through the course of a year.I am the owner of a cache in a park very close to my home. When I take a Coin or TB from another cache I will usually drop it off in my cache at night when I walk my dog. It's a very easy cache to get to and they don't seem to stay there very long but I'm just wondering if this is somewhat bad form?
There's no telling how long it will take someone to log a cache, and when they do log an FTF, you can bet they'll make note of it in the log entry. The order in which the caches are logged is irrelevant. Just be sure you note that your find was the STF and go ahead and log it. Happens all the time.If I am the STF (Second to find) on a cache, is it rude to log it on the cache page before the actual FTF person?Frankly, I try to avoid this in the first place. On those rare few occasions where I've been FTF on a cache, I will use my lame cell phone and the geocaching.com WAP site and at least put in a temporary log (perhaps to be cleaned up later on a PC for things like capitalization and whatnot) indicating the the FTF is a done deal. This also avoids having the local FTF hounds disrupting their day for no particular reason.
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Indeed it is. I can't imagine putting myself through that exercise, even as a team sport.As much as I loathe the type of caches involved, and they would have been long since ignored if they appeared in my local area, they are caches legitimately listed on Geocaching.com, and the record is nothing short of amazing.Why do you hate WD-40 so much? Is PB Blaster that much better?
I don't hate WD-40, although I'd never use it as a lubricant. That avatar comes as the result of another forum, and a rather peculiar character that got busted for macing someone, and switched to WD-40 as her personal weapon of choice.
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The appropriate "why" in my mind is that of what possess two pairs of people to get into some kind of silly race to see who can drop more 35mm cans quicker than the other. Now we've got a 3rd party getting into the act, and it's getting denser and denser out there.The question of "why" is one we ask about all kinds of human behavior. There is hardly ever a logical explanation.I believe the original impetus was one of "If I can't possibly bag as many finds as xxxx, perhaps I can place more caches!" Whatever ... it's turned that part of town into a total circus.
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Not as solid as the density of caches out there. Your math doesn't appreciate the reality. Let me try this again.Question my math all you want. The math is solid.
Average time to disembark, "find" and sign one of the airport area caches might be as much as 30 seconds if someone stays behind the wheel, 40 if they don't. As I said, I pulled up 52 in 4 hours of *leisurely* caching BY MYSELF, and I didn't just stick to the easy ones (there are a few "real" caches out there, too). These are for the most part BRAIN DEAD caches. A large part of the 30 seconds will be fiddling with the baggies. Each cache is usually no more than 10' off the road. Many are spaced at just over the 528' limit, and run all up, down and sideways on every section road in the area.
There must be a good 300 of them that I know about of this type in a relatively small area. That requires only 150 minutes (300 x 30 seconds each) to "deal with" the large majority of the caches in the area. Averaging 20mph would be VERY possible under these circumstances with some decent teamwork. The roads themselves will tolerate far more than that, even though they're dirt.
Pay a visit, or believe those of us who live here and have seen this insanity. At least take the time to pull up the map. It's possible.
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Bittsen - as nutty as it sounds, it's entirely plausible. And understand, I've been on those stretchs of road while you haven't (you'd hate it anyway). A lot of the caches they would have nabbed would require ZERO search time. As they said, those that do the run out by the airport spend more time fiddling with the mini-ZipLoc bags than finding the cache. A huge number are all along an otherwise deserted set of roads, and the majority of those are 35mm film cans next to the only posts in sight. A decent vehicle GPS used to do the stop and start is all that's needed. You don't even need a handheld. The cache is either at the post or it's been muggled.If you were driving at 60mph, your drive time alone would be 7.85 hours all by itself (assuming the speed limit was 60mph in every instance.
That would only leave 16.15 hours of actual caching which would equate to 2.22 minutes of searching (average) per cache (adding the DNFs in).
As for the math and the drive times...
24 hours and 471 miles requires an average speed of just under 20mph, not 60. I did a run of 50+ caches out there one day before I got totally bored, and it's more than possible to make that average if you're hustling. I was doing it solo, too. Nobody to run out and start the grab while I rolled to a stop
As I recall, I scored something like 52 caches in just over 4 hours -- and again, that was operating solo and not trying to set any records. Unless/until you actually do as I suggested and take a look at the map of that area, you are understandably skeptical -- but once you do, you won't be. It's absurd. If you look at the link below (give it a sec to fully load once the map us up), you'll get a sense of what the territory is out there. Empty prairie and farm fields everywhere.
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Believe me, if they did the "numbers run" out east and south of DIA airport, that's all the log most of the caches in that area really deserve (see my description, above).I think this facilitates the dreaded copy and paste logs. <i.e. Give me my smiley!>Brady (GHP) has a few tougher ones in that area that are worth a look, but most of the others out there are just a long series of 35's next to stakes. Center; yourself up on GC1WA6B and back up with the zoom. You won't back up more than 4 clicks before you reach the gc.com 500 max on the map. It's pretty crazy out there.
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OK - from that description, I think my initial guess was right. Fortunately, there's not much traffic on the roads out there E of the airport. But if anyone DOES come by, you can sure find yourself eating dust! They don't bother treating any of the roads out there with mag chloride or anything, so their either dust or mud all year long.Yes, I found some.
Normally I would swing the car towards the cache (so we could use the headlights), and then ensure no cars were going to hit us (left flashers on) before exiting.
Normally the team of 3 would be at the cache site searching by the time I started my usual countdown with the gps.....40....30....20...
If they didn't find it by the time I got to zero, I would choose a spot and start hunting.
Was reading another of your posts above, and see you got introduced to our nasty little "sticky burrs". I'm not sure what the real name of the plant is, but those little barbed balls are a real PITA. They love socks, and you can actually pick them up on the bottom of your shoes and pretty well cover the floor mats with them. In any other year, the bugs wouldn't have been much of an issue, but we've had a very unusual amount of rain this summer.
So apart from the "0.1 strings" of caches, which ones did you find that were really interesting out here? Or is it still all a blur? Where else did you guys go in the area?
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Varies widely with my first glance at the cache page. I will often have a quick look at the satellite view on the cache page. It's saved me a LOT of time more than once, especially as it regards water. I'll give you an example a recently published cache that I just looked at this morning (GC1XR5A).What's your process for preparing for finding a cache? Do you read the cache page? Logs? Hints?Saw the 2.0 difficulty. No problems there. Then saw all of the water (creeks and ponds) surrounding the cache, and thought "Uh oh, access could be really tricky on this one". Truth to tell, there's only ONE way in to this cache that 1) doesn't require crossing private property and 2) doesn't require fording at least one active ditch... a trailhead at 75th and Hygiene Rd into a trail with no other exit. I discovered the trailhead entrance with a quick look at the satellite view from the cache page map. So I have saved myself driving around endlessly looking for another way in.
Obviously, I don't use the satellite view on everything, but another case where I'll use it is where I suspect I'm involved in large and convoluted parking lots or open space that is surrounded by a lot of private property and access will be an issue. I search for public paths between houses from streets into the green-space.
The idea is to spend more time looking for the cache than figuring out how to position myself in the vehicle to GET there.
So in typical sequence:
1) Check the difficulty and terrain ratings. Decide if difficulty rating matches the amount of time I can likely spend on the cache for a search (many are done at lunch). Sometimes on a weekend I'll tackle the really nasty ones. I'll rarely tackle anything over 3.0 difficulty at lunch. I also rarely tackle high terrain rated caches (above 2.5) in my street clothes during lunch!
2) Take a quick look at the recent logs to be sure there aren't a string of DNFs on a cache whose difficulty doesn't appear to warrant this. Probably abandon the idea for now if there's a string of DNFs w/o a find and difficulty 2.0 or less. (This explains my comment in the DNF/notDNF thread - I'm not alone in this behavior). An exception is made for a rare few hiders that I know who regularly underrate the difficulty of their caches vs the average in our area.
3) Check the cache's map local terrain and find some sort of nearby vehicle and/or pedestrian access if it's not obvious, using the satellite view instead of map view as necessary. Get a "driving route" in my head.
4) Head for the site and start the search. Time to be sure I've looked a second time at the size information and the name of the cache along with any information in the hider's description. Nothing worse than forgetting that you're looking for a micro when you recalled it as a regular! The name of a cache can also often provide a clue as to its location. I've felt like an idiot any number of times when not finding a cache, only to realize that it was, as the hider often notes "in the name".
5) If, in my very subjective opinion, the time spent doesn't match up to to the rating after some period of time, that period determined by difficulty rating, I'll check the listing for a hint. If it's there, I'll use it.
6) If, in my very subjective opinion, the time spent with clue in hand doesn't match up to the rating after some period of time, I'll start looking in detail at recent logs to see if anyone else reported this cache as more difficult than expected, or anything else peculiar that might explain my lack of a find.
7) I'll either find the thing or I won't. Note that numbers for lifelines/phone-a-friend do not appear on a cache page (see sig line!)
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5/5 in southern Sweden
in General geocaching topics
Posted
GCRJTA, GCVVA6, GCWGFG, GC1083V, GC188NT.
There are about 25 such caches in southern Sweden, not including the puzzle caches.