TeamK-9

Generally, I'm always carrying a pack of one type or another. And if I'm not carrying one, I'm probably only after one small cache, so I only have the minimal items I need in my pockets. During the summer, I pretty much dress normally. I wear a pair of khaki cargo shorts. (They have to be like traditional shorts, though, not necessarily canvas but no nylon.) Definately avoid nylon shorts, because they can be torn into shreads while in heavy brush. Basically, I leave my lower legs open by wearing shorts because I'm more comfortable, and I figure I have enough bandaids to take care of any serious problems with thorns. On top, I generally just wear a t-shirt. But if I know I'll be anywhere where there might be brush or some serious bushwacking, I'll bring my "brush shirt." It's basically just a light-weight, long sleeve, button up shirt that I can put on while bushwacking to protect my arms...

I think exceptions are occasionally made to the rule if there is some major barrier between the two places. You say "hiking down to the spot" which makes me think there might be a considerable hike to the place you want to put your cache? I'd like to think that would qualify for an exception, but I dunno. Hopefully, Keystone or one of the approvers can chime in with a bit of advice..

This cache in Colonel Denning State Park in Pennsylvania was placed by the park's manager (who coincidently has been recently transferred across the state to my hometown) I don't want to give away the secret, but this cache involves close coordination with DCNR officials...

The question has been pretty much asked and answered, over here.

I don't know Mac specifically. I'm hoping to buy one though when I go to college. I have done a little research and I think the widgets are cool. I'd think a plain old zip code search would be great...

Make sure to spend a lot of time wearing the boots for small hikes before you go on for the ten miles... As with any good new pair of boots, you'll need to break them in, by hiking a long distance over many short periods of times..

Is there anymore information on the site other than the one little paragraph? Sounds cool.. 66 goes right past my house... I think it's State Road 66 and not US66 though...

The main thing is looking for any type of sign "Park closes at dusk." At least around here, if the park closes at dusk, there is generally a cop sitting there in a marked patrol car, driving through shortly before dusk, making sure everyone's gone before he shuts the gate. Which brings me to the other important thing to look for, a gate. Even if there are no signs, there could still be a gate. That gate could be locked at night. It's just hit or miss... Look for parks without signs, or gates...

And as anyone, who takes the time to read the cache guidelines, specifically this section about commercial caches, knows that "Commercial caches attempt to use the Geocaching.com web site cache reporting tool directly or indirectly (intentionally or non-intentionally) to solicit customers through a Geocaching.com listing. These are NOT permitted." And by posting links to "sponsors" you are (intentionally or non-intentionally) soliciting customers through a Geocaching.com listing... Edit: I specifically like the capitilization of the word "NOT" throughout the listing guidelines. Specifically relating to stuff like Commercial caches that are NOT permitted.

Anything by the Beatles or U2...

I just followed all of those links and I don't see geocaching mentioned anywhere, so I fail to see how this is a geocaching event And by Hemlock's posting of a piece of the cache page, he's showing another reason that you're event probably isn't being approved. The line "This Event is being sponsored by..." technically turns it into a commercial cache...

I thought all reviewers in the world could look at the cache notes you write. If you had posted that before I posted my long-winded response about approver integrity, I would have addressed it. Yes, all approvers can look at the approver notes. But quite frankly, I don't think any of them would be desperate enough to look up the answer to a puzzle cache... No offense, but I think you're just being paranoid. Surely, approvers have had LOTS of opportunities to commit "GeoFraud" like this, but seeing as that there have been no majorly publicisized incidents, it leads me to believe that they all understand the responsibility and integrity required of they're position.. To quote a wise, man named Bobby McFerrin "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

As a matter of fact you have touched on part of my concern, that I left out because it was a little touchy. This approver uses a sock puppet. He conceals his geocaching name, thus I don’t know where he’s from and who his companion cachers are. Chances are it's nothing to worry about, but if you feel like it's a problem, he/she would probably be glad to let another approver take a look at it. Even if the approver is your next-door neighbor, I doubt it would make too much of a difference. I once remember Keystone Approver saying that after he approves a puzzle cache, he tries to wait a month or two, so that the solution is properly out of his head. With as many cache approvals as he does, it's probably very easily to completely erase the details of a puzzle out of your mind. Keystone is a shining example of the greatness of Groundspeak's volunteers, and I'm sure that all of them have as high a level of integrity as he does. So, like I said, don't worry about it, and if worst comes to worst, just ask for another approver...

I might be able to do that, if everyone would stop posting for a few hours, maybe days... I'd probably lose count before I had half the numbers plugged into my calculator...

Adopting caches is entirely possible. First talk to the prior owner, and then email the contact at geocaching dot com address, and someone will help you sort it out..

It seems the approver just wants you to give him a solution, and/or description of how the puzzle actually works. Nothing out of the ordinary there. It's nothing really to worry about, the approver is the only one who will see that information. If your approver is relatively local to your area, and you're afraid of giving them the solution, you could always ask for them to have a non-local approve the cache. The fact of the matter is that you are going to have to at least partially explain to them how the puzzle is solved...

Discussion of last night's episode of Law & Order got me thinking. Here's something that Jeremy or someone on the staff can probably answer by looking back at site statistics: Has the site shown noticable spikes in the numbers of new, unique visitors on any specific dates, and/or can those spikes be related to any specific events (ie. last night's Law & Order episode?)

I'm 15, and the driving force of our team. My dad, on ther other hand is 54, and he is forced to drive our team to places all over Western PA.

I hate to play "Devil's Advocate" but I feel like I need to.. Lots of local groups have done "events" very much similar to what you're proposing. Very few, if any have been posted on geocaching.com My theory is that, if you're setting this up, you undoubtedly have at least a small, local group formed, and if you have a group, you undoubtedly have a web page. So just post it there, and on the websites of any other fairly close groups. Sure, this is a cool idea for a new cache type, but I don't think it would be used nearly enough to warrant the actual adding of it to the databases, and I fear that it could probably be abused in some way or another...

Let me be quite honest in saying that snakes scare the **** out of me... I've been known to run away even from the small garter snakes that reside in my garden..

I never knew about the "Page" link. That's pretty cool...

Monopoly is competitive isn't it?

Honestly, I don't think you're going to get much sympathy from many people here. My local group recently had their CITO event denied, because we were trying to piggy-back it off of a local highway cleanup group's already scheduled cleanup event. It got turned down because of that, and because it wasn't submitted far enough in advance. But no real hard feelings were felt towards the approver. The other thing here is that you're not actually sharing your idea. The only person here who probably knows anything about your proposed event is the approvers, one or two of which have already posted here with their opinions and the section of the rules regarding event caches. You keep sort of hinting at your event, but you're not actually coming right out and saying what it is. Why don't you explain the idea of your event, and maybe some of us can try and help you with your specific problem. From what you've already said, it sounds like a local geocaching group is setting up a table at some kind of festival or event? You could always just post the info on the group's web page, inviting people to come and visit... It also sounds like you're making some kind of competition with prizes on the day of the festival where you have your booth. Wouldn't it be more fun to have a more organized event, only for geocachers, where you guys could pretty much have the park to yourself, instead of sharing it with several thousand others?

I watched the episode last night, and enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so. Of course, I was (and still am) feeling sick and so I went to bed. I too saw the trowel in the first few minutes of the show, and I was horribly offended. But, the trowel doesn't look like a trowel you'd use for digging, it almost looks like a masonry trowel, something that a brick layer would use to smooth out mortar? It definately doesn't look like something you'd want to do much digging with. And to be honest, the cache wasn't really burried. From the looks of it, it looked like a hole was dug to hide it in the first place, but when the cops found it, they just brushed the dirt and leaves off with their hands... All weekend, I was waiting for the show. And I, like Jeremy and many others was thinking that they'd show us as total nerds, but they didn't. Which I am grateful for. So they didn't portray geocaching perfectly. They're not the first one, and they surely won't be the last... The show wasn't entirely accurate, but they did fairly well for a tv show. Worst-cast scenario, they could have really made us look bad. They could have had a nerdy engineer, killing people, and leaving mutilated body parts in tupperware, but they didn't. They had an almost reasonable interpretation of geocaching...

Chances are, he did log it twice, but he deleted the second log..