ThistleMae

I don't know anyone who in fact can't find caches (other than myself ), so I doubt your DNF list would be long. But what you may be asking for is a "Bookmark List". You probably want a list of caches that you haven't found, but that you wish to return to and try again. This rules out DNFs where the cache was archived, or caches that you just plain don't want to revisit. Make a Bookmark List, look at each DNF'd cache and see if it's one you will hunt again sometime, and if so, add it. Write a comment on that list item to remind yourself about your plans. Now when you DNF a cache, add it. When you find one of them, remove it from the list. You can make a Pocket Query from the Bookmark list, and depending on the Apps you use, the list becomes even more useful. Super helpful...I'll try and figure out how to do that. Thanks. I think this may do the trick. And there are a fair amount of DNF's on my list...LOL! But I do go back to every one of them, just not always in a short timeframe, hence scrolling through a list where I can't remember whether I went back of not.

I am a huge zombie fan...love these!

Really beautiful!

Very cool!

I love swag! I'm 62 years old and just started caching this spring. I always look to see how big the container is before planning a route, and try to make sure I get a couple on my list, as it seems there are many more pill bottle or camera caches than regular size. I look through all the stuff...I'm like a kid at the candy store...rummaging around. I enjoy all the different things people put in and get lots of ideas for things to put in. Some things are strange and make me laugh, that's okay too. I've definitely discovered not to put anything inside that gets ruined by dampness. Oh...the moldy caches really stink! I do have a signature item I leave. I make them out of 3mm transparency film and use water proof markers to decorate them. Sometimes I use waterproof stamp ink, and I also cut out designs, like flowers or suns, and color them in. It's all so much fun. Definitely contemporary treasure hunting.

Thanks for all the responses. I think what I was referring to is when I look at my DNF list is that I can't tell whether or not I've gone back and "Found", unless I actually look through other lists, in other places, to see that I have gone back. I was just wanting an easier way to look in one place to check whether or not I've found the ones on my DNF list without going back and forth. I'm certain after increasing my numbers even further, it could require quiet a bit of work to check everything. But...that being said, I will do a new log when I go back. If anyone has any further ideas to simplify the process, it will be greatly appreciated. Either that or I'm just not familiar enough with the website to figure it out. Any how...thanks again.

I appreciate folks that have a positive attitude no matter what the issue. And yes, I come across lots of wet, water filled containers. I clean them up the best I can and put in a fresh log, and notify the owner. It's nice to find a dry log to write on whenever possible. No matter what the reason for it's being abandoned, I enjoy the finds and greatly appreciate all the new adventures I've been on since starting caching. And while I am a factitious checker on my own cache's, only the universe knows what happened that led certain caches to be neglected.

Hello to All....I've mostly been reading and looking for answers in here...but have posted here and there. This forum has been so helpful in answering questions I can't find the answers to in the site itself, or I just can't find the answers after searching. I've been an avid Disney forum follower, so I've encountered an array of helpful to downright rude conversations in that forum. It appears that some of the same things happen in here, but for the most part I feel people are respectful and try to be helpful, which I appreciate. I mostly ignore the critical remarks and chalk it up to "there's always one in the bunch"....or "there's always one bad drunk in the crowd" sort of thing. I enjoy the forums. I love meeting new people who are excited about geocaching. It's helped me really think about the caches I want to place, or maintaining my own. I've placed five so far, and I tried to be thoughtful in my placements. Everyone has their favorite types of caches with varying levels of difficulty. I was reading one thread where people posted what irritated them the most regarding geocaching etiquette. I agreed with most of them, but then there were comments that were specific to what they preferred, which really had nothing to do with etiquette. Anyway....I plan to be in here more now that the cooler weather will be fast approaching. I'm really looking forward to winter geocaching. It will get me outdoors more, which is a plus. I'll have to work on keeping my hands warm, that will be the challenge in winter caching. Signing logs with cold hands will take some figuring out. Thanks for the topic. Happy Geocaching!

I have a number of DNF's that I've gone back to find. What is the best way to record these? Do I go into the DNF log, and replace that log with a Found It....or do I do a new log? If I do a new log, the DNF's still show up on my list of DNF's, which then confuses me, and isn't accurate. So how do other folks log these?

I guess "claiming" over 100,000 finds comes a bit easier when you're doing stuff like this. A charter member no less. Tsk tsk It's becoming more and more common, even among cachers who should know better. Geocaching etiquette is definitely not followed by everyone. It has been disappointing to find this out, especially after reading all these "crazy" found it logs, when folks didn't actually find anything. But alas, I can't control other people's behaviors...only my own. If I DNF, I post DNF. It's that simple. If you have big numbers, and are into that kind of thing, is cheating acceptable to you? Let each one judge their own conduct. To be honest, I don't check to see if people really found my hides.

You are correct. The DNF's are very helpful for two reasons...the owner can check the cache to make sure it is still there, especially if there are more than two or three DNF....and as a geocacher, it helps me determine whether I should make an attempt to find the cache or determine that it may very well not be there. If I see a couple of DNF's but then the next person found it, I will go and look. If there are several needs maintenance, notes or DNF's, and the last DNF was over two years old, I most likely will not go and look for it.

Initially I looked at all the people who were pointing, and thought it must be hands on the clock. Hint number three is only good if you know the correct term, which I did not. My hint, for folks who haven't figured it out yet is....It's not signals for hands on the clock...hmmm what else could it be?

It must be tough to guess at the correct foot requirement when the caches are not directly adjacent to the road. How do people measure this? Is it simply your best guess based on experience?

I was wondering about this as well. Thinking about doing a multicache using EVIL nano containers and didn't know if I could place these under the distance requirement to start, leading to a final cache at the 526 ft. requirement. Am I understanding this correctly?

Yes, I agree that sometimes there is a legitimate reason why a cache is not maintained...and hopefully, once out of the hospital or whatever the reason (except dead) the owner archives the cache if it cannot be maintained. But the person who commented above somewhere...saw there was activity by that geocacher, so by mere speculation...that geocacher has some other reason for not taking care of his/her cache. This is what eludes me.

It doesn't seem there is an agreed upon solution to this problem. If the cachers are active, then why don't they maintain their own caches? I just don't understand. It seems like such a simple task.

I've found so many caches with completely wet, unreadable logs and the owners seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. I appreciate a nice fresh, dry log, and as a few have said, some of these are in really unique, cool places. Even if they are no longer maintained, and there are so many where the owner does not archive them, it would be nice for other geocacher's to find an intact cache. I do carry extra plastic bags, and I just added replacement logs to my backpack. If the log is complete mush, I replace them. If they are just damp, but still readable, I message the owner, and do not replace. If they are dry, but there is no more room to write, I will add a strip of new paper, and message the owner. I just don't understand why an owner, who no longer maintains the cache just doesn't archive them. It's not that difficult, and it would just be good geocaching manners to do so. I guess I have this unrealistic expectation, that all geocachers are good, ethical people, who care about the earth and care about their fellow geocachers. It seems this isn't always the case. So sad.

I think there are as many differing opinions as there are geocaches. My sweetie and I just started this year and we don't pay attention to the stats. We enjoy finding challenging puzzles and we also do the virtual caches. We choose mostly by interesting areas and have been so pleased with the places we would never have found if not for geocaching. Just this weekend we found what is called a "Roller Barn". It can't be seen from any main road, you have to walk down an access road to this old barn that stores the rollers used by horses to keep the roads cleared of snow, before snow plows came into existence. There is a bench, some historical information and a spectacular view. And...you can go into the barn during special times of the year to check out the rollers and hear all about them from a historical perspective. How cool is that? Also, we especially love the cemeteries. Some of them are just so neat and the stones can be amazing. It's unbelievable just how many really unique places cemeteries exist. We would not have otherwise even found some of these out of the way, in the boonies places. I do know some folks who are very much into stats, and that's okay too. It's all about what keeps you interested in geocaching. It also gets us out and moving. Different strokes for different folks...as long as we are out there keeping the game alive....it's all good no matter what your interest. And thank you to everyone who posts in here. It has helped me understand so many things about geocaching.

We found one like this, very similar. The geocacher drilled a small hole inside a telephone pole, underneath a set of letters attached to the pole, which identifies the pole number. You had to lift up the attached letters, which were nailed to the pole. One of the nails was very loose, you had to lift it out to move the numbers to see the cache. We wondered if this was legal or not.

I'd like to say mine is working again, but it's not. I can see it now, but when I go to send a message, it tells me "communication service error". This is yet another new glitch. Anybody else getting this message?

Right on! I enjoy getting new souvenirs...right now they have the "agent" thing going on. Love this! Levels would be cool, with a special souvenir when you reach that particular level or solve a challenge. They could do weekly challenges, with a variety of levels for each one, say three new challenges a week. One with an easy challenge, one with a moderate challenge and one with a difficult challenge. That way folks can choose which one they want or try for all three. The souvenirs should be really cool too.

THIS! Believe me... TONS of people! Once they clean out the area, they are done and I lost track how many people just stop caching because they cleaned out the area. Its over two dozen people! Just think how many people that will be in the whole USA! I asked a few of them over the years since I know a few of them personal and they all said this... we dont have the money to travel. Its a rich man hobby an another person told me. Now, would I be caching more if theres more caches in my area? Sure I would. That simple. GS needs to find a way to refresh their game. This is a problem. We are still new to geocaching but are already finding out we have to travel 20 miles out at this point. After that we are talking an hour. So far, we are able to cache from relatives houses, when we visit, so that gives us more of an opportunity. After that, it will be only when we travel for vacationing. I mean, this is okay, but it will only be sporadic not every weekend like we are doing now. Sad really. We love it so.

We bring paper towels and new baggies, with new logs, with us so we can dry and or replace soaking wet caches.

Yep. The few times we've ever had issues with ammo cans, was folks caching in pouring rain. "Man, really coming down in buckets ! Good thing we had our rain gear on. 8th of 20 today". - So there's nineteen others just as happy as me. I guess the reason I get ticked about this is we put a small umbrella in every one as swag, but it seems many don't have the smarts to use 'em. May be a good thing, as they'd probably just put it back in afterwards anyway... Really good point. We often cache in the rain and it's hard to keep the paper dry when we sign it. Have to come up with something for that. Even if you are under cover, the moisture or spitting rain reaches in.

This is a great idea. The plastic bags are sometimes not sealed properly, or they get torn.