New England n00b

I can't speak to teh other options, but Cachemate worked well for me until my Palm III bit teh dust.

I've only found one glass container that I can recall, but it was not a canning jar. It was an old (retail) pickle jar. Not water tight at all. I don't recommend those. As for teh glass canning jars, yes they are watertight, but that is not teh only consideration, as other have posted. Breakage could occur from people accidentally dropping it, poking the cache area with a stick and doing it too hard, a muggle might break it for fun, snow/rain freezing might even squeeze the jar into shattering if the hide spot gets water in it during fall/winter. It's a neat idea, but not really workable, in my opinion.

No emails on cache activity. I get emails on my bookmark activity... UNless you are saying those are optional? I never looked beyond that. As for advantages, you can share them with other people, like I have with my Wapack Trail list. That way, someone can click on the bookmark and see all teh caches along that trail (at least the way I did it). Alternatively you can make one that represents your favorite finds and share that... Tons of stuff.

I have a series of caches (not mine) on the Wapack Trail (N. Mass to S. NH) bookmarked. I love the trail, and getting teh bookmark emails lets me live a little vicariously. Additionally, bookmarks allow you to catagorize, unlike watchlists. Great feature!

Good stuff, thanks! I'm pretty sure teh GPS Map 60 series has that 4 pin NMEA output... If I can't get a seria PDA, I'll have to try and rig something to use teh USB connector, if possible. The Compact Flash unit seems like a good idea, but I want a dedicated GPS unit that is a bit more rough-and-tumble... The PDA I only want to pull out when reading cache descriptions and finding close caches. The GPS will be used for other things as well as caching, so keeping separate units is kinda nice.

In teh future I am planning on upgrading my GPS unit and replacing my broken Palm III which I used exclusively for caching. One thing I have always wanted to do is to connect these two devices to find the nearest caches and get their descriptions without having to do searches and what not. It seems like Cachemate could receive data from the GPS and autmagically pull up the nearest cache sites. Since I have never had a cable to connect them, I've never done this. Now, if I were to go for a Garmin 60CSx model, and a Palm based PDA, where would I find a cable to connect them? What combination of GPS & PDA work well together? Is there a wireless option (bluetooth, WiFi, whatever)? I would appreciate any input or suggestions. Markwells welcome. Thanks!

You do realize that is also an alternate description of geocaching, right? I think a lot of geocachers would disagree with you there. So how much are each of my smilies worth? About 'X' thousand burned calories. Interestingly, so are the DNF's. (Of course this does not include 1/1 caches, but hey, whaddya want?).

And who made you (or I or anyone but the mods) an arbiter of what's to be an "obvious" troll? The "an" post wasn't so obvious a troll. King riched's post isn't an obvious troll. The first "Cheerio" who deems a post unworthy of being left to its own discussion says something assinine about "llamas" or "the pig" or other nonsense and the rest of the General Mills crew just pour out onto the table and take over the topic. The only "derailment" an "obvious" troll needs is to be closed by the moderators. Report it, don't act like it's your own personal playland. If the thread is an issue for the forum, it'll be closed well enough without watching the Bed Spring Brigade bounce through it leaving a mess of innuendo and inside-jokes. In fact, I've seen posts in the "Cheers" post in the Off Topic forum where this sort of dogpile of inanity is actually suggested or requested by one of the clique when they link to their initial "llama" garbage in someone else's thread in the rest of the forums. Perhaps you are taking this all a bit too seriously. Well, poop. There goes my witty comeback.

When there is an obvious trolling, I don't have a problem with derailment, but if something is asked (and is a genuine quetion), and the poster shows some modicum of respect, then I can't say as I support jumping on the original poster.

I admit I would be annoyed if that happened to me, but on the other hand, I dropped the TB, I should log it ASAP. Now, I know it isn't always possible to do so on vacation, but that's the price you pay... the dropper should deal with it. You could offer to give them the number so the TB can be properly dropped and you can then retrieve it from the cache - that might make the cache owner happy, as s/he will have had a TB go through their cache. Thats always kinda neat.

Bring a camera. Photograph, CONSPICUOUSLY, anyone who follows you or is acting weird. It's in a public place, so there is no expectation of privacy. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say you are creating a web site.

No, you cannot use any pointy object to dig a hole and place a cache. Period. This is to keep people from digging up parks and places where geocaching would get a black eye. No pointy objects for teh hider or teh finder. Sorry.

Make that 4 times. I met n00b while walking in a park located not far from my office. He had his GPSr in hand (I didn't have mine with me), so I asked him if he was geocaching. It was funny because we knew each other through the forums, but we had never met before. After we met, we walked together to a nearby Earthcache that neither of us had logged. Meeting n00b was a memorable experience for me, but it sounds like he doesn't remember it at all. I forgot, because you weren't geocaching! Er.. uh... hehe hehe... *gulp* *loosens collar* I should be particularly embarrassed for this omission because Mr. Dummy also told me about an earthcache that day. Because of him I was able to log my first (and so far ONLY) earthcache near another cache I was trying for. He's a great guy. Don't ever listen to what they say about him. I'm very sorry, CTD. Next time I see ya' I'll bring a cheese wheel or something for ya'!

Having never done this, I thought I might give it a try. I found it not quite meeting my needs, for two reasons. (1) I d/l'd it, and found I had to download an update, which I did. Still, every time I move teh mouse, the screen goes wonky, enough to be unusable for me: (2) Even though I can browse to the website from links within google earth, it seems to me to be easier and faster to go online and do a zip code search for a place I am going to that day. I know I usually get PQ's immediately when I run them, but what if the server is running low on hamster pellets that day? Sometimes I just wanna plop down and do a quick and dirty browsing, print stuff out, and go out the door. (3) This doesn't apply to me so much, but is another reason I think has merit: What about times I (or anyone else) am on a machine that can't run or install Google Earth (such as a Library or on someone else's machine)? It would be nice to have that functionality available directly online. Thanks for all teh hard work, Raine. I know you guys are doing a lot, and always trying to improve the site. I hope this is something that can be considered and implemented for premium members.

Perhaps I missed it,but my search results didn't come up with anything. Please forgive meif this question has already been answered, and feel free to markwell me. I was looking for a way to filter out my finds from being displayed on google maps. Can this be done yet? If so, how? Thanks in advance!

Well, in terms of accidentally meeting other cachers, I think it has happened to me 3 times. The first time it was obvious - we both had out GPS units out. The second time was fairly recently. I was taking my nephews caching when I commented to one of them about following the bearing. A family walking by asked if we were geocaching. Much fun! The last time was very recently when I was walking by brothers dog on a trail and trying to find a cache. There was lady walking across the hill, and SHE was a geocacher. We had a short, but fun talk. There have been other times where I have intentionally met other cachers, but that does not count.

Congrats on both!

This sounds vaguely familiar...

As an aside, the reason that you can't look to other caches that have done 'X' is that they may have been placed prior to a guideline change, the reviewer missed it, or it was edited into a cache page after it was published - allowing any of those to set precedence would eventually snowball into the destruction of the guidelines. It is nothing personal, just a means to keep the long-term integrity of the site intact. And yep, these forums are indeed the place to bring issues for discussion when the cache appeals process does not go your way. Often, the tone of teh initial post will set the bar for the rest of the thread. Come in with respect, and the poster will get treated with respect... come in another manner... and they usually get what they give. That is not an assessment of your original post, just a general observation about other posters in the past. Good luck with your caches, and happy caching! EDIT: BTW - Tadpole is a forum moniker for someone who has less than 10 posts, nothing more. After 10 it becomes 'Geocacher'. These are just edits to teh already built-in forum software.

I've done something like this, though not denoting it as 'EZ'. My Wapack Trail bookmark lists attempts to keep track of all the caches in the Wapack Trail that goes from Ashburnham, MA to Greenfield, NH. The trail is 23 miles long, and I thnk it is kind of nice to have a single place to locate all the caches that could be found by thru-hikers. I've done the same thing, though incomplete for Mine Falls Park in Nashua, NH. Wapack Trail bookmark list Mine Falls Park bookmark list

Play-Doh and derivatives are a BAD idea. They are made from food-like products that attract animals via the smell. The critters then destroy teh cache trying to get at what they believe to be food. Please don't do play-doh, no matter how cool it is. New England N00b, you have made a great point; consonant with your reputation for astuteness, vision and wisdom. And, the whole Play-Doh thing reminds me of a recent bizarre thread where someone proposed leaving some kind of cosmetic skin cream or lip balm in caches as a sig item. I bit my tongue to refrain from posting, because I know myself too well, and I just knew that I would not have been able to control the dripping sarcasm and scathing venom: did the OP (and respondents who said "Great idea!") really not know that all such cosmetics are loaded with food-grade foodstuffs, including essential oils of plants, all of which have odors, and most of which are a surefire attractant to wildilfe? It was like "Hello, Earth?" time all over again... I do believe you have me confused with someone else!

Play-Doh and derivatives are a BAD idea. They are made from food-like products that attract animals via the smell. The critters then destroy teh cache trying to get at what they believe to be food. Please don't do play-doh, no matter how cool it is.

Tell me about it. I hear one guy left a can of beans in a cache. I mean, really... a can of BEANS?

There are no hard and fast rules to participate in geocaching. The way MOST do it, is to find teh cache, sign the paper log, then also sign the log online. Trading, while encouraged, is not a requirement to log a cache. Do you NEED to log online? Yes, if you want to keep track of where you have been online. No, if you don't want to keep track of where you have been online - this requires you to kep track at home, unless you don't mind revisiting caches by accident. I think you SHOULD log online, for the following reasons: (1) It lets the cache owner know there is activity on their cache, (2) It lets others know of possible problems, (3) Is a way to show appreciation to the cache owner and (4) can often tell a good story for the amusement of all. Trading swag items is optional, but not everyone does it. In addition, some people make 'signature items', things that are representative of themselves, things like custom 'business' cards and such. I try to trade normal swag for normal swag and sig item for sig item. Again, while fun, is OPTIONAL. So: Log online: Depends on your goals Trade: Totally optional. Happy caching!

I don't really have a choice in teh matter. Most of my nearest un-found caches are too far away to bike to and still have any energy left for teh climbs.