Mushroom finder

There is a cache in my area that I believe to be abandoned. Actually this was the first cache I ever found and I found it by accident while mushroom hunting. I had found a letterbox the previous day about 40 miles away under the same circumstances. These two chance encounters are what prompted me to get into caching. I had already known about geocaching for a couple of years but never had the opportunity to try it. Anyway, back to the cache. When I found it it had originally been zip tied to a sapling but was torn loose and laying on the ground. It was open and the contents were scattered down an embankment. It had the GC.com stash note attached but did not identify the cache name or number or the CO, and there was no log book. I salvaged what I could find and packed it back up. I originally went to the GC website to find the owner but could not find a listing for it. After poking around a bit I got interested and signed up. I now have a handful of finds and one hide under my belt but I still keep thinking about that mysterious cache. I've been back a few times to check on it and there is no evidence that anyone has been there. I still can't find a listing for it and I do not believe that it is part of a multi because there are only four within a 7 mile radius. I have done the two closest multis (and spoke with their owner) and they are not related. The other two multis I have not done but they are 6.5 and 7.5 miles away in separate parks and each have all of their legs within their respective parks. There is a mystery cache close but it wasn't even published yet when I found it and it is in an ammo can whereas this one is a pvc tube. There are no PM only caches in the area either. My thought is that it must be an archived cache. If it's been archived but left in place, them my view is that it is no longer a cache but is now litter. I'd like to CITO it out and recycle the contents into some local caches that could use some extra swag. Is this OK or would I be in the wrong? Is there any way to search for an archived listing so I can attempt contact with the CO? I'mm 99% positive that it is abandoned but I don't want to step on anyones toes.

Leave the listing archived and simply submit a new listing with the new coordinates.

You've failed to see the forest for the trees grasshopper. One must remember that before one can HIDE a cache, one must first have FOUND the location. I'm just sayin.....

How about this one No it's not the rusty bolt, it's the chewing gum! Adds a whole new aspect to park bench and bus stop caches.

Right next to the displayed coordinates on the cache page is a link that says Other Conversions. Click this link and you can select whatever datum you'd like to use.

OK, I have the same unit and was a little lost at first myself. Heres what you do. First, the maps that loaded were an automatic default when you loaded the program. You should have a map of Olathe,KS with a waypoint labled GARMIN and another waypoint or two for other Garmin locations. Just delete them from your GPSR. Next, open the Map Source program on your PC and zoom to a map scale of about 10 miles in the area you'd like to upload. Now choose the Map Tool which is a polygon shaped icon next to a hand shaped icon on the top tool bar. After you have selected the Map Tool, roll your mouse across the map and you'll notice a yellow rectangle that moves around with your cursor. If you left click, the area within the rectangle turns pink to indicate that you have selected that map. Now look at the bottom info bar and you'll see the name of the map and it's size in kilobytes. Make a note of it's size. You can now select as many map sections as you like up to a cumulative total of 24 MB. Make sure you keep track of how many MB you are uploading because your GPSR does not have a feature to tell you how much memory you have used. After you have selected all of the map sections you want, select Transfer from the drop down menu at the top of the screen and then Send to Device Your maps should now be in your GPSR but you have to shut down the unit and power it back up before the maps will show up. Now about getting cache coordinates into the unit. First you can mark your current location and then edit the coords as was mentioned earlier, but that gets old FAST. What you need to do is go to a cache listing (any cache will do) and click Send to GPS. This will open up a new window where you can write to your device, but don't try to do it yet because it won't work. At the bottom of this window there is a link that says Powered by Garmin Communicator . Click on this link and you will be taken to a web page where you can download and install the Garmin Communicator Plug-in. Once you have installed the plug-in, go to the cache listing you want, connect your GPSR to the USB cable and click Send to Devise. This time it will find your devise and you can click Write THATS IT! The cache number and coords will be saved as a waypoint in the geocache folder and an unopened treasure chest icon will populate on the map at the cache location. Hope this helps you out.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the CO may very well have had legitimate permission when the cache was placed but that the land ownership has chanced since then. The cache owner may not even be aware that it has changed hands. As for not responding and not having logged in for a year, perhaps the CO is out of the country on military duty. When property changes hands, disclosure of third party access is the most common thing to get over looked. I've been a hunter and outdoorsman my whole life and know of many situations where folks had hunting permission for years and then showed up one season to find that they were not were not welcome. No one told them they were losing access and no one told the new owners that others had access. When Ma & Pa Kettle go to sell the farm, remembering that they let someone stick a piece of tupperware out in the back 40 a few years ago somehow seems rather insignificant. If the guy didn't own the land you have to wonder what interest he was trying to protect. Maybe he has an illegal growing operation back there, maybe he's just guy whose had permission to hunt there his whole life and was worried you would stumble across his honey hole and then lease the hunting rights out from under him (happens to folks all the time). In any event you did the right thing. You certainly wouldn't want to knowingly let others walk into a hostile situation. KUDOS to you for thinking of other people's safety and for not leaving it there to tarnish the geocaching image. I know you can't technically adopt the cache, but if the CO never responds I'd say you certainly could adopt the tangible aspects IE: container and contents, give it a new name and log book and establish it eleswhere.

Nothing major, my cache is a multi and I just wanted to add a note about the approximate overall distance a finder could expect to hike. My reviewer mentioned that it was something to consider on my next hide and I thought why wait for the next one? I just didn't know if editing would deactivate the listing until it was reviewed again.

Thank you.

My first hide was published last night. I would like to add a little bit of information to the listing. My question is if I use the Edit Listing feature, does it have to go back to a reviewer before the changes show up or does that only apply if the coordinates are edited?

Correct, the link is just to the image. There isn't any real info on the manufacturers website and I couldn't find them on WalMart.com either but they are in the stores. You will find them with the camping equipment. They are made of a shatter proof polycarbonate with a stainless hinge pin and a thick rubber gasket. I have the small size and it measures 5 1/2" long, 4" wide and 3" deep. I believe that the larger size is the same depth and probably 6" x 6" if not a little bigger. They do have a sticker on them that says "Not intended for submersion" but I figure if it can sit 7' deep in a lake for a week and not draw moister then it's adequate for my purposes.

For a seriously weather proof container check these out. Available at WalMart in two sizes for $5 & $7. I'm doing an underwater cache soon and decided to test these out. I put a piece of paper with a moister indicating dot inside and sunk it for a week. Pulled it up yesterday and it was dry as a bone inside. http://www.outdoorproducts.com/displayprod...72OP&view=D

I have a Venture HC. Do it just as El Diablo described. When you hit average a box will appear at the bottom of the screen that says measurement count and a number will start counting up. As the count gets higher you will notice the coordinates start to change. When I placed my first cache a week ago I set my unit down by the cache and let it count up to 100 before saving the waypoint. I then moved about 1/4 mile away and then asked it to find the waypoint. It brought me to within 8 foot from the cache.

I'm new to caching myself and spent some time thinking about what to put in my first hides. I figured I would find a few first and get ideas about what to put in based on what I found. I've only found a few so far but mostly I've only gotten ideas on what I don't want to put in a cache So far I've found nothing in a cache that I wanted to trade for (broken McToys, trash, etc.), but that doesn't mean they didn't start out with good swag. So unless you are finding fairly new or freshly stocked caches, just looking at their contents may not be the best idea getter. I noticed that some log books and some cache descriptions list the original contents and that has been a help. It's been mentioned before that if it's something you would be happy to find in a cache then it's probably something worth placing in one. Like you I wanted to put together a nice cache without spending a lot of $$ but I didn't want to put out junk. I found that the travel items section at WalMart has great "cache size" items that are actually useful for very little $$. I just hid my first one (not published yet) a couple of days ago and have another one ready to go. Heres a list of some of the things I put in and what they cost, hope it helps. Lock & Lock container....................................$2.38 @ WalMart Pocket size poison ivy spray pen.....................$1.88 @ WalMart Pocket size insect repellent.............................$2.00 @ WalMart Pocket size sun screen...................................$1.38 @ WalMart Water bottle lanyard with carabiner.................$.97 @ WalMart Pocket size hand sanitizer...............................$.50 @ WalMart Small first aid kit............................................$.97 @ WalMart Pocket size composition book (log book)..........$.77 $ WalMart Large refreshment towelette ( big wet-nap)......Freebie from my work Bass Pro Shops disposable camera..................Freebie from promo Pencil ................................................Free since there is about 100 of them at home that nobody uses. Grand total $10.85 all useful items and nothing that I wouldn't be happy to find in another cache. So putting out a decent cache with good swag is easy and cheap ta-boot. Another thing I did (and I'm sure I'm not the first to think of it) was to cut my pencil in half and then sharpen both ends of the pieces. It's like having 4 pencils in the cache instead of one. Another idea is to include a couple of ready made micro caches as trade items. You probably have everything needed at home already - film canister, mini pencil and a few log pages. Cheap, easy swag item and maybe a newbie finds it and is inspired to place his own cache.

Speaking of team caching, I've been reading logs from my area and have noticed quite a few cases where groups are caching together but then logging the finds individually. I'm a new cacher and don't really care about how many finds someone else has, I'm just in it for fun. I am curious how others feel about it though. Does it bother you to have a group of four find your cache and then log it as four finds? Would you feel like you were cheating if you were with a group and everyone logged the find even though the cache was actually found by just one of you and the rest just signed the log? I guess the beauty of a game like this without a huge list of rules is everyone is free to make the experience what they want it to be, even if it is not what the cache owner envisioned for them. And everyone gets to make their own decision as to what is fair and whats not. Like I said, I don't care about stats or number of finds, just finding something that involves a challenge or some thinking is what appeals to me, not competition. But, I do think that if I if I cached with a group a little friendly competition between the group itself would be fun. For example, the person who actually found the cache gets to log the find and the rest only get to log a note. Or maybe everyone chips in a dollar and FTF takes the kitty.

Thank you everyone for all of the replies. I'm about to hide my first two caches, already have my locations and names picked out in fact. I even have the caches themselves put together, just missing an adequate container for the hydro which is the final on a multi. Pelicans sound like the way to go but they are pricey. I saw something that looked just like a Pelican box at China-Mart for $5 think I'll pick one up and sink it for a few days to see if it will work.

So I've been looking at those military surplus DECON containers. I know they are very durable and weather proof and make great cache containers. I was wondering if anyone is using one or has found one being used as a hydro cache and how well it worked. I know that the term "waterproof" is widely variable and containers that may stay dry in a heavy downpour or breif submersion may not be worth a hoot for long term submersion. I've got a great hydro planned and these containers are the perfect size, but it has to be completely leak proof under long term submersion. I'm open to other suggestions if these aren't suitable.

A couple of weeks ago I was out looking for mushrooms when I spotted a container hidden under a log. I've known about geocaching for a few years and have really wanted to try it but didn't have a GPS. So when I spotted this container I instantly figured it was a cache. It turned out to be a letterbox. I had never heard of Letterboxing but I signed their log and took a card with the web address on it and when I got home I got online and learned all about Letterboxing. I thought this would be a good alternative to geocaching since I didn't have a GPS and decided I was going to try it. The very next day I was looking for mushrooms some 40 miles away when I stumbled upon a geocache. It was laying in the open and had been muggled (perhaps by critters) but I found alot of the contents scattered about except for the log. I went to the geocaching website to see if I could find the owner but there is not a listing that I can find so I assume that it has been archived. I did however discover that there were three other caches very close by so I signed up and set out to find them. Armed only with some good descriptions, an intimate knowledge of the area and google earth, I found all three within a week and one was a multi. Hooked, I then went out and bought my first GPS. I should have my first caches out soon and I think it's only fitting that I make one of them a letterbox hybrid since that chance encounter was what really got me excited.