at play by jc/eaglei

I know lots of folks are having trouble with the beta maps, I think I have found a solution for my problem at least for now, I switched to bing maps and open street maps and it seams to work better. i like the new maps & i'm sure when I get used to it I'll like them even more. I like the way caches load automaticly as you scan the map right or left or up & down with out having to wait... Change

Ok this is where my lack of knowledge is going to shine, as I am not sure, I'm useing windows explorer on both and windows XP on both. I am currently useing a cell USB card on my laptop & plan to use it on my home pc but the signal is not strong enough at this time (the cell folks are suppose to be finding me a booster... jc

I don't understand what I'm not doing / or why but I cannot open a cache page from the new beta map, plus the directional arrows for moving the maps left right & up down along with the zoom in and out does not appear no matter how long I wait. could anyone tell me what I might need to do??? these functions work fine on my home pc.

I replace cache logs all the time & I almost always take the old one if it is wet & soggy as you say this one is, if the cache owner is stll active I sometimes have e-mailed them & offered to send it to them, none have ever excepted the offer. Just change it "yeah go ahead, no problem" Isn't that what you would do for a friend???

I live in wa. state and a friend of ours that taged along with us on a hores ride geo adventure came up with the idea of hiding a "geoshot", as we had already been nipping on the bottle a litte (knee medcine)it seamed like a great idea. we pulled a short ways off the trail just noth of white pass in the goat rocks wilderness & used some small rope I had and a plastic bottle about half full that he had & we hung it in a tree high enough to be above snow level, we marked the way point but never atempted to publish it, our idea was just for us & friends. we snowshoed into the spot about a year and a half later, it was a great trip & hike and it took some searching but we finally found the bottle but sadly being in plastic & hid that long it did not taste all that well, we had a small sip each (there were 7 of us)and we put it back where we had hid it, ya never know when we might get back there again. we hid another one this new years day on our snow shoe trip but this time we used a glass bottle with blackberry brandy & we put it in an area we usually ride every summer, sorry no coords available :-)

Here is a diffrent perspective to think about, I don't know if you have an REI store around where you live but you can also do REI on line, they sell top quality gear including GPS units in many prize ranges the advantage to REI is the life time guarntee if you use a GPS or any of there products and decide 5 years or 5 months down the road you don't like it you can take it back for a full refund, I have exchanged mine three times. So if you decide you would like to upgrade it won't cost you anything or if your unit has a problem you don't have to send it to the factory to get fixed you just take it back & get a new one. Yes you do pay a little more at REI you just have to decide if it is worth it...

Wow a name I recognize, congratulations on a real milestone to a fellow north westerner, I'm from castle rock wa. and I have seen your name on some of our local caches. that is an amazing feat you must get up in the middle of the night a lot...

I think there should be an unwritten rule or a rule of thumb that a person should find at least 50 caches before they start hiding caches, most caches that are way over rated in difficulty are from folks that have few finds themselves. now I know there are exceptions, but in general good caches come from folks who have found 100 or more. I wish I would have read the one about double check your coords!

Hmmm I rebooted and the problem went away :-) I'll have to try & remember that...

HELP, for some reason for the last two days I have noot been able to open any cache web pages from the google map page, the first small window pops up but I can not go to the cache discription page. the only way around seams to be to write down the gc# and go to geo-home page and put it in that way. I have uploaded cache pretty much the same way since I started caching, any ideas?

Ok you check a web page for a cache and see that there are a few TB's listed there that are no longer in the cache and have been gone for a year or more,you visit (find ) that cache and sure enough no TB, how can you remove the TB from the cache and list it as MIA?

Do you know why they put fences around cemeteries? cause people are dying to get in, Ha Ha Ha . Oh sorry it is just that I heard that joke 30 years ago and still get a kick out of it. Here in Washington state and next door in Oregon there are lots of cem caches, we just did a great one a couple days ago. I have not yet placed one but I might, most are well done and most that we have found all said they were done with permission (how many other caches can you say that about) So lighten up, most of us will be there one day, wouldn't you like a visit from a fellow cacher? If I were to have a headstone (I don't plan to) it would definitely have my geo-name on it somewhere :-) at play by jc

Other than making a gentle sugestion what can be done about caches that are way over rated? I know of a couple local cachers that rate many of there caches at 3 or 4 stars when they are really 1 or 1.5. I know not a big deal really but it sure bugs me when they can be sooooo far off...

I don't think that Groundspeak is FORCING anyone to list their caches on geocaching.com. Anyone is free to PLACE caches anywhere they want without and input or CONTROL from Groundspeak. And they are free to LIST those caches anywhere they want and without any control from Groundspeak. However, if a person CHOOSES to list their caches on geocaching.com, then that person would need to agree to the Terms of Use of the site. The ACTIVITY of geocaching isn't controlled by ANYONE. I have only been a Geocacher since june 08 and I was a basic member for about 4 months, then I decided I like doing this, I plan to keep doing this and I want to help support Groundspeak, end of story, no wait begining of story :-) I don't see alot of members only caches in my area and I'm glad...

When out for that kind of cache the answer is Cache with a friend or two, besides it adds to the fun! if you have to get a cache fix (we all do) pick some caches that are not remote in location, Be safe...

BlueDeuce If your wondering if the coin made it into the cache I would say no unless it is very small as the cache is one of those small round plastic match holders. jc

PastorDic, Mt St Helens is not a really hard moutain to climb but it is a good steep hike, if you looked through the logs for above the clouds and at the post here you got some good info but alot of it is a matter of ones own preference. for myself and the folks I usually hike with we like the snow as it affords us the op. to slide back down aka Glasading [not sure about the spelling it's 3:00 am] for one I could never understand why someone would hike all the way to the top to walk back down [which is hard on the knees] when you can slide/glasade yes you should have an ice axe to do so but that can be rented and they come in handy if you hit ice on the way up, that doesn't happen often during the summer but it does happen. I think one thing to consider is the date not so much which date [you can climb any month of the year] but try to be flexable on the date and that is not easy during the summer esp on weekends, weekdays are not usually as busy so they don't fill up as fast . the whole reason for the date issue is the weather esp. if it is your first time up it is much more enjoyable on a nice day and the view from the top is ob. better. check www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm for alot of good info and links to climbing permits which are free this time of year but cost about $23 in the summer I'm not positive on the amount. As for training I noticed one person sugested a bunch of neat hikes and if you have the time and desire they would be great places to visit [i have been to several of them on my horse or hiking] all you really need is to do as much hiking as you can fit in, the better shape your in the more enjoyable the hike, the average person can do monitor ridge in 4 to 5 hours up and about 3 down less if you glasade, if you have to go in from the snow park it adds a mile or two to the hike each way. What I do to prepare is hike up the road to my house which is about a 12 percent grade in places and about 4 miles one way, the uphill is helpful but I also do it down hill first than up on the way home for a total of about 8 miles and I did that about 3 times a week for mt adames. shoes are important well broke in and water proof is nice but you can acomplish that with a couple plastic bags if you want to do it on the cheap. I always sugest to folks to shop REI and I know stuff cost more there but if you pay $100for boots and they don't work out REI is the only place that I know will take them back months/years later same with most of what they sell. the trail from eaither trailhead is not hard to follow but the trail from the snow park has several ski trails crossing it. the cache is on monitor ridge route and easy to find just look at the pictures, you can also reach it from the snowpark route thats what I did. let me know if I can help further. at play by jc

The closest place to stay if you want hook ups for yout RV would be in Cougar and that is less than an hours drive to the trailhead, if you don't need hook ups you can park an RV/motorhome at the trail head.there is also a motel in cougar. the folks that take care of the permits have both i think. Enjoy I have climbed StHelens several times and did Adames for the first time last year, Great Hike and I hope to do both again this year !

Hey great for you! you have gotten plenty of good sugestions, I hope you & your son have many happy adventures, I cache with my Geograndkids and they love it and there parents join in often (my daughters) Again many happy adventures [] get your son a compass if he doesn't already have one...

this is not about trade items but good idea for a person new to the sport, start out with some easy caches, like 1/1 rating and reg / ammo can for size. it is alot more fun if you find a few before you start looking fo micros or bison tubes. save those 3 or 4 star hides for a ways down the road, just a thought...

Farther takes son aside, son do what I did when your mother & I got maried. I took off my pants and handed them to her and she said I can't wear these to which I said thats right! and we have been happy ever since.Boy tries farthers advice but his wife replies by taking off her pants and handing them to her new husband to which he says I can't get into these, and they live happy ever after:D

If you go to trackables on your geocaching home page and fallow the links you should get the info you need. []

Hey that is funny, I just found a cache with magnetic letters on a transformer today in washington state, it took us two tries to make the find... it was cache #167 for us , word does get around doesn't it

Thank you all for your input, your information helped me accomplish what I wanted...

I'm sure this has been addresed before but I'm having no luck finding any info. So I finally signed up for premium membership and payed my $30 for many reasons but the main reason was I wanted to be able to download more than one cache at a time but I still can't do that, Why? when i check several caches and click on download I keep getting a pop up window informing me I can save open cancel or look online for a program to open this file, I'm not looking to go paperless just yet as I write what little info I need on one paper for a dozen caches or more. do I need to download another program? is it going to change my format I use now? thanks for any help offered.