ohgr

Same thing I wear all winter, Dickies cell phone pocket shorts Dickies Shorts I live in So Cal. so it never really gets cold enough out here to NOT wear shorts. My legs are protected by a thick layer of hair. Ohgr

Here's some fun Garmin hacking links: Etrex Knowledge Base Make your own Etrex power cable GPS Map Edit, allows you to edit Mapsource Maps Create vectors maps which can be downloaded to Garmin GPS receivers Some really nice Non Garmin specific gps hacks Hack A Day Misc. GPS Hacks Ohgr

Hi New, I'm Ohgr A couple things you might want to check out. The Geocacher's Creed Today's Cacher GeoRadio Podcast Downloadable as an MP3 What Goodies would be good for swag? GC forum Thread Icenrye's Geocaching Video E-Zine North Carolina Geocachers Association Links page, Lot's of good stuff. Have Fun....!!!

We've been at it since Oct 2003, and have only found 32, Every find is still special to us, we have only placed 3 (1 was muggled) We now only have 2. I can see how it would be fun to have 100 in my area and OWN the valley, but variety is the spice they say, I would rather see 100 individually owned caches in my area. I've placed most of my local caches on "Watch" and I read the logs like their on my own caches. When one goes missing, I worry, ok I don't worry a whole lot, but it's sad to see a cool cache dissapear. I just can't see how somebody can place 100 caches and keep up with them as much as they should, going out to check on them, refreshing the contents, replacing missing ones, e-mailing hints to people etc. If you can do it, more power, but I think that would be spreading yourself a little thin. Ohgr

I've only been ribbed mildly about "hiking around looking for little boxes in the woods again?" But most people I've talked to about it think it sounds like fun, I tell them it's Hiking with a purpose. I've left the Geocaching pamphlets in our break room and have had a couple people ask me about it, and have converted a few. I would carry some of the pamphlets in your car/bike/desk at work and hand it to them to read. You shouldn't have to defend your hobby, especially one that tries to be as ecologicaly responsible as geocaching, No Digging, CITO, Tread Lightly, etc etc.. Ohgr

You can't keep a cache from being stolen Period... You can make it harder to steal. There's a local cache that's a multi with the second stage cabled to a tree with a combination lock. It's hidden really well, but if somebody REALLY wants it, they'll come back and cut it off the tree. The reason for the multi is that the map for the second, BIG container dosn't show on the site so if you don't have a gps you'll have a harder time finding it, unless you're an evil cache stealing geocacher, and then I don't think you have a chance. Member's only, multi, second part chained to a tree, with the key in your hand and a phone number to call you to open it painted on the box. About as safe as you can reasonably get. Ohgr

The "Don't dominate your area" is good advice, I've seen some of that around my area, where one cacher places like 20 caches in one day, then a month later half of them are dead....

No, but it's in the Wikipedia . While it dosn't give the pronunciation, it does have a very good definition. Ohgr

It's interesting that someone as new as yourself would be asking if the sport is getting too popular. When we started caching in our local area, there were only a few caches, and many open places to place new ones. Between our first placed cache and our second, caches sprung up seemingly out of nowhere all around us, and continue to do so. While it's kinda fun to have caches so close to home, I found myself thinking how great a new cache would be in this spot, or that spot, only to go and check the GC site and see one already there. It's a little disconcerting sometimes to read about a new cache placement where the description says, Oh I just found this great spot to place a cache, and it's a place I've pedaled by a gillion times, as I have spent the better part of my life mountain biking and hiking in the area. The only consolation I can give you is that some caches don't always last forever. I've seen a number of good spots open up around here (have yet to fill any of said spots) and if you really enjoyed the spot and would like to place your own there you are able to do just that. As long as the cache wasn't archived for any number of reasons that would prohibit you from placing another. To me, I can't see geocaching becoming a giant sport/hobby, I don't think tupperware will release a Geocaching line of goods, Nike will never sponser a geocacher *Cough*Jeep*Cough* You will never watch Monday Night Geocaching. And nobody will ever win a Gold, Silver or Bronze in the sport of geocaching. I think there's enough room for the people who want to play, I cannot however see it ever getting big enough to make it not fun anymore. Ohgr

Skinny Puppy Social Distortion The Reverend Horton Heat Peter Murphy Beastie Boys Hank Williams Sr.

Something I thought about putting in or would like to find as a FTF prize would be a coupon with an e-mail address or phone number on it, where when you were FTF and contacted the owner to let him know you were FTF he/she would buy you like 2-3 months worth of membership on GC.Com. I don't know if it's technically possible to buy an account for another player or not, but I'm sure it could be set up. Other Things: Mini-Mag lights, DVD's, GC.com swag, T-shirts, $$$, Special sig items, Small handheld videogames, Diecast cars/motorcycles (larger than hotwheels), Compass's, pre-paid phone calling cards. Just put the kinds of things that YOU would like to find as the FTF'er and you should be fine. We've only been FTF on a few caches, but just the fact we're FTF overides just about anything we could find in the cache. Ohgr

Maria & I both have the telescopic aluminum type, and wouldn't go out without them. I've been looking at some of the ones wood ones shown in the forums, and think they're great too. You might not think they would come in all that handy, but when hiking in rough terrain they can be a big help in getting up or down steep hills, and also useful for pulling someone else up the hill As well as poking around in the bushes where you might not want to put your arms. Ohgr

You can take a film canister and drill a bunch of holes in it, stick the slilica gel pack in it, then tape the lid on it and label it accordingly. The holes will let the gel do it's job, and the extra layer of protection around it will give you a place to stick a small label telling what's inside. SILICA GEL INSIDE - DO NOT EAT! - LEAVE IN CACHE Ohgr

Between this, Icenrye's Video E-Zine, and Today's Cacher we've just about got all mediums covered. What we need now is a radio call in show.

A local cache that's a quick and easy find, that I usually take newbs to on their first trip out had turned into a homeless camp some time between visits, we discovered it at the most inopertune time. I was taking my Sister and her two very young children on their very first cache, we walked right through the living room that was now set up in the middle of the trail. I recognized the guy from seeing him around town. He didn't say a word and neither did we, I was just glad I didn't send them alone. Nice introduction to the hobbie... Ohgr

After the last big fires in California, we signed a log with a charred stick, because the pen in the cache was melted... Ohgr

I hid my girlfriends Birthday present in a cache in a favorite coffee shop, and photoshoped up a fake cache page. the cache was a wooden box that contained her new GPSr. I made her get up early Saturday so we could be FTF It actually took her a while to realise what was going on. Ohgr

Etrex Legend, 60mph drop from roof of car, still works great, no scratches. Ohgr

I've got a page on my site where I keep track of our finds, and hides. I've also put up some photos, and links to geocaching sig item galleries. Silence7.com Ohgr

You can either take or leave coins. Unless it was in some way marked that it was for the cache owner, then they are like any other trade item. Poptop? Like a bottlecap? Ohgr

Whoa, you make it sound like 40 is ancient.

I would hunt a Videogame related cache. I've got a bunch of PS2 and XBOX games that don't really have any trade in value anymore, but would be fun for someone who hasn't played them yet. A Caching and Gaming related side note. I just picked up a Sony PSP the other day, and have already found a geocaching use for it. It will display JPG images that you can upload to it's memory card, as many or as large as you want depending on the size of memory card you buy. I'm thinking that instead of printing out the cache pages and maps, I'll just print screen them and dump them on the PSP. (you can zoom and pan so the small screen won't be an issue.) If you do put out a gaming cache, make sure it's in the shade year round, and instruct people to put the CD's and Cartridges in ziplocs just in case of leakage. Ohgr

For the Cache attributes there's also The Selector Instructions for dressing up your cache page can also be found HERE. (As linked to from the Selector page.) If you aren't comfortable with editing html I would just use the ones here. Ohgr

A knife (Leatherman WAVE) pepper spray, and my hiking stick. I would like to second that. Most animals arent out to get us, they're just protecting themselves or their young. Seems that more and more other people really are out to get us. Paranoia? Ohgr

Yeah, we find a lot of dead things too. After the fires here in Southern California we found this poor Bobcat who we think was overtaken by the fires. The live things are usually too fast for me to grab my camera and snap. Ohgr