Tally Dragon

I use clear packing tape, slap a couple of overlapping pieces on the top, making sure to go out beyond the edges, flip it over and repeat. Then trim in out leaving some excess on the edges. This is REAL cheap!

I didn't read all the responses on this thread so I might be bringing up something that's already been discussed. But here goes....How many people compare the log book entries in their caches to the finds logged on the web? My guess is not many. So at least this person is admitting that he didn't sign the log book. He could have just not mentioned that fact and you would have never known. I say let it slide. It's kind of like a person cheating at solitaire; they know if they cheated or not and can't feel as good about it if they did. You get out of this game what you put into it. What about people who cache in groups, taking credit for caches that someone else in the group found? What about people who get a big fat hint on a puzzle cache from someone else who found it earlier? What about people, who breeze into town, find forty caches in a day and copy/paste their log entries. Did they really find all those caches? Who cares? Do they need psychological help? Maybe so.

On one of our local geocaching forums a debate is raging. One group wants more people exposed to the geocaching hobby. They are advocating a recruitment drive that would include teaching classes in local schools, multi-media presentations to groups, booths at festivals, geocaching floats in parades, etc. The other group fears these activities might attract some bad apples to the sport. A mischievous recruit could locate and vandalize or steal geocaches. This group reminds us that geocaching started out as a counter-culture, under-the-radar activity. And we skulk around using stealth to fake out the muggles! A few years ago if you didn’t have a GPS, your chances of finding a cache were pretty slim. Now with Google Earth and a hint, you don’t really need a GPS to find ninety percent of them. Realizing that a bad apple could come along even if you didn’t advertise geocaching, why increase the chances? So while some cachers want to tell the world, others want it to be a clandestine activity. We have one guy that has argued for both sides of the issue. Maybe he’s a politician. I personally like the idea of using geocaching to teach students subjects like navigation and geography. But I’m also leery of too much exposure ruining the secretive aspect of the hobby. What’s your opinion/experience with this issue?

Thanks again everyone for all the opinions on these two issues. Let me make a few more points about it. 1. - Is it right for a cache owner to delete a log just because it contains criticism about their geocache? In my log that got deleted, all of it was positive with the exception of the last line that could be interpreted as negative. In it all I said was; I wonder why they chose to hide the cache so far out into the woods. It did not mention anything about the lack of a path, snakes, ants, briers, etc. Maybe it should have to warn others of the dangers but it would not have mattered anyway since it got deleted. 2. – How much hardship and danger should you inflict on people to make your cache harder to find? Florida like other states has a lot of poisonous snakes, alligators, etc. In some areas you are more likely to encounter them than others. So the question is, would it be better to hide your cache 15 feet into their prime habitat with no trail to it or 150 feet? Not to mention what it does to the environment. Those ants were not biting me because they were hungry. I was standing on their home! Now if there was something to see out there in the swamp that you couldn’t see from the road, I could understand it, but there wasn’t. The main attraction for this cache was a historic structure located right there in the parking lot.

I recently had a DNF log* deleted without warning because I complained about the cache being too far out in the woods with no trail to it. The owner of this cache is new to this area and probably does not realize the location of the cache is a prime habitat for the eastern diamondback rattlesnake and cotton mouth moccasin. I don't think it's a good idea to subject your fellow geocachers, their friends, family and pets to danger and discomfort when the only motive is to make the cache harder to get to. It's better to make a cache harder to find by being creative rather than cruel. I believe the only reason a cache owner should delete a log, is when it contains information that would give away the location of the cache, and then only after the person refuses to revise their entry. Are there any rules regarding the cache owners right to delete logs. What is your opinion? * Some cachers don't even bother logging DNF's. Thanks for all the feedback so far on this issue. It appears from the responses that the cache owners have the right and ability to delete log entries for whatever reason they choose. While it may be considered bad form to delete negative logs from your cache page, it is your right to do so. Also I admit to being a whiner. On this particular day I was dressed more for the beach than the woods and paid a price for choosing to bushwhack through the palmetto bushes looking for this cache. Luckily it was only ant bites and brier cuts instead of a snake bite. My comment was intended to suggest to the owner, that if the cache was closer to the road, it would have improved the cache experience for me. In the future I will place only positive comments in my logs and use email to suggest ideas to improve the geocache.

As a child growing up here in Tallahassee I used to shortcut through the city cemetery. I was intrigued by some of the unusual gravestones, one in particular. It's a large above ground mausoleum, old, and very ornate. The rumor was the deceased was sitting inside in a rocking chair. Children have a way of making up stories about such things to make them more interesting! Later in life I did some research and found that the truth about "The Tomb" was even more interesting. So I added some information about it to a web site of mine on Tallahassee history. Then I decided to hide a geocache there to share this location with my fellow geocachers. At first I was just going to hide a micro somewhere on the tomb, but the reviewer convinced me to make it an offset multi-cache. I found a good spot nearby to hide a mini sized cache container and worked out a puzzle that utilized the dates on some adjacent head stones. This worked out real good for protecting the graves and adding a little fun to figuring it out. One thing I've learned about hiding geocaches, is that when you do, your putting crosshairs on that particular location. While most geocachers are very considerate of public and private property, some are not. In their zeal to find the cache they will sometimes destroy the surroundings. Or their children will. Ever wonder why someone would tear the paper towel holder off the bathroom wall? Me too!

I've created a puzzle cache that utilizes image mapping. When you click on certain areas of the image it sends the user to another page on another server for the solution. Trouble is, most of the people who have solved it did so by looking at the source code and finding the link. Does anyone know a way to hide portions of the code to prevent this?

I watch a couple dozen geocaches in my area and some get found more than others. Is there a way you can query the geocache.com database and get statistics beyond what's on the website? Most of the ones I've hidden (they're all in-town) get found about twice a month. Is that a good average?

One of the nice things about this geocaching game is the web site. It’s great the way it keeps track of statistics on everything. Reading this thread made me think of a new feature they could add that might help address this problem. What if every time someone logged their find they were given the opportunity to rate the quality of the cache? The input could then be compiled into a one to five star score for quality to go with the difficulty and terrain ratings. Additionally, a score could be generated for the person hiding the caches as well, based on the scores received on the caches he or she hides. Or you can just read what others had to say about cache and decide for yourself if it's worth going after...............

Can you do that? Send out the copy tag?

I've started replacing all my geocache containers with ammo boxes. I do this because ammo boxes hold up to weather and abuse better than anything else I've tried. Also because they have plenty of room for travel bugs and whatever else someone wants to place in them. I buy them from an Army Surplus store and they always come with a little rust that needs painting over. So while I'm doing that I stencil GEOCACHE in flat black on both sides. Had this ammo box they found been labeled as a geocache it might have headed off calling the bomb squad.

When choosing a location for hiding a geocache I think about the criminal element that might be present. I wonder sometimes if I’m putting people in danger by hiding geocaches in certain areas. You find a lot of homeless people and criminal types these days in public parks and wooded areas in cities. Not that all homeless people are all dangerous, but some are. Local geocachers are generally aware of high crime areas, but people from out of town may not be. Also, from reading my cache logs, I realized that women sometimes geocache alone. Should I place a warning on the web page like, watch out for snakes, mosquitoes, stickers and criminal types? I'm a middle-aged man and I normally hunt geocaches alone or with my dog. The dog makes me feel a little safer and lends some legitimacy to my presence. In addition I carry a cell phone and sometimes a can of pepper spray. Some people even carry firearms, but I’m not that scared, …yet. I worry about some of my fellow geocachers and their families going around thinking they are in Disney World all the time. What’s it like where you are? Is it dangerous? Is the typical geocacher a lone white male of a certain age group? Or is it a young family of three or four? Has anyone done a survey on this?

I was attempting a similar cache the other day and used a different approach. It gave me a bearing and a distance of 100 feet. So I walked in that direction while maintaining a goto back to the beginning spot. When I got 100 feet away, I walked around until I had the reverse bearing back to the original spot. This seemed like an easier method for me at the time, I don't know if it will work for you.

I prefer the urban caches close to the house. But occasionally I will go after one on my ATV. I live in Tallahassee, Florida and ride in the Apalachicola National Forest. I use a Magellan 330 with a Ram-x mount on the bike. I use the GPS on the bike even when I'm not geocaching to keep from getting lost and to keep a track record of the ride.

The other day I was trying to track down some survey markers (benchmarks) on the right-of-way outside of the local National Guard Amory. I attracted the attention of a couple of guardsmen who came out to inquire as to what I was doing. They asked to see some identification and asked me was that a GPS in my hand and was I taking the coordinates of their building. I quickly gave them an explanation of geocaching. One of them seemed to understand and assured the other that it was o.k. I also told them I understood their concern and that they had nothing to fear from me. Later when I had time to think about it, I wondered if real terrorist had weapons that could utilize GPS coordinates. I know that we have bombs that are guided to their targets using GPS coordinates, but I doubt if the terrorist do. I would imagine that if terrorist were going to bomb that building, they would just drive up to it with a car bomb. I also wondered if these guardsmen knew that the software that comes with these GPS units will give you the coordinates of their building without even leaving the house. I often think that a lot of the efforts we exert to protect ourselves from a terrorist threat are misguided.

I think a good cache is one that takes you to a place you would normally not go and shows you a location thats unusual or scenic or historic, etc. Also, the contents and clues should have a theme that goes along with the location. The cache should be hidden away from the crowd for privacy but not so far in the boonies that you end up with stickers, mud and bug bites all over you.