aracnan

Sounds like fun, would be our first event but as it is only 'down the road' to us would like to try and get to this one

I haven't been here long enough to see how things work in the geocaching world so forgive me if I am talking a lot of nothing. But, I am a member of a car club we have members from all over the world but keeping it to the UK we have the map divided into rough areas someone in each area volunteers to be a 'representative' for that area (usually voted in informally by people in that area) these representatives are then left to co ordinate meets in their area suggested by the members, we usually end up with a fairly small meet each weekend in various parts of the country which people are free to attend whether they come from that area or not. We also visit car shows etc. Now we have 'main' meets where the majority of events are held with the other meets being more of an informal gathering with people doing what they want during the day with usually a meeting at night for a few drinks. I am not sure what marks a geocaching event as a 'mega event' but if you had people from different regions who were willing to hold and more importantly organise 'meets' then each area could take turns at organising a mega. It might sound a rather formal way of doing things but it could work out easier. The trouble with organising events is you will always get some who say they will turn and for various reasons don't and you will get those that can't make ones some distance away and in this day and age with fuel prices etc being as they are people are becoming more careful over what fuel they use. I take my hat off to anyone who organises any sort of meet, it is not easy and can be very stressful. Like I say I haven't been here long enough to see how things work here and you may already do the above but just a few things to think about. Sometimes a central committee can be helpful but it can lead to arguments as with anything and personal opinions can affect decisions, whereas the idea from someone can be posted for a 'mega' and then an online poll put up to see if it would attract the necessary numbers etc.

Making the cache a multi or a puzzle helps as casual readers of the GC.com cache pages or those looking to steal geocoins will be deterred from working out the co-ords. A good hide off the beaten track goes without saying. Being new to geocaching I hope not too many turn into a multi or puzzle, as I am still learning I tend to give these types a miss, the kids just want to find the cache, and it spoils the fun when the kids get fed up of chasing clues If it weren't for the kids the puzzle ones make it more interesting sometimes. We haven't hidden any yet but we have had to return to an area because muggles were too close although the kids enjoyed the cat and mouse game we had so I can understand the frustration and prefer the slightly off the beaten track ones

Never been to a meet before with geocachers but would love to attend one if noobies with five kids and a folding camper are welcome this one would be ideal as it is not far from us so if we can we would like to put our names down for this depending on dates

Thanks for all the welcomes and for the link Just planning our caching trip for tomorrow now

Hi everyone, I am fairly new to geocaching although the family and I have found a few local caches, the kids love the walks and the added hunt makes it more enjoyable for them. We got introduced to the game/hobby when we were camping with a car club and a geocacher needed some help with their Estima, we exchanged information on what we were both up to and a friend offered to lend us a GPS and that was it. We find with having small kids we have to examine where the caches are before deciding on whether to hunt them or not but living near the Forest of Dean there are plenty of family friendly ones about Anyway off to have a look round the forums again, there is some good useful info on here well done