oakenwood
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Posts
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Posts posted by oakenwood
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On the trail, I listen to whatever's in the air.
In the car, the usual eclectic assortment: Allman Bros, Puffy Amiyumi, Mingus, White Stripes, Buck Owens, etc...
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Q: What to do if challenged?
A: Present your challenge coin.
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I've left things at hme before-- CITO bags, camera, pen-- but never my GPS. Left extra batteries behind and started getting low on power once.
I've never had any of those "Did I leave the iron on?" moments. Not yet. I'm sure that will come with age.
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If I start the hunt and it ends in me not finding the cache - I log a DNF - each and every time.
DNF logs are important. It lets the cache owner know there might potential be a problem with the cache and it lets other cachers know that they better be prepared to spend a little more time. Details in the text of the log help everybody put the DNF in context.
More time, more stealth, more equipment, etc. Sometimes the terrain and difficulty ratings just don't say enough.
So I agree, the details you add to the log help. I DNF'd the day before yesterday because the hillside around the cache was very slippery and I was worried about injury. It's my way of saying "a recent rain will increase the terrain rating".
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I've never heard of a "message in a bottle" cache before...
I guess the finder would log its current coordinates and toss it back in the water. It might help oceanographers understand currents better. (An "aquacache"?)
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I'm shocked, Flintstone. I truly am.
I can understand us freeloaders disrespecting caches. But Premium Members? That's disturbing.
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I presume you want to crack it by finding the font and matching keystrokes to symbols. It looks like some kind of Dingbats to me. There are lots of tem, though. Maybe look for one with "alien", "space", "scifi" or something like that in the name.
It's a short sample, but you could try to crack it with frequency analysis.
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Playing devil's advocate here: there may have been poison ivy / stinging nettle / whatever in the cache area and a cacher may have been very allergic to it. So they used a defoliant to make the area safe. A maintenance crew would have sprayed it for the same reason.
Is this a legitimate reason for a geocacher to spray an area with Roundup? I'll let you decide.
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I have a similar problem. Most of the caches I find are in a hollow tree or log. If not there, then under a pile of rocks or sticks. It's terrible. I should start a thread to whine about it.
I must admit that woods cache I placed was in a hollow log. My micro, though, is under a park bench. That's not giving away much info, because it's really easy to find anyways. It's supposed to be easy. Easy to reach, too, for anyone in a wheelchair.
Which brings me to the topic of disabled cachers. Some folks are going to have a hard time going after caches that are hard to reach, but will be glad there are so many lamp post caches. One man's meat is another man's poison.
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I just found this thread today. Count me in.
Like PeachyPA says, schedule it, and they will come. There are lots of cachers who don't read this forum.
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It's common enough that it has a name, "UPS" (un-natural pile of sticks). In some places it's the only way to hide larger caches. I don't like to use the method because it begs for passersby to "check me out, I don't belong here".
I found the MD Project A.P.E. cache, which was one of those huge, 3 ft tall ammo boxes, under an equally huge UPS not far from a trail. I recall being surprised it lasted that long. It went missing shortly after.
It (or one very like it) was replaced by Return to Project A.P.E.
I found it last year, and it's just as you describe. The new one's been there 2 1/2 years now.
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Some call it a "geobeacon". I call it a "giveaway". I see bark used often around here.
Making a pile of stones, sticks, or whatever in a location near, but not at the cache is a red herring. The last time we discussed this topic, there was disagreement over whether red herrings were an acceptable part of the game or just being a jerk.
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I've also lost my Garmin and recovered it because I put my contact info on the startup screen. I had already started looking for a new one when I got an email from the finder.
BTW: My welcome screen message starts with REWARD IF FOUND.
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One million is an arbitrary milestone derived from our Base 10 number system. There's no logical reason why # 1,000,000 is any more special than # 999,123 or # 1,000,505.
It's just that "a million" is a hyped number. Sell a million records, and your record company gives you a platinum one. Theme parks give prizes to celebrate their millionth visitor. Who wants to be a millionaire? You look like a million bucks. Like a million miles away from me you couldn't see how I adored you. Jokes, I've got a million of them.
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As I was flying back from Houston last weekend, I got out my GPSr to find out what cities and rivers I was seeing. I also discovered we were traveling 570 MPH at 39,000 feet.
I wondered if it was possible to create a cache up there. Virtual caches aren't allowed any more, and there really wasn't anything to justify an earthcache, so maybe a waymark? Or is that just too far-fetched?
Yeah, I got it bad. The good news is that I did find a few caches in Texas, and even dropped off a TB.
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A glow-in-the-dark wristband that says "Breastfeeding Makes a Difference". I don't know if that's true, and to avoid embarrassment, I tell people it says "Fibromyalgia Awareness". I just like it because it glows in the dark.
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More snow possible here next week on Monday and Friday, according to the Weather Channel.
Then I get to go to Houston for the weekend. I intend to fully enjoy it. Caching will be included. Look for me in Memorial Park.
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What numbers is the site giving you?
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I'll wait for GeoWatkins Glen.
No, wait-- GeoUS Festival! Geopalooza? GeoHorde Tour? GeoOzzfest?
Yeah-- GeoOzzfest. That's the one.
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Hmm, as a single female cacher I wonder how I would go about finding a single male cacher...since it would seem the odds must be in my favor!
Single white female
early 30's
college education
still poor
Ohio, USA
Put the gpsr you're using now away for awhile and pick up a GeoMate Jr. That suggests an interesting topic: what does your GPSr say about you? I figure there are commonalities between people with certain units: an iPhone, an eTrex, an Oregon, a GeoMate Jr, etc...
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Some of the codes were way too hard for a puzzle cache, namely the book codes.
I recently solved a puzzle that used a book code. It was a really difficult puzzle, but the book codes were not the hard part -- you had to decrypt something else, and the result was a set of numbers. Once you recognized that you were looking at a book code, the rest was pretty easy. The CO used books that were available online in public-domain pdf files, so the puzzle could be solved from one's desk.
If you don't know what book is being used, it's hopeless. Groundspeak might have to add a sixth star to the difficulty rating for caches like that.
Even if the book is known, it can still stump the best cryptologists, as the article shows. Of course, it's possible to "dumb down" the code to make it easier to solve.
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The investigators used a classic geocaching tip: ask the CO for a hint.
Some of the codes were way too hard for a puzzle cache, namely the book codes.
However, the rebus and the Caesar shift are not too hard to use in caching.
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Or our government may decide to scramble the GPS signals again and thus destroy our hobby in a nanosecond.
More & more airplanes are getting equipped to fly GPS routes and approaches. I don't think the government would turn it off since whole industries will depend on it in the future.
Plus, there's the reason why GPS was given to the public: 269 people died due to a navigation error.
"Ronald Reagan announced on September 16, 1983 that the Global Positioning System (GPS) would be made available for civilian use, free of charge, once completed in order to avert similar navigational errors in future."
Put the gpsr you're using now away for awhile and pick up a GeoMate Jr. 
Geocache "Treasures"
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I got a cardboard box and walked around the house throwing in small objects that were taking up space. You'd be surprise how much junk you can find. I must've thrown in two dozen guitar picks, plus SD cards, flash drives, foreign coins, those wrist straps that you get with digital cameras, pens & pencils, Livestrong braclets, keychains, etc. etc...