oakenwood

I bet...I've been very critical of your caches....especially the one that was placed that got me hassled by the police...LOL. I guess you'll be at the leaders meet and greet...I can't meet up with you there. I'm actually (as of this exact moment) OK for containers, or folks that are willing to help me out. Okay then. Let me know if you need help in the future.

Re: gluing magnets to caches, I recommend an epoxy glue like JB Weld or PC-7. They're found in any hardware store. I especially like PC-7 because it's putty and doesn't run like most epoxies. Cyanoacrylate (Krazy Glue, Super Glue) cracks over time, especially in moist environments, and white glue (Elmer's) isn't good for plastic, metal, and other non-porous surfaces.

I'll make you a deal, Jason. Set up a Montgomery County meet-and-greet event and I'll come and give you a tenner. Nobody ever hosts events down here. They're always in Westminster, Hagerstown and so forth. I've thought about doing it myself, but I'd rather attend than host. I've seen your sig in several caches, and I'm eager to meet you and all the other people behind the logs-- _JohnnyCache, in particular.

As others have pointed out, you can hit NJ, DE, PA, MD, DC, VA, and WV in a day, easily. I live in the middle of it. That give me an idea-- placing caches in all seven in one day. Anybody ever tried that-- a "race to place"?

I'm currently putting together a cache that involves visiting several churches. (So will you, if you want to solve the puzzle.) I'll probably do a cache this year that involves trigonometric calculations.

I did a little caching in the snow today. Here's what I found: Finding the caches wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. A half-foot of snow would make it much harder, but right now, there's just an inch or so. I'm eager to do it again. I thought snowcaching would be tough, but it isn't. No muggles. (Although I did see a park policeman.) Snow makes an even better bread crumb trail than my GPSr. Do you like quiet? I do. Winter is very quiet. A long hike raises your body temperature. It's a lot easier to keep cool in winter. No deciduous leaves on trees, bushes, and vines. This makes it easier to pick and follow a path, and to look for the cache from a distance. No spiders, skeeters, or ticks. I think this is the best part.

Says who? The guidelines merely require "the option of using accurate GPS coordinates". Besides, the GPSr doesn't find the cache. The GPSr just points you to ground zero, where you can start trying to find the cache. I was being facetious as the setup to a joke. Not much of a joke, though. It's understandable if it went over like a lead balloon. Most people who read it probably went "Who the heck is Jeremy?" Really, I don't care how people find caches: dowsing rods, bloodhounds, metal detectors, blind luck...

Google Maps are relatively accurate and can be used to find caches when there are visible landmarks to go by. I've done it --once-- but it felt cheap. Too easy. This is "geocaching", not "google map caching"-- the assumption is that you shouldn't be able to find the cache without a GPSr. If you want, you can go and start a "google map caching" website-- if Jeremy hasn't beaten you to it.

I know this sounds harsh, but perhaps you chose the wrong OS, and this is one reason why. You sound like someone who bought a Toyota Echo and complains when it won't do 150 MPH. You make your choices and live with the results. Microsoft is evil and Apple is expensive. We all make our compromises.

It depends on your phone. If you have a Motorola iDEN phone like me, you can rent a geocaching app for $6.99/month, or do it my way for free. (You'll need a compass and calculator.)

I forgot CITO bags and sometimes a camera. Can I still say I'm keeping it light?

I try to keep it light. Aside from the stuff I always carry (keys, wallet, phone, etc.) I have a backpack with: GPSr notebook and pen bug repellent gloves flashlight swag The gloves are for reaching into places where biting/stinging critters might hide. If I'm going to be out more than a few hours, I'll bring water and a snack. Sometime this year I'll try a deep woods camping/caching trip. That'll require a few more items.

I know of one around here that was "muggled" when the phone booth was removed. I just checked on another (called "Superman meets E.T.") and it's not on the map so maybe it got removed, too. Just something to consider. You might think about placing the cache near, but not in or on the phone booth.

They should send Staff Reports back to J-school; that reads like it was written by an intern who relies on their spell-checker too much. They didn't know how to spell "suspicious" so the checker corrected it to "suspicion". "Geocache" is apparently not in the checker's lexicon. Notice that it was a LPC in a parking lot. LPC haters can add this to their list.

I recommend the second one in the Google search. Used it. Like it. The FCC converter has some limitations.

On the subject of dreams, I awoke once after a long day of caching to realize that my dream had been about bushwacking! More accurately, I'd been "deerwalking", or walking in a crouch following deer trails. I figure you're too into geocaching when you can't go to the grocery store without marking your parking space as a waypoint.

Mattresses, a couch, a very old car (miles from the nearest road), a computer monitor, and a marching band uniform (I think). You?

Mug-mogs Mugganators The Muggage Mushizzle But I usually call them "the benighted". "Niters" for short.

Scroll to the bottom of the stats page and it tells you. It's not going to hold your hand and give you step-by-step directions, but it tells you what software SSquare used.

Much of geocaching humor is of the variety: sliding down a hill and getting mud all over your butt, bushwhacking through 400 yards of thicket to discover a trail on the other side of the cache, the sudden cloudburst that catches you unprepared. Some of Mark Twain's best humor came from describing his misfortunes. The Innocents Abroad is a perfect example. I especially like his description of the donkey ride through Syria. I suppose there are other kinds of geocaching humor. How many geocachers does it take to change a lightbulb? Why did the geocacher cross the road? What did the geocacher say to his wife?

Keystone's post on averaging a waypoint should be required reading for anyone who wants to post accurate coordinates.

You may find it helpful to mark the place your GPSr tells you is GZ. You can put your backpack there or even put your GPSr down, if you're sure you won't lose it. Marking the location helps keep you from drifting. I've seen some cachers include alternate coordinates in the cache logs if they think the CO's coordinates are off. 13 feet isn't worth quibbling over, but 75 feet might be worth mentioning.

Notepad, camera, gloves, bug spray, CITO bags, food and water.

A couple of handy links I found for magnetic declination: The simple way: point-and-click on the map. (The more you zoom in, the more accurate you'll be.) And if you prefer to do it the nerdy way, type in some numbers here. You can use your zip code or coordinates. Check the directions for the proper coordinate formats.

I load the cache coordinates into my Venture HC as POI's, and write the cache size, tips and hints, and any clues I've gleaned from the logs into a small notepad. I could print it, but the notepad is just quicker, easier, and uses less paper.