Gus the Golden

We got Gus from a breeder in southeastern VA, so I doubt that's much help to you. We went with a breeder instead of a shelter or rescue because we knew we wanted a Golden, but had heard about hip dysplasia (and other) possible inherited problems and wanted to avoid the potential heartache. He wasn't cheap, but he didn't break the bank and he's been worth 100 times what he cost. GtG

Here's ours--he varies between 90 and 95 lbs. or so depending on the season and how much exercise he's getting. He logs any caches he finds himself and events he attends, but we've never left him in one overnight. Although it probably would save on the food bill...

Here's our namesake, Gus. He's been a travel bug for a while now.

Man, you just keep plugging away! Great job--and we look forward to you heading down our way .

Congrats to BlackZ--one of the few in the Richmond area to break the big 200! And thanks to them as well for helping sponsor the River Rally event down here to grow the sport!

I'm sorry, but I don't see how registering a cache and only using a clear container makes it any less likely that a _cacher_ might be attacked. I can see a agency wanting to regulate caching implementing both those measures, but neither one helps protect cachers from muggers or other assailants. And while we're on the subject, why do cachers _need_ any more protection than hikers, joggers, or bikers?

We did an alphametic (or cryptarithmic) cache as the third in a series--Mind Games #3: Cryptarithmic Blues. The idea behind the series was solve the first two to get the word to fill in in the blanks in the equation. Our first finder solved it with only one of the two words, which stumped us until they gave us the secret. We recently had someone solve the equation with neither of the other two words--no small feat and possibly harder than working out the other two caches! Surprisingly, Mind Games #1: Reverse Engineering the Wheel has proven to be the real killer--and we thought it would be the easiest of the lot at first!

I simply can't imagine any words to replace your loss.

Way to go, dude! Too cool that you hit that mark down here!

Agreed--I just spent a good 10 minutes in the company of a rather friendly watersnake this afternoon. He didn't run and let me take several photos from about 3'-5' without becoming the least bit aggressive. He eventually approached to within 2 1/2' of me before turning back quickly. I thought I'd startled him at first, but he met another, smaller and darker, watersnake at the edge of the river. They then swam off together. (I'm assuming a he, because of the size--~3' long). However, many folks don't realize that copperheads--like virtually all snakes _can_ and do swim. There is a notable difference in the appearance between watersnakes and copperheads once you've seen it, but that bugger last night just wasn't cooperating with my headlamp.

We just put our first in a few weeks ago for the simple reason we wanted to give something back to the folks who help pay for the website. We plan to put them in at a ratio of about 1:10, so we'll never have a lot, but we also plan to make them "special" in some way. We don't have any opinion about who's a better cacher or who's more likely to trade even or up; we just feel like ever now and then, the people keeping the website profitable and running ought to get a little something extra. That's all.

We ran into this fellow on GC5132 about a 1/2 mile off trail in the middle of nowhere. He didn't rattle until we moved away from his spot and then Gus noticed him and wanted to play with the pretty new toy. We leashed him fast--and then caught a strong odor of snake. Having seen a Crocodile Hunter special filmed in the Shenandoah where he stumbled into a nest of five rattlers without realizing it, we exited stage left ASAP. Last night on GCH07N we had a snake swim within 1' of our canoe as we paddled back. It was dark, so we couldn't make a positive ID, but by its markings, it was either a copperhead or a watersnake. Not pleasant to be paddling along and see a snake swim inches from your hand... No snakes (or humans or golden retrievers) were harmed during the making of those logs.

Great job, GLM!

We have a find claimed on a cache we own. However, we adopted the cache after we found it--in bad need of maintenance and unattended for over a year. At the same time, we adopted another cache by the same owner that several logs over the last year or so had noted was in dire need of repair. Our "adoption paperwork" on both went through so quickly (less than two days), we hadn't even searched for the second before it was ours! We had to find that one to replace it, but since we owned it at that point, we didn't think it would be right claim that one as a find. Nit-picking difference, we know, but we like to keep our nits picked. Seriously, though, the main reason we left the second unclaimed is to avoid the appearance of "impropriety."

Anytime a "score" is kept--and the stats are a score to many folks--some people are going to be attracted by the competitve aspect of it. The hobby is many things to many people and if the stats aspect is of no interest to you, that's fine; you're free to ignore them. However, it does exist--at least if for cachers who log finds to this site. And without question, CCCooperAgency is undeniably top of the stats. If other cachers want to congratulate them, great! They deserve it--in fact, since we're relative newcomers to the forums, we'd like to do so as well. It sounds as though you may have personal issues involved here. That's your business as well. We've had nothing but the most positive experiences every time we've met them.

We've met CCCooper Agency a couple of events and corresponded with them numerous times. They're among some of the most nicest and most approachable cachers we've interacted with in this hobby. They've hosted numerous "official" events for their fellow cachers, coordinated many other unposted ones, hidden hundreds of caches for other members of the hobby, all while amassing an unimaginable amount of finds. What other criteria would you suggest for the top cacher?

Both my wife and I served two enlistments (~8 years) active duty Army. We met while in service. Both of us were at Ft. Drum, 10th Mtn, for most of our time. Wouldn't trade it for the world! Gus, however, did not serve. He won't even fetch most of the time. []

We joined the rattlesnake cachers' club today on a cache in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. My wife and I, along with our Golden Retriever namesake, had finished one cache and decided to head overland to the next atop a nearby mountain. Gus and I were in the lead by about 50' when we noticed the sound of an underground stream beside us. It was so loud I literally thought a jet was passing over head. I was standing on top of a fallen tree and the time. Gus went over to check it out and hopped down from the tree. At that moment I heard a high-pitched rattle behind me. I turned around, spotted what appeared to be at least a ~5' rattler, and shouted "Rattlesnake" to alert my wife. At this point, Gus decided he should greet the nice snake. Fortunately, the tree slowed a moment, and in a surprising and timely display of obedience, he obeyed the "Stay" command for once. My wife caught up and we were able to leash Gus before he did anything doglike. We noticed at that point that the air had a very heavy snake smell, and became concerned we might well have stumbled very close to a nest (and both recalled at that time, as well, a Crocodile Hunter special he did in the Valley where he backed into a nest of five rattlers). We decided to give the snake the benefit of the doubt on his property claim and detoured. [] Link to log with photo

We're running Richmond, Va.'s first "official" event on June 19 along with Team Lawrence and Team BlackZ. Richmond River Rally Any cachers in driving distance are warmly invited down (or up or over, depending on where you're coming from!).

Pretty much the Cadillac of adventure vests: Scott E-Vest Yeah, it costs an arm and a leg, but it's just so darn cool!

Well, my most unusual to date was at one of our own caches. It's a mystery cache that requires finding a local travel bug which has the coordinates and (up until this happened) a key to unlock the cache: ...Where Are You? A local cacher contacted me, stating he'd found the TB and gone to the cache, only to have trouble unlocking the lock. I had a spare, but asked him to try again, thinking at the time that it had been cold and perhaps the lock was frozen. Second time wasn't a charm, so I agreed to meet him at the cache site. I got there early and found the cache in place, but the lock appeared slightly different from the one I'd placed on it. Not surprisingly, my key didn't work either. Closer examination showed signs that the original lock may have been cut off. I ended up having to cut the new lock off myself and found most of the high-end trade items missing...but a Nerf Vortex in the container. Checking the logs, I found the last entry to be brief, but interesting. A group of teenagers had been in the woods drinking and stumbled onto the cache---which was no small feat of itself, as the cache was hidden in a depression under two large, crossed logs and camoflauged with bark to appear to be a third log! Also, these were apparently very well-equipped underage drinkers, as they had not only a set of bolt-cutters to cut off the original lock and a Nerf Vortex for a trade item, but they also had a new lock--which they used to thoughtfully relock the cache for me. I was too amused to be angry about it.

We were recently in Williamsburg, Va., and driving past the site of a cache we'd visited on a previous visit. There was an older couple standing near the cache and the man was holding a device and pointing across a dry retaining pond toward the cache location. We pulled in to say "Hi!" and noticed the camper parked near them had out-of-state plates. I leaned out as the woman approached and said "I know what you're looking for!" She apparently didn't hear me correctly, because she began to explain how her husband was a retired civil engineer and took still pictures of retaining ponds as a hobby. Now, this pond was only about 40' square, so we had our doubts and thought maybe this was just a really unique cover story, as it was...well, rather an odd hobby. I watched the cache logs for about a week afterwards and never saw a post for that day...Go figure!