mtbikernate

If I get a solicitation for a favorite, I'm going to edit my log to point out such solicitation so other potential seekers will know they will possibly also be solicited. I will un-favorite it if I have favored it already. I will put the CO's other caches on my ignore list. I will contact the reviewer in hopes that they will tell the CO to cease and desist such tacky and obnoxious behavior. If it gets bad, I will make a bookmark list of caches I have found whose owners solicit favorite votes. That would be what I mean by "blacklisting" a cache.

No kidding. My area is practically flooded by caches put out many years ago where the cachers no longer play, have moved away from the area, or are just lazy. I have been merciless with my NA logs lately. One I actually found recently has been described in NUMEROUS found logs as having a broken container. In THREE YEARS of broken cache logs, only ONE NM log was EVER posted. I posted a "found it" AND "Needs Archived". The cache is obviously not getting maintained. The CO has been gone for years. This cache will not be getting adopted, either...and it just so happens to be a good location for a TB motel I'd like to place. I try to make sure I visit the site before posting a NA log, but on several occasions, I will see a DNF posted by someone saying something to the effect of "I came here with three cachers who previously found it, and there is no container to be found" or something along those lines. In those cases, I won't even bother to visit the location to post NA. In one case, I visited, DNF'd the cache, and watchlisted it to see if anyone else found it. A log like I described was posted after my visit, and I followed it by a NA. When it comes to absentee cache owners, I think etiquette rules do not necessarily apply. The geotrash needs to be cleaned up. With lazy cache owners, yeah, a little more tact might be necessary. In those cases, I will visit the site, post a DNF if I don't find it. If I'm only the most recent in a line of DNF's, I will follow up with NM. If there are a lot of found logs mentioning maintenance issues, I will post NM. If there are outstanding NM logs (NM attribute), then I will add NA to bring the reviewer in. Depending on visit frequency by others, I might make another attempt or two on the cache. If my NM log doesn't get addressed, I will add NA onto it after a month or two.

One of mine, Aldo. He's not super heavy (wood frame and newspaper stuffing), but he's about 6ft tall, and his head is hollow so I can fit all manner of lights and audio inside it for events.

my comment about advertising when you're not at home is a good one when we're talking about a time when it's so easy to find entirely too many details about people with a few minutes in front of the computer. So many people put EVERYTHING out there on social media websites. And it has come back to bite a few of them. Some people "friend" people they don't know on Facebook. Twitter lets you essentially "follow" anyone. These sites can be used to case someone for a robbery. The fact that it doesn't happen more often surprises me. I may not be able to control some of the data mining that occurs on the internet, but I can control what I put on Facebook or on my blog or whether I choose to submit my location to a geolocation service like Foursquare (or Facebook or other similar service). IF there was a control to time-delay such posts, I'd be a ton more comfortable using them, because while people could see I was at some place, they wouldn't know when, and that's key information. It's the same reason I put lights in my house on a timer when I'm on vacation. It's why I lock my doors. Why I make sure a trusted friend has a key and visits the house on a daily basis when I'm gone for long periods. Why I have motion-sensing security lights on the house. Simple stuff that makes my house more secure. That's in the same vein of limiting what I share online.

This comment wins. There's a Jeep Liberty and a Honda Fit in my driveway. They serve different purposes. I wish I could convince the wife that she doesn't need a Jeep for daily driving, but she really likes it. I really think a used 4wd p/u would be more practical since it would be able to go wherever we take the Jeep, but also be able to haul materials for the house that the Jeep doesn't do well. I've taken that Fit some surprising places, but nothing like fire roads. I would REALLY like to see the Toyota Hilux in the states one day. From what I've seen, it's probably going to offer one of the best combinations of capability and economy out there.

Social geolocation services are bad news, IMO. advertising on the internet when you're not at home? bad, bad idea.

If the cache owner is active, but busy for the time being, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a hand - once. If the cache owner is legitimately gone, it should get a NA log. My area is very saturated with caches placed many years ago by owners who are now no longer participating in the game (and have not participated in the game for a few years). The active locals found the caches many years ago. Most of the caches have not been found in at least a year. Some in much longer. I found one that had been idle for 3yrs. In some cases, I can't fault the active owners too much because nobody posts DNF's or even NM logs when they notice a problem (one cache I found the other day has had a broken container for at least 3yrs, and only ONE NM log). This is too common in my area. I have been posting NA logs on many of these that I have attempted to find. Other locals have not been so gracious. They post a NM log and if the CO doesn't address the issue after 2-3wks, they post NA. Some locals have kept a list of these absentee CO's, so any active local who socializes with fellow cachers finds out who the "problem" CO's are. I gave the local reviewer a heads-up that there's an active effort here to get these cleaned up. In the past week or so, a couple dozen caches have been disabled. If you see a problem with one cache...address it now. If you let it go, you eventually wind up with an epidemic of bad caches like my area has.

When I look at them, any favorites on a cache indicates one that might be interesting. If I look deeper, I'll compare that number to the total number of finds. Any conclusions I draw from that aren't set in stone, but it does give me an idea of a cache that might be interesting, especially when I'm traveling. I live in an area with very few active cachers. 2 of my 5 caches have earned favorite points, yet none of my caches has more than half a dozen finds so far. One of them is an earthcache with only two finds. As a cache owner, I look at favorites as a measure of my success at creating a memorable experience for someone. I also notice that the two caches that have favorites also happen to be the two caches that generate the longest logs and the most pictures. Maybe favorites are a little bit redundant and just tend to reflect caches with long logs, but if GS makes it a filterable attribute of some type, then favorites become a better measure in my book that make it a whole lot easier for me to find high quality caches.

Find Farthest from Home GC3E4E - Hot Rox (Hawaii, United States) 3815.25mi Find Farthest North GC5472 - NFG (Michigan, United States) Find Farthest South GC3E4E - Hot Rox (Hawaii, United States) Find Farthest East (from Prime Meridian) GCVARW - Victoria's Secrets (Pennsylvania, United States) Find Farthest West (from Prime Meridian) GC3E4E - Hot Rox (Hawaii, United States) NFG and Hot Rox are also two of the five oldest caches I've found.

I ride. So far, I've ridden in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina (Tsali is good, Pisgah is better), Utah, Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii. I don't cache on most of my rides, but I do occasionally mix the two activities. Mountain biking would be my first true love. I have two bikes - first one is a 2000 Diamondback Topanga Comp that has been purposed as my commuter. I have micro-knobbies because I do have a ~2mi dirt trail on my commute, so straight slicks would not work for me. It's been a solid bike over the years and it's needed very little work. My other bike is my main trail bike - a 2003 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR with lots of upgraded goodies. I love this bike. Hydraulic disc brakes are awesome. Tubeless tires are great. I love full suspension. Bike fits like a glove and it's the bike I've ridden everywhere (except Hawaii...I rode a rental there). I'm preparing to do some major bearing maintenance this winter. I'm going to service the bearings in my hubs, suspension pivots, bottom bracket, and headset. Mostly just cleaning/greasing, but I think some of my suspension pivot bearings are going out on me. Right now I'm cleaning up the garage so I have a respectable workspace that I can actually use for the work. I got an air compressor for Christmas and I just ordered myself a Craftsman toolbox for the shop. It should make the task go very smoothly.

I have one multi that involves AT MOST maybe a 5 mile hike over varying trail surfaces, but can be done by driving between a couple different parking spots to minimize the walking down to maybe 3 miles. It is on a trail system, though, where folks could snag a dozen or more caches and involve several miles of walking or biking. I have one Earthcache that I suppose technically involves "hiking" on a primitive trail, but the terrain is smooth, flat river bottom and it's a short walk of MAYBE 1 mile at most. I have another Earthcache that doesn't really require any hiking, but a short walk along a lakeshore and walking up about 20-30' of a sometimes steep rock exposure. I have one Earthcache that doesn't require hiking to get, but hiking to the location is an option during the drier months of summer and fall. It can be reached anytime on a ~10mi round trip paddle. The hiking option was done by the only finders so far, and they hiked about 6.5mi total, with about 2 of those miles being off trail through very thick brush (and hurricane debris) in typical East Texas river bottoms.

To deal with the little gap around the edge of the lid and its receiver, you could glue (epoxy for durability) a ring of plastic to the lid that would create a small overhang (a lip on the lid) that covers the little gap. It's also possible that you could put a bead of RTV sealant on this lip to create a gasket that would be on a horizontal plane and be less likely to allow water in when opening the lid. I've been wanting to put out a TB motel in my area (trying to find a place near the highway has been a challenge) and I want to use a paint bucket with one of these types of lids to accommodate large TB's. It'll be interesting following this thread to see if you can find a solution to your problem because I also live in a humid area that can get significant rainfalls and wild temp swings in a short period of time.

Another way in is if you're in the outdoor industry in some way. I got in with Smartwool and Thule when I worked outdoor retail. I worked at a YMCA that had a climbing wall and I helped the manager get set up with Petzl for climbing gear (I was entitled to get myself in, but since I don't personally climb, it wasn't worth it for me).

I was working with one of the reviewers for one of my submissions, too. Reviewer posted some comments I needed to address and it took me a couple weeks to deal with some of that stuff, but it's been awhile since I made my final necessary change...and no feedback from the reviewer I was working with on whether my changes were sufficient. I'm chalking it up to the reviewer being busy with holiday stuff (like I am), but I do hope I get some feedback on this by the time I get home in a couple of weeks.

absolutely. big improvement in site performance. hope for some cool feature adds next week.

polycarbonate plastic gets brittle and cracks with sun exposure, temp changes, and time. I've seen a good share of cracked and leaking polycarbonate nalgene containers. the softer PET plastics tend to hold up better, IME. lock n locks seem to fare well, but not a lot of people where I live use them. I have a few smallish ones waiting to be used, but haven't found too many others.

who cares?

pretty mundane encounter, really, but my first encounter with law enforcement. it all went amicably in the end. There's a local cache that's on a very short (1/4-1/2mi) trail in town. The trail is maintained by a local boy scout troop and it crosses a privately-owned nature preserve. The only signage for the nature preserve was vandalized some time ago, and pieces of the sign can be found amongst some tall grasses. the trail is not near the signs, but there's a small 4x4 sign post marking the beginning. with a brass plaque on it identifying the trail name, the name of the scout troop, and even the name of the Eagle Scout candidate who installed it. there's a single geocache along this trail I was seeking that day with my two dogs. this nature preserve is at the end of a dead end street in a residential part of town. there used to be a humane society facility on the site, so there is a small parking lot with half a dozen spaces there. As I pulled in, I noticed a police officer hanging out there. when I got out of my car, he asked what I was up to. I told him I wanted to walk my dogs on the trail (pointing to the trailhead). he informed me that I couldn't do that because it was private property. I said, "huh...there's a trailhead sign right over here" walking over to show the officer that it was a public trail. the officer had apparently not seen the marker before (to be fair to him, it was just installed this July) and he checked out the plaque himself. upon seeing it, he said, "well that's news to me" and I told him that as far as I knew, the property was owned by the Texas Land Conservancy (so he was correct that it was private property) but that their website listed the property as "open to the public" (and coincidentally, I have permission to place an earthcache and possibly my own regular cache on the property - which I am currently working on). I never mentioned caching, because the primary issue was whether or not I was even permitted to be there. that might have been a more difficult sell to the officer, though. and I'm sure he's aware of caching, since the city is quite permissive of caches in its parks.

http://www.alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/brush-ratings.html FTW

Plastic containers don't do well over time. They need something done to them to cover them from the sun and the elements, and then they need to be monitored. one cacher in my area used a rubbermaid container with the flexible rubberized lid that just fell apart. I did him a favor and replaced it with an ammocan yesterday. yes, that can get expensive, but there's not much that sucks more than finding a container that's a POS and it's falling apart. Put in the work and the money into a container that's going to be durable and other cachers will appreciate it.

make a connection between what they see on the ground and their lives.

On one of mine, the agency (US Forest Service local district) has a published policy stating that virtual caches (like Earthcaches) do not require permission or a permit. I placed one there with no trouble. I have another at a city park and the city has no published policy, but they have no problems with caches of any type and I confirmed that information with a phone call to the city parks department. I am working on publishing a third on a private nature preserve that took more work to get permission. I e-mailed several staff members my request, and then followed up a couple weeks later with another e-mail. They were cool with the Earthcache idea as long as it is along existing trails (which mine is, so that's cool). I had to speak with someone on the phone and have a discussion about the possibility of placing a physical cache in another part of the preserve, but I earned permission for that, also, with some restrictions. I am now awaiting approval regarding content. As for finding something that meets the requirements of an earthcache, you need to spend some time researching your local geology. I'm working on a master's level environmental science degree (involves some master's level geology background coursework) and it took me quite some time to decide what I wanted to make earthcaches about and then find appropriate sites where I may feature the subject matter I wish to cover. It took me about 2yrs living in this area to learn the local geology sufficiently to generate some Earthcaches. I would second the suggestion to find some university professors who may help you learn the local geology. Some other sources that might be worthwhile would be any local rockhound or fossil clubs or speleological societies (university professors are also oftentimes members of these groups). Visit local rock shops to find out what collectable samples can be found locally. Find as many geologic maps and stratigraphic sections for your area as you can. These have all been helpful to me in learning what I needed to know about the local geology.

I don't do much. I use a Garmin Oregon 450, so I am able to preload a boatload of potential caches for an area. I just loaded caches for my 2,000mi holiday odyssey trip last night. I have a daypack already packed with supplies, so I just grab my pack and go, ensuring I at least have proper shoes.

I have not experienced any problems on W7 with Google Chrome.

I'm hopeful that it actually reflects quality. I mostly worry that people will simply favorite their friends' caches regardless of quality.