JBnW

Needs to be reported to Groundspeak. How does one get all those souvenirs without any "found it" or "attended" logs? B. By posting a log...then deleting it.

Had a random chance opportunity to attend a recent DGS event in Ft. Collins, CO last month. The event had a theme to create caches inspired by the movie The Matrix, and otherwise meet, greet and be merry. Our plans got us there late during the event, but we found the Dirtbags to be friendly and welcoming. Their creations were incredible and cache containers I would love to find out in the wilds. No one provided any opportunity to armchair caches and/or TBs. Is this such a terrible thing?

OK, took a little while to wrap my brain around this one, but I'll give it a shot to start the answers coming. Is this the cache you were having troubles with? If so (and for the language-limited...like me), looks like you had to find information from 5 separately listed and otherwise unique caches to generate an answer to the final for this Multi. These would have to be loaded separately, as I don't see them listed as additional waypoints. This cache is more like a Puzzle or a Challenge cache than a multi, and may be why you had difficulties. The "next stage" feature works better for "more traditional" multi-caches where you go to stage 1, get the coordinates for the next stage, go there to find the coords to the next stage...etc., to the final. Looks and sounds to me that you're using the GPS feature correctly (Next Stage is the better way to solve multis in the field), but the design of this specific cache just doesn't work well. Hope this helps, or generates a better answer.

All of a sudden, all 9 of our TBs and coins in circulation have each been moved within the last three weeks. Including one that was stuck in an archived 5x5 cache since last October, and another stuck in a two-stage multi since last August! Yippee!!!

No, No, NO! You stuff it into a jalapeno, add a little cheese, wrap it in bacon, cook till the bacon is done, toss the suvi, and enjoy!

Also, FWIW, if your PQ returned exactly 1000 results, it is very likely that you are missing some caches within the parameters of that PQ, as they are limited to 1000. As you continue to find and log cache(s), your PQ results will possibly be "one out, one in" and you still might not get the new ones depending on cache density in your area. You can either adjust the parameters of the PQ to return something just less than 1000 caches, use the "Send to GPS" button on each new cache page, or set up two or more PQs with the same parameters, but also using the "Placed Date" filters to your advantage. For instance: Do not select a day to run until you have everything adjusted right, PQ1 = caches placed between May 1, 2000 and Date x to return just less than 1000 caches, PQ2 = caches placed the day after Date x to Date y.... Lather, rinse repeat Not sure about your GPS, but it should be able to hold multiple PQs (?) Hope this helps!

It looks like the site ate my profile page. Clicking on "Your Profile" (http://www.geocaching.com/my/) returns an 500 - Server Error. That link worked for me.

Can a CO be told to remove that statement from their description? Can the cache be archived because the owner hasn't got a maintenance plan? http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#cachemaintenance Yes. I refuse to publish cache listings that include this statement, on the grounds that it isn't an adequate maintenance plan. Groundspeak confirmed my interpretation of this guideline. Except for power trails of course. How many people, do you think, already have 31 pre-signed and dated film cans ready to go for tomorrow's start of A Month of Micro-spew? Heck, they won't even have to slow down on they're way by.

Just go the the GC blog page here to see the entire set.

The other problem with this type of challenge cache, that has largely been missed, is that someone's ability to meet the requirements is entirely dependent on the actions of others...finders actually giving out FPs. The "quality" of the hide doesn't really matter if other cachers don't, or won't, click the link when they're logging the find.

Keeping this simple... No, only one account can own the cache. You could place "LucaRama and Friends" in the "A cache by" box on the cache creation page. But the cache can only be "Officially Owned" by one account. Other users can place this cache on their Watchlist and receive the same notifications, found it, DNF logs, etc.

Sounds like they forgot to log their TB in and out of the cache when they wrote the original found it log. The note is how one goes back and logs the TB without logging a double-find on the cache.

1. Is the FTF "prize" (assuming there is one) considered to be SWAG and subject to the trade even/up rules? In our neck o' the woods, an FTF prize is for the FTF, and not considered swag. 2. Any ideas for small smaller "good" swag that I can put in caches of this size? Gift Cards?? LOL Actually, carabiners are always cool swag. Good on you for going back and dropping them off.

Another trick for multiple PQs is to make use of the Date Placed filter. Start your first PQ in May 2000 and fiddle with the ending date until you almost max out the PQ (<1000 caches). Set the next PQ to begin the day following the end of the first, lather, rinse, repeat. Leave your final PQ open ended (ending date well beyond the end of your holiday) so that you can pick up newly published caches while there.

Following on with GeoTrekker, here is an altitude graph collected by a 62s during a down-and-back river run in a boat last week. The river is wide enough to offer clear, unobstructed views of the sky, fresh batteries, GPS calibrated, etc. etc. etc. Now as fun as it may sound going over 60 foot waterfalls in an airboat as suggested in the graph, in reality there are no such features in this river. It was all flat, calm water. There are three locations along this stretch with "known" elevations at USGS Gauging Stations; which would be six total matching points (three down and three back). Needless to say, comparing those with measured elevations is an evaluation of randomness. So, simply changing all elevation points in a dataset an equal amount so that one point matches a published elevation does not address the inherent error of the entire dataset.

If they think you're nuts for being a cacher, what do they think of you when you tell them of your chosen nick-name?

Good luck with that. Magellan, Garmin, DeLorme all charge. That said, if you get a Garmin, you can get free maps from other sources, such as OpenStreetMap or GPSFileDepot. These wouldn't update the map preloaded in your unit, but could be used as supplemental maps. The bf went to BassPro and said the Oregon 600 had free map updates for life. At least, I think that is what he said. Guess I had better check on that. Thanks! Oh, Garmin will sell you free updates, for sure. How often do new roads get added in your area? If "Not very often", it might be more cost effective to purchase a new map set every couple of years or so, rather than paying for essentially the same map of your area three or four times a year. A decision, for sure, but something to consider. As for the other things you mentioned; just about all of the handhelds have the same level of waterproofness, most of the modern versions are paperless, most have color displays, many (not all) will accept an SD card (so memory becomes no issue). The other questions might be, do you like touch screen or buttons, do you want one that floats when dumped from the kayak?, is size a consideration (eTrex vs. Montana), battery life (again, eTrex vs. Montana). I'll echo the suggestion of free maps from third parties, those are very good for the price. Just some other things to consider. Hope this helps!

What has helped me tidy up cache pages, and learn a little HTML along the way is, whenever I see another cache page that has a feature I might use someday (spacing, tables, links, columns, tabs, font, color, etc.), to right-click on the page and inspect the Page Source, scroll down to that particular element and make note of the coding associated with that feature. Some interesting things can be found on the Page Source.

We took a day to finish off our County and DeLorme Challenges a couple of years ago. 641 miles in 11 hours to fill in 6 Counties and 4 DeLorme pages, totaling 8 caches. A great day for us!

In KS, the "policy" is up to the Manager's discretion, and we sometimes have to draw the line between State Parks, and State Wildlife Management (a.k.a. hunting) Areas. Caches in Parks are generally OK with verbal permission from the Manager, and they do keep track of how many visitors each Park gets each year. Caches, in their very tiny way, do help. Managers at State WMAs are sometimes less receptive to caching, wanting to avoid unfortunate interactions between cachers and hunters. Some allow it, some won't. BTW, here is a good way to get into the good graces of your local land managers. Things like this go a lot farther towards promoting this game than many people realize.

Pocket queries are your friend, here. Set up a PQ to run from your home coordinates. Set the Diff and Terr fields to "Equal To", and adjust to find the different DT combinations you're looking for. Some of the combinations are somewhat rare, so adjust the search Radius from your coordinates upwards until you find some. Third party applications, like GSAK, are also very helpful with this as long as there are caches with those DT combinations in the database.

In my quite unscientific experience, there is a difference between the brands. I hid six or seven Tupperware brand Lock-n-Lock brand caches back in 2008. The ones I've had to replace were either muggled or burned in prairie management fires (melted globs of plastic goo). I replaced them with Sterilite brand containers...the ones with the vented lid (which I taped over). I've since replaced those a couple of times due to rodents and other vermin chewing holes into the lids, rendering them water catchers. Never had that problem with the Lock-n-Lock variety, prolly just a difference in the plastic. The remaining Lock-n-Locks caches remain un-chewed. IMHO, all the hides were equally at risk of exposure to plastic chewing rodents. edit: Not Tupperware, real LnLs

June will be the start of our 6th year, with a little over 1,000 finds. 16.8% of our finds are archived.

Here you go, Garmin MapInstall.

First of all, Pocket Queries will be your friend here. Set to "Caches I haven't found" and "within 50 miles", and any other setting you wish. Second, as a PM, IIRC, both Download and Send to GPs should give you a GPX file containing the full description. Send to GPS will, as described, send the file directly to your GPS. Download will send it to your computer, and you'll have to use another method to load it to your GPS (drag-n-drop, Basecamp, GSAK, etc.).