Fritz_Monroe

I'd like to have the length of the hike listed if it's over about a mile. I have a 5 y.o. that I take, and anything further than that is kind of pushing it. I also feel that the stages need to have meaning. Don't put a stage just to put a stage. Give me a view, or a pond, something of interest. F_M P.S. Anyone know the most stages in a single multi?

Here is a link to the Maryland Geocaching Society's park guidelines. Not all parks in MD require any form of approval, but state parks and several county parks do. Take a look if you like, you could draft this up and take it with you. Could show that you are serious about getting guidelines made, and are interested in making geocaching an officially approved activity. F_M

There are places that ammo can caches are not allowed. For instance, if you place a cache in a Maryland state park, the rule read: This is also the case in several Maryland counties, as well. F_M

I agree with the other opinions on this thread. Request the meeting and take examples of caches placed in other parks. I would like to add that if you know of any caches that have been officially approved, bring those to highlight your point. Include the names and numbers of the people that approved. And if there is any sort of official policy in place for other parks or counties, bring that as well. Just make sure you go to your meeting prepared. If they still have that view, get a meeting with their boss. Just keep going up the chain of command. F_M

I'd lean towards just over 100 having over 1000. A guess based on 3 people fairly local that are over 1000. F_M

Now that's funny.

I've taken 3 friend from work on a cache hunt at lunch time. All 3 went out and bought GPSr units. Only 1 caches fairly regularly. The other 2 basically wanted a new toy. Also took another friend and he wants to cache a lot. Just not willing to buy a GPS. As for discussing it with people, I tend to get a lot of "Why would you do that?" I also get "So, you find anything valuable?" F_M

In several posts recently, I've seen mention that many people do not put in a FTF prize. I've hidden some micros, but no regular caches. I'm getting ready to place some caches and was planning on putting a FTF prize in them. So, the questions are, do you put a FTF prize in your caches? If so, every cache, or just ones you feel are a bit more difficult? What's the value of the prize? What kind of stuff have you used for the prize? F_M (have never used prize so many times in my life)

Now this doesn't sound too promising. Are the odds really slim that a TB will make it? Do they all get lost? F_M

I'm fairly new to Geocaching. Been doing it for 2 months now. I'm getting ready to send out a couple travel bugs. I'm looking for some recommendations that will help my TB reach it's goal. I have no goals worked out yet, I just want to get everything ready ahead of time. I'm thinking that I'm going to launch one for my 5 y.o. son and have it hit specific places. Haven't worked them out yet. What can I do to increase the odds that my TB will reach it's intended destination? Thanks F_M

I'm not sure what you are looking for here. If you want to know how difficult will be too difficult for families with kids, I can only talk from my experience. I won't take my 5 yo son on any terrain over a 2.5. A 3 is pushing it, but depending on the logs, I may take him on one of these. I rarely trade, I usually leave my sig item. However, if I see something that my son would like, I'll trade for it. That's the first thing he asks me when I return from a trip he couldn't go on. Hope this helps. F_M

I have a couple problems with replacing someone else's cache. 1. Unless you have found this cache in the past, you can't be 100% sure that the cache is indeed missing. No matter how many finds you have, you WILL get a DNF from time to time. We have a cache in the area that a quadruple digit cacher needed to go back 3 times before being able to find it. 2. Since they are apparently out of state from this cache, they may not be up on the local placement rules. 3. How can you be sure that the cache is placed where the owner intended it to be? A GPSr will have an error. If yours is off and the owner's is off, you could be placing this 100 feet away from the intended location. 4. They didn't find the cache. How can they log it as a find? Just my 2¢ F_M

Only thing you can do is ask. Go to a local Walmart and speak to the store manager. I haven't dealt with Walmart, but my wife works with the rec council dance group and other companies are real supportive. You will need an official looking letter asking them to sponsor the event. Give it a shot. F_M

You are right, the GPS won't tell you where to park. However, when the majority of caches in the area are in parks, and all these parks have parking lots, it works out just fine. As for street maps, ADC does them in this area. I think that's the most I've ever said the word park. F_M

Soap stone is a pretty good idea. I've seen many very intricate carvings made out of the stuff. Not sure how it would hold up under constant use, but I recall that you can fire it to make it much more durable. F_M

Take a look at the log entries for Little Nasty Lots of VERY experienced cachers had DNF on this one. I'm not ready for this one yet, but some day I'll try. F_M

Now these are made in a mold carved in a block of wood? Very nice. I like the burried treasure aspect of them as well. F_M

Hey Sparky and Sax, looks like a challenge Hey...how did I get lumped in the same category as Sparky? You're right Sax-man. You shouldn't be lumped together with Sparky. You are almost twice as obnoxious as he is. F_M

I prefer this one. No lie involved. Not misrepresending yourself. Just the facts. I'd add the logo, but would probably use one of the public domain geocaching logos. Maybe one of these (sorry about the size. Don't know how to change that.) F_M

This kind of makes sense. Want to keep customers coming in, and cachers are customers. But you want to minimize your customer's exposure to danger to avoid a law suit. These 2 places would probably be fairly high on the list of places to get hurt. Shame we can't get an official Walmart rulling. F_M

I click on the map on the cache page to bring up MapQuest. Zoom in to about 8 power and print it. I take a look at the map before leaving to make sure I know which way I have to go in. Then when I get close, I follow the GPS. Never really look at the side streets except to make sure that the group of streets lead to the cache location. F_M

Hey Sparky and Sax, looks like a challenge

I like the close together caches too, but prefer urban micros to be a short drive to get. Now if these were both caches that required stealth, then it would be pretty decent. BTW blazerfan, love the underpants gnome. F_M

I feel that urban micros have a VERY real place in Geocaching. As have been stated in other posts, there are some older cachers out there. But there are also many handicapped cachers, there are some cachers that are not in the proper health to go hiking through the woods. There are some, like me, that are in decent shape, but just don't find hiking thru the snow in the woods fun. When the snow is not there, it's great and I'll be in the woods. But until that time, I'll hide some urban micros and find some urban micros. I think that before people start yelling about how all urban caches are lame and have no place in this sport, they need to think about someone other than themselves. In a sport/hobby like this, there are so many different aspects to it that there's something for everyone. If you feel urban caches are so lame, don't find them, it's as simple as that. F_M

Thanks for all the comments. I'll leave it in place for a while and see what I think of it in the next couple months. As for the cache itself. It's an urban micro. I put it in place and didn't get around to logging it that day. The next morning there was a new cache in the same general area. I went back and found it was .15 miles away from mine, so I listed it. Now for why I think it's lame. The biggest reason is we have a parking lot with 2 micros within walking distance of each other. It's an alright hiding place, just not crazy about it being so close. Not a difficult hide, not one you have to be particularly stealthy to grab. It's just there. Well anyway, it's staying in place for a couple months at least. Then I'll take a look and re-think it. F_M