KKTH3

As far as nicks that might be recognized outside of Wyoming, many of our logsheets have been signed by forum regular, StarBrand and TB mogul, TH&G. We do get a lot of travelers visiting central Wyoming each year, though, and as a result there are about a dozen 4-digit cache finders that have signed our logs. All but TH&G are from out of state (As far as I know, TH&G is the only cacher that lives in WY and has over 1000 finds.) However, for me, most of the "famous cachers" I think of are the local cachers since those are the nicks I am used to seeing in cache logs.

We are essentially staying downtown - at about 20th and Broadway. We've actually been to the Swetsville Zoo many times as we have in-laws that sell art there (they live in Loveland) so I know the place well - so well we never saw the point in logging the virtual there - kinda be like logging a cache placed in your front yard. I doubt we will do any caching on the way down - maybe a couple in Cheyenne on the way back while we have our son with us, but most of the time in Denver will be spent as free time for the parents to have by themselves. Haven't had much of that for almost 10 years

Fun Fact of the day... Idaho boarders more states that begin with the letter "W" than any other state in the USA! We recently had to archive our cache that had gone the longest time without a find. It was placed a couple weeks short of a year ago and was first found last 4th of July by a group of cachers. It was found only one more time the very next day and had remained unfound since then. However, it was a themed cache and the reason for it being what it was themed after was removed by the city over the past couple weeks, so yesterday I picked up the cache and archived it. I had hoped at least there would be some signage by some of those that dont log caches online, but had no such luck. Oh well - at least we still have 20 caches active out in the field and only our mountain caches, our one remaining puzzle cache, and one cache that is a bit off the beaten path have not been found in the last month.

Heading down to the city for the upcoming holiday and we will probably set aside some time to go caching. Looking for advice on what the best areas to hit would be for us. Lady K is wheelchair bound so that means the mountain trails are pretty much out. Dad K is able bodied though so we can do more than handicapped only caches, but it wouldn't be bad to get in at least a few caches that both of us can do the searching. Also, for ones where we might have to go off trail a bit - it helps if the caches are at least close enough to the trails that Lady K doesn't feel too left out while searching ground zero. We probably won't have internet access while down in the area, but I will load all the cache info into our Palm and GPSr prior to heading down. We will be staying essentially downtown and for a couple reasons we'd rather not do too much driving, so parking in one spot and radiating out to the caches is ideal. We used to live in the area once upon a time in another life (several different Jeffco suburbs) but that was before we had heard of geocaching so while we may know a lot of the area, we really don't know much about the state of caches in the area. Thanks in advance!

I ran across a snake a couple weeks back while hiking out to check on some of our caches. A young family had stopped and the toddler girl on her dad's shoulders was whimpering a bit so I ask what was wrong. The dad pointed out a snake a few feet off the trail, but I couldn't spot it right away. So he takes one step closer - just one step - so he could point it out a bit better.... and WHAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! That girl started wailing hysterically. I did spot the snake then - it was about 15 feet away and slithering away by then, but that girl still didnt want to be anywhere near it. I'm not sure what kind of snake it was - I had seen prarie rattlers around here before and they look a lot different than the diamondbacks I grew up around back in NorCal where I grew up. This snake looked very similar to a prarie rattler, but it was obviously not a venomous snake. It was easily over 6 feet long though and the most fearsome creature in existance to at least one little girl.

Those people in Torrington crack me up! Not a single cache anywhere near since the dawn of time and then 2 months ago it sprouts like gangbusters - complete with wicked FTF challenges. Rarely does a new cache go 24 hours without at least 3 finds and it seems they are averaging 2-3 new caches a week - which is insane by Wyoming standards. Your last two caches didnt fool any of them We will have to take a trip out that way once it stops snowing. At least today's snowstorm didn't amount to much on the ground and it was melted in under an hour. It's almost like summer time caching weather now! Our next caching adventures will probably be in the Denver Metro area as we are taking a short B&B vacation there at the end of the month. After that weather in Wyoming will probably be nice enough that we can get back to our 1 cache trek a week schedule. Gillette has had a little activity over the last year and of course RS/GR has plenty of caches - that is nearly a 500 mile round trip though and with so amny caches will probably require an overnight stay. Anyway - its getting closer to the time of year to stop talking about going caching and actually going caching.

I have a cache somewhere between 15 and 20 feet up a tree. Its rated 2.5/2.5 and the terrain is mostly as high as it is due to the tree being over a mile from the nearest parking. The catch is... the tree is not quite vertical so 20 feet up the tree is only about 8 feet off the ground and one can walk up the tree without touching their hands against it. Its still trickier than an ammo box on the ground, but hardly as risky as many other caches we have visited.

We had this happen to one of our caches. It's the farthest cache of ours from our house so we don't check on it every other week or so like we check our other caches, but it was continuing to get finds and no DNFs so we never were concerned. Eventually we had a new container for it - something a little larger - and a little more durable. I went to swap out containers on my lunch break one day and couldn't find the cache! Well, since I did have the new container I was able to replace it right away - about 2 feet away from the original spot since it would not fit in the exact place the original cache was in. However, while I had a makeshift log in the new cache, I wanted to improve the cache so I knew I had to go back out to it soon. Before I got back to finish the cache we saw someone had found the cache, so that was good. However, a couple days later when I got back to our newly replaced cache I saw the makeshift log had not been signed and in fact it appeared the cache didn't appear to have been disturbed at all since the last time we replaced it. Before, I could see how the elements could actually dislodge the original cache and I had assumed it got knocked down a hill and into a nearby river. Now I could tell it had been moved. The first time I did search the area in case it had been moved, but I hadn't looked far enough out. This time I finally found it - about 20 feet away from where it started. So, once again we were able to replace the container and have it with a proper log and trade items. However, I actually preferred the "new" hiding location and deemed it to be a place where the cache would last a bit longer. So now the cache is hidden in a place someone else decided to hide it. The hint still applies and it might not be zeroed into coordinates as well as before, but I took a new reading for the cache and it really isnt that bad - well within expected tolerance. My guess is the cache actually got moved by one of the very first finders, though I cannot guess which one. Most likely the majority of all finders found it in its current location, so in reality everyone is still getting a similar caching experience - it just isnt the same experience that we had originally intended.

I don't see a pattern in that list either, but to Markwell my reference, I was going by this post. It seems it was only the first few that applies to and a better system was in place well before they reached 250 caches.

Our routine is much simpler. 1. Log in and check the newest caches in Wyoming. 2. See that no new caches are within 100 miles driving distance. 3. wait another day. However, in the summer when we are willing to take a full Saturday off a couple times a month and are willing to drive 400 - 600 miles in a single day, we pick about 5 or so caches in an area we havent visited in awhile. It doesn't take much planning to get info on 5-10 caches at a time (saving some as backups in case plans change, shich they always do.)

There are also a number of selective exclusions of possible GC code combinations due to the four letter words they would form. Because of that subjective bit of editing, the answer is not an exact mathematical equation (well, it could be but there would be some variable that would need to be subtracted from the equation to represent outlawed GC names) Also, the original GC system was done a bit differently at first, where the location of the cache was part of GC number, such as 1=Oregon, 2=Washington, etc... So in that regard, the geocaches with a GCXX format didnt use all the available possibilities either. OTher than individually counting all of these exceptions to the rule, coming up with a number of caches that will be used before the GCXXXX format is exhausted will only be an approximate number, rahter than an exact number.

Build a lamppost at the summit and hide a film cannister under the skirt.

The music I listen to is all over the place, but what is currently in the CD player is "Levelling the Land" by The Levellers - a great album for geocaching. One Way Liberty Song Far From Home The Game The Road The Riverflow And for South Carolina Cachers "The Battle of the Beanfield" "No, no, no - Can't you see? There's nothing here that you can call free. They're getting their kicks; They're laughing at you and me" (its a very angry anti-government song - though that pretty much sums up all their music)

The last thing we want to do is turn this cache into yet another 1/1 ammo box hide. But, it is obvious that this cache just isn't working. The troubling part is the only experienced cachers to attempt this have done so while travelling through the area - which means that even though 2 of them were able to count the marbles quite accurately, they logged DNFs as they could not find the cache due to time restraints or darkness. They have not had a chance to return to town yet, even though I assured them that their estimates were quite accurate. Ultimately, it makes the ability to estimate the marbles seem much more difficult than it really should be. As a result, we have altered the page so that getting an exact count of the total number of marbles is easy to obtain, and without any guessing skills at all a person can define a point within a maximum of 75 feet away from the cache. Combined with the terrain of there being only about a half dozen possible hiding spots for a 50 cal ammo can within 1/4 mile of the cache (let alone 75 feet) I would say its safe to say the guessing part of the cache is really not an issue anymore. I still totally expect this cache will often get passed up and ignored - for the fact it is a multi-cache alone, but an ambitious cacher willing to devote a half hour of their time shouldn't have a problem with this cache if they attempt it. We may archive it anyway by the end of the summer, depending on whatever responses we get from the cachers that visit it (or don't visit it as the case may be) but I really think we should at least give it a shot and offer something a little more challenging than the typical cache behind a tree.

Don't attempt to hide a cache in any way similar to how we hide caches.

Ah, but you do live in my sister's area - you should visit their caches in El Dorado County (where I grew up) - tag name is carzoo.

I do know what I would do to make this cache "easier" - though I'm not sure the goal should be to make a cache easier in order to encourage cachers to attempt a difficult cache... since part of the point was for it to not be as easy as the majority of caches in the area. Currently, right now there are only 14 caches within a 50 mile radius of our house that have a difficulty rating greater than 2. Fourteen!! and five of them (including this one) are ours. Making the cache easier would get more finds, but I'm not sure that would be the best thing for caching in the area. I subscribe to the theory that variety is the spice of life, even if it includes parking lot lamppost micros. I do agree that the history of the cache makes it seem very intimidating, which is why we were looking for some added incentive. I have only had 3 people email us with their suggested coordinates. Two were within 40 feet (one was dead on for the north and only one off for the west) but neither of them have apparently attempted the final cache since verifying their coordinates due to being from out of town. Granted, the third was way off, and I suspect a number of those that have not contacted us also were off by more than I anticipated a person could be. I couldnt see how someone could be off by more than a few marbles when we made the bottle. We also pre-tested the bottle by taking it to a number of people and having them guess how many marbles were in the bottle so that it would not be an impossible task. All but one of the people we showed it to were within 00.010 of each coordinate which does open up a larger search area. Since the search area is a completely open field with very few features (no brush, rockpiles or anything at all - just a couple trees and stumps) it seems like a reasonable task. In no way do I mean to say everyone should want to do this cache - I already know the majority wouldn't do to the 4 star difficulty and the fact they would need to hike a bit away from the car - but I just wanted to point out that everyone seems to have their own drastically different view of what is difficult (or seemingly impossible) Perhaps a better question would be, why would someone want to do a cache rated to be more difficult than 2 stars, and what would they expect to be rewarded with for their efforts? The question of whether or not we should downgrade this cache to an easier difficulty is one I don't feel we should be asking until it has been in the field for a few more months.

We would LOVE to get back to NOLA, and of course caching would be on the agenda when we get another vacation that way. Unfortunately, our good friends that lived in that part of the world were totally displaced by Katrina and have since relocated in Iowa. As a result, we would have to find a place to stay for vacation, and while we once had our timeshare looking for an exchange to give us a place in the area, there are even fewer accomodations than before. We still check on the caches in the area as that was our first experience in geocaching in an area where there are actually caches! I wish we logged our DNFs back then as we searched for a lot of caches by BAMBOOZLE only to walk away empty handed - several of the multi-cache varity where we would spend a good portion of the day getting from stage to stage and then hitting a brick wall. I still wonder with what we have seen since that trip if we would be able to find those caches now. P.S. the page for your cache finally loaded up (it was really slow earlier with lots of errors) and it is exactly the kind of cache that is up our alley. We would be sure to do it if we get a chance to vacation down there again.

Cool! Let me know if and when you do - we travel to Loveland often. In fact, we are heading there tomorrow AM and will be there for the weekend. Probably not much time for caching, but we do what we can. As for the hint.... it is a real hint. At least the Hermit Crabs understood our sick sense of humor. FYI the hint applies to both stages of the cache which really gives the hide away if one is within 150 feet of the guess.

Wyoming has a CITO event listed as well for April 22nd.

That was actually a consideration when we created this cache. We made sure that even if a person were to guess as far off as 1/2 mile away from the cache they would still be within the boundaries of the same park and not chance running into any terrain that was any more difficult than the 2 star terrain the cache is actually located in. I'm not sure how much people know of what central Wyoming is like.... but its pretty much high plains and prarie. The main unique feature of the area where this cache is - is to see the existing wagon wheel ruts of the actual Oregon Trail. It may not be that interesting to everyone, but to me it is quite a worthwhile place to bring people. Sorry for the tangent, but since I know most people reading this would not know what our corner of the world is like and are probably used to caching in places around buildings and private property and stuff, that I should clarify the point made in an earlier post.

OK - looking for some advice on one of our Caches. It has been in the wild for over 6 months with only a tepid interest. Possibly this is due to the fact it is a multi-cache (we could have tried listing it as a mystery cache, but in this area that would only make the response worse) instead of traditional. Possibly, and most likely, it is due to the low population of cachers in the area. However, without giving away blatent clues, I'd like to see the cache found. Now, probably what I worry about the most is that the only thing that might draw a cacher to this hide is to get the FTF honors and that after it is found no one else will even try it. That has already happened to all of our mystery caches - once first found they are never found again. I do not want to make the only caches in town easy finds so I'd like to keep their difficulty intact, but maybe the best way to get them found is to make the incentive to find them greater. How far would you drive for a truely great FTF prize, and what would that prize have to be? 100 miles for a newly minted, unregistered geocoin? 500 miles for the enhanced edition of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on DVD? 1000 miles for a crisp $100 bill? Well, it isn't likely that we can afford to pony up that last offer, but I do wonder what it would take to get a difficult cache found. How far are you willing to go? How much time and effort are you willing to put forth? What are your limits and what obstacles are you willing to face for a FTF? Feel free to look over all our caches - someday I really would love to have a large cache where the cheapest trade item is somethign like a laptop computer - just to see if people would attempt the find. Not even the WJTB lure from last summer got any interest in our caches - there has got to be something....

My parents are on the Sly Park side of the Mormon Emmigrant Trail. They usually know when the road becomes passable. However, they got a fair amount of snow at their place not too long ago and they are under 3000 feet, so the top of the road is likely to still have a decent amount of snow on it. Back from my days living in the area, I don't remember the road opening up before Memorial Day weekend many times. I do remember getting my truck stuck in the ONLY patch of snow on the road and having to hike back to Iron Mountain to find someone that could get me out - he actually pushed the back of my truck just enough to get me over the patch (was about 40 feet long) and I was set the rest of the way home. That would have been early summer most likely, as I had been fishing in Hope Valley that day. That, however, was a year of unusual snow pack and I was surprised to see the road was actually still another week or so away from being open. Now if you are not actually using the road to cross all the way to 88, its possible the road will have access to a lot of the logging areas before Iron Mountain. Its only the north slope of that last little hill that usually keeps the whole route shut down. Except for right after big storms, the road stays clear most of the year aside from the last 4 miles or so. Regardless, I'll try to remember to ask about the road next time my parents call.

Don't you hear the ticking? I swear its getting louder.... We should be very close now. Say, do you smell sulphur?

Somehow, I don't think THIS CACHE I have submitted will beat any of those records. The problem with low population areas is I can see a new cache hidden in my area and wait about a week before looking for it and still get a FTF. We had one cache in town that lasted about a full year before its first find. The one I linked above might beat it :/