debaere
-
Posts
188 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by debaere
-
-
My wife and I have been geocaching for a few months now. We generally look for the bigger caches, because micros just aren't as fun. But it seems like the longer a cache stands, the more people just leave absolute junk in the place of cool things. It's really frustrating to see caches full of water bottle caps, rubber bands, pennies, etc when you can tell from logs and the initial cache contents listing that these were not the types of items originally left. One of the rules of geocaching is to leave something of equal or greater value and I know this isn't the case. We didn't spend very much money coming up with a decent sized goodie bag of prizes to leave in geocaches, so it really is just a matter of sheer laziness. It's like people are just grabbing junk from their floorboards to put in caches. We've found ourselves lately just cleaning out the junk in caches and throwing it away and replacing it with good stuff for the next finders, but I hope it's not in vein. I hope we can get a few more people interested in "CIJO" Cache-In, Junk Out. We only have two caches set up right now, but I plan on periodically checking in on all my caches and removing stuff that doesn't belong. I might get sick of doing this constantly, but it really isn't fair for everyone else. </endrant>
This is partly why I stopped caring about swag in caches almost from the beginning. I tend to look in the cache just long enough to find the log, sign it, and close it back up as quickly as possible. My wife, who is a non-cacher but often accompanies me for the fun of exploring new areas, will look at the swag a fair bit, and she loves it when I find a cache full of stuff.
Despite this I do carry some decent swag items in my geobag in case I do happen to stumble upon something cool I'd want to take. That has come in handy as the first time I showed someone else about caching their kids wanted to trade for an item, so I was able to provide a suitable trade item and simultaneously use the experience to teach them about trading even or better.
-
I don't keep it a secret, but I don't tell everyone I know either. Most people in my life know I geocache, and I have gone caching with many of them. I've even converted a friend to caching. I also mention it in my blog.
I tend to only talk about it with people who I think will understand what it is. I absolutely hate trying to explain it to people who I know won't understand, or care, about it.
Come to think of it the above is true for most things in my life. I am not the most social of people so I tend to only talk to people about things I think they will actually care about, and stay silent for the rest of the time. Based on this I would say I talk about caching about as much as anything else hobby-wise in my life.
-
10-10-10 is way more significant in another regard. 101010 is the binary representation for 42 which is, of course, the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything
This, to me, is the only reason to celebrate 10-10-10. Perhaps that day I will carry a towel around so I can be a real froopy dude.
-
I am working on a geocaching project and I would like to make a list of geocaching acronyms and their meanings.
I have the basic few:
FTF –FIRST TO FIND
TNLNSL- TOOK NOTHING, LEFT NOTHING, SIGNED LOG
TFTC –THANKS FOR THE CACHE
TOTT – TOOLS OF THE TRADE
BYOP- BRING YOUR OWN PEN/PENCIL
CITO – CACHE IN TRASH OUT
DNF – DID NOT FIND
GPS- GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM
GZ – GROUND ZERO
SWAG – STUFF WE ALL GET
CACHE- GEOCACHE
TB – TRAVEL BUG
I am wondering if you use any others when you log caches or just use generally.
Thanks for your input.
The only one I really use on a regular basis thats Geocaching specific(i.e not FYI, LOL, YMMV etc.) is GPSr - GPS receiver. Normally use it in a context similar to "my GPSr was jumping all over the place".
There is also LPC, whose expanded name is a spoiler so I won't expand it. I don't chase LPCs so I never use it in a cache log.
Oh, and I've seen STF: second to find.
-
My wife and I are expecting our first child very soon (Sept 8th due date), and I'm very excited about the prospect of my geocaching adventures becoming family outings. I just had a few questions from cachers that had been through the same thing. Like how soon after your child's birth did you start bringing them along to cache with you? I'm in Northern Nevada where we can get some pretty cold winters, so I figured that it would be at least spring before the little one starts to come along. So that would be at least at the 6 month mark.
We've received some great equipment to get outside with our baby, but I thought I would ask if there was anything that you had found to be essential, or at least very handy to have along while caching with your baby?
My son was a week old when he first went out (to church), and 4 weeks old when we found our first cache together (in Roanoke VA in November - was chilly!) He's 10 months now. A good baby back pack is essential to remain hands free. It is amazing how little you do need to bring a baby on caching trips. Make sure he's well dressed for the weather. We normally kept him in his PJs, added some gloves, extra socks and a hat, and wrapped him in a baby blanket. He was warm and cozy, even in the snow. A couple diapers/wipes/cream, and some food (either Mom or formula depending on what you are doing food wise for him).
The most essential thing is to being extra pacifiers. And put the ones you do on clip-on straps. They get dropped a lot and you never know when he's gonna need it.
The one main change for me was that the kid has a schedule which is best kept for your own sanity. This slows down my caching trips as I had to stop every couple hours to feed the kid. Aside from that there shouldn't be a great deal to slow you down.
Good luck and enjoy!
-
Myn was one that was in big bear. A couble of friends and I were looking for this one in rock garden and I saw ledge and I climbed up to it and found a cool ammo can... getting do was hard thought
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...db-89300cf73eb4
hands down http://coord.info/GCK31A
It is completely awesome recreation of... well.. I'll let you look at the pics in the logs to find out.
-
I can't see anything in the guidelines for hiding caches that specifies a terrain of 1 being wheelchair accessible. There is a cache attribute for wheelchairs tho, so if that is not set I would not expect the cache to be wheel chair accessible.
sure there is
http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?p....page&id=82
D I F F I C U L T Y T E R R A I N
1 star Easy
In plain sight or can be found in a few minutes of searching.
1 star Handicapped accessible
Terrain is likely to be paved, is relatively flat, and less than a ½ mile hike is required.
Hrm. They should really make that more visible. I went to the "hide a cache" section and looked at the linked guidelines, which are completely absent of any guidelines for terrain ratings except pointing to ClayJars system. ClayJars system also does not specify anything about wheelchair accessibility being an easy rating
I agree that a rating of 1 should mean wheelchair accessibility, however its completely possible to go through the process that Groundspeak lays out when placing a cache and not get any guidance that this should be the case. The link to the page you mentioned requires searching for it, and that isn't a reliable method to ensure people will search for it. As a result it is not wise to assume terrain 1 is wheelchair accessible.
-
We are trying to figure out if this is a challenge of some sort, or if there is bragging rights for it or anything.
Anyone know of any motivation for doing this? We live in Europe, so for us its all in a days adventure, but we have not heard of anyone doing this. Please advise.
Team WorldTour- Caching Ninjas 
Three countries cached in one day in Europe doesn't sound like that much of a challenge to me. My very first caching experience happened across two countries (Belgium and France). I drove in three counties in a span of an hour (Belgium -> Luxembourg -> Germany), so it shouldn't be difficult to do three countries in a light morning of caching.
Caching in 6 or 7 European countries would be more of a challenge in my mind, depending on exactly which countries they are
. The Benelux countries+ France & Germany could be easily done in a day. Having said that, if you want to do it, go for it. It sounds like fun. There is no official challenge I am aware of regarding multi cross border caching runs, and bragging rights are a matter of personal opinion, but I wouldn't let that stop me. In this game the only people you have to compete against is yourselves. If I was back in Europe I'd be tempted to try a multi country run myself, but do yourself a favour and do it for self satisfaction of a personal accomplishment and don't worry about how it looks in other peoples eyes.
BTW which 3 countries did you have in mind?
-
When a cache is rated "1" for terrain, does that automatically mean handicap accessible? If cache wasn't handicap accessible ( and by this I mean "wheelchair accessible"to keep it simple) it really wouldn't be the easiest terrain rating right? It would at least be a 1.5.
We went caching the other day and I picked a "1" cache and yes it was accessible up until 8 feet away from the cache which was hidden in a tree that was at the bottom of a steep slope off the side of the paved trail. The slope had dense underbrush too. It was o.k. for me but for my disabled husband it was a no go because he knew he could slide down the slope but he would never get back up it. He still enjoyed it though because he got to watch me race back up the slope screaming " Auuugh, banana spider!!".
I know there are attributes that can be put on the cache page but I've seen several cache pages with no attributes at all.
Just asking for clarification, maybe I'm assuming too much.
I can't see anything in the guidelines for hiding caches that specifies a terrain of 1 being wheelchair accessible. There is a cache attribute for wheelchairs tho, so if that is not set I would not expect the cache to be wheel chair accessible.
-
This would be an interesting project. Many of us go places such as hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores, campgrounds, schools, etc.
How about a new addition to the site where people can submit business location using an estimate/actual GPS coordinates near the entrance or parking area. Why do we want to do this? It's a good way for people who doesn't lived in this area to find a point of interest (POI), such as McDonald's, Subway, Pizza Hut, or get a location of a specific hotel in their GPS. Perhaps suggesting these business owners/website developers to add the GPS in the location for travellers. This can be another search feature to find a nearest POI.
Have a drop down menu selecting what kind of business....such as
Hotel/Motel (another drop down or type in name of restaurant)
Gas Station
Airport
Restaurant (another drop down or type in name of restaurant)
Schools (Elementary, Middle, High School, etc)
Public Parks
Zoo
and many more
Why not use existing services like Google Places?
-
This would be an interesting project. Many of us go places such as hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores, campgrounds, schools, etc.
How about a new addition to the site where people can submit business location using an estimate/actual GPS coordinates near the entrance or parking area. Why do we want to do this? It's a good way for people who doesn't lived in this area to find a point of interest (POI), such as McDonald's, Subway, Pizza Hut, or get a location of a specific hotel in their GPS. Perhaps suggesting these business owners/website developers to add the GPS in the location for travellers. This can be another search feature to find a nearest POI.
Have a drop down menu selecting what kind of business....such as
Hotel/Motel (another drop down or type in name of restaurant)
Gas Station
Airport
Restaurant (another drop down or type in name of restaurant)
Schools (Elementary, Middle, High School, etc)
Public Parks
Zoo
and many more
Why not use existing services like Google Places?
-
It is a default string, and a great way for Trimble to advertise its products to its target audience.
They probably think it is awesome marketing, to me its just really bad caching etiquette.
-
Virtuals are great, and I normally enjoy doing them. My vote is to bring them back, but I don't want to open that can of worms except to use it as an example of my enjoyment of them.
Virtuals got me to see the Natural Bridge near Roanoke VA, and close by was Foam Henge (an artists re-creation of stone henge). I never would have seen that without virtuals.
I am not such a big fan of earth caches, mainly because I usually don't care about the "nature" aspects of it (how many "look, its a watershed! If you use your imagination and squint just so you can imagine the water flowing downhill to that river/lake/ocean do you really need?
I am not a huge fan of the "heres 12 questions to answer" aspects of them either. I would much prefer the simple "take a pic in the location and post it". Sometimes the long question ones feel like school. The only time I have enjoyed the 10 question ones were in places like the Natural Bridge where each question took you to a different section of the park, and all of them were unique and interesting.
Having said all that the positive of virtuals and ECs far outweigh the negative in my mind.
-
Arg... double post monster got me again.
I'll take this opportunity to say that I also liked your mix of text and photos. It adds a more personal feel than just a blob of text would.
-
My feedback:
Your articles are well written. Keep that up!
I personally don't mind the static background, but the translucent background needs to be a bit more opaque to make the text easier. Making the font a size larger would be good too.
I have added your blog feed to Google Reader so I will get updates as you post them. Looking forward to it.
Cheers
Dave
-
-
Hey All
I am looking for trail data for North Carolina, specifically the mountains in the western side of the state (Blue Ridge Parkway & area).
I Googled for maps but I couldn't find anything that seemed to fit. I have a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx so a format that fits that model is preferred.
Any pointers greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
-
I'm not going to log the find. That wouldn't be fair. I just wanted to see if anybody would get upset and I had nothing better to write about. I just wish I had the money to get off my continent and log a find outside of Southern California!
I think there is just a tad bit more to your continent than Southern California. Northern California for starters
Also there is the whole Silicon Valley sub continent. -
so this pic was taken and we dont know what it is,,,I have had alot of people look at it but with no luck..
not a rc plane, or bird,,,or a little man made plane.....and the crazy thing is we did not see it when the pic was taken
If I was to guess I would say a grasshopper of some kind jumping close to the camera lens.
-
so this pic was taken and we dont know what it is,,,I have had alot of people look at it but with no luck..
not a rc plane, or bird,,,or a little man made plane.....and the crazy thing is we did not see it when the pic was taken
If I was to guess I would say a grasshopper of some kind jumping close to the camera lens.
-
Today I visited a cache that had a domestic air travel boarding pass stub. Recently in other caches I have found concert ticket stubs, business cards, a rock, a piece of bark, etc.
Whta are people thinking when they put this junk in a cache? Does anyone seriously want to find junk like this in caches? Why would I want someone else's ticket stub or boarding pass, let alone a rock or a piece of bark I can pick up anywhere?
I am inclined to remove this stuff, but I figure it's not my place and would end up leaving some of these caches almost empty. I think it's a real waste and makes for a disappointing find.
What junk have you found in caches? Did you remove it? Leave it? Trade "up"?
Personally I like a little bark in my caches.
-
I think I found it. GC13XT3 LT013 Pony Express.
Douglas County Fire Department, while doing an inspection of the Harrahs property, found this cache. Worried that it might be a bomb, bomb squad was called, cache was x-rayed, found to be benign, and then removed. Saying that this cost the county thousands of dollars, Harrahs Security is wondering to whom the bill should be sent.Interesting that they x-rayed it first. I wish more bomb squads would do that. I must wonder why it would cost "thousands of dollars" to x-ray a package, though.
Well the last time I went to the emergency room for a sprained ankle they x-rayed it - the bill was almost $700. Add to that the cost of multiple police officers on scene, for several hours, plus however long it took them to complete the resulting paperwork etc. Not to mention the bomb squad. I would not be surprised if >20 law enforcement officers were involved in this in its entirety. I could easily see how the incident cost thousands of dollars.
I am not sure why Harrahs would be billed for it tho. Sounds like the FD overreacted and called the cops. Not being directly involved I can only speculate wildly, so I'll stop here
-
I was trying to find the reviewer for the San Diego, CA area so I can see if he/she would email a cacher there that seems to need some guidance. He has only 8 caches and has picked up 3 trackables (one is mine) and then he never does anything with them. I wrote him a month ago and he said he was at camp (child maybe?) and would take care of it the next week. Never did!! Also he is geocaching in cemeteries at night. I don't know why people pick trackables up if they don't know what to do with them. FRUSTRATED HERE IN OHIO!!! Anyone know who the reviewer is in San Diego?
How is the reviewer going to help here? Reviewers jobs are to ensure/enforce that caches meet the guidelines. They have no control over how players play the game.
Having said that to find a reviewer in an area look up the description for a cache in the area, find the very first log entry, and that will be the reviewer.
Cheers
-
I thought those mountains looked familiar, then I read your geocaching.com profile and realized you are 1.5 hours down the range from me (I'm in Lenoir NC). I always love getting up into the mountains - it never ceases to disappoint.
Love the pics. It is absolutely fantastic scenery
Team WorldTour- Caching Ninjas 
. The Benelux countries+ France & Germany could be easily done in a day. 
Also there is the whole Silicon Valley sub continent.
Casual Friday: Wear your Geocaching Shirt/Gear/Accessories
in General geocaching topics
Posted
How sad for you. Every place I've worked allowed this. My current company encourages it by giving us t-shirts - a lot of em.
Our only real dress code is due to safety concerns. i.e. one must wear safety shoes in certain parts of the building.