pugsley&wednesday

Tough one last weekend in a parking lot. I was expecting a bison tube or at least a magnetic nano on a sign, but hubby was holding the gpsr, and it kept pointing away from the signs to the middle of a row of parking spaces. We kept using twigs and a pen to poke around under the concrete stops at the head of each parking space, and were prepared to give up and log a dnf when some little voice in the back of my mind told me to bend down and check one last concrete stop. One of the pieces of rusted iron rebar holding it in place was fake! Small bison tube was hooked onto the end of the dang thing! Just for the record, Tommmmm is a sneaky bastige!

I go to school in the St. Louis area, but I don't think anything can compare to the diversity and sheer number of caches in my home of the DC area (no offense). I'm always on the lookout for good caches in St. Louis, though; do you have any suggestions? ~jmarkowi FYI, Creve Coeur Lake Park is a cache machine! Mostly containers, a couple of earth caches. We spent part of an afternoon getting 5 of them, and there are about 5 other smaller parks in the area. Hundreds of caches! Went there for my birthday last year. Want more...

First, allow me to give you more kudos! And don't let the idiots in the mall stores wear you down. 4 Things I recommend: Shoes Here in Illinois, the place to go for hiking shoes is The Walking Company. They have stores in a few of the malls, and I think they can be found online. They carry hiking shoes, walking shoes, and even the hiking sandals in large sizes, as well as my size, a freakishly impossible to fit AAA width. (Yep, my problem is the other extreme. Every blasted store sells D and DD widths, nobody sells narrows.) Best bet is to check their store locator so you can actually try something on. Mail order for shoes sucks. I've tried it. LL Bean has no grasp on how women's feet are shaped. Trust me. Clothes As far as clothing goes, just get something in your size that's comfy and can take a beating. When I go out to the caves and waterfalls at Starved Rock and Mathiesen state parks, I just get into an old Tshirt and either jeans or cargo shorts. I get muddy and sweaty, and if it gets permanently stained, it's only going to be worn for hiking anyway. Bag I also recommend a good day pack or a rugged messenger bag that can be carried across your torso (so it won't get caught on tree branches). I picked up a decent sized Jansport messenger at a local luggage store on at a discount so deep it could've done voice work for James Earl Jones. Look for tough canvas, with enough room to carry your wallet, phone, camera, and any absolutely essential items. Remember, you don't really need a makeup kit out there, but you might need bandaids or a bee sting kit if you're allergic. Helps if your pack or bag has a place to stow a water bottle. If it doesn't there are carriers for those too. Stick Next thing to get if you're serious about it is a good hiking stick that can bear some of your weight. If you get winded or have knee or ankle problems, you're going to be glad you brought it. Hubby's knees tend to do odd things at the most inopportune moments, and he had to borrow mine. There are sticks that look like ski poles and are extendable, and there are also the nice oak walking sticks with smooth grips on them. If you get a wooden one, here's a hint -- use tennis racket tape on the spot where you will be gripping it. Lowers the chance of hand blisters. I've been hiking, camping, and ski trekking for almost 25 years, and I'm glad to see a newbie discovering the kind of joy that it has given me. Congrats! Oh, and don't forget to take a camera! Please, post some pictures on the geocaching site!

Expensive heat laminator not necessary. Other solutions: 1.Befriend some scrapbooker with a Xyron, and use the 2-sided lamination cartridge. 2. Go to an art supply store, get some Mylar and double-stick tape, and encapsulate it. Good for something that you want to last a long time. Archivists do this. 3. Go to a copy shop and get them to laminate it. You might be able to get a discount depending on the size of the run. 4. Less archival, but still good: A food sealer-- the kind that uses plastic bags and vacuums the air out, then heat seals them.

What stops me from caching is usually the cache-crazy hubby. This former boy scout obviously got kicked out because he couldn't understand the words "Be Prepared". He wants to go hunting for woods caches in the dark, on the way home from work, while I am wearing my nice business attire and heels. He wants to go into swamp areas when he's forgotten the deep woods off, and likes to go for the high-muggle-traffic hides during peak muggle hours. He likes to look for caches on playgrounds when there are nervous moms with little kids nearby, and can't understand why anybody would object to a strange-looking man who obviously does not have a kid in tow hanging around such a place. We're talking about a geeky fat guy in his forties! In short, I can cache in any and all weather conditions or locations -- WHEN I AM DULY PREPARED! What stops me from caching at times is the outright stupidity of my caching partner.

Help! Going on a road trip, and trying to download caches for my destination. I hit 'Send to GPS', then 'Write', and the dialog box says that the cache was saved successfully. However, when opening up the Waypoints or the Geocache lists on my Garmin, they do not show up. I can easily load caches within my own zipcode, and they appear on the lists. Do I need to change a setting, or did I miss something? Any and all help gladly accepted.

One thing I saw on an old HGTV show that was used for yard work was an old trash can with the bottom cut out. The bag was placed over the can. The can served as a hoop to keep the bag open and the user could rake leaves and yard waste straight into the bag. If you have a couple of people using a big lawn and leaf bag, this might work.

I feel sad for the moderator. NO FTF prizes? Ever? That's like not getting a birthday present when you're a kid! I'm a crafter, and I happen to have a small button press at home. A key chain made especially for the cache was well received in my first hide. Also left other fun toys, and a CITO bag which nobody in my area seems to have ever heard of. (I live in Litterbug, IL). I also make beaded book cords, so those might find their way into a cache one of these days. I like the idea of something related specifically to each cache. It doesn't need to cost a lot, but just have some connection to the location or the name of the cache or the person who hid it.

Some of you folks with the more creative answers really need to go over to the SCA forums! Yeah, the medaeval living history group. Here's one I've pulled myself a time or two.. "Excuse me, are you in a play?" This from a mundane while my friend and I, in garb, were stopping to gas up the car on the way to an event. "Yes, as it so happens, we are." "Oh, really? Which one?" (Friend and I, in unison) "Death of a Salesman!" So far, while caching, I've never had to tell anyone I was trying to hide the bodies. "Filming without a permit" would be a good line, though. Anyone here ever seen Wizard of Speed and Time?

In reply to Brettiop, who recommended staying away from micros, this is not always the case. DH and I live in the burbs, and almost all of the caches around here are micro or nano. Most are easy finds, being located around statues, signposts, and the like. You just have to get used to looking for things like film cannisters. And when the GPS bleeps at you and all you can see is a lamp-post, lift up the metal casing at the base of the thing. People are fond of hiding micros and nanos underneath those. We have found lots of that type. We also found one that was a magnetic container stuck to the guard rail in a parking lot. While we havent' found many woods caches, the ones hereabouts seem to be good-sized containers with some decent swag. If you need to look inside a tree or poke around in a pile of twigs, you may want to use a stick instead of plunging your hand in. I also recommend a pair of gardening gloves to protect yourself from scratches and bug bites. Also, read the hints provided with the listing. Once you get good at finding them, you may not need to do this, but it does help at first. I do that myself, but I'm getting used to the way that these people think. (Gads! Did I really just say that?)

Speaking as newbie cachers, hubby and I generally find it adds to the enjoyment of caching to meet other cachers while we are out looking. We've met people from all over the state, and had folks give us pointers that way. We've also been able to team up with cachers who showed up at the same location. If you're not sure, just ask the others you meet if they mind you joining in.

Hey, all. Just started caching a couple of weeks ago, and quite a few of the caches around here are in forest preserves or other wooded areas. I've noted some of the good and bad things about these caches, and would like to share 8 simple rules for hiding them. These seem like common sense, but then again, in our area, common sense seems to be a completely alien concept. 1. Use a container with a screw-on or latching lid. Bad weather + woods = container coming open and being thrown around = cache not found. Sorry, cheap burping plastic containers do NOT work in this setting. 2. Give your cache some shelter. See equation above. One of the better hides I've seen was at the base of a tree underneath a sort of teepee of twigs. 3. Put your log in a plastic ziplock bag. You can get the tiny bags for jewelery at the craft store. Cheap. Beats having some poor finder having an allergic reaction because your log got all wet and turned moldy. 4. Trees have leaves. Leaves block out the sun, and can also block a GPS signal. If you plant this thing in the fall after the leaves are gone, remember that the GPS coordinates may not be the same in the middle of next spring. 5. Woods have bugs. Deer ticks carry diseases for which there is no cure. Do not hide a cache in a tick-infested area. 6. THERE IS NO RULE 6! 7. Make use of those 'Official Geocache' stickers you bought. They are there for a reason. Park rangers and other muggles also believe in picking up trash in the woods, and even as a newbie, I've seen quite a few caches tossed out because they weren't marked. 8. If bushwhacking is involved, say so. Preferably in your post. Also, consider using fire tacks to help guide your hapless finders. Happy hiding!