Kohavis

I am not gripping about GS and the efforts that the CEO and his main man made yesterday. So, if this is in reference to me, I want to make that clear. It wasn't in reference to you. It was in reference to the OP.

Sure we were inconvenienced. I was inconvenienced. But it would take light from "inconvenienced" three years to reach where Jeremy was at, standing outside the server farm at 3 in the morning waiting to get in, and a whole lot of work behind the scenes to restore the site. All ....just so we can grab our little GPS units, hoist our backpacks, and run out to the bush to find tupperware hidden under bark. Let's keep it in perspective, and give him a break

I would. Most people know how to handle broken glass if they're walking. I would mention it on the cache page, in case small children might be visiting the hide. Let their parents decide. The side benefit is that many cachers leave a place cleaner than when they arrived, so after awhile the glass should slowly disappear Speaking of broken glass, we have a local cache that was intentionally placed in a field of broken glass shards in an old city dump area along the river ( ). Some of the shards stick up 4 or 5 inches, and the whole area is hazardous. The CO mentioned needing special boots and gloves to safely pursue this one. I've visited the hide spot. Personally I think it's a terrible idea and it should be archived for obvious reasons, but the cache was approved and still is visited regularly without the slightest negative comment. Probably because a warning was provided.

I agree that it's pretty rare. I did, however, reconcile one of my hide's log with the online log because I suspected there was some "dry caching" (logging online without having signed the physical log). That term comes from the frowned-upon practice of "dry labbing" in the science and engineering world, BTW. I think you're safe, but just to be sure it won't hurt to e-mail the CO.

This is probably the best tip. Many newcomers to the sport expect the GPS unit to lead them right to the cache, and get disappointed when it doesn't. If you remember to use the GPS only to get you to the general area, to within about 50 feet, then put it aside and start looking around for likely spots, you'll have better success. After awhile you'll develop "geosense" and sometimes you'll spot the hiding place from 100 feet away, or more. You'll develop a feel for where the caches are hiding. You'll look for things like several sticks lined up in parallel, a piece of bark that's out of place, or a pile of rocks on the ground that didn't get that way naturally

Bruno, Good for you! I hope you succeed at your recovery with flying colors!! The thing to remember is not to let it overwhelm you. There's a lot to learn, but you'll get there. Go slowly and don't try to learn too much too fast. Start small - Load a few nearby cache waypoints in your unit and head out. When you're up for it, repeat the process. You can read about all the other stuff from links and the forum at home at your leisure, but aside from the rules, all you really need is a GPS unit and a desire to get out there. The rest will follow naturally. Take your time, and most importantly - have fun rediscovering that big world out there!!

Make sure your GPS unit is set to be using WGS84 datum, and Degrees, Minutes, decimal minutes display.

If it wasn't intended to enhance the fun of geocaching, they wouldn't have it in the first place

I would disagree with the concept of 'vitally important' to log every DNF. Just beause I cannot find the cache does not mean that it is missing. I am quite capable of tripping over a 1/1, and not finding it. Nice, but definitely not 'vitally important'. Your DNF alone isn't important. You're right. We all have days when we don't have our caching glasses on. But when three or four experienced cachers in a row can't find it, it needs checking.

Let me stress what flask said about logging your DNFs. The DNF log entry is vitally important for the cache owner to know what state his hide is in. Unless there are several DNFs in a row, he has no clue whether the hide is still there or not. Cache owners don't usually routinely visit their caches after they're placed unless there's a problem, or unless they happen to be close going after another hide and stop just to see if everything is all right. But normally the cache owner relies on the finders to report what condition the hide is in and if it needs attention, a "Needs Maintenance" log entry is made. Unfortunately there are cachers out there who think of DNF logs as an embarrassment, and only log their finds - not their unsuccessful attempts. They hurt the sport because they aren't providing the needed feedback.

If you have a pool or tub, the granulated chlorine (sodium hypochlorite or similar) makes an aggressive oxidizer. I found that out the hard way by accidentally leaving an almost empty container open in the garage. A few days later all my tools had a patina of rust on them I'd suggest using that, or chlorine bleach as several posters have suggested. Maybe wet the steel parts, place in a bag, and leave in a warm place for a few days.

The background image doesn't add much. When I started hiding I tried it once and was disappointed. I removed it right away. It only appears behind the large white/grayish cache page with the dark header. It ends up only being visible as a narrow area between the border of the actual cache page and the edge of the browser page. People are going to be looking at the cache page itself and not out at the edge, IMO. Here's a local cache listed with a background image: It doesn't add much.

Concentrate on quality rather than quantity. People who throw film canisters around like grass seed and leave no lamp post and dumpster area without a cache are a dime a dozen in many areas. I think that's the other extreme. We have a few caches in our area that don't even have containers - they're a Post-It note pad inside a baggie, tossed under a bush. I agree that quality should be the most important factor, but for the cachers who have 1000 finds and two hides, it's pretty hard to make a "quality over quantity" argument. More likely it's a case of "I'm an FTF hound and hiding doesn't help my numbers at all", unfortunately.

guess weknow who wears the pants in that family SS Every married man on this forum knows the answer to that all too well She does, of course.

I wish more cachers had that attitude. We have a number in our area with a thousand finds and not a single hide of their own. To me that's taking from the sport but not giving back anything. Good for you!!

We have a pair of GMRS radios we use for when my wife wants to poke around in the area out in the boonies while I take the car and head off for a few local caches. When she's done she can call me to come pick her up. Cell phones would be easier but where we go, cell coverage is spotty. The pair we use has a practical range of a little over 2 miles, which is good for 4-watt GMRS. FRS is fine for ranges up to about 1/2 mile. The advertised ranges of "bubble pack" FRS/GMRS talkies are all pure fantasy from the sales departments, and only good for mountaintop-to-mountaintop. They totally don't apply if there are trees, buildings or other terrain features between the two units. When they say "25 mile range" or "30 mile range", ignore it. They lie

A few days before my planned hunt I look for caches in the area where I can route a good approach - it might be a string of bosque (what we call the woods along the Rio Grande here) caches, or it might be ditch caches or even a series of urban hides. Once I have a plan of attack and have identified where I'll park and what order to go after them, I download the caches to my GPSr, copy the pertinent details for each cache, along with a satellite map of the area, to Pagemaker, and print a single page printed on both sides. Then I head out with that sheet folded in my back pocket, my backpack, and some water. On rare occasions where the path is complex, I might use the route feature of the GPSr so I can see it on the map page. It's a system that suits my caching style perfectly

Funny, until a cacher with heart issues clutches his chest and drops dead.

Nothing is wrong with an uninspired log written to an uninspired hide. Problem is most cachers use this quick and dirty abbreviation-fest, inspired hide or not. TFTC.TNLNSL. The hider goes to the trouble to find a spot, get a container, hide it, type up the cache page, and all the finder can write is a four-letter abbreviation? That's lazy. Some time ago I decided that I would stop using abbreviations in my log entries and try to post something I liked about the hide. Even if it wasn't an inspired hide, I try to show some respect for the hide because without it I would be "-1" right now

Since all my rough-terrain geocaching is done only on foot (for the exercise), it's not an issue for me. This gets me to a parking lot or turnout reasonably close (within 2 miles or so) so it serves me well :

Nothing at all. Except for the possible issue of tree cover being a problem and requiring an "H" model for the topic starter.

I agree. I typically use the waypoint averaging feature of my GPSr and don't save it until the indicated error is 6 or 7 feet - usually 100 to 150 readings. The log entries for my hides frequently mention that the coordinates are superb, so people do appreciate it. Nothing worse than going after a hide that you swear someone tossed out of a car window into a bush and sloppily marked the coordinates. I've found a few where the coordinates were off by 150 feet.

I have three sets of (2)Energizer AA NiMH I rotate for use in my Venture HC: (2 sets) 2500 mAH (1 set) 2000 mAH Charger is the bubble-pack Energizer CHVC2 charger that came with the (2) 2000 mAH batteries. Charging time: 2500 mAH - 16 hours 2000 mAH - 12.5 hours I start the charger the afternoon before my next caching hunt. The batteries last for even the longest hunt without any drop in the # of bars of the charge indicator. Before the next hunt I rotate in the next charged set and drop the old ones into a discharge box I built to completely discharge them. This system has served me well

I also agree.

Good price! There are several selling on Ebay but there are no "Buy It Now" Etrex units cheaper than $65 (free shipping), only auctions. And you never know with those.