bittsen
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Posts posted by bittsen
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I'm pretty new to caching, but I think one of the best things about it IS the fact that you have to be stealthy and figure out how to not get muggled. To me that's the best part of the game...I feel like a spy. If you really, really try to be creative in order to get around being muggled you will do fine!
Yeah, it is fun to proceed in a covert manner.
I've done the "tying the shoe" and as I said earlier "invasive species investigator" and the "chat with a friend against a tree".
There was also one where I was ttrying to be covert and the woman interrupted me and said "did you find it?". She liked watching people look for the geocache in her area.
I've only found 50 caches so far so I don't have a lot of stories but I'm sure there will be more later.
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What PIA situation? Perhaps it is a chance to teach the kids that not everything in life is easy? That sometimes you have to work to get what you want? Instead you want to teach the kiddies to cheat. Way to go!
WOW, taking this game a little seriously, aren't you?
Have a good day.
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Rather than suggesting that the cops inform their CO, you're probably best to treat the situation as one where the CO already knows about geocaching, but has not informed the rest of the department. Thus, the statement: "Your CO probably knows about geocaching and perhaps you might suggest he advise the rest of the department there is a geocache around here."
My suggestion wasn't, in any way, negative. We were laughing with the police at the time and I even joked saying it was something to do now that the bar was closed (suggesting my friend was driving drunk).
You are right though. The better comment would be "I'm surprised your CO hasn't told you about geocaching".
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Yes, I am an extremist.
Because you said it was "arbitrary". That was the whole purpose of putting a lock on the cache so they would have to figure out the combo.Yup, so a nice friendly outing with the kids is now turned into a PIA situation.
Real friendly game you want to play.
Oh well, there are a lot more "nice" people out there then there are a**es.
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Are you serious? Then why don't I just use Google Earth and zoom in to every cache and say I "found it"?
If thats how you read what I said, so be it.
It's true. The internet is filled with "that kind" of people.
:laughing::laughing:
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Really? It's a puzzle cache. The whole point is to figure out the puzzle. If you don't want to figure out the puzzle don't, just don't claim that you did.
Yeah, really. They said they couldn't open the cache so whats the big deal?
Personally, if I don't sign, I don't claim. Of course I haven't run into a missing log yet but if I ever do, I will log it as found and note a missing logbook.
Don't know why some people have to make a fun hobby so complicated with arbitrary rules.
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If the caches are being ripped off to be replaced somewhere as their own, I think tagging the cache container could be helpful. I bought a cheap engraver for $10 at radioshack. I put two or three custom marks on the cache in out of the way areas. If my cache ever disappears, I'll just start looking for new placements and checking for my insignia on the new placements.
Ammo boxes sell on Ebay all the time. I would suspect that is what happens to those. For some reason, after the elections, the army surplus stores can't keep the things in stock. At least thats what the Army surplus store me said.
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I have a cache called Digits This cache is a puzzel cache the whole point of this cache is that you have to break a 3 digit combination lock to open it. Today some one loged this cache as a find there log read couldn't get combo. so my question is should I delete this log the thing is this is only there second find but if I'm not mistaken don't they have to sighn the log for it to count as a find. they may have found the contaniour but if they couldn't open it I don't see how they could of sighned the log. So what should I do.
Keep this in mind.
I am relatvely new to geocaching. My first find was by accident. If it were a container that I could not open, the game of geocaching, for me, would have died in its spot.
In reality, who really cares if they opened the cache?
I also want to say that I do pocket queries. I wish I had time to read each and every description that goes along with the cache but I don't. For me, making the find harder is a turn off but thats an opinion.
If you really care about the numbers, and they mean the world to you, go ahead and delete the log. If you are in this sport/activity/game for the fun then leave the find and contact the person with the combination. I'm sure if they had the combo they would have opened it. Why make it hard to open and sign a log in the first place? Maybe when I hide a cache I will add some super glue to the lid and delete anyone who didn't have the foresight to bring vice grips with them.
Why make your cache difficult for people who aren't into your kind of puzzles?
I know, slightly sarcastic but you get my drift.
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Back on subject.
There are devices you can purchase that are essentially trackers. The batteries last for about a week. You can find them with a signal they emit.
If a lot of caches arebeing stolen in a particular area, it would be worth the cost to get one. The good thing is you get the device back each time because you can locate it by the signal.
I'd love to see the look on the pimply face of a cache thief when you knock on his door. It would be priceless.
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Back on subject.
There are devices you can purchase that are essentially trackers. The batteries last for about a week. You can find them with a signal they emit.
If a lot of caches arebeing stolen in a particular area, it would be worth the cost to get one. The good thing is you get the device back each time because you can locate it by the signal.
I'd love to see the look on the pimply face of a cache thief when you knock on his door. It would be priceless.
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I was asked just the other day "what are you doing" when I was poking around bushes. I said I was inspecting for invasive species.
The asked said "Oh" and went on their way.
When the police ask me, I tell them I am geocaching. If they haven't heard of it I tell them what it is and suggest they tell their CO to inform the rest of the department since GCing is a pretty widespread activity.
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I do night caching. It's frustrating but in some ways its more fun.
Last night I was out till 3AM and had to explain to the police what I was doing snooping around with a flashlight at that hour but I'm 50% for the night hunts in general. I'm just searching for regular traditional caches.
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I log DNFs if I spent a long time looking. I feel its helpful for the owner of the cache to know how difficult it is.
This morning I couldn't find a cache with a 1.0 difficulty. I had a friend helping me look.
Either the cache is missing or its not really a 1.0. I think the owner of the cache needs to know that.
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Hey all,
I've been using gsak to load caches onto my etrex vista hcx. It does this quite well. However, for some reason, it adds two waypoints per cache! You can understand why I don't like this since the vista only holds 500 waypoints. Has anyone had any problems with this and/or know the answer? Thanks.
I would think the best way to get an answer would be to post this question on the GSAK forums.
Not trying to be a jerk but they are pretty quick over there.
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Many people refer to this as a sport, but I can't say that I agree with that...at least not yet. I would like to get input from members here as to what you view this as.
Even if you have over 1000 caches, I could see it being a game
Even if you are a hardcore hiker (I LOVE to backpack/hike and do it a LOT), I don't know that this "portion" of a hike could be a sport, EVEN if you consider hiking a sport...
I see it more as a hobby. This is something that I do when I get the chance, for fun, and I don't get too competitive with it (those who do could argue for the game designation).
so, vote, and give your opinions.
EDIT: So...this site doesn't let you creat polls
...ok, then just post up what you think it is and maybe I'll keep a running tally, I have to call it a hobby. To be a sport infers that the most aggressive will be better but there are successful geocachers that are in wheelchairs who cache as good as anyone who is "able-bodied". Also, the lack of competition would further indicate a lack of a sport status.
It can only be a game if its done competetively amongst a group of individuals. I can see some treating it like a game but, again, since there isn't a Geocache Champion of the World, there is no overall game.
It must be a hobby for some but for others it is just an activity. Since your list only includes 3 possible choices, I will conclude the hobby status.
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I'm still waiting for one I did a couple hours ago. When I run them late at night I get them in a few minutes.
I'm guessing (hoping) that it is something on the GC server side since I am using my own domain email system.
Having to wait sucks because my son was waiting to try his first time at geocaching. I suppose now it will have to wait since he has left for his camping trip now.
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I have a Magellan Explorist 500 and it works for me but my friend is looking for a GPS for geocaching and he's not as computer saavy as I am.
His budget is $200 or less and wants to know what the group would recommend.
Thanks
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I think the 300 has the same capabilities as the 500. Doesn't it come with a data cable?
If it does, you can download GSAK from GSAK.NET and use that program to upload chords for lots of caches. Just found this out last night and I can't tell you how much time it has saved me.
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What you are looking for is Pocket Queries. You can set them up from your MyAccount page. Here's a direct link.
http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/
You will get the result emailed to you and you will open the file that is attached to the email.
Here's some information about setting them up.
PERFECT!!
Thank you very much!
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I had a lot of fun last night downloading bulk waypoint files but then found out that they didn't include hints and such.
Purchased a premium membership so i could download GPX files with the extra info but would like to download them in bulk like I could with the LOC files with the "check all" function.
Am I missing a way to do this?
Thanks.
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If you are a non-premium member (that is, if you haven't paid any money to The Frog yet), you can only download .LOC files and they don't have hints.
When you get addicted, shell out for a premium membership and you'll be able to download .GPX files, which have the entire cache description, hint, logs, etc.
Oh how I wish I knew that before downloading the 4000 geocaches last night.
I had lready planned on getting a premium membership.
D'OH
Thanks for answering.
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I am using GSAK and downloaded a bunch of waypont files last night but there are no "hints" in the waypoint files. Is this normal or is it a bug?
I have a Magellan Explorist 500 and it has a tab for hints but if they aren't being downloaded it doesn't help much.
Thanks
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i have been using my magellan 500 and i have been getting it to work, but how do you properly operate the GPS and the program so that when you open the files on the gps from the sd card. all of the geocaches open up. right now i have to open each one at a time. also while i use easygps i am only able to look at one geocache at a time on the easygps program. how do i overcome that?
is there also a way to view all the caches on my gps that shows all of their location on the large map? right now it only shows the first geocache i loaded on my gps.
can anyone help? thanks =D
There is an easy way around the addition of single files.
Open notepad and then open one of the "loc" files in notepad
open a second notepad and open a second "loc" file
Copy the data from between "<waypoint>" and "</waypoint>" from the second notepad file and place it right before "</loc>" in the first file.
Then save the file (or add more waypoints) and open the file in the geocache manager included with your Magellan.
You can add 200 files to the master file. If you understand HTML, you can edit them as well before you open them in the geocache manager. Of course you can also edit them IN the geocache manager.
:laughing:
:laughing:
...ok, then just post up what you think it is and maybe I'll keep a running tally,
Tricky Caches
in General geocaching topics
Posted
The trickiest I have found was a "bug" that had been placed on a tree. Someone had taken a real beetle and removed the wings and glued them to a metal lattice. The log was a small pill tube that was 1/4 in diameter and about 5/8" deep. I had to write VERY tiny.
The trickiest hide will be done shortly. It's nothing special except an electrical access panel that is 100% realistic looking. It won't be tricky for a seasoned gacher but the public will walk by it day after day and never suspect.
I plan, in the future, to place a frog cache. Not so tricky but fun.