Team Geo-Rangers

Like one? or two? I don't know what that means, but I was with Sabrefan7 and him, and that guy is definitely intense in his caching. He's a ball of fire, for sure. He does need to watch out for Team Snook and BobCat, but I'm sure he's on top of that. Have met Alamogul, Team Snook, and both Mondou2 and BobCat in Nevada labor day weekend - all are really nice and dedicated to what they do best, finding lots of geocaches. Has anyone mentioned in this thread the website that tracks most number of hides - King Boreas from Minnesota has the most hides at 3,000. http://www.zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/most_caches_found.php?OrderBy=hides&Ordering=DESC Hide on and Cache on!

On today's podcacher show, a team is claiming 15 countries in a single day. Best we can do in North America is 3 countries and there better be a plane involved! Congrats to them, another record has been broken!

Yeah, that was a fun weekend Team Sand Dollar and it sure was easier with a dedicated four person crew in one great geocaching utility vehicle. Am open to a new geocaching challenge and am satisfied with our total count. Now about your take off at ET-001 ... was it a cow, an alien, or T-Rex that you saw in the rear view mirror?! Yes, we did have a whole lot of fun out there, and nobody got hurt!

Cache density matters. There are tactics that you can employ to maximize the find count as others have suggested. Have found over 100 solo several times in a single calendar day. It's more fun to do it with geocaching friends: memorable days with a partner or multiple geocachers (one vehicle) are 205 (126 series), 251 (CA Central Valley). two consecutive five hundred plus days (ET Highway I), 626 (TOTG), 831 (Route 66), and 1,564 on 4 September 2011 (ET Highway Part II). Still enjoy just finding one per day or doing a long scenic hike with family and friends; power caching is just a different way to geocache. It is an endurance challenge and if you pick challenging terrain like the Trail of The Gods, then you really are completely exhausted at the end. The great thing about geocaching is there is so much variation in the way the game is played, it can be appealing to just about anyone. Setting personal goals and then achieving them does provide a sense of accomplishment. It's your time on this beautiful scenic earth, and you get to decide how best to spend it, whether geocaching or not. It's all good ... when you let it be.

Tried to get a cache placed on a cruise ship that goes between Ensenada and Long Beach. Admin would not approve it in 2008. And it was difficult to find a suitable place too. Maintaining it would have been difficult. With these new challenge cache types, the community can decide whether or not that such a themed moving cache is acceptable? Someone should come up with a creative CRUISE challenge and go for it. Seems like the only way, given the current guidelines.

A few minor problems. First, not everyone doing 0001 does 1500. You will fail somewhere along the way. Secondly, not everyone does the trail in order. Some do segments out of order. But this probably sorts out as folks replace the logs because they are full, certainly not because they are wet Interesting thread with lots of opinions on what is and isn't acceptable. The Route 66 cache owner reassured me that "log rolling" was completely acceptable and even provided replacement logs in caches for when we did it. When Peas & I did the ET Highway last year, we marked every log and left the cache where found it, even replacing them better than found when not in their lair. We tried log rolling on Route 66 and finished it very fast. We followed all the rules posted by Gus and Clay regarding this new series to find 1564 in a single calendar day - 4 Sept. Four cachers, one vehicle, two inspector ink stamps suitable for micro logs for the main trail. We even found several ammo cans that day. If power caching is not for you, I totally respect your opinion and right to ignore those caches. It's just another variety to the game, an endurance challenge, and it will take it's physical toll. The fact that this game continues to evolve and go in different directions is what has kept my family active in it since 2003. Hey, it's all good ... when you let it be.

We obtained milestones 22,000 and 23,000 along the new ET Highway in Nevada on Saturday, September 4th. Of course, finding 1,564 caches in a single day makes that possible. It will take longer to log them all.

Sounds like a fun road trip. If this is the most countries visited in a single calendar day with a cache find in each country, then ... congratulations on your world record!!!

"FWIW to those that may not realize, Downtown Disney is not in the park. It's a strip of dining, shopping, and entertainment venues and is open to the public without a fee." Right, and thus a very small nano/micro was placed in 2005 and moved a few times after disappearing. It was regularly maintained because so many in this community were working on the same goal of finding a geocache in every state and looked forward to visiting from outside California. The matchstick container shown in the news photo was never the final cache container. First finders found a camo'd SD memory card holder case, others found a black nano, etc. The only way a seeker could obtain the final coordinates was to qualify and then send an email to receive them. Guidelines have changed for challenge caches and now the coordinates have to match the final hide, even though the ? icon is used. According to the news, it took responders ~68 minutes to determine that what they found was a geocache. Was unaware of a prior incident at Disneyland Park, until someone posted a note about it on the cache page today. Regret any inconvenience this caused patrons at Downtown Disney yesterday and to those still working on the 50 state challenge, that now lack a final cache to seek.

Looks like the Ojai cachers had fun. Thanks for sharing your youtube clip!

Have found that operating in downtown areas with tall buildings is actually more difficult w/r/t the induced offset error caused by RF multi-path, than typical canyons, and use the Garmin Map 60CSx. Only exception is complete loss of signal in the Painted Ladders slot canyon, while hiking east of Palm Springs. Terrain obscuration with the low power GPS RF signal ... it is what it is.

Regarding VKs boast, heard through the grapevine that VKs only found 1156, and foomanjoo and photomom have 1157 online logs, so they hold the current daily find record...

Trackables should be not locked. The thief probably did not log them in and so can resume their quest, once retrieved from somewhere else by another geocacher. Glad to hear that the South OC is safe to cache and leave trackables again!

Leviathan Lurking in British Columbia was very fun and novel.

Recall a long and tough multi in the Scottsdale area that may be the same one that AZcachemeister references. There was another smaller but very cool multi on the west side of PHX too. Graldrich was the escort and both were really well done and challenging. Phoenix has some terrific hides and hiders. As for the final being 200 feet from the first stage, did a multi in a city in Colorado where the final is hidden at the first waypoint =0 feet! There was at least 6 stages too. Talk about embarassment when the final is hidden at the first waypoint, and you didn't check it first, but took off upon seeing the coordinates on the post for WP2. Will not name the city since multi-caches are few and far between the plethora of traditional caches, but it is a great idea and hopefully other evil cachers will be inspired and emulate it in in their area! If the thread intent is to emphasize "longest," then best to cite challenge caches that require more significant travel distance than stages in a multi, no matter how many. Some require the cacher to cross multiple state and country borders to claim just one smiley. It's all good - when you let it be!

Not interested either in watching a movie and it won't prove what they hope to accomplish in December. Whoever decides that it is a record would be the one to contact to have them ride along for 24 hours and independently validate your claim. While in some cases it is a marathon track meet to get to the cache and back, you still need experience in finding caches to avoid wasting time, because they are all not the same. There were stretches along the ET trail when I found two UNDER a minute and maintained that pace. Peas kept track of the time. Any record set there will be broken in the future. We came to that conclusion before doing it, and so split the trail into two days of caching to ensure we could attend the Friday night social and the Saturday morning events. It took us a little over 14 hours to find the 1022. We did it for the challenge and are quite satisfied with only a sense of accomplishment upon completing it. That is all the reward we sought - to challenge ourselves and have fun. Greeting other geocachers in the field was icing on the cake! Took many pictures at the Alien Inn and along the trail to document our journey. It was nice to get a good night's sleep after finding almost 600 the first day (we started at noon). The TOTG series was much harder given the terrain and so it did not enable us to use our best and fastest method, like on the ET Highway. We did experience flat tires on both trails and managed to not hit a cow on the ET Highway, something those that follow better worry about when caching ET at night. So to those sitting back waiting to do it and set a really high personal best, go for it. Go ahead and come into the forums and talk about it. Power caching trails are not for everyone, so expect some critical feedback. However, they have generated a lot of passion, pro and con, and so may be helping to promote the game we all love to play. There are extreme sports and extreme caches that people can die attempting. Marathon caching like this just stresses a different aspect of the game. Hide it and they will come ... we all just need at least 1500 on a course that is set up like the ET Highway!

Both?: L1, L2 are baseline and L5 is the latest frequency that the new SV provides ... takes about 90 days on orbit to functionally check out before they declare the SV operational. Looking forward to another launch!

Who's got time to look? Good point! We caught ET in the act of one cattle mutilation. See photo in TGR's Geocaching Photo Gallery. Felt bad for the non-geocacher who wrecked his truck hitting the black steer at night. Having done both the TOTG and the ET Highway, offer the following observations: 1) The TOTG/Phobia/Presidents trails took us (TGRs/PIAP) the full 24 hours to complete and find 626 in one vehicle. The terrain was very difficult to navigate, especially at night. We knocked out the main ET trail of 1022 caches in just over 14 hours, in daylight, over two consecutive days which left lots of time to meet and greet other geocachers, take pictures of ET, attend events, find other caches including the alien head, and take many pictures along the way. ET PT is not as challenging as the TOTG PT. We found them all and replaced none. 2) We took turns being the primary seeker with the other offering assistance from the vehicle. Sometimes the driver would spot it first on the ET Highway. Sometimes the pattern was obvious so you knew where it was before you could see it. We suffered another flat tire on the ET Highway and changed it after a celebratory feast at the Alien Inn on Day 2. Bring a fix a flat tube, just in case. It is cheap insurance and you may need it. We did. If you hit a cow, your day is done. 3) On the ET PT, some geocachers used multiple vehicles and leap frogged, pooling their finds, even thought they did not stop and visit each one. If they obtained prior approval, more power to them, especially if doing cache maintenance for the hosts. However, should this count as a record? Just as beta testers do not claim an FTF, cache maintenance warrants a caveat if a record is claimed. 4) We described our tactics in advance with the ET host which included using the little smiley sticker. It was approved just as others used a stamp for speed. Our sticker had our caching handle initials on it since someone commented that Team 500+ was too vague when we did the TOTG. 5) Both VKs squad and Legoboyjj's team will likely do it to set a new record/personal best. Others are planning a 24 Hr run too - GO FOR IT! Best to include Las Vegas or some other cache rich area because the ET trail is not long enough for a 24 hour run (for us). Don't think this one will be archived as none are in California and don't pose the same issues that led to its archival demise. 6) Because of the ease of ET vs TOTG, we need a longer trail to attempt another daily find record. Would like to see Groundspeak or one of the other organizations associated with geocaching create a course with this in mind. It needs to be long enough so that no team, caching in a single vehicle, can do it all in 24 hours. Using multiple vehicles and leap frogging will boost your stats, but it should not be recognized as setting any record, unless it is stated as such. Taking the leap frogging tactic to the logical extreme, anyone can amass a congo line of caching vehicles and find thousands in 24 hours, if the cache density is there ... 7) Power trails seem to be more about cache density than caching prowess. Challenges arise when terrain and hide difficulty vary significantly. Both the difficulty and terrain were easy on the ET highway. The difficulty was comparable on the TOTG to ET, but the terrain was harder, which takes a toll on the vehicle occupants for 24 hours straight. There needs to be a regulated course if someone wants to claim a daily find record (and turn in their track files upon completion, for independent validation). That's it. We had a fun time doing both trails and meeting other geocachers in the field. Everyone has different preferences and motivations for what they do in geocaching. Best not to get hung up on how others do it, just do it the way you prefer and have fun. It's all good!

You can try the BikeNCache series. It starts at Newport Backbay. Another good one is the Bob trail - Beach or bust in the OC - start's at Cook's Corner and it ends at the beach. Use two vehicles and park them at opposite ends to launch and retrieve bikes. Start at Cook's and take advantage of biking down hill all the way! Cache on!

Read somewhere that the SV achieved orbit and the first signal from it was received at a ground reference station in Diego Garcia. The new GPS IIF satellites bring key improvements, including a more jam-resistant military signal, a new civil signal to enhance commercial aviation and search-and-rescue operations, and significantly improved signal accuracy as more of these new satellites go into operation. The GPS IIF-1 satellite will undergo months of on-orbit tests, including functional testing of its payloads and end-to-end system testing to verify operability with older GPS satellites, ground receivers, and the ground control system. It is currently designated to be SV #62 on your hand held GPS receiver, once operational. Next launch is slated for ~15 November. As for this successful launch, a great way to celebrate the 50th anniversary for delta rockets.

Nominal Lift Off ... everything so far is going well!

Since we are all still watching the cartoon shorts before tomorrow's main feature and this has nothing to do with GPS, two more clips for your entertainment: 1) Airborne Laser Test: http://www.mda.mil/global/videos/altb/vm42...b_11_feb_10.wmv 2) Two launches on the same day: http://www.mda.mil/global/videos/gmd/ftg05_medrel_small.wmv What goes up ... can be shot down!

Secret Fee? If that means purchasing a beverage of the admins choice, then will gladly do so to properly thank them for all their time spent. for SoCal is fortunate to have two of the best in the game! Have come to meet a few in NorCal and Nevada recently, so that offer extends to them as well. Cache on!

Close but no lit cigar? Agree, it's a good site and was planning to post their reference that describes additional detail on what happened to prevent this launch yesterday: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d349/status.html Feel empathy for the mission managers and engineers involved - they are getting too good at exercising corrective action plans! Know how they feel; RCCA exercises can be painful with all the customers providing oversight and insight. The good news is that they never achieved a point in their count down where hardware was fully committed, causing a refurbishment, and a much longer delay ... A GPS SV launch is not a cheap endeavor (~$50M+) so everything that can be done, should be done, given the pucker factor. The words hold, hold, hold are more welcome than having the range safety officer push the proverbial "detonate button," post launch! In that case, he's the only one that gets to celebrate doing his job. Aborts are necessary given the alternative just provided. It won't be long for our GPS constellation to get a much needed upgrade!

Yes, but not everyone is some super dooper mondo cacher, either. MANY people use GPS outside of "the game"...even highly advanced users. You can still send coordinates directly to it for FREE and it's no big deal to scratch out some hints on a piece of paper for the casual cacher. Believe me, I do my share of caching and never found the "paperless" aspect of the 60CSx to be a problem. But, then again, I knew that up front so I wasn't disappointed down the road, either. Are you honestly discounting the 60CSx as a GREAT overall handheld (even for caching) because it isn't fully "paperless"? The Nuvi 500 for the car and the 60CSx is a pretty good caching combination; suspect that is where Chrysalides is going and find myself agreeing with (or laughing at) many of their observations in the forum. So what does it take to earn such a noble geo-distinction - "super dooper mondo cacher?" Just speculating, but is that a premium member that downloads a pocket query into the nuvi for car usage per the thread? Manually putting in coordinates seems old school but sometimes it is necessary in the field, like when another geocacher drives up and tells you there are two new caches on the power trail ahead.