Team Grizzly

You will have to come out to Hastings, NE to find out!

This is just a vent to some folks who can share my pain. Last night I went out to place one of my most daring caches yet... I had a cordless drill, a hammer, and the cache that I was hanging. I went through a whole hubba-ballo to get it all together and to get permission to place the cache. And tonight was the night of action! So, I headed out afterdark to quickly place the cache. I have scoped out the area ten times or more at this time of night to see how many people are around... usually, NONE. And it seems to be the same. So, I go to town with my cordless drill, anchoring the cache into the wall, when suddenly the area is swarmed with people: some old dude, wanting to walk around the track, some college kids out water ballooning, a maintenence crew guy (yeah, that's right a maintenance guy working on the field at 10:30 pm) and a few tracksters who wanted to practice hurdles in the dark - not kidding. All of them converged upon the scene and caught me red handed with the drill and tools in action! Well, crud. Do I still place the cache or not? If I do and somebody swipes it because they saw me placing it I will be TORQUED! URGH!!!

Probably the most representative statement possible of the "average" American. All we need is easier access to McToys.... ARGH!

I have a related question, what does that ROTFL(and then a whole bunch more letters) stand for?

If I didn't know that's what I was looking for I might find it and throw it away on accident trying to clean the area up! Would you include a discription of the container in your log?

This is one thing that I just fail to understand... why do people use the phrase "Jesus Christ" when frustrated or in place of a curse word? Have you ever heard anyone say... Mohammed! or Budda! etc... in the same context? Where and when this trend began, I am baffled.

Geocaching is really the hobby that I have been waiting for my whole life. I love the outdoors; I love to explore; I love maps and geography; I love technology/gadgets; I love to look for treasure; I love puzzles/problems solving; I love to spend time hiking with friends. What could better fulfill these desires than geocaching? I was big into orienteering in my younger days - this just a suped-up version! I have to thank my best caching buddy meangusto for introducing me last winter. I had my etrex for about 3 years before I had ever heard of it! I hope that it continues into the future and my family will participate for recreation. I really think that we have the opportunity to pull kids away from the TV and get interested in the world out there, while they still fulfill their hi-tech needs. Thanks a million to the founders of the sport and those who set up this web system for listing caches!

I know that Geocaching and Groundspeak does not promote any religion or faith issues, but I am just curious (in this open forum of discussion) if there are many cachers out there who are interested in spiritual things and if they have any great insights to share. Frequently I have seen Christian Gospel tracks in caches and other evangelistic things, just wonder what people think of them... I don't really have an agenda in starting this thread - just wanted to participate in a friendly discussion. PLEASE don't use this thread to bash others or get into a theological debate, which might cause division!

TH(a)KMA That hike kicked my arse.

Hey, great idea - Thanks!

When I decided to become a premium member, my intentions were basically to support Groundspeak financially, be able to run queries, and I will admit that I was hoping that there would be some really cool "member-only" caches that would go above and beyond the norm. I think that I have only done one or two m-o's and there was nothing exceptional about them. On these forums I have read some interesting discussions about this topic, including some who reportedly boycott such caches. Which has lead me to wonder if there are ANY benefits to member-only caches. However, the other day one of my buddies and I were talking about placing a real doosy of a cache in a VERY public place. 95% of cachers would get into the game and try hard not to compromise the location, but that other 5%, especially newbies, might spoil the whole thing unitentionally by a lack of being discrete. This temps us into making it an m-o cache for the protection of the location and for other geocachers to enjoy. Have I become an elitist? I hope not. Can we still be friends if I make this a member only cache?

Terrain rated 1 is SUPPOSED to be wheelchair friendly. If a cacher in a chair goes through all it takes to get to the cache site and finds a set of stairs in the way, and just suppose it were you, wouldn't you be a bit PEEVED at the hider for not rating it correctly? I know I would!!! Terrain ratings are important, very very important. Suppose it was rated a 4 and you got all the way there only to discover you needed a boat, or climbing gear, or scuba gear. Again wouldn't you be ticked off? Here is the rating system: http://clayjar.com/gcrs/ Now play fair! I am glad that I read this discussion - I might just have to change a few of my ratings myself to truly reflect the caches' accessability to those who might be handicapped in some way or another. Thanks for making me think about this!

1. Know the difference between s*** and Shinola (sp?) 2. Never trust "whitey" 3. See a doctor and get rid of it! Can anyone name the source of this great wisdom?

My high school band director gave us this universal tip for tuning instruments, which I think can be applied to most everything else: When in doubt, pull out.

If you had $1,000,000 that you were required to spend on stuff that would improve your geocaching experience immediately, what would you buy? I've always wanted a unimog (if you don't know what this is, its basically a six-wheel drive, bomb-proof RV), an ultra-lite, and and a cheap pontoon plane. If I had a few bucks left over, maybe a new four season tent and a really nice hiking stick!

And all the people said, "Amen!" A little piece of coincidence: I have a friend named Brian, who I call "Briz-ian", with a dog named Gizmo.

I have been in NE for the school year, so I have not done any CO caches since Dec. I was talking to some friends the other day who said that the City of Colorado Springs has demanded that caches be removed from city-maintained public lands because they are "litter." My friends got this information from a city employee who was responsible for removing caches from the Cheyenne Canyon area. If there are any Colo. Springs cachers out there, is there any truth to this?...

Its simple micro-economics my friend. The benefit of the item taken must be greater than the cost of the item left, otherwise they wouldn't trade. Some people, of course, put utility value on the happiness of others and therefore gain marginal benefit by leaving a nicer item than taken. But for the most part, I find that economic cost/benefit analysis proves to be the rule for just about every activity in life, including geocaching.

"It was the best of times and it was the worst of times..." I think some famous book starts like that, but I didn't pay enough attention in literature class to remember which one!! This thread gives you the chance to tell some great sharable moments during caching... either the highs or the lows, or both! Team Grizzly's High: I found a cache up in the mountains of CO in about 15-18'' of snow totally by accident. We were having a great time hiking around in a beautiful area and knew we were close, but the snow cover made it virtually imposible to find the container. We were literally leaving when I slipped on a snowy rock, falling on my face, and kicked another rock in the process (we're talking pretty good sized boulders here) and caused it to roll over and make a loud, metalic "CLANK!". We laughed, both about the luck of the find and my extraordinary grace and coordination, all the way back to the car! Low: In a similar act of balance and agility, I took a major spill while looking for a cache in the rain near a cattle feedlot! Both my GPS and Camera went flying and I slid down a slope into a drainage ditch. Uggghhh. I was covered in the smelliest slimy mud and I had no change of clothes and I had a 3 hr drive home! I am glad that Mrs. Grizzly doesn't mind my FUBARs all the time - she sure helps me to laught it off too!

This is a different point about hunters, but I thought you might enjoy the story. A buddy and I had an interesting experience on a cache trip this winter. We were WAY BACK in the boonies in the mountains of CO and to our knowlege we were not in any hunting seasons, when we encountered a grizzled old hunter carrying a couple of shouldered high-powered rifles coming at us. We acted non-chalant, but we could tell he wasn't too happy to have been seen by anyone. We said "hi" and he gave us a piercing glance - it was a definite "Tell anybody you saw me and die" look. When we got home just out of curiousity we looked up the hunting seasons and sure enough there probably wasn't any good reason for someone to be carrying a high-powered rifle back in there, unless he didn't like any shooting ranges less than a 5 mile hike from the nearest road! Hmmmmm.... who could potentially be more destructive to hunting, people hiking with an electronic gadget, or poachers....

I like the way you think wray-clan. On a similar line, what if some abnormal act of astrophysics occurs, say the moon breaks its orbit and flies off into space and the earth is sucked into the sun along with all satelites, the hubble telescope, etc... The "lunacache" would be one of a few surviving evidences of human intelligent life.... think of that!

I haven't read all the replies, so it might have been mentioned, but the obvious solution (if we think it's a problem) is to turn a bunch of micros in an area into a multi. Of course, this might upset the "number" cachers (those looking for the highest number of finds) out there, but it makes some others happy for a more rewarding find. I guess it all depends on what you really want to get out of geocaching. I'm kind of mixed on my feelings about this, actually.

Okay, now what about the best fictional cache hider/placer? I'm thinking One-eyed Willie off of the Goonies, but I guess maybe Lex Luther would be up there too.

Super-man's 5/5 = Kryptonite Crystal Cache, placed by Lex Luther.

A couple of caching buddies and I were discussing today who would be the best fictional geocacher, meaning most creative, tenacious, physically able, etc.. We came up with no other alternative than Indiana Jones. Anyone disagree? Any others come to mind?