WRASTRO

I will attempt to respond the actual question posed by the OP as I interpret it. Cachers expect the posted coordinates of a traditional cache to be as accurate as possible. Even with the best GPS units available to consumers the indicated coordinates will vary over time. There would not be anywhere near as much fun in this game if the posted coordinates took the searcher to the exact location every time.

After almost 10 years! The research required to find this thread was likely more than would have been rquired to find the answer to the question.

This may work for you but I am not going to make two trips to hide a cache. Do other people do this? And good work OP. Glad it worked out for you. Seven I wouldn't even consider listing a P&G without multiple visits to the site, much less a hide with high difficulty for either terrain or the hide itself. So yes, other people who care about having the best coordinates they can for their cache listings do this.

Yet another story about why lamp post caches should forever be banned! I guess it would NOT have been good form to ask the officer with the attitude, "Whaddaya think, Dude, that I intended to disable the power grid by blowing up this lamppost?!" By the way, you DID have permission from the property owner to place the lamppost cache, didn't you??! Tsk-tsk-tsk! Don't you think that would be a question for the CO rather than a random finder?

Water you talking about?

The thread title and the OP do not seem to match up. Three foot snow drifts and LPCs don't tend to coincide.

At least no one who replied in the first two hours. I won't be buying the book. Someone who posts here may and could provide some insight if they choose to share.

Pretty much like this even though I am the Dad in my family. Trips = potential chances for caching; load up hundreds of caches that may or may not be possible hunts.

So, how many years do I need to "put in" bevfore I can consider myself a lifer? As I climb the state rankings list, I have noticed that most people have many more years in the game than I. Of course we all know its not about the numbers You can consider yourself a lifer whenever you see fit. Such status has nothing to do with your find count, and especially not in comparison to others'. I spent a few years working to keep in the top 100 finders in Washington but that got to the point where it wasn't fun for me. These days new cachers can pass my find count in a year or two. Doesn't matter to me. I still chuckle when I see a cache log from someone stating "my first find and I am hooked!" More often than not they never make more than a few more finds if any.

That is pretty much how I feel as well. When I read a challenge cache page and there are 20 steps you have to fulfill before you qualify...forget it. Just too convoluted for no good reason. I prefer challenge caches that make traveling a priority, rather than something that you look at a graph to see if you qualify. Find X number of caches in X number of states...find X number of waterfall caches, etc. are far more interesting to me than find X number of caches on Feb. 29th type of challenges. Even the ones that seem interesting, like finding a cache that the title begins with every letter of the alphabet, would just take too long for me, personally. By the time I would finish finding those caches, odds are the challenge cache would be archived Seems to me it is a matter of personal preference.

I am a "lifer" so to speak. There quite a few of us. I think the percentage is probably favorable for those of us who started in the earlier years and are still caching as compared to those who start now and stay active for a year or more. Just my gut feel.

I did one blackout cache because it interested me in my home area. Haven't really looked at any others. I am neutral regarding challenge caches, so I guess I am fine with them. Don't love them and certainly don't hate them.

Email sent. I hope to claim Bridle Trails unless PhilNi has already done so!

Oh well. I tried to think. One of these days I may learn.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with logging NAs on caches under your personal account, as long as the NA is justified. I, and several others in my area, do so regularly, and haven't had any problems. The two NA logs mentioned above by Pup Patrol are nowhere near justified, and only serve to interfere with the work of the local reviewer(s). If you feel you need to use a sockpuppet to do something, it probably means you're going about it the wrong way. Whenever you're considering logging an NA, do your research. You did some in this case, but failed to gather the whole story on a cache that clearly (to me) probably has a lot to the story. Some examples of methods you could have used to gather more information on this cache before logging an NA include: -Contacting the CO or someone who has logged it several times -Posting in a regional forum or even this forum -Asking questions via a note on the cache listing Only once you know (not just think you know, but know) the story behind a cache like this can you post an informed NA log. You've now seen what can happen when you don't do your due diligence, and I sincerely hope you post informed and justified NA logs on problem caches in the future. Just make sure you can stand behind your statements with such confidence that you can use your personal account. A well-formed NA coming from an experienced cacher carries a lot more weight than one from a sockpuppet. If you feel the need to use a sockpuppet, it means you're not saying things right, need to do more research, or just shouldn't be logging the NA. Well said!

I am thinking your alter ego could look and confirm the hypothesis. But I could be wrong.

Add me to the list here of those who don't understand what you are trying to accomplish. Can you not take waypoints with your app and save them, thus creating the "cache" for your daughter to find? Are you looking for a cache write up? Create a cache page, do the write up, print it out. Modify the coordinates, print it out and repeat as necessary for however many waypoints you want to try. Just don't submit the cache for review. Most backyards aren't that big so I would be a little concerned about proximity issues. Your waypoints might overlap given typical GPS error.

I thought that was really interesting to watch. Thanks for posting it here. It is right on point for this discussion in my opinion.

Check out the North Bend Travel Bug Hotel which we found today. It is an ammo can in plain sight next to a state highway. Like any popular touristy type TB hotel it has challenges with trackables going lost, but it is not due to the security of the cache itself.

Perhaps almost everyone in your area has and carries a telescoping mirror and uses it for many or most of their cache finds. I have a small one (1.5" mirror, 36" length) and have used it a handful of times in nine years. I think it must depend on your area and the critters you may encounter. For me in the Pacific NW a decent pokey stick is a frequent aid in finding containers covered by leaves and other tree crud. I have never used gum to retrive a container either.

The bolded part of the above statement is not correct, at least for all phones. My Motorola Bionic has a real GPS that uses the same satellites that any dedicated handheld GPS uses. The GPS works great even when I have no phone service. I agree with other comments regarding battery life and ruggedness. My Bionic is usually more accurate than my Garmin GPSMasp 76cs.

If you had started geocaching before 10/10/10 you'd have one for that too as it was given away to everyone when souvenirs were first launched. This might be a good opportunity to point out the "Bring back Country Souvenirs" I started awhile back. This is interesting. I've been geocaching since well before 10-10-10, and I don't have that souvenir. Maybe an email to Groundspeak is in order? I am confident in saying you had to actually log some caching activity on 10-10-10 to get the souvenir. I just checked my Son's account that was created in 2004 and is randomly active. His account does not have the souvenir.

The list depends on where I am caching. These days most of my caching is in urbanized areas so the list is pretty short. I usually take my GPS or Android phone, but not always. I almost always remember to take a writing stick. Sometimes I forget and have to sign with a stick and some mud.

I decided to go look and discovered that I still have 18 days of the year with no finds. Six are in December and three are in January. So I can eliminate half of my days with no finds in short order, but I won't since I don't really care.