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Team Dromomania

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Posts posted by Team Dromomania

  1. I always use the "Geocaches (Yours)" list that's accessed from the menu at the top of the profile page. It shows all my caches and indicates which ones are disabled and/or have a "Needs Maintenance" flag.

     

    My cache list is long and that method doesn't group them together for easy access. I believe the above PQ search suggestion might be my best choice. I've been caching for a dozen years and I still have so much to learn.

  2. I don't know the solution for selecting Owner and 'needs maintenance' within geocaching.com, but

     

    the two caches with needs maintenance icon at the moment are already archived:

    http://coord.info/GCJT8C

    http://coord.info/GCR0XV

     

    Are these caches listed as needing maintenance when you start a new cachepage? If yes, to me it doesn't seem helpful to remind you of a needs maintenance on archived caches.

     

    For disabled caches also the new search gives a list

     https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?owner[0]=team+dromomania&e=2

     

    Archived caches do not show up on the new cache creation page.

  3. Well you can go to your profile and view your owned caches. Caches with a red wrench beside the name are in need of maintenance. You must log owner maintenance to get rid of that icon. The caches with a line through the name are ones that are disabled. You log enable cache to get rid of that.

     

    There may be other ways using third party products, I do not know.

     

    I have 174 caches and must stroll through them all to see the ones with the maintenance icon but that doesn't put them all together in one list which I could use. Groundspeak already places them all in one sorted list but I can only view that list when I'm creating a new cache. I'm trying to find out if the Groundspeak sorted list can be seen elsewhere.

  4. When a wildfire swept through my area last month I disabled over 40 of my caches which were in the burn zone hidden in the wilderness. The area has recently been opened again to the public and I have hiked over 60 miles to check on my hides with another 15 or so miles of hiking left to go before I am able to check them all - a lot of hiking for this 68 year old <G>. During my hikes I've repaired or replaced some of the damaged caches and enabled them. However, several needs more work, replacement or repairs which I couldn't do in the field so I still have them disabled with notes on my progress of repairs. A lot more mileage of hiking will be required to return all my hides to their normal status.

     

    I notice that when I start creating a new cache that Groundspeak gives me a list of those caches which are currently disabled or needs maintenance. My cache page "disabled" log list shows ALL of the caches which had been disabled – even the ones which I have enabled later on. Is there a way in which I can get that Groundspeak list without going to create a cache or spending a lot of time filtering in my searches? After all, it seems that Groundspeak has already done all the work.

  5. I own about 40 caches within the Rocky Fire burn zone here in California. Today the area was opened to the public so I checked on a few of mine. About 1/2 of them are destroyed. I will be replacing them. Plastic containers no longer exist. Ammo cans are bulged out, paint missing, gasket gone - can't be used again. But what I found interesting was the damage to the TB's and geo-coins. The TB tags melted! and all the paint was burnt off the coins.

     

    There are about 40 other caches within the burn zone owned by others. It will take a few days hiking to reach all the hides but I plan on checking on each and every one.

     

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    11894623_10204445470207955_7176043499451945120_o.jpg

  6. Thank you Red90 for the info on BaseCamp. I've been playing with it using your suggestions and I finally got it to select my route and to map it out. However, I don't seem to be able to print the whole area. I've been playing with the print options with no good results yet. I see no way to color code my waypoints to the type of cache I'm going after which is a big minus in my book but as you have stated, this is a free program. I'm not getting the POIs I'd like but I assume that is from the free mapping software which I am using. I also assume that the purchased Garmin maps would do a much better job at routing and providing POI's but that's a $100 program. I'm willing to pay that amount but only for a travel program which can meet the same needs which MS Streets and Trips was providing including colored waypoints and good printing options.

     

    I am going to research BaseCamp and view their training videos to see what else I can learn. Thanks again for pointing out this line of thought.

  7. I use BaseCamp a lot but I'd admit that I don't know all the ropes with the program. Perhaps it is a setting I have wrong somewhere but although it will map a trip for me it does often take me down weird detours and back roads although a freeway may be the best route. Also, I like to color code my caches on S&T so that I can see the type of cache I may go after. I don't see how that is done with BaseCamp.

     

    With MS S&T I would select which caches I wanted to attempt by marking each one and then having S&T determine the best route to nab those hides. It has worked very well over the years. It would also let me highlight current places to eat, ATMs, gas stations, etc. but those POI's change over time thus the need to upgrade.

     

    Thanks for all the input. I want to upgrade but I'm going to wait until I can get a program which can do what I'd like it to do.

  8. The program will continue to function for some time into the future so I see no need for immediate replacement. Perhaps is a few years there will be a suitable replacement. MS recommends using Bing. right, good for point a to b.

     

    I'm away that I can use it for quite some time however, I have S&T 2013 and it already will show me driving in cow pastures where housing now exist. Also, the POI list is getting rather outdated. Updates are important to me. I do like your idea to hang in there a bit long for a replacement. As far as Bing goes - I still don't know how to use it. I'll stick to Google Maps.

  9. For the past 10 years I've used MS Streets and Trips to map my caches. Using GSAK, I would create a different color pushpin for each cache type so at a glance at a printed map I could tell if I needed some extra time for multi or if a puzzle cache had be solved. I also use it for all my road trips and vacations travel plans which I may change on the fly. It is important to me to have the program offline in my laptop or desktop computer. But now, MS Street and Trips 2013 is the last release and the series will be discontinued at the end of this year and support soon afterwards.

     

    I would like to purchase a program which can do the above plus provide updated POI's. I'm open to any suggestions. I would like to keep cost down under $100.

     

    Thanks for any ideas...

  10. It seems to me that most of the local events around here offer prizes of FTFs. The winners get to search for a FTF before the cache is listed. I call this beta testing! <GRIN>

    I don't do the FTF gig and there are no official rules for FTF's. Each seem to make up their own rules. I can live with that and if and when I start counting my own FTF's I'll be sure to count my first finds of caches AFTER publication while ignoring those other beta testers.

  11. A Wherigo cache page has this quote, "***** Note****** You will have to go into the cache zone to get the unlock code before you can claim this as a find here. If you do not upload your saved file or enter the unlock code at the Wherigo website---YOU CAN NOT CLAIM THIS AS A FIND!!!"

     

    I never pay any attention to those codes and only visit Wherigo.com for the cartridge. Since this is a physical hide with a log sheet to sign per the description can't I log a find without all that extra work?

  12. Here in California the State Parks are really in a mess. Many changes have been taking place. Several "State Parks" are no longer ran by the state but rather by "Land Trust" or "Regional Park" personal. And even that is changing. For example, the nearby Annadel State Park doesn't accept the county's Sonoma Regional Park pass but a couple of years ago Sonoma Regional took over control of the park and the regional pass was ok. However, this year the State took back the park and will no longer accept the regional park pass. Both passes cost a fee.

     

    In another area of the county the Hood Mountain Regional Park borders the Sugarloaf State park. Parking on the border has been free until this year. The parking area happens to be on the State Park's land which had been taken over by a group which I've never heard of before. They are now charging for parking at that lot. They won't accept the Regional Pass but will accept the State Park pass for parking. A cache owner must be on top of things and post that $ FEE attribute when needed. This kind of stuff is happening all over the state.

     

    Is it required to post "permit required" on cache pages? If so, a lot of emails requesting updates might be in order (for this area). I still think an attribute would help greatly.

     

    This kind of stuff is not happening all over the state, unless you are talking about the parking management company that the state has contracted with to collect fees at certain lots through automatic payment machines. Down in the lower part of the state, State Parks run the State Parks and the various regional, open space, and land trust organizations run their own stuff. There has been no swapping of jurisdictions.

     

    Are you paying to hike or paying to park? According to the State Park website, it cost $6 to park in Annadel SP, Sugarloaf Ridge SP is $8.

     

    What are the two parks that you mentioned that require a permit to hike?

     

    Fees are for parking. New parking fee at Sugarloaf is for a parking area over a mile from the main entrance where there is only one trail which quickly connects to a county park. No fees have been collect for parking there until "Team Sugarloaf" took over running the park for the state a few months ago.

     

    Willow Creek Park (part of Sonoma Coast Park) required a permit to HIKE. They offer a class every few weeks. The pass is free. I'd like to hike that area but I live 2 hrs away. I am going to take the class but since the morning will be shot in class I'll only have 1/2 day to enjoy the area until I can make that 4 hr round trip again and start at a decent hour for a full day of hiking.

     

    The other area needing a pass is actually a state forest - Las Posadas Forest which is much nearer to me. I do have that pass. If you look it up don't be fooled by all the bike trails and comments. Those trails are on college property. The real pretty stuff for hiking is in the forest.

     

    Many mountain trails require a permit to hike the back county. I'm sure there are other examples. Using a "permit" attribute would help filter out those area so that planning can be made ahead of the visit.

  13. Here in California the State Parks are really in a mess. Many changes have been taking place. Several "State Parks" are no longer ran by the state but rather by "Land Trust" or "Regional Park" personal. And even that is changing. For example, the nearby Annadel State Park doesn't accept the county's Sonoma Regional Park pass but a couple of years ago Sonoma Regional took over control of the park and the regional pass was ok. However, this year the State took back the park and will no longer accept the regional park pass. Both passes cost a fee.

     

    In another area of the county the Hood Mountain Regional Park borders the Sugarloaf State park. Parking on the border has been free until this year. The parking area happens to be on the State Park's land which had been taken over by a group which I've never heard of before. They are now charging for parking at that lot. They won't accept the Regional Pass but will accept the State Park pass for parking. A cache owner must be on top of things and post that $ FEE attribute when needed. This kind of stuff is happening all over the state.

     

    Is it required to post "permit required" on cache pages? If so, a lot of emails requesting updates might be in order (for this area). I still think an attribute would help greatly.

  14. I live in Northern California and I have a State Park pass. However, there are at least two State Parks around here which require one to also obtain a permit before hiking in those areas. As it stands, one must hope that the CO says something about a permit required in the cache description but it would be really nice to have an "permit required" attribute so that these areas could be filtered. This is not about FEE areas. The permits are free but you usually must attend some sort of orientation class before they'll hand them out and those classes may only be offered once a month. Planning is needed if one wishes to caches those areas. On a personal note, I don't like all these permits - my wallet is full of them. Soon I'm going to have to carry a notebook just to hold all these permits and passes.

  15. Just a thought: I don't keep count but I happen to be the FTF on a hide a while back, left a TB and signed the log book. That evening I went to log the find when somebody else had already logged it online with all the WooHoo's, FTF's, smiley faces, and a note that they grabbed a TB which was not listed so they grabbed it from the previous holder (me). I thought that was rude - no email asking what happened. Anyway, I went back to check the log book and found out that they signed the back side of the log book (or did I?) so they didn't see my name. All my stats are just for me so I said nothing to them but did state that I had left that TB in my online log. Bottom line - could your "didn't sign the logsheet" cacher have signed in a different area of the log book?

  16. :o While out caching on a camping trip my son and daughter in law and grandaughter encounted a rattlesnake while turning over a cache, anyone else had a simular encounter?

     

    Many, many times including today here. In one case I actually grabbed hold of a live rattlesnake. Neither of us were too happy about that.

  17. To add insult to injury, I continued on my hike anyway and when I got to the cache it turned out that exact same morning two cachers decided to visit that nano as well- thus getting the FTF! After it not being found for half a year! I couldn't help but laugh. Still, it was a nice hike to the summit and I definitely enjoyed it.

     

    Sorry about that. We weren't hiking for a FTF but it just dropped into our hat.

     

    I just got a wasp sting three days ago while caching and the skin area still stings and itches. I'm pretty sure it was a spider wasp because of the amount of pain and how long it's been lasting.

     

    If I know ticks are bad then I'll spray my legs and pants. Otherwise I just lookout for them while hiking. A couple of years ago I had a tick get into my belly hole and it took a doctor and a stitch to cut it out. One of the best tick controls out there are snakes which eat the rodents that carry the ticks. So thank a snake the next time you see one.

     

    I was in Arkansas a couple of months ago and I learned all over again how much I hate chiggers! The itching continued for days.

  18. I just grabbed a hide that's been out there for almost 4 months. There's another one down the road that's been out for almost 2 years and no attempts have been made to get it. I'm just now thinking about heading out that way. You know, I really don't have an excuse for not getting that hide. Both of those caches are in the hills and mountains but it's really not that hard to reach. I can spend 40 hrs looking for a hide but there are those cachers who want only those Park and Grab type hides. Borrrrrrinng!

  19. I think memorial caches are great. We have several around here. When a local cacher passed away a couple of years ago a long hike with wife, daugher and other cachers took us up to the top of a mountain where a memorial cache was hidden with photos and memories left there. The online logs included past photos of his caching adventures. It's a hard cache to reach and I knew this cacher well enough to think that dancing around or shouting or writing "had a great time" in the logbook would bring a very big grin to his face.

     

    Go ahead .. pay respect with your memorial hide.

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