Breaktrack

I definitely did not think about the favorites number being off for that reason, interesting! How do you do a search that includes how old a cache is compared to others? I'd like to know how mine stack up in Texas. Mac

This is incredibly cool to see!!!

Well done, and that is really good info. I'm not sure what it all adds up to, lol, but it's still interesting. I really ought to get back out there and find some more myself, not just maintain my own. Thanks for the work.

And these are all still active? Mac

I was going over my published caches, and editing information where necessary, when I noticed that I had 11 still active caches that were now over 20 years old since their original publishing date. 10 are grandfathered virtual caches, and one is still a .50 cal ammo can down on Matagorda beach in Texas, which is getting a new can next month when I go down to do cache maintenance, lol. I still have 16 active caches, but only these were actually over 20 years old. Once I saw that I decided I'd figure out how many visitors all my caches have had over the years, and maybe even how many favorite points they'd garnered, and here are the results: Finds to date - 19,246 Fav points - 2,405 I haven't dug any deeper into the results, or separated them by type of cache, etc, as I'm just too lazy, but I wondered how my numbers compared to others in the game, so I thought I'd put it out there, just for the fun of it. Mac

Any update on this since August? Mac

Should be interesting as to what you find. Mac

I absolutely agree. I try to stay on top of my virtuals and change the requirements as needed to respond to armchair type logs and other questionable activities. It is up to the cache owner to take care of these just like if they were a physical cache somewhere. I check on, and visit, my virtuals just like I check on and visit my two remaining ammo cans down on the beaches of Texas. Still love it. Mac

You always were the "go to" guy to get things done around here. Been quite a while, thought I'd say hey. Mac

My methodology was to pick the cache with the most opportunity for a found log. I suppose it might be better to pick the one with the most logs? Since I was going off on my own I just picked the oldest, so in your case it would be Ker-Splash. I don't have a problem with adding one you want to the list though - just let me know. I have two Challenge caches in the queue awaiting approval - one requires 13 different Charter Member finds (easier depending on your location), the other requires 50 (harder). I was a little surprised at how many Charter Members didn't have active caches or any cache at all (and therefore are not in my bookmark list). I suspect that the actual number to choose from will be a good deal smaller than the 491 - maybe that's why I'm stalled at 281 now (282 with fizzymagic)? Interesting. If I could chose one of mine to be representative of my list, I guess I'd go with "Yellowstone - Shoshone Nickname". It's the oldest virtual cache in Yellowstone National Park, and since I'm now living and working in the park, just seems a better one to be my "list cache". Thanks, Mac Mac

Well, let's throw a whole new wrench in the works, shall we? LOL. I'm a Charter Member, first joined Geocaching in 2000, even before memberships were offered. I've stayed active all this time, but not really to find caches, but to maintain those I have, mostly virtuals from the early days of Geocaching. So, even though I have only a little over 200 "finds", I still maintain quite a few virtual caches, and a couple of physical caches, all over the place. I have the oldest virtual cache in Yellowstone National Park, for instance, "Shoshone Nickname". But I only occasionally look for the odd cache or two. I've got a couple I want to find this summer in the mountains of Montana, but I'm really not interested in the "park and find" caches along the roads. Now it has to be more of a meaningful cache for me to hunt it, rather than just another cache. It's just how my interest has changed over the years. So while I might be considered an "old timer", I'm not one with thousands of caches under my belt, just not my thing. But I have several ammo cans out in Texas, and 15 virtual caches I still get the answers to and acknowledge every day. I intend to do so till I can't anymore, or Geocaching goes away. So if you find yourself on the top of Pike's Peak, or on top of a volcano in New Mexico, standing in front of the soldiers maker in the Little Bighorn Battlefield, or a coastal fort in Florida, you might find one of my virtuals. But you will even more rarely find me out looking for a cache, lol. Mac McKinney aka Breaktrack

I feel your pain! I still have several grandfathered virtuals I still maintain to this day. The internet has definitely changed the game due to many answers about local items being readily available with enough "googling". I've had to change the requirements on a few of mine as information that you used to actually have to GO to the location to find became commonly available on the net. The "pic of you and your gps" has definitely become a bit long in the tooth as well, eh? LOL. Ah well, we do what we can to keep them flying. Hang in there. Mac aka Breaktrack

I use items from the gift shop of the Battleship Texas BB-35. It's what I started with back in 2000, and I've used them ever since. Pencils, pens, keychains, hats, t-shirts, wristbands, you name it. Mac

Got it from my troops years ago when I was the XO of an Armor Company. I found our crews had not had much experience breaking apart the tracks on the tanks for maintenance and for experience in order to do repairs in the field, so I had them do it, a LOT. In Tanker terms, this is called "breaking track". So one day I'm walking through the motor pool at Fort Hood as we were finishing up maintenance chores before turning in our tracks at the end of a field exercise and I heard one of the crewmen say, "Look out, here comes 'breaktrack'" So, I immediately adopted it as my official nickname, lol. Thus it came to be used as my Geocaching name back when it all started. Breaktrack aka Mac

My plan is to get back into Geocaching much more than I have of late. I started caching when I was a single dad with my two youngest kids, but they've grown up and went their own ways, so it's just me. Obviously, since I have only about 193 or so cache finds, I am not a power cacher of any kind. I slacked off once the kids went to live with their mom, etc. I started caching back in 2000 - 2001 when all this first got started up. In 2002, during a trip to Yellowstone National Park, we got all six virtual caches that then existed, as well as a few traditional caches from outside the park in the surrounding areas. There weren't very many back then. Now, I am going to be working in Yellowstone this summer and when I went to look at the caches in the area, with a mind to get started back up, it is amazing how many caches are out that way now! I have a few virtuals up in that area from back in the day, when we could do that sort of thing, and now there are probably 20 or more virtuals just in the park alone! I'm going to be in cache heaven this summer, that's for sure. So I'm looking forward to that for sure. Mac

Anything ever come of the original idea? Mac

I think that is a great idea! I'd enjoy having any kind of commemorative, whether a coin, a t-shirt, a hat, etc. Not really too picky on what. Mac

Charter Member who cached with my children years ago. Went ahead and filled out the interview form, but not a problem if it's not what you're looking for. Thanks, and great idea. Mac aka Breaktrack

I go to the Battleship Texas gift shop and purchase items there to leave in caches. Have done it since the begining. I also load up any caches I've placed with Battleship Texas swag to begin with as well. Not that I've done any of that in a while, but my cache pack still has a lot of those items in it awaiting my urge to cache some more, lol. Mac

Congrats! Thanks for answering the repeat forum questions over and over that many of us burned out on answering long ago. You deserve a medal. Workin' on my 9th year about 18mo. behind you. I've had pretty much the same experience. We're even close on yearly find totals. Geocaching has truly changed my life. Most of my friends are geocachers now. Some are like family. Well, some really are family. I met my wife because of geocaching even though she isn't really a geocacher and my son is a 1st generation born geocacher at 3yo. He loves it. Geocaching itself has changed while fundamentally staying the same. It has been a lot of fun with the positives way wayyy outweighing the negatives. VERY well said old friend. Mac

It has been pretty interesting, eh? Lets see, my first find was 06/02/2001, and my first cache created on 05/10/2002, but it was a virtual (back when we could still do that, eh? LOL). My first physical traditional cache was 05/12/2002, and more followed. I still maintain all my virtual and remaining physical caches (the ones not washed away by hurricanes) and still enjoy picking up a find every now and then. Since the kids grew up I go much less often, but who knows, I might just get more actice again in the future. Mac

Hey El Diablo! I remember from back in the day trying to get it together in order to get one of the sticks you used to make. Never did make it though, lol. You still make these hiking sticks? If so, email me and let's see if I can get one, if not, then send me the instructions so I can MAYBE get one built on my own. Mac

I don't really care about milestone numbers, it's all the same to me. But my favorite milestone came up while I was on a virtual cache owner maintenance trip this month. On august 10th, it was my 10 year anniversary in Geocaching. By the 10th of August, 2011, I had done owner maintenance on four of my virtual caches dating back to the "old days" when you could still set them up so far from home (and set them up at all, lol). I hit "Pike Never Made It" at Pikes Peak, "Virtual New Mexico #4 Capulin Volcano", "Shoshone Nickname" in Yellowstone National Park, and "Military History Series - Little Bighorn National Monument" in Montana. It is always good to take a motorcycle trip up through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. Especially when the temps here in Houston, Texas are over 100 degrees every, single, day. Just these four of my virtual caches have 2,538 logs between them. That is a pretty good number of people who have visited these sites and expressed their enjoyment of them in their logs. That makes it all worthwhile. Now to do the ones in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, LOL. They only add up to 2,596 logs, and there are 11 of them by comparison. Since the kids got older and are not as interested in Geocaching, my finding them has tapered off, but every once in a while I get an urge to go hunt one down, just for the fun of it, I might make 200 finds someday, lol. But my fun pretty much comes now from answering the large number of emails I get wanting to "claim" a find, and answering those that need answering, and doing cache maintenance when I can get away for a while. I've only got two physical caches left along the Texas coast, but they are two of the original caches placed along the coast a long time ago. Hurricanes took many of my original hiding places away, and left nowhere to put another, so they died a natural death. But I've enjoyed every minute of it all. Mac

Added information for those who don't know: The reason a topic is near the top of the subject list is that it has been recently replied to. The position of the topic has nothing to do with the "importance" or popularity of the topic. Thanks, Mac

Sorry you feel that way. But let me clarify: it is certanly not limited to military people from one country, as has been made clear in many of the posts over the years. We welcome any military, from any country, and even those who served their fellow man in other ways, i.e. Peace Corp, etc. Mac