Mike & Jess

I certainly will be going with the colour screen, well worth the $$ if I can read it!! What about the touch screen, are there any noticeable advantages/or disadvantages? Also keep n mind I tend to miss place my unit.....once I found it at the bottom of a muddy lake after bailing off a canoe!!! So, the waterproof aspect is very necessary! I'll admit I started with a touchscreen. Using a loner while mine was missing killed me. Once you go touchscreen, you will never be able to go back. So useful for mtn biking, quadding, kayaking. I located my Oregon 300 6 or so months after our move.

dadgum... I'm almost considering scrapping my Toughest Cache series next summer to go get that one. I don't have enough holiday time to do both and the wife probably would not let me go that long solo.

What is interesting about this thread is how much geocaching has changed from 2002 to now. To add to the OP, most of the more senior cachers left the hobby because they got bored with it. The quality we started caching with has dropped to a level where some of us can't be bothered with any more lamp skirts, or mindless hide. A lot of the cachers that started geocaching at the same time as I did hit the 175-225 finds level and that was it. We had about 300 caches in the area at that time when we all hit that range. For myself, we got too involved with geocaching and the politics have really hurt my enjoyment of the game.

DNFs are for the weak. I setup camp until I find it (or the local authorities make me leave). Or the wife says it's enough and forces me to log a DNF

Just to further my previous post... I received a notification last night of a couple finds. The last long (2013/09/25) of this cache (http://coord.info/GCC4A) along with others is why I maintain this cache that is not mine.

It's the reflectors failing, paint or ink fading, etc that I am more concerned about. The +40'C(104'F)/-35'C(-22'F) weather here can really put a beating on caches or anything left out in the elements. I live 263 miles SE of your first cache hide, which I'm quite sure is close to your home. Now I admit our Winters aren't quite as severe as yours, but pretty close. I have never had to do ANYTHING to the fire tacks on my July 2004 placed classic fire tack cache. Then again, I haven't been there in a year and a half, and it hasn't been found in 2012. If anyone's looked for it, they haven't logged it. It's actually gone over a year without finds a few times, and I do need to get out there. But I'm sure it's fine. I'd tell you I bought these fire tacks at Gander Mountain, but I'm sure that's an American chain, and I couldn't remember what brand they were anyways. Just the ol' classic white reflective fire tacks. EDIT: Actually, I just got a strange log on mine the other day. I'd better shoot an email and see what's up. I've never had any tacks muggled though, and they were absolutely fine 6 1/2 years after placement. My first hide (close to home) was close to my house before we moved 50 miles away this past December. Regardless, same climate and environment. Good to hear that yours have held out alright. We had only one night cache in town which was placed about 2 years ago. I can't located it or remember the name of it, so I can't say if it's still around or not. I will keep an eye out for different ideas and products that I can use before I put one out. If I can put together a good cache idea, with a solid night system, I will put one or more out. Being that not a lot of locals have done these, if the quality of the cache or gear used sucks, or doesn't survive the local environment, the concept or idea of night caches will not bite.

1) There is NO guideline that says spoilers are not allowed in logs. 2) Why is there any need to mention replacing as found. The type of person to move a cache is the type who does not read cache pages. The fun of my Hate Mail Cache was inadvertantly killed with photos of the cache by a finder. I can't blame them for doing it, as most of the locals that had found it wanted to post pictures but held off. As for your second point... There should be no need for this, but it does act as a reminder for some that don't do it. Um no I do not need to be in the picture or sign the log to attend the event. I do both anyways, but a statemnet like this just gets under my skin. I don't see how that can be made a logging requirement, specially for an event. A friendly reminder to sign the log and stick around for the photo should be enough. I've tried doing a photo as a logging requirement for a couple different caches in my area that I know only a few could or would actually visit. That got squashed pretty quickly. Instead, I've had to send the fake loggers a note informing them I'm removing their online log as they didn't sign the actual log and more then likely didn't get to GZ.

It's the reflectors failing, paint or ink fading, etc that I am more concerned about. The +40'C(104'F)/-35'C(-22'F) weather here can really put a beating on caches or anything left out in the elements.

I am very suprised that no one put a NA on this cache before the bomb squad took care of it. If I got wind of a cache like that in this area, I'd find it and NA it if it was indeed a pipe in the city. I know a couple like this in the bush. The first one that comes to mind has 2 Geocaching labels on it, and it's deep in the bush.

Funny, I know one or two cachers in our area that do this. Actually, my wife did this the year she launched her web store. I'd get the P&G caches, she'd work on the website. To the OP, If your bf is into hiking and backpacking, but not feeling geocaching, maybe look for a few really good hike in caches in your area. We are lucky enough to have a great cache locally that can be a nice overnight backpack trip or a tougher day trip (with a cache at the end of it). Browse through this thread and if the pics look like something he or you would like, ask around locally for something similar (http://forum.northernontariogeocachers.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=487&p=3303#p3303).

Oh, good grief!! "Hoax device"? And I'll believe the pursue charges thing when the DA says it. I'd say that Sgt Beavers is simply trying to save face. I had a chat with a buddy of mine that works in the force in Southern Ontario. We actually talked about this as it had happen a week or so prior in Mississauga Ontario. He said that if the local bomb squad is called, something is going to get blown up. I'm pretty sure the response will be similar in most areas. In the end, the one time those guys do let their guard down... it may not be a geocache. Besides, blowing stuff up legally sure looks like fun.

So, we're now a "craze", huh? (the title of the article) That does it... I'm out. Too bad you are not local. I have a few 5/5 caches coming out next summer that could drag you back. I just created the draft pages for 5 caches and 2 events. Going to be a fun but expensive hiding season for me.

Regular maintenance is regular maintenance. With Night caches, there tends to be more to maintain then just the actual cache itself. Looking at some of the UV or glow in the dark paints, I do not know if they would last. If they will, great. If not, It'll be like placing the hide every time I go in to do owner maintenance. I guess a glint or fire tack going missing on occation is not too bad of a maintenance record. Do you figure it's muggles?

I've been looking at putting out a night cache or two in the area for a couple years now to liven up the caching in the area. The reason I haven't yet is from what I can see, these caches look like they could be fairly high maintenance in our climate. For those that have or had night caches with the fire tacks, glow in the dark paint, UV ink, etc, how have they faired over time? For those with snow and cold, how do these caches fair after a run in with the winter?

All the promotion geocaching is getting is a bit bitter sweet. It's great to see new cachers, new ideas brought to the game, but it also brings more garbage (as previously mentioned) and will bring the game we enjoy to those looking for something to destroy (I was a punk kid once, many, many years ago). In the few years I have been caching (6 or so years), I've seen the local cache count climb from less then 100 caches within 50km radius of the house to 400-500. The quality of the hides has dropped as much as the count has gone up.

The pros and cons with the bolded text, is in high cache populated area, this is very correct. For areas like up where I am, some of these old historical caches is what brings the hardcores from the south up here to cache. If the area has out grown the cache (Boreal Cache in Sudbury is a prime example), it's worth letting go or adding a NA to make it less painful.

Locally, we have some very old, great caches that the CO has moved on. A few of us have kept the good ones going where we can, and let the others go. You unfortunately can not adopt them. I've tried. The best I can do is post a note that I have repaired the cache, and send the responsible reviewer (generally the last one that touched the cache) a quick note asking for the NM to be removed as the cache has been repaired. This has worked for me. I also take photos of the before and after cache (container, log, etc) in case there are any questions from the reviewer or others.

IMO, the first NA was unfounded. It was logged only about a week after the cache went missing. Really? The CO only gets a week to replace/disable it before we report it to a reviewer? That seems overly harsh to me. I wonder if a reviewer saw that NA, but decided no action needed to be taken at that time. The next two NAs were justified, because nothing had been done after the NM and first NA. Is there only one Texas reviewer? I though I had read about there being several. My province with 28000 caches has 2 reviewers. Ontario with 34000 caches has several. I'd be beyond surprised if Texas with 55000 caches had only one reviewer. We have 5 reviewers and an earth cache reviewer (not sure if she is Ontario only). Two where recently added last year. Response time is amazing here. I'd be suprised if they only had one in Texas.

One useful purpose of reserving a spot is when an inactive geocacher's cache goes missing and you want to place a cache in that location. You can create a cache listing page with those coordinates and wait for the cache to get archived. It could take several months for this to happen, but nobody else is going to try to place a cache in that location (unless they, too, want to try to reserve that spot). This is also a great use of this feature. I can't think of any caches locally I would use this for, but in higher populated areas, definately a great idea. Going through this thread on an actual computer and not my phone shows I missed a few posts.

What you described is pretty much the response I received from the reviewer. I didn't ask if I could publish what the reviewer wrote to me, so I didn't quote them word for word, but yes, you're pretty much saying the exact same thing I was told. I was told however that each instance can be different, so they will address accordingly. As for what GS or employees of GS do with regarding archived caches... I can not say anything about those. This is actually a pretty smart idea, and a way to keep the game players and private property owners happy. If I happen to come across a similar situation, I will definately keep what you did in mind.

If people are willing to pay an admission fee than let them. I would have had no issue paying $60 for a team of four people. It was listed up front so I would know before posting my intention to attend, in fact if I could be in Sudbury that day I would. The entry fee to get into DE is $22.60/adult do you really think they are getting rich off this? Its clear there is another event in your area taking place that day so there is definitely CHOICE if people wish not to attend. It makes me leary the intention of this thread! After reviewing the GC page and their calandar page (previously listed in a note on the GC page), no where does it say you get entry into the actual attraction (past the lobby area). That being said, the GC page has been edited so many times, it may have stated it was incuded in the fee and be gone now.

Geocacher? Take note of their hides and finds. Just because an account doesn't have any finds associated with it, that doesn't mean a geocacher doesn't own the account. For some events, it's not uncommon for the organizers to set up a separate account to own the event(s) and caches associated with the event. Here's an example for a Mega event held near us. No finds, but lots of hides. Treknschmidt explained one reason why reviewers might not have published some of the events you mentioned. Ignore it if you like or learn from it. The quote Choochoo1996 posted (see end if this post) was a direct cut and paste of a note on the event page (which has now been removed from the GC page). The event host is Dynamic Earth, not a cacher's shadow account or a local organization account. They did aquire the assistance of geocachers to get the event moving, but this was prior to the fee introduction. I also should have said in my post, zero finds, 1 fee required event and not about what I originally asked. Regardless, this thread has really gone sideways regarding a specific event. Thats the 1 he is refering to...Funny thing is 1 day after this thread was started Grounspeak has asked Dynamic Earth to remove this event... deunderground Premium Member Write note 09/20/2012 Unfortunately, though the event was originally cleared to be posted on geocaching.com, Groundspeak has asked us to remove the event. This does not mean the event is cancelled! Please check dynamicearth.ca/dynamicdash for event details and we look forward to seeing you next Saturday! But you can still follow this event at..... http://saga.forumotion.ca/t10-dynamic-dash-geocache-event and at..... http://nog.upnorthtracks.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1591&sid=c56a224ee68b28b42c398935678002df

Geocacher? Take note of their hides and finds. Regardless, This thread was not started because or regarding the specific event. If you are going to quote a piece of the original post, try to stay on that topic.

Just to clarify a couple points; I happen to meet one of the geocachers that assisted with setting up the DD event yesturday afternoon. He was helping with the actual event, not the corporate crap that has come out of the wood work after the event was listed. This event looks like it will be a really great one, with some really well thought out challenges. It's unfortunate the corporate bit has come out. In regards to the Big Brothers charity event I had referenced... GS denied a repeat event the following year. Ignoring corporate after taste I get from these larger charities, I really did have fun doing this event as I did get to take a couple children out with me to find some event caches. This is totally off topic of the OP, just thought I would make a couple quick points regarding the two events referenced in this thread.

If people are willing to pay an admission fee than let them. I would have had no issue paying $60 for a team of four people. It was listed up front so I would know before posting my intention to attend, in fact if I could be in Sudbury that day I would. The entry fee to get into DE is $22.60/adult do you really think they are getting rich off this? Its clear there is another event in your area taking place that day so there is definitely CHOICE if people wish not to attend. It makes me leary the intention of this thread! Not really sure why you quoted my post for your response, as your response has nothing to do with the question I asked. Looking at your post.... First off, I wasn't and did not reference the DD event. Someone else did. When I got the publication notice for the event you are referring to, and checked the page out, there was no upfront fee listed. This was added after publication. So, if a corporation offers a discount admission fee to their facilities, does this make it exempt from the using a geocaching event as a promotion for their attraction? Or is ok if it's a government owned tourist attraction? This sure wasn't allowed when the guy near Timmins tried to have an event tied in with the Lumber Jack festival. Wasn't allowed with the camp ground on Manitoulin Island tried to hold an event with a $5 or $10 grounds access fee. Heck, wasn't acceptable for my meet and greet event at a street festival (which had no fees, preregistration or any corporation involved). Maybe take a second or two and read up on the policies regarding promoting businesses. Based on Choochoo1996's post, discount passes to a tourist attraction doesn't change the rules. Anyway, going back on topic, my original post simply asked if asking an upfront fee was the direction these game (poker run, scavenger hunt, etc) events where going. It had nothing to do with the savings of accessing a tourist attraction. Edit: Unless there is a Central Ontario Geocachers event that day, the closest event that day is in Bruce mines Ontario, 233 km, 3 hours 2 mins away (as per Google earth).