marcjboudreau

"So it's an extra note - that the hider has to fill out - and the reviewer has to read - that has no impact on the approval of the cache? Did I get that right? Sounds totally useless." LOL! Wow, people certainly have some strong feelings against this. Guess I'll just leave it alone, consider my suggestion canned.

Think of it as an extra note to the reviewer showing that there was at least some thought put into the placement of the cache. Like I've said, I know it's a subjective thing but so what.

I'd say two people would be making the subjective choice, the person who hides the cache and the reviewer that approves it. Really, I don't see this idea as something that would "make or break" a cache, just something that would encourage a little more thought into cache placement, and would that be so bad?

Of course it's subjective, but why is that a bad thing? The reverse of that is the current system where the only over-riding rationale is cache saturation. That's it, no cache close by so I'll put one here.

I don't know about that, they already "approve/disapprove" caches based on lots of different guidelines (i.e. cache location, cache contents, caches that solicit, commercial caches, cache types, etc.) The precedent already exists for gc.com to make whatever guidelines they want in order to be able to list on their site. In reality they already are the "police" in regards to what they list, this isn't really much of an extension of their responsibility. While I agree that it is us cachers that "own" the game, in alot of cases we're taking really bad care of it.

Oh, I know there is no rule/guideline preventing, "the placement of a broken magnetic cache on the bottom of a fence rail behid the local big box store dumpsters," but maybe there should be. Is geocaching just about placing as many caches as we can based on the current guidelines, is that really all it is? I would hope that there is a desire to improve this game as much as possible.

After reading thread after thread on cache saturation, lame light post caches, etc. I was wondering if the idea of an extra field that must be filled in when listing a new cache for approval might be worthwhile. I was thinking that if there was a field that must be filled in explaining why you think the placement of your new cache is a good one may be helpful. If the only reason for it is that there isn't another cache within 528' then that may not be an acceptable placement. If the reason is that there is a great view from here, it's a place of historical interest, it's in a rarely visited park/place/etc. then these are all good reasons (of which there are plenty of other great reasons for placing a cache). It just seems with all the complaining on here about the "numbers only" caches, the light post caches, cache saturation issues, etc. that this would help to alleviate some of the problems. It will still, of course, be up to the reviewer's discretion to approve/disapprove a cache but it may help improve the quality of the hides/cache locations. What do you think? Am I way off base with this idea?

Heck, you've got their email address you could always return the favour and start signing them up for every mailing list you can find on the 'net. One good turn deserves another, eh?

I just go the other route and am very open (brazen even) about searching for a cache. I assume the person who placed the cache had/has permission for it, so if I'm "caught" searching for it by someone in authority I just explain that I'm looking for a geocache, I'll even ask them if they want to help me find it. After all it's not like geocaching is illegal. So far I haven't had anyone say that they don't want the cache there, most of the time once they have caching explained to them and are shown the geocache they think it's kind of an interesting hobby, nerdy, but interesting. I usually don't bother with caches that have "Stealth Required" as an attribute, cause to me doing one of those makes you look like you're being sneaky or doing something you shouldn't.

Joined in 2004, and still haven't got to 100 caches yet. Just broke 60 this month. Of course I don't cache very often, I use my GPS mainly for backpacking trips, geocaching is something I do when I can't find a hike or backpacking trip to go on. Sometime I check to see if there are caches in the area I'm heading to but not always.

I tend to log all my DNFs, I like them! I just wish the stats reflected not just how many caches you found but how many you've searched for. To me not finding a cache just adds to my satisfaction when I go back and find it, especially if it's one of those, "d'oh, I can't believe I didn't look there" things! I think most people don't log DNFs because they think it's a failure of some kind, but I do agree that logging them helps the cache owner.

I'd say you've done everything you could to have these caches approved or at least receive an official response from TPTB. I'd advise listing them elsewhere, after all gc.com may be the most popular listing service but it isn't the only listing service out there. The main complaint I hear from people regarding these other sites is that there aren't enough caches listed there to bother. If you listed all your caches there, it would certainly kill that argument, at least for your area. GC.com only has the power to decide to list or not to list your caches, they can't stop you from placing them and listing them elsewhere.

I adopted 3 caches. Two of them were micros, one is now a small instead. I don't like micros, and don't search for them so I don't want to own any. One of them is still a micro only because there is no place to hide a bigger one where it currently is. I keep meaning to go back and adjust the co-ords and replace it with a larger container/better hiding spot. Must do that soon. After all, I thought the rule was only hide caches you'd like to find....

I love my Hennessey Hammock. It's my favourite one-person shelter, though I do find it too cold for 4 season use. I've looked at buying the winter conversion kit, but now that I'm married and the wife comes on almost all of my trips it's not likely to happen. I love the weight, the ease of set up and the comfortable sleeps I get in it. As long as you're not someone who sleeps on their stomach this is definitely the way to go. As far as the trees not being adequate for hanging the hammock, I've done a couple of things in that circumstance. I've tied a bunch of trees together on each side and then hung my hammock from it. I've also used it similar to a bivy sac, by laying it on the ground and either tying off to trees to hold it up, or to my hiking poles. Not as comfortable as hanging in it but it still works just fine. Of course I normally use my thermarest in it anyways.

I've done this. I adopted 3 caches that I had never found. Two of them I logged as finds, after I found them and did some cache maintanance, the third one was missing entirely so I had to make a cache and re-hide it. I didn't log the third one at all since I hid it, didn't seem right to log a find for it.

You're disappointed with the detail? Why? It's as good if not better than the maps Garmin created. To add them to your gps, just use the map select tool (looks kind of like a rectangle with a "bite" out of it) in your tool bar, and create a box around the region you'd like to have on your gps. Then hit the send to device button.

You need to have Garmin's Mapsource program in order to use the maps Ibycus created.

I've been finding I enjoy caching more when I pay no attention to what other cachers say. Don't read the logs and if a thread in the forum goes more than 3 pages then 99% of the time don't read those either. For something that's supposed to be a game and supposed to be something we do for fun/as a hobby people certainly get worked up over it.

It sounds fun and creative! If I was in the area I'd try it out. It'd be easy enough to bring my laptop along to watch the movies. What a great idea!

I'm a big fan of the Lipsmakin' Backpacking Recipe books, both the regular one and the vegetarian one. Great menu ideas with the backpacker in mind. All of the breakfasts are meant to be eaten out of a ziplock, all of the lunchs designed for "on trail" eating and the dinners are all one pot meals. The Bami Goreng (spelling?) is fantastic and we've eaten it many times. I'm also a big fan of taking honey, peanut butter and nutella and mixing it all together and then smearing it on soft tortilla shells. Roll them up and eat away.

Well sign me up for BC then. I can be emailed at m a r c a t s h i f t l e s s b u m d o t c o m - You know the deal, remove the spaces and change the "a t" to @

Well, I'm a pretty avid hiker/backpacker and tend to spend at least a weekend a month backpacking and try to get out for at least a day hike on one of the weekend days when I'm not backpacking. I'm reasonably familiar with most of the trails in southwestern BC and some of the trails on Vancouver Island. Anything I'm not too sure of I'm in contact with a lot of other hikers/backpackers on a hiking forum (www.clubtread.com - my username is marc there if you're interested).

How tech savy do I need to be to help out with this? I'm in BC and would be willing to help out with the BC Database but I'm not a computer progammer or software engineer. I'm resonably competent but if it requires knowing various programming languages or anything than I'm not your man.

That's exactly what I was trying to do. Thanks!!

Deleted for being a double post, sorry.