delphic

During a lunar eclipse one of my caches was washed away due to record high tide. Just curious, how did you find the container? About half of my fire tacks were where I left them, and the container was exactly where it should have been.

Got a log on one of my night caches (now archived) a few days ago saying that there was forest fire damage in the area. Now, I knew a fire had come through a couple of years ago and the cache survived just fine so I assumed the log was referring to the old fire scars...not so much. Today I archived the cache because I learned that the public land was recently sold to a private party. This evening I went out to collect my Firetacks and retrive the cache. This is what I found: You can see that the log book survived in a somewhat recognizable form. Other then that, everything was charred to dust. You can also see 3 springs...the only survivable remains of the pens. So...what sort of natural destruction has killed your caches?

After reading you post I have two immediate concerns: First, most Christmas displays in major cities have posted notices asking folks to stay off the decorations, don't touch, etc. A reviewer will be weary to approve a cache which finders will be required to poke around such sites. Second, the posting guild lines clearly state that caches should have some guarantee of permanency (several years). As you stated, the tree will be gone after Christmas.

It might makes things go over better with Groundspeak if you put their web addy on a window.

The best idea is to do some to figure out what works and what doesn't. For the night cache: The easiest thing to use are fire tacks (google it). You can even make complicated, high maintenance infrared triggered beacons. Scuba: Obviously, a GPSr will not work underwater. The few caches that I seen are all A) Very easy to locate traditionals. These caches are in underwater parks and can be found by looking at the map and spending only a few minutes searching. The other option is to do a multi/puzzle cache that will give the finder a series of compass bearings that will follow underwater landmarks leading to the cache.

That's a cute ALR loop hole. So if I don't bring my camera or what not, when I sign the log and post online I will get ripped apart by the CO? Someone who I probably don't know, who never saw me at the cache location is going to tell me that I wasn't there just because I didn't follow their ALR loop hole. Sounds super bogus.

$75 For a few bucks of p-cord and MAYBE an hour of work (that would be if you are reading instructions as you go). On a sad side note: A few years ago I had a brand new, 3000' spool of p-cord roll off my workbench breaking the spool. I now have 2000'+ p-cord in the worlds worst knot. It takes approx. 20 minutes to unravel 100'. On a few occasions, my employees have been late or made silly mistakes and get assigned a couple hundred feet.

It might be a good idea to send a message to the reviewer saying that you understand that you won't be deleting online logs if the name is in the physical cache. Keep in mind, if several cachers are out together, it is unlikely that every member of the group will rap down to the cache. Instead, one representative will sign for the group. There is nothing you can do about this. If you want a cache the requires all log signers to be at the final location, try a multi-pitch climb. There would be VERY little traffic on the cache but every signature would be authentic.

Roll 'Bama! Roll Tide! Never been a Texas fan...I can't see things happening that will change that during my lifetime. I pick Alabama!

As long as the cache is put together well, and it is possible to find without "guessing," (sounds like a year of work would make this so) people will try and find it. You might only get a few finds a year but those finds will be from cachers who really want it.

The use of natural materials without treatment can last a long time if placed in such a way that weather and other elements will have limited effect. If you can place the branch with a film canister in an area that experiences lots of moisture, rain run off, sitting on damp ground, and lots of direct sunlight expect it to rot/degrade significantly faster then the same cache placed in a sheltered way. I grew up in Seattle where EVERYTHING will rot in a relatively short period of time. Since moving to Arizona, I am amazed what the dry environment does. You could hide a cache in an oak log and leave it maintenance free for over 5 years.

I like the idea of stocking a FTF prize to reflect the difficulty of the cache. An unactivated GC is a super prize and might be good for a cache that takes some effort to find, whether it be a puzzle or long hike/climb/paddle. FTF hounds will pounce on a park n grab (sometimes in under an hour). I'm of the opinion the a FTF "prize" should award effort, not who was sitting at home when a text notification hit their phone. As others have said, a prize for FTF can be a nice thing but you have to think of those who come after also. Don't sacrifice the container or additional swag just so you can provide something special for FTF.

I helped create and run a production company for several years called Delphic Productions. During the time I would dj under a different name that I didn't think fit me all that well. After I moved on from production I took the name as my own (the production company still comes out for an event once in a while) and use it as my dj name and various login/user names.

I have a TB sticker on my netbook that I do all my caching on. I always bring it on cache runs, and I've even had other cachers notice it and comment. It has never been discovered. For my own purposes, I will dip it into all the caches I own and a select few caches when I'm out and about. I try to go for the farthest cache that I visited that day to reflect the distance traveled

Does Groundspeak have some sort of "black-ops" splinter group that can make a cache disappear? They pull up in a black van, toss the container inside, and it's never heard of again? Then the say the cache was "retracted?"

I gotta see a picture of that

GZ map There is a disabled micro nearby, but nothing under the bridge mentioned in the article. Anyone able to translate some of the recent logs...its all in german. Edit: Just looked at the map again. Zoom out the map and there is a small mystery cache to the west. But is was disabled months ago.

How to identify, find, and extract difficult caches. Tweezers, forceps, mirrors, ladders, painter poles, telescoping magmatic wands, grappling hooks, hamsters, etc.

I just recently started playing with geektools on my mac and have fallen in love. Now, I'm pretty good with computers but code and script writing always gives me a hard time (attentions span issues). Are there any mac users that could share idea or actual scripts for geektools (as it applies to geocaching of course). Some ideas I had were: Following your TB's - Having mileage outputed to the desktop New listing published Log posted on owned cache

Stay connected to as many media outlets as possible. There will be millions of people who don't have any clue about the challenge. All sorts of blogs, tweets, and other outlets will be posting "Strange Red Balloon" type stories. Keep google working and there is a good chance that you might get lucky.

Ditto the above...and I add... When a cache description of forum post warns about muggles, it is mostly referring to the fact that you (the potential finder of cache) should use some stealth, don't rattle around a lamp post skirt and yell at your buddy across the parking lot, "Hey! Look, I found it!" You never know who might take issue with your "snooping" around. This is less of an issue in the woods with the family out for a hike with the dog (to sight a previous example). Use your judgment. The idea is NOT to keep the rest of the world in the dark regarding our little obsession...er...game. It's just best to help caches stay safe from non caching folk who might want to steal or vandalize it.

My favorite find was a pair of forceps that replaced my tweezers for micro logs and other extraction needs. So far nothing too strange. I have removed my share of unsavory items: A half full tin of chewing tobacco and an unopened can of Pabst.

Behind you

If you upgrade to a premium membership, you will be able to load Pocket Queries that can be set up to search via location, size, (and for your purpose) difficulty.

If you want to add music, make sure to also add LOTS (seriously...LOTS!!!) of flash animation...preferably in a pop-up window.