terrkan78

I'm sorry you're dealing with that - I would definitely be unhappy if that happened to my caches. You could try replacing the missing caches with inexpensive containers and see if it happens again. Vandals seem to have a short attention span, but now that they know where the caches are, if the mood strikes they may come back. From lamoracke's post above, it sounds as though at least you weren't the only target. You could move the caches a little and see if that foils the vandals. You could also make the caches a little more inaccessible (like up a tree) - I'm thinking that'll deter most vandals (but it will also deter some potential finders). I hope it turns out that this was a one-time vandal run through the park. Once is bad enough!

Big foot's lair? (I have no clue what the story is. It's the only remaining structure on an old, long-abandoned mill site.)

SWEET!!!

I've only gotten one "thanks" for moving a trackable, so it's not customary in my experience. I did think it was kind of a neat gesture, and I've thanked a few people for moving mine since then, especially if they leave an amusing log, or photos, etc. I think it's entirely appropriate (and certainly in no way inappropriate). I'd tell them just what you posted here - that it's your first TB and you're excited that it's on its way. I know I'd be pleased to receive an e-mail like that (and I'd make extra sure I left your TB in a good cache after that). You might not get any e-mail in response though (but make sure you have the box checked down at the bottom that talks about including your e-mail, so they can respond easily if they want). I hope your TB travels far and wide! Edit to add: On the "thanks" that I did receive, the owner didn't really say what I was being thanked for. At first I wondered if maybe this was a CO on some cache that I'd found or something? It took me a bit to figure out just who this person was and why they were thanking me. So anyway, maybe include the name of the TB you're e-mailing them about.

Ahh...there's nothing like the crisp cool night air, the rain on your face, your pajamas getting hopelessly caked with mud (and you really should have stopped to put shoes on cuz these slippers are trashed now). But *woo-freakin-hoo* you beat everybody else to GZ. Now...if you can just find the thing. Flashlight goes dead. slippers slide half off your feet, car drives by and you hold your breath...phew, it drives on by. "Maybe I should deploy the 'toxic waste spill' signage and caution tape to ward off other cachers??" Try it some day! You might like it. Just don't wear slippers. (Sleep with your shoes on)

Wow! What an awful start! I'm sorry you went through that! I am enjoying reading all the various ways to foil paranoid "yellers" though. I'll have to remember these. When my kids were a little younger and would misbehave in public, I used to threaten to drop down on all fours and start barking like a dog if they didn't knock it off. Never had to follow through on my threat. Maybe I could try barking at the yellers, too (while I'm speaking in gibberish, picking my nose and signing)?

There are a few geocaches near where I live that are good for me to drop coins and TBs into - large enough, safe enough, plenty of traffic so the coin will move again, etc. I go back to these caches again and again to put in coins/TBs that I've picked up on caching trips. Since I've already logged a find on these caches, I use the "write note" log instead of another "found" log (if it's a cache I've never found before, then it's easy to drop the trackable along with the "found" log, but not so on a cache I've already found) and I say "coin drop" for the text (I usually go back and delete the "coin drop" log afterwards so as not to clutter up the cache page). As baack40 said, the "visit" thing works good when you're logging new caches that you've found and you want to "dip" your coin/TB in for mileage. But if you've already logged a find on any of the caches where you want to dip the coin/TB, go ahead and use the "write note" and say "coin drop" (or "coin dip"). Then on the trackable page go ahead and "grab" the coin/TB from that cache again.

Interesting story! I've found a lot of weird stuff, but never a cash register! Too bad your friends didn't want to stick around - I'd have been mad at the driver for making me choose between waiting for the cops or losing my ride. I'm glad you called the business and set the ball into motion for them to recover their stuff.

I would imagine the reason the reviewer's "hands are tied" is because the reviewer hasn't been on-site and solved the puzzle himself. For all the reviewer knows, the final location provided by the CO is accurate and the OP is mistaken, etc. You'll have to provide some sort of proof that the final container is at X coords. I'm not exactly sure what that proof would be...maybe a photo of your GPS, showing the coords, next to the final in its spot? Even then, a photo like this could be rigged, so I honestly don't know what it will take. I would imagine that if I wanted to place a cache and the reviewer told me a puzzle final was too close and I said, "No way, that puzzle final is 200 meters off this other direction," I'd assume the reviewer would insist on more than just my word for that.

I didn't like this thread, and I read it anyway! Kinda like when you start to eat spumoni ice cream and you realize it has those awful thingies in it? Who in their right mind would put awful tasting thingies in something beautiful and pure like ice cream? My experience with LPCs is that they're really embarrassing and LOUD. OK - we're good? We're down a couple now - have I stepped up to the plate enough? I suppose I could give more examples.

I like the difficult ones in the middle of nowhere, too. Throw in a forest hike that's not too long, not too short, and I'm in heaven. Some people are rabid about FTFs. They will get every single one they can, and in order for anyone else to get the FTF, it requires jumping in the car and leaving the minute the notification arrives - and the cache has to be very close by or it'll still be too late. I've done it a few times just to see if I could beat the FTFers. That felt like a competition, and it was fun to "win." But mostly I just wander about in the middle of nowhere.

I placed one like the photo on the right in early November. I got it at Cabellas on sale. So far it's still dry. It doesn't look to me like it'll be waterproof (more like water resistant). If you push on the sides of the container, they cave in pretty easily. Mine was the .50 size, and maybe the smaller sizes would be a little sturdier. It was, however, strong enough for me to stand on the edge of the lid for a boost up. It was way cheaper than an ammo can, so I decided to give it a whirl and see how it held up. It's a little early for me to call it right now.

For the life of me, I can't see the slightest thing wrong with eating ice cream for the sake of eating ice cream! To the OP: When I start feeling angsty, like I'm just racking up caches for the sake of notches on my geocaching belt and not really enjoying it, I jettison everything but one destination cache - one that I've carefully selected (and will probably involve an hour+ drive), one that involves hiking because, for me, hiking is where it's at. I ignore every cache along the way (hard for me to do) and just go for the gold. When I'm on top of a hill that's taken me hours of walking to get there, that's gold (or mint oreo ice cream with hot fudge, if you will).

I love the story! Too funny! If I was the CO, I'd love to hear the circuitous way in which it was found.

I've got an iPhone 3G. It's not nearly as accurate as the 3GS or 4G (from what I've read). I used it by itself for over a year before I broke down and bought a GPS. My kids were less than impressed with their mom's new hunt-and-not-find anything game. I eventually started going out by myself and pre-finding caches, then I'd take my kids to the caches I'd thought they'd enjoy, knowing that at least we'd find the thing. When starting out, it's much easier to find regular-sized caches than micros-sized or small. Micros can be tiny (like the size of your fingernail). With regulars, look for an unnatural pile of sticks/rocks, etc. Look inside stumps. Underneath fallen logs. Under a brushy bush. Use the hint. To this day there are lots of caches (of all sizes) that I flat-out can't find (and it's worse when everyone else's log says "thanks for the quick and easy cache"). As for the iPhone changing it's mind (20 feet this way, 50 feet that way, etc.), that's normal. Even a regular GPS does that. Even if the iPhone is telling unequivocally that the cache is under "that tree over there," it could be off by 50-70 feet, especially if you're under heavy tree cover. My kids are older, but I will mention that they were not particularly impressed when we actually did find caches, too. There usually wasn't much for trading inside the cache (what I brought with me to trade was better than the stuff in the cache). This is particularly true of caches located in easy-to-get-to locations (in other words, if you have to hike for a half mile or more, the trade stock improves). If you can get your daughter to focus more on the adventure involved and the thrill of the hunt (and it does sound like you guys had quite the adventure with the brush/vines/water), and less on the "prize" at the end of the rainbow (especially since you may not actually find the end of the rainbow and there may be nothing inside worth trading even if you do), that's neat. I do realize that's easier said than done (and I've not been particularly successful with my own kids on that front). Just a thought. Keep at it! When you guys do find one, it'll be all the more meaningful on account of the epic battles with brush, etc., that you had to endure just to find your first geocache!

If I actually understood GSAK, I'd probably think it was amazing, too. I really hate figuring out computer junk. I've put a grand total of three pocket queries on to my 60csx since I bought it in 09. Each time it felt like it took an act of god. Mostly I just enter coords manually. My introduction to GSAK was as a new purchaser of the 60csx, and I was amazed that I couldn't just plug the blasted thing in to the computer and load her up. (For all I know, maybe you can, but someone told me that I had to use GSAK instead.) I was actually quite disappointed at first at how user unfriendly the whole thing was compared to the iPhone that I had been using. But its accuracy won me over. (Except I still shudder at putting pocket queries on to the thing.)

So when you create a new pocket query and you're selecting all the different choices for that particular pocket query, and you get down to the bottom where it says "Output to," it doesn't give you the option to save it as either a .gpx file or a .loc file? Is that what you're saying? (Frankly, I didn't even remember the choice between .gpx and .loc existed on there until just now when I looked.)

If you're talking about uploading a photo to the gallery, the gallery pictures are pretty small. I have a screenshot in one my cache galleries - it's pretty small. I dinked around with it a little, trying to get it larger, but I ended up leaving it as it was. It seems to me that you should be able to get a larger screenshot with different screenshot software (for instance, the Mac at my work seems to take much larger screenshots than my PC at home). If it's a photo that you can put on the cache page itself (as opposed to a photo in the gallery), then you can go much larger.

This is what I do: 1. Create a new pocket query (click "build pocket queries" from the link in your profile, then "create new query"). Tell it to run today. It chooses for you the type of file (I think - at least I don't know how to tell it to send me gpx or loc file and I wouldn't have a clue what the difference is). 2. When that pocket query arrives, download it. 3. Open GSAK (it's free - I haven't paid for it yet, so when I go to open it, it gives me a nag screen for something like 4 minutes). 4. Click "Database" then "new." Name it with the date (using hyphens, not front slashes). 5. Click "File" then "load GPX/LOC/ZIP File." Upload the pocket query file you just downloaded (use the browse thing on the top field - click the file folder of the most recent download, then click "ok" down at the bottom). If you get it right, then the files will take a min. to extract and download. 6. Find the blasted cord that came with the 60csx (this will take at least a half hour!) Plug the GPS in to the computer with that cord. Turn GPS on. Delete all the old waypoints/routes/etc. Go to "find geocaches" (it'll be empty- that's ok - if it asks you if you want to set up the geocaches, say no). 7. On the computer, using GSAK, click "GPS" then "send waypoints." You'll see the new waypoints (geocaches) appear on the "find geocaches" screen. 8. When you exit GSAK, it'll ask you if you want to backup - yes. 9. Breathe a sigh of relief and save these instructions so you don't have to figure this all out again. Sorry if that's too detailed - I don't mean to insult your intelligence or anything. I was so incredibly frustrated when I first tried getting a pocket query on to that thing though and it wasn't until I found someone else's similar (although not as detailed) instructions that it finally worked.

Ouch! How many times have I been absolutely *convinced* the cache is missing when I fail to find it! (At least until the next find log comes rolling in) My solution so far with respect to caches that have numerous DNFs (including my own) and a couple of NM is to scowl at the map when I see those icons sitting there. Nothing else. I'm not comfortable putting a NA on a cache just because I (and others) can't find the thing. There's been too many times when I've been *positive* the cache was missing but then someone else finds it (although I might tell my "wounded ego" that surely it must be a throw-down).

So true. And yet I blow that one with some degree of regularity!

I have one of those - I like it, but it took me a long time to figure it out. If it's paperless, then that's news to me. As far as I know, it stores just the coordinates of any given cache, so if you want/need to see the description/hint/logs, you need to either bring paper, or a smart phone with a geocaching app, etc. I use GSAK for getting pocket queries on to the 60csx. That one took me a long time to figure out, too. If the links provided by other posters don't answer your questions, I'm happy to send you the step-by-step instructions that I wrote down when I was pulling my hair trying to get my first pocket query on to the 60csx.

When you're logging a cache, one of the options down at the bottom of the page (next to the trackables currently in your inventory) is "visited" (the other option is "dropped off"). The geocacher who "took it to..." the caches today was selecting the "visited" option. For one reason or another, the cacher didn't leave your TB in any of those caches. Some people will take your trackable with them for a few days/weeks, visiting tons of caches (and I mean tons - your TB page can have several pages worth of "visits" when they're done). I think it's their way of sharing their caching experiences with you via your TB (in other words, I think they're doing it to be nice). So maybe your TB wouldn't fit in the caches they visited today, or maybe there was some other reason why they didn't leave the TB there (too exposed, looked like lots of muggles around, wet inside the cache, etc.), or maybe they just want your TB to hitch a ride with them for a while and rack up some "visits" just for fun.

Thanks for the explanation. I wondered why I was getting "yessed."

Some events have a person in charge of the trackables who signs them in and out. A very good plan, and I bet it cuts down on trackables disappearing at events, but the event planner would have to find someone willing to take on that role. I've read about events being black holes for trackables, but I don't know--do they disappear at events more frequently than they do from caches? Maybe they tend to disappear en masse at an event so it's more noticeable, but I wonder if overall the loss rate is similar for events vs. caches.