terrkan78

My iPhone doesn't add a line to a log. Maybe it depends on what app you use.

I did this on the first puzzle I attempted. I was borrowing a GPS at first and only had access to it every other weekend. So in the meantime I printed out a map of caches in my neighborhood and went hunting - found several that way. I had no idea what the sole "?" on the map meant, and although I read the cache page on my computer, it didn't say anything about the cache not being at the listed coords. I asked the person who got me started geocaching what the "?" on the map meant. He didn't know either (he'd only been at it a few months). I searched thoroughly at a "?" on the map and logged my DNF. It was several months before I figured out what the "?" on the map was all about - I stumbled across another puzzle that stated up front: "The cache is not at the listed coords - don't go there," etc. I realized then that the CO of the puzzle I had DNFd probably thought I was a stupid idiot, but it was more a question of lack of experience (and a puzzle cache page that wasn't written with newbies in mind).

I think events are an extrovert sort of thing. If you like parties, you'll like events. If you shudder with horror at the thought of going to a party and only attend one when forced (like me), well, yeah, then events are right up there with root canals. To be fair, I've only been to one - a CITO - it was good to have something to do other than stand around feeling awkward.

I found a cache a few months back and when I plopped down in my car to log it, I noticed some recent logs talking about a film canister with a drenched log - that didn't at all describe the well-camoed cache I had just found. So I went back out to see what the others were finding, and found a film can not far away. The log was indeed drenched but I dried it out - it had entries dating back to 2007. It took me awhile, but I finally matched the names up and figured out that this log (and maybe the container) came from a cache (that's still active) from approx. 80 miles away. Fun mystery to solve - but I've no clue why someone would migrate a container/log like that.

The only halfway good reason I can fathom for the CO to care whether you claim a shared FTF or not is that the CO wants to put a blurb on the cache page congratulating the FTF and he doesn't want to list you both. If you want to try to stay on the good side of this CO, you could sent him a nice e-mail back saying that you both found it together, complimenting the hide (if appropriate), maybe saying that the shared FTF means something to both of you as it was a team effort, etc., that you don't mind if he doesn't write any congratulatory blurb on the web page if that's what he's concerned about, and that you hope he understands. Something like that. A polite response on your part might keep the CO from deleting the logs (which you could certainly get reinstated but would be irritating to say the least and might be a source of future strife for you and this CO). Just a thought.

Very nice! But I'll take issue with #10. I don't wanna be out caching right now - I wanna be looking at these boring, redundant message boards.

Once after finding a particularly clever cache I noticed that recent logs said it was an easy find but the log was too soaked to sign, which wasn't remotely true. I was curious so I looked again to see just what it was the others were finding - there was a throw-down film canister nearby with a soaked log. I dried it out - it had signatures dating back several years. From those signatures/dates I was able to match it up to a different cache. The log (and maybe the film can) originated in a cache that's more than an hour's drive away - a cache that's still active. (Yes, I told the involved COs about it.) I've no clue why it ended up here as a throw-down, but it was a fun mystery to solve. I wouldn't delete any logs if I were you, but it would definitely cause a scowl to cross my face were it to happen to one of my caches.

It sounds like it would qualify as an offset multi (you go to the listed coords and gather info/numbers off a monument/whatever which you then manipulate via instructions on the cache page to continue the hunt). The only drawback that I see to calling it a multi is that some people might leave comments to the effect of "dude, this is really a puzzle, not a multi." The first time I came across an offset multi, that was my thought, too (and the log contained remarks like that from prior finders). Not much of a drawback though.

I hope you didn't take the bucket with you. It may have been placed there intentionally by the CO. It was in a big pile of trash next to the road where I parked. The cache was out a ways in a field - and it wasn't up high. I'm sure the bucket was just garbage - but I was a little concerned about what all it might have contained in its prior life. Hopefully just paint, like the label said.

I'm really short, too. One day I found a five-gallon bucket near a cache - it's a lot easier to keep in the trunk of my car than a stepladder, it was free (unlike a stepladder), and I keep my muddy boots in it when I'm not using it as a "lift-assist" device.

I ordered some waterproof paper last year from a geocaching supplies website. It looks exactly like the good bond paper I use in the printer at work. I haven't tried soaking it in a sink full of water yet, but it definitely doesn't look like it'll hold up as well as that slippery, almost plastic-feeling paper that I've seen used in some caches. Apparently not all waterproof paper is created equal. I'm creating a hide right now and would love to get my hands on some of the "plastic" stuff, but I've run into dead ends thus far looking for it. If any of you guys have come across it for sale, please holler at me.

So if I were putting out a cache that had several stages that only provided coords to the first stage and from there on out you were working with projections, or following a "pirate map," or you had to "Look through the telescope tied to the tree; see that tree in the distance? That's your next stage" etc., would that be a "multi" type or an "unknown" type? The only way I've seen this sort of thing done is as an "unknown" type. But after reading this thread and checking the guidelines again, I'm thinking that it would qualify as either a multi or an unknown. No "puzzles" to solve. But no coords given either (after stage one). I have a cache in the planning phase and am just wondering if I have to call it an "unknown"? (Or is it preferable to call it that and keep "multis" more straightforward by providing the coords to the next stage.)

Some owners you'll never hear from no matter how nicely worded your e-mail is. Others will be fast to give you a heartfelt thanks. You did the right thing, and the next cacher that finds it will appreciate the clean, dry log sheet, even if the owner doesn't seem to.

Try the local caching forum for Central Oregon - OregonGeocaching.org I recently bought the same GPS, but I'm afraid I won't be of much help in answering questions about it. I can't get it to do squat. I just use my iPhone to get me near GZ, then memorize the last three digits of the coords, and yank out the Garmin to find those coords (silly, but it works).

Phony logs are actually pretty rare. If the cache you are watching is regularly being found then it is probably there and you just aren't finding it. Happens to all of us from time to time. Keep plugging away and you will find it some day. AWWW, don't say that!! I SO want to believe that that @#$% one-star cache that I absolutely cannot find is missing! And that the dude who just logged a find on it is totally lying!

I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to throw it away until it was actually archived. After the archival, then I'd toss it guilt free (I probably wouldn't make a special trip just to pick up someone else's geo-litter, but if I was near that cache again, I'd grab it - admittedly the geo-litter might sit there for months that way, which is a shame). There's one like that in town. I solved the puzzle but didn't hunt the actual cache for many months. When I finally did, it was in shambles. I fixed it up as best I could and when I got home to log, I found that it'd been archived by a reviewer a few months back. One of these days when I find myself on that same bike path I'll go see if it's still there and grab it if so. It's litter in the meantime, but at least it's well hidden litter.

Interesting discussion above. If I have help in solving a puzzle (or even have the solution handed to me), I find/log the cache mentioning the help, and the CO gets mad because I “cheated,” isn’t the CO displaying something of a “control” issue? (Leaving aside the question of how I’d even know the CO was mad unless he deleted my log or e-mailed me, etc., which is unlikely) Isn’t the mere fact that he got angry about my “cheating” on his puzzle indicative of an attitude that he wants me to do this cache his way (the intended way) and no other? I think you call that attitude “exclusive,” although perhaps other words fit better. If I had a difficult puzzle cache, I could see myself getting irritated if people unabashedly “cheated.” But I admit that I do like to be in “control” – which I see as a negative aspect of my personality. I think I’d be a better person if I could just say, “Does it matter how they got the coords? They had fun finding it their way (presumably) and that’s the point.” Or is it? I also must admit that were I to devise a clever puzzle cache, my “point” might be more along the lines of: If they find the cache my way, they will see how terribly clever I am, etc. (Again, betraying a less than ideal aspect of my personality.)

While doing maintenance I found the first stage of my "pirate treasure" cache out in the open, lid off. I expected to find that the final was missing or messed up, too (since the first stage contains an easy-to-follow "pirate map" to the final and it's only a short walk), but the final was fine - which made me doubt that it was muggles who tossed the first stage out in the open. I can't imagine a geocaching adult leaving the first stage like I found it, but I got to thinking, what if geocaching parents had asked their kid to put it back while the parents went to the car (ie. little sis was crying and mom/dad needed to deal with that)? I could see a kid tossing it on the ground. In fact, I wouldn't trust my own kids to put a geocache back properly. It pains me to think that an adult would knowingly leave the container that way, and it's much more palatable for me to think it was just a kid who doesn't know any better yet (or who does know better but didn't feel like it that day--having kids, I can understand that one). Just a thought.

It is your mistake. He was asking for help in a manner that is expressly against the guidelines. He wasn't "attacked". People explained to him why he was wrong. That's all. It sure sounded like an attack. A gang attack no less. Harsh words heaped on his head en masse. A far cry from folks "just explaining why he was wrong." I don't agree with the guy's position, but I do feel sorry for him after reading all that.

I've only been at this for a year, but I've never come across a new cache that had been found before it was published. All the FTFs I've been beaten out of were because I didn't rush fast enough to the cache (or lived too far away to get there first, etc.)

What would a "DNF challenge" consist of? You've got me curious! (If it's anything to do with getting lots of DNFs, this might be a challenge I can excel at!)

Interesting! I have never heard either the network hardware or the woodworking power tool referred to as anything other than "rowter." "Rooter" is something people do to plugged septic lines!

It's. In. The. Name! No, you weren't there, but that's not stopping you from speculating. Personally, I found it interesting what folks left. Not that I always traded. Sissy did most of the trading. She fell in love in plastic frogs. The van's dash was full of them. I'd peek in to see what was available and if it was something neat, I'd trade. I've picked up all kinds of stuff. Pretty cool stuff, too. I've come across quite a few interesting things. Some that were so expensive that I'd have to have left my PDA or the GPS as a fair trade! Maybe it's your area or the caches you hunt. Maybe all the good caches are gone in your area, if they ever existed to begin with. Maybe that's all you know. No, it's not all about the trades, but it is a key element of a good cache. The way the hobby is going then Groundspeak might as well do away with all physical caches and bring back virtuals. Oh, wait. They did do a smilie-less version--it's called Waymarking. TPTB, PLEASE, PLEASE, add smilies to Waymarking so tradeless, logless, "cachers" can have something that better suits them! Let me make sure I understand what you're saying. Are you saying that swag is so integral to the hobby that those of us who don't love it should just get lost? We should switch to Waymarking? (ie. I have to do this sport your way? If so, why?) I'm sorry if I'm being obtuse, but it feels like you're jumping down my throat. I just want to make sure I understand why.

This is a very interesting statement. Let's consider the very fact that the hobby is named after, and based on, finding a container with items. The whole idea is to be able to find these boxes of goodies with a GPS. Yet, less than 10 years into the hobby there are folks who couldn't imagine doing the very thing the hobby is based on. What gives? I don't see the swag inside the container as being integral to the hobby. (And I do mean the swag; I'm not talking about the log). Isn't the hobby about finding a hidden container using an electronic gadget and your wits? I'd venture a guess that the first finders way back when were not blown away by what was in the container but rather by this extraordinarily cool new technology that allowed them to find it. Just my guess, though - I wasn't there.

Is the interest in trading swag correlated to the change in writing lengthy or unique logs? Along with writing logs, have folks lost interest in trading because of the quantity of caches? Good question. I can’t imagine having anything more than a cursory interest in trading swag under any circumstance. If I had young children with me I'm sure it'd be a different story, but I still don’t think I’d talk about it in my log. Are folks less interested? Or are they just talking about it less in their logs? If they indeed are less interested, I can think of a number of reasons. But I can also think of valid reasons to exclude swag talk (and the like) from a log. That’s what I thought was interesting in reading through the logs on the cache linked above. The overall move from what I call polite chit-chat in logs to more no-nonsense logs. Personally, I like no-nonsense far better than polite chit-chat. But what I really like reading/hearing is something heartfelt. Heartfelt can be short or long. And certainly not all caches (even the good ones) always inspire something heartfelt to say about them.