GRANPA ALEX

Not to be rude but you MAY compare it to a friend's 60Cx (or 60CSx, 76Cx,76CSx) . . . they are as accurate as any handheld GPSr. Have worked with someone using one like yours while out with my 60Cx and another 60Cx of a second friend. The two 60Cx units were consistantly on target where the Vista unit was a little off consistantly, but pretty near.

I have found that find people who like wet (Canoe/Kayak) caches, I find people who place wet caches . . . the same goes for hiking caches.

I believe and have followed this belief that a log must be deleted only if it brings a negative impact to the cache or the game. I have deleted logs where MY cache page became a whiteboard for contrary diatibe against me, the cache or the game in such a way as to damage the fun for those who follow the finder/writer. Beyond this, write all you want relevant to the cache on which page you are logging. Then, go on tothe next one & make it fun!

It IS unfortunate that litter is as much a apart of the landscape as the flora & fauna and rocks . . . it IS everywhere people go and I hate it as much as anyone else. However, since that unhappy situation is fact, why not use it as a hide like you would the tree, the shrub or the rock that is also there? It may be the only disguise that is NOT disturbed, as no muggle picks up litter.

In Burlington NC and Greensboro NC (+ other cities), the entire town is wifi . . . it was placed for use by city officials & vehicles but published that anyone could use it . . . when you hit the city limits - you lose connection. I imagine this will be commonplace everywhere . . . it will impact the ISP market, I bet!

Maps, I love maps . . . any country, state county - love to read them (it's nuts, I know!). They are relics now, though, aren't they . . . like wired phones and hand-written letters?

Sorry, I simply do NOT know how to 'link' . . . wimseyguy can do it, he is the NCRvr, he can do anything . . . a real hero! http://www.ncgeocachers.org/

Also, try with the compass 'off' . . . it responds much better

There is a blog on North Carolina Geocachers Organizatio (NCGO) concerning JoJo, a ten year old young man who just hit his mark of 1K . . . late logging. Makes a short interesting read . . .

My game is: Find the most caches for the time I have to play Maintain my own hides the the best that I can Avoid puzzle, mystery and LONG multicaches (4 me, a kill joy!) Log DNF's when I feel the cache is NOT there and needs owner attention (I know others feel differently) Log all that I find, immediately Respect cache owners, help restore broken caches, replace wet logs & broken baggies etc. Avoid being contrary, negative, demanding or controversial with others - if it does not uplift, drop it! Use the progress of others to stimulate me into more activity Go to most events to see my many caching friends & the kids Consider that others can have opinions different from mine & accept it & them as okay Travel out-of-town as frequently as possible to find fresh territory/caches Remain positive & upbeat in the game - personal positive emails through gc.com & forums Minimize time spent in the forums as the game (4 me) is in the field When it is no longer fun, stop & go home . . . do not want to kill the joy for the next time

I HAVE taken a writing instrument, used it, and stuck it in my pocket . . . realizing it way too much later (this was not intentional) AND I have simply taken one to use, as I left home w/o one. Have a friend who will leave cash in the cache if swag is removed with no other recompense, usually a dollar bill (the grand kid just HAD to have something!) Frankly, I feel both of these situations are simply not right . . . I don't NOT sleep well at night!

Simularly. as with Kit Fox, I use an inexpensive LED as primary and a SureFire for searching. I would only add that it is wise to use re-chargable batteries in the SureFire . . . one in the lamp & one in the pocket for backup which WILL be needed and a third one in the car charger cradle. The dead one hits the charger cradle as soon as I return to the car. This way, I never have to buy batteries . . . virtually at all. One further thought . . . a direct fused power line from the battery to a cig lighter plug, larger gauge wire is best (I use 8 guage purchased from a car audio store). This diminishes the load on the inverter (if used) keeping it from squealing.

Congrats on your 200th cache find . . . it sounds like it was fun for you - that is GREAT! Talking to a friend, who was one of the first in the area back when the game began, finding 100 usually took a year or longer and you had to drive hundreds of miles to get them (gas was cheaper, then). Isn't it great to have so many caches, such great variety and such super people in the game now - including you, of course?

To address the CR comment, no one has or is complaining about numbers in this OP and it was not part of the OP. Please, there is no reason to re-direct the conversation to some negative point-of-view. The OP was not about numbers but about tracking numbers accurately between teams & individuals. The thought was to accomplish a means to do this, well . . . I think is has been accomplished via logging with check boxes. I/we do not expect gc.com to do anything with this and, even if they did, it would still depend upon loggers to be accurate in their logging . . . they can do that now, if they wanted to. There are simply some people who DO care about accurate tracking of their progress (numbers) and that have targets or personal goals that they seek to achieve that may include honest ranking . . . this TOO is one way to enjoy the game that is as valid as any other way to play. I have never seen these ones, ones who care about numbers, make negative, aggravating or contrary remarks about others who do not share their goals. They simply hunt caches, hide caches - playing the game . . . they usually have very low numbers in the forum posts as the game is played outside.

1. How did you first hear about geocaching? - My son in Sacramento introduced me at a McD's LPC 2. Tell me about your first cache? The McD's LPC in downtown Sacramento 3. Have you had any bad/scary experiences caching? Only night caching in the woods while totally dependent upon the GPS to get back to the car . . . the battery died. I was out of town and alone. 4. What is the #1 reason you geocache? I like the game, the people and the places it takes me. 5. Do you prefer to hunt or hide? Hunt 6. What was your favorite cache place? Why? Blue Ridge Mountains of VA . . . the beauty of the flora, the tameness of the wildlife (no fear, they followed you around), the fresh air and fine folks met there. 7. What was your worst cache? Why? Charleston SC cache near a theater where the cache was hidden exactly where the local restaurant owner had thrown out rotted meat along side a swampy place (maybe for gators). With the flies, it stunk to high heaven, was a lousy place to make a hide and a bad place to be taken. 8. Have you ever attended a cache event? Yes 9. Tell me your best caching story? I like numbers and like to track my progress toward personal goals. Had one 100-hour trip with 14 hours sleep from Burlington NC to Columbia SC to Greenville SC to Ashville NC and surrounds and back to Burlington where I was fortunate enough to log 386 finds on the trip - that was great for me. Many were mindless micros, many were creative hides & hand-carved containers, there were ammo cans, tupperware, lock-n-locks, some were hikes, a few were multis, many were challenging but all were good for me and I appreciate the hiders.

In Fayetteville NC at the Airborne Museum, there was one under a bench between displays. It was inside the building, held in place by velcro. I am glad I logged a find when I did, it was destined to be muggled in such a high traffic public place . . . and, it was. Inside public places of great interest seems certainly a great place for a cache but it tends to also draw muggles, making the retreival very tenuous and risky. You gotta select the hide so that it can be captured and returned without being seen . . . little eyes (kids) SEE everything.

In summary . . . the marking of a simple checkbox seems the easiest and quickest way to resolve the concern of those who believe the consideration is valid. It would only involve an added step in logging IF some individuals on the team were absent on a find being logged - smooth solution! It would allow participating members of a team to EACH have their individual smilies record, accurately, AND let others, who care, understand how to compare progress toward goals. Great answer!

You have the mountains just above Fresno in the Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon . . . the deer are a different species but the Rhododendrons are just as beautiful, plus you have the Redwoods, Douglas Fir, Incense Cedar (all giants!). There must be some neat trail caches there, near Escondido, right? I rented a housekeeping cabin there for several years - it was incredible and challenging hiking. You gotta check this out, it will be well woth your time!

YOU ARE RIGHT . . . one of my most memorable days was the 11 mile hike in th Blue Ridge Mountains of VA for only 5 smilies. There is simply no way to measure the satisfaction and memories of that day which completely exhausted me.

The OP opened commenting that there is no expectation of a gc.com change consideration, so it is a topic in the right place. It is simply for exchange of ideas from which an idea might develop . . . then, maybe, who knows? You know, it might work to have a means (fill in box) that one uses on the initial cache page setup that indicates "distance to cache from parking". This coupled with difficulty will differentiate park & grabs from longer hikes/higher difficulty . . . kind of a quality measure.

Responding to TrailGators: Personally, I simply do not make the distinction or comparison. I was only looking at reasonable and equitable ways to measure/compare number of finds between teams and individuals. It may be another discussion or tracking mechanism that will and perhaps, should, address your question . . . a fair and worthy consideration, as well.

For me, it is economics, I can not afford to expend large sums per smilie. I am retired and must be careful. Others may have other reasons to economize. I am finding that I DO multis when I can park once and find all the stages . . . with the cost of caching, I like to average a certain 'cost per smilie'. Right now, I am looking at 25 cents per smilie and doing well at this target. My last trip, splitting the cost with a friend, was under 10 cents per smilie (all trip expenses, except food). So, when studying the logs and the cache page, if each stage appears to be a drive to the next, I simply drop the cache and move on as it becomes too expensive to hunt for the smilie return.

(All that is fine but should we NOT have a 'team category' so as not to be competing with individuals who see/sign every cache that they log . . . it just seems reasonble to me and a much more honest way to track progress.) So, using the word COMPETE when another, perhaps 'compare' might have not drawn the wrong conclusions and resultant tangents . . . the OP was addressing a better way to track individual progress vs team progress - they ARE different and that is the focus of the OP. It is reasonable to have a better plan.

This topic is NOT about NUMBERS and it will, obviously, not change anything at gc.com. That being said . . . I know, many will say it is NOT about the numbers and that is fine for THEM. Others will say with equal predudice and passion, if it is NOT about the numbers, why keep score? This topic has to do more with the fairness/integrity of team members logging finds on the same from very diverse and distant locations. For example, logging finds in Washigton DC and Los Angeles on the same day . . . different team members all contributing to the TEAM count when it is obvious that all members were not present at each find. All that is fine but should we NOT have a 'team category' so as not to be competing with individuals who see/sign every cache that they log . . . it just seems reasonble to me and a much more honest way to track progress.

As said before . . . local areas have jurisdiction - better check where YOU are, some areas are screwy, some are liberal. In CA, burglers can hurt themselves 'breaking & entering' and can successfully sue for damages - you bet I had insurance to cover my dorsal-posterior, there. In NC, had the same economical insurance to cover my land and it saved my budget when damage was done to a vehicle, the power pole, transformer by a truck. I got the bill from the truck's insurer and the power company. It seems, in both cases, no permission was granted . . . yet, a payoff risk could be on your shoulders. Check your local needs for the right answer, to be sure.