Seeker_Knight

Welcome to the Game/Sport/Hobby/Obsession etc etc etc. I don't think anyone hase decided what group this passtime falls into. One thing we all agree on though, is it's fun! The only tip I can offer off the top of my head is "Don't give up". Some of these caches are very well hidden. There is nothing like the feeling you get from finding one of the tough ones. Other that, just pick a few caches with some easier ratings, and go get started. Kevin

Welcome to the hobby! Hope you have some fun, and enjoy the adventures. Kevin

I'm in full agreement with the other cachers . . . Why wait? Get out there and have some fun. You will likely run into a few that you'll have to come back for in spring, but winter caching is an adventure all it's own. Welcome to the obsession, Kevin

This is just anotherway to have fun. Have to try new stuff or thë game gets old. So tease your buds.

This is just anotherway to have fun. Have to try new stuff or thë game gets old. So tease your buds.

Hi Jynclr, Congratulations on your first find, and welcome to the sport/hobby/obsession. My first was just a short while back in December of 2008. I'm amazed at the number of caches available in our area. I don't think I'll run out of challenges for a LOOOOONG time. I'm now up around 70 finds, and there is a trend of the same names popping up again and again. I got my first ever FTF last week, and it turns out that I was following the same people from cache to cache by as little as 15 minutes. The only reason I got the FTF that I got, is that the other person had to go do something else, and had to stop earlly. I'm already getting interested in going to some event caches soon. I feel like I know some of the people involved in the sport already, even if we havn't met yet. The bond of having shared the same challenges does bind you to each other to some degree. It's almost a form of sibling kindred. At some level, that is what binds us to our own family. The sharing of common life experiences is a strong bond when built over a long time frame. Think of how close you got to the schoolmates you had, or even your coworkers. That feeling you got makes perfect sense to me. Hope to see you on the trail or at an event some time. Perhaps we can run a few of the same caches at some point? It's a smaller world than we think at times.

One idea that I have already seen in use (but not in a wheelcahir friendly location) is a birdhouse with a normal lock-n-lock container inside, with the birdhouse mounted on a short steel fence post. The trick is to have the roof hinged, and the hole either not cut all the way thru, and painted black, or covered with plexiglass from the inside. It was a real cute cache, and not as easy to recognise as you might think. Someone already got my other idea of using a large newspaper box. They are so plentiful that noone would even notice an additional box in some locations. The local post office where I work has about twelve of them lining the whole front walk. Just make up a fake newspaper to line the front glass, and nobody would even notice it.

Hi, The coin is a "Signal" the frog FTF LE coin. I bought 4 of them. I got one for myself to honor my first FTF, and 3 to give awy in my first caches for FTF. I tried to change the numbers every which way they could be combined, and nothing is working. I'll just have to wait my turn. I figured they were a good company, as they are displayed on the geocaching.com site. I don't think that would last long if they weren't reputable. I just thought someone might know a back door way to get a fresh number or something. Or possibly may have a phone number for the company. I think that it's strange for a comany to not have a phone number listed. I guess this is a really small operation. I'll give it a few days and see what happens. Thanks for the pep talk. At least I know now that they have treated other people righteously. That is very comforting. Thanks, Kevin AKA Seeker_Knight

Hi DJ, I did tha examine routine of the numbers. Most of them are easy ones like V's etc. I am pretty sure I got the number right. You think a 1 could really be an L? I'll give that a try. It's the only letter I could have messed up.

Once again I am having problems with a coin. I think they have it in for me! I bought the coin from an online site, but it's made by Oakcoins.com. I followed the directions, and got a activation key number from their site. Then I went back to geocaching.com and tried to register the coin. It replies that the code and coin number do not match. I tried changing from all caps to all lower case and vice versa. Still nothing. I used the contact email on Oakcoins.com's web site. Nobody has replied after 24hours. I'm starting to think they don't mean to support the coins they accepted my payment for. There is no phone number to call, and no other way to contact the company. Does this sound like a mix up in the issue of the code, or the accepting of the code on geocaching.com's part? I don't know what to do. But I know I don't want to just toss out $40 worth of coins for lack of support. What would any of you do with this sitiuation? Kevin AKA Seeker_Knight

Being new to geocaching, I have only scratched the surface of the available caches in my area. There are over 1.000 caches within ten miles of my home. I would expect that someone who has been at this game for an extended period of time would naturally have a completely different viewpoint than a relative newcomer. At only 70 finds, I've already begun to get bored with some of the simple caches, especially micros, and been taunted by some of the tough ones. I've seen a lot of traditional caches that produced all the joy of a soggy tuna sandwich, (with wet contents and no maintenance) and some really interesting ones with really unique containers and/or placements, that are also well maintained. Some are grouped by themes, and have very interesting clues, features and conditions. Some are just another boring box in the woods, place simply because a spot exists to place one. I think they all have their place in the game. If my first finds were of the tough ones I've run into, I probably would have been discouraged, and not have gotten involved so quickly, or so enthusiastically. Now I'm beggining to like the challenge of the tougher finds. I can see where the super easy caches are good for someone who has limitations. A small child, elderly or handicapped person could not enjoy the game without them. I have noticed that some players in our area are very prolific hiders, and others lean toward finding caches. If there is a shortage of caches in your area, then maybe it is fair to give back by hiding some good caches. Our area is cache rich. So I spend my time mostly hunting. I do try to help with fixing caches that need a log sheet, or need to be dried out from condensation etc. Maybe I toss a pencil into a cache that is without one. My point being, that everyone plays their part, and somehow it's all managed to work out. We (newbs) have the benefit of getting started with a whole selection of caches for any taste already in place. As for saturation of an area . . . I can see where a player can overdue it, and leave no good areas for others to hide caches. The fact that a 500' spacing limit exists is proof of that. So how do you make it fair and fun for all? The solution is already being discussed in another thread. Some members are suggesting a rating system for caches. If there was a rating system for caches, it would help to weed out the various caches to create a balance of cache types and grades for a given area. This could include cache type, size, overall quality, maintenance rating and other factors. Then you could go one step further, and create a system to challenge a cache for the right to occupy a location. Why waste a spot with great potential on just another weak micro, or poorly maintained cache, when a quality cache location is being blocked by a mediocre cache's presence. There is fast approaching a time when the density of cache placement is going to become too cumbersome to add any new caches. Not to mention the fact that some of these caches have been around for years, and may have been abandoned. Owners drop out, and they fall into disrepair. At that point, it would be prudent to evaluate the given area based on challenge for location, (perhaps by placing both caches temporarily) and let the rating score of the caches decide which one stays. Some areas just plain lend themselves to a good micro. But other places are fertile space for a good full size cache, and they are being wasted on a not so good micro. I've also seen the opposite, where a full size cache is placed in an area that just begs to be discovered and destroyed by muggles. A good small or micro would be much better there perhaps. A rating system would ferrit these problem caches out. The opinion of many would simply rule, thereby making the entire system much better. This could also serve as a learning tool for new players. If they (we) place a poor cache, the players will let them know by the votes they get. The feedback of a well placed and smartly designed cache will encourage better and better caches. It will also descourage those who like to hide caches, but are just plain unimaginative, and lack the potential to create quality caches. Perhaps we can still love the players, but encourage them to be seekers, rather than hiders. I personally don't know which category I fit into yet. I've only placed one cache to date. I want to see how that one does before I start looking for more locations. I don't want to become known for run of the mill caches. The one that I placed rounds out a group of three caches spread accross an entire park. It offers some originality, as well as some challenge. The clues are obvious when you get to GZ, if you follow the directions and avoid the pitfalls. But most people should have no problem finding it once they go about it the way it is described. Anyone who simply follows the GPSr, is likely to have a dickens of a time with it however. They will find themselves on the wrong side of a fairlly large stream with steep banks, and/or mired in some of the worst briar and weeds that Maryland has to offer. I took some time thinking this cache through. The logs will tell me if I was right or not. It would be great to have a rating system to gauge my success though. As far as I'm concerned, I love the fact that there are no hard fast rules to the game. Everyone should do what they enjoy. But each of us needs a touchstone at times to let us know if what we do is worth doing. With all due respect, Seeker Knight

You know how to jump a curb with a Buick, to get on to the fire trail that leads to a coveted find. You find yourself deep in the mud on an offraid trail, and your vehicle is a Buick LeSabre. Just because you happened to be using the Buick when you saw the cache looking so close on the little map. while driving someplace for a completely different purpose! You realize you don't care about the Buick just yet, as you still have to find the cache. You realize how well a Buick can do offroad, and this makes you happy. Not because it can get you out of the sloppy mud your mirred in, but because you know you can do it again should the need arise for another possible cache in the future. You get home and realize that you didn't accomplish what you left home to do initially. But you got three new finds to add to your list. You return home to find the entire kitchen covered with debris and are panic stricken for a moment. . . . Not because of the mess, but because you think the dog has destroyed your new cache items. Once you realize it is only trash and garbage, it somehow seems OK, and you are relieved. But now you still have to clean up the mess, and really don't care. You walk around the area you work in with the smug knowledge that you are privy to the secrets of all the local cache locations. AND . . . You don't care that others really don't care about their existance, locations, or even what they are. Your still one up on them anyway! You care enough to sit down with 4 packages of 100 tiny stickers each, and sort them by character and pose, so each cache will get the same assortment of of swag items. AND . . . you think a kid is going to care about the count being even and fair.

I recently had some confusion concerning the logging of a Geocoin, and now I am seeing something new. In one of the posts of that thread, a member wrote the following: Hopefully by now you've realized that there are two numbers used to track coins. One gets you to the coin's tracking page (can be available to all) and the other (only available to those handling the coin in person) also allows you to post tracking logs to its page. You may even have surmised that reading the tracking code on the coin can be challenging since 0s and Os look a lot alike as do 8s and Bs, 1s and Is, Zs and Ss and even 5s and 6s to name a few. I keep a magnifying glass in my desk drawer (and reading glasses too) to help decypher what's been etched on the coin in sometimes impossible dimensions. Actually, I had no idea that there are two sets of ID numbers. The only coin I own so far came with a number that I used to register it. As far as I know, it is the number that came printed on the coin. Is there some other number that I may have missed? Confused, Seeker_Knight

You are quite right LadyBear. This did not need to become a public issue until this coin owner chose to place abrasive rmarks on a public forum. But once the Pandoras box is open, lets make sure the WHOLE thing is made public. Not just the rantings of a grief stricken angry response. Fair is fair! If I'm going to be maligned, I WILL defend myself in whatever way is required. You can be assured of that.

This is the email I recieved this morning: Excuse me, but I did try helping you and explained what needed to be done. I even told you if you had further problems to contact us again. But you throw it into a cache saying your glad to be rid of it because it was nothing but trouble. It was clear you had no clue what was going on and I offered help and to help you even further but you did not contact us you just placed it into a cache without logging it. What I don't get here is how it got to be in your inventory for me to grab but you couldn't place it into a cache properly and had to make it out to be the coins fault and my so called directions on my web page. A coins web page is set up and run by Groundspeak, as a coin owner we just enter the tracking & activation numbers and the rest is done by them. The TB# that is on the page is there for everyone to see and is assigned to a coin by Groundspeak themselves it is not supposed to be used to log your find of a coin. That page is not "my web page", those pages are assigned by Groundspeak when a coin is activated. The number that is supposed to be used to grab or retrieve a coin is the one on the coin. In other words, a "secret code" that no one can use to move coins around unless they actually have the coin in their possession. Because the font is small some numbers and letters look the same which is why I mentioned trying to change to the "O" to a zero, it may take a few tries to get a coin logged but that is how it's done. I understand your frustration but I don't appreciate the way you handled our coin. You are the one who sported the "tude" in all of your loggings of this coin. When I received the notification email yesterday from geocaching.com about how this coin was placed I was extremely angry and quite frankly still am. And now your upset with me because I am treating you the way you have treated us and our coin in your posts. We just buried my father-in-law two days ago and in the midst of all that was going on here I took the time out last week to answer your first email and tried to explain how to log the coin and even offered further help if needed. You are absolutely right, this is about fun and finding "treasure", but I find your postings rude and ignorant. You can say it's a newbie thing, but manners are manners and you clearly lacked them in this instance. I am not trying to start trouble, just stating what happened to the coin in an effort to get it back on track and it's miles traveled corrected. --- On Mon, 2/16/09, Geocaching <noreply@geocaching.com> wrote: From: Geocaching <noreply@geocaching.com> Subject: [GEO] Seeker_Knight contacting BVnLJ from Geocaching.com To: bvnlj2nd@yahoo.com Date: Monday, February 16, 2009, 1:26 PM BTW - I don't appreciate your calling me ignorant. That is not a good way to win friends. This is supposed to be about having fun, not starting trouble. I made every effort to get that coin back on track. I even made sure it was placed in a location that was convenient, and assured the best possible chance of getting a good long ride on the interstate. I would appreciate your revision of the remarks you made. It was just not done in a malicious manner by me. I really had problems getting the site to recognize the darn thing. Next time, you might want to be a bit more helpful to a newb, instead of being so critical. I'll be watching to see if you revise that log entry. I assure you, it was noted. User's Profile: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=09...5c-1aad5b2b7432 ------------------------------------------------------------ Forward abuse complaints to: contact@geocaching.com This is the most recent email I recieved from the owner of this coin. I noticed that he has suffered a recent loss of a loved one. I think this accounts for his anger and innapropriate attitude. I think he is grief stricken, and just lashing out. I can understand if the guy is just hurting I think. Enough said on the matter. My prayers are with him and his family at this terrible time in their life. If He reads this, I hope he knows my thoughts are with him and his family during their grief. Once again, I apologize if I seemed rude or abrasive in my communications to this owner. It was not my intention. I just wanted to get the mess fixed and get clear of the problem, regardless of why I had the problem to begin with.

Thanks DJ. I thought I did the right thing by him. I guess you just can't please everyone.

I recently aquired a trackable geocoin from a local cache. When I got online to log the aquisition, it gave me all sorts of trouble, saying the coin did not exist. There was another number (a TB) listed on the web page, that the owner requested be used when referencing this coin. I then tried to use that as well. Once again the site said it did not exist. I contacted the owner for directions on what I should do. I managed to log the "find", but then it gave me trouble again when I tried to log the placement the next day. By then the thing was out of my possesion, and placed in a really good cache where it would be easy to aquire, and have a great chance of logging some serious miles. I was stuck at this point, and didn't know what else to do. So I contacted the owner again, and let him know where the coin was, and what had happened. As you can imagine, this all ate up quite a bit of time, gasoline and some substantial effort on my part. I didn't mind, as I wanted to do right by the owner. I figured some old timer would find it, and get it straightened out. It was my honest best effort for what I could do to get this thing back on track. I went back ( http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...e6-491d2c9b69c9 ) to the log for this coin, and noticed that someone had in fact obtained the coin, and was willing to get it straightened out. I then also noticed that the owner had made a log entry, and made some very nasty comments about me publicly. I wrote and told him that I didn't appreciate the rude comments, and asked that he edit them out of his log. This is not what I would call very good sprortsmanship on his part. Even as frustrated as I was with the darn thing, I still tried to do right by him and his coin. I think it would have been better for him to offer to help a bit more, and gripe a bit less. Newbies need some help from time to time when something like this happens. I would think the owner would appreciate the player trying to fix the mess. It is not fun to be maligned by such a person, and does not leave a good feeling with me toward him. This type of thing is the root cause of problems in a game like this. It is just unfair and mean for the sake of being that way. If I were a lesser person morally, I would have just tossed his coin in a river and been done with it. I know there are lots of people who would do something petty like that. For my own conscience, I went the extra mile to try to fix the mess, and got rewarded with insults and sarcasm. Go figure! How would the rest of you handle a problem like this if you ran into it. I'd just like to know, so I can act accordingly if it happens again in the future. A would be fair player, Seeker_Knight

I love the idea of a rating system. It sure would save time on the trail. I think you may want to add one more facet to the overall system however. Instead of a "Top Ten", just rate the caches from 1-10, within their size group and type. The system could easily handle the placement of rating votes. So a vote given to a particular cache would then be 1 thru ten for a (Micro, Small, Medium etc), (Traditional, Multi, etc). This way you would be able to select the top caches of any type that you prefer, and it would be rated relative to other caches of similar size and type as well. That is the power of a relational database doing it's best work! Of course, having worked with databases myself, I know how much work this would be to set up. But in the end, you would increase the value of the database exponentially as an effective tool for custom selections. Just my two cents for what it's worth.

Let me begin by letting you know what to expect. I'm a 51 year old separated man who likes the outdoors, and a good time. I drink coffee, smoke, cuss, fuss, get grouchy at times and fart on occasion. Get over it, or don't bother replying. I'm just me as I come, plain and simple. I'm too fat to move too fast, so I plug along at a fairly slow relaxed pace, but believe steady wins the race. If the cache can be reached by a two wheel electric scooter, I'm just lazy enough to use one. I especially like the caches that allow me to drive to within a few hundred feet of them, but I can take a long hike if I plod along nice and slow. I like a good night find, but I'm just as likely to be out earlly morning too. Anytime is a good time to go caching. I'm located in Edgewood, MD, and new to geocaching. I just started in December, and I love it already. I completed the MML challenge as my first goal, so I have SOME practice. I only have 50 some caches to date. So there is a lot of ground for me to cover locally. If you are looking for someone to share the Geocaching fun with, give me a reply. If nothing else, we can go have a coffee and hang out for a while and maybe do some caching. Then we can see how we get along from there. I'm anything but pretentious, and live by the code of not really caring to please or impress anyone. I've just reached the age where that type of thing really doesn't matter. Anyone (man or woman) can feel free to reply, as I am not looking to be a letch. A woman friend is just as good as a guy buddy. Just expect a real down to earth guy looking for a good time caching. If I havn't scared you off, reply by email and we can get together. Who knows, we might end up creating a team. P.S.-I believe in truth in advertising!

It seems there is no "Set" amoung of memory for these units. Mine came with a 256M card. I still went for the big $10 upgrade to 2 Gig. With memory so cheap, why not. Don't the specs on the 60CSx say that unit has no memory on its own? My unit came with a 128MB card. Will that be sufficient if I get the City Navigator on DVD?

Being a newb, I just signed up for a "Publish" search. I thought I was doing something wrong. Still might be for that matter. LOL I'll have to keep an eye on this. I just published my first ever cache, and after 24hrs, still no FTF. I'm surprised to say the least. The cache is loaded with great stuff and a fun hide. Hmmmm. Maybe the puter glitch has it still hidden from everyone.

I just had my first cache go public today. When I first placed it, I didn't have anything special in it. I had also forgotten to get permision from the park service. That gave me time to get some nice stuff for the FTF. I found a good deal on some real high quality LED flashlights that will fit nicely in the pocket. I also got several more that only have one LED, but they are tiny, and can be clipped to the brim of your hat. They also have a bendable gooseneck to aim the light. I figured that this would be nice enough to reward the efforts of an eager cacher. I plan to place several more caches once the weather warms up. I ordered some real nice FTF trackable coins to place out too. Still waiting for them. So if you get in the Maryland area, and you see a new cache from me, you can expect to find nice new stuff for the kids, as well as a few nice trinkets for mom and dad.

I was a cub scout, weblo and boy scout. Made it to the rank of Life. I still remember most of the stuff they taught us in scouts too. In fact I shocked a friend of mine one day when I spouted off the Motto and oath. Some stuff just sticks I guess

I have a GPS, and I still look up the caches on Google Earth before I go out for the day. It has saved me countless hours of strugling to find the best road access and parking if nothing else. I've had several caches where the GPS leads you to the end of a road that seems reasonable, only to find the path ends at a dense briar patch, a swamp, a river, private property marked no tresspasing and the like. Once I looked at these caches on Google Earth, there is almost always an easier way to get to the caches than what the GPS comes up with originally. When you see a listing, and the owner specifies a certain place to park, use it. They have been there already and know the lay of the land. It will save you lots of time. In other cases, the owner purposely wants to make the cache a strong challenge. This allows the "Old Timers" a chance to have some fun too! I've only been at it a bit over a month, and I can tell you the LPC's (Light Pole Caches) get pretty boring pretty fast. I guess the bottom line is similar to any other activity. The GPS, Advanced Maps, Google Maps, Google Earth and other items are simply tools. As is the case in most activities, the better the tool set, the easier the job becomes. I don't think I would want to build a house by using a hand saw instead of a circular saw. Or try to bake a cake using the back yard grill. Some tools are just better at certain tasks than others. Hope this helps. I'd say take the plunge and get a GPS, even if it's a used unit. Your bound to have a lot more fun. BTW - Welcome aboard! Once you have the bug, your in for the long haul.

Welcome, I just got started in December, and I deffinately have the bug. I got lucky and timed it just right to participate in the MML (Maryland Municipal League) trail. It is an organized event that takes you all over the State of Maryland. If you find one of these types of events in your area, go for it. You will have a blast! Most of the caches were easy enough for us newbies to figure out. It helps to prepare you for the "real" caches that you are going to get challenged by. Plus you get a lot of practice using your GPS unit. In the case of this event, you also got a custom geocoin (nice one) for finishing the requirements. Just thought I'd add this suggestion, as it helped me get started in a real easy way. Hope you have a safe and fun time with this hobby. It is getting very very popular.