Steve&GeoCarolyn

I love multis but we don't do many of them because we can't predict easily how much time we need to set aside or whether we will need special equipment. Often we don't know whether there are 2 or 200 stages. I get especially frustrated when I discover a multi-cache with more than three stages because it means that I should have brought a notebook to record data and didn't. So I want to be warned. Here is our very favorite multi and one of our favorite caches of all time: Six Sicks Icks GCWD3A From the cache page: One thing that we liked about it was that it was so clear about what to expect and yet was still a difficult one to puzzle out. And it is in a beautlful location. Here's stage 1: We DNFed this one the first time we tried it because we thought we had the wrong route on Stage 2. It turned out that we'd encountered forces of nature that made it inaccessible. But we were warned so we went back the next week and handily found it. In addition to the excellent information on the cache page and the warnings, it has a fun theme which made the log a lot of fun to write. To me, this is what a multi-cache should look like: well-described, fun, mysterious, mentally challenging, fun to write about, and featuring a nice walk in beautiful surroundings. If I ever create a multicache, this cache will be the one that I check my own against. Carolyn

Wow! You guys rock! These are great photos. Someone here has a tagline that says "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." I think these photos definitely show that everyone here packs a bit of the beautiful in their cacher's gear. Here is another from downtown Memphis, right near our Pyramid: Ramsses' Tomb (If you're ever in Memphis and enjoy puzzle caches, this is the one to go for.)

I would like to humbly bump this back into life. I would really like to see this feature enhancement. Carolyn

Not every beautiful place requires a hike. Some beautiful cache locations can be found in the city. Please post your favorite urban cache photos. It would be great if you'd include the GC number or link to the cache. I'll start with Chickasaw Gardens GCTFPX, which is a breathtakingly beautiful park located in central Memphis right next to the Pink Palace Museum. Houses along the Park A Bridge Like an Impressionist Painting

And people say geocaching is a cheap hobby! Who knew that it required hiring so many people? Carolyn

It hasn't replaced any hobbies because, well, there wasn't much time for hobbies with our jobs and workouts anyway. Instead it has replaced housework. Every Thursday my beloved says, "I think we should just stay home this weekend and get things done around the house" and I say, "Yes, you're right. We should." On Friday I say, "I found an interesting cache we could go to sometime." Then on Saturday morning he says, "OK, we're caching this morning to find that interesting cache plus a few others and then we'll do some work around the house this afternoon and we'll cache on Sunday." We get home late on Saturday afternoon. I spend an hour or two logging. Then he says, "I'm too tired to do housework." I say, "Does that mean no Sunday geocaching?" He says, "No, no. We'll still go geocaching tomorrow. We'll do housework next weekend." And so it goes. Our list of necessary house projects keeps growing larger. Carolyn

I also find stats interesting (at least those that relate to me) and I keep them on my page because it is a convenient place to do so. We primarily use it at this point to track our oldest caches and to track our grid. Once I get my act together, we will track our beaver caches as well. Also we adore our little badges. As to the story, what sort of thing do you desire here? In my life, the public parts about me are pretty dull and the exciting parts are private. So I don't tend to reveal much on a public board. If you met me I'd reveal more. If you were a close friend, even more. And if you were sleeping with me I'd spill everything. But since you're not sleeping with me and not a close friend, I'm not certain why you would want to know the dull portions of my life. As to the size of my squishy bits, I've actually never met anyone who asked me that question. I am now wondering if this is a statistic I should be tracking in my life. Does everyone else know the size of their squishy bits? Carolyn

Congratulations! My favorite place is the bargain area of Claire's and Joanne's during sales. Claire's bargain area will often discount jewelry, little purses, and other items from $10 to $1-$2. Joanne's has little dollar items for kids into crafts (watercolor kits, etc.). The items from Claire's look fantastic and I know for a fact that they have the little girl segment of the population all sewn up. $1-$5 I placed a beautiful snake charm in Six, Sicks, Icks because it was simply perfect for the theme and the challenge. A harmony ball. I didn't know it at the time but they're bought in pairs for $30-$45. (I looked it up on the internet. I truly regretted that I didn't trade equal at the time, but I'm terrible at assessing worth. I hadn't realized they were so expensive.) Carolyn

I wonder if this word is part of the problem. From what I can tell it means various things. It means going off-trail while being sensitive to the environment. It means going off trail carelessly and leaving a path of broken branches and disturbed earth. And it means taking a machete to the vegetation. The last definition is the only one I'd known before geocaching. As a newbie, I had trouble understanding what it meant in a cache description when it said, "Some bushwhacking required" (or "No bushwhacking required"). When we got there I couldn't understand why the cache owner meant us to cut a path through the woods when it was perfectly reasonable to simply walk through the area carefully. (I ended up deciding that some people were just crazy-destructive but that we didn't have to be.) Now I know that the word has multiple meanings in the geocaching world and I am comfortable with it. However, I suspect other people may have some of the same confusion I did. Carolyn

Very cool! Have you tried doing this? Or something similar? Carolyn

Yeah, I like the time machine approach. Let me know when you get it! My assumption is that one gathers the components for the time machine in the various 5/5 caches. Isn't that correct? Carolyn

When you say that you set your GPSr to Pedestrian, does that mean that you are using a Nuvi or similar car-oriented GPSr? And if that is the case, are you trying for urban or non-urban caches? We've found that our Nuvi in pedestrian mode is terrible in the woods. In urban environments it's ok, but it does not bring us as close to the cache as our Oregon does (or any GPSr made for trail use). My sense is that the Nuvi tries to force the location to the closest point to the road. Also, we've found that our search radius needs to be about 40-70 feet with the Nuvi rather than the 20-40 we use with the Oregon. So if you are using a car-oriented GPS, it may mean that you have to widen your search area, trust it a bit less, read the clues, description, and title and rely more on those things along with your own powers of observation. Carolyn

Thank you so much to everyone!! I understand now. The date can be edited. No time machine required. I think I'm ok with the mystery and multi caches in the area, though I will ask the reviewer for thoroughness. Now I'm off to paint my container and set up my page. (I have the coordinates.) Carolyn

Doesn't that mean that your Date Placed date will be wrong? Is that something that can be edited? Or am I obsessing over something that really doesn't matter? Carolyn

An old WWII powder factory being retaken by nature The stacks: Odd sections of the factory:

I know that I must be making this over-complicated, but I'm not getting past it. Here is my understanding of the sequence of cache placement/listing: 1. Build cache and find location. 2. Place cache in the location and get the coordinates. 3. List cache on Geocaching.com and get GC number. But there is a step that I can't fit into this simple sequence. How do I get the GC number on the logbook before I list the cache? I already tried listing the cache on geocaching.com with a future placement date and it wouldn't let me. Do I place the cache as inactive, get the GC number, rush back to the site to write the number on the log book, and then activate the cache within the same day? Or do I change the placement date later to reflect the actual date the logbook was put (with GC number) in the cache? It is really seeming to me that I need a time machine to get the GC number on the logbook while keeping the placement date accurate. Carolyn

No no! I wasn't saying that the claims aren't true and I apologize if it seemed like that! I just want to know what the award is! Again, not at all trying to malign anyone or say that their honors are misclaimed. Seriously just curious about what that award is Grats on dethroning the king for those two years Look, if you have doubts about the legitimacy of the award, you can call the board that selects the winner. It consists of my wife, step-daughter, mother. father and Aunt Jean. I'm still upset at the fact they chose Clan_Barron in 2004 and 2006. Ohh... I get it now I really wasn't questioning the legitimacy of the award or anything... I've just always been curious about it seeing it in your forum title. There's lots of geocaching I don't know about so I didn't know if it was a national award or a regional accolade or a neat thing that your family did It's neat. Thanks for the clarification! Edited to add: I was thinking it was maybe something from geowoodstock or something... The fact that it was not every year made me think that it was a big national award. I really wasn't questioning the legitimacy of the award -- if someone put "world's best father" it similarly wouldn't bother me... Just in this case I didn't know what it was and was curious if it were something sanctioned that I didn't know about Thanks again for the clarification. I appreciate you asking, Mrbort. I also thought it was an official award from Groundspeak or GeoWoodstock and my competitive sense had woken up and was making plans. I'm glad to know that I can cross this one off my personal list of angst. Carolyn

I think that if such a law included material evidence (chocolate, flowers, computer memory upgrades, etc.) I would feel a great deal more loved. Perhaps you could champion such a law. Carolyn

You can open a free Wordpress blog account and use the media library to upload your png. They accept pngs and do not modify them. Carolyn

Not shameful that he lives in Oregon, but deeply shameful that he isn't here in Memphis organizing geocoin challenges. Carolyn

I'm not picky about other people's challenges and what type they are. I just like to know how they organize their minds and how they make their own fun. I am fascinated by how individual everyone is and that you can see their personalities peeking out through their personal goals. I'm also surprised that most of the goals focus on finding rather than hiding. Also, the goals are almost all non-competitive. I didn't think that would be the case. We do this as well. When we find a fantastic hider we set our hearts on finding their caches. Carolyn

Wow! That is deeply cool! I want to do a geocoin challenge. It is a dreadful shame that you live all the way off in Oregon. Carolyn

All topics were raised earlier in a previous thread. If you ever find the first mention of a topic, there is a good chance that you will fall into a rift in the space/time continuum and never be heard from again. (Which is why it is important to either have your GPS with you at all times or to have your own desert fortress with a space/time stabilizer and list of previous threads like Kit Fox.) My beloved and I don't cache in groups and don't have a code phrase. So our cache finding dialogue goes something like this: A: "Is that.." B: "The cache?" A: "No, wait it must be.." B: "No, no it's..." A: "There?" B: "You think?" A: "Do you see it?" B: "No. Wait! Yes" A: "Is it wet?" A and B are interchangeable. Carolyn

It is my secret hope that if this thread devolves into off-topic heated words, as so many do, that the topic of the controversy will be "Beavers: Cute Mammals or Furry-Faced Fiends?" What is a geocoin challenge? I haven't run across that and while my mind is frantically circling trying to figure it out, nothing is gelling. Carolyn

And what do you have in the way of personal challenges since FindStatGen? Carolyn