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Sol seaker

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Everything posted by Sol seaker

  1. Not in the Northwest!! I managed to destroy one "waterproof" GPS and seriously damage another in the wet climate here. My smart-phone is safely tucked away when I'm out in the weather here. I could cache with it about ten days out of the year at this point. okay, maybe 20. I've also dropped my GPS on rocks, and many other places I doubt my smart phone would survive. GPS's are made for the job. Not to speak of placing caches with phones. YIKES. Don't make me go there!! On topic: I like Garmin's GPS's. I like geocaching through Groundspeak. I don't really care what either do to promote themselves. I don't pay attention anyway. It's not going to alter my game any.
  2. I did one recently that was a filmcan. The hint is "rock." When you arrive you see a huge expanse of foot-sized rocks coming down a hill from a water storage area. This is next to a rock wall. Yeah, thanks for the hint. Yesterday I did one that could have been on the top of my list. It was an incredible tour of a nearby town. It's a well thought-out multi with waypoints at beautiful views of the Puget Sound (think islands, sailboats, ferries) and public art. Beautiful. I'm thinking "favorite point." then we get to the final. After spending about 45 minutes looking, we called a friend. I had just wanted a hint. He told us. OMG. The hint on the cache page had three components to it. Only one of them was correct. The others lead you away from the cache, as do the coordinates which are 80 feet off. It's listed on the cache page as a small. It's a micro: a keyholder in a bad spot. Mind you, there's a large wooded area there to find spots in. What happened? The CO ran out of creative juice when he got to the end? Such a great beginning made the ending more disappointing than it would have been. No, it still would have been disappointing. This guy obviously has some great cache smarts. I have hopes he'll get a new container and move the final to create one of the best caches in the area, rather than one that makes this thread.
  3. In advanced wilderness first-aid class they told us to use "Fels Naptha" soap instead of technu. They mentioned technu, but the three teachers all preferred Fels Naptha for getting poison oak/ivy oils off. It's found in the laundry section of most grocery stores. It comes in a bar form. It's great for backpacking and hiking, because you can just break a chunk of it off and it's light to carry. Just add water (which you should be carrying anyway). It also works great for washing the oils out of clothing. That is what it's original intention is after all. I carry a chunk of it in my backpack always. I'm very alert to what poison oak and ivy look like, and if I see it, even if there's a remote chance I've gotten in it I drop everything (as long as I'm clear of the P.O.) and wash right then and there. The sooner you get the oils off the better. Don't wait to get home. I'm careful to watch for any signs of a rash after hiking. If I see even two little bumps with the slightest itch, I'll immediately use hydrocortisone cream on it, and keep using it a few times a day until it is gone. This keeps a whole body poison oak disaster from happening. It is very common for people to not have any reaction and then suddenly have a full-body reaction. I've also had some success with using Fels Naptha for nettles. Not as good as with poison oak, but it helps.
  4. Twice. Once I was hiking with a friend. I had planned some caches to find in the area and loaded them on my GPS. When I got there the trail had a sign saying it was closed. The sign said there was a problem with a bridge. Well I really do try my best to follow the rules, but the outcome varies. I looked at my GPS with only those caches loaded, then waved to my friend to follow me quickly. Safety conscious, as I always am, I walked down into each creek that had a bridge over it (in my waterproof hiking boots) and checked out each bridge so my friend could safely pass. All the bridges were fine, it turned out the work had been completed, but under one bridge I found a cache. It turned out to be a cache the owner had thought was washed away when the bridge went out. The cache was disabled, so I didn't have it on my GPS. He was really excited to find out it was "back again." It turned out the people repairing the bridge took it until the work was complete, then put it back again when they were done.
  5. I came across some funny ones recently. just thought I'd share. These are not mine. "Well After being DELETED. I have to relog. I guess someone didn't like my pics. They where nice, you said take a camera. Anyways. I found it. The Final is WAY off." I liked that one. "You said to take a camera" :laughing: This one was from a cache placed in 2001. The cache owner had listed the original contents on the cache page. It's a hiking cache. "We couldn't believe that after nine years, the rubber chicken was still in there! It just shows the honesty of geocachers. Obviously, everyone wanted the chicken but simply didn't have a nice enough trade item to exchange for it. We also didn't have any good trade items, so we left the chicken. We might come back here...just for the chicken."
  6. 100 km multi cache? At the price of gas these days? Maybe they were just saving some money. Or even better maybe they were just being environmentally conscious.
  7. Post when it is you would be going, and perhaps someone who reads this thread might give you a ride. It's worth a shot.
  8. I'd love to go, but can't make it that weekend either. Can you make it another time? Make it two weeks in advance and we can make an event out of it.
  9. Wow. What a beautiful story, and so well told. Thanks for sharing that great moment.
  10. It's always amazing to me that so many people geocaching should be free. Why? Because it's fun? So Disneyland should be free? Driving's fun. Maybe that should be free too. I have no idea. I think there are other things that ought to be free. Electricity and water for two. Everyone needs water to live, so why isn't that free?? It should be. Electricity is pretty important. Why isn't that free?? Geocaching is really a luxury when you think about it. It's not needed for survival. It also takes a lot of people to run the website and company. So those people should work for free?? Why??? Perhaps you should work for free and let us know how it goes.
  11. I like souvenirs too. There were a lot of people who put them down on the main forums. I hope GS isn't just listening to the big mouths. I'd love to see some nicer ones for each State. They're pretty boring right now. Some of them are so pretty, like the one for Germany. I'd love to see some really nice pretty state ones. Oh, I guess that's another thread. I didn't realize the souvenirs had gone away. I haven't gone anywhere lately that would have gotten a new one. I'd like to see GS keep them. I'd suspect a lot of people like them, even though they wouldn't admit it among the original uproar.
  12. i'm going to say it because it's starting to irritate me ... NO ONE IS ATTEMPTING TO COMPARE IT TO A G.P.S.. ... in fact i could go grab a cache right now and leave all my tecnology at the house ... or if i wanted to lug around my laptop ... i have a g.p.s. for that too. this thread has nothing to do with a g.p.s. at all it has to do with the cost of the app compared to all the other apps on the market. i have a birding app in my phone ... it has stand alone capabilities ... it has hundreds of years worth of relevant information ... it costs $9 ... there are very few others that cost more and do exactly the same thing if not less. this ... is a map, a gps program ... there are (figuratively) thousands of them on the market that cost ZERO DOLLARS THAT is what it's being compared to. So you are comparing it to what? A game app? People are trying to compare apples and apples, not apples and cabbage. Both the phone app and the GPS are used for geocaching. You cannot geocache with the angry birds game. It is not a good comparison. Perhaps that's the problem with thinking this is an expensive tool. People are thinking of it like a game app, not as a geocaching tool. If you think of it as a game app, sure it's expensive, but that's not what it is. I bought the official app, and I bought neongeo, and I've got some free apps. I use the official app when I need a phone app. Most the time I use my GPS. I pay a lot more in batteries for my GPS than the official app. I am comparing the cost of what it takes to geocache, so it is a valid comparison. Cost of geocaching with phone app: Phone, already had. App: 10.00 GPS: 150.00 Batteries for GPS: about 5.00 a month, depending on how much I geocache. Cost of playing other games on my phone: 2.99-6.99 per game forever. Comparing geocaching with playing a game on my phone? Incomparable!!!!! I play games on my phone when I am waiting for an appointment. It's not a regular hobby. I geocache as an outdoor pursuit; a hobby I enjoy. There is no comparing it to games I play on my phone, so comparing the costs of them makes no sense. batteries:
  13. There is no size limitation, but a lot of areas have restrictions about leaving sheds out in the woods. Check with local agencies and restrictions first. Most places have a governing body and rules. There are maps online and at ranger stations to find out who governs that land. Then you can find out if its okay to leave a shed there or whether they would haul it away and fine you.
  14. Often caches are archived because the location turned out to be private property, or it bothered the neighbors, or something like that, so be careful searching for archived caches. We don't want to contribute to a bad name for geocaching.
  15. Definitely get a premium membership. Then you will also have access to all caches. I've planned caching vacations. We thought of beautiful areas to camp, then looked at the caching maps for areas with a lot of caches. Pick a nice area you would like to explore even if you weren't caching. Look at the map of caches, and see what you've got. After you choose a general area run a few pocket queries. Run a couple for all the caches in the area, but run one for the most favorited in that area. I like to print that list out. I also like to print the map of the area with the caches. Some just use their GPS, but I like to have a hard copy. With the list of favorites you can pick the best caches, and usually nicest locations. Plan a route to get caches with a lot of favorites. Decide on 20- 50 caches per day depending on how hard you want to cache or how easy you want to take it. Choose nice scenic hikes, great lunch spots, etc. But be flexible for what you may discover. Remember its the hunt not the find. In other words, have fun and don't worry if you can't find some. Read cache descriptions on the most favorited before you go and choose some great places. It will be worth the time spent. Is there a part of B.C. you have in mind? If you get more specific we might help you more.
  16. He's saying he doesn't think that guy actually found it. I am skeptical too. But I am also skeptical of your.coordinates. Did you use a real GPS or a smart phone.to get those Coords? Smart phones may be good for finding things, but they are really bad for hiding. Did you use.waypoint averaging on the GPS? Did your GPS have fresh batteries in it when you took the coords? Worn out batteries have gotten me Coords that were over 100 feet off. I think you needed to double check the Coords rather than just telling people to look harder. Also it would be good to put a note on the cache page saying it is a dangerous cache.
  17. I had trouble finding the live maps on the official app, but now that I have, I prefer the Groundspeak app. I have many on my phone but am using only the GS one at this time. I hear people complainabout the ten dollar cost and think that's a bit silly. How much do theqy spend on a GPS? Ten bucks is nothing for all that fun. Compare it to the price of going to the movies. And the app lasts so much longer.
  18. Yes, I agree, perhaps a cache outside the fair grounds. It's a great idea to give fair-goers more fun, but it would not a permanent cache, so wouldn't fly. The cost is also an issue. Try one next to the fair in a spot that will last. It could commemorative that fair year-round.
  19. Some things that people posted they posted because they don't like them . everyone has their opinion . I do however I agree that caches around electrical boxes can be dangerous . there have been a lot of threads on that here. The idea about the billboard is interesting . the problem would be that caches are supposed to be permanent . How long would you pay for one of those ? I love the idea though . I would think other signs are only limited to local laws .
  20. . Like a nice metal tube I've shaped to look like a length of thorn vine, a companies logo, now magnetic. The things my wife has come up with are nothing short of insidious. Are these bad ideas? I can't tell you without knowing more about them. Maybe ask on the "cool cache pictures" thread to get a response to each one. Ask what people think of them. How far from the entrence of a business should you put a cache, even with the property owners permission? What about using the entrence? Very far. I've found two at entrances. I hate those. Those are about my least favorite cache. Then not only the business employees get to watch you looking like a fool, but also lots of random customers. Yuck. Just say no. I ask this last question mainly because the owner of a local fuel stop I go to (whom I have managed to addict to caching) wants to make the floor mat to her establishment into a cache. Is it a bad idea to get people addicted to geo caching in order to get their permission? (I REALLY hope not, because this has been the easiest way to get permission. ) Why not? What the heck? Is there a way to make and have an Adult Toy cache? Not meaning to imply THOSE toys, but I do mean toys adults play with. You can request types of swag,.but that's it. Caches far off in the woods tend to have more adult oriented toys, such as hiking stuff, because not a lot of kids go there .
  21. When I saw the title of the thread, my immediate thought was, "dont post new ideas on the forums. ". Then I saw it was a specific question about cache hiding. Now I see you really had something even more specific in mind. That sounds great. As long as it has a good water-tight lid, it sounds great. I would get the permission in writing in case that guy quits or you get questioned while he is on vacation or something. Go for it. If its near here I'd love to find it.
  22. are you kidding ? Sidewalks are very dangerous places !! To the thread owner: do what you think is right. If you report it, it will be out of your hands. It will be up to the reviewer to decide whether to do anything about it or not. Would you regret not reporting it? Generally I say 5/5 caches are great and really needed in the game. It's good if they have some warnings on the cache page. But what Knowschad said was true: there are some inappropriate caches out there. If you email the reviewer, he/she decides,.not you.
  23. "Hi! How are you today?" As they say, I'm an adult so I don't have to explain myself. I'm not doing anything wrong, so no excuses are needed. Some will and do start asking questions. It depends on the situation as to what I'll answer. If they ask what I'm doing , I may say "nothing". it's none of their business . Most of the time I'll tell them I'm geocaching. If they're wearing a uniform, I'll definitely tell them I am geocaching.
  24. Actually if it is a non-porous container you can clean it up. There's a soap that cuts poison oak oils. It's called, Fels Naptha. You can find it in the laundry soap section of most grocery stores. (it is a bar soap normally used for tough stains) Then after you clean your container, you can break off a chunk of the soap to put in your first aid kit to wash up if you come in contact with poison oak. It will wash the oils off of skin. The only thing I've seen it didn't clean was a wet-suit. long story I notice you did not get it (at least not yet, sometimes it takes a few days) from the container nor from retrieving the container. It is really common to not be allergic to it at first, but then through repeated contact to become very allergic to it, so be careful.
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