Sol seaker

sometimes it's good to know the one's there could be a problem with in order to know what's best. I just began working on figuring out this series. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ca-321aa74ed56c It's a series on the Guiness Book of World Records. It's got The largest, the Smallest, Art and sculptures, experiments, and other cool stuff. I am just working on these now, but I see the problem could be that these were based on the 2007 World Records book. Great if you've got one lying around, but how hard will it be for these figures to be accurate in 5 years? Could get dicey. World Records change. I've had this trouble with some other caches where the information asked for is something that changes. Can be frustrating. Good idea, but could have problems in the future.

there is a great Themed series in my area called "Hunting the Great Bear" http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...92-f863661a1222 that is the first cache. It's a great series of at least five caches, intended for children. Very well thought out, it has a continuation of the story on each cache page. EAch cache contains part of a necklace. You get the last of the necklace parts when you find the bonus cache after finding all of the regular caches. To me the best part of it is that I can actually FIND these caches. I live in a city that thrives on evil micros. These are regular hides a kid can find. (Ok, so I couldn't find one of them yet, I'll go back and get it next time). Very fun series. Check it out.

If you can hook up with other cachers in your area, that is the easiest way. I don't think I would have ever gotten into this if I didnt' have someone to help me learn how. But many people DO get into on their own, including the person who taught me. 1. Look for caches with a 1 or 1.5 easy rating. 2. Avoid Micros. Look for regular size containers. Small if you have to, but no micros for a while. They can, and do get quite nasty sometimes. If it says anywhere in the listing or logs, "nano" run. Avoid like the plague. 3. I find caches in wooded areas are often easy (as long as they aren't micros). In areas like these, look for piles of things that might conceal a cache, such as bark or moss or leaves. Geo-piles we call them. Also if the cache is off the trail there will usually be a "geo-trail" or "social trail" to it. Look for little paths off into the woods when you get near ground zero. 4. Read the logs. Some people will leave clues in their logs when they find caches. Later you'll only have to resort to this if you can't find it, but in the beginning it could be a good help. You can also get an idea (usually) of how hard a cache is by the logs. If it has 5 DNF's recently, forget it. It might even have been stolen ("muggled"). 5. Ask the cache owner for clues. You can e-mail them by clicking on their name and going to "write e-mail." Tell them you're new and looking for clues to help you. Most will be very helpful. 6. Check the forums in your area for caching events. You can meet people to cache with at those. 7. Stand at ground zero and look around. Where would you hide a cache? WHAT LOOKS OUT OF PLACE? Where are the places around you that would fit a large tupperware or ammo can? When we have trouble finding something we use this a lot. Just sit down and consider the possiblities. Eat lunch. Then search. 8. Remember while your GPS has a number of feet it will tell you that it is off, the guy who hid it also had a number of feet it is off. The older the cache, the older the GPS used to record the coordinates. (unless they have been updated). If it was a recent cache the coordinates may be more accurate, but I often find I go wrong by expecting the coordinates to be right on. I start with a 20 ft. radius and work out a bit from there. The logs should also tell you if other people had trouble with the coordinates. Sometimes people will even post alternate coordinates. I record both when that happens and check them both. Often the new ones are better. Don't assume anything though. Good luck, Have FUN!!!

It is really true we have great reviewer discrepancies. The friend who got me into this game quit years ago because of just this thing. A cache he placed got turned down for being too close to unguarded railway. Here in WA we have a lot of "Rails to Trails." This being one. There is a railway there, but it's not at all next to the trail. Back in those days, his was the first on that trail. It got turned down. Now there are hundreds along that very same trail where he had his cache turned down. I know it happens all the time. He could have used the procedure that is in place when you want to question a decision. He did not. So I told him to get over it and play the game.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...0e-501852116ee1 Hey, at least the coordinates were provided on that cache! check out the above one. And I'm not saying that the one you pointed out is a good cache. But there are so many bad caches out there, that one doesn't even really rate. i'm sorry. If you want a list of really bad caches some time, we can come up with one. I'd rather not waste my time though. The point is, who cares? Is it really that worth getting upset over it?? If this is the worst thing in your day, then you are a lucky person. Tons of bad caches out there. Tons of bad people. Don't let it ruin your day. Move on. Get over it. There are also tons of good caches out there with lots of great cache owners. Go find those. Ignore the rest.

I'd hate for people to start hiding empty caches just because some people don't know how to trade. If it's an issue I'd rather see a note on the cache page or actually on the cache itself. That would really suck if everyone starting hiding empty caches. I think starting with an empty cache is saying you trust no one to trade fair. if you trust no one to trade fair, then how do you expect your cache to ever have items in it? Many people would have to leave something without getting something in order for you to have a good cache. In the meantime it adds to all the trashy caches in the area that have nothing or just trash in them. Good, we'll solve the problem of people taking stuff from the cache by just taking everything out to begin with. Does that really make sense to you? You end up with the results you were complaining about right off the bat.

Only four plants, it could be someone growing it for medicinal use. Doesn't have to be mafia or gangs with guns. Mafia or gangs tend to have huge plots. Probably just some poor soul suffering chemotherapy or pain that most drugs won't get rid of. Disable for a while, check back and if the coast is clear, then reinstate. If more plants have been put there, call the Riffster to help clear them out. I'm sure he'd be happy to help so as to not keep the police from real crimes.

Very cool video. I was really impressed with a lot of the photography. Especially before you place the "cache" you show the farm. You do a really great job of it. Really nice shots. That being said, I so hate to jump on the band wagon, but one more is that it does look like private property. People don't abandon cows. The property likely belongs to someone and it's in the guidelines to get permission. That way folks who go to find it don't get shot at, and other reasons. And waterproof containers are the norm. OK, enough of that legal stuff. Fun video. Welcome to geocaching and the geocaching forums, which don't represent the whole geocaching community, but seems to be the portion of it most likely to shoot down new ideas. Don't take it personally, it's what we do here I guess. now read the guidelines and go place another cache (after you find quite a few to get the idea). Love it that you had the idea before you knew geocaching existed. Very cool. Hey, you could have started this all. have fun!!!!

Human activity is part of nature. Sad but true. Would we stop deer from destroying the same hillside? Not a chance.... But if they started eating (and demolished) your garden I'll bet you'd stop the deer in a second. You shouldn't distroy their home anymore than they should distroy yours.

So where are the pot farms that the good guys have? Doritos? No way. Chocolate chip cookies!!! and a lighter.

Trashed is Not trampled. Trampled is when some plants are squashed by people walking around. Trashed is when a whole area has had the green folage ripped from the plants. If I am overstating my complaint, how many cache areas do I have to see trashed before I complain? What percentage of the caches I've found are enough to complain about? Sure it will grow back. But some of the areas I've seen will take a couple of years to grow back. There's a Time/ Life book on the Grand Canyon that calls the Dam on the Colorado River a temporary thing. Nature will take it down in time too. I sure hate looking at it in the meantime. So it is ok to leave trash in the woods because it will degrade eventually? I agree it's not the right attitude. (thanks for saying it, Bittsen). Saying its OK to trash the environment because it will grow back will not give us great gains in park relations. This is exactly why so many parks do not allow caches. No State park here allows a cache without a permit, and it takes a long time to get one, and a huge process, INCLUDING proving your cache will Not trash the environment. That's like ORV's saying, oh it will grow back. So do we want to look at the mess in the meantime? Do we want our game to be known for doing this? What kind of reputation do we want? What legacy do we want our game to leave? The way we can avoid this is simple. 1. put your cache within reach of the trail, and say that on the cache page 2. if it doesn't work to put it right on the trail (heavy use for instance that would cause it to be muggled), PROVIDE A CLEAR CLUE!!! ("typical northwest hide" works fine for instance. means in a stump) 3. Another possibility is to put it on an existing social trail that people will think is the geotrail (I used this one. along with the clear clue I left, the woods in the park around my cache are still in the shape I found them in when I placed the cache). 4. Check the coordinates with more than one GPS, and take the coordinates more than once. 5. Provide a clear clue (did I mention that?) 6. If you want to hide an evil micro, do it in the city. Responsible caching is a good thing. Leave the area in good shape for others to enjoy. There already is a group of people against caching in the eastern US. They are going online to find the cache coordinates and then going and stealing the caches. We need to let them know they are wrong about caching. They need to know we are responsible.

The thermos caches that I've found have held up very well. Pricey though. Does anyone know if thrift stores are good places to look for used food thermoses? I've found some GREAT thermos's in thrift stores!! I even found one that looks like a huge crayon. I was trying to figure out a clever spot to put that one!!!

It's amazing the size selection Lock and Locks come in. I just found them in a great store, called H Mart. It' an asian grocery store. I have no idea how big the chain is, but if you've got one near you , check it out!!! It's got a HUGE selection at CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP prices. Brand name Lock and locks in every size available. I should take a picture the next time I go in there. and by the way, if the space you're hiding in is too small for the smallest lock and lock, you could try a matchsafe, or better yet, find a bigger hiding place!!

Ooooh love the state park challenge idea. Maybe I'll make one of those. One way to find lists for challenge caches in your state is to look up a challenge cache, and look under it's bookmark section. Anyone creating a bookmark list for it should have it there. We've got a different type of Baker's challenge here. It's where you have a one cache day, a two cache day, a three cache day, all the way up to 13. The trick is that you have to have at least one mystery or multi cache on each of those days. that one has gotten me doing more mystery and puzzle caches. We've got a SEattle blackout cache. Actuall two. One is for the traditionals: over 600 caches. I think six people have gotten this one. The other is for the non-traditionals (mystery, multi's etc.). Five people have gotten that one. At least one person has gotten both for a total Seattle blackout. The tough part of this, toughest part I should say, as there are a lot of tough parts about it, is that you have to complete all the caches as of one given day. New caches spring up daily. Then there's a "know your local cacher" challenge, where you find 3 caches (one of each type) by 10 different local cachers, your choice.

I'm afraid I'm in on the thread owner on this one. I live in the pacific northwest and i have seen MANY areas trashed by geocachers. How do i know it was geocachers who have done the work? One park, really nice huge wooded park, had two prime examples. We walked for over a half hour through perfect wooded areas. No damage. Just nice wooded park. Then all of a sudden, when my GPS said within 20 feet, the park became trashed. Really bad. All the ferns were beaten down, ground bare, plants broken, the whole area trampled badly. This cache was not at it's posted coordinates, but the trashing was. We went to the next cache. Same thing. Nice wooded park, the cache was about 80 feet off from coordinates, worse this time. The whole area right at ground zero was TRASHED. plants distroyed. For about a 50 foot radius around ground zero. This spot was way off the regular path, so the odds of someone just showing up to ground zero who was not a geocachers was rare to begin with, but then for them to trash a nice pefect radius around ground zero and not the rest of the park, in this out of the way spot, way off of the path, no, I dont buy it. I wrote to both cache owners. One shut down her cache right away (although I did not ask her to do that, just asked for her to update coordinates and tell people they didn't need to step off the path). The other guy was quite belligerent, and only in time did he finally decide to update the coordinates, but never provided a clue. I actually came across some kids IN THE ACT OF GEOTRASHING. I was very new to the game and didn't know how to deal with it. Now I would. It was within my first 20 caches or so. I did get them to stop though. I did confirm that they were indeed geocaching. they were teenagers, who had sticks and were tearing all foilage from all the plants in the area. Really beating the place up bad. This one had a clear clue leading right to where the cache was, they just didn't bother to read it. I showed them the cache and they left. Here in the woods I see this kind of thing all the time. The woods will be pristine right until you get to ground zero, even if ground zero is way off the path. Suddenly, there will be a trashed zone in about a 50 ft. radius around ground zero. Happens all the time here. Mainly the problems are the caches without clues. Actually it has been every time except that once with those kids that there has been no clue. I would love to see reviewers be more specific about including clues in sensitive areas. It's really necessary. The people who hide caches in the woods have GPS's that are bouncing around because of the trees, then the finders are having the same problem. Once I had about a 150 foot radius to search. There are hundreds of possible hiding places in the woods in a space that large. SO often we've had to put our GPS's away and just go by the clue in the woods. If there is no clue it can get nuts. That's where we see the trashing. You guys may question, but it is happening out there, and it is, and will continue to get geocaching thrown out of parks.

THe concentrator cache at Monte Cristo has been moved!! Thanks to whoever made the move!!!

If all of the geocachers in the area got together and wrote in it might mean something to them. Don't tell me no one cares? addresses of the parks 132nd Square, 13159 132nd Ave. N.E., Kirkland WA 98034 Arbor Lake, S. 124th St. and 4th Ave. S., Seattle WA 98168 Bingamon Pond, S. 284th Place and 37th Ave. S., Federal Way WA 98003 Boulevard Lane Park, 127th Place S.E. and S.E. 188th Place, Kent WA 98058 Bridle Crest Trail, N.E. 60th St. and 132nd Ave. N.E. to N.E. 60th St. and West Lake Sammamish Parkway, Redmond WA 98052 Bryn Mawr Park, 118th St. and 80th Ave. S., Renton WA 98059 Camelot Park, 294 45th Place S., Federal Way WA 98001 East Norway Hill, N.E. 154th St. and 119th Ave. N.E., Bothell WA 98034 Edith Moulton Park, 108th Ave. N.E. and N.E. 137th St., Kirkland WA 98034 Evergreen Athletic Fields, 606 S.W. 116th St., Seattle WA 98168 Five Mile Lake Park, 36429 44th Ave. S., Auburn WA 98001 Green Tree Park, 120th Ave. S.E. and S.E. 216th St., Kent WA 98058 Hamm Creek Natural Area, 17th Ave. S. and S. 103rd Road St., Seattle WA 98168 Hazel Valley Park, 2nd Ave. S.W. and 126th St., Seattle WA 98146 Hilltop Park, S. 128th and 26th Ave. S., Seattle WA 98168 Juanita Heights Park, N.E. 124th St. and 89th Place N.E., Kirkland WA 98034 Kingsgate, 116th Ave. N.E. at N.E. 140th, Kingsgate WA 98034 Klahanie Park, 25000 S.E. Klahanie Blvd., Issaquah WA 98027 Lake Geneva Park, 46th Ave. S. and 344th St., Federal Way WA 98001 Lakewood Park, 11050 10th Ave. S.W., Seattle WA 98146 Maplewood Heights, 168th Ave. S.E. and S.E. 140th St., Renton WA 98059 Maplewood Park, S.E. 138th St. and 144th Ave. S.E., Renton WA 98059 May Creek Park, N.E. 31St. St. and Jones Ave. N.E., Renton WA 98056 North Green River Park, Green River Road S. and S.E. 268th, Kent WA 98031 North Meridian Park, S.E. 231St. and 120th Ave. S.E., Kent WA 98058 North Shorewood Park, S.W. 102nd St. and 24th Ave. S.W., Seattle WA 98146 Park Orchard Park, 11058 S.E. 230th St., Kent WA 98058 Puget Sound Park, 1st Ave. S. and 126th St. S.W., Seattle WA 98146 Renton Park, 130th Place S.E. and S.E. 172nd, Renton WA 98058 Salmon Creek Park, S.W. 118th and 8th Ave. S.W., Burien WA 98146 Sierra Heights/Honey Dew, S.E. 100th St. and 128th S.E., Renton WA 98059 Site #1 Duwamish, 2802 S. 112th St., Tukwila WA 98112 Skyway Park, S. 120th Place and 70th Place S., Seattle WA 98178 South County Ballfields, S. 358th St. and Military Road S., Auburn WA 98001 Southern Heights, S. 120th St. and 14th Ave. S., Seattle WA 98168 Sunset Playfield, 18th Ave. S. and 136th St., Seatac WA 98168 White Center Heights, S.W. 102nd St. and 7th Ave. S.W., Seattle WA 98146 White Center Pond Natural Area, 102nd Street S.W. and 12th Avenue S.W., Burien WA 98146 Windsor Vista, N.E. 141St. St. and 111th Ave. N.E., Kingsgate WA 98034

These Puget Sound area Parks are up for closure to help with the buget deficit. Anyone know who we can contact to stop this? I'd be willing to bet almost every park here has caches in it. Let's get a "letter writing" thing going here (ie. e-mail or call in somewhere ) to stop this from happening! http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/loca...ebparks17m.html 132nd Square Park Arbor Lake Park Bingaman Pond Natural Area Boulevard Lane Park Bridle Crest Trail Bryn Mawr Park Camelot Park East Norway Hill Park Edith Moulton Park Evergreen Athletic Field Five Mile Lake Park Green Tree Park Hamm Creek Natural Area Hazel Valley Park Hilltop Park Juanita Heights Park Kingsgate Park Klahanie Park Lake Geneva Park Lakewood Park Maplewood Heights Park Maplewood Park May Creek Park North Green River Park North Meridian Park North Shorewood Park Park Orchard Park Puget Sound Park Renton Park Salmon Creek Park Sierra Heights Park Site Number 1 Duwamish Skyway Park South County Ballfields Southern Heights Sunset Playfield White Center Heights Park White Center Pond Natural Area Windsor Vista Park

http://www.mygeocachingprofile.com/aboutthissite.aspx this is another one I've been looking at. Looking for others to compare it to. This one has a great chart for seeing how challenging the caches you've done are. It also is putting into it's statistics a chart on how far you've gotten on your Delorme Challenge for your state. Only it doesn't have all the states in there yet for that challenge. I asked them when they'll have WA state, and they said they are putting them up in the order people request them, so I'm still some six weeks out. But they are working on it. Until then the other stats look pretty good.

I see that you don't use this on your page. Do you know anyone who does so I can see what it looks like?

Anyone else out there? Lots of views on this thread, but few postings. Does that mean everyone wants to know, but no one has the answer? I'd like to get more opinions with more alternatives....

Here in WA State we've got 33 challenge caches that are currently listed on the bookmark list for challenge caches: http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...15-f4cffc58cd00 We've got your standard DeLorme challenge cache where you have to get a cache from each page of the Delorme map book. I know many states have this one, as well as a challenge cache where you have to get one from each county in the state. I think our toughest is the Well Rounded Cacher, Fizzy Challenge. In this cache you have to get at least one of each type of cache, such as for traditionals, you need to get a 1/1 a 1.5/1 a 2/1 a 2.5/1 (the numbers being the difficulty rating and the terrain rating), through all possible combinations for all cache types. You need to find 81 specific types of caches to fulfil the requirement to log this cache. Looks like a whole six people have done that one!! And you thought you had to do a lot of work to log a multi!!! The WA state history challenge cache is particularly interesting to me. In that challenge, you find the oldest caches in existence in the state. Great logs from the people finding that one!!! They all talk about quite the adventure in this one. People who placed the early caches had different ideas on where and how to hide their caches. No Lamp post micros here. No micros at all. So now you won't complain about that three point multi cache for one little smiley!! What challenge caches do other states have out there?

Here in WA state we've got a challenge cache, that is a 65 day streak http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...d2-f332d0b033de 37 hearty souls have completed this challenge. And in exchange, you get a 5 star difficulty rating to use for your Fizzy Well-rounded cacher challenge, which I doubt I will EVER get. (that one is you have to get every level of every type of cache, such as: for a traditional cache you have to get a 1/1 a 1/2 1/3 etc.) See my new posting on challenge caches for details on that one

I think it's more than just what is controversal here. You're still trying to make it into people taking sides. I think anything political of any nature does not belong here. I think it does not have to invite controversy. Anything political, or religious, or anything similar. This is a game. It is meant to include all people, no matter what backgrounds. Does it push an agenda, is not the question so much as, "is it political?" means it doesn't belong here. (although it goes without saying if it pushes an agenda it's out) I even don't like it when people put their political agenda's in their forum signatures. I think that's very inappropriate too. This is supposed to be fun. Keep it light. I'm not even particularly in favor of caches in honor of people. there is a time and a place for that. That's not light in the spirit of fun. So someone has this sad cache message about a lost loved one, and someone writes, "had a blast finding your cache!!" Not in the spirit of the game. I get heavy about politics and religion and lost loved ones and all the rest sometimes too. I just need a place to go to have fun that doesn't have all of that in it for a change. I don't want to visit a cache that's a downer. Think of this of how the olympics were supposed to be. A place where we can all meet beyond all of that. Where we can have fun together no matter what our political and religious and other persuasions.

Interesting thing about Cachestats is the way they create their database. If you log in at certain caches around the US you get on their site. If you never get to these caches you will never be listed. They are caches that they have figured out to be statistically high volume caches that the high volume cachers get to. I went to one such cache at about 250 caches, and have not been to one of these caches since then. So their statistics has me still at around 250 caches. Their site lists which caches they use so you can go to them if you want to be on their list. A "note" on those caches work too, so if you want to get updated on their list you can drop a bug or write a note and that will work. All of this is explained much better on their site. Just an interesting fact I thought.