atmospherium

I just emailed a cache owner a few days ago about a puzzle cache. It was a math puzzle, and it looked like complete gibberish to me. I asked the owner for a hint; not a solution, just a clue as to what on earth I was looking at. His answer, "Algebra." Sadly, algebra and I are strangers in this world. I honestly have never even seen an algebra equation before. I suspect I won't be solving this one any time soon.

Seems to me that would fall under defacing property, and may get you hauled in for vandalism. I have no problem with caches in playgrounds, but I don't see any reason for placing them on or among the equipment itself. That stuff is there for kids to play on. Surely there are more suitable locations on the playground perimeter? Nearby trees, bleachers, fences? I sometimes carry a micro recorder for making field recordings. I've recorded the sounds of playgrounds, and always expected a squad car to pull up after a few minutes of lurking suspiciously. Geocaching will actually give me a more acceptable excuse for hanging about the playground than "tape recording the kids."

Done. 43 and determinedly immature for my age. It looks like the 30-something crowd is pulling ahead. C'mon my fellow almost-ready-for-that-mid-life-crisis cachers! We can't let these infants show us up. This is great that folks of all ages are active in geocaching. We're all hip and happenin'.

I think that would inspire me to practise a bit of CITO. Scoop it up, throw it away. Smile innocently and log a DNF.

I don't like the practise of having a special item for the FTF. As I learn more about the game, I'm discovering that in my local area it's always the same small group of cachers who get the FTFs. These folks obviously sleep in specially made catapults that launch them directly to a cache the very instant it goes active. Whoever lands first gets the prize. I have nothing against these chaps. Racing to be first is how they play the game. But I suppose I am a tad resentful that they get to saunter home with their swag bags bulging with cool DVDs and engraved coins and gift certificates and gold plated film canisters and who knows what all on a fairly regular basis, while us average drones who trudge off to the salt mines every day and go out caching in our spare time get to ooh and ahh over pen caps and soiled golf balls. I'm slowly planning my first hide, and when I place it the cache is going to contain absolutely nothing. At random intervals I will place neat items in the cache to reward the moms and pops who go out caching with their little ones on sunny Sunday afternoons after church. I think I should add that I don't take anything from the caches I find. Ok, yesterday I took a calculator, which was a cool item, and I actually needed one. But my usual practise is to leave a CD if there's room and take nothing. As I type this, I realise that what I don't like is the idea of rewarding the FTF over and above everybody else. I think the hunt and the find should be its own reward. I found a cache this past weekend that's been around since 2002. I don't know how many dozens or even hundreds of folks found it before me, but I was pleased with myself for finding it. I enjoyed the search and the woods and the trails and the peace of the outdoors. It was a gold plated moment, and I really think it was reward enough.

This is interesting to me. I've lived in Western New York State (Niagara County) all my life and I've never encountered a tick. And I've spent plenty of time hunting, fishing, hiking, etc. I didn't know there even were ticks in this area. I've never heard anyone even mention them, until I joined these forums recently. ARE there ticks in my neck of the woods, or are they only found further east? Should I now cower in terror at the thought of going outdoors, or just trip along merrily on my way as usual, oblivious to the lurking menace?

It helps to bring a really really small person along with you. I'm still a rookie, but I've found a few micros. And DNF a few, also. The difficulty varies, of course. I spent two days finding one, and spotted another within minutes. And there is one micro in an area where I eat my lunch that I look for nearly every day. No luck yet, but other cachers are logging it as an easy park n grab. What I've found so far are film canisters and hide-a-key things, tucked away in places not visible to the eye. You may have to search with your hands, or put that really really small person to work. Anyway, don't despair. You'll find them.

I like a joke as much as the next guy, especially if the joke is ON the next guy. But ebay is for buying and selling, not weird jokes. Oh, I know all about the really obvious ones like the guy that tried to auction his own hand. I laughed at that one. But this was a very unobvious joke, if joke it was. Judging by the spelling alone, I suspect it was either a clueless yokel or a frat boy. I would have like to seen the auction go a few more days, to see if he pulled the item with a smug "gotcha!", or if he really intended to make some easy beer money. Anyways, ebay is pretty much the last place I would look if I lost a cache.

Good catch!

Looking at the evidence, I wonder if the cache thief photoshopped portions of his own face onto this poor girl. The plot thickens, not to mention gets weirder. Either it's a really involved joke of some cerebral kind, or good authentic source material for one of those "You Might Be A Redneck If..." books.

I would not worry too much about what passers by might wonder if you are in a historic cemetery. Non-cachers visit the historic ones all the time for genealogy research. I belong to a site where people send requests for photos of stones in cemeteries around me and I know that a lot of non-cachers belong to the same site so folks are in them a lot more than some may think. This is a good point. In my genealogy research I've spent huge amounts of time in old cemeteries, slowly walking up and down the rows, reading every stone. I also conducted readings of two historic cemeteries, writing down every scrap of information on every marker on the grounds; which had me spend several days practically crawling through the cemetery for hours at a time with a clipboard and camera. Not once has anybody questioned my activities. Old cemeteries are great places to visit just for the fun of it. --- Edited to clarify that my signature is just a bit of morbid humour and has nothing whatsover to do with my cemetery activities. Whew.

Why doesn't Groundspeak just go ahead and make all their guidelines RULES. Then I could do something productive around the house instead of wasting my evenings giggling like a schoolgirl over threads like these. Seriously: ccoutts, if the cache is that important to you, go ahead with it. Set up the cache, create your web site and post the starting coords there. Use whatever acceptable means at your disposal to advertise the cache. Just don't publish it at geocaching.com. Groundspeak doesn't own the sport of geocaching. You can maintain an independent cache if you want to. Can't you?

I think everyone should be required to explain their user name. Most of them are pretty clever and/or have interesting stories behind them. atmospherium (always lower case) has been my online identity since I first discovered the internet 10 years ago. I'm a recording musician, and Atmospherium (with capital A because it's more important than me) is the title of one of my albums.

I lost my secret sign. I think I dropped it a few miles back in the woods. If another geocacher finds it, can they impersonate me and start logging parking lot micros under my username which I would otherwise never sully my lily-white collegiate hands with?

I like old cemeteries very much. I've spent many a peaceful Sunday afternoon walking the old grounds and reading the stones. I've found a few cemetery caches so far and enjoyed my visits in each one. There is a small, hidden cemetery not far from my house that was founded by my Gr-Gr-Gr-Grandfather in 1851. Eventually I would like to place a cache there. I think a non-trading cache that contained a written history of the burial ground and neighborhood would be pretty interesting. Quite honestly, I would not have any qualms about placing a very unobtrusive and tasteful cache within the perimeter of a suitably aged burial plot, if I myself was the owner of the plot.

OK, I've lurked long enough. Time to join the bickering fun. This opens up a whole new concept in geocaching. I'm new to the game, with only 28 finds so far, but give me time. Nevertheless, I'm willing to let all my finds go to the highest bidder. Want to give your numbers a quick boost? I accept PayPal. Maybe you're more interested in a long term deal? I'll provide you with a regular supply of finds for a very moderate fee, payable quarterly. Higher charges may apply for 5-stage multis and mathematical puzzle caches. I'm in New York, so here's an added incentive for you cachers in foreign climes. Do you yearn for that touch of international prestige? I'll send you an even dozen genuine Yankee finds in exchange for a week of shark fishing off the Australian coast or an evening of fly tying in swinging London with Emma Watson. You'll be the envy of all Upper Silesia. Read this unsolicited testimonial: "Sir. The Found logs you posted to my account are so beautifully written that I can hardly believe even now that I didn't drag myself out of the house and find the things myself. My smileys are stacking up nicely and I don't have to miss a single episode of House."