atmospherium

Oh darn, I thought somebody found it.

Still unfound after a few days? Sounds like my neighborhood. Most of the active cachers live 25 miles south of here and usually don't bother driving up until there's a good-sized handful of new caches to find. But, having said that, most FTFs are within 24 hours. Somebody is nearly always willing to make the trip. I published 3 new caches on the same day recently, and the chap who came out and grabbed FTF on all 3 sent me a friendly email suggesting that it would be more fair to other cachers (and less tempting to FTF hounds like himself) if I staggered the publication of new hides by a few days. That never occured to me, but it seems like a good idea.

I don't log each and every DNF because it's depressing to see all those blue sad faces. It makes me feel like Charlie Brown when he misspelled beagle. There's enough sadness in the world without the added humiliation of logging 3 DNFs in a row on the same cache, only to have some whippersnapper trot out there the next day and log a find with a flippant, "Easy grab."

For the fun and adventure of exploring new places, hiking new trails, contributing to Dave Ulmer's carbon footprint, etc. I like the somewhat secretive "cloak and dagger' aspect of it, even though I do most of my caching in rural areas away from the public eye. I find it rather difficult to articulate "why" beyond the obvious "just for the fun of it". I guess that's enough of a reason.

Oh the huge manatee. I was going to chime in with my two cents worth, but decided this latest earth-shaking trauma wasn't worth that much. I'm going caching. In the bushes. Tonight. After dark.

The first cache I found was also the closest to home...just under 1 mile. That one has been active since 2003, and I think it's also the oldest cache within 12 miles or so. I have placed two caches that are technically closer to home, but they require a longer walk from further away.

A ladder is certainly "special equipment". I don't carry ladders in my back pocket nor in the trunk of my car. A 5 for that. If there is ANY possible way a cacher could reach the cache without any equipment at all, then 4.5. Otherwise you'll get nothing but complaints. Better to overrate than underate. ***DISCLIAMER*** The opinions give above are solely my own and are just as easily ignored as yours.

Thanks goodness for that! Ten Years events only come around once every...well, they only come around once. If some folks wanted to dash around and hit as many as they could, whose business is that but their own? There were four events within 60 miles of me, but I settled for attending one. Not being a social type, that was all the "meet and greet" I could handle. But I'm glad I went, and I'll certainly wander into other events down the road.

Quick answer - You can't dig a hole to bury a cache. Quick advice - Please take the time to thoroughly read and understand the guidelines. It will save you much trouble. Others will surely chime in with their own two cents.

TAR's post was pretty interesting. I'm the opposite in some ways. I'm obsessive about logging all my finds online, and in the exact order I found them. I did several caches this past Sunday before and after a 10 Years! event. When writing up my online logs later that night there was one cache that I simply couldn't remember if it was the last one I did before the event or the first one after. I racked my feeble memory and agonised over it for a half hour before deciding it didn't really matter in what order I logged it. We all roll different.

I have nothing pertinant to add to the discussion. Just wanted to say that I contributed to the carbon footprint today by driving 40 miles roundtrip to find a bucket stash, complete with can of beans! I enjoyed the hike to the cache, the drive not so much.

Dave, Dave, let's not be bitter. The good of geoaching far outweighs the bad, as previous posters stated. And, as also stated, geocachers are a very tiny little drop in a great big bucket. What we really should be working on is how to get all those freaking ATVs out of the woods.

High in the Rocky Mountains, in the arms of Emma Watson.

Some local FTF hounds live in their car with the engine running at all times. At least, I'm assuming they do. I can't imagine how they can be FTF on nearly every single new cache published within 20 miles otherwise. I managed a rare FTF early this morning. It helps that I'm currently the only active geocacher in the neighborhood. No competition gives me just the edge I need.

Today was my first long day of caching by bicycle. It wasn't exactly urban but it was a lot of fun and so much better than driving and parking and walking, driving and parking and walking, driving and parking and walking. Added 27 smileys to my collection and didn't burn up a tank of gas. I don't know if this will encourage me to do more urban caching, but I'm certainly going to be doing a lot more caching by bike. I have a hybrid model that I inherited from my father. He did a lot of long distance riding in his later years.

I confess that I had a Found It = Didn't Find It experience last summer. Here it is, complete with rant: And the follow-up: And the happy ending:

Yes, we Americans take our humour very seriously. If your jokes don't have us snorting milk out our nose, we're gonna be on your doorstep demanding to know the reason why. You notice I spelled humor "humour"? That's because I secretly wish I was British, or at least Australian.

I'm closing in on 500 finds, and micros give me fits every time. There's no such thing as an "easy grab" micro for me. But that regular hide in the woods? I can spot the pile of sticks, fallen log, hollow tree, unusually placed rock from miles away. A few days ago I was checking up on one of my woods caches, and I found two letterboxes. I didn't know they were out there; I just noticed something from a distance that didn't look exactly natural. Flipped over the flat rock/crossed sticks, and there they were. I felt pretty pleased with myself. But don't worry, it won't last. I'm going after a power trail of micros this weekend. Pray for me.

But first everyone please find a member of the younger generation and explain to them that immature, rude, arrogant, and disrespectful are not character traits to be proud of. Gently, and use small words. Txt if u nd 2

Kill all newbies. Or at least kill the term "newbie", since I don't like it. I don't have an opinion, but I did notice that a newcomer to the game found a bunch of caches this past weekend...and left "fresh dog treats" in each and every one of them. Hey, did I mention I found 22 caches on Saturday, and not one DNF? A New! World! Record! for me. It was fun.

My happy thought after a long day of caching: My feet are killing me, but I have 22 brand new happy smiley faces and no sad frowny faces.

Garmin. Yellow. Works. I'm such a lemming.

In the dark ages before I discovered geocaching (that is to say, during the 43 years before I discovered geocaching last year) I spent a great deal of time hiking and walking through woods, orchards and fields. I enjoyed making a game of being unseen. I would try to get from point A to point B a few miles away without anybody seeing me. This was partly for fun and partly because my favorite walking paths were mostly through private property. I still enjoy this "cloak and dagger" aspect of hiking through rural areas and have made it part of geocaching. I take a certain delight in slowly edging around a large tree while unsuspecting hikers walk by on the opposite side of the tree. So, you could say I enjoy avoiding muggles. Urban caching is a different story, and I've stated my feelings about that on other threads. I don't enjoy it so much.

I had a beagle named Mike, but he never read the Silmarillion. Oops, sorry, combined thread replies. My mother has made it perfectly clear that when the time comes, she wants us kids to put her in a home. And not one of our homes. She knows us too well. But I expect she'll outlast all of us. Not that this has anything to do with geocaching. I'm just disappointed that the world's most hazardous muggle hasn't really been arrested. He or she is still out there, on the loose, being hazardous.

Those pictures are priceless. These guys are caching in style! Just a thought: Don't bomb squads compare notes with each other? You'd think that by now the word has gotten around that a bunch of nerds are playing some idiot hide and seek game and these camo-taped containers in the middle of asphalt parking lots probably aren't bombs. Another thought: I wish they were bombs. Nothing would delight me more than to see every Walmart in the land go up in flames. Then maybe they'd bring back real stores.