garyo1954

"Found it" and "I signed the log" have different meanings. Of course the rules clearly state part of finding is a requirement to sign the log. I can also see losing your pen or pencil on some hunts; I can see a pen quit at the wrong time; so I keep one pocket in my backpack for pens and pencils. Nothing but pens and pencils. And I always take a picture of the signed log. The other day I picked up two nearby caches taking pictures as normal. But when I got home, they appeared to be identical. I didn't upload either since I couldn't be sure which cache went to which picture. And wondered if I had taken pictures of both. Nobody mentions it but pictures help COs see who is signing as well. So they serve a dual purpose. This evening I signed a log 11-2-19 (realizing later it is the 3rd). But check boxes would become a default option, where a picture will always be worth a thousand words (+/- a day). Either way it doesn't matter to me. If I'm going to the trouble of finding it, I'm going to sign it one way or another.

Welcome to Texas! Yes you can use your phone with the Geocaching App from play store or whatever its called on your phone. In my part of East Texas, before the turn of the decade, we'd get dropouts standing in the driveway even though the tower is located about a mile and half away. Thankfully that is a resolved issue (we hope). Didn't have the GPS the other night so Nicole grabbed the phone, and set out to find a nearby cache while I drove. We were within 13 feet when the message popped up "you have arrived." First for me to learn the app did that. So yes, the phone will work fine, depending on the area you are caching. I still find the GPS simpler (I'm not phone savvy). On that note you don't need a $500 handheld GPS to enjoy geocaching. Etrex20 or Etrex30 is about $150 on Amazon. You got questions. We got answers (well, somebody here got answers). G

Our area had an wonderful little bed and breakfast......https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3ZBW5 As you see in the logs someone cut the lock. As far as the setup, it was a 12" by 12" waterproof electrical box attached about 4' up a light post. So for all practical purposes it was hidden in plain sight. A combination is not going to stop a person who can't stand not knowing what's behind that lock. You could attach box to a tree with 12 inch spikes, Gorilla glue, and a chain and some of the more curious would come along with a chainsaw and take the whole tree if necessary! For that reason, I would proffer your setup and camouflage is more important than the combination. As far as a combination, you might consider using a combination lock with alpha characters (alphabet) to a spell word obtained by solving clues in the description?

Thankfully they replaced it for others to enjoy! And you didn't get a NM note! Win/Win right there!

You too K13! I was born and raised on the coast, just haven't been back since 2005. There are plenty of caches there. The Brazoria County Historical Museum maintains several. And they have a 100 and 200 cache challenge. Can't find anything on a group in that area after 2010....... Made a couple of contacts here so there is hope......

Hello guys.......I'm back! Don't know where to put this, but I'll throw it out there and let the mods decide. I posted about geocaching on a Facebook page about things to do in Brazoria County Texas. The local newspaper contact me wanting to do an article. Problem: I don't live in Brazoria County Texas. So, please, if any of you live in Brazoria County, and would be willing to do an interview, contact me and I'll give you the contact information. It would be great if we could find a group in that are who would help as well! Thanks!

If you like woodwork, they can be fun. Assuming its a K40 laser, there are a few groups on Facebook that will help get you set up and running. Bring a grain of salt. Most will offer advice on upgrades you should buy before you do any cutting. I'm an oddball. I bought the laser after home building and running CNC router table (since 2011). I've seen people run their stock table for years without problems and people who buy a laser, spend $1500 on improvements and give it all away for $900. They never get the idea its not what you have to work with, its the work you can do with what you have. For the fun of it, (and to keep this geocache related)... Here's a 100mm, 8 ring cryptex, completely made with my laser with cedar and poplar.

Man! You must have 9000 caches in NW Houston to choose from! Are there not any groups that have meetups in that area?

I'll agree with you. In some areas caches is in good health with few problems, floating right along. In other areas, it is pretty much hitting the rocks, taking on water, and may well sink, if it hasn't already. And there is the Sargasso sea where nothing is happening. The local area is our first exposure to caching and often paints our picture of overall game. With a bad experience the picture is just a bad doodle; a good experience leaves an awesome doodle (a Picasso doodle). I pray that people aren't inherently bad, but only circumstances and misinterpretation make it seem so. Unfortunately, we have to accept there are a share who cheat because, "Everyone else is doing it....."

We're on the same page. I suspect that what happened was... He pulls up, sees the monument, base and the only thing sitting on it and hits the FOUND button. Maybe he did look and didn't find it and forgot to change it. I confess to doing the same without intent, being new to using a GPSr. And I don't even know of you can change a Found to a DNF in a GPSr??? But I hand log everything in any event which is much easier on me since I'm just out for the exercise and fresh air forgetting all about numbers. I dare say, after three trips, I could take Inspector Gadget out with no result. I say that with some confidence after picking up every nail, screw and bit of material, kicking and moving rocks, running my hand over, under, around, and in every crevice and crack that might hide a log. I say that after trying to contact the owner and getting no response. And a followup with the last person to have located another of his caches revealed the owner had allowed that a certain cache was muggled and he would not be replacing it (although that cache is listed as active as of this posting). On the local level, one missing cache seems like nothing, but being conservative if there is 1 missing in every county in the US it comes to 3007. What if it's 1 of 100 missing? That's 25,000 missing. It might be the area I live in, but sadly, I just don't see this rosy picture of a fun outdoor activity happening here. What I see is people abandoning their caches, leaving the game, and expecting the community to continue to oversee their living legacy. Or they could care less if the cache is there tomorrow.

You're doing fine. Exactly what I did when I started a month ago. I don't remember the post or article, but there is one that suggests you put a watch on a cache you didn't find and see what happens. I did. I visited a cache twice and found nothing. Two days after my visit a guy crisscrossing Texas found 307 caches, including that one. 307 logs all the same, "Parked in a convenient location, made the short walk over and found it quickly." The burnt part is that "short walk." It's 12 foot from the parking spot to the base of the monument. That's less of a walk than most people make from their bedroom to the kitchen! Yeah, that raised my suspicions and I checked his log and his route. That he logged 1340 miles in 4 days driving is totally believable except, that 1340 miles is as the crow flies. This person is taking detours, retracing their route, crossing over highways, traveling state roads, and backroads, with means the actual mileage would be closer to 1700. Logging 75 caches a day and stopping to sleep each night. I didn't find a single DNF log even though he would be within a mile (or less) of caches I know are in play. Neither did he log the two most popular caches in this area. I got the impression that he pulled up, made the decision, "Yeah, that will be easy to find" and logged it found. To give him credit, I concluded it was a mislog. With everything happening, it would be virtually impossible to remember every cache you find and did not find in that short, hurried time frame. So I went back the third time and located small smashed bit of black plastic that might have been a nano at one time but today is nothing more than bits and pieces of days gone by. The owner of this particular cache is no longer active and doesn't respond. So it is what it is. Some people set lofty goals and the achievement of that goal is Job #1. Quantity comes before quality. And as long as the goal is achieved they are happy. But don't be afraid to speak out on it. Databases don't get updated, necessary changes don't get made, and things continue to fall apart unless you, or I, or someone, does.

Never be the first one there.....maybe?

This^^^^^ Too many unknowns to draw any conclusions. Is the cache under the bridge, at the foot of the bridge? Is there a walkway/bicycle path on the bridge?

Just my two cents...... I'd never allow anyone any information from my phone, even if all they ask is a picture. That sounds suspiciously like they were hoping you would add 2+2 and offer to send it to them, giving them your phone number in the process. I'd offer to write down all the information they wanted and give them the address for Geocaching.com, allowing them to obtain whatever they desired. Somewhere in that process I'd mention, "Give me a few minutes and I'll show you what I'm looking for." At which point if he chooses to bring in a homeowners representative or the police, I'd welcome a third party for my own safety.

Clipboard and tape measure. I take a lot of pictures so........crime scene tape?

Okay, okay, I'll get one more cache tomorrow and pick up Saturn. But I'm not getting anywhere near Uranus!

These didn't last, but might give you some ideas of the problems involved....... GCEE43 GCHPJ9 GCKC4N GCHZZ7 GCPFQY GCQD1G

Death by drowning might be considered a liability. Visibility would always be a problem. "Here’s the straight scoop folks: First of all, when you place objects on the bottom of the ocean, rivers or lakes, you run the very real risk that currents and turbidity will deposit debris and sediments over the top of the object. Of course this is in addition to the host of marine organisms that will grow on any underwater surface, thereby camouflaging the object further and making it very difficult to re-locate even when there is good underwater visibility. What is ‘good’ visibility? Well, in open water that is away from the shore (where turbidity is always higher due to the action of the water near shore) good visibility might be about 50 feet in places offshore around Florida, etc. That’s not to say that I haven’t had better; I have had visibility on dives well in excess of that. However, when it comes to visibility near shore in the ocean, lakes or rivers, ‘good’ visibility may only be 12-20 feet, and average visibility would be less. Secondly; speaking of visibility, it can vary greatly from day to day. Underwater visibility is a function of how much light is in the sky and the water turbidity (suspended particles). Things like rain and wind as well as plankton/algae blooms can quickly affect water clarity and the visibility. There are times when visibility can be as low as one-foot, and having low visibility is not an uncommon situation… Murphy’s Law comes to mind." http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2013/11/04/underwater-caches-great-idea-prepping-disaster/

Or..... It could be a local cache not listed/registered here. You might find it listed on another site.

Same here. I was putting out little boxes with necklaces and whatnot, and posting on a rock painting group when someone pointed out geocaching. Its not adding up to what the perception conveyed. It may have been better back between 2010 - 2015, but sadly enough, it doesn't live up to its potential here. Those are gorgeous! I'd love to find treasure like that!

Okay along those lines, I'll go wayyyyyyyy out on the edge of the limb and let everybody with chain saw start cutting the tree down. IMHO, there should be some, "When a NM is logged, CO visit is required (within this time frame) or it will be deleted/disabled/removed cutoff time frame. Any CO who can't make a visit should make contact with a reviewer to disable cache until maintenance is performed. There will be no exceptions." That would clean up a lot of the abandoned waterlogged geo-garbage, with saturated logs, and rusting metal. (I already hear the hum of the chainsaws.)

At least look for the submarine first!

Not a problem. At least your response gave me the opportunity to explain my initial post.....LOL

I'll just be quiet from here on out and let yall bang your heads against whatever wall is available. The reason I asked that question was to get StefandD to respond. Apparently they didn't look at the link I posted because the guys who wrote is say (quote), "One of the issues with the Monterra is you cannot mount it as a removable drive." (unquote). If you can mount it as a removable drive, then you don't Garmin Express to update the caches. (It takes less time to replace a PQ on an Etrex 10 than to open Garmin Express.)

If you can see it as a removable drive than why do you need Garmin Express?