nitrosheep

Archer, I have to agree with the log you posted. It's definitely not going to be a 1/1 unless you live on the island... and as far as specialized equipment goes, I'm pretty sure boat / airplane would constitute as specialized equipment in this case! It sure can't be too much fun maintaining a cache that no one visits, though.

I'm 19, boyfriend cacher will be 24 tomorrow.

I used to lurk a lot, but lately I've been trying to get myself more familiar with all the others here that enjoy this sport. My boyfriend and I started caching last May, and we took the winter off because we hate snow. Now the weather is nice again, so we're going out Sundays mostly to do some caching here and there. But, as far as message forums go, I hate it when people start flaming and arguing about stupid things. Otherwise, these boards are nice to find tips and other info... and it's fun to just reach out and connect with other cachers about a wide variety of things, not just Geocaching itself, in the Off Topic forum too.

We had a nice find while searching for a micro this past weekend... two used condoms inside each other dangling from a branch... ewwww. I would have CITO'd it, but I wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole.

Interesting find here. Two used condoms inside each other, blowing in the breeze halfway up the tree. Ugh.

Hmmm... a digital camera taking pictures of wildlife might be more convincing than talking on your cell phone in the middle of the woods!

Not to mention a messy situation getting a concealed weapons permit and all... Maybe a gun is a little extreme, but pepper spray, a wooden walking stick, or a burly boyfriend. Being a 19 year old girl myself, I would definitely not go caching alone. I hope those cachers who do go out alone keep a good head about themselves and / or carry protection. Especially the ladies.

Well, did he sign the log book and put it back?

I agree with posts about caching armed. It can be a sick, sad world and whether you're in a popular public place or backwoods middle of nowhere, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm thinking this guy had a mental problem, or like mentioned, he may have been protecting something "cooking" or "growing" in the area the daughters were heading for!

I have never even thought of using the GPS as a "phone" to elude muggles, but that is a great idea and I'll be using it from now on!!!

Hey Bikamper - I've had the experience like you where you get all the way to the cache and realize that what you brought to trade was left in the car!! My boyfriend and I had this happen during one of our first cache finds. We had a baggie of trinkets to trade, but had left them in the car about a mile away. So, instead of going all the way back and forth again, we just traded what we did have on us - a $10 bill! The next cacher probably got a nice surprise, and that cache find was more expensive than most, but I always take something from a cache with items to trade, and I would never take something without leaving something in return!

I wanted to make my first hide in my city (the first one in the city, too), since we're kind of redneck-ish and most people don't even know what a GPS is around here, and also since the nearest cache in a ways away in another city. So I made a nice cache and placed it near a park, but I purposely didn't make it too hard. I hope people won't think it's one of the lame "drive-by" caches, but I was hoping that by making it somewhat easy, I could bring more cachers into the city and spark some interest in my area. I'm working on a couple more caches to hide in this area, and I'm going to make those harder ones. I just wanted to start out easy, then work up the difficulty as I get used to what it takes to keep a cache running. So far so good! And it feels great to be the link in the cache chain surrounding, but excluding, my city. I would encourage people to place and keep up with at least one cache, no matter how many caches they find or what their cache hide to find ratio is, because it's fun to hear from all the people who get as much fun out of finding your cache as you get from finding other caches.

In my town, Sturgis, MI, there were no caches within 8.2 direct miles, and they were located in another town. So, I took this opportunity to plant the very first cache in my city. I'm working on more caches in my area so when the next person in Sturgis decides to stumble upon the Geocaching sport, at least they can start hunting close to home!

Hi, I'm a female cacher too. I originally saw a story about Geocaching on the news and actually had a dream about it that night. I figured that was a good sign that it could become my next hobby, so I bought a GPS that weekend. Been at it for a couple weeks now, and it's tons of fun. Oh yeah, I'm not a redhead either, naturally crap-tacular brown.

Geocaching+female+pea-size bladder=a lot of down-time! My boyfriend is constantly complaining that I have to go every 5 minutes while out on the trail of a cache. I'm like a dog, I think, because whenever we start getting close to the cache, I guess my nerves act up and I have to pee. It never fails. We have started carrying that biodegradeable (spelling?) environmentally friendly TP and making sure to get rid of any used pieces far far from the trail and caches!

So funny I should stumble on this thread- I actually am in the process of waiting for my boyfriend to get out of work right now to take me with his spare set to my car which I locked myself out of this morning. Bad luck!

Hi! I'm a newbie cacher, and I just bought my first GPS yesterday. Since then I've done 5 caches... Anyway, I don't mean to fuel the war on Magellan vs. Garmin, but I'll tell you what happened to me: I first went to the store, after doing enough research online to figure out which unit I wanted (Garmin Legend). Without ANY previous knowledge about GPS (and hardly even knowing how they worked, just simply wanting to go on the hunt for caches), I got the impression that Garmins were the more user-friendly, functional units on the market. When we got to the store, they were out of Legends, but instead had a Garmin Rino... which I thought was pretty cool with a radio and all, so I bought that one. After using it during an hour drive to another city (and getting lost!), I decided I definitely needed a GPS with a built in basemap. I took my Rino back to the store to exchange for something with a basemap system. My only option in the price range was a Magellan Sport Trak. We went on our first cache hunt with this Sport Trak, and before I got out of the car I knew I was ready to take it back to the store. First of all, I hated the way it looked. It looks too professional for me. I like the bright yellow of the Rino better. I know looks are nothing, but it was simply the first thing I noticed that I didn't like. The Magellan was just too technical for me. When I first started playing with the Rino, I took it out of the box and immediately figured out most every feature without even cracking open the owners manual. With the Magellan, I had to read the owners manual just to figure out which buttons did what. Then, while out on the cache, I got great reception from all the satellites... too bad they told me I was in China!!! Standing in Michigan, I was being given coordinates and maps from the other side of the world. I turned it off, then on again and again, but I was still in China. I was frustrated enough with it to mess aroud any more. I got back in the car, back to the store, and got my Rino back. I've grown to like it now, basemaps or not. I won't ever try a Magellan again! Freq_03