Periwinkle Jam

As an experienced geocacher, I wish you would log your DNFs. If you didn't find it, A the cache isn't there. B It is there and the owner didn't rate it properly or C As a novice, you took on a cache that was beyond your ability. But above all, a cache owner wants to know whats going on with his cache. The least someone who looks for it can do is to give the owner feedback. Its called courtesy. or D) I went for a walk and looked for a cache along the way, but ran out of time. Now if I thought anyone would benefit from knowing just how long my lunch hour is, or whether I only had 2 hours between the doctor's appointment and the soccer game, I would have a reason to post it. However, if (as I mentioned)I notify the cache owner if I made a thorough search and came up empty, I think that is sufficient enough to meet your definition of 'courtesy'. Obviously, this is a touchy subject for some on both sides of the issue, so I'll know to stay out of this one in the future.

As a relatively inexperienced geocacher, I have not logged any DNF's. I know some folks use DNF's as an indicator of a problem and I wouldn't want my lack of ability to find the darn thing to be the thing that scares off the next searcher. I do immediately put any DNF caches on my watch list. If I think there may be a problem or if I am really stuck, I may email the cache owner. Logging the fact that I gave up because I was short on time, it got dark, etc. benefits no one.

This has been a most interesting thread to read. I don't have a signature item, but I do like to leave the type of things I would enjoy swapping for and keeping. Hopefully another geocacher will come across it and feel the same way. If there are any 'I was here' cards, I wouldn't even consider taking it. I don't see that it would be mean anything to anyone except maybe the cache owner. A signature item that is unique and interesting would be a real treat to find, however.

I had the same problem my first time out with my Garmin Etrex Legend. The set up instructions that come with it suggest a position format of hddd.mm.mmm. I was very frustrated that when I arrived at the park according to the map the coords appeared to be way off. Once I switched it to hddd.mm.ss.s, it worked like a charm and walked right up to my cache.