kunarion

I do that all the time, mostly for puzzle caches but multi and bonus caches, too. I've never successfully found a cache by bypassing the stages like that, but I do try. If there's no Geochecker, my notes are valuable to at least double-check possible solutions. I've had some success with caches that have bad coordinates, when deducing where GZ actually is. I'd do the stages sometime, anyway. Probably bring my secret weapon: A Teammate -- who can do the math for me.

Yes, I have a notepad on a small clipboard. I need notes for travel bug info, clues and coordinates found in caches, maps and diagrams, puzzles, and of course what was in the container, or what I traded, or its condition. Once in a blue moon I use the clipboard as a cloaking device. A hard-bound book would be good for tough puzzles or cache series, where you need to write down lots of info, and may even use it weeks or months later, and most useful if you want an off-line journal. I never type notes into my Garmin Oregon, due to my incredibly fat fingers causing nothing but gibberish.

There's "Rite In The Rain", which is a "weatherproof" coated paper. The version I have is laser-printable, but a rollerball pen doesn't write on it well. And a plastic "Adventure Paper" called Teslin or Tyvex, which you can print with an inkjet, but pencil marks are very faint on that. Both stand up well in the wild, so I use scraps of either kind as emergency log sheets. I've seen one specialized "container" that has 6 square inches of "log sheet", and that's all there is. It's in the elements, so as a signature fades away, that newly available the spot gets signed. It perpetually "needs maintenance", but there always seems to be "one more" place to sign the log. If it were my cache, I'd have to find a better way.

To have muggles not notice the container as they pass by. I have coords set as good as possible, and hints that should narrow it down pretty well. My hides tend to be much harder for less experienced cachers than I expected, much too easy for experienced.

I agree. And I don't care.

If I basically have all the useful info to at least find the thing, I'm happy. One of my first two cache hides has all kinds of info about where to look (and how to avoid ending up in the swamp, since the container's on dry land), and the other has a silly story that fills the page. My recent cache GC274MB has pretty much nothing in the description. The place speaks for itself, and I spent over a month tweaking the container. You may not fully understand the cache theme til you find it. As with others, I didn't want to give away the hide with too much info (this one's supposed to keep you guessing). I also feel for the poor paperless souls like myself, who had to slog through my other more wordy cache descriptions. As with most other aspects of Geocaching, there's a balance. I don't want people going overboard with all the history (often just cut-n-pasting from WikiPedia), and don't even need much of an explanation of why the container's in this particular spot. Like you, I often try to gauge the quality of a cache by reading the cache page, but also take recent logs into account, among other things.

If you click "view map" (in the cache coordinates box), a big map with all the controls comes up in a new window. It even saves having to scroll down to get to the map. I have no idea why it changed, but "view map" bypasses any need for the old map. The lost map is a non-issue. Go ahead and bring it up if you like, though. One feature I've never understood is the tiny map in the upper right corner of a cache page. It serves no purpose, except that you occasionally may see a recognizable town name. I do marvel at the features that get killed around here, and the less useful stuff that remains. But I know it's all part of the service.

"Hike back up there and check on the container, occasionally."

Lately, all I ever find are happy-meals.

You can make a "Discovered It" log or a "note". If I had a static-cling TB for my car, it would be mainly a little sign to let others know I'm a Geocacher, and though I'd encourage you to do a log anyway, that's totally optional.

When you make a "Discovered It" log, the Travel Bug or coin stays where it is. That's how you should log a car's static-cling decal Travel Bug. You can select other actions for regular Travel Bugs such as "retrieve", so you can later place it into another cache. But for a car, you "discover" it. You can take pictures, but don't post a picture that has a tracking number in view (unless it's illegible in the photo).

If this were set up as a Multi Cache, you must do all the stages, but only get a find after signing the log at the final. So the advantage of the Bonus Cache setup is you get a smiley for each cache in the series. I've done part of a series where the Bonus Cache coordinates seem to have changed, and there are two conflicting sets of coordinates in a couple of its child caches (one's on the lid, the other's on the cache note, both have been crossed out), and one cache has no coords. Since you don't need to do all the caches, and the Bonus isn't found very often, the Cache Owner might not even know if there's an issue that makes it impossible to find the Bonus. The advantage of a Multi is people may log problems they encounter at any stage, right there on its cache page. A disadvantage of a Multi is many people filter to remove it from their searches. With less feedback, Cache Owner may have to be more diligent on maintaining a Bonus Cache than they would for a Multi. So, yes, some would be better than others. I do have a couple of personal caches to test things and to deliver items to people, but only provide coords to friends directly via email.

Heat it, if you're gluing items that won't be damaged by heat. The last time I had some finicky epoxy, I placed the bison tube above a night light. It cured in a few hours. When heated, some epoxies can get more fluid at first, may not be a big deal in your tackiness situation. You definitely should be sure it's cured before placing.

Imagine what they could do, with animatronics, and other cool things they could build for people to find (“Pirates”, anyone?). This would require extra space for caching (space is at a premium in such parks), and they'd have to provide their own GPX info, since it would certainly not be part of Geocaching/Groundspeak -- you won't get a cache “find” credit here. But I also imagined the long lines. Yeah, probably you wait in line for 2 hours for your turn to cache. That ride would of course be very popular.

As long as you don't have to dig to bury the container, it's fine to hide it with surrounding leaves, bark, twigs, etc. And outdoors, it's bound to get covered better and better by nature, so even if the CO intended it to be in plain view, it could be under a pile of leaves.

If you want to mention specific info about a hide, do a "Send Message" from the Cache Owner's profile page (about the bright red lid, etc.). You can also do a log on the cache page, but be more general about the problem: "the container was quite visible from a distance", or whatever. Yes, if there are a lot of logs like that, the owner may decide to address it. Sometimes, a container is deliberately made easy to spot. It depends on things like the location, or the number and nosiness of muggles.

I had that exact same dream! Tried it just now, and I can add a trackable to a cache without typing a code. But to retrieve my own trackable, I need to cut & paste the tracking number. I'd swear that I didn't used to have to do that. Until I read this thread, I thought I simply misremembered. Still do.

I was surprised to see that, too. But the "View Map" link (just below the coordinates) works fine, so I'll just use that.

There's not much you can do after placing them into the wild. I've tried to cut costs where possible, and then only placed a small number of TBs and coins. My interest is watching how far they may go before they stall or vanish. Looks like most don't get very far.

I have an Oregon 550T (which I upgraded from the 450), a cache teammate has the 60CSx. I marvel at the accuracy of his 60CSx, and he's often surprised that I have all the cache info at hand when needed. The Oregon's screen can seem a little dark indoors, so you have to use the backlight -- and then you need to remember to turn the light off when not needed, to save batteries. I found some setup info online that removes the screen gradients, and has lines instead, which improves visibility of the screen data. In sunlight, the screen looks pretty good. This one has all the bells-and-whistles, more stuff than you'll ever use. Being one of the worst cachers on the planet, I need all the help I can get. I'm spoiled by the Oregon's touchscreen, too. But the 60CSx is time-tested, and quite a bargain.

hehe!

Not pets. I recently re-named my cat after a dragon. And actually it's a neighbor's cat who already had a perfectly good name. But I named my GPS "GyPSy".

While I like the idea of reminding people to be aware of issues with various containers, a prohibition is a bad idea. If taken to extremes (does that ever happen? ), it could even eliminate existing caches that are now a banned style. A big part of the design of a cache is weighing the pros and cons of potential containers. With each hide, there is the perfect container for it. And maybe in only one place on earth, a fake electrical box next to a real electrical box will be perfect.

Ammo cans are unacceptable, of course. Bison tubes are designed to look like little hand grenades, don't use those. No lock-n-locks or other suspiciously-sized packages, either. Always use the container that people love the most: the 35mm film canister. It's perfect.

I'd swear you need different people "in charge" in New York state townships. Seems like a bunch of little Napoleon wannabes.