icesailor
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Posts posted by icesailor
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If my religious beliefs made me so paranoid and psychotic as this "gub'ment" employee as to waste perfectly good tax-payer dollars over something so ridiculously stupid as someone's obvious and harmless spiritual ritual the night before, enough so as to report it and take 3 other tax-payer paid employees away from more important jobs instead of just cleaning it up like he should have done ... you can be d@mn sure I'd want that following me around in my records so I wouldn't be so amazingly stupid and paranoid and waste everyone's time and money like that ever again.
He got EXACTLY what he deserved. Every insecure ego-tripping brown-shirt that runs around using their religious beliefs to waste all our time and money should get exactly the same if not more. Fired without question.
That's kind of lame.
Burning candles in a park in FLA is sort of frowned on. Forest fires you know. The hated "clown" put out the still burning candles, carefully. Doing his job? His religious convictions were supposed by the origional poster.
Most poeple I know, don't go near things they instnctly fear (snakes, spiders, scary religious objects, etc.) because something tells them to be aware. Would you think it proper for someone to use an eternal flame candle as part of a cache in the forest somewhere? And all caches are outlawed?
I could care less if a group of people want to go out in the woods and run around naked in a circle and pray to whetever they feel like. I guess I draw the line at cutting the heads off live chickens and goats, (animal sacrifice) burning live candles in the woods (that's bad enough) but to leave them burning! And we won't even go to the issue of littering.
But you show yourself. You could give less for any government employee. In your eyes, they should all be rounded up and be carted off to the dump.
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Three coconuts and a dead chicken.
This wasn't in FL by any chance, was it? ('nuther funny story. Camped in a remote Everglades campground one night. Outside about 150 ft. away some people were holding a Voodoo ceremony. Doesn't phase me a bit. Next morning I spotted the ring of 20+ candles, broken coconuts, coins (not enough for even a cup of coffee), a circle of string, circle of salt. etc. (no dead chickens) I wanted them candles! (chickens for lunch too, but no luck) I went back to my camper to get something to carry all the candles in. In the meantime a Park Circus "oaf-ishul" showed up and found the site. He got all freaked out. Tried to put out the still-burning candles with his foot, carefully, so as not to get hexed or something. He got on his radio. Then left. I went there and thought I'd better get them dadgum candles before Park Circus does something with them. While at it I disappeared all the rest of the stuff to clean up the site. (I don't like litterers, religious or not.) Later he came back with an entourage of superiors. I watched from a distance. There was much shouting about the false report. The poor Park Circus guy was all freaked out because he thought he was witnessing real Voodoo, it all just vanished!! LOL I ran into him about 3 months later. I heard he almost lost his job. What a laugh that was! I love when psychotics are that wrapped up in their religious beliefs and it all falls apart in front of them.
p.s. Later, in the same area, I found my most favorite machete, far off the beaten paths. It only needed a little sanding for rust in spots. Still have it. Never found any human remains near it though.
I'm doubled over with laughter.
A "Park Circus 'oaf-ishul' " was doing his job as required an you find something that it was part of his job to report. You "interfere" with the subject and he gets in trouble and almost looses his job. I'm glad to see he was doing his job. Most Gub'ment employees do this. Maybe something was put in his personel file about false reporting that will follow him around as being a problem. Maybe it will some time in the future be enough to terminate him. Maybe something like this could happen to you. How would you feel if it did.
Actions have consequences. Sometimes our actions have serious adverse consequences on others.
I'm just rolling over with laughter. I hope that nothing as funny as this ever happens to me.
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Intentionally wrong soft coordinates to increase the evilness of the hide?
That's what came to my mind.
consistantly soft coords get their caches put in peoples ignore lists.
soft coords on a LPC doesn't make it any better, its just a lame hide
Consistantly soft/wrong make some say "Why Bother" at all.
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You sound like you collect factoids. Here's one for you/all.
When on the water at night and you are looking for a lighted bouy, you are within 1 mile of the bouy when you can see the reflection of the light in the water.
Without regard to your elevation above the water?
My elevation above the water isn't really part of the equation, Nor, does the height of the light. For example, the #17 bouy in Nantucket sound will show reflection when I am within 1 mile. Beyond that, I just see a light on a horizon I may not see. But if I see a reflection, I know that I am within a mile. It's just a rule of thumb I was taught. There is probably a rule for lights when you see them at night where you see the flash but not the light. The light is below the horizon but the glow shows above. It's something about "the dip" or is that the sun for using sun tables. Sankaty Head Light on Nantucket Island, MA will show a light below the horizon from over 50 miles to the East under the right conditions. But you won't see a reflection in the water when you see the light if you are 5 miles away.
I could probably find you more navigation factoids but I am in FLA for Christmas and all my Nav stuff is home in MA. With GPS on the water, I'll have to check the theory out with my GPS. I know that whenever I have traveled on the ferry, and I notice the light, it will reflect when we get close. Not before.
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7RXC, thanks for the pics of your compass, I see what you are talking about now. I can access the bottom of the rotating part on this compass, so doing the exact same thing you did will be simple.
You're welcome! I was going to take those at some point for a nav course I'm rewriting... Like to get it onto Powerpoint eventually, since I get tired of overhead projectors (old style). As you are finding, there is more to compasses than first meets the eye. You will soon find that you can use the mirror type to sight easier, but don't worry about that right now. My first Silva was similar in design to yours, no cover, no mirror and not even a declination scale... some of that is confusing to beginners... but really is useful in many ways you probably wouldn't think of. And that is just the compass. Wait until you get it figured out before getting something fancier. I just got that Type 26 in 2007, and a Suunto MC-2 a short while after that... I got that little Silva for and used since (till 2007) my eighth birthday.. same time I joined Cub Scouts. Shows there really wasn't a pressing need until I couldn't see thru the scratches to read it any more, at least easily!
fishgeek said a bit about the bush thinking required... the unmissable feature ( catching feature) is a good idea... something you can't miss... you can also use similar features that parallel you route... (handrails) to lighten up the navigating over long distances... ie. follow the railroad UNTIL... you reach some obvious point to make a change/recalculate... thats the stuff of orienteering and other forms of serious bush nav.
Look for the tricks of the trade like aiming off, how to detour, and picking objects to help bypass obstacles.
There is lots of that in many websites and books. Or find a knowledgable person (better yet several) and pick their brains... nobody knows every aspect of everything, so keep your brain engaged, also don't fall for the trap of practising errors... make sure you do it right.. that means trying things and getting the results checked.. caching can help with that... but try it in the open til you get it right. Speed comes with experience.
Edscott makes a good point on that... but it's the field sense (experience) that really helps... those long distance sea navigators use the knowledge that in many cases the destination island creates early afternoon cumulus and cu nimbus clouds as they warm up... 1 island one cloud... so arrive near by and wait, follow the cloud the rest of the way... gee a handrail or catching feature. Just don't arrive on a cloudy day!.
Got to run... something provoked me to start reworking a nav course.
Doug, Happy New Year!
Doug 7RXC,
You're a man of my own admiration. Ask questions. "The only stupid question is the one not asked". Learning is like a pyramid. There's lots to learn at the bottom. The closer you get to the top, the harder it is to find "The Pearls". Ask. Most are more than happy to share. Those that won't, probably had nothing to add anyway. Pick their brain.
That El Cheapo compass I got from EMS has a cover that raises up with a slit and a wire in it so it doesn't need a mirror. When you look at the wire through the slit, it is like a gun sight and you can look down on the compass card. The base swivels so you can set the declination. The whole thing ends up round when folded up and fits nicely in my pocket.
You sound like you collect factoids. Here's one for you/all.
When on the water at night and you are looking for a lighted bouy, you are within 1 mile of the bouy when you can see the reflection of the light in the water.
Ice/CMG
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I'm no expert at this but I find a compass useful in this way. And I have used compasses my whole life when sailing and racing to spot wind shifts etc.
My GPS shows Lattitude, East to West, and Longitude North to South. When in woods or when going through a difficult area, it is easy to become disoriented. A lot of GPS don't have automatic compasses and if I stop and turn, I really may not know what is North or West. I may have to walk some distance to get the auto compass on the EPS to show me which way is the way. I have a pocket compass I bought years ago from Eastern Mountain Sports that is made for hiking. I always carry it with me. If I go to a lat line that is one bearing of the cache, I can then follow it until I get to the Lon. line.
If I am in a place where I can not see the sky through trees, it is very easy to get turned and this is why so many people get lost in the woods and go in circles for days and never know it.
I would not ever think of trying to find a cache with just a compass. But a compass can be helpful.
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Something else to do. So little time left to do it.
By the way, welcome to the addiction.
Yeah, just what I need. Another obsession.
Well, at least for this obsession it's far less expensive than owning a sailboat, and the GPS will be pretty useful for sailing as well.
Iceboats are/can be cheap. The wind is free. The whole rig fits inside my Ford E150 van with the mast on a roof rack. A power boat with a motor is far more expensive than any comparable sized sailboat.
We icesailors use our GPS's to keep track of our maximun speed for the day, distance sailed (you can get an award for sailing 100 miles in a day under the rules) and show where on a lake you have sailed.
There is a website for sailing speed records and a certain GPS must be used to get official recognition. I think it is gpssailing.com but if it isn't, I'll post the proper link.
Someone set the worlds sailing speed record on land on a dry lake in Nevada. They used 5 GPS's in back to verify the speed. They were all within .03 mph of each other as I remember. The speed was over 130 MPH.
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I am in FLA for Christmas and I have found a number of caches. I have also found the locations and most of the ones I didn't find, haven't been found in some time or they were difficult finds. However, some others were easy find and they just were not there. Is this common? Should I log these as not being found? I'm just not sure what the protocol is.
If you hunt, look, search, whatever you call it - for a geocache and don't find it - log a DNF. That's helpful to the owner and to the other geocachers. How is an owner supposed to find out that there might be something wrong with one of his or her geocaches?
People tend not to log DNF, sometimes you see that after a DNF, other DNF logs follow immediately. Seems to be a big problem to quickly write that one didn't find it.
Yes, in my opinion the best thing would be to log a DNF if you didn't find it.
GermanSailor
I looked for this one that started this again this AM, GCRA90 put there in 2005. I looked down on the history and there have been three no finds in 6 months by cachers far more experienced than I. But like I said before, if it is there, I usually find it or know it is there. I just didn't find it. In some cases though, I feel that it isn't there. A couple of locations have turned out to be not there. I have posted a few no finds I made in the past. I will also say that they may be there, that I just didn't find them. I've also been to locations that there were far too many strangers who would wonder what this old $@rt was dooing looking around where he was. So I leave. FWIW.
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<snip> I guess I'm supposed to log "no-finds" when I don't find them. <snip>
If you, and all the others that do not find a cache, do not post a "DNF" how is the CO to know that it may have an issue and needs to be checked? DNF postings are an important part of geocaching, not something to be overlooked.
Also, it's great that you sail all over, but I must ask you that if you sail all over and plant caches all over, how in the world do you intend to maintain them when they go missing or need other maintenance? Placing caches is not the game, placing and maintaining caches is the game.
You don't have very many finds as yet, perhaps there is a bit more to learn about geocaching.
Sorry if it seems I preach, but from what I read of your posts, you are missing some important aspects of the gist of geocaching.
Sailing and geocaching....... sounds like a good combo. Do enjoy and have fun.
I sail the same places every year when there is ice. Some places get sailed more often the closer to where I live. They are not dificult places and it is not like I drive hundreds of miles to get there. More than usually, it is under two hours. No one would have to go for a hike to find one. If I do place one. They would be in public places and NOT in a place that would be covered with snow or leaves.
The only stupid question is the question not asked.
I've "found" more than I show. I've found a lot of locations but didn't find the cache. I didn't find it. It doesn't mean it wasn't there. I'll go back and look again.
I was telling someone about Caching and the guy told me his son found one in the woods in a park on Cape Cod. I asked him what he did with it. Did he put it back like he found it? He replied that his son took it home. Caches placed in very public places (I think) may run a risk of being found and removed. Those are the ones I was asking about. The one in a dog park, that I went to twice, must be buried. I understood that you weren't supposed to be buried. That's all. And like I just read about one that I am going to look for, someone said to another, "Oh, that's why all those people are always going into the woods there. I thought they were going to relieve themselves". That's all.
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Something else to do. So little time left to do it.
By the way, welcome to the addiction.
Yeah, just what I need. Another obsession.
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I guess it is important to log DNF's, Did Not Find's.
Absolutely.
Last month I went looking for a cache, 11' accuracy, took me straight to a metal picnic table. The cache was listed as a micro so I figured it was a magnetic nano.
No cache.
Hmmmm. Started check the other nearby tables and found it at one 40 feet away.
Now was it moved? Maybe the owner was using 'soft coords'? Maybe the day I go looking 11' accuracy actually zero'd in to the wrong ground zero? Hard to say but if I hadn't found it I shouldn't assume the cache was missing.
You also might want to check out this thread. (just ignore the angsty parts)
They did not find it..., So it is not there!
Edit: also, if you look up gps accuracy information on the internet you'll see a lot of statements like:
These terms tell us the PROBABILITY that a particular measurement (GPS Measurements in the present examples) is MORE ACCURATE than some particular value. For instance, If you are told that your GPS position measurement is accurate to 10 meters CEP (Circular Error Probable), this means that there is a 50% probability that your measurement lies INSIDE a circle with a radius of 10 meters. This also means that there is a 50% probability that your measurement lies OUTSIDE the 10 meter radius circle!
Should you be told that your GPS measurement is accurate to within 25 meters (95% confidence), This means that you can be 95% sure that your measurement is somewhere within a 25 meter error circle and there is a 5% chance that the error is LARGER than 25 meters.
Thanks for the link to the discussion. It is what I supposed. There sure is a lot of things I sure do agree with. The majority of my DNF's I felt were there. It's just that a few I felt just were missing. And they hadn't been found in a while. Like I said, I don't look for ones that would be a major physical challenge to me. So a lot may have been either moved, removed or whatever.
I think I will try to place a cache wherever I sail from this winter. Always on a lake somewhere where one can park and find. I have sailed in MA, NH, ME and VT.
Something else to do. So little time left to do it.
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Well, I'll add to this.
I've used GPS for years for my ice sailing which I do all over New England in the winter. Keeps track of my maximum speed for the day (56MPH highest), how far , 68 miles in a day(distance) I've sailed and where on the lake I have sailed. When I discovered there was such a thing as monument finding, I then discovered Geocaching.
I'm past 65 YO and I don't walk all that well. I can't walk all that far so I save myself. But I ride a mountain bike all over. I look up a list of caches and drive myself and bike to the area and go look. I clip my Garmin Legend to the handle bars and off I go. Biking is a great way to get around. I've logged over 50 miles this trip. It's a lot easier parking my bike than a car. I feel that if I drive up in my truck and get out and look, someone may see me and get nervous. If they see someone on a mountain bike, ride up and be looking for something, they don't get as concerned.
Got to go off and look some more.
PS, If you are ever on Cape Cod, there are a whole tribe of Caches in Nickerson State Park in Brewster, MA. One could easily spend a day or more looking for finds. Some interesting monuments in the area too.
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One cacher not being able to find the cache is typically not enough to confidently assume the cache is missing. Possible yes, but usually it take a few more attempts to know it wasn't just simply overlooked.
I'm not sure of the difficulty level on the palm tree cache, there are some pretty tough nanos that take require a lot of looking. And it is also possible that even though you had 9' accuracy you were still off enough to be looking in the wrong place. 9' may not have been the conditions the day the cache was placed.
Just log a DNF and give the details of your hunt, then just sit back and watch how others do. If they find it then you know you need to go back and try harder. If there are additional DNFs then the owner knows that they should go verify that the cache in still in place.
Another thing,
There was another listed cache I looked for. It was mentioned to be careful. Of traffic. It was beside a major highway. When I looked for it, I realized that the road had been moved to put in a right hand turning lane. The cache had to have been moved. It must have been moved to a planting for a restaurant. I didn't feel comfortable tromping around in the planting of the restaurant. I figured it was there. That was in November when I was here in FLA. When I came back for Christmas, I looked and someone had posted it found it and it was not easy (according to the finder). I didn't consider that this one was missing.
When I look for caches, I always look to see when the last time someone found it. If no one has found it in a year or so, I don't bother. I haven't found it either. If someone found it in the last few months, it MAY be missing but I probably didn't find it. These are the caches I write about. Old caches that haven't been found in a while.
I guess it is important to log DNF's, Did Not Find's.
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One cacher not being able to find the cache is typically not enough to confidently assume the cache is missing. Possible yes, but usually it take a few more attempts to know it wasn't just simply overlooked.
I'm not sure of the difficulty level on the palm tree cache, there are some pretty tough nanos that take require a lot of looking. And it is also possible that even though you had 9' accuracy you were still off enough to be looking in the wrong place. 9' may not have been the conditions the day the cache was placed.
Just log a DNF and give the details of your hunt, then just sit back and watch how others do. If they find it then you know you need to go back and try harder. If there are additional DNFs then the owner knows that they should go verify that the cache in still in place.
Well, FWIW, whether it is 25' or 9', there is still a center. And every find I have made, was exactly on the numbers. Especially if I have a clear sky in all directions (no trees). I know from "the numbers" how far in the parallel direction I need to go. Not to belabor the palm tree cache, there were no other trees within 10' of the GPS location within a 10'+ radius. There was a hint on this one that the cache was 6' above the ground. This tree and no dead fronds on it. They had been stripped. It is an old tree. Others were not and were not stripped. I looked at those too. Nothing.
I went to another that was in a park. I went twice. The hint said it was either side of a fence. Unless it was inside of a fence post pipe cap, with no string to get it out, it wasn't there. I looked inside with a flashlight. I understand you aren't supposed to bury them. I poked around in the dirt. There was another cache in a pocket park across the way from this one. I found it right where it said it was. Perhaps it was removed by someone. I don't get around very well and I don't go tromping in the deep weeds. If I can't get reasonably near with my mountain bike, I don't look.
Thanks for the info though, I guess I'm supposed to log "no-finds" when I don't find them. I have a few no-finds because they were in leaves or were in the woods with a lot of trees with poor reception. These finds I speak of were locations with good reception/views.
Again, thanks.
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This may sound stupid but,
I have found a number of caches and I am confident in my GPS as being accurate. Every find I have made, I mark on my GPS as a waypoint. The Lat/Lon given for the Cache is exactly as the location of the find. I always check it carefully and photo the location. For fun.
I have located "locations" and not found the Cache. This I understand. But I find more and more that I really do not believe are there at the time I am looking for them. I had one in a park in MA that was a buried water tank. I found the site and went to where the cache was supposed to be. I scratched around in the leaves. I went back a second time. Then, a few weeks after the last time, there was a notice that the Cache was archieved and the owner didn't respond.
I am in FLA for Christmas and I have found a number of caches. I have also found the locations and most of the ones I didn't find, haven't been found in some time or they were difficult finds. However, some others were easy find and they just were not there. Is this common? Should I log these as not being found? I'm just not sure what the protocol is.
There was one in a park. The GPS gave the location within 9'. There was a big palm tree. A hint said that it was 6' high. The palm tree had no dead leaves on it. There was no cache on the tree. None on other trees. Could the cordinates be wrong? The palm tree may have been cleaned of the dead leaves and the cache was removed.
Just wondering.
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I carry a Leatherman "Fuse". A new model with plastic on the inside of the handles so when you come back on the pliers, it doesn't wreck your fingers/hand. It is basic, and doesn't fit on a key chain. I carry it in a leather holster on my belt. I have lost three over the years when in my pocket. I don't loose them in holsters. I carry a Buck #110 in my pocket for things that need to be cut. One can shave with it.
I personally consider those big multi-tools a waste and Swiss Army type knives the same. But I use these tools at work every day. Caching is secondary.
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It's Yellow and says etrex, tried it out last night but wasn't able to find the cache. The GPS was just all over the place so i wasn't sure if it was working. I was under heavy trees so i think that was the problem.
THANKS
That's why a hand held compass is handy with this type of unit.
If you are looking for something that is North of you, and the object is to your right, East, , travel to the NE direction until one of the lines coincide (Lat or Long) and then travel in the other direction until they coincide.
Practice makes perfect,
Icesailor
(CMG)
Found the geocache but my GPS didn't
in How do I...?
Posted
I've never thought about doing it this way (marking location before looking) but my older GPS (Garmin E-Trex Legend) doesn't have this feature. I just go to the Lat. or Lon. line and track to the coordinates. I've noticed this "drifting" but I can stand anywhere and it may do this. If I am at the location, and it stabilizes, and I can't find it, I turn off the GPS and walk a few hundred feet away, turn it back on and let it reaquire. When it does, and it takes me to the exact same place, I know it is around that spot. So I keep looking.
But, I'm no expert. It just works for me. However, after finding a cache, I put the GPS on the location and every find has been right on the cordinates. That says something for the accuracy of the units. If I don't find it, I either feel that it is there, or it is now missing. A few that I felt were missing, turned out to be missing. Especially ones that I went back to look again on another day.