Darick

That's a good point, tozainamboku... seems like I am misreading the word "requires". I see your angle that these are instructions to a new geocacher and not rules. The next section down is labelled "rules". What are the rules of geocaching? 1. If you take something from the geocache (or "cache"), leave something of equal or greater value. 2. Write about your find in the cache logbook. 3. Log your experience at www.geocaching.com. So... if you don't "write" in the cache logbook, are you not breaking the rules?

In most ways, I am in agreement with the OP. The geocachers I have met are really friendly and enjoy sharing their love for the game. On the forums, people often are judgmental and quite nasty. There is certainly a lot of leeway in the "rules" of geocaching, so everyone has their own opinions and ways of going about participating in geocaching. And this is where big egos get in the way and things become less friendly. In regard to the log issue, however, I decided to look at the few guidelines there are to geocaching as posted here: http://www.geocaching.com/guide/default.aspx At its simplest level, geocaching requires these 8 steps: 1. Register for a free Basic Membership. 2. Visit the "Hide & Seek a Cache" page. 3. Enter your postal code and click "search." 4. Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name. 5. Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device. 6. Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache. 7. Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location. 8. Share your geocaching stories and photos online. It would seem that signing the log book is not an optional or open to interpretation part of the game.

I think it is up to the challenge creator to specify whether it is acceptable to mark a challenge "complete" if you have done it in the past. Photo challenges in particular should have an indication from the creator. I would find it perfectly acceptable to post a photo of yourself from the past if it meets the requirement of the challenge. Why not take credit for something you have done... past or present? The challenge creator could easily rule out past photos by requiring that you do something specific in your photo if they want the challenge to be done after the challenge was posted. Most likely, if not specified, the challenge creator would just like to see photos of "people climbing trees" for example, and would welcome any photo of you in a tree as a completion. If not, he/she should specify so...

I always think of my log as a thank you note to the cache owner for the hide. I own several caches myself and am always excited to open my email and see what somebody has to say about my hide... what was their experience, who were they caching with, did they like the hide, how long did they have to search? It is disappointing when the log is a simple "TFTC", but I don't get too upset about it. Recently I've been going on bigger cache outings... found 42 a couple of Saturday's ago now. Though it literally took hours to log the finds, I still wrote a good sized paragraph for each find. I can appreciate, however, that not everyone wants to take the time to do that. Sometimes I wonder if I am too wordy and nobody cares about my little adventure. To each his own... I am going to keep telling the story of the find in my cache logs as a thank you to all those that take the time to place and maintain the caches I find. Thanks cache owners!

I've been reading all the challenge topics for some time hoping to come across some thoughts on this question, but haven't seen any discussion on it. Sorry if I missed it somewhere... When you place a geocache, you are allowed to mark it as "found", but of course you don't mark your own caches as found because it doesn't make good sense and likely considered by most to be "bad form". As far as challenges go, in my mind the opposite would be true. You SHOULD almost complete a challenge before issuing it to others. Just an opinion question to be sure but, would you have a negative reaction to someone accepting and completing their own challenge?

Thanks for the label I used to get in a hurry to create caches too and not take the time to put nice finishing touches on like labels, a nice log, or a good stash note. Now I have made word documents for all and converted to PDF. Don't wish to hijack your thread, but if anyone is interested in some of the labels/logs/stash notes I use, you can find them here: http://groundzero.coupleofbucks.net

In reference to: Some glitter glue sticks in their own little lock & lock (put into an ammo can or larger lock & lock). Sounds ok to me... would they melt if it got hot? At least you are putting them in a separate container so they wouldn't leak all over if they did melt.

Hmmm... doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong. Perhaps yesterday was just a bad day for satellite reception in your area. I went caching with my brother-in-law last weekend and he has the same GPSr. We didn't get into any deep woods situations, but he didn't seem to be having much trouble, and his unit seemed pretty accurate. I use an iPhone 90% of the time, but go back to my trusty Garmin eTrex Venture HC for the deep woods type caches you are describing. Side note... your username popped out at me because I grew up in your neck of the woods. My parents (coupleofbucks) still live in that area and I watch their caches. See you just found some of their hides Small world... happy caching!

I agree with some of the other replies... to get any kind of accurate reading with the iPhone 4, you'd have to return to the locations several times and then average the readings. If you have the iPhone 3, I wouldn't try hiding a cache with it if I were you. I have the Garmin eTrex Venture HC and it has an outstanding feature for measuring coordinates. When you are marking a waypoint, you can press an average (Avg) button and it starts taking readings over and over, automatically averaging the results. There is a readout for the estimated accuracy. Generally, the more readings you wait for it to take, the lower the accuracy. I usually try to let it get inside of 8 foot accuracy and call it good... but anything under 10 is usable in my mind. Here is a couple of early comments from one of my recent hides: "The coords are right on even in the trees." and "Coords were spot on and I made a quick find." I do 90% of my caching with my iPhone, but there is no substitute for my GPSr for hiding a cache, and for a particularly pesky hide in a tough satellite location or when there are a LOT of places it could be within a 10 foot radius (like a nano on a bridge, for example). In these cases, a real GPSr is a big plus. Looks like the eTrex Venture HC pretty easy to come by on eBay for about $75 used. Just my $.02 ...

Funny Just found a cache last evening in a pig's bottom...

I don't have the Groundspeak app, as I had GeoSphere on my iTouch before getting my iPhone. I would use it for the notes and descriptions in the field. Once I got the iPhone, I continued using GeoSphere. I cache with my brother in law... he uses the Groundspeak app. While he is poking around with slow internet speeds, I generally have the map loaded, the target set and am on the trail making the find. If you are used to running pocket queries, GeoSphere makes downloading them a breeze. The downside is that the information GeoSphere shows is only as current as your recent pocket query, but if you have a particular cache set as your target, getting the latest info on that cache via a GPX file is also very simple. Just my $.02

To find the oldest caches in a state, you can do a pocket query specifying the following... Within -> States/Provinces -> Iowa Placed During -> between -> January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2002 You can then preview the query and sort by the "Placed" column. Doing that, I found that Maltese Goldfinch (Re-resurrected) by Wulfgar | GC162 is the oldest, but it is in northeast Iowa. The second oldest is near Ames, IA and the third in Ledges State Park south of Boone. I have a cache on the west side of Des Moines called Knarly | GC2RFER You might also try running a query centered on where you are staying and scanning for caches with a high number of favorite points which meet your difficulty/terrain requirements. I actually have a query centered on the downtown area... here's a few that jump out: YIN -YANG by BB | GC1JBGH | Iowa The Elves' Bridge by The 3 Elves | GC2KKVC | Iowa The Walnut Inn & TB Resort by The 3 Elves | GC20K1Y | Iowa Five Stones - One Tree (EarthCache) by bucknuts | GC1WHMF | Iowa (dd) by ddCustomFittedBras | GC18ZME | Iowa Iowa State Fair Trivia by The 3 Elves | GC1X2D9 | Iowa PULLIN' TUBES by DA BUTTER | GC1F69C | Iowa Hope that helps... happy caching

You can buy Groundspeak tracking numbers in lots... but I think there is a minimum of 50. I have done this to create my own custom trackables... the design also had to be approved by Groundspeak. If you are interested in seeing what I have done, send me an email.

I agree with the suggestions left by others. Contact the owner of the trackable, or the next finder. I always have a camera with me when I am caching (either a point and shoot, or my phone) and photograph the tracking number of every trackable I come across. I do this right when I find it, that way, I will have a record of it after I drop it off in case I messed up the logs somehow.

Can you post the URL of the "trackables list" page you are referring to? Another idea I just had... if you just want to get rid of it all together, you can transfer it to me if you'd like. Instructions here: http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=249

Where does it reside now in a virtual sense, in your inventory? If not, go to the trackable page and post a "Grab it from somewhere else" log to get it into your inventory. Once the trackable is in your inventory, you should see it here: http://www.geocaching.com/my/inventory.aspx Click on the trackable link go to the cache page. On the right side you should see the "Move to inventory" option under the heading of Actions. An alternative to giving up on this trackable would be to make a replacement trackable to send out in its place. I have done this for several of my travel bugs that have gone missing. You can make something as simple as a laminated card with the tracking number on it. I have taken to making proxy dog tags to send out in place of my coins. If you are interested in that, reply here and I'll email you some information. Happy caching

Wow... lots of replies so quickly, thanks all. To clarify... he doesn't plan to give me the coordinates or any fore-knowledge of the hide. He simply wants to delay the submitting for publication until I am there so I can go for the FTF when it pops up. I understand that FTF is not an official part of the game and that there are those that don't care a lick about it. This is certainly, then, an opinion question. I am mostly interested in hearing from people that do enjoy trying for an FTF, and if they would be put off if someone legitimately beat them to a FTF who was a known friend of the cache owner. I enjoy the excitement of the FTF, but rarely go after them... it is competitive here too. I don't move heaven and earth to run out every time a cache is published, but I do have a few where I was in the right place at the right time and not too busy to give it a shot. Thanks again for the quick replies... eager to hear more opinions.

I have been searching the internet for an answer to this, but haven't turned up anything. While there is much out there about FTF etiquette, I have a rather specific question and am looking for opinions. I am visiting my brother in law out of state in a couple of weeks. I recently turned him on to geocaching and he is very enthusiastic about it. He emailed me today and said he plans to place a cache, but he is planning to hide it and then publish it so it will coincide with my visit so I can go after the FTF. We have been caching together before, and I have mentioned him in my logs, so others are likely to know there is a connection between us. If I have no prior knowledge of the cache location, container or placement, is it legitimate for me to seek the FTF? Would you suspect foul play if you were a local FTF Hound? If yes, what if I explain in my log that I had no prior knowledge of the details of the hide... would you still be put off? Not that big of a deal to me either way as far as the FTF goes... just don't want to squelch his enthusiasm by passing on his offer to go after the FTF on his cache. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Very nice item! I would trade for it for sure, and probably add it to my collection of "cool things I've found in caches". How much does it cost to make each one?

Love that stainless steel container... the laser engraving is awesome! The stages on mine aren't far apart, and all contained in a long narrow park. Sounds like the typical search time is 20-30 minutes depending on how many "wild goose chase" coordinates you have to visit before arriving at the actual hiding spot. Here is one of my latest: Stainless steel, and a buddy fixed som laser engraving on it

Here's a puzzle cache of mine... stage one is a pill bottle with a nail sticking out of the bottom attached to an internal cylinder with six sets of coordinates around the cylinder. There is a window in the pill bottle so you can view the various coordinates as you rotate the nail. At one of those six coordinates is a bison tube. At the other five coordinates are "red flag" indicators such as those pictured below, letting you know you are in the wrong place for finding the cache. There are no clues on the cache page indicating how to solve this field puzzle, simply that you will find a camo'd pill container at the posted coordinates and you will have to figure out what to do from there. The feedback so far has been very good, most favorite points of any of my caches (has varied between 35% and 50% favorites/premium log ratio). Some say they've never seen anything quite like this before. Wasn't sure how this idea would be received, so I'm glad it seems to be well liked.

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