mac367

When the arrow starts pointing all over the place you are at the cache location. At that point put the GPS away and start physically searching the area for likely hiding spots. The accuracy of the unit will put you in about a 30' radius. That radius can expand if you consider the hiders GPS will have a similar radius accuracy. This is when you start developing and using your "geo-sense". Good luck and have fun.

Perhaps this misguided youth hasn't logged in since Sunday because instead of finding and logging caches all week long to learn what is a good cache vs what is a bad cache, he is really wasting his time focusing on his schoolwork. Lighten up folks...it's Geocaching not Surgery. Hopefully he logs back in and takes some of the comments constructively. But I must say the worst caches I have found so far have been hidden and not maintained by adults. We have some great FTF cachers in this area that sprint out the moment a cache gets published and pass by their multiple "Needs Maintenance" caches on the way.

Let me clarify what I meant by 2 years ago. The boys were interested in the badge 2 years ago at summer camp so they started working on some of the other requirements for the badge. Since that time none of them have taken the initiative to pursue the badge any further. I have talked with them, but based on their response I am not pushing them to place hides that might not get maintained. Again, they are teenagers whose interests change by the minute.

I am an adult leader with the local troop. I am also a Geocaching Merit Badge counselor. It really comes down to the counselors working with the scouts to either help them understand the maintenance of their potential hide or choose another option. As many have noted, these are teenage boys, their minds and interests bounce from one thing to the next. I have several boys in the troop that started working on the badge at summer camp....2 years ago. None of them have shown enough continuing interest to take it any farther and I am not pushing them specifically so we don't end up with these issues. If any of them or any other scouts start to show some real interest, then I will gladly work with them to within the guidelines to place and maintain a cache.

Hiker, I agree on wanting to contribute nice hides. I am at about 390 finds and my second hide was published yesterday. I have had some nice logs on my first cache placed in July. If you are ever in NE Ohio we have some awesome parks with plenty of caches.

Hiker, to me the fact that you are asking, and have waited until you found 200 says a lot. Your future hides are the type I would enjoy finding. Depending on the age of your car GPS and potential battery life, perhaps you could use it as the final check to make sure you have a good set of coordinates. I have a Nuvi 205 that we used for a number of finds before I picked up a hand held. That unit is quite accurate. I say do what you are planning to do and go for it. A half dozen quality caches added!!!

So in the words of the great Paul Harvey..."Now you have, the rest of the story." Seems like a pretty benign, yet useful request by the reviewer.

I am amazed at how many people are blasting the finder on this one. Read a little more of the logs on the page. The CO replaces the container after their first visit to the cache in 2 years! I am sorry that cache should have been archived when the first container got swept out to sea. The throw down mentality to keep caches alive is ridiculous. If you can't visit your cache for 2 years, please archive. If the location is a good one, someone else will place a new cache. No maintenance issue and a new cache for people to find. Win, Win. The caches logs are NOT historical documents. The Declaration of Independence is a historical document worthy of preservation. A notebook with signatures and dates is not.

I say run it by your reviewer. If the cache has some cool (pun intended) reason that it would be available only in winter than why wouldn't the seasonal attribute apply? Personally I wouldn't do the move back and forth every six months, but that's just me. I quite like the idea of the seasonal access being pretty much the opposite of what most of us would consider. If you go forward with the idea update this thread so we know if you were successful.

Find your balance. As others have already chimed in, seek out the ones that interest you. I live in a cache rich environment but after 4 years have less than 400 finds. I too enjoy caches with hikes, especially in parks I have never been to, or trails in parks I have been to, but had never hiked that particular route. I pass by dozens everyday that simply don't interest me, or don't interest me at the moment so I let them sit. Someday I might grab one or two of them, maybe, maybe not. But when I see a cache in a park or a woodsy area, I am interested. I sometimes go months without a find. Recently I introduced my brother and neices to caching and have enjoyed spending a day with them. I also hid my first cache along a cool trail with an interesting footbridge, and have received several nice logs. Again, seek the ones that you enjoy, don't obsess about ones you don't. Let other cachers that enjoy that type go for it.

Hey there Brother, Your welcome. I am glad that you and the girls are having a blast. Looking forward to our family caching adventure this weekend. Hopefully one or both of my youngins...well they are not really young anymore, but hopefully they will be able to join us. And I will second your thoughts on the local cache hiders of NE Ohio...lots of great hides of every type for us to choose from and seek out.

You might want to contact your local reviewer. They are usually very knowledgeable about the park systems in the areas that they review. They may know if there are any rules prohibiting caching in your park.

When you really stop and think about a lot of hobbies, even the "mainstream" ones like golf, or fishing, any sport for that matter, are basically pretty silly....but that's not the point. Get out there and have fun at whatever it is you enjoy doing. I like to fly fish and tie my own flies...think about that. I use feathers, fur, synthetic materials and threads to try and trick a fish with a brain the size of a pea into thinking that "thing" I tied is food!!

I'll add to the log as long as you like. I write longer logs when the adventure or the cache or both provided the inspiration to do so. I still enjoy reading the cache pages and logs for the caches I go after. I appreciate a well done page as much as a well done log. When I started 4 years ago most of my caching was with my son. He doesn't cache as much now, so I enjoy from time to time going back and reading the logs I wrote about our adventures. Keep writing!

Permission, no permission...explicit rule for or against hiding a cache by this type of equipment....give me a break...if the other 29 hides are in any way similar, please archive them all and don't look back.

Stormgren-X, all I can say is CONGRATULATIONS on a epic adventure and Find. You had us literally on the edge of our seats waiting for each SPOT update, especially once you came ashore and near ground zero. I can't wait for the full report. Let's keep this thread about "Stormgren-X vs. the Walleye" and debate the other cache(s) on a different thread.

Quick informal poll, I am not judging success either way because I am most impressed by their journey just to get to GZ, but what say you who are following this thread with as much enthusiasm as me: Found it or DNF? As generally an optimist I am going with Found it!!

Looks like they are heading back towards the river bank.

I wonder if they had any idea how much excitement this would generate? 259 people now have the cache on their watchlist and 6+ pages of forum discussion at this point.

This is so cool. This thread is much better than the weekly argument over reducing the cache saturation guidelines!! These guys are caching Rock Stars, either way, Found it or not, in my opinion.

For me it was a toad I pulled out of a small hole in a tree thinking it was the cache. I am not sure which of us was more surprised.

Don't Push That Button!!

A couple of recent threads got me thinking…dangerous I know, but bear with me. For the traders out there, especially the ones that have been around a long time and have seen the trading game degrade. Would you pay an extra fee for a membership feature that was only for traders? By that I mean it would be an exclusive option for those that enjoy trading. Like a premium membership but geared to trading. The thought behind it is, would folks be willing to pay a higher fee, not sure how high, but enough to keep someone that is up to no good with the trading game from likely joining in? Caches with the “Trader Premium” membership would be placed by traders for traders. Ideally the swag would be better and due to folks that have a vested interest in the trading game stay better. I am not much of a trader because I haven’t encountered many caches with much stuff or things that interested me, however talking with folks that have been caching longer than I have it seems like it was pretty cool a while back. I am just curious what others think. Were you ever into the trading aspect? Would improved swag get you back interested? I am not saying this would work, and that it wouldn’t guarantee against swag theft, just curious if it is a part of caching that you would enjoy if it was "like in the good old days".

Welcome to game. I have family in Kittaning, Yatesboro and Rural Valley, just a bit east of you.

I had read about Geocaching in the paper and a couple of times mentioned in the local park system’s monthly activities booklet. It sounded kind of interesting, but I didn’t own a GPS so even though I knew about it for years and liked being outdoors, I never checked out the website. Fast forward a few years…I was camping with the scout troop in a state park. We were hiking and about to cross a road when a car pulls over and two guys hop out with a GPS in hand. I instantly thought of caching and asked “Are you geocaching?” The older guy’s eyes lit up, he says “yes, are you a cacher?”. I told him no, so he proceeded to show the troop his GPS and explain about the cache hidden down the trail about a quarter mile. He invited us to join him, so after checking out the structure we came to see we headed down the trail and helped with the search. He eventually made the find and showed the boys the cache and the log. He gave me a slip of paper with the GC code and told me to check out the website. When we returned home I logged onto the net to check out the site. He made a real nice log entry about his adventure and meeting the scout troop from the Cleveland area. So I started poking around on the maps and to my surprise there is cache hidden in the city park right around the corner. I never realized there were caches everywhere. Up to that time I assumed they were only placed in parks on trails. So thanks to the enthusiasm and kindness of that cacher (Thanks Scubie!) a couple of new cachers from the troop were born. I found my first 50 caches using Google maps before I realized my car GPS could load coordinates. Eventually bought a handheld from e-bay.