Jump to content

mac367

Members
  • Posts

    72
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by mac367

  1. 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".

  2. 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.

  3. I thought this was just me. I was trying to look at some caches this weekend in an area I was travelling to but could not get the info by clicking on the map. I am still having the same issue today. I have tried the zoom in zoom out in the past, but that doesn't seem to help. For what it's worth I have a Lenovo laptop, using Google Chrome.

  4. Thanks for the replies so far, I have a Lenovo laptop several years old, using Chrome. Everything was fine until a couple of days ago. I don't know how to attach an image or I would include one. Forgot to add everything else, other websites, email, etc appear to be unaffected.

  5. Hi All, I am hoping someone more technical than me can offer some advice. When I go to the main Geocaching page to log on the page is "stretched" out and the icons are moved, the page seems stacked top to bottom. For example the log-in is on the left instead of in the upper right hand corner. I know it is something with my home computer because everything looks fine when I use my computer at work. Thanks in advance for any help.

  6. Take the time to sort things out with your wife and family. Geocaching will be there for you when the time is right. My first summer caching was a fantastic time with my son. We did a bunch together and I valued the time we spent together. Well as many teenagers do, we drifted farther apart than I would have liked, I cached very little the last 2 years because I missed caching with him, it just wasn't the same or as much fun. I started doing a few with my daughter last year and that sort of re-kindled the spark a bit. I still miss the time spent with my son and hope one day we can partner up for some more adventures, but now I cache mostly solo when the mood strikes me or if there are some nice hikes involved. I must admit I go back and read some of our logs from that first summer and it brings back fond memories and a tinge of melancholy. He is away at college this fall so my wife and I have a whole new adjustment.

     

    Good Luck, Get the help you and your wife need...prayers from here for you.

  7. A bit off topic, but if anyone is interested in reading a pretty cool blog, a guy from my area that used to belong to our scout troop is about 1400 miles in with about 740 to go on day 87 I think. He blogs several paragraphs a day. Go to followingblazes.com. His trail name is Rayo.

  8. I would also recommend finding some caches on your own, and then taking them to "find" the caches, so that you can insure your niece and nephew have success. If after several successful caching adventures ya'll are still "NOT having fun", then find another activity. The best thing is that you are involved and getting them out there. Good Luck.

  9. As the previous poster noted start with larger caches with ratings of 1-2. If you are having trouble loading the coords from the website, go ahead and enter them manually into your car gps or the handheld. We used a car Garmin Nuvi for over 50 finds till we obtained a prior owned hand held. Good luck.

  10. Jacob, You have a great attitude as a younger cacher that wants to be more involved. Keep your spirit up. I don't know if you saw the post I entered on your "I want to go caching...." thread, but I really think if you can get your troop involved you can increase your caching opportunities. Good luck in your caching and in your scouting career.

     

    mac367

  11. Jacob, definitely work the Merit Badge angle. I am an Assistant Scoutmaster with our local troop. Talk to your Scoutmaster about getting started on the merit badge. I am not sure what rank you are or if you hold a troop position, but you could talk to the PLC about a Geocaching activity. You could plan a day hike or even a campout around Geocaching. As a matter of fact, our troop and I stumbled upon this cool (not geeky) activity while on a campout a couple of years ago. I had heard of Geocaching but never pursued it until we met up with a couple of cachers at a state park here in Ohio. I noticed the GPS and asked if they were Geocaching, they said yes and took a few minutes to show the scouts the GPS unit, how it worked and explained about the website and caching. One of them invited us to help him search for the cache. We hiked about .10 down the trail and then started searching and the cache was discovered! He showed us the log book and the tradeables. I have been hooked eversince. For me it was so cool when I checked out the website and found there was a cache in the park righ around the corner from my house! And a really cool woodsy cache right across the street from our scout hall! Getting back to the Geocaching activity, I bet if you can get some of the scouts and adult leaders to give it a try some of them will be hooked and then you will be the "hero" for bringing this COOL activity to your troop, and now you have some caching buddies and hopefully some adults to cache with.

     

    Ps. The 367 in my caching name comes from our troop number. Geocaching and Scouting-both COOL activities!

  12. To give you an idea of an "active" cemetary, Lakeview Cemetary in Cleveland, Oh. regularly hosts guided tours, as well as a geology tour. Lots of people from the surrounding neighborhood walk and jog through the cemetary. The local Boy and Girl Scout troops were able to camp out there until a couple of year ago on an "unused" area of land. The Wade Chapel has some of the most amazing Tiffany glass artwork, people actually get married there. President Garfield's tomb is a history lesson in its self, you can actually go down the stairs to the crypt and observe the coffins of Garfield, his wife, and urns with some of his families remains. Most of the movers and shakers of Cleveland history are buried there and their graves are not just headstones... John D. Rockefeller, Elliot Ness to name a few. The stonework is incredible. If your ever in Cleveland make it a point to visit, it is worth the time and oh yeah, there are several caches as well!

  13. Hello Castle Mischief,

     

    Around these parts (Cleveland, Oh area) there are a few tough puzzles with just a few finds so far. They do tend to attract the same folks so there are usually about 15 or so watching them to see the latest developments and if any additional clues are added. I see there is only one person watching yours, so maybe puzzles aren't too popular in your area. Based on the finders comments it seems like cool puzzle and nice cache. Good luck.

  14. As an Assistant Scoutmaster I am excited that BSA has embraced Geocaching. As a matter of fact I was introduced to caching while on a campout with our troop. Are the requirements perfect, who knows, everyone's ideal is different. BSA will most likely tweak things over the next few years anyways. They can sell more booklets that way (ok off soapbox, back on topic) As many have stated hopefully the counselors will do right by the sport and encourage the scouts to be good stewards. I think it's great and will entice more scouts to consider caching as an activity with the extra motivation to earn the badge.

  15. Hi all, short time cacher, about 9 months, Assistant Scoutmaster about 5 years. As stated a few times, sometimes the adults will be real excited about something and the boys not so much. Now that BSA is adding the merit badge it might create a few more long term cachers that will "do the right thing" by caching, but some will earn the badge and move on, hopefully not abandoning the cache, but I have to agree the possibility exists. The 30 day requirement for the badge is in line with other merit badge's requirements, with the exceptions being the 90 day ones for certain "Eagle Required" badges like Personal Fitness, Family Life and Personal Finance. The merit badge program as a whole is not designed to make the boys into experts in any particular subject, but to introduce them to things they might not have considered. Sometimes that leads to career ideas or long term hobbies, but many times just the accomplishment and the badge. That is why there are over 120 badges available but only 21 required for Eagle Scout, with only 12 of those "Eage Required." Back to the 30 day thing for a moment. One peeve of many involved in Scouting are the gray areas BSA allows to exist on subjects like this. For example I am a counselor for both Fishing and Fly Fishing. One of the requirements for both is to catch 2 species of fish and "release at least one of them unharmed. Clean and cook another fish." Not clean and cook the other fish, another fish. Theoretically a s scout can catch a bass and a blue gill, release both of them, go to the fish market, buy a whole fish, clean and cook that one to fulfill the requirement. Oh well. Still a great program with lots to offer. Just remember to treat scout caches no differently than others. Some will be good some will be bad, some will get maintained, others not. Happy caching.

  16. Nothing too spectacular for me, but a while back while taking a round about route to the final stage of a multi, my son and I went down a ravine in a local metropark adjacent to a neighborhood and came across a basketball, a soccer ball, a bowling ball and an Incredible Hulk doll.

  17. I have used my Nuvi 205 for over 100 caches. It has been pretty accurate for me. I'm still new to the game and live in a cache rich environment, so I typically will take a sheet of paper and write out the coords and other info like D/T rating, cache size, maybe the hint, for a bunch of caches in an area I am heading. This way I can have a lot of caches on one sheet instead of killing my printer. Depending on where I am and how well I know the area I will either drive close or enter the coords and let the Nuvi navigate me there, then I switch to the "Where Am I" feature and zero in on the cache. I also carry a regular compass, to keep me heading in the right direction and once I am on the N or W coordinate I use the compass to head in as straight a line as possible to hit the other coordinate. I recently bought a used etrex legend so I will have to see how they compare.

×
×
  • Create New...