Thot

I ask what I believe to be a reasonable question and you reply with the smart mouth put down “If you read a couple of more sentences you wouldn't be confused.” Then you come back again with “Did you have a commercial cache denied recently? If not, why so much anger?” Are you oblivious to your provocations?

I read it. It seems to me to make such a grand exception as to set up an entire special cache type with it's own special icon makes a mockery of the rule. If they grant such elaborate accommodations to what is clearly a major commercial promotion like that, then either there’s really no meaningful prohibition at all, or there’s a strong air of capriciousness about this rule. Prior permission doesn't mean anything -- ALL caches require prior approval. This is a rule stating in emphatic terms “These are NOT permitted.”

I've heard this, but it doesn't make sense. The hand sanitizer doesn't remove dirt, oil, etc... from your skin, it just kills germs. I would think that rubbing it with hand sanitizer would only spread the urushoil around. I'm gonna have to do a little research on this . . . I agree. It's an oil and from what I've read requires soap (or something that breaks down the oil) to remove it.

Hmm . . . that's confusing. In the "Cache Listing Requirements/Guidelines" on this page it says: "Commercial caches attempt to use the Geocaching.com web site cache reporting tool directly or indirectly (intentionally or non-intentionally) to solicit customers through a Geocaching.com listing. These are NOT permitted." From what you say APE caches are/were specifically for the purpose of soliciting customers for the movie and thus are "NOT permitted." Yet they have their own icon and cache type on gc.com. I'm confused.

What Are APE Caches? I see people who, in addition to regular caches, multi-caches, virtual caches, puzzle caches, etc. have APE caches accompanied by this icon What’s an APE cache and where are they listed?

How does one get a flyrod in a cache container?

Yes. More often than not.

That sounds like exactly the sort of container I’ve been looking for. If I understand what you’re describing it’s like this one except acrylic instead of stainless steel. Is that right? BB&B don’t seem to have them on their website, but if it’s what I think it is I’ll go by the local store tomorrow.

Trying to make a complete list, here's a tiiiiiiiiny one. I found a cash with one of these today. The ad says they're 1.9 x 0.6 inches, but I don't think they're that big. I would have said more like 1 1/8" x 3/8 to 1/2" Using these things is vicious. They could be attached to the underside of a medium sized leaf. If the owner hadn’t given away the location in the cache description I don’t think I’d have ever found the thing.

Some of the containers that have been suggested are pretty small -- micro size. So, just to complete the record I suppose the "official" micro container should be added to this thread Click Here

If that is the case (and you want people to see your "complete" log), delete your initial log and create a new one. Then the owner and everyone on the watchlist will get a copy. Good suggestion.

Thanks. In my case this means they may miss a lot. I sometimes post an initial short statement to get things going and then add a lot in an edit.

When people watch a cache do they get all activity posted to the cache? If a person edits/revises their remarks multiple times to that get every version?

Thanks for your reply. I looked at alt.rec.hiking but it's only had something over a thousand posts since April -- 5-10 posts a day. That seemed an unlikely place to find several hikers from the local area. Your idea about searching for a local hiking club is a good lead. I'll give that a try.

A park near me wants to map their hiking trails. I suggested hikers with GPSrs would probably be happy to map their trails. But, though they have hikers, they have no way to communicate with them. I decided if I could find a popular hiking forum I could ask if there were any hikers in the area willing to do this. I figured many cachers are also hikers and would know where the hikers hang out. So where do I go?

I immediately thought of those when this topic was first posted, but the poster indicated he’d had trouble with Rubbermaid containers. I’ve seen three caches that used the Rubbermaid containers I think you’re talking (clear, wide-mouth with white screw-on lid), about half maybe full gallon size. All of them were dry inside and a couple had been in place between 18 months and two years. I was considering using one for a cache. Has anybody else had bad experiences with these containers? I tried to find a picture on the web but no luck so far.

:) :D :D :D

Ditto -- Except mine was while logging a find. Here's mine: Then when I went back to the cache page to try again I got:

When I can’t find one, to be sure it’s still there I put a watch on the cache and wait ‘til someone finds it. Then I give it another try. By the time you go back you’ve had more experience. The second cache I looked for I couldn’t find, just the other day someone found it. I went back later that day and found it. Experience helps.

I suspect people who won't honor your rules won't reply to your question. They figure they'll get ragged by others, so they'll take a boat but won't go public about it. Hmm . . . Does that make them closet boaters?

Ah shucks, you're still a cutie to me.

As you may have guessed, this has been asked before. Click here. If you mean absolutely essential, I'm not sure a GPSr is absolutely essential. Here's my list: 1) GPSr & extra batteries 2) Printed copies of the first page of the cache descriptions, & a zoomed map linked from the description page. 3) Pen – I carry this all the time anyway 4) OFF/DEET – in Houston this is essential -- jillions of mosquitoes and West Nile Virus 5) Digital Camera & extra batteries 6) Compass – which I rarely use because it never seems to help 7) Right hand glove – for sticking hand into/under worrisome places I think the following ones are more important to us old codgers who can’t climb, stoop, bend, squat and kneel like younger folks. And, irregular ground is more of a problem – it threatens a fall and things break easier. 8) A stick for walking on irregular ground, knocking down spider webs, moving stuff aside and poking around in worrisome places (mine happens to be 2 cm square meter stick with a wrist strap on one end). Actually this should be listed in the first 5. 9) Inspection mirror -- a mirror with a telescoping handle. To peer into, above and under hard to reach places. (I’m considering tapeing a penlight flashlight to it to shine on the mirror.) 10) Compact binoculars – for seeing places I don’t want to have to climb, crawl, wade or walk a log to I have a couple of bottles of water in the car -- I rarely go more than a mile from the car. I don’t carry swag because I don’t trade. I go for the places I see and the hunt. Occasionally I leave geoGeorges. I have never taken anything.

The article certainly gives a “feel” for the idea that there's error in the process. I'm not an expert in this by any means, but there are several things in the article that I think are misleading. The author compares the transmitter power of a satellite based transmitter with a ground based radio transmitter. I don’t think this is a meaningful comparison. For a number of reasons a GPS transmitter doesn’t need to be as powerful as a ground based radio station antenna. The author assumes that the area of uncertainty is equal to the Estimated Position Error (EPE) -- see Figure 1. I’ve never been able to be sure whether the EPE is an estimate of mean error, or mean plus one sigma or two sigma. Apparently there’s no standard. But, if one assumes the EPE is the mean/average error then the error is as likely to be greater than the EPE as it is to be less. So, his statement that “The actual coordinates can be anywhere in this circle” isn’t correct. Actually there’s a 50-50 chance they are inside that circle. On the other hand if one assumes EPE is the mean plus one sigma, 84% of the time it will be inside the circle. I don’t think Figure 2 correctly represents the combined error of uncertanty. My old mind doesn’t do cumulative error math with confidence anymore, but I would have said it’s a circle with a radius of 33 feet around X (a diameter of 66 feet). As I recall cumulative error is the root mean square of the individual errors, so the square root of 23 squared plus 23 squared would be 33 and it would surround the person with the GPSr or the actual cache, however you like to think of it. The author suggests in figure 2 that the total error (combined owner and finder error) extends a distance of 92 feet, whereas based on my experience and the thread where many people gave there estimates of typical distance from their GPSr indication to the cache is about 20 feet – far less than the author’s 92’ (or 46’ if you prefer to interpret the drawing that way.

Most cache pages say whether it’s a regular or micro cache in the upper right of the page, but I’ve run into several that don’t say. Here's an example of one that doesn’t say. I’m beginning to find micro caches a little wearisome. They’re usually harder to find than regular caches (though they almost all say one star) and, for me at least, going to them is not as much fun. So, I’m considering focusing on regular caches for a while. But, when it doesn’t say I may pick a micro by accident. By the way, on the illustration above you can sorta figure out the size by the description, but you have to take time to read the description, and on others it isn’t this clear. Is it not a requirement to say which kind it is?

Soon after I started blindleader EScout suggested I find some stable benchmarks near me and go to them a couple of time to see how the gadget behaves when you know you have accurate coordinates. Here are EScout's comments: "[T]here are super accurate benchmarks that are listed to one-hundred thousandths of a second. They are called adjusted (they are GPS adjusted.) This is an excellent way to test your GPSr and get confidence on its accuracy. (The stated "accuracy" on some GPSrs is really an "estimated position error." I think you may be pleasantly surprised when you go to one of these marks, like I have been when testing my GPSrs. Datasheets Go to this website, choose your state, county, GPS sites only. Sort by Lat or Long and then choose a disk or rod (not a CORS.) Lots of these are on public streets and other easily accessible areas ( Remember, if you enter the coords of the benchmark into your GPSr, you need to round off, so you will be within about a 3 foot diameter of the mark. Simple geometry will let you find the position of your rounded coords (one thousandth of a minute is about 6 feet in latitude.)" I think this is good advice. I looked for benchmarks that were stability class A, if you don't find any try B. I was suprised how close my unit came to the real coordinates. A friend with an identical unit went with me once and got almost the same reading as I did. This exercize gave me a feeling of confidence about how to use the gadget. Then, when on a hunt you must remember the person who placed the cache may not have been careful in measuring the location.