diggingest_dogg616

The thing that confuses me is that it wouldn't let you place a cache somewhere you do not live. I know there are caches here that are owned by people that don't even live my town, let alone in the county. I don't know if there is a pass for people who are here part time or what, but there's a few caches owned by people that I don't recognize at all. Seems alright so far. As far as checking the cache every 60 days goes... I don't know if I buy it. I think it's a good idea, but I don't think someone is going to check just because 60 days have gone by without anyone bothering to log it. People don't always log things the same day they found they found. There's one I haven't found and when you look at the log book on the website, it's kind of jacked up. There's a no find (this is a 1/1 regular sized cache), then a found but that find was a week ago right around the did not find, then mine (did not find). And this cache is owned by a scout troop from a county that doesn't neighbor mine. While it would be nice for someone to confirm that yes, it's gone, I'm pretty positive that it's gone. People have a hard enough time checking to make sure log books are okay or that there is enough decent swag that they're not going to check every 60 days just because. With the wilderness area thing.... Placing a cache outside the city is fine. However, most wilderness areas are special areas set aside to keep wild. Some of these places allow traffic and some suspend all forms of travel (including hiking). While I don't agree with every single wilderness area out there, I do understand the need for such places. If yours was in such an area and the reviewer decided not to approve it, then pick it up and move it. Check online and see what all this area includes. When you fall off the horse.... I hope your son enjoys geocaching Hopefully you and he can find a good place to hide one.

I'm sure there are 30+ ways to have prevented this from happening. Not caching at night. A gazillion power flashlight to show the way. The cache not existing. The canal or whatever not existing. Divine intervention. None of these things happened though Hindsight 20/20, y'know? All of us have probably had something bad happen to us. Not tragic, not fatal or maiming, just bad. Vehicle going in the ditch, backing over the neighbor's dog, failing a class, showing up to an important event late. In hindsight, we come up numerous things. If only we had left earlier we could have avoided X, if only we would've taken a right at Albuquerque then X could've been prevented. They're all things that we somehow failed to see at the beginning. Something terrible happened. Someone lost their life and it really shouldn't have happened. We can't change what happened, but we can try to prevent it from happening again to someone else. The more I think about it, the more I think that it's easiest if we look out for ourselves and whoever is in our group and if we let others know what's up, like "Hey, next people out, part of the floor is missing" and taking note. Not everyone will see this note, not everyone will actually care about this note. It seems like it's ultimately up to the individual to take care of themselves I would like to see a link to this 30+ thing and see what all cultural problems are supposed to be existing here Not trying to be snotty, just genuinely curious about what sorts of problems are supposedly existing within this community.

Every couple of years there is a veterinary conference in my town and last time it was here I had to go around and beg for door prizes, so I learned a lot about asking things from people. For something like this, I would prefer to ask them in person, but it may be nice to phone ahead and see if the person who need permission is actually there and set up a time to meet. Do what you are most comfortable with. If you want to do everything with crossed t's and dotted i's, then phone ahead. If you want to go more casual, stop by. If you'd rather do the whole deal over the phone, then do that If you stop by, I think you should bring some stuff with you. Bring the container you're planning on hiding, tell them where you want it hidden, and bring some stuff to explain geocaching, even if it's just some little card with the website address. I think it would maybe be best if you don't put them in a corner by expecting a yes or no answer right away. If they say no right away, then fine, but if they seem hesitant, then don't push it. It's okay to think about it (but give them a deadline because you don't want them to think they can let it slide and that that means "no"). Tell you'll check back in X number of days and then do so. Hopefully they will do a little research Be friendly, be pleasant, don't push things, and if they say "no" then back off. I think it's kind of intimidating asking for things, but I feel with geocaching it'll get everybody a lot farther. If a cache doesn't have permission to be placed, and random people keep "creeping" around, and the business owner finds out it's "geocaching" then it's gonna leave a bad taste in their mouth

Wow, I wonder what happened to alarm that poor property! It must've been quite startled I saw a sign in Wales once that designated a crossing area for the blind. From the bus, it looked like all it was was a sign on a pole, like no braille or anything. If you can't see at all... how do you know that's your special crossing? Spidey senses? In my town we have this big G that's painted on a cliff face (instead of white rocks on a hill). One year during a peak tourist event, someone climbed up to the G and changed it to say "Go Away" Everything but the G was removed very quickly

Twisty kilts would be scratchy! I've never thought about bubble liquid (never placed any either) but that's good to know! Even when I was little I hated getting it on my hands I've never really thought about leaving food, I mean, I've thought NOT leaving food because you don't know how long it's going to sit there, but the animals and ants are a good point. I would not enjoy opening something filled with ants....

Right on, you guys are the cool paretns now!

I think that's the best description I've ever read for hunting an LPC. I may need to steal that for a T-shirt. Not that it's required, but you have my blessing I want a picture of it if you do it though!

Yay!! Glad it is working for you. Happy trails!

A waypoint is just a named ocation, a set of coordinates. A "geocache" waypoint may have additional information attached; description, hints, logs, etc. The starting point of this discussion came about because newer Garmin units divide regular waypoints and geocache waypoints into different lists and display them differently, each with their own size limits. And lastly -- A "pocket query" or GPX file lets you download lots of geocache waypoints, in bulk. Hope that clarifies rather than muddies. See also: http://www.markwell.us/pq.htm That helps very much! Thank you! :)

I'd like to try night caching. I have a suspect lamp down the street and I'm a night when no one's around (especially this time of year) would be the best time to nab it. It would also be handy for other caches that are actually in town Now if I can just stay up (I've become such a lightweight )

I travel quite a bit and yes I do find searching for caches that fit my style a drudgery. Don't get me wrong, not every cache out there should meet my expectations, but it is pretty tough when you spend much of your time searching for an area just to pull into a parking lot. I'm not as angsty as the OP (nor am I that sock-puppet) but I wouldn't mind a tad bit more information to narrow my search parameters. Certain things are drudgery. I hate all the preparation that goes into planning a trip, an event, or just figuring out what I need to get at the store to make it through a week. But being at my vacation destination, at my party, or knowing that I can spend the rest of the week without returning to the store makes up for it. If the game doesn't make up for prep work, then something's wrong. Information can make figuring out what caches to grab easier, but not everyone is going to provide what is needed. No use getting tied in a knot about it like the topic opening post. We can help each other make certain things easier (listing necessary information) but a few things are out of our hands (sadistic micros- apparently some people love 'em). I'm not talking about making caches easier to find. I'm talking about making the caches we want to find easier to determine. Why is that such a problem, do we think it's impossible? We have to give up too much information? That's what I'm talking about.... I just can't type it out in a coherent manner.

Actually that unit does not hold any.... It only holds waypoints. They call them Geocaches, but they are just special waypoints. 'Kay, well then, officially for this list mine has 0 caches but 500 waypoints with a special icon works just as well for me. So, just to clarify this in my head.... Are these Geocaches files then more like actual files you would get on a computer, like with hints and things? Instead of just the coordinate? Is that what this is? (am learning still)

I travel quite a bit and yes I do find searching for caches that fit my style a drudgery. Don't get me wrong, not every cache out there should meet my expectations, but it is pretty tough when you spend much of your time searching for an area just to pull into a parking lot. I'm not as angsty as the OP (nor am I that sock-puppet) but I wouldn't mind a tad bit more information to narrow my search parameters. Certain things are drudgery. I hate all the preparation that goes into planning a trip, an event, or just figuring out what I need to get at the store to make it through a week. But being at my vacation destination, at my party, or knowing that I can spend the rest of the week without returning to the store makes up for it. If the game doesn't make up for prep work, then something's wrong. Information can make figuring out what caches to grab easier, but not everyone is going to provide what is needed. No use getting tied in a knot about it like the topic opening post. We can help each other make certain things easier (listing necessary information) but a few things are out of our hands (sadistic micros- apparently some people love 'em).

Really, if a hobby gets to be that demanding then it's just time to either stop or take a break. I think some of these things, while not to be encouraged, are kind of to be expected. There is always some jerk looking to ruin it for someone else. There is always someone that is going to say you can't put something here or look suspicious when you're over there. There is always someone looking for numbers. Happens. Sorry, but it's life. Geocaching is realistically only going to attract so many types of people. It's kind of like... I don't know, comic book stores... dungeons and dragons... chopper style motorcycles... lifted jeeps... lowriders... there's only so many types of people these things will attract. Nature of the beast. From looking through these forums, I've seen self-proclaimed senior citizens, people that are or were in the military, people from down South, people from the Northwest, high school students, preteens, people who know a lot about computers, people who don't know so much about computers. I think that's a pretty good variety. If you don't like sadistic micros, then don't look for them. Kinda what the stars are for. This game, like much else in life, is what you make it. If you turn it into a fun-sucking, soulless drudgery of an experience then you shouldn't expect it to get much better until you start trying find a way to make it better for yourself.

If I could tell it was obviously plastic then whatever. It kind of brings me back to when I was little and there was this store where my grandparents lived that had a display of fake grenades. It had some little sign and you could pull the pin out of one and if it didn't explode then you lived and if the store blew up then well, yeah. I can't really remember the point of it, but the grenades always scared me because to my dumb little mind they looked pretty real. Hopefully I'm smarter now....

It seems a lot of cache owners like the details about you finding the cache. When I sign the physical, I usually date it and sign my name because I don't to take up a whole lot of room, but when I'm on here I'll write something longer and more detailed Swag is pretty much up to you. I think it's bad form to take swag without leaving swag, but you can leave swag without taking swag. I've been too nervous to try finding a trackable yet, but I'm working up to it! It seems like you can take a trackable without leaving something. I do know that it's bad to keep a trackable that isn't for keeping. I've heard if you have a trackable for 2 weeks or more then it's nice to let the owner of the trackable know that you just haven't got out yet. There are some things that most people seem to not appreciate as swag, such as any kind of pamphlet for religion, politics, or coupons. I've heard the best way to approach the "is this okay to put here" question is that if you have any doubt, then don't leave it. Seems pretty safe to me. Some people don't like books of matches, others don't mind. If you have a book of matches and don't feel totally comfortable about leaving it as swag, then don't. I think most people appreciate help with the cache, as far as removal of trash items in it. Replacing logs or containers gets really iffy! A few people seem not to mind if you're honestly trying help and improve the cache, but a lot seem to think it's a huge no-no, so if you run into something like that, then drop a note to the cache owner and ask if you can replace a log or a container. Best to play it safe Also, I've recently learned that you should NOT try to "help out" a cache by placing a plastic sack over it to keep it waterproof. The bag will collect condensation *inside* it and get all slimey and gross! No one likes that.

I think if you're looking for something to get students into geocaching then these little geomate things sound like the way to go If you want to teach actual GPS unit skills, then I'd look around for used units, but just make sure you don't get scammed. It kinda becomes a which-do-you-want-more scenario. Reliable used units that will teach other GPS unit skills or new doohickies that will teach geocaching skills? I think either way is win-win if the units work Good luck!

I don't get the 32 bit/64 bit thing either (learning opportunity! yay!) but that is pretty much the thing you want. I use one with my eTrex Legend. When I plugged in with my laptop (running Vista) it said it couldn't find the install driver or something. Somewhere in the bubble is a blue link that says something about finding a driver or whatever. Click it and it will install something. After that it's been perfect. I only bring up these things because I thought I was fairly smart and computer savvy, and it took me an hour or so to figure out the link in the bubble, so I'm obviously not as on top of it as I like to believe

Some of these are wicked scary When I feel like I can hide a cache and make it a good one, I'm not wrapping anything in bags and I'm going to make sure it's somewhere I can easily access in case it gets all gross and gnarly :/ If I saw a Pringles can or just a bag, I would probably think it was just trash. Although it could be a good disguise Some people would rather walk by a piece of icky garbage than pick it up. I'd throw it out and wonder why there were soggy goodies inside Also, I think a lot of the owners that don't respond at all and just ignore it... well, they probably wouldn't be hurt if they weren't allowed to hide anything ever again because they're probably not active in the community anymore

It seems a little weird to me.... I mean, having it divided into something akin to "New England" versus "Maine" or "Maryland". I can see grouping everything in Ireland as one tidy group. It's pretty handy. But, even as an American, I would expect Northern Ireland to be with England, Wales, and Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland as something separate. It's kind of like grouping Hawaii with the Pacific Islands or grouping Alaska with Canada I would be rather irritated if Alaska was grouped with Canada, but I could understand that geographically it would be easier. Each side of this has an advantage and disadvantage unfortunately.

That's very interesting! Thank you for doing that!

You can try making your own sticker. Find some high quality sticker paper and print one. After that I'm not really sure what you do.... My dad made a sticker for my softball helmet once and it seemed like he sprayed it with something afterwards, but I'm not sure. Maybe you can go the ghetto route and print off a sticker and then just put clear package tape on it Otherwise, I'd just buy enough stuff to make the shipping worth it. Get some cheap swag, or a hat, or some containers, or whatever you think you might use pretty soon I know I'd geek off too much with REI and start buying other things

I like c:geo opensource It me a few minutes to figure out how to work it, but now it's alright. You should be able to open that one, then it will have a menu screen with some icons says "search" and you can search by lat/long, address, GC code, and so on. It also has a live map, which I really like Those are the ones I use the most (when I've used it). You can also save caches to the device, which I think is kinda nice. Anyways, using "search" you type in whatever and after it does some thinking, it will pop up with a list of caches in order of nearest to farthest with an arrow pointing what direction it is in. The units on mine are metric and I can filter things by type, size, or trackables (I found this out just now! ) I certainly don't know what all this does, but the more I mess with the fancier it seems!

+1 Hope you guys have a good time this weekend! Find those caches!

I can't answer anything about waypoint averaging because I'm not at that level yet and my Garmin doesn't have that function (it's old). As far as waterproof goes, I think it's fairly water proof. I had mine kayaking and I fell out and was in the water for a few minutes and when I was able to get back in my kayak, the Garmin was still fine. I don't know how long you can submerse it or how deep, but I think if falls in a little creek or something it should be okay. If it's raining, then it shouldn't be much of a problem. The only thing that killed my last one was when I accidentally ran it over with my truck I think Google Maps are fairly reliable with the coordinates if you put your cursor *exactly* where you want to end up. I was hunting for some petroglyphs and pictographs Saturday and someone showed my dad on Google Earth where some were. I used the coordinates for that, and then ended up going with a group of people. Anyways, my coordinates were close enough to where the rock art was that I could easily find it. Your mileage may vary, but it worked nicely for me