HawkLawless1

The Art of the Seek. Finding something that shouldn't be. But it's morphed into going places, finding places I've never been or didn't know was there...and the people!

Congrats!!! It only gets better.

I think one of the biggest keys to success is to not get too frustrated. It takes time. After you find a couple, your knowledge base will increase...you'll learn some of the tricks. You'll find some, you'll DNF others. Just comes with the territory. Honestly, that's part of the fun. Take good notes from the cache page also before you go out. My DNF rate goes way up if I haven't prepped a little. If you get a chance, attend a local Event Cache and talk and listen to the "experts". I've learned some good info hanging out and listening to some of their stories.

I'm at 100+ and still haven't set up my first cache. Have a whole box of possible containers and a notebook of ideas, but haven't pulled the trigger for lack of the "right" place and time. Need to wait for life to settle down a bit. I'd hate to set one up and then have to pull it or leave it. 'Til then, I'll just continue to enjoy others' fruits and take good notes.

Coupla weeks ago, came back from lunch extremely late due to a pesky multi-cache, so technically, I guess that counts. It was #100 for me and it wouldn't have been right to stop right in the middle just to go back to work. Right? Fortunately there were no repercussions.

I have a Garmin 60CSX and I was running into that same problem. Downside to trying to load more than 2 500-count PQs at the same time. Ended up deleting what was there, and loading up a PQ for the trip of the day. Just involves a lot of delete and loads if you go different places often. However, if you pretty much go out and around the same places frequently, not as much of an impact.

Sometimes, depending on how new it is, there are occasional tell-tale signs. Look along the ground and look for recent activity. Sometimes, I just barge in and start looking around...if I don't see it right off, I'll step back and re-engage from a different angle. Haven't found any tree caches that are similar, so it comes with experience. Had a difficult one a couple weeks back where the CO had covered the hole in the tree with a cork. Couldn't imagine trying to find that one during the summer when all the leaves are out.

A couple weeks ago, on the first cache of the day, lost all my notes. Didn't realize until I'd hiked about a mile out of the trees...hiked back and by then the wind had carried a couple pages away. Otherwise, just my sanity the other day...lost it driving around the local mall looking for car TBs while I was waiting. Came to after the second row and finally parked it. Don't know what came over me...

Very Cool!!! I've downloaded plans before, but never came across any this detailed or well thought out. Even I may be able to follow these. Thanks for sharing! HL

Makes sense. Guess I'll never be able to go paperless overseas. Thanks, I'll try it.

How easy would it be to make the geocache website translatable? That is, in the event that a cache is listed/written in German (or any other foreign language), the simple click of a button would translate the information on the cache into the requested language. The only example I can think of is the Deutsche Bahn website: http://www.bahn.de/p/view/index.shtml At the top, click on the country flag and the website translates to the correct language. Would make downloading PQs much easier, especially when trying to go paperless. Thanks.

I use CacheStats 3.0. Just google it. Download the program to your computer. Once that is done, on the Pocket Query page, there is option to do a query for all your finds...can be run once every 7 days. It's right under the "Create a New Query" and called "My Finds". Click on "Add to Queue". It'll come in your email like a normal pocket query. Once you save it to your computer, open the file with CacheStats and you can create the html code to add to your profile. Pretty user friendly. Doesn't work with a Mac...only PCs.

Hey, from one Jones County, IA Alumn (Monti High '86) to another... So, would driving said car TB to the cache count? I could see that getting a little overdone after awhile if you dropped it into each one you visited. Maybe I'll just stick to Event Caches. Thanks!

I currently have a car TB affixed to my vehicle. It's been "discovered" a couple times, but I noticed it wasn't logging any miles. Not until recently, after attending an event, did I realize that car TBs could be dropped into the Event Cache and only then do they log miles. However, today, I noticed someone "dipping" (i.e., dropping and then immediately retrieving) their car TB into a traditional cache they visited just to log miles. Not really familiar with car TB etiquette. I guess, in the long run, does "dipping" really matter? Has anyone else seen practices like this? Does anyone else do it? Just wanted to see before I go flagrantly "dipping" my TB. Thanks. HL

Hi! My name is HawkL...and...and I'm a GeoCacher. I admit it!!! The morphing is almost complete. I carry my GPS with me almost everywhere. At the store, I make my purchases sometimes based on the geo-reusability of the container. And...I even (GASP) pulled a lock-n-lock out of the trash at work that someone had discarded. So what if it had a little baked on schmootz...a few minutes in a little hot water and *voila* into the box it goes for future use.

Fell on a prickly pear once. Well, it was more of an off-balance sit down. Thought I could walk it off, but by the next cache, I was dropping my shorts for a closer inspection. We laugh about it now…

What's the Nike slogan...Just Do It. You won't really know until you get out and do a few. Honestly, just load up a bunch and go, making note of the description and any available hints. Granted, just passed the century mark myself, but I like caches in and around parks and along hiking trails because I can couple the search with a good hike. However, the occasional urban cache is fun and challenging, but requires a bit more driving between caches. My favorites are quickly becoming the puzzle caches. In any event, keep an open mind, don't get discouraged, and have a great time!!!

It's much akin to using the foot or hand wedge for a better lie in golf or miscounting strokes for a better score. The only person typically impacted is the player, but I can see how you'd be affected. I have a couple DNFs that I'm obsessed with that others apparently have no problem finding. Now I'm wondering if it is a similar situation. In such an individual sport, integrity is important.

Lurker here. Only been around since last summer, so don't have a whole lot to say at this point. Reading mostly, but trying to learn the tricks. And this is probably one of the only forums that gets past the firewalls at work, so it's a great way to pass a slow day. Have had a blast so far having geocached in the US and Germany and have discovered places I probably wouldn't have otherwise...even in my backyard.

1. Cemeteries. The first time it just felt odd rooting around in a cemetery. The second (and last) time I was poking around the back corner when a funeral procession was coming through the gate. Awkward! 2. Rock Garden Caches. Especially in TX. One too many scorpion bites.