Harry Dolphin

'Lame' is, of course, in the eyes of the finder, I should guess. Though there does seem to be some consensus as to 'really lame'. Four of my six caches are micros. One qualifies as a cache and dash. Sorry about that. I liked the spot, and it was an ignored area (at least, until I started hiding caches in North Hudson County). One has been rather well received. (You should try it sometime, Brian. After I work on improving it.) Guess what. They get a lot more visits than my 'two-mile hike' ones. Oh, well, can't please everyone. The other question here seems to be maintaining one's caches. My range seems to be twenty miles or so. I wouldn't set out a cache farther from home than that. Maintenance is a requirement of setting out a cache. I read that in the rules. Unfortunately, there do seem to be a few absentee cache owners locally. With a few caches on the 'warning' list. Oh, well.

Geocachers Anonymous Meeting. And it's on my ten-mile list!! Seriously, I was reading the paper the other day, and saw a news photo with a statue of a president in it. I checked Presidents on Parade, and found that it hasn't been logged yet! I was Christmas shopping with my geocaching buddy, and took a picture of something interesting out the car window. He asked "What did you find?" Most of my dreams are about geocaching. I put out a new cache that was approved at 12:30 AM, and found AND logged by 7:55 AM. (Oh, that's not my problem. That's someone else's problem... But I knew about it at 8 AM!)

Now, this is uproariously funny! Go for it!! Seriously, plotting revenge is best left in the mind, with help from your friends here. And there are some very creative minds here! 'Oh, well' works very well for me. (And I'm a Scorpio!) Sometimes you just move on.

I'm a bit surprised by how people can be so inflexible when it comes to thier meeting the "cache requirements" on LCs. So often have I heard on this thread how thier requirements protect the integrity of the sport and how it discourages cheating... one could mistakenly get the idea that cheating is wildly rampant in geocaching. You might have missed my point. Many of the Locationless Caches are not maintained by their owners. This is not to say that the people who logged duplicate finds were intentionally cheating. But, if a log is a duplicate, isn't it up to the owner of the cache to maintain the integrity of the cache? Without the Coordinate Distance Calculator, it is almost impossible to determine if your find has already been found. My sister won't look for Locationless Caches because of the difficulty of scrolling through the logs to see if it has already been found. I logged a note for 'Steam Locomotives' because I did not have my GPS with me whan I saw it (Actually, I hadn't heard of Locationless Caches when I saw it.) I was just checking through Lighthouses of the World to see if a certain lighthouse had been logged yet. It has not. (Myself, I logged the Welfare <Roosevelt> Island Lighthouse, but this would be for my geocching partner.) I find that two people have logged the lighthouse at Lahaina, Hawaii. Another two the Green Point Lighthouse in South Africa. Another two the lighthouse at Manfredi, Italy. And three people the Concord Point Lighthouse at Havre de Grace, Maryland. And those are just a few of the obvious duplicates. Inflexible? Rules are rules. If more than one log of a particular lighthouse is permitted, then he rules should specify so, not the contrary. The other point of discussion is whether, having located a locationless cache, but, having neglected to include the GPS in the picture, should it be permitted, or should the cacher have to drive back to get a picture of the GPS? Not an Internet photo. Not an old vacation photo. A cry of "Eureka!", and forgetfulness in the throes of excitement. That speaks more to the intent of the law, rather than the letter of the law. And that's hard to enforce (if enforcement actually ever happens.)

Come down here and pick some of mine up! I put out two that have been sitting in their first caches for a month now!

Ah. Locationless Caches! One of my joys, and one of my great frustrations. I wish that they were all maintained as well as JoeFrog maintains his! Take a randomly selected Locationless Cache, for instance. One that specifies one log per site. Bronze Baseballer Using the Coordinate Distance Calculator, we find that three different people have logged Ted Williams in Dunellen, Florida. I notice that Let Liberty Ring does not specify one log per site, so I will go to Perth Amboy to log it! I have seen many duplicate entries on 'one log per site' caches, while searching to see if a site had been claimed. Again, I thank JoeFrog for maintining his site! My caching partner and I have had two comments from locationless cache owners. One thanking us for the picture, the other telling us that we had logged a site already logged. The description on that one was completely wrong! Or we would have logged the one a few miles down the road. Oh, well. So, is anyone being cheated if one completely fakes a find? Not on most of the Locationless Caches, it seems. Is it cheating to doctor a photo of a legitimate find, when the photo didn't come out right? Probably, but it would still be a legitimate find, wouldn't it? Or should one have to drie all that distance back to get the phot right? Proably, if the caches were properly maintained. As for having to have myself in the picture, that is not always possible. I do frequently cache by myself. My arms may be long, but not THAT long. Harry

Hi, I'm Harry Dolphin (That's Harry, NOT Hairy!) It's not easy geocaching when you're a dolphin, but, Oh, well... My goal is to start putting new caches on Team Rampant Lion's ten-mile list. And BrianSnat's, and Treequest's! Payback is sweet. Even Avroair put one on my list! Oh, maybe that's because I put three on his?!?

The Ten-Mile List seems to be a standard. There are 113 on my ten-mile list. I've done over a half of them. One I'll never do. BrianSnat and his danged island cache! Another of BrianSnat's I have two DNFs on. On the other fin, my friend, Andy Bear, has 120 on his Ten-Mile List. We've done about half of those. But, there's a big difference on a Ten-Mile List that includes parts of New Jersey, and large parts of New York City (including one on an island with no roads to it). Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx are neither easy nor cheap to get to. His 100 mile list has 3491 caches. My 100 mile list has 3582 caches. Like I'm going to drive to Delaware to finish this list!

It is quite obvious that some local cache owners have gone on to a better place. Caches in bad condition are receiving notes from the approvers suggesting that a maintenance visit is in order. Checking the profile on one, he has not signed into gc.com since 2003. This might be a good indication that he is no longer interested in the sport. One that I know of is still in good condition. One is missing and has been archived. Two are on notice. One of those has been replaced by another geocacher, but not adopted. Geocache becomes geotrash. I'd say that the current system works, except for the removal of the geotrash. I don't know what the answer to that is. A corps of volunteers to remove the trash? On the other hand, I can think of a few great caches that seem to be the only one placed by the cacher who may have been inactive since, but the cache is still in good condition. Shoudl it be removed because the cacher is inactive? Probably. This is a game of active players. Then again, I've done a few Virtuals with the requirement "Don't log it until you hear back from me", and I've never heard back. Then there are the Locationless Caches that specify "Only one cache per site". Six people log the same site. These are not caches that are being maintained. Rules and Terms of Service cannot be enforced upon the inactive. I don't know what the answer is.

There are other Locationless Caches that worry me a bit more. Historic Synagogues, and Mosques of the World, for example. And, yes, I've logged both, within a few blocks of each other on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. And wondered if it were a good idea.

Positive: Beautiful places the I would not otherwise ever have seen Keeping off the 20# I lost backpacking last summer Travel Bugs!! Negatives: Ticks. I really hate ticks! Not having enought time for other hobbies. Injuries, from lepidopterism to managing to stick my eye into a twig.

Congrats to both the Quoddys!

It would see that none have won yet. Shouldn't the race continue until one has actually won> (Now, I just have to figure how to get Sunday Racer to Maine...)

Christmas Day? We went to New York City to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, took pictures of Travel bugs in the city, found East River Esplanade, waited on line two hours to go to the top of the Empire State Building to log a Virtual, found three benchmarks, logged DNFs for four benchmarks, and a note for one.

Oh, dear, Holograph. Someone almost as stange as I! Have you considered therapy? I found the coordinates tough to follow, frequently putting me on the wrong side of the road. Or else the road has been re-aligned. Then, there are the branches and composted hemlock needles all over everything! I hope you posted new coordinates for the one that you did find! Clinton Road is being repaved (seven year project, so far). That probably accounts for the timber removal. Harry

Oh, my goodness! I'm sorry for having created such a controversy. I see that I am in error for logging those finds. That I have not actually found the stations, as described. I have not, nor do I plan to, report finds, or obviously missing stations to the NGS. Some of the obviously missing ones are quite absurd, such at the WOR TV mast in North Bergen. Some of the ones that I've found, that haven't been documented for decades, are quite obvious. I am not a surveyor. I am playing a game. I shall correct my reporting errors. Next question. KU3544 Our observations of the Blackwells Island Reef Beacon are from the East River Esplanade Park, and from the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. This I assume to be a valid find? Less certain are the five benchmarks on Mill Rock. KU2166, KU3961, KU3952, KU3956, KU2165. My photos are from the Bobbie Wagner Park on the Manhattan side of the East River. I did not actually go to Mill Rock. As I said, I'm not entirely crazy. I did not observe a flag pole. I did observe what seem to be the Northerly and Southerly Lts, documented in 1986. I dod not observe the North or South Beacons, documented in 1932. Those seem to have been replaced by the Lts. Is this a valid observation? As such, I did not log DNFs for the Beacons, nor for the Flag Use. I did log finds for the Lts. Harry

New Year's Resolution. I shall stop mailing Travel Bugs to my sister in Maine.

My latest cache was approved in a timely fashion. I'm a happy camper. 6.5 hours after it was approved, it was logged. The FTF left a very nice comment. []

I hide caches for the same reason that I maintain a hiking trail. Someone made all these trails/caches available to me. Payback? <Oops> Returning the favor! That's it. (Though my trail maintenance seems to have suffered since I discovered geocaching...) Many caches have brought me to beautiful places that I would never otherwise have ever known about. I think I done that for other people. My caches all have very nice views. I started out simple. Now, I'm becoming mischievous. I enjoy challenging caches. So, I'm trying to make them more challenging. Of course, I never know if I've succeeded at being challenging until someone tells me that they were challenged. The serious drawback is the frustration at having to wait weeks for a cache to be approved. I have a life principle: The dolphin don't go where the dolphin ain't wanted. Quite frankly, I'm not feeling wanted. Three weeks is an interminable time to wait. I'm about ready to stop hiding caches. More's the pity. Oh, well.

86 logs on benchmarks 60 finds 8 marked as destroyed 2 notes 16 DNFs. And several that I'm not really sure about, so I logged nothing. Yes, it depends very much on where and what kind of benchmarks that you are looking for. AS I mentioned, in North Hudson County, NJ, there are quite a number of 1932 stations for chimneys and water towers. They are all gone! We'e doing somewhat better in NYC. Several disappeared, many are still there. Stations on bridges do not seem to survive rebuilding. Oh, well. I still have to work on a series of eight along Clinton Road, in the Pequannock Watershed, North NJ. One of the problems is that the coordinates are so far off on most. []

Yes, I had noticed that you are the only one who did not log the plaque as the benchmark. I logged it as a find with a note. The sheet indicates the disk, probably either covered over, or removed, but mentions the plaque. The plaque touts itself as the benchmark. Technically, I suspect, you are correct on that one. When possible, I do open the hatches to observe the actually benchmark KV5854. Sometimes It's possible, sometimes it is not.

That's my theory. Everyone who signs the log can log the find. [] And that includes the ones that I've found walking along the trail, only to find someone with the cache out in the open.

KU3600 A disk placed on the 81st floor balcony of the Empire State Building, covered by metal hatch (Lincoln Hat). Obviously, I can not, and would not, climb out on the balcony. From the 86th floor Observation Deck, I pointed the camera down, and photographed the hatch cover. (FTF!) There do seem to be a number of stations located on tops of buildings, and unavailable to us benchmark hunters.

I'll have to check my ratio. I'd guess about 80%. But I do go looking for ones that I know that I will not find. North Hudson County, New Jersey has a lot of water towers recorded in 1932. I just logged 'destroyed' a grain elevator from 1932 on the docks in West New York. I seldom log 'destroyed' unless it is intuitively obvious that the 810' TV mast is definitely not there anymore. I'm surprised that more care is not made to preserve and reset the benchmarks on rebuilt bridges. They builders seem to ignore them completely.

I picked up There and Back Again in Pennsylvania (just before that cadhe got stolen), and took it to Green River,Mass (about 30 miles from its goal at Tyringham, Mass). Mext cacher took it 143 miles north, into New Hampshire. It almost went to the Netherlands, but is now in southern Maine. Oh, well. And don't get Johnny Rotten started on his Verona Police Car that's still in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba!