mellers

I've done some of the worldwide challenges and some local to a place I was visiting a few weeks ago, (11 in all so far). Some are better than others. Having completed the worldwide challenges - together with all the (sometimes complicated) attendant criteria, I was disappointed to read other "completion" records for the same challenge, which often didn't include all the required information. It seems that there is no arbiter of quality for saying "I've done it" on the worldwide ones and it seems that you can pretty much post anything and claim to have completed it. I realise that the sheer numbers combined with the volunteer status of geocaching reviewers make auditing these completion records impossible, so perhaps the privately owned ones are better. I've not done any local private ones yet - as at a few weeks ago, there were only 2 local to me. There are now about 15, so I'll have a look at them, but wouldn't go out of my way to complete them. I would complete them if I was geocaching in the area anyway and fancied a diversion. It's a different game to geocaching and traditional cachers may not find them interesting, but some seem to.

My first puzzle cache was pretty hard at level 4, but I'm thinking of upping the difficulty rating to 4.5 given that it's not had many solvers over time. However, I'm wondering what effect this will have on the "Difficulty and Terrain of Caches I've Found" grid on the stats page for the people who have found it. I don't particularly want to foul up anyone's quest to fill the whole table, by changing it, if the change means that the stats page takes a 'found' cache from the old D/T combination square and puts a new 'found' one in the new D/T combination square. (sorry did that make sense?) Now I know that some challenge caches which require one of every D & T rating (such as the Somerset well-rounded cacher challenge) make it clear that it's the" D/T rating of the cache as at when you found it", which counts - so that's not a problem. However, there will be some people who are simply filling their table for their own satisfaction. I'd like to know what the implication of changing my rating will have on their stats page and how I can help them get round any problems I might inadvertently cause... Anyone here changed a D/T rating and can tell me how it shows up on other peoples stats?

Just to say that I use an Oregon 450t, and it's just FAB. I didn't buy it for myself (too expensive) but it was a very special present for a very special occasion, so I'm just grateful I have it. Wouldn't use anything else, now.

The link has an extraneous . try this Cheers Marty!

Thanks Mr canoehead, that seems quite a fun thing to do, if you know or meet cachers in RL (which I have to say, I've been too much of a coward to do! lol). There are regular meetings for all cachers in my county - which I've read can be quite a buzz, but I've not had the courage to join them all yet. Incidentally, I did go to the link you suggested, but it rendered a 404 page missing error.

Just going to add "skin plasters" to my list too. Twice in the last 4 days of caching, my team 1st lieutenant has lacerated himself to the point where he was bleeding on his clothing and I've had to improvise field dressings from what I had to hand. First with a clean knotted hanky, second with a paper towel and an elastic band! I'm nothing if not resourceful, but would rather have a proper plaster to hand. Glad I had the antiseptic cream at the time, though, considering what we were both putting our hands in to while searching for subsequent caches on a series. And he's up to date on his tetanus.

That should be "felt-tip", I think. or "felt-tipped", even

Afterbite. No contest.

I didn't know about cacherstats, until I read this thread, so went over to have a look. I'm not on there (yet) as my find for a qualifying cache didn't happen until after 13th Sept, but apart from the obvious thing of being able to find out where you rank among the geocachers of the world, what other "useful" things can it do? (when it gets updated, that is)

My long-term lodger runs his own business and I'm happy for him to use the house land-line for this as he pays for the line rental, so we get a lot (I mean A LOT) of cold calls, which usually start with: CALLER: Can I speak to the Managing Director/Marketing Director/person in charge of......? What I'd love to come out with (but have never had the hutspa to) is: "Well, yes, given that you seem to have a reasonable command of the English language, and seem able to use a telephone, it appears that you CAN. What you meant to ask, however was MAY you speak to... and the answer to that question is no. Goodbye." I'm just a coward!

Some time ago, I found the location where a difficult puzzle cache was supposed to be, but couldn't find the ammo box. It was a really obvious hole underneath a rock - but the cache was missing. I e-mailed the owner, with a photo of the rock and hole (and described it), simply to ask if I was looking in the right place and was quite surprised when they e-mailed back saying I could claim the find. I didn't actually take them up on the offer, as it did feel quite wrong to do that, but I was able to return to GZ & sign the new log shortly after it was replaced, because it was quite local. I'm not sure I would have had quite so much integrity if I had been 150 miles away when actually faced with that offer! lol! I suppose what does feel wrong is when people go ahead and claim a find, without signing the log or asking the CO if its OK to do that, like all these which were marked as found: This seems to be quite common on a missing and muggled cache with an absent CO. I suppose they think no-one is going to check. I'd like to think if anyone posted something on one of my caches to the effect that they didn't sign the log, but claimed the find, then I'd have the balls to at least challenge it. I think I'd send them a message to ask them to explain the scenario which led to that situation, and would try (as nicely as possible) to explain that not signing the log doesn't actually count as a find, and see how it progressed from there. I'd also high-tail it to GZ to ensure it hadn't been muggled.

(IN THE RUCKSACK) GPS Spare batteries for GPS Pen Pencil OS map Heavy duty rigger Gloves Latex gloves Afterbite Anthisan Antiseptic cream Bottled water Camera Screwdriver Forehead torch Maglite torch Scissors Tweezers Mirror Tissues Wet wipes Anti-bacterial hand gel Paper Paracetamol Ibuprofen Personal stamp & Stamp pad (for letterbox caches) Plastic bag Any trackables I've picked up which need moving on Old mobile phone without any sim card in it (for pretending I'm on the phone when I have to loiter) (IN THE CAR) Walking stick Walking boots Spare socks Long-sleeved anorak Bottled water - blimey, I never realised it was so much! If I had to take the BARE minimum, it would be GPS, pen, AFTERBITE!!!! - don't ever go caching without a pen - must get siggy in loggy to claim findy! Mellers

That's a very valid point, and something I think I'd be keen to minimise in this particular instance due to the possible location - so it's not so much a case of "It's annoying" rather a case of, "it's damaging" Still, I want to make the find more difficult than your average cache just so it wouldn't get complaints for being boring (I'm keen to get a variety of D/T ratings on what will be my first go at a series). Is there a good way to do this rather than just 'not give a hint'? Would it be better to leave the cache size "not chosen" and be more specific about the location? Mind you, I've done (and REALLY enjoyed) plenty of series with the same D/T throughout, so am I making this more difficult for myself than I have to? Oh the dilemma! P.S. Thanks for all the input so far, it's really helping me get my head round what's important.

As it seems to be OK to mention our own milestones (don't know anyone in RL uses the forum, so there won't be anyone who'll do it for me! lol!), I wanted to mention that after nearly 70 puzzle caches, how pleased I was to solve my very first... "Word puzzle in a foreign language" cache this week! Sur la trace des Vikings by the way, no I didn't use google translate! lol! Not sure why this particular milestone has given me so much pleasure, but I'm looking forward to going over to find the cache itself next week.

Hi all, Been caching for a while, but pretty new to the forum and hoping you can give me your opinions. I'm thinking of setting a new cache as a 100ml waterproof lab tube, hidden in a hollow in a tree - in an area where there are about 7 or so possible 'tree' GZs (given what tree coverage does to GPS accuracy). I want it to be a challenging hunt to give it something like a 3 or 4 difficulty, so I won't be giving a hint, but I don't want to annoy people with it . The only clue to the location will be in the cache title, and I'll put a note on the page about this being "Intended as a difficult find". I've been browsing the main forum and there seem to be a lot of posts on there from people - mostly US cachers - who hate certain types of hide which they consider to be "needle-in-a-haystack". I don't want my cache to make people feel bad, but I do want to make it different to some of the other easy finds. To add to the interest, I'm thinking of making it part of a series with different cache sizes D & T ratings and the whole series will be a looped route with fab views, so I'm hoping that those cachers who "come for the hike, stay for the cache" etc won't be disappointed. Anyway, opinions if you would be annoyed by such a hide - and any suggestions to make it less so, would be very welcome! (BTW - this will be my FIRST go at creating a series, so doubtless, I'll be back for more advice soon!) TIA Mellers

Oh gosh, I can't even remember how I signed the last log, let alone remembering to do it the same way each time! the only thing which seems to stay the same for me is writing mellers with a lower case M... except when I don't... I think MOSTLY I put the date first, as it's the key thing for so many challenges etc, but I really like to ring the changes ("Hey, don't pigeonhole me, man - I'm a free spirit."). Not only do I often write things in different order, but I often like to write the date in long-hand e.g. 2nd October 2011 (if it's a big log book) as opposed to the quicker 2/10/11. Loving the silliness sorry, seriousness of the thread...!

Not sure, but I think you are describing the "short" and "long" description, on the logging a cache page. From my (admittedly limited) experience of the logging a cache page, in order to format the look of your cache page (that is get the spacing and lining up how you like it) you pretty much have to have the WHOLE of the details section written in html. The presence of only one check box at the beginning of both boxes, suggests that it is NOT possible to have most of it in plain text, then insert html code, such as a line break <br> without first telling the page, "I'm doing some html, now". In order to get the html you included, you must make sure the "The descriptions below are in HTML" box is checked. Have you done this? IF you haven't had any experience with html, this may seem daunting, but for a beginner, the following may help. For a basic look: 1) Check the "html" box 2) start every paragraph with <p> and end every paragraph with </p> this will give you a substantial space between each paragraph. Every <p> must have a corresponding end </p>. 3) For line breaks without a whole line of space above, use the <br> command you mention above. This doesn't need an ending command. Hope this helps and if you were talking about something else, please ignore me! lol! Mellers