worldtraveler

...the temperature and humidity get into the 90's. But I'll resume once they drop!

Foreign coins are my signature item. I leave an assortment of coins from several countries, and they usually get traded out pretty quickly.

I've used a telescoping magnetic pick-up pocket tool in combination with the mirror on my Silva Ranger compass to see and retrieve a few caches that were hidden inside small openings above head level.

Hi ! This is a virtual cache, what maintenance do you have to do? None is gonna lose any film canisters or listerine boxes... Yanni The maintenance for this virtual cache is simple but still necessary. The finders are required to send an email telling the name on the statue, and they are not permitted to post photos showing the name. So maintenance includes: 1. Checking to ensure those logging the cache as "found" also send you an email with the correct answer. That is not difficult because you will automatically get an email from Groundspeak.com anytime a log is posted to the cache. 2. Checking online logs to ensure photos don't show the name on the statue. 3. Being able to check on the cache if any problems are reported.

I adopted ATHINA KIPOS virtual cache a couple years ago when the owners apparently dropped out of geocaching and the Olympics were about to return to Athens. I didn't want to see the cache neglected or, worse yet, archived with so many visitors about to arrive. That immediate crisis has now long since past, and I am ready and willing to pass the torch for this cache to a local geocacher who plans to stay in the game for at least a few more years. I am not an Athenian, and my visits to your lovely city are infrequent, so I think it would be best if a local geocacher maintained it. Please reply to this topic or send an email via my profile link if you are willing to take on this responsibility. If there are multiple volunteers, I'll pass it to the person who has the earliest "joined" date in their profile. Thanks.

Well, Half anyway... (It's really difficult to pass up such a set up, given the topic.)

I assure there was no vileness in my attitude. There was, perhaps, a hint of "Well, duh!" On Feb 15, the OP found a mowed-over cache named (of all things) "You Could Learn A Thing or Two!" He even went on to post this topic in which he wrote "A sad day for brush-covered caches everywhere." He evidently didn't "learn a thing or two", however, because just 8 days later he hid this cache in a similar fashion. Now that it has taken just 3 months to meet the same fate, he posts this topic entitled "@#$%, Not again". Neither his original post nor his response to my reply contained any acknowledgement of his own responsibility for the fate of his cache or any indication he has learned anything from the two experiences - just defensiveness and rationalizing. I bear no vileness or ill will of any kind toward the OP. I just have no sympathy for his circumstance.

No sympathy here. Hidden with adequate permission? Ya think maybe you shouldn't hide them where it is possible to drive a bush hog? I'd guess the owner/operator of that mowing machine was equally mad that someone intentionally hid a metal can in a place he had to mow. It may have damaged his equipment and/or injured someone.

I bought my first GPSr (a Garmin III+) in 1999. I found out about geocaching while doing research to upgrade to a Garmin V in Oct 2001. Found my first cache a few days later.

You're right; it's a tough choice: Do I do b, c, then a or b, a, then c?

You do have to find something - either an active flow (if there is one or more) or a specific sign at specific coordinates if there is no active flow at the time. The "trail" is ~1mile (each way) of category 3 terrain hiking over old lava and not really a trail at all, but the sign says "End of Trail". When the lava is flowing, the locations are very specific - they just aren't static. I require posting coordinates so cache seekers can see where the latest flowing has occurred and have a pretty good idea of how far the hike will be before setting out. Since all of this occurs within a few square miles, I wouldn't catagorize it as a locationless cache. It's a moving virtual cache and, as far as I know, the only one of its kind. And since it's a virtual cache, travel bugs that visit it can be logged through. Is that possible with waymarks? I know it isn't with earthcaches.

You would then have the equivalent of a webcam or earthcache rather than a virtual. You can log a travel bug (personal or free range) through a virtual cache. Not so with webcams, earthcaches, or (presumably) waymarks. Edit: Oops! My bad. On first reading, I thought the quoted section was in defense of using Waymarking as a substitute for virtuals. On second reading, I realized you were suggesting using some of the "hoops" required for Waymarking to ensure better quality virtuals if they were ever reinstated. Thanks!

That may work for some, but I wouldn't use it. In my opinion, if a virtual cache passes the "Wow" test, adding an LPC just to make it "legal" would be a desecration rather than a justification for its existence. I'd rather archive my virtual caches than do that. Yup. Why make a crappy mulit cache out of a perfectly good virtual? I agree...crappy multi's Poor choice of words - the 'throw out an LPC final' was meant as a joke, but I suppose no one would know that has not done my caches. The post still makes sense and is, to me, a viable solution if you replace "film can under a lamp post" with "geocache". There, maybe that reads better. Yes, it is now a multi, but big deal... you still get to highlight a place or thing you thought worthy of being a virt, you just added a geocache... cachers get the best of both worlds! Again - that may work for some, but it's not an appropriate "solution" for all virtuals, even with your revised wording. For example, take a look at my Hot Rox virtual cache page and read any of the online logs. It is the Big Island's first cache, created to bring people to a specific spot on the planet where they could see and experience something unavailable anywhere else. Just getting to it requires considerable time and effort, and the experience can be truly awesome. (BTW, I almost never use that word, and then only in the literal sense). I think it would be an insult to the cache finder and a desecration of the cache if I tacked on the superfluous requirement to drive another 22 miles (minimum, to get outside the park) just to find an ammo box and sign a log book. Thankfully, this cache has been grandfathered. I wonder how many other places offering unique experiences will remain unknown to the geocaching community because virtual caches can no longer be created. I know of a few.

That may work for some, but I wouldn't use it. In my opinion, if a virtual cache passes the "Wow" test, adding an LPC just to make it "legal" would be a desecration rather than a justification for its existence. I'd rather archive my virtual caches than do that.

It works okay for me. I just checked several cache pages that show travel bugs in inventory. When I click on each travel bug's link in the Inventory box, it shows the current total distance traveled (labeled "Tracking History") just above the list of recent logs. I haven't tried viewing it while not logged in, so I don't know whether that would make a difference.

I found 7 of the 13 oldest active caches placed in Tennessee, and that includes the first cache hidden in the state. I started caching just 9 1/2 months after that one was hidden, so I guess that makes me an O(ld) G(oat)!

I agree completely, and you can count my voice as being raised. Trouble is, the only ears with the authority to reverse the ruling aren't listening. Waymarking is their solution, and they don't seemed inclined to listen or respond to folks who aren't satisfied with it. You will, however, receive ample replies from fellow geocachers who think you ought to be satisfied with it.

It's always a good idea to make a personal record of the tag number before leaving a travel bug in a cache. That will enable you to correct the bug's travels in the event another cacher grabs it out of your inventory before you can log it. With the tag number, you can do as BlueDeuce suggested. Without it, you're out of luck. Much of what is being described as rudeness or selfishness in this thread could actually just be innocent ignorance. There is no need to get bent out of shape over the problem when the solution is completely within your control.

Garmin V was sitting on the dashboard when the airbag went off!

Definitely a candidate for lock down. Maybe it's time for an "SBLD" button on travel bug pages in order to flag them for attention by TPTB?

Mine lets me travel a bit - 556,412 geocaching miles up through today. I usually try to find at least one cache wherever I am, and I allow myself extra time for geocaching if I'm in a place I find especially interesting.

Actually, the stuff left in caches should be considered trade items, not gifts, according to the geocaching rules (excerpt pasted below): It's not "all good" when people selfishly disregard the rules of common courtesy and plunder a cache. The "trade equal or trade up" suggestion was later added via the Geocachers' Creed (excerpt pasted below) when it became obvious many people were "trading down" and leaving caches in the sorry condition described in the OP of this thread.

As Adam, from Mythbusters, would say, "Now there's your problem!" I realize it may be difficult for a pirate, but until you learn to "just say no" to plundering, you are part of the problem. Neither you nor the kids "just have to have something". If you are not prepared to trade fairly, you should simply sign the log and tell the kids they'll just have to wait because it wouldn't be right to take something without leaving something of similar value. Valuable life lesson there.

A few others thought so, too. It got some mileage. Markwell Markwell 2 (post #12)

Absolutely!