PsychoPhil

Apologies if someone already brought this up but if they did I didn't see it. Groundspeak sells these: Log Stamp Mouse and on that same page they provide the URL to: Nevada Rubber Stamp who sell: Geocaching Stamps Seems to me that would tacit approval from Groundspeak on using stamps to sign logs.

Below is a log entry I made after an encounter with a LEO while caching. MTA is the Maryland Transit Administration. Cache was near some light rail tracks.

Thanks for the tip. I'll be taking a look at this. I bought the woot.com lock 'n lock deal a couple of weeks ago. The set arrived just fine but I blinked and the wife commandeered the entire set for kitchen duty.

Incorrect.

If I remember correctly he did snap a pic or two with his phone. I'll see what I can do.

Huh. I thought CO's generally didn't have a problem with cachers putting things like their trademarks and pathtags in a cache.... or am I missing something? In any case, my story: Went out yesetrday with a buddy who was going to do some maintenance. After a particular cache had been in place for more than a year and with 50+ 'found' logs and one DNF he received a found log where the cacher stated: Found it but coordinates were more than 120' off. Moved and re-hid cache closer to coordinates. Buddy was confused since this was an ammo can secured with a chain. Turns out the previous cacher DID move it... after sawing through the downed tree it was attached to. Took us about 40 minutes to find were they had moved the box, chain and all, about 90' away from GZ.

My son recently earned his Geocaching merit badge. To celebrate (and to help start our collection) I ordered two Geocaching Merit Badge Geocoins. One we'll keep and the other we will release. Front and back:

I don't believe so. I think the 'TFTC' log at the very least lets the cache owner know the cache is still there and in relatively decent shape.... especially if the cache hasn't been logged in a while. I'll also log DNF's for the same reason (and I seem to be doing that a lot lately). CO's can't know there might be a problem if those DNF's don't start popping up.

I've left a 'TFTC' log a couple of times. It's pretty much my way of saying 'Thanks for the magnetic hide on yet another guardrail in an unremarkable location'. I mean really... there's just some caches were there is just not much to say other than 'thanks'.

That horse has already been beat to a pulp here and nobody is going to be changing their minds. I was simply responding to Lone R's post about the age limits in the ToS with what Groundspeak told me.

Here is Groundspeak's response to that: In these terms, we expect that if a person is under the age of 18 they will have adult supervision - for instance a Scout Leader. We do not see any problem with your scouts creating accounts as long as when they are used they have supervision. I hope this helps, please let us know if you have further questions or concerns. Happy Caching!

As a matter of fact I just switched today. Went from an Android running c:geo to a Garmin Oregon 450 I picked up at the REI sale (Around $200+tax after all is said and done with the sale and rebate). I love the Garmin. I have a park near me that has about 20+ caches in it. I couldn't use the phone since the park is in a valley and gets zero cell signal. Took the Garmin into the park on a trial run and was able to get 5 out of 5 caches in about an hour. I then came home and connected the GPS to the comp and uploaded my field log to geocaching.com. Point, click, ship and my finds were logged. And to answer your other question, the compass functions almost exactly like the radar feature. edit: Maps... there are several links throughout this forum pointing to sources and instructions on how to get free maps onto the Garmin units (and other GPSs). I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I will be soon.

Just happened to notice that this cache: http://coord.info/GC308QK has a hidden date of 11/09/1965. Mistake, joke or what? Seems to me that would throw off some stats since I noticed it listed as someones 'oldest cache found'.

I've had the same experience. I chalk it up to the perceived anonymity of the forums. People tend to be nicer to each other face to face. Many things are said in impersonal setting such as an internet forum that most people would never say in person.

Right now I'm seeing a 450 at REI for $250 plus a $50 mail in rebate. Is that the price point you're talking about?

I believe it's been mentioned before in this thread but I'll mention it again. The Bout Scout Geocaching merit badge does not require that the Scout hide a cache. http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Geocaching Checking section 8 you'll see that the scout must do one of four requirements. Placing a cache is one of these but is not a mandatory requirement for the badge. We've never had a scout chose to do 8a (Cache to Eagle... none in our area) or 8c (hide a public cache). Scouts usually pick 8b (tracking bug) and we've had a few choose 8d (CITO). However, if a scout was to choose 8c they would have to submit a 6 month maintenance plan which, as referred to by requirements 2b and 2c, would include the dismantling and removal of the cache after those 6 months.

I've now come across three caches that have used a container made out of wood to camouflage it like the surrounding area. While these all looked like they were great containers at some point, wood rots. Here's my favorite: The bottom has rotted out and the containers was crawling with slugs, ants and earwigs. Pretty nasty. The contents of the film canister were wet as well.

I've been reading this thread off and on for the past couple of weeks. The tone generally seems overwhelming negative and, unless I missed it, seems to be missing a very large positive... new people brought into the game as a result of this merit badge. My son earned the geocaching badge at summer camp this year. We did the prerequisites together in the weeks leading up to him leaving for camp. As a result we both are now searching out caches on a regular basis. Many times the rest of the family comes along as well. We just got back from a vacation were we all spent some time hunting for caches. I don't get the negatives being placed on scout caches. We have a very small number of finds (31 currently) but to be honest, a majority of those were pretty much junk caches that are wet/busted/empty and not maintained. We've found maybe 6-7 good caches (one of which just happened to be a three year old cub scout pack cache). Anyone at anytime can stop maintaining caches for pretty much any reason. To single out scouting seems a bit ridiculous.

This is exactly what I use with my HTC EVO and have had very good luck with it.