The red-haired witch

Sometimes the way advice is given can influence the reaction it gets... For example, advice on not putting useless hints could be badly received, while instructions on how to create a real "additional waypoint" for parking (so that people who download the GPX get the coordinates in their GPS) could be seen as nice And once she knows how to do the neat additional waypoint, she will most probably not see the need to type the same info in the hint field

Hi Angie, I don't think it's your husband's desire to protect you that rubbed so many people the wrong way, it's more the fact that by saying : He seems to be implying that any husband that leaves his wife go geocaching alone doesn't really love her This, to me, sounds just wrong. My husband is free to come with me if that makes him feel better about it, but he knows better than to tell me not to go. And while it is fine to forbid your kid to cross the street alone at 5 years old, I'm not a kid and don't accept to be treated like one. So, nothing wrong with your husband acting as your bodyguard if it's ok with you, but is is not necessary for everyone. As you know, going to the store can be more dangerous than going caching. So are we to each lock ourselves up in our homes and only travel in groups? If I was in a city where I felt like that, I would move, as fast as I could. The only really disturbing encounter I've had in years of caching (alone 90% of the time) was in a city park popular with families (beach, kids playground, short trails), at 11 on a sunny Sunday morning. I guy dropped his pants in the middle of the trail and tried to talk me into approaching ... did he really think that would work? I backed away, made sure I had a good grip on my hiking stick and called the police on his a**. He wasn't quite dumb enough to follow me to the parking lot. Bad guys are not waiting deep in the woods for the rare lone female hiker, they prefer busy areas and nice weather. Now, if a cache gets published in that park, I go during a snowstorm. Nice days, I'll go deep in the woods. I hike, geocache, hunt and fish all by myself. My husband telling me I can't do that definitively wouldn't go well with me and I wouldn't take it as a sign of love. I sometimes go camping for several days alone in the middle of the woods and I feel quite safe. OK, I'm not completely crazy...I do tell someone exactly where I'm going, when I'm due back, and I carry everything necessary to survive a few weeks if necessary. It's certainly not more or less dangerous for me than it is for the many men that do that kind of thing without anyone thinking it's weird. Sorry about the rant, but while threads about what to do to cache alone safely are good, I get annoyed that some people see it as a "women" issue. I know a few parks where I'm quite safe alone but I would be very worried for a young man's safety

(duplicate post)

Now I'm curious... how good is stinging nettle tea? Really good enough that you would risk touching that plant? I have a scar on my arm from brushing against a single plant 2 years ago Sorry I can't help you for Moncton coordinates, but if you ever visit the Ottawa-Gatineau region I can point you to a few "good" spots .

I lived many years in Montreal and I still miss how good the mass transit is there compared to everywhere else I've lived. Don't worry, not having a car won't limit you much... finding parking often takes longer than taking the subway. If you like natural areas, I suggest visiting the mountain (Mont Royal)... GC1C3YX is an example of cache in that area if you want to center a PQ there. There is also a Stargate cache up there, not many of those around! Ile Ste-Hélène and Ile Notre-Dame are nice also, and Old Montreal is on the way there. I can't really suggest specific caches but those areas are nice to visit on foot and have lots of traditional caches, which certainly doesn't hurt Finally, even if your French is not perfect, try to use at least a few words when talking to local people. Tourists who make the effort get instant bonus points pretty much anywhere in Quebec

That patch sounds like an interesting product... I'd certainly be willing to pay a dollar a day on camping or fishing trips not to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. I've never understood the basis of using Bounce to repel mosquitoes... Perfume attracts them, Bounce is perfumed, shouldn't it attract them? And rubbing your skin (or that of a baby, as suggested in another post) with a Bounce sheet would be bad, as several products in Bounce are irritants if applied directly on the skin. Other than covering yourself regularly in the few products proven to work (DEET every 4 hours, citronella or lemon eucalyptus oil ever half hour...), the only things I've seen really work is clothing too thick/loose for them to bite through, or pedalling so fast that they can't catch up with you One trick that has worked for other people is to go hiking with me, as the mosquitoes seem to prefer me (no matter if I eat bananas or not)

Though I don't have all the details, I'll suggest an hypothesis : climbing the mountain is not illegal, crossing the freeway is? Some roads are forbidden to pedestrians, so you are not legally allowed to walk across them. You are allowed to ask cachers to do dangerous things, but not to do illegal things.

Seriously? Someone threatened to shoot you because you were looking for a cache? Can you tell us what area that was in, I'll avoid caching there Threatening someone with a weapon (even if they happen to be standing on your lawn) carries a heavier penalty than simple trespassing. I know I would certainly go straight to the police if someone pointed a gun at me. You are not allowed to shoot (or threaten to shoot) trespassers... in Canada at least

I believe that any reasonable set of laws on trespassing has to include the fact that you only trespass if there is an indication that you are somewhere that is private property and that you are not allowed there. Really, when you think about it, if I buy a piece of forest next to a piece of crown land, and I put nothing anywhere on the "border", can I expect anyone stepping on my land to get a fine? What about someone stepping in my front yard to get to my door (sure would be handy to be able to fine some annoying people trying to convert me ). The owner telling you to get off his land is a clear indication. Written warnings, well, it depends. A fence with signs seems pretty clear and it's hard to argue that you didn't notice. A small sign every 200 meters on the edge of an unfenced forest property... not so much.

There are few Wherigo caches, but that is not only because of the additional purchase needed. It's part of it, but not all of it. Lots of people have Colorados or Oregons GPS and have not placed a Wherigo. For many of them, the reason is that those caches take a long time to set up and you need to have some knowledge of programming to create a good one (that is what the ones who have created one told me anyway, I don't have the necessary technology to check for myself). So any new cache type that need even more new equipment or specialized skill would also be slow to become popular.

I'm really hoping that 18 being the age of majority doesn't have a significant incidence on the popularity of the place for bachelor's parties How young do people get married in the US? I know some of them are in a hurry because they can't get any before marriage, but still... For high school graduation parties, yes, that I can believe. Bars in Gatineau are full of 18 year olds from Ottawa year-round... So, where is the next question?

The power trail guideline enforcement does seem to vary from reviewer to reviewer and over time. Existing power trails may have been built up gradually over time and there is no guidelines against that. Reviewers seem to object mainly when you try to hide a large number of traditional caches close together at the same time. If you really want to put caches all along a trail you just discovered, there are a few things that you can do to avoid conflicts with your reviewer (may depend on the reviewer, but in my experience, this helps): - Vary caches (a couple of traditionals, a couple of multis, a couple of puzzles) - Publish them over several weeks - Leave room in between for future caches from other hiders - Get together with a few other hiders, place a couple caches each along the trail There are a few great examples of bike path power trails in Quebec. One I want to visit this year is 200km long, with one cache each km (no problem on the cache saturation with that!). The caches were placed by many different people over many months. The result is certainly more varied hides than if they had been placed by one single person on one weekend. You can build good power trails within the guidelines, it just takes time

I used those showers at the last Spring Fling and there was definitively a door! There also was hot water. I was a bit sceptical of the "solar water heater" (a coil of black plastic pipe on the roof of the shed), but it turned out to be so efficient the water was a bit too hot for me Add to that the fact that the campground is covered in a thick comfy mattress of pine needles, and it's really a great place for camping

A local cacher went on a trip to Thailand last year. She didn't mention any GPS related problems. Changes in the rules are possible though, so better check. Travel advisory link for Canadian citizens, by the way : thailand

As long as the terrain rating is appropriate and the tree is solid enough, you shouldn't get too many complaints. I usually avoid caches that involve climbing, though I have struggled up a few trees (if I did much work getting to that point and it was doable without special equipment or high probability of death). But I got really annoyed once when I saw the final of a multi way up a tree... and even the lowest (largest) limbs of the tree wouldn't support my weight. How did people get that cache? Most of them sent a kid up the tree, a couple came back with a ladder. If you need special equipment to find a cache, the cache page should say so. If you think your tree will only support 120 pounds, the cache page should really say so... not all that many cachers in that weight category

I don't know what GPS you are using, but I've never seen a GPS that gets slower because there are more waypoints loaded in it My GPS can hold 1000 waypoints, and I usually keep it filled with over 900 (barely enough to cover a 25km radius around home...) I can safely tell you it doesn't have a noticable effect on speed. And loading all those waypoints in takes only a few seconds with a USB cable (took much longer with my old Legend and its serial cable...) So go ahead, fill up you GPS, have no fear, it can take it

Anik E1? Vague memories from a Discovery Channel shows some years ago...

Anik E1? Vague memories from a Discovery Channel shows some years ago...

You may want to send your TB North... in places where there is a lot of snow, more caches get placed high off the ground, so that they can be found in winter. Many small and regular sized caches in trees around here,

So if I was to go out in the woods dressed as a stripper you couldn't tell the difference between me and a deer? And I thought my eyesight was bad. Most people think of a cartoon deer when they see that name, you appear to be... different. Not accusing you of anything, just saying... I guess I can use that as a defense next time someone accuses me of being an evil Bambi killer: "No, I never shot a stripper!"

Please tell me when and where you are going hunting, so I can stay far far away! Actually, I bowhunt, from the ground, so I have to get within 100 feet of the animal (arrows don't travel very far) ... at that distance, no chance of mistaking a cacher with a deer unless the cacher is wearing a very good Bambi disguise. But that's really the safest setup gun hunters use in high hunting density area : get in a high stand, shoot towards the ground, no risk of hitting someone in another high stand or far away in the woods. Considering how far a bullet from a rifle can travel, I much prefer the thought of those guys shooting towards the ground than them standing on the ground and shooting horizontally (or worse, up a hill), in which case the bullet could go hundreds of feets in the woods, further than the hunter can see. Some hunters do that, and yes, you should keep far far away from their patch of forest. Stick to non-hunting areas during rifle season

Actually, if the terrain is flat and the tree stands are high, there is no danger for people in another stand... Say you are 30 feet up, shooting towards a deer (only a few feet tall) in one of the "alleys". Even if you miss, your bullet cannot hit someone 30 feet up in another blind, it's going to hit the ground not too far past the deer. I certainly wouldn't advise going for a walk there in hunting season, but it doesn't look dangerous for the hunters.

Et, bien sûr, presque toutes les descriptions des caches situées au Québec sont en français ou bilingues, alors tu ne devrais pas avoir de problème de ce côté. Il y a plusieurs centaines de caches à Gatineau Si tu veux t'aventurer à Ottawa pour avoir accès à quelques milliers de caches supplémentaires, là tu auras l'occasion de pratiquer ton anglais...

I find lots of the "finders" in this thread to be rather silly, but you are pushing a bit there... I've never heard of a cache owner asking someone to delete their find because the logbook was too wet to be signed. I've heard of one person deleting finds because someone dared to post a "Need Maintenance" on their cache because of the wet logbook, but most people thought that was a very silly and spiteful thing to do And while for some caches it is part of the challenge to open the container (combination lock, multiple layers of containers/puzzles, hidden logboog, 500 micros in a large container...), for most caches it is not important. Considering where you live, the issue of frozen caches might be strange to you , but it happens a lot here. And most cache owners I know are quite ok with someone logging a "found it but couldn't open it because it is frozen shut" rather than having someone feel so obligated to sign the log that they risk breaking the container. You can play how you want, obviously, but if someone has the cache in their hand, it is pretty safe to say the cache has been found, even if the logbook has turned into a block of ice or a blob of mold. And while placing a replacement container because you think you know where the cache should be is usually agreed to be a bad idea, adding a new logbook is not normally frowned upon... around here, anyway

It says that you are allowed IF you get a permit (from the "Hidrographical and Geodesical National Office") before you arrive in Cuba. No indication of how hard it is to get such a permit or how long it takes or how much it cost...