Loch Cache
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Posts posted by Loch Cache
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When looking at one of my caches, GC22C8A, I noticed there was no space between the Short Description section and the Long Description section anymore. As a matter of fact, the paragraphs run together as can be seen where the large green print runs into the normal black text.
I am using Firefox 3
Loch Cache
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I go geocaching at night, so I can, so I can
find your cache and sign on the log lines
And I find geocaches at night, so I can, so I can
Trade trackables with night eyes
While we’re seeking it, watch for security
Caching’s got control of me, I seek for fun I say
Don’t switch the light on ‘till you’re in shadows, oh no
Don’t mess around with the headlamp, oh no, I can’t believe it
Cause you got made by the LEO with shades, oh no
And I go geocaching at night so I can, so I can
Find your caches while you collect some zees
And I go geocaching at night so I can, so I can
Use moonlight to find boxes with TBs
While we’re seeking it, watch for security
Caching’s got control of me, not for numbers I say
Don’t switch the light on ‘till you’re in shadows, oh no
Don’t mess around with the headlamp, oh no, I can’t believe it
Don’t look now there’s a guy in shades, oh no, you can’t escape him
Cause you got made by the LEO with shades, oh no
I said, "I find geocaches at night, I bulk up my numbers at night
I run through dark woods at night"
I say to you now, "go find a geocache at night
go find a geocache at night, go find a geocache at night "
I cry to you, ? I go geocaching at night
Can you go geocaching tonight?
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Leave an FTF prize???
NO! I take them when I find them.
Seriously, I do when I can afford them, but usually only in the nicer cache I place. (Yes I have placed some park and grabs and some so-so caches.) I have even been known to recycle some FTF prizes.
One prize I have used often is an uncirculated US One Dollar coin in a case. (Cost $1.50)
For one multi I placed five Dunkin Donut's gift cards worth $10, $5, $2, $2, an $1 in the cache for the first five finders but did not mark them so it was a bit of chance on how much they got.
I would say not even half of the caches I have been FTF on have had a FTF prize. More like 30 %. (Yes that is a rough guess and not a solid stat.)
Loch Cache
118 FTFs
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118 out of 1060 finds.
I no longer get the notifications on my blackberry but I still manage to get out to find just as many. It is a mind set you have to have if that is what you want to do. I have FTFs in five states and Canada. I once drove 60-70 miles to get an FTF. The most memorable set of FTFs was three I got one morning while on vacation in Canada. Total drive was 30+ kilometers in morning rush hour. One was even DNF'd minutes before I got there.
Just like racking up numbers or clearing a radius or trying to improve your D/T average, it is how you choose to play the game.
Loch Cache
Admitted FTF Hound
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My latest hide takes 6 or 7 hours of roundtrip swampy bushwhacking to get to. Once you get to it, it's in plain sight.
The D/T generator rated it as a 1/4.5. I couldn't stomach owning a 1, so I bumped it up to a 1.5.
Why not a 1 if it was in plain sight? Oh, that's right, the rating system is subjective and each cacher gets to set the D/T for their placed caches so 1 it is.
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Yes. It seems like my brain forgets what I was doing and I just end up doing it twice.
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Yes. It seems like my brain forgets what I was doing and I just end up doing it twice.
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I think we need a new term to help designate what you are. You are clearly the FTFAP (First to Find After Publication).
FTFAP is often used in these parts if there have been finders prior to publication(FPTP). FPTP happens if a cache is pretested, coords handed out at an event, coords given to a friend. For most caches I have seen, FPTP admit that they have done so with the help of the cache owner.
The cache owner is free to give out the coordinates for the cache anytime and in any manner he or she or they wish. And the FTF is simply that. The First to Find the cache no matter is it's before it's published, after it's published, or anything else.
Don't mean to single this poster out specifically, but this rational is bunk. There are no hard and fast designations for the FTF, Groundspeak doesn't recognize it. As such, you can choose your definition as you will. If you want to claim FTF do so.
"choose your definition as you will" I do. I enjoy the FTF rush. I have 980 finds and 104 FTFs of one type or another. Two were accidental finds. I was out one day hiding three caches in a downtown area and found a cache exactly where I was going to hide one. I signed the log and then waited until it was published to log my "prefind". One cache was published but then retracted while I was out hunting for stage one. I could not find it but I did find the final based on information on the cache page. Again, when I logged online I told my tale of the "prefind". Lastly, I was given coords for a cache at an event before it was published. I waited until I knew it was published before going to find it. Turns out I was the first after publication to find it. (FTFAP).
FTF is an unofficial number, you are the only one that you need to justify it too.
Loch Cache
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Hello. My fiance and a few friends and I have noticed that one geocacher in our area has placed what seems to us like way too many geocaches. They have about 100 finds and 70 hides, so for every 4 finds they hide 3. They monopolize whole parks by placing 6 or 7 so there is no room for anyone else. I joke that they walk .10 mile in every direction and place a new one anywhere that is not private property, but it seems to be true! As a seeker it is boring because they use the same container every time. As a hider it is annoying because there are few public places around us left to hide a cache. Is there anything we can do?
Stats for K:
Finds: 104
Hides: 73
Member since November 16, 2007
Stats for R:
Finds: 45
Hides: 0
Member since December 26, 2008
Caches placed by K since R started: 1
Sock puppet? Or Newbie?
Advice, get out and hide some before complaining about other people's hides. Also, if you don't like them, don't find them. How many of his have you found?
Loch
PS. Some cachers would kill for the concentration there in Denver.
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I love geocaching. I also do technical tree climbing using ropes, ascenders,carabiners etc. My question is: should I put some caches in trees if its limits many fellow geocaches? Is this fair, and am I being elitist? The caches would only be available to folks who have the equipment and knowledge. The rating would probably be a 4 or 5. I've set out many caches, but never in trees. What do you think?
Technical Tree climbing is very different than your average cache in a tree. (I can think of two local caches where you have to climb to get the cache.) The question really is there enough cachers out there who'd take the time to do the cache? Would you expect others to have the equipment or access to it? I know there are caches where you need repelling or climbing gear. Is this the same?
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We have one new member in our city that just registered, and started by submitting caches (not searching). his caches are mostly commented as "garbage" and worse words. he usually puts some stuff in a plastic bag, and drops it on the ground in the grass. He has no idea about any rules, or just plain common sense. Then he goes on destroying other caches (logged visit, next finder only collected remains of the box). Several members have attempted to contact this user, but no response. What could be done in such situation? He keeps publishing new caches, and all of them are really bad! It's not just me who thinks they are, 99% of comments are strong criticism
Maybe if I read all the replies to the OP I would see someone else had picked up on the fact that the OP has 70 finds over just 3 months of geocaching and ZERO hides himself. If you don't like the type of hides in your area, hide some "good ones" YOURSELF!
I heard a commencement speech one time where the speaker said, "If you don't like your job, quit. If you don't quit, shut up". If you don't like the hides, hide some yourself. If you don't hide some, shut up.
JMHO
Loch Cache
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Woburn, MA 01801 = 636
Boston, MA 02110 = 567
Moline Il 61265 = 925 (Il & IA border)
Madawaska ME 04756 = 16 (Northern ME)
Manhattan, NY 10004 = 471 (From Battery Park)
Key West FL 33040 = 31
Anchorage AK 99501 = 943
Sandpoint ID 83864 = 95 (Palin's birthplace)
Chicago IL 60615 = 711 (Obama's home)
Honolulu HI 96801 = 423
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This cache, submitted on October 20th, was reviewed last evening. OP, you can respond to the reviewer note at your convenience. Thanks for the alert, and for your patience.
I must confess that as soon as I read the original post, my spidey sense for bullcrap tingled. And now, we learn that it has not been two weeks (14 days) but rather 9 days, and that the reviewer had already sent a reviewer note to the cacher on the 9th day. Why is it that SO ANY of the "complaining" genre posts that we see started on this forum turn out, in short order, to involve deceptions, misconceptions or convenient omission of facts by the OP, or (at this does not appear to be true in this case) undisclosed agendas? Wow!
I would give the OP the benefit of the doubt. Nine days still is longer than most for waiting for a reviewer note, let alone a publish log. The automated email states that "Normally it will be reviewed within 36-72 hours". Of course the out is NORMALLY. Still, I think all the caches I have ever posted have made that time frame or even quicker. (I had one publish 20 minutes after I posted it.)
Loch Cache
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The only way to get accurate coods is to go back out there. If you are not willing to do that then you should not place a cache there. Frankly, even relying on coords taken on one single visit is not enough to insure accurate coords. Most caches I place involve trips on three different days. Try it and you will see that your GZ is not the same on those three days. Make the effort to make it a good cache and people will remember it.
Loch Cache
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I actually DNF'd one of my own caches because it had been moved just 3 feet. It was an urban cache on a town common but the difference of three feet made me think it was gone so I replaced it. Later someone noted they found two and were confused as to which to sign. Opps.
I also spent half an hour searching for one of my caches that had been moved about 30 feet. I later wrote the last finder to see where they had found it and they told me they "found it in the wrong place so they moved it back to where it should be". There GPSr was accurate and mine was not?
As far as the OP line of ranting, I too have found caches completely exposed, both mine and others. If it is someone else’s it is tough to know how hidden it is suppose to be. Although I can't imagine a regular sized cache sitting completely exposed, the cover people use differs a lot so I just cover it enough to not be totally exposed to muggles and send the owner a note if I remember.
Loch Cache
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That's pretty interesting to me. The caches by area make sense, but I would not have guessed that much spread in caches per person across the various states.
Although I wouldn't try it and don't know if it can be done, the different ratios of micros to regulars would be interesting too.
This can be done. I did it two years ago but not this time around.
While you are at it can you calculate the ratio of micros to regular caches in each state and maybe the numbers parking lot light poles that harbor a cache compared to the number that don't?
Seriously, I am a little surprised That Georgia was low in the caches per person ratings...There are over 700 within 50 miles of my home coords and I'm not even close to the big city of Atlanta where the density has be be way bigger.
Georgia has 8.2 million people (keep in mind I am using census numbers that only update every 10 years)and only 5494 geocaches which ranks it at 21. Georgia is ranked 47 for cache per person at 0.671 and it ranks 31 for cache per 1000 sq. miles at 94.9
In May 2006 Georgia had 3592 caches and ranked 18. It ranked 39 for cache per person at 0.439 and it ranked 26 for cache per 100 sq. mile at 62.0.
The problem is Georgia had the lowest growth rate. The number of caches grew by only 53%. If you look at Iowa, which grew the greates percentage, they went from 1720 caches to 5342 for a growth rate of 210%
Loch Cache
PS. For the LPM/LP ratio that ratio positively correlates to the number of Wal-Mart’s per 1000 sq. miles.
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A recent thread on density, based on zip code, got me thinking. I ran the number of caches in each state, found the land area and population and did some quick calculations. Please note that I ran the numbers on July 7, 2008 and they are constantly changing.
So how dense are we?
That depends on what state you live in. I ran the numbers for each state and no big surprise, California has the most caches at 53,157. The state with the least is North Dakota with just 609. (358,251 total in US)
Top 5 states in order:
1 - California
2 - Texas
3 - Florida
4 - Washington
5 - Oregon
Bottom 5 states
46 - Vermont
47 - Deleware
48 - Rhode Island
49 - Hawaii
50 - North Dakota
But what about density? How to determine density? I took the US Census numbers for the land area of each state and divided that by the number of active caches in the state to determine the number of caches per 1000 square miles. (Land area excludes water areas over 1 acre.) The US average was 101.3 caches per 1000 sq. miles. No big surprise Alaska can in last at only 4.4. The state with the highest density is Rhode Island with 838.3.
Top 5 states in order:
1 - Rhode Island at 838.3
2 - Connecticut at 714.4
3 - New Jersey at 631.2
4 - Massachusetts at 611.7
5 - Deleaware at 494.0
Bottom 5 states:
46 - Wyoming at 25.5
47 - South Dakota at 23.8
48 - Montana at 16.7
49 - North Dakota at 8.8
50 - Alaska at 4.4
For reference California has 340.8 caches per 1000 sq. miles.
Another stat is the number of caches per person. Again using US Census numbers I came up with the number of caches per 1000 people. The US average was 1.275 aches per 1000 people. For me the big surprises were that New Jersey came in last at 0.55 and Wyoming came in second with 5.02.
Top 5 states in order:
1 - Utah at 5.365
2 - Wyoming at 5.02
3 - Idaho at 4.84
4 - Alaska at 4.04
5 - Oregon at 3.61
Bottom 5 states:
46 - Maryland at 0.67
47 - Georgia at 0.67
48 - Louisiana at 0.65
49 - New York at 0.60
50 - New Jersey at 0.556
For reference California has 1.57 caches per 1000 people.
What does all this mean? Not much. After all…
IT IS NOT ABOUT THE NUMBERS!
Loch Cache
from Massachusetts
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91523, a zip in Burbank CA (I have no idea whether this represents the most cache dense part of the great SoCal megagopolis, I just used it for starters)
5 miles 595
10 --- 1,619
25 --- 6,135
50 -- 17,866 (which is more caches than in the entire state of Florida).
I'm wondering if I'd started with something north of San Diego if I might have seen more initial density.
Am I doing something different? When I run the search "by Zip Code" on the Cache Seek Page I don't get the same numbers that you do fo 91523. Here is what I get:
5 miles = 353
10 miles = 972
25 miles = 3714
50 Miles = 10010
and 1000 miles = 127603
Still impressively dense, but only about 60% of what you reported. It is also fewer caches than in 10 states other than California.
Loch Cache
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To TPTB:
In addition to the GZ mysteries there were other benefits to having the zip code wizard on the "Mark my Home Coordinates" page had other advantages. Is there any reason it can not be put back?
List of advantages:
1. When traveling to visit my parents I could quickly change my home coordinates by just putting in their zip.
2. If I quickly wanted to see where a town was located I could enter the zip and click for the map.
3. If you have PQs build around your home coords you can quickly change them for when you travel.
4. I am sure there are more...
List of disadvantages:
1. ???????????????????????????????????????????
Sincerly yours,
Loch cache
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Hm. Perhaps I'm confused about what you're talking about, but my cache, 98801, seems fine.
Of course yours are fine, it is not a GZ cache, it is a trad that you give coords. There is no mystery about it. Plus the method you used to decide where to place the trad, looking at the search by zip code, is not the method in question. Having done a few GZ caches I can attest they do not all use the same method.
The long and short of it is if you have a mystery cache that used the "update your home coords" method for determining GZ then you need to update your page to make it work with one of the remaining methods. Add a geochecker if you want, or make people work for it. My GZ cache in RI still works with one of the previously mentioned methods so no updating for me.
Loch Cache
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Its not about that...it shouldnt get to that point...Not for the sake of the cache, but for the sake of the time, money and energy spent!
Its not about the cache or sympathy for the idiotic hider! They're are idiotic hiders all over...its about when the next one will be payed a visit by the bomb squad and spent thousands of dollars destroying it- It all could be avoided!
Im tellin ya, its gonna happen over and over again and there is nothing any reviewer, cacher, or bomb squad tech can do, unless it was necessary protocol to check the coords~ Its so easy...Is any body with me???
Totally forget about me...Can ya see past that?
I am having trouble forgetting about the money spent blowing up a device that looked like a bomb and was hidden under a bridge. I wonder how much it did cost to do that? $5000? $10,000? More?
Maybe you should go down to the bomb squad and personally talk with them. Explain to them that YOU are the one that created that item and YOU are the one that hid it under the bridge, and YOU are upset that they blew it up without calling YOU first. I am sure they will be happy to talk protocol with YOU as soon as YOU pay for their expenses for the day.
Loch Cache
PS. I am guessing YOU did not tell them that YOU placed it since YOU are not talking about an extended stay at the county jail.
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What makes for a good name? Do you prefer descriptive, clever, or something else? Does the name influence if/when you visit a cache? How much effort do you put into picking a name?
Which of the following names do you like? Do you have a better idea? It's for a stop-along-the-way cache at a tiny rustic wayside in the township of Norton. There's a sandstone geographic feature in a rural wooded setting along the highway.
What is in a name? If there is a clue that can be planted in the name then do it, otherwise the name might as well be Cache # 24601.
When I create a cache and web page sometimes I use the cache name for a hint, sometimes I change who placed it (Loch Cache and John D.) for a hint and other times I will add a user web page link that is meaningful but not mention it.
One thing to think about for names is what will the GPSr software shorten it to? What will the smart name end up being.
One suggestion for a funny twist:
Not McAfee
Loch Cache
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Recently, there has been an issue about some caches I have placed and their location. I have hidden caches all over the state of Texas in the 6 years I have been caching and was very surprised to hear that I needed to ask permission to hide caches that aren't in the town I live in. The caches in question are about 20 miles from where I live. I have hidden 480+ caches and this is the first time I've ever had a cacher scold me for hiding caches in his or her territory.
Personally I think everywhere is fair game. I welcome caches in my town - it gives me something close to home to find! I don't think of the suburb or Allen, Texas as "my turf".
What do you think? If you see a really great area with no caches and the area has been open the public for a year or more, are you responsible to notify every cacher who might live in that area and make sure it is okay with them? Or do you hide it and hope that people in the area will enjoy having another cache to find?
Note that this is not about asking for permission from landowners, but from other cachers.
Yes, definitely, but names and cache ID's are withheld for now. Just getting a feeling for which way people fall on this subject.I do think there might be a little more to this story.
My territory is anywhere on the planet. Pay me royalties for each cache you place on earth!
Personally, I would find their home coords and see how close I could get with the hardest puzzle I could imagine.
Seriously, I wouldn't worry about "territories", I would worry about the guidlines.
This includes being able to maintain it as the guidelines state. "As the cache owner, you are also responsible for physically checking your cache periodically, and especially when someone reports a problem with the cache." How often do you archive a cache without trying to do maintenance first?
Also the guidelines talk about permanence. "Please do your best to research fully, hide wisely, and maintain properly for a long cache life."
I wonder how you can actually maintain your 482 caches. Well, 468 since 14 are events. A quick scan tells me about 200 of those are archived. Dozens lasted less than 3 months and at least a dozen less than 30 days. The shortest seemed to be 4 days. (From when it was published to when it was last found.)
4 days
4 days
6 days
13 days
I stopped counting.
Maybe the other cacher is not looking forward to a cache dropped by the roadside, posted and then archived before they can find it.
I have not placed a single cache that did not last a year except for my first. And even that one I "Reloaded" 100 feet away. Never have I archived after a cache after 4 days because "No one seems to like this park - oh well."
Loch Cache
HTML Filtering for Cache Descriptions
in Website
Posted
I too am having trouble identifying which caches will be affected. I am sure of two but not sure if there are others. Can you give us a list of tags that WILL BE STRIPPED? Or even a partial list?
Loch Cache