Desert_Trailblazers

Okay, I'll bite... Huh??

We have several different bags for different areas, but I found a bad that was at a swim shop (or even Target/Walmart would probably have something like this) and it is very large. But that's in fashion right now! It opens from the top, so it is easy to get inside, and has several pockets inside (one with a zipper.) As a staple item, we keep a Quart-size Ziplock freezer bag (because they are heavier weight), and we have it always ready to grab and go! It has: Tweezers small led flashlight several good writing pens a good variety of small swag items a separate smaller ziplock bag for trackables several pairs of fresh batteries a small selection of little ziplocks for cleaning up the inside of a neglected cache a few small pencils to leave if a cache is out of one a few extra log sheets in tiny ziplocks in case a cache log is full Other than this little bag, we only need to carry our GPSr, a larger flashlight if it is night, gloves (if we are bushwacking) and the printouts of the caches we are looking for that outing. We even have a little box of WetOnes in there to clean our hands when we get them dirty, digging around. Those things fit easy into our large bag. It has two long, wide straps and can be worn over the shoulder or diagonally. Even though it is a beach bag, it looks just like a big purse. With the ziplock ready to go all the time, and a new cache comes up, we can just grab it, and go for a FTF! Good luck

I think you can do this with a pocket query. I just did something very similar to this. In the pocket query, you can select the choice, "Has Not Been Found," and then in the date range, enter the range of dates that would be what you are looking for. I did this also for older caches by type: Virtual, Difficult (I put in a high rating for difficulty and terrain," Easy caches (just the opposite) and Puzzle/Mystery Caches that had not been found in awhile. I can still get new ones daily, but having the older ones lets us choose a particular type of cache to go looking for depending upon our mood that day. Good luck!

I didn't see this one, but a fellow cacher told me they found one that was a cylindrical box that opened in the middle, like two doors opening in the middle on hinges, and when you opened the two doors, it activated a singing frog with a banjo! Would have loved to have seen that one!! I think wandering through your local home depot or the like, and looking at real plumbing parts or electrical parts, bolts, strapping that can be modified to be magnetic... this can give you an infinite number of ideas. We created a cache, which is now kind of passe', that was an outdoor j-box, attached to the electrical conduit where we put it with strapping (from the plumbing dept) and left the outlet out of the box. The hinged lid looks just like a normal outdoor electrical box. Best to put in a logical commercial place, like a shopping center, where it won't stand out, but from experience, put it somewhere where there are other places to hide something or it will stand out like a flashing sign, "look here!" One of the hardest ones we ever found was on a bronze statue of an Elk, at a sculpture garden. The ears of the Elk were hollow. The CO glued a small piece of nylon thread about a 1/2 inch down inside the ear, and once you found the string (very hard) you pulled it out of the ear, and there was a nano glued to the other end. Can't say anything about "defacing private property" but will leave that up to you.

We recently took a trip that was only 350 miles, so yours would be a lot more work, but there is a way to Create a Route and you can specify how many miles off the route you would be willing to go. After you have created the Route (instructions under User Routes on the right side of your main page) then you can do what we did... not an efficient system at all, but we quickly glanced at all of the results pages to see if something interesting stood out, and if it did, then we looked at it closer, and printed it out and downloaded it. Mind you, this was just for the drive along the highway. Once we arrived at the actual destination, we used the google maps method to pull up caches near major points of interest, (found through a typical travel book,) and found a lot of interesting caches that way. Again, it took some time to read about them, but we found enough to get us started, and then when we got there, we had access to a computer, and used some of the good ones to find more in that area. We saw some great things because of caching in the area that we would have never seen if we had just stuck to the travel guides! I know this is a lot of work, and I don't know how much time you have before you leave, but an afternoon of doing this should get you some good results. I think the suggestion to contact cachers in the area you are going to visit is a great idea, too. Good luck!

I just encountered this problem; a perfect spot, but it is 42 feet short of the minimum distance "as the crow flies." The other cache is across a wetland and it is quite a bit further to actually get to the cache unless you really walk across the swamp. The problem I have with the other cache is it is placed by someone else who has saturated several miles with over 300 caches. I sent an email asking if he could move by 42 feet, no response. Well, with over 300 caches, you can't be sure if he even read your e-mail! And I think the African crow's flight path could well be altered by said fermented berries, but then there is the Australian crow, which seems to have made it's way to cross with the American crow, so and I would bet that they would be particularly unreliable give their probable propensity for shrimp and beer.

I use this website distance calculator just put in the co-ordinate of the nearest cache and your proposed co-ordinate and there you go !! So much to learn, and so little time... Thanks... I've bookmarked that page. As for the crows flying straight, has anyone determined if crows calculate course corrections required due to winds aloft?

Oh Great!! Please don't tell me that it is Thunderbird Airfield??!!! I have been dying to go out there and look around and put something there!! Are all the great places taken?? Fear not Jedi ... not at Thunderbird Airfield. cache on and hide well ***Big Sigh of relief***

Problem solved for now. We found a "compromise" spot that puts the other two caches at exactly .10 mile from the proposed new cache! How's that for pushing the envelope?! But I think this was a good thing to really understand better, as so many caches can be a short distance from each other geographically, but not close at all in terms of access to them. Thanks to everyone for your input!

Oh Great!! Please don't tell me that it is Thunderbird Airfield??!!! I have been dying to go out there and look around and put something there!! Are all the great places taken??

I hear you. But, honestly, we didn't set out to find a place just because it was handy to other caches. We found the place first because it is a historic landmark in our state, it is incredibly fun, quaint, charming, interesting, etc., etc. Then we looked up the location and saw the other two caches in the area. But they aren't in this "place" (they are down the road) which is rather tucked away (we have lived here all of our lives and driven by here countless times, and never seen it before!) To us, that should be, if it isn't already, a goal of placing caches. To bring people to see places they may not have ever seen if not for caching! With all due respect, you are bringing an emotionl argument to a logical guideline. Your argument will likely not work. I still suggest you contact the other cache owner(s). Well, we wouldn't feel right asking other COs to move their caches; after all, they were there first! I guess from reading all of the experienced feedback on here we are just going to have to find another place. Bummer. But thanks for all the helpful input. Likely saved us a lot of wasted time!

I hear you. But, honestly, we didn't set out to find a place just because it was handy to other caches. We found the place first because it is a historic landmark in our state, it is incredibly fun, quaint, charming, interesting, etc., etc. Then we looked up the location and saw the other two caches in the area. But they aren't in this "place" (they are down the road) which is rather tucked away (we have lived here all of our lives and driven by here countless times, and never seen it before!) To us, that should be, if it isn't already, a goal of placing caches. To bring people to see places they may not have ever seen if not for caching!

Yeah, I have been accused of over thinking things before! We considered just submitting it and see what happens. I kinda agree that our chances of getting an exception are rather slim. We did stand in the location of our new place and used the GPS to check distance to other two, but we were soooo close to being okay, but just far enough away to make it questionable. In one case it was 502 feet away, but then there are buildings and trees, etc. between the two points... and as I said, this is "as the crow flies." To actually get to the other two it was easily outside of 528 feet. I suppose it couldn't hurt to try and maybe we'll get lucky! An argument could be made for the unique setting, and why it would be a really nice place for a cache!

Another problem is how to really accurately measure the distance "as the crow flies," if that is, indeed the criteria. I am a pilot, and I can certainly calculate distances between two points! But when you are looking at the map with the caches on it, there is the question of where exactly is the other cache located (when going just by an icon, and when every foot counts, how do you determine the starting point?) Then, the second problem becomes the fact that without having the cache published, it is pretty difficult to look at a map and find the precise location of where the new cache point would be unless it is right on top of an obvious landmark, such as a street intersection. On this particular one, it would be very difficult to locate the second point. There are two roads nearby, and I suppose one could try to triangulate the location from those two points by stepping off the distances. A measuring tape would be out of the question. It's just too far from both intersections. I would let this go except Mr. DT really has his heart set on this spot, and I agree it is a really great, (and fun) place. Perhaps we should write to our local publisher? Or is there a moderator on here who would like to add his/her two cents? Or someone who has actually been in this situation before and could share the outcome of their experience with getting it published?

We have a place in mind that would be really great for a cache. The problem is that there are two other caches in the same vicinity. We have taken our GPS and walked, via normal routes, from the proposed spot, to the other two spots. In both cases they were just over .1 mile, but, again, this was the distance by normal traveling either on foot, or in a car. However, if one was to look at the distance between the caches "as the crow flies" they would be slightly less that .1 of a mile apart. Does the saturation rule go by "as the crow flies" or by the distance to actually reach a cache without walking through buildings?! I don't know if it makes any difference, but the one we would like to place is a Puzzle cache, and the other two are traditional caches. I saw that there was some kind of exception for this, but didn't really understand the rule. Thanks!

One other way to look this is that a smart shopper can find nice things that are not expensive. I unearthed this post that I made last year on a thread called "Lame Swag," trying to make the point that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get useful, appreciated, fun things for trade items. I get so tired of finding trade items that have no use other than to pass on to someone else. I'll add this, and then I'll shut up "However! Doesn't every city of some size have an equivalent to a $.99 store, a MacFrugals, or, at the very least, even in the smaller towns, a WalMart? We have found that it is not difficult at all to find items for $1 or less to use for trade. As an example (and these were all $1): Adults Combination locks (for luggage or computer bags) Small padlocks with keys (all kinds of uses) Small tape measures (I know I can never have enough of these, because I keep losing the small ones!) Earbuds (primarily for Ipods, but could also be used for laptops or radio headphone jacks) Folding Reading Glasses (This was my personal favorite because I'm over 40! Seriously, their regular price was labeled as $9.99, and they even came with a nice little case for them. Folded, they are very small.) Mechanical Pencils (found a package of 6 for $.99 - this makes each one cost about $.17) Nice ball point pens (same deal as above) Various versions of Post It Notes (all different sizes, including the little strip ones to use for page markers - probably best used during the cool time of year because of adhesive, but should be fine then) Mini LED Clip Light (batteries included! cute and tiny little guy with super bright light - good for campers, traveling, book light, cars, etc.) LED Pen Light with Key Chain (again, batteries included. Great for packs, purses, car or house key chains) Cloisonne' Picture Frame (beautiful finish with clip and stand on back and only 1" by 2") AA Batteries (the good 'ol standby) Art Quality White Soft Erasers (package of 6, again making them about $.17 each) Costume Jewelry (This category is endless - earrings, bracelets, necklaces. Some were tacky, but we looked a little, and some were nice enough to meet just about anyone's standards - especially teenage girls) Silver Dollar (self explanatory) Shoe Shine Sponge (only about 2" x 1" with case - good for touching up nice shoes that need a little shine) Covered Elastic Ponytail holders (anywhere from 12 to 24 on a card) Attractive Hair Barrets (the nice ones with the good clips and tasteful designs - large enough to hold a ponytail (the fancy ones were $1 each, but some of the tortoise shell colored ones came in 4 packs ($.25 each) Small Calculator (batteries included) I could go on but you get the idea. The thing with all of the above items is that at least they are useful, and most would appeal to somebody. For a little more: WalMart has really very nice earrings and bracelets for $3; Bargain CDs for $3 (and good artists - maybe not the best recording studio, but fine for a portable system or small player); Waterproof Match Containers for less than $2 that could not only be filled with another surprise, but used again as a micro cache; small, thin, little harcover pocket books (3"x3") for less than $2 with topics ranging from spiritual quotes to funny photos of animals with captions - something to make someone smile; Duncan Yo-Yos for $3 (what kid wouldn't like to get a Yo-Yo, and probably some adults too!) And just a sampling for the kids, we found a package of 4 Tinkerbell or Winnie the Pooh Memo Pads (cute shapes, colorful, and lots of paper in each one (2"x2") for $1. (That's $.25 each.) A package of 5, 1.5"x1.5", round Disney character pencil sharpener boxes for $1 (that's $.20 each); the $.99 store had matchbox-type cars; very nice quality, large, acrylic Spiderman and The Hulk keychains; package of 5 Micky Mouse pens (heck, I'd use a Mickey Mouse pen! laughing.gif that's $.20 ea.)" Anyway, this is what we do. We don't scrounge around the house to find stuff that is used and we are about to throw away. We do buy stuff specifically for trade items, but we try to make it good. We left one of those little LED clip lights in one of our caches, and a cacher who found it wrote that he wanted it so much that he walked all the way back to his truck to get some swag to trade for it, and it only cost $1! Part of the beauty of geocaching, especially in this economy, it that it it very, very inexpensive entertainment. As one little boy in Mexico said, when he was trying to sell us something, "so cheap, almost free!"

Hi, my name is Joanna... now you know two.

Oh geez, I hope I'm not coming across as complaining. It's more a head-scratching thing. I appreciate COs who put out decent swag and then replenish the stock from time to time. I like to think I'm one of those COs too, but I think the priciest thing I've left in my cache hides would be $5 items. I think most finders would be carrying trinkets in the price range of $1-$5. Does a CO that leaves a $40 item really expect that someone will be carrying a $40 item to trade? Maybe they do. Oh no, no, no... I never meant to imply that you were complaining... not at all. I was just complaining about our area, and was flabbergasted that there are places where cachers actually put something besides junk in caches as trade items! That's all.. I think it would be a very rare cacher who would leave something worth more than $5 as a trade item, and they would probably be considered to be generous, even with that. I have seen caches placed that start out with some extra nice things in it because the CO wants to commemorate something, like an anniversary, or make it a special cache for a holiday. But as was noted earlier, that will eventually degrade down to the plastic worms. My advice to you would be to not lose any sleep over not carrying more than $1 trade items with you. If you run into something very nice, that you really want, follow your conscience... IMHO most items of that caliber are in there because someone wanted to pass on something special, such as a nice geocoin... something commemorating something, or as a FTF gift. If it is a gift, then it is a gift. If it isn't, and you take it, then it would be nice if you at least go back and put something of equal value back in the cache the next day or so. But mostly, I think, even the cacher who leaves an unactivated geocoin has to know that, except for the most scrupulous cacher, it will be taken without an even trade, and they just want someone to have a nice find, or as someone put it, play GeoSanta. After all... for some of us, there is some fun in doing that occasionally too!

Although we wouldn't ever have anything with us to trade for a $34 compass, you and some other cachers who have posted on this thread should consider yourselves lucky that you live in an area where there are people who actually put thought into swag, and try to add nice things. Where we cache, our normal finds are plastic happy meal toys (usually with teeth marks on them) a couple of rocks, and maybe some rubber snakes. To answer your question, we would leave the compass because we could not trade even, and at this point, not think about the inconsiderate person who will come behind us and leave the golf ball. We do go out of our way to trade even, but I think we are the exception, not the rule. We do not carry swag that expensive with us, probably because we have never seen any swag item nice enough to need it! Also, we DO clean out caches that are absolutely disgusting (gum wrappers, used movie tickets, broken pieces of ?something plastic?... and we have, in turn, added a decent trade item to a cache that had nothing "tradeable" in it, just to give the next person something fun to find. Personally, we feel no guilt over pulling out broken pen caps, and throwing them away, to clean up a cache for the next person. Also, one of our pet peeves is the log that does not say TNLN, but also does not say Took xxx, Left yyy. Having gone to one of our caches after a log like that, we have found the nice stuff we stocked it with gone, and nothing new in the cache. In a way, if the timing is right, you can see exactly who is doing this stuff! We've only placed three caches, and on the first one we were new and naive. We learned our lesson. We filled it with lots of really nice swag (but also included some $1 items) specifically asking the cachers to trade items meant for adults with an item for an adult, and vice versa. That cache was completely stolen (and we don't think it was muggled because it was in an out-of-the way place, and VERY well hidden. Strike One for becoming cynical!) We still add nice (nice = useful, new, and fun) swag to caches, but the highest we will probably go is a $5 gift card for a FTF. Having said that, we did recently buy some $10 geocoins with the intent of leaving them for trade items, knowing full well that they will be taken without anything equivalent left behind. When we first started geocaching last October, this whole issue REALLY bothered us. Eventually, we just got over it, 'cause it just ain't gonna change! But that doesn't mean that we still aren't disappointed that this part of caching, for us, is nonexistent.

Without a doubt. (However, I could do without that AR label here! :D ) I have more posts to the Forum than we have Found caches!! Need I say more?! (Of course that is not for lack of enthusiasm and skill... just a broken body that never seems to want to cooperate on a pretty day! But, on the positive side, caching actually helps with that, so I hope for that to change very soon. )

Thanks BlueDeuce! I'm not new to computers, but I am new to Geocaching so all of these little tidbits are welcome. When I get involved in something I do tend to be very interested in learning all that I can about it, and really become proficient. That's actually my version of my personality. My friends call me "anal retentive!" Happy Caching to you!

BTW, I had to look up the word "bork" I have to admit it's an appropriate term for this!

Well, that makes me feel a little better!

Yeah, that's what I thought you were doing, except I don't have Paint. Publisher will work to do this too, but I would have had to look up the HTML tags for inserting into the post, so thanks for that piece of info.

Well, geez. I wonder why the Webmaster doesn't catch this stuff.