[What is a "bison tube"?]

Not all bisons are created equal. These will hold up to fifteen geocoins.

 

[Rustproofing Altoid Tins]

Those are bigger than an Altoids. In fact, they are big enough to fit an Altoids container in them.

 

Knowschad was suggesting that Groundspeak could sell such a container at ShopGroundspeak.

The pictured container will not contain an altoids tin, they hold ID's the size of credit cards, and can hold about 10 credit cards.

Some of the confusion comes from the fact that the same general style is available in two sizes. The size pictured indeed can accommodate a few credit cards. There is also a similar container that is big enough to accommodate a small wallet. I use the wallet-size containers often, because their transparency makes them a bit more appropriate for urban settings than decon containers.

These aren't the best for a cold climate because the plastic gets brittle and the latches break. However, before the latch breaks, they seem to hold up pretty well to rain and snow up here.

[Google Earth Coordinates]

One area where the caches are aligned with the street version and thus off on the satellite image was in the area of Christchurch New Zealand where if my memory is accurate my correction number was almost 100 meters.

Alaska's Turnagain Pass and Seward Highway passing through that area have been about 100 meters off for several years. I placed a geocache (Turnagain Path)near a rest area, averaged coordinates, went home and pulled up GoogleEarth to verify. Imagine my surprise when the coordinates put the cache inside the restroom!

 

I had found a geocache on a trail bridge (Turnagain Pass Micro Cache)on the other side of the Seward Highway, checked its placement on GoogleEarth, and found the same offset. GoogleEarth and Garmin maps are similarly off in Valdez and Cordova, Alaska, but will put you on the exact spruce tree in the Anchorage bowl. So, use GoogleEarth maps and imagery with caution...

[Rustproofing Altoid Tins]

why did two logs get wet? Florida does have a butt load of humidity, which could be the culprit...

Cachers opening the container in the rain?

 

A problem we have up here with ammo cans is cachers will open the can while it's snowing, leave the can open while they sign the log, trade swag, etc., and then seal it up, snow and all. That, or they knock snow off the off hanging branches. Come springtime, the snow melts and dampens everything in the container.

[Rustproofing Altoid Tins]

I've owned exactly one Altoids tin cache. I painted it with Rustoleum before setting it out and it lasted quite a few years. When I archived it and retrieved the container it was quite rusty, but it never got wet inside. That's because it was totally sheltered from the elements.

Briansnat's final statement is key. I have three magnetic altoids tins still holding their own in Fairbanks after five to six years of service. One is sheltered by a building overhang and the other two are sheltered by bridge hardware. I didn't hide different containers for the latter because I wanted them to be accessible from the pedestrian walkway since the area under the bridges becomes unaccessible during high ice times of the year.

 

I also have a fourth magnetic altoid tin just outside Denali National Park that has held up for more than six years and is one of the most logged caches in Alaska. Like the others, it is sheltered from the weather and stays dry.

 

All tins received no special treatment except to perhaps paint them flat black or rust brown for camo.

 

I posted the above not to defend the use of altoid tins, but to illustrate that each container should be assessed for its suitability for deployment to a given location. The right container in the right location will last indefinitely.

[earthcache dos & dont's]

If they wanted you to email first and await confirmation then it's usually stated clearly on the cache page.

EarthCache owners shouldn't be requiring confirmation before a cacher can log their EarthCache. Too much is left up to chance with an e-mail disappearing in to the ether, getting trapped by a spam filter, tripped up by an internet service inturruption, or otherwise getting lost in the shuffle for a cacher to haplessly await confirmation.

[After tragic death of experienced geocacher - what needs to change?]

I promise to try to be careful when hunting caches and hope my fellow cachers will do the same.

That's the only way for geocaching to become safer, though perhaps it begins with guideline-compliant placements.

 

I work for a company that is an industry leader in safety. The only reason we're that good is that each and every employee recognizes safety is his or her accountability. If we left it up to the safety guys that wear the red hats who randomly show up on the worksite, our safety record would not be anywhere near what it is. Safety can't be mandated from the far removed CEO's office...the employees have had to embrace it. If our safety performace strays from the target, everyone loses out on a share of the variable incentive pay.

 

The same holds true for geocaching. No matter what Groundspeak does in Seattle, the ultimate safety and guideline compliancy of a cache is dependent initially on the cache hider and subsequently on the cache seekers with only an initial check for guideline compliance by the reviewer. Safety and guideline compliance are everyone's accountability.

 

If everyone in a given caching community isn't willing to accept that accountability, then they run the risk of caching being changed in their region and eventually, perhaps worldwide (anlogous to losing out on corporate variable incentive pay). It won't work to hang that accountability on the listing service as there is no way the listing service can police each and every cache.

 

So, are people willing to stand up to their individual accountability for the long-term viability of geocaching, or are they going to leave it to the other guy and let the chips fall where they may?

[After tragic death of experienced geocacher - what needs to change?]

I can now spend my time more efficiently by laying low for a week or two and by giving Groundspeak a bit of time to get their act together, rather than examining every little word that might come from an employee or a volunteer. If nothing happens after that I will use different communication channels and get national media in Groundspeak's main markets (surely Germany+US, maybe a few others) involved. It won't be hard, just a few emails to the right editors. Sticking the head into the sand or just continuing business as usual is not an option in this case. Willi died while geocaching and while we may never know how much of it was pure chance and how much could have been prevented, it simply sucks that he can't celebrate this Christmas with his family.

First of all, my condolences go out to the deceased cacher's family, loved ones, and his local caching community. An untimely passing is never easy for anyone, especially when one is so young.

 

The press has already covered the specific story that caused this thread to be opened. Bringing other issues to the press has the potential to remove matters from Groundspeak's and local cachers' hands all around the world which would be most unfortunate. From my direct personal experience (34 states, fifteen foreign countries including 13 in Europe), the vast majority of cachers comply with the guidelines and don't place caches where it is clearly verboten. Is it really a good idea to bring the kind of negative publicity to our activity due to the actions of a very small minority? I believe doing so could result in an increase in land managers deciding they don't want anything to do with an activity in which (some) participants so willingly thumb their noses at land managers and law enforcement officers. The result would be the closure of lots of legitimate locations to cache.

 

With respect to safety, I'm not certain that could/should be managed by anyone other than the individual cacher. For the vast majority of geocaches including a lot of >4-star terrain caches, the act of driving to/from the location is the most dangerous part of the trip, yet people still hop into their cars without giving that a second thought. That said, my most near-death caching experience came last August on a peak less than 12 km from home when a chunk of the mountain released while I was hanging onto it. Had I been injured or killed, I certainly would hope that folks would have attributed my demise to my own lack of situational awareness and not because a cacher placed a cache where someone else could have been killed/injured. Granted, the cache is placed in compliance with the local State Park's permit and not on a utility's bridge, but ultimately, the final outcome was entirely dependent on my own actions. There are several mountaintop caches in this part of Alaska that have gone unfound because the rest of the caching community doesn't have the same skill set/fitness level as the cache hider (GC1CE9V). Each individual cacher needs to be accountable for his/her own safety and consider whether they have the skills/strength/stamina to take on the presented challenge and no one else can make that assessment for them.

 

With respect to cache hides placed without adequate permission (or just flat out illegal), it really has to be up to the cacher who places the cache and subsequent finders to keep hide part of the game legitimate. The cache hider has the primary accountability to place a hide that complies with the guidelines and to ask him/herself how the cache will reflect on geocaching if it is discovered by a land manager/law enforcement officer/other muggle. If the cache hider fails at that level, subsequent finders must be willing to report the cache to protect the integrity of the game for everyone. The only other way I an see this working is for a reviewer to visit each and every cache location before publishing the cache and I suspect the caching community would not be thrilled about the backlog of unpublished caches that would balloon with this extra step of the process, nor do I see many volunteer reviewers being willing to take on this extra accountability.

 

Reporting is quite simple via 1) an initial e-mail to the cache owner; 2) a public "Needs Archived" log; 3) a private e-mail to the local reviewer; or 4) a private e-mail to contact@geocaching.com. If neither the cache owner or the cache seekers are willing to do the above for the overall health of the activity, there is really very little that can be done about a "problem" cache. Volunteer Reviewers who are informed via means 2 or 3 who are aren't comfortable handling the situation directly can always bump the concern upstairs to the paid staff at Groundspeak. Note that whomever acts on the notification may or may not archive a cache depending on the data/evidence presented by the cacher who reports a situation and additional information provided by the cache hider in subsequent communications.

[2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available]

Thanks, everyone, for the positive feedback.

 

We do have about a dozen and a half of the regular edition jade geocoins left and that's going to be it for this series.

 

We're already brainstorming options for 2012. It's going to be tough to match or top the 2011 edition.

[Is REI *really* overpriced?]

I know I'm paying top dollar, but in the last 3 years I've returned 2 Oregon 300s and one 450 their return policy is enough to keep me going back.

I most recently purchased an Oregon 450 after losing my Oregon 300. I went straight to my local REI for the purchase because 1) they had a sale in progress; 2) they had the Garmin $50 rebate form on the rack; and probably most importantly, 3)I've seen them exchange another cacher's Oregon 450 three times, no questions asked, due to a variety of software issues that Garmin customer support could not remotely fix. My 450 has worked flawlessly since purchase, so I don't know what's going on with my friend and his GPSs other than he spends an inordinate amount of time above 35,000 feet.

 

Re: Credit scores for credit cards. I can't speak quantitatively to how much a new card hurts one's credit score, but it's my understanding that just having multiple lines of credit open (even if unused) can draw down one's score.

 

Re: Dividends. Yes, they have a one-year shelf life. The dividend used to be mailed out, but now one can apply it to online and web purchased.

 

Re: Convenience and "intel". I can "shop" ahead of time on the REI website and check to see if the item is available in our local store. That gives me information in my back pocket for when I visit the locally owned businesses first and can make an informed decision about where to buy and perhaps how to wrangle a deal with the local guy.

[This coin aint going to get taken...]

These are becoming more and more common. Groundspeak has been very helpful in setting up basic guidelines for Proxy use...

Thanks, Chris!

 

Can you provide a link to where the proxy guidelines exist on the Groundspeak website? I ran searches in the "Help Center" and several other FAQ sections and could not find the guidelines, but would like to link to them since GeocacheAlaska! is offering proxies for Alaskan trackables.

[2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available]

There are about 25 jade geocoins left and we can still ship in time for Christmas delivery.

[TFTT]

Amazing. No wonder people don't do this for very long.

 

<snip>

 

Is the spirit dead?

I've been caching for over seven years and still discover wonderful new places several times a year.

 

I invite you to view my family's profile gallery. The first page alone features several great cache locations ranging from Prudhoe Bay to Nashville to Providence Canyon in Georgia. .

[found a non trackable coin]

We occasionally leave unactivated coins in caches. We leave them in the factory stapled plastic pouch with a sticker with the activation code and another sticker that says 'With Complements of Landsharkz'. Is this clear enough that it's an unactivated trackable do you think?

We do the same thing for FTF prizes and put the unactivated coin in an envelope with a congratulatory note.

[found a non trackable coin]

I found a wooden geocoin in California this week that has a tracking number on calif.geocoin.net. It has never been registered on their site. The site has no contact info that I can find. What are the rules here? Can I register it?

Sound like you found one of the 2005 California wooden nickels. It's loggable here. Be certain to put a "WN" in front of the tracking number. Once you enter the tracking number, a second page will open where you can log your geocaching nickname and other information.

[2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available]

Got my jade coin today (Regular Version), but have a few issues:

1. The inlays for one of bottom stars is outside the outline. 2. the top arm on the "K" is really wavy - it looks too skinny compared to the rest of the letter. 3. The dot on the letter "i" in the word "frontier" is is missing foil inlay completely. 4. The white wolf printed on the back of the coin has a scratch through it.

Considering how well it was packaged, I don't think it got this way in the mail. I don't think the gold foil inlay was a wise choice; I'm actually afraid to touch the front of the coin with my fingers, thinking the gold stuff will rub right off, it looks so fragile. I guess I will have to see if anyone else finds any problems when they get theirs.

That certainly isn't acceptable by our standards, either. I sent you an e-mail discussing options depending on whether or not you activated the geocoin.

 

If properly applied, the golden foil is actually pretty tough. We had to remove the foil from the stars for some of the LE and XLE editions and it application of the pointy end of a knife.

 

Anyone with a quality concern about the coin(s) they received is encouraged to e-mail me.

[2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available]

Very Nice!! What is the approximate weight of the gold nuggets?

A little less than an average of 1/40 ounce for the Polaris/North Star nugget on the LE and XLE editions and about the same weight for the combined seven Ursa Major/Big Dipper XLE nuggets.

 

The nuggets were not individually weighed, but they were selected from collections of nuggets that had been passed through #6 and #10 classifying screens, respectively, so they are the same approximate size.

 

Like each piece of jade, each nugget is unique, making each complete piece unique aside from the tracking number.

[2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available]

A high-level summary of the manufacturing process is given below.

 

A slab is cut from a large jade boulder. The jade slab is then cut to size for cutting the jade blanks.

 

The jade blanks are then polished using progressively finer grit.

 

While the jade blanks were being laser engraved and inlayed with golden foil, raw gold nuggets were hand selected at a local assay office.

 

More complete details about the process may be found by clicking here.

[2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins Now Available]

The Alaska 2011 Geocoin is manufactured from a 2" x 1.5" x 0.25" (5.1 cm x 3.8 cm x 0.6 cm) piece of the Alaska state gem, jade, extracted from Alaska's Kobuk River Valley. The sold out (via Alaska sales and early notification to prior GeocacheAlaska! geocoin purchasers) limted (LE) and extra limited (XLE) editions feature the Alaska state metal, gold. The geocoins are trackable on geocaching.com and have a custom icon (pictured above).

 

2011 Jade Geocoin (130 minted, $30), limited edition (50 minted, $70), XLE (20 minted, $125)

 

Back of each geocoin

The Jade Geocoin is packaged in a jewelry quality slider box and the LE and XLE Geocoins are packaged in an engraved birch display box.

 

Each jade geocoin comes with a matching acrylic proxy to keep or release to the wild for traveling adventures.

 

As stated above, the LE and XLE versions of the geocoins are sold out, but there are still plenty of the regular jade geocoins left. Click here to order your Alaska 2011 Jade Geocoin.

 

These are Alaska's 2011 geocoins. Skyrocketing precious metals prices and die-making expense coupled with declining sales volumes led to the decision to try something new. We know the made in Alaska proof quality precious metal geocoins had their devote followers, but we just couldn't make the numbers pencil out this year.

 

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to buy a piece of Alaska!

 

GeocacheAlaska! is a 501©(3) tax exmempt organization and all proceeds from sales of these geocoins go toward our mission to educate geocachers, the public, and land managers about geocaching.

[Fairbanks Cachers]

The GeocacheAlaska! forums have an Interior cachers board moderated by local cacher Pedalpushin. The Board has been pretty quiet the past couple of years, but it's available for those who want to use it, whether or not they are a member of GeocacheAlaska! I crossposted the Facebook link to that board.

[Favourite coin/s]

Wow! I've missed a lot of really nice geocoin releases during the past two to three years.

 

One of my current favorites, though, is the very soon to be released 2011 Alaska Jade Geocoins. I'm admittedly biased, but out of all the Alaskan coin projects I've been involved with (at least nine), this one has required the most effort and is made almost entirely of Alaskan natural materials. The jade is from Alaska's Kobuk River Valley and the gold nuggets are from any number of locations around the state. Each coin is unique due to the natural color variations of the jade and the different appearance of each gold nugget.

 

[New cache publication]

The Alaskan reviewer mixes things up pretty well, hopping on and off the site when he has a spare moment or two. As a result, cache publication is more a matter of when a cache was submitted for review than the reviewer's habits.

[Getting caches to my new GPSr]

Here is another good link to have http://support.Groundspeak.com/

 

Thanks, Dave. But how do I get the query on to my GPSr?

 

And it was really simple to get the one on there, but I want them ALL on there. (Or at least all within a specific area or route.)

Unzip the pocket query and then drag and drop the extracted gpx file into the X:\Garmin\GPX folder where X: is the drive assigned to your GPS by your computer when you plug the Oregon into the USB port.

[Legality or common sense?]

Please explain your basis for 99%.

Good challenge!

 

Admittedly from a US-centric position, where so much land is owned and/or managed, or claimed by SOMEONE, I think in principal 100% of cache placements should require permission from property owners, land managers, etc. The 99% figure is my wild uneducated guess about what percentage DON'T have any permission.

 

Might be a job for a GSAK guru to see how good my guess is. Anyone out there have a significant large cache database (several thousand) on hand, and able to query how many listings include the word "permission" or "approved" or "approval"?

Your approach wouldn't yield accurate results. In Southcentral Alaska, the Municipality's Parks and Recreation department has provided carte blanche for caches due to the local organization's CITO and classroom efforts. The two biggest State Park jurisdictions work on a blanket permit system. Those three land management groups have a significant number of the placed caches covered.

 

I think it was Fizzy Magic who said 97% of all statistics are made up. (Apologies in advance if it wasn't Fizzy.)

[Girl Scout Geocaching badge]

The first Girl Scout placed cache in Anchorage, Brownies are not for eating, is at least as good as the best Boy Scout placed cache and will most likely be around much longer. Kudos to Troop 496! (I have no affiliation, but I do like the park they chose that features a salmon stream, the custom decorated ammo can, the nice handmade swag, and the accurate coordinates.)