Team Neos

Oh Auntie, and here I was already starting a PQ of the caches along the route to Rho d'Island, just so I could meet you and get you on my list!

First, you'll have to tell me what "whingeing" is, so I'll know if I do it or not. Must have been educated across the big pond. whinge (hwnj, wnj)intr.v. whinged, whing·ing, whing·es Chiefly British To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner. [Dialectal alteration of Middle English whinsen, from Old English hwinsian.] whinger n. whinging·ly adv. The American version is spelled whining. whine (hwn, wn)v. whined, whin·ing, whines v.intr.1. To utter a plaintive, high-pitched, protracted sound, as in pain, fear, supplication, or complaint. 2. To complain or protest in a childish fashion. 3. To produce a sustained noise of relatively high pitch: jet engines whining. v.tr.To utter with a whine. n.1. The act of whining. 2. A whining sound. 3. A complaint uttered in a plaintive tone.

The one you bought will work just fine for what you have in mind. To do a comparison between your 60c and a 60cx or even a 60cs, go here: Garmin comparison The big difference is the removeable memory in the cx. I have a 76cs and my husband has a 60cs...We took a trip recently, and loaded street maps and topo maps all along the route from Indiana to South Carolina, and had plenty of room for more maps. Edited for subject-verb agreement.

I see what you are saying. On the list of all nearby caches, the names of your caches are "Unapproved Cache" and "Unapproved Cache"...and they say the same thing on the list of all caches hidden by you. But when I go to the actual cache page, the real name appears. Hm, maybe they will update shortly. If not, you could try going to the cache page and doing an edit. Just rename them the same name that they have now and see if that makes thme change.

Um, maybe add some construction paper and photo-tabs so people can fold the paper to make a memory card and mount the photo on the card. Then there will be a space for them to write a little about why the photo is special to them? You might have to do some extra running back to the cache to take our inappropriate photos now and then, even if you do ask folks not to put that kind of thing in there. But otherwise, it sounds interesting.

Any paper cut to size will "work" but if you want to makes things easy for the person who will be doing your in-between visit maintainence runs, I would use a booklet made of waterproof --or at least water resistant --paper, cut down to size and stapled together. Leave an extra booklet with the person who is going to maintain it for you on that end so you won't have to scramble to get one to them if it fills up faster than you think it will. I had a "Rite in the Rain" field book leftover from ecology classes I took in college that wasn't completely full. I cut strips out of it for logsbooks until it ran out. Some of those logbooks have been out in caches for two years now, and they still look great. Some local stores will carry something like that. There is a gun store near me that does. Or it can be ordered on-line.

My husband and I share one premium account, so we have come across this before. There is a way for a non-member to log the MO cache, and we have never had an owner upset with us. There are many ways to "support" geocaching without having to pay $3 just to be able to log one or two caches ~ Although you really might want to consider becoming a member for some of the other benefits! (PQs were worth the $$ for me). In a recent discussion in another forum, Lil Devil, said this about logging member finds: A couple of months ago, in this thread Jeremy acknowleged the logging loophole and said there was no reason to close it. Since then I have been inundated with emails asking how to do it. I am now posting the steps publicly, as I fully believe that the purpose of MO caches is to prevent non-members from viewing the page, as WH said. I see no reason to prevent non-members from logging those caches. Go to any cache. Click the link, "log your visit." That will take you to a page with a url such as http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?ID=89885 If you know the numeric ID of the MOC cache you want to log, just change the number at the end of the url. If you don't know the numeric ID, change the "ID=" to "WP=" and replace the number with the GC code so you get: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?WP=GCGTAE From there just log as usual. You will always be able to read your own log, but you won't be able to see the actual cache page until you become a premium member.

We have a lot of cachers in our area who use address labels and other stickers. You'll want to be careful with this, of course. It won't be a concern at all with the larger caches and their larger logbooks...but some small caches have small logbooks, and a sticker takes up a lot of space that could have been used for signing the log.

This is part of the reason I don't understand this... if they really were 'worthy' caches.. and I believe you that they were. Why weren't they made permanent caches for many, many other cachers to enjoy over the years? My guess is, most likely cache saturation. In my area, we often meet in parks or on private property. Sometimes is is a question of "saturation"- but by park rules, not our guideline-- sometimes what a park considers 'close enough' is ten times larger than the proximity GC allows. While the manager is agreeable to allow temporary caches that are closer, they really aren't able to offer a permanent spot. One of the parks we meet at every summer is near an elementary school. None of us feel we should have a permanent cache near where young children play, even if it were allowed. But we see no harm in a the two or three temporary caches that will be out for the event. I know of at least one private property that houses a huge yearly gathering. While the lady who owns the 200 acres or so property is fine with people coming in for the weekend once a year, she really doesn't want people coming in on a daily basis.

Ow long ago did that happen? Perhasp they are traveling and just haven't logged it yet. I am not sure what you mean when you say "they did not log it in because they had no profile"--are you saying that you read the actual log book, and looked up the name of the person who says they picked up the bug but didn't find that name listed?

Thanks for posting that link, Miragee. I have been using Plucker and Spinner and Easy GPS to deal with my caching needs. I learned how to use them using CyBret's page at Geocacher-U For Christmas, my husband and I got each other GPS units with auto-routing capability (76cs and 60cs). Then I started noticing more and more comments about using GSAK and Cachemate. I took a look at GSAK, and it made my head swim--well, it was the end of the school year, and I had other things on my minf then (Like how to get 115 kids NOT give up on the school year after Spring Break and to try to raise their grades before the end of the year). Now that summer is here, I have been looking into GSAK again. I've been reading the fourm threads that mention GSAK and Cachemate and found a few links that look to be helpful. GSAK MDGPS site Can you recommend any other really good places to look? I am moderately proficient with computers, but not very well versed in the lingo. (Which usually means that I'm not afraid to push buttons, but you have to tell me which ones to push!). Thanks in advance!

Ditto. Ssssssssssssssssssslllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Heck, they're slow on my non-dial up!!! Really? What kind of time are you talking about? With my dial-up, it can take 2 minutes or longer for a map with 20 caches to load. I haven't yet had the patience to see how long it takes a map with hundreds of caches in the list to load. But I tried some from work (school, "pretty good" server but slow computer) and they loaded in 15-30 seconds at most (the onces with hundreds of caches on the list to the right). How does your compare?

I second that motion--Or is it third? Well, whatever, now that Wi-Fi spots are popping up all over, it would be nice to know if a cache is located at/near one.

I love places like this! Your story made me remember another really cool experience I had caching. Our trip was on a very hot and sticky summer day. We wanted to find a unique sinkhole that covers 8.3 acre and has been designated a National Natural Landmark. A "Lost" river rises here briefly, before disappearing into the earth again It was cool and shady by the water, and we lingered there to enjoy the view.

That deserves it's own thread Tater! You gonna start it, since you broke the news?

Well, Royal Red, I guess that not very many people have really enjoyed any Eden-like spots while geocaching!

Thank you El D, I have been trying to come up with the right way to say how I feel for days now...and you just did exactly that~ Well said!

In places where the public transporation is good, this is a great idea. I used to live in Clearwater, FL, and during "season" most of the locals parked their cars and took the bus. It would also be good for folks that need to watch their budget. Um, how to make it really useful? Most of this you have probably already thought of, but... 1) Add maps of the bus route to the page and a link to the bus schedules. 2) Have the caches shown on the bus route map (a lot of updating to do there, perhaps?) 3) Add bookmark lists of the caches along the route (easier than suggestion #2). 4) Make note of places that offer shelter/food & drinks, public restrooms. (Since you can't just jump in the car if it starts storming).

There are a couple of problems with this idea. The most obvious is moving caches. Aren't there a few grandfathered ones still active? Most people agree (I thiink) that multiple finds on these are fine, as long as they aren't consecutive. Some, don't even mind if the owner logs a find once the cache has begun moving. I don't agree. The moving cache's nature is that it's different each time. Thus while I could find it in a new spot again and again, it's the same cache doing what it does. One find is enough. I like the idea of one find log on a cache and that's it. It would save a lot of grief in the long run. If people found one of my caches, and then I archived it and reused the container for a new cache hidden in a different spot in a different way, people who had found that container before would log it with no hesitation. If the cache experience is different each time, I would prefer to be able to log a moving cache each time I found it.

My edenic cache isn't just one, but rather a series of caches for a day. The "highlight caches" of the day for me were these two:GCK73N Rose Island Overlook and GCG153 Remembering Rose Island I ended up there by pure fluke. The cache was in a state park ("was" because they later pulled all the caches out of the park). We had done some caching in the park on Halloween, and found a micro in the woods. I don't usually care for micros in the woods, but this one said it marked the cutoff for the trail to Rose Island. Rose Island once held an amusement park--back in the early 1900s. Until the 1937 flood destroyed it, folks would go there to enjoy picnics and dance bands. There were cottages and a lovely swimming pool. Steamboats dropped off passengers, or there was a rugged road that some brave souls used to drive there. My aunt remembered going to Rose Island as a young girl, and spoke fondly of it. There were even legends that the Devil's Backbone (ridge) of the area was once was home to the Talligewia --a group of native americans descended from the survivors of the expedition Prince Madoc of Wales and the Leni Lenape (Delaware) during their "Walum Olum" (great migration). I wanted to see the place. My husband did too, and mentioned it in his log for the micro. We were new to caching--probably only had about 80 caches under our belts at the time. Shortly after we logged our find on the micro, we got a note from a local cacher, who had hidden some of the caches in the park, and had taken groups out to Rose Island in the past. He loved any excuse to go back out there, and offered to get a group together to make the trip. He promised to take it easy on two out of shape newbies. We agreed we would love to go. The day finally came--January 29th...We woke up to 40 degree weather and the promise of rain, sleet, and snow. We met 16 or 17 other cachers (the first time we had ever met any of these people) and started the 5 mile long trek to the goal caches. I passed on a couple that were too much for me. We found that snow, and sleet, and rain. We slipped and slid on mud and snow. We laughed, and whooped, and forged friendships that day. The trails were steep and it challenged me beyond what I had expected. I got far closer to 14-mile creek than I ever intended, and learned that geocachers take care of each other. The group experience was so good that it has led to a regular outing for the local area called Trail Mix, where groups of cachers of all experience levels get together to cache almost every month.

I could agree with the need for a reasonable limit. I understand why event caches aren't encouraged, and understand why they are desirable at the same time. They aren't encouraged because, face it, if they were made "official" there would be a need to have them reviewed --and that just puts extra work on the volunteer reviewers for a temporary cache. On the other hand, they are desirable because they do much to promote geocaching: For many newbies, they offer a chance to see a variety of well-placed, intriguing hides. For many park managers, they are a chance to see what impact geocaching might have on the area. In our area, the park managers will often allow a cache to be hidden for a weekend to allow cachers to find it for an event. Perhaps the area wouldn't sustain the cache permanently--but they still want to accomodate cachers when they can, to encourage them to visit the area, since many cachers are also hikers. For many long-time cachers, they offer the chance to see new hides that they can take back to their home area. I for one think temporary event caches *should* have their own category. How they would "count" I don't really care...but it would be nice to have them there. I've heard about frivolous event hides (stand on one foot the longest, etc) but in my area the hides tend toward the devious, the clever, the unusual, and the exciting. Perhaps if we set a limit (say 10 or 20 per day) the rest of the geocaching world would be encouraged to promote quality temporary hides for events. And then the only people who would complain are the ones who can't go to the event.

Another reason to have multiple logs on one cache... Aren't some of the moving caches still grandfathered and active? If you found one of them two or three different times, you might want to log it multiple times. I haven't ever run across one of those, so I'm not really sure how they work, but I imagine that you could find them multiple times and each time in a different place, different "hide"--the story would be more interesting than if it was the only time a person found it, I would think. Edited to remove a superfluous word.

I found a cache in 2004, with a couple of my students. We had a blast looking for it. Early this year, the owner asked me if I would like to take over that cache. I adopted it. Now I maintain it, replace the logbook when it fills up, etc. Explain to me exactly why I shouldn't have credit for finding it and for being the owner of it?

Actually, this problem can be tougher than some of the other suggestions make it seem. I have come across dampish logs and had to pull apart the paper and let it dry on a hot sidewalk, or on the vent of the car with the heat on full blast. That usually takes care of minor sogginess. But I have also seen logs so sopping wet that all of the names on the logs were smeared and blurred, and the paper is sticking together and beginning to turn moldy. When I see a log in that shape, I have to wonder how much the owner really cares about log integrity anyway. If the cache is that wet, adding more paper doesn't really help, as it will just get wet, too. If the cache is small, you really can't just keep adding paper. I think the cacher has some responsibility for helping to maintain a cache in minor ways. If the cache belongs to someone I know well, I will replace the log with a new one. I always email them to ask if they want me to mail the log to them, or to bring it to the next get-together. I once did dare to remove a soggy log from a cache where I didn't know the owner. I got a severe scolding from them for tampering with their cache (and yes, I had offered to do whatever they wanted to get the log to them--mail it, drop it off somewhere, scan every page or type it all out and email it). Hmm, I won't do that again, even if I do think they were a bit too harsh. Since I do carry a sharpie with me, I could have written my name on the log, or on a separate piece of paper, and walked away. It probably would have remained at least partially legible. Guess that is what I will probably try the next time I don't know the owner. Who decides if the logs are bogus if you can't read the names in the log because you let the log stay soggy too long?

Here is one I can agree with!