Team Neos

Perhaps when you write the note. you could act like you think that she is leaving items to trade one-for-one and just not saying that in her logs, and you are concerned that others might think that she is trading unfairly. Or perhaps even say that someone emailed you to complain that she had been there before them and wiped the cache out--and that you understand why they thought this because she isn't logging what she leaves in the cache on-line. For instance, tell her that when she says that hubby took X and the kids tooks A< B< C and she took Y, and left her sig item --but doesn't say what else she left to trade-- it makes it sound like they took 5 things and only left the sig item.

Congrats Dr123d! Wow! I am pleased just to have done that well in the running against all those really great pictures. I've enjoyed seeing all the wonderful pictures, and hope that folks keep posting to the thread. Thanks for the fun, El Diablo.

Sounds like the new folks have a MUCH better idea of what to carry with them than I did when I first started. How many of you carry a 'slightly' more expensive item or two with you all the time just hoping to run into some really great swag?

I haven't tried those. I use Plucker and Spinner for my PDA files. They put the hint (as a clickable link) at the bottom of the cache description, just before whatever previous logs are available (The number of old logs depends on their length). Auntie, you are hysterically funny! I have been to caches where the hint might as well be written in ancient Greek (which I don't read) for all the good it does me until AFTER I find the cache!

Now that I use a PDA instead of paper, I also try to find the cache before using the hint. I probably spend 10-15 minutes looking before I look at the hint. When I printed off lists of caches, I would go ahead and add the decoded hints. I tried having them in a separate list, but I tended to mix them up and would see things like "Where WOOD you look? when I was at a cache located in a rock wall!

My guess (being female) is that it is an issue with the lack of facilities for recyling the water.

I don't think it is possible. I had my heart set on finding a yellow one last year, but try as I might, they were never in the caches they were logged in by the time I got there. Finally, I gave up and just went caching wherever I felt like going....and I ended up finding two jeeps. Both of them had been dropped off by another cacher earlier in the day I got the the caches.

We usually try to give some information and use our instincts from there. Most people really don't want to know what you are doing they just want to know that you are doing something that you are supposed to be doing. We were out in the middle of nowhere Hoosier land, parked on the bridge over the creek, both GPS out, when we were suddenly swarmed by a group of good ol' cornbred teens who had come down to the creek to swim. No way out if it, we decided to tell them what was up. When they asked what we were doing, we used our usual explanation---Its enough for most people---and we told them playing a game a lot like a scavenger hunt. Of course, these were kids, we were in their neck of the woods, and we were strangers, so they wanted to know what those funny things in our hands were. So N1 went into instructor mode and gave them mini lessons on how to use the GPS. He told them that people hid things and posted the coords and other people went there to find what they hid and sign the paper in the container. One of them asked me if people hid drugs for other people to find (and he sounded a bit too enthusiastic about it--sigh--so much for that innocent little face he had!). The end of the story was that they found the cache and signed the log--and learned something on a hot summer day (Makes this teacher proud!). I worried that they might move the cache after we left, but several people have been there since and everything seems to be fine. It might have helped that it was just a smaller container and only had a logbook in it at the time.

We "met" people on-line before we met them in person. We found a few caches that really were extra fun for us, so we sent emails to the people who hid them to thank them personally for putting out the hides. We also made sure to let people know when one of their hides was particularly challenging. And we tried to write "fun" on-line logs. Some of the hiders wrote back with hints, or and welcome-to-caching notes and we answered those notes to say that we appreciated them making us feel so welcome. They started inviting us to events, but we were shy about going, because we were intimidated by the hundreds and thousands of finds that they had. Then we happened to do a cache that mentioned that it was the marker for a cut-off trail to an interesting historical place. My husband left a log that said that would like to make that hike one day. Not long after that, a cacher emailed us to say that he was organizing another hike out there and asking if would we like to join the group. He promised to take it easy on us and even said that since we were the reason he was organizing the hike that I couldn't back out, or he would put a cache out there called "Neos2 is a Sissy and She Backed Out" --LOL! We met up with about 17 other people that day and had a wonderful time (OK, it was a grueling hike too, and if that was taking it easy then they must usually hide the bodies --but I lived to tell about it!). The outcome is that after that, we felt comfortable going to events, and have even gone caching with some of those folks again since then. We have the numbers of people to call if we want to go caching or need a hint on one of their harder hides, and we toss around ideas for new caches with them--in other words, we have geocaching friends now.

New cachers always ask what to carry with them to trade, what is acceptable swag etc. We have all seen list after list of what kinds of things SHOULD go in caches (or should not)...but let's do a reality check. If you like to trade, and carry trinkets to trade with you, take a look in that swag bag right now and tell us what's in there. I'll do the first "confession" since it was my idea: I love to trade, and don't mind helping out a failing cache by dropping off a trinket of two to make sure that the next cacher finds something interesting, so I tend to carry too much. I have a big swag bag (for that cache right by the parking) and a little swag bag (for the long hikes past several caches). I usually take both with me in the car, but carry only one at a time. In the small "fanny pack" right now: 4 one-inch geocaching buttons (Bumble buttons) 8 "I Am Loved" one inch buttons 2 two-and-a-half inch geocaching buttons (Bumble buttons) 3 heart-shaped fridge magnets 1 keychain flashlight with batteries and spare bulb 6 spare batteries AA; 4 spare batteries AAA yellow whistle/compass combo package of teeny little compasses (about 1/4 inch across, but they work!) small bag of mineral samples of varying value 1 personal earphone/radio 1 ea. small, med, large biner clips 2" x 3" diary-style notebook, hard plastic cover 2 laminated geocaching U business card size handouts 1 laminated geocaching U pamplet size handout 3x4 notebook with cache note "laminated' on it with tape 2" x 3" Mickey Mouse playing cards in hard plastic case black and white chip clip green plastic ball with a frog in it film canister with plastic bag in it (for cito) a ready-to-set-out micro of a unique container type 3 pens, 3 pencils 1 strip of "write in the rain" paper to use for emergency cache page replacement a handful of assorted sized ziploc bags and for my own use: PDA, GPS, handi-wipe, carmex, multi-tool, small pocketknife; a few sig items I picked up recently The large bag has a similar assortment, but also includes a couple of wooden 3-D puzzles, some larger geocaching buttons, a couple of lanyards, some "crush and heat up" hand and foot warmers, an emergency blanket/reflector, a small stapler, a few postcards of local areas of interest, a couple of slightly larger read-to-go cache containers, etc. I have a box that stays in the trunk of the car with some replacement items in case I get out into an area that has lots of good trading opportunities (or lots of cache containers in need of TLC). There is another box at home that I toss new purchases in so I can easily restock my supplies when I get home from a day of caching. Any time I am shopping and see something that I would like to find in a cache on a good sale, I stock up. The items range in price from about 50 cents to about $10 in value, so I feel like I can trade fairly at most caches. Sometimes that means trading two or three things for one nicer thing...but at least I can match the value. I can usually help of a cache that has problems, or even replace it if it's cracked or has lost it's top etc I am at just over 200 caches now, and am starting to get a feel for what I need to carry in my area. The wooden puzzles go over well, but they need a larger cache. I have never gone back to a cache that I visited earlier and found the buttons still there. Young ladies love the diary notebooks. So what's in your swag bag?

I don't try to do it totally paperless...Probably because I am a visual person and I don't have an extensive mapping program on my GPS or PDA. Before I head out, I use the GC maps to find a fairly cache-dense area that has a handful of caches that I want to find. I print a map of the 25 caches nearest a cache I really want to do and I cut and paste the list of caches from that page into a word program (So I can make it smaller and more condensed). When I get to the cache area and find out what the area is like, I can use the "nearest caches" feature on my PDA to locate caches that I might not have planned to do ahead of time. Sometimes I get to an area and find I really want to spend more time there. The map gives me something to orient myself to when I am looking for a few more caches that are close. Say, for example, that I learn after I get to a cache that it is in a nice park that I really want to explore, and I look on the PDA and find that there are four more caches within a half a mile of where I am standing (all in the park). All I have to do at that point is plug the cords in my GPS (if they aren't already there) and head on over to the new destinations.

As for having locals hide caches in big truck friendly parking, that has some tricks to it also but I am all for it. As far as in-town caches goes, one problem is that folks who aren't part of the trucking industry don't always understand where you drivers can (and can't) get to...For instance, a lot of folks say "Oh I see big trucks parked at X_store all the time, so I will put one there for truckers", without realizing that the only trucks that X-Store wants parked there are the ones making deliveries to them. On the other hand, most truck stops and rest areas could stand a cache and would be truck friendly. I have done some traveling this past year and really appreciated it when there were rest stops caches. It gave me the chance to get out, really stretch my legs, really clear my mind, and really perk back up for the next leg of the drive. Some of the larger truck stops have wooded areas, landscaping, and picnic areas that make nice caching places. The only problem that N1 has had with his caches are that a very few folks tend to feel some perverse pride about parking their four-wheeler in the big truck area (not realizing how dangerous that is!) and they ignore the signs in the rest area and the notes on the cache page.

(GCNG5N) Southeast Wisconsin Comes to the Bluegrass (GCMQCC) Blue Monday Micro (GCKDYR) Another Rest Area...Another Micro (Check this one before trying it if you head that way soon...Needs to be checked as the logs say) (GCKCEE) Pickle Park Cache My accidental one: (GCMXTA) In View of the Past Temporarily disabled for reasons beyond my control--Nothing really wrong with the cache I just do not recommend that you try this one until I get to it and make some adjustments--probably this weekend or Monday.

My husband (Neos 1) is a trucker, and has placed three caches that are all trucker friendly along the route he travels frequently (weekly at least), and one of mine has big trucks parked by it frequently, although I didn't put it there for truckers intentionally. One suggestion: The trucking industry being what it is, the chances of having one of the "group members" there at just the right time to maintain a cache in an emergency are not as good as you would like. I think that approvers would feel more comfortable if there was a local involved. Perhaps you could enlist the aid of a local cacher to help with emergencies?

There is not a telescope with the resolving power to view any of the six flags that have been left on the moon. The smallest area an extraterrestrial telescope, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, can resolve is about .005 Arc Seconds, or about 280 Feet across. More info on telescope resolution and viewing small things: Cornell Resolving power The names of the twelve men who walked on the moon. Twelve Men on the Moon

You know, this is a very good question...and one that I have given some thought to in the past. A few months ago, my husband and I went caching in "the big city" near us. There were a couple of caches that, when we got to the site, he refused to stop to look for them. He told me that the area just wasn't safe, and that even the people who live there don't walk around outside, except to go to their cars and back. Now, my husband grew up in the city--he loves the place and knows it like the back of his hand. He is also a big guy--the kind that most people won't try to start trouble with. If he says it isn't safe, it isn't safe. BUT there was absolutely nothing around there that set off any alarms in my head. The neighborhood was a little older, but kept up fairly well. There weren't many people around, but it was the middle of a normal workday. The people that were around seemed in no way remarkable to me. There was parking about not too far from what I presumed was the cache site. I would not have thought twice about caching there--even alone.

Uh oh, I feel so GUILTY! I have hidden a "lame" cache.... I have one that is an ammo box just 20 feet or so off the windy country road and probably less than 50 feet from parking. Funny thing about it, most of the folks that have gone to find it liked the view of the pretty little creek that runs beside it. They thanked me for taking them to that nice little spot, and complimented the nice trade items in the cache. But what do they know? Hah! I am so sorry. I will go out immediately and replace it with the micro that should be there instead.

Ummm, is that poison ivy by the cache? Welcome to geocaching! You're offcially addicted now, I think.

I once picked up a TB that wanted to go to concerts....Little did he know that he would have to be in the shows! The TB owner never commented one way or the other to me, but the TB and I had fun! The next night he got to see a a different kind of concert entirely.

And I can hardly wait to see where that will be----since you are in my area! Out approver is usually pretty fast. So are the FTF hounds. One of my caches was approved, found, and logged for FTF in about 2 hours!

I remember how excited I was about my first cache hidden, also. You didn't say how long it has been since you emailed Rocky Mountain Reviewer to let him/her know that you removed the knife, but I would guess that RMR is working first on caches that are waiting the first viewing, and going back to the ones that needed little tweaking as he/she gets time. With the weekend here, I wouldn't be too concerned if it takes a few days until you hear from your approver again. If that was the only concerned, you will no doubt get good news soon....and then you can wait anxiously for your first finder!

190 finds after about a year (bought my husband a GPS for his June 21st birthday last year) and definitely still a newbie here! I have wondered when the new will wear off myself. While I don't feel like a raw novice any longer, I certainly don't feel like an old hand yet, either.

Probably not quite what you had in mind, but this site and a few that are nearby are on property that used to belong to my family---from before Indiana was a state. They were Quakers (originally from England and Wales) who came to this side of the pond in the 1700s to PA, then moved to VA, and ended up settling in Indiana about 1813. The whole family got disowned from their monthly meetings fairly regularly for doing things like fighting in wars as so forth. The great-great-something or another uncle of mine that owned the land didn't clear cut it and it stayed in the hands of family members for several generation. Finally, when the last of my family to own the land died, some members of a local historical society galvanized the town to take up collections to keep the land from being cut for timber. The land still has some of the oldest virgin forest in the state thanks to the actions of the good townspeople. I was quite pleased to see caches there, as I love any excuse to go visit those lovely woods. GCK4BA

Welcome to the wonderful addiction of geocaching! There are ways to get driving directions, but the only ones that I know of require membership at GC (to get PQs) and/or special mapping programs for the GPS. I am sure that some of the folks that use the mapping programs will tell you all about them. But...that doesn't mean that you have to have those things to be successful right now. When you put the waypoint in the GPS, it will help tremendously. I can't stress that enough. If you don't know how to do that yet, figure that out first! Someone on here will give you step by step directions if you need them--just tell us what kind of unit you have. My only other hints for the brand new cacher (Wow, that was me this time last year!): Pick fairly easy ones to begin with...and maybe not micros at first---they can be a lot harder than you might think. (Lots of places to hide tiny things!) Look at the maps on the cache page. Try to orient yourself before you go. Maybe even write down a couple of notes "looks like its on the right side of X street just before the railroad tracks" Why drive yourself crazy trying to find the site and the spot at first? Pick places that you know very very well for your first three or four caches. Ones that you think that you can figure out where the cache 'must' be before you even go there. After you find the first few, you start to recognize the kinds of places to look. Then you can add the challenge of trying to find the cache location/parkingplaces/trails etc.

We are still pretty new at this (about 190 finds) so we still have to resort to using the hints most of the time....but they are on the PDA and we try to find the cache without the hint first and only click on the hint button if the first attempt fails.... We are getting better and I would guess that we only need the hint about 1/2 of the time now. I personally LOVE when I have to admit in the log that I would never have found the cache without the hint (it means the cache was challenging).