PlasteredDragon

No doubt, culture has a lot to do with it. I don't dispute that, nor do I feel people should be denied the right to own weapons. Carrying concealed firearms is something I'm a little iffy about (and I'm sure Team HHDH respects my opinion there, even if he disagrees.) Obviously if you tell *everyone* that you are carrying a concealed weapon, that sort of defeats the purpose of concealing it in the first place. So therefore, I don't think you have to stop every passerby and say "Hey btw, I'm carrying a piece, just so you know." But if you're going to be spending any considerable time with a person, I think you have a responsibilty to tell them you are carrying, so they can choose for themselves whether or not they will remain in your company. That's all I'm saying (and by the way, it was enough to get me labelled "liar" and accused of spouting "rhetoric"). Maybe in some places of the country, everybody's carrying, so it would be a pointless thing to do. So obviously if you are hiking with your friend and you know he has a gun at all times, there's no reason to tell him you're carrying. But if you are going for a hike with some friends of friends, and you don't know how they feel about guns, it would be better to err on the side of prudence.

Lie! Save your passive aggressive rhetoric. It's weak and ignorant. You don't know me well enough to call me liar. And I do respect his opinion. I'm not even against gun ownership. My post was about making choices for yourself versus making choices for other people. Get a grip.

As I already said, I respect your opinion. But I think if you are going to carry a concealed weapon when you go out with other geocachers, you have a responsibility to let them know you are carrying it. Your analogy is flawed. Your roast-beef sandwich isn't going to accidentally go off when you fall down and tear a hole through the neck of the vegetarian's son. I'm talking about risk, not politics... and if you'll allow me I'll attempt to illustrate: You decide to carry a firearm with you for protection. Firearms carry inherent risks, but you are highly trained and experienced with those sorts of weapons and you feel that mitigates the risk to the point where you think the benefits outweigh the risk. And it's fine for you to make that choice **for yourself**. If you choose not to inform other people who came geocaching with you that you are carrying a lethal weapon, you are exposing them to the same risks you've exposed yourself to. The only difference is, they don't get to choose for themselves whether those risks are acceptable. You made the choice for them. And in my opinion you have no right to do that. If we were friends and we hung out somewhere together and then afterward you happened to find out that I had in my pocket a vial of contagious and lethal disease, I think you'd be furious that I didn't tell you so that you could decide for yourself whether or not you wanted to hang out with me. And you'd be right to be furious.

Far as I know, it's copacetic. Knock yourself out.

Good God, no. I don't even own a gun. You make it sound like it's a sin! No it's not a sin, it's just not a choice I would make. In my opinion, those who own guns expose themselves to more risk, not less. But then, I don't want to argue all those warn out pro-gun/con-gun arguments. They're boring, circular, and have been done before ad nauseum to no productive end. You believe what you believe, and I believe what I believe. So let's just leave it at that. If carrying a piece makes you feel safer, more power to you. Just make sure everyone you cache with knows you are carrying it, I guess.

Good God, no. I don't even own a gun.

I've been following this for awhile. As one who has often been the target of mean-spirited bullying, I can't imagine why any of you seriously think (1) he's going to return these bugs or (2) he even has them in the first place. Has he uploaded a single photo of all of these bugs? Of any of them? He hit the bug logs all on the same day and some of them were active not long before he did so. Sounds to me like someone having a little (nasty) fun at everybody else's expense. I would be delighted if these bugs magically reappear... but my magic eight-ball says "UNLIKELY". As far as "if we call him names he's not going to return them" goes: he's at best a troll and at worst a thief--don't let him manipulate you. If he really did steal all those bugs, and he gets a big kick out of manipulating everybody, he's just going to do it again. Or somebody else who is similarly morally challenged will play copycat.

I agree with many of the sentiments expressed here. Look for traditional caches instead of micros and pick caches rated as easy for starters, you can always do the hard ones later. As far as distance? I would never trust my GPS to get me within 20 feet. The guy who placed the container could have up to 30 feet of error, and so could you. That's 60 feet potentially. When my GPS says I'm between 40 to 60 feet from the box, I put it away and turn in a slow circle, identifying all the hiding places I can see. Then I check out the ones that seem likeliest.

Well, that *really* is their concern isn't it? I mean obviously if they are against geocaching in cemeteries, which is pretty tame as activities go, and there are far worse things that people do there, it is only appropriate for them to be against those activities too. So no frisbee, no picnics, no casual walking or dog walking, basically no visiting a cemetery unless you have "business" there. With the historical sites, I don't see how that is going to work. Tourism *is* a recreational activity.

Ah! Thank you, sorry I posted this in the wrong forum... I'm still new to the Groundspeak forums! Thanks for the tip.

I posted some new caches today. But weird things have happened with the images I've uploaded. First of all, the descriptions are not being displayed on the cache page like they normally would be. Secondly, the cache gallery only seems to contain ONE image, the last one I uploaded. Is geocaching.com experiencing problems with image galleries or am I doing something terribly wrong? Useful advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Now that is terrific advice! Thanks!

Basically yes. I scouted the area on several trips, and monitored my potential hiding places to see if they got a lot of traffic, or if they got disturbed. I also took gps fixes on multiple visits to average together and make sure I had good coords. Essentially, I researched my cache locations before I put the caches there. By the time it came to hide them, I knew exactly where they were going to go, and how I was going to camouflage them, etc. But I needed the waypoint code to write on the box and logbook, and I didn't want to place the box without those, and then go find it again and add them on the off chance that someone might find it by accident in the meantime.

That's interesting! According to the cache rules, and printed on the front of the "official" geocaching logbooks, you are supposed to write the "waypoint code" (as in, GCNW3W for example). But in order to get the code, I have to submit the cache. Right? I just wanted the waypoint codes so I could finish putting documentation on the caches. So I can ask the reviewer to contact me and let me know if the cache is acceptable, and to old off with the actual approval until they hear from me that the box is in place? Cool! That's very helpful advice, thanks Anyway... I hid them immediately after submitting them. I doubt anyone would have gotten to the hiding place before me. But, if some cacher went looking for them in the first 20 minutes, I have two things to say to them (1) I sincerely apologize for any consternation I caused and (2) WOW, you are HARD CORE!!!

In the car? If it's not NPR its one of: Dido Suzanne Vega Madonna Vanessa Daou Basement Jaxx Various Soundtracks Enya Nora Jones On the trail? I have a great soundtrack: The Wind in the Trees Chipmunks Ruffed Grouse Ovenbirds Blue Jays Chickadees Pileated Woodpeckers Trickling Brook / Rushing River Goldfinches Robins Crows Trudging of Feet on Gravel / Leaves / Detritus And my favorite "Where Is That Darn Thing???" EDIT: I can spell "pileated". No really I can!

Regarding coordinate accuracy, HermitCrabs, all my caches are under treecover in a hilly area. There is definitely drift to contend with. But I took 3 different readings on 2 different days and averaged them. Hopefully that will get you close. But if you do visit these caches please upload your own coordinates. More data points means a more accurate location.

Wow! That was fast! I submitted my first caches this morning, three of them, and then went to hide them. By the time I got back, they were approved! My New "Dragon" Caches Yayyy! And thanks, gpsfun, for the speedy approval!

Well I have this large quantity of string 122 thousand miles of it to be exact, and I thought, if I advertised-- Yes! Yes! A national campaign! Useful stuff, string, no trouble there! Well there's a snag you see. Due to bad planning, the 122 thousand miles is in 3 inch lengths. So you see it's not very useful. Well that's our selling point! Eh? Simpson's Individual Stringettes! The now string. Ready cut, easy to handle. Simpson's Indvidual Emperor Stringettes--just the right length! For what? Uhhhmm. Tying up very small parcels, attaching notes to pigeons legs, destroying household pests... Destroying household pests?!!?? How? Well if they're bigger than a mouse you can strangle 'em to death with it, and if they're smaller than a mouse you can flog 'em to death with it. Come now, surely-- Destroy 99% of known household pests, with Simpson's Individual Emperor Stringettes, as used in hospitals! Hospitals? Ever been in a hospital where they didn't use string? Well no, but it's only STRING. Only string??!? It's everything! It's... WATERPROOF! No it isn't. Well then it's WATER RESISTANT! It isnt! All right it's WATER ABSORBANT! It's super absorbant string! Absorb water today with Simpson's Water Absorbitant Stringettes! Away with floods! You just said it was waterproof! Away with the dull drudgery of workaday tidal waves. Use Simpson's individual flood preventers! You're mad!

Yeah I think those are about as permissable as my "Friends don't let friends vote Republican" t-shirts.

I find geocaches. (I just bring him along to sign the logbook.)

Here's the logo on my signature button: I used Canvas 7 to draw it and fashion it into buttons myself using a Badge-A-Minit button maker.

Geoholic: not all of us are at the meeting and not all of us can see it on TV. Could you please provide context for such comments? What are you responding to?

Baruba Juba, I'll second your sentiment. In reading this over, I can't understand why the geocachers at the first meeting looked at these rather tame pictures and agreed that they were appalling and "indefensible". That point should never have been conceded. When I read that article my response was: Is that IT? This is the WORST thing they could find? Somebody called it a boneyard, someone touched a tombstone, and somebody took some pictures? Presumably there were many cemetery caches across SC and clearly the bill's proponents have clearly gone to great lengths to find the worst of the worst of the hundreds of visitors to these sites, and out of all those hundreds of visitors all they could find were a few pictures of graves and some people touching the tombstones. If that doesn't indicate how most geocachers have great respect for the land they visit, I don't know what does. As far as I'm concerned they just proved why this bill isn't necessary, especially given the fact that cemeteries are regularly being vandalized by youngsters or squatted in by homeless people. Cemeteries have far bigger concerns to address than somebody taking a picture of a tombstone. I'm not blind to the concerns of those that brought the bill forward, but I believe the problem has been blown out of proportion, and the bill is disproportionately severe to the level of offense. Cemeteries are places for public activity beyond just mourning. Mt Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge is famous the country over for birdwatching. There are hundreds of birdwatchers walking its paths every day with binoculars and video cameras. A local cemetery where I live is treated much like a preserve, which is to say, people don't have picnics or play frisbee there, but they do go walking there every day, by the dozens. Some of them walk their dogs, and occasionally the dogs deffecate there. Hopefully the owners clean up after them but I have to believe that a dog deffecating on a grave would be considered a far worse offense than anything the proponents of this bill brought forward. Are there no dog walkers in SC cemeteries? Geocaching is pretty much synonymous with hiking. It is only when one reaches the hiding spot of the cache that one has to begin poking about. That said, I personally believe that caches shouldn't be hidden anywhere near graves. Therefore I think cemeteries are great places for virtual caches or as clue gathering stages for mystery or multicaches, but the actual cache box should be outside the cemetery, or in a portion of the cemetery where there are no graves within 80 feet.

I was so inspired to beat this I fired my Magellan Meridian Gold from a cannon. Just wait until I find it... then you'll be impressed.

Never had that experience while caching although I did encounter a nudist once while out birdwatching.