tomfuller & Quill

Among the worst geocaches I have found are the caches that are spent shotgun shells. Among the regular size caches I've found were several that had live ammo. I've found caches after more than a year without a find that had full water bottles that had obviously been frozen.

Even if you wanted to get a DAGR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Advanced_GPS_Receiver You would not want to pay $1832 for one. The first GPS I ever used (before 2000) cost the state of PA $5000. It had a full rubberized keyboard and weighed 3.5 lb. I took waypoints for 3 3 minute sessions and then used correction software on the computer (differential correction) to get the spot within 2 feet (most of the time). The Corvallis Microtechnology MC-GPS had a rechargeable battery and we always carried a spare charged battery.

Driving today (Saturday) from Central Oregon to Coos Bay for an event. We get to see some tall ships in mock battle in the bay. Spending the night and then going to an event in Springfield Sunday and then home. I Intend to find a couple caches on the way to the coast.

I own 3 Earthcaches. The first is at "Crack in the Ground". The coordinates given are at the entrance to the crack. I give the number of steps to take and the direction to get to the point to answer the questions. There is no way to get a GPS signal inside the crack. I put a peanut butter jar cache at the spot under a rock so that people would know that they were in the right spot. You do not have to find the physical cache to claim the Earthcache. I wrote a code inside the cap of the jar so that I can be sure that you found the right spot. My second EC I developed is at Twin Fault. I found the ammocan cache of meltupper and decided that the area would be a good EC. My coordinates are about 120' from Melanie's cache. My third EC is at one of the waypoints of Volcanoguy's multi on the south side of Paulina Peak. I used (with permission) some of Bill's (Volcanoguy) book on the geology of Central Oregon for my third EC which qualified me as a Platinum EC Master.

No I won't put such a statement on my cache pages. My minimum online cache log is about 8 words. The shortest log on one of my caches was colon right parenthesis. That only happened once. I do try to give helpful information on my cache pages and try to put in the best parking location to go for the cache.

When I hid my first cache 3 weeks after I started caching, I placed it 9.1 miles from the next nearest cache. Since that time, there have been 7 more caches added closer to mine. Now the closest cache is 4.1 miles away. It is still a good cache even though it was not found in 2014. I now have to travel more than 25 miles to go caching because I own or have found every cache within 12 miles of home.

I will be there. It is my first MOGA. I am including the event with a big loop to find caches in 10 or 11 new states for me. I am happy to report that my friend Lookout Lisa who is CEO of Cache Advance will be there with a booth. Her home base is Spokane WA. The Oregon cacher that I know that listed a will attend (boringgirl) is sadly not able to come. I'm taking 2 trains from Oregon to Galesburg IL and renting a car for a week from there. I'm getting back on a train in Galesburg on 3/25 and coming home by way of Los Angeles.

I am sad to hear that this will be the last "Block Party" at Groundspeak HQ. I logged my #1000 find at the Block Party 3 years ago,

I'm guessing that you could post a "write note" on your Earth Cache page. Something like "Congrats xxx your emailed answers were correct. You may log as found. Sorry I could not respond to your email." I only have 3 EC's that get logged less than 10 times per year. I have found EC's in more than 10 states so I submitted and got the third approved so that I could become a Platinum Earth Cache Master.

Has the property owner changed and do you still have permission for your old spot? Check with the original reviewer to see if you can unarchive or just put in a new cache in the same spot. I think it is more likely they will ask for a new cache#.

Shortest log on 1 of my caches was I didn't go to see what they wrote on the paper log. Actually it was a colon followed by a right parentheses

I have several puzzle caches that use triangulation and my favorite Great Circle Calculator http://williams.best.vwh.net/gccalc.htm The first one that I published was A. Spring GCWE3D. It has not been found since October 2010. It was found by 6 people that solved it and has had no DNF's. I also replaced my "Slope Distance" cache with NEW Slope Distance over 2 years ago. Once you have solved the horizontal distance from the top of Mt. Ray, you can get the coordinates for the cache using Ed Williams Javascript Great Circle Calculator. I'm hoping someone comes out and get the FTF sometime next year after the snow melts.

Meanwhile, back in the Oregon Badlands a charter member removed his caches yesterday. As of 0900 PDT this morning all caches in the Badlands and in a "Research" area south of US 20 were to have been removed. I know quite well that there are still containers (perhaps now archived) within the boundaries. I am seriously considering putting an ammocan inside the Badlands and never asking for Groundspeak to publish it. In about 10 years I'll reveal its' location on the Oregon Geocaching site if it still exists. The charter member mentioned above is going to start asking some serious questions under the Freedom of Information Act of the Prineville BLM. I gave him a good question to ask: How much income did the BLM (DOI) get from cattle grazing rights inside this so called "Wilderness"? I said that there is almost as much bovine manure in the Badlands as there is BS coming out of Prineville.

On Thursday I hiked up from Century Drive about 24 miles from Bend Oregon. My hike was about 4 miles to get the answers to the 4 questions for GC3F56 Mt. Bachelor (winter). For most of my walk I was walking on 3-4 feet of snow. I needed a 1.5/5 D/T combo to complete the Fizzy. I believe this is the hardest virtual I have ever done. I believe Mt. Bachelor could use a couple more virtuals if they were allowed. As for the Oregon Badlands, the problem is that we got a new land manager that decided that caches that have been in place for 10+ years had to go. We had an agreement with the previous managers the the 17 existing caches could stay but no more would be approved. For the view of a cache owner of a Badlands cache, read the last log for Bye Bye Badlands. Take a look at the pictures while you are at it.

I don't think it's a good idea to create incentive for hiding "regular" caches, other than the desire to own and maintain the cache. If this proposal became reality, then someone who wanted to place a virtual cache would only need to list 10 disposable traditional caches first. Or maybe they could just churn their existing traditional caches, archiving them all and re-listing them with a new GC code. The account that owns the ET Highway numbers run trail could list 200 virtual caches. Like I said, there are many imperfections with this plan. However, I do think that somehow limiting the creation of virtuals would be the best. Doing so would make sure the "wow-factor" is there, as people wouldn't want to "waste" their virtual. The trickiest part would be the implementation of such a limit. Luckily that's what the forums are for, to come up with ideas! I recently went to find a physical cache within the Oregon Badlands. The local BLM is forcing the archival of all physical caches within the Badlands by June 16, 2014. My idea is to allow the cache owners forced to archive the caches to put a virtual in their place. If this is not allowed then I will ask for permission to put in at least 1 Earth Cache in the Badlands. I will probably be denied the Earth Cache solely because I have been vocal about physical caches that have been there for more than 9 years that "may" cause damage. When the BLM announced they were shutting down geocaching in the area they said there were virtuals in the Badlands. (Blatant lie).

Madjack and bulldog removed their cache Bye Bye Badlands GCMJA5 but have not archived it yet. If you want to know how others feel about the local BLM management, please read the final log and look at the pictures. Skadog will be removing most of the remaining caches on June 1, 7 or 8. I really liked the picture of the rusty old cans put there by the US Army decades ago.

You don't really "need" to have a map in the GPS to find a geocache. Just enter the waypoints taking care to make sure you have the N for latitude and the W for longitude. You will have to "initialize" after taking the GPS a long distance so that it looks for the right satellites. Find some caches in your home country before your trip so you are better prepared. If you are renting a car, get one with an onboard GPS to find your way close to the caches.

What are the gc codes? (Earth Cache) Crack in the Ground GC31WJJ Cache in Crack in the Ground GC31VYX Twin Fault Earthcache GC38DW0 Twin Fault GC2Z8QM owner MelTupper

The ability to swim, grab the cache, open it, take out the log without getting it wet, sign it and put it back without drowning is a specialized skill. The first T5 cache I did, I walked to the island when the lake was very low. One pair of cachers that I know put out caches that can only be reached by boat but they never put a T5 on them

There are a couple of Earth Caches in Crater Lake NP that you may not be able to get to because of snow. There was a general dump of snow in Crater Lake early Saturday morning. I'm thinking the north entrance may still be closed until about July 1.

Go ahead Make my day! My Earth Caches are Earth Caches in every sense of the word. I put my physical cache in the bottom of Crack in the Ground in a place where GPS signals don't reach so that people that are doing the Earth Cache will know that they are at the correct place to answer the questions. Several people have not found the peanut butter jar but have correctly answered the Earth Cache questions. For my second Earth Cache I was the second finder of Mel Tuppers nice ammocan cache in Twin Crack. My Earth Cache long description is a full geology lesson with two simple questions from me and you have to answer one of the geology professor's questions. The BLM developed the trail from the parking area out to Crack in the Ground. At least 5 times as many "ordinary folks" visit Crack in the Ground as geocachers to log the Earth Cache. Whether you walk out to lift a rock to find a geocache or walk out and lift a rock to answer a question about the geology of an area, you are doing the same amount of damage to the environment which is negligible IMO. When I was walking out to Crack in the ground with my peanut butter jar to develop the questions for the Earth Cache I met a cow coming out. She was leaving a lot more than footprints behind her. Mr. Bishop of the Lakeview BLM district had no problem with me hiding the peanut butter jar to aid with getting to the proper spot.

I'm still looking for the virtuals that the BLM says are in there. Tell me again how walking to a virtual (and back) makes any less of a "geotrail". The BLM established trails within the Badlands long before geocaching was invented. I do have two Earth Caches on BLM land (Lakeview District) that I got permission from the BLM to publish. Each of my Earth caches has a physical cache associated with it. Neither I nor Mel Tupper had to get permission to put in a physical cache in the Lakeview District. I fully support the seasonal closure of Dry Canyon to protect the nesting birds. I suggest that anyone that wants to try to stop this abuse of power call Mike Haske (or Doc Shepard) in the Portland office of the BLM.

From today's Bend Bulletin: http://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/environment/2014645-151/blm-to-remove-geocaches-from-bend-area-wilderness Yoleen (aka Floydette) is a friend of mine. I found out that Gavin still works for the BLM but now has 2 new female bosses.

I just left a phone message with Mike Haske who is the BLM Deputy Director for Resource Planning, Use & Protection. I'm hoping this will be resolved before the ordered removal date in June is reached. I'm still waiting for Secretary Jewell to get back to me.

For many years we had an agreement with the Prineville BLM that there would be 13 geocaches within the Badlands RNA. This includes a long standing moving cache called Badlands Post Office. This was fine as long as Gavin (GovBigDog) was in charge of the Prineville BLM. Now the BLM under Molly's direction, wants to get rid of 84 caches. There are a couple of well established trails developed by the BLM including the Flat Iron Trail that have caches close to them. I asked for and got permission from the Lakeview BLM office to establish my Crack in the Ground Earth Cache and my Twin Crack Earth Cache. I did not need their permission to put a physical cache in the bottom of Crack in the Ground. I established the Twin Crack Earth Cache after finding a nice ammocan cache deep in the crack. The last time I talked to Gavin it was to tell him that the gate on the road to my Stalag 13 Revisited cache parking spot had been ripped out by vandals. The BlM chose to leave to road open and not replace the gate. I know at least 2 geocachers in the Bend area that are more angry than I am about this change in BLM policy. The USFS has been our friend since the start of geocaching-the BLM not so much.