Apples 2 Apples

Just a side note, it seems as though geocoins.ca's automatic exchange email server isn't working correctly anymore as we do not received updates on exchanges any longer. We have not changed any of our information either. So if you don't here about activity for a while, check the site!

Hello I have been waiting for my queries to download all day and I am certain they are set up correctly. I have used these many times now and had no issues. I even double checked the settings for them to be certain. Does anybody know about some system maintenance that is going on? Has there been some significant change in the way these are handled? I am leaving for vacation in the morning, I really don't want to go back to PAPER!!!!!! Thanks, Apples 2 Apples

We started out pretty strong, caching every weekend, taking long hikes... loving every second of it. Then being the wise guy that I am, I decided to "pop the question" to my caching partner. Now most weekends we spend our time looking at wedding locations or houses (hopefully buying one soon). we still manage to cache ocasionally but now it seems to mean a little more when we do. We get to spend time on ourselves without any time constraints, which is great! I had the goal of releasing a new cache for 6/6/6 but failed on that, we were just too busy. Too bad too, I made a special cache container for that one. It will see the light of day.... or rather... the dark of a tree stump someday I am sure. Immediate goal is to hit 100, which shouldn't be too hard... we are at 99 at going camping on the weekend of the 23rd. We always use camping as an excuse to do far away caches. Aside from all that, I just want to get better at finding stuff in the woods. You never know when your gonna drop your wallet, keys etc..

Two years ago or so, when we started geocaching. My fiance picked up a magellan meridian colour travellers pack from radioworld. The company name was given to us from a close friend, accompanied by high praise. This was to be a surprise birthday present for me so she was unable to ask me any questions about how to set it up or anything. We were leaving that night to go camping, and apparently geocaching. She apparently spent some good amount of time in the store talking to their reps. She learned a lot of stuff about the units. She knew that I wanted the magellan model she purchased, but that was about it. The salesperson was very patient, did not try to upsell her (not sure he could of, not sure if there was a more expensive meridian at that point). He did not try to change what she wished to purchase. Now, my comment about their customer service. She went home that afternoon and wanted to load the maps onto the unit so that we would have them for camping and geocaching. She found that it was more difficult that she imagined, she ran into some major problems and something happened to the unit. She called radioworld and talked to that very same salesperson. He talked her through the entire process of upgrading the meridians software from magellans website. Loading the mapping software on the PC and then transfering it to the GPS. He even talked her through initializing the unit and creating her first waypoint. That is incredible customer service! We had a great experience with them and will purchase from them again. Apples 2 Apples

We payed around $800.00 as well for ours around 1.5 years ago... Course this was the travellers pack which came with a cradle, cable and mapping CD.... Which is something else you should keep in mind. If you expect detailed mapping on this unit... streets and such. You will most likely also need to purchase one of the CD's and possibly the cable. Find out what you get with the purchase. Even then, it is still a good deal!

And if you're lucky (or have the writers on your side), the friction from sliding on the cable doesn't wear through it, dropping you from the cable, before you get to the other side. Having held these in my hand and seen the construction behind them... I don't think friction would be the issue. I don't think they would hold the average human being aloft on anything for more than two seconds. If the jaws didn't give way, the keychain link would for sure. I think I would prefer to have the roadrunner and coyote writers on this project. There is something to be said for the satisfying thud of him hitting the canyon floor.

And if you're lucky (or have the writers on your side), the friction from sliding on the cable doesn't wear through it, dropping you from the cable, before you get to the other side. Having held these in my hand and seen the construction behind them... I don't think friction would be the issue. I don't think they would hold the average human being aloft on anything for more than two seconds. If the jaws didn't give way, the keychain link would for sure.

We have a number of these we have been distributing into caches for a while. We got them at a buck or two type dollar store some time ago. They are indeed just a fancy smancy carbiner.

On your way to soon becoming Ontario's most famous cacher.

We have yet to participate in an event, sounds like this could be a fun one to "cut our teeth on". Let us know when you have the cache page up!

This is the only situation I would be truly concerned about with regards to the saftey issue of a glass container. If you hid the container in a dark place where it took some rooting around to find. If it broke within that location someone could get a bit of a surprise... if your in a remote location, that surprise could turn into a disaster. As far as it breaking in other situations, make sure you don't hide it near rocks or in extreme weather enviroments. Have a location that's well hidden and doesn't promote the possiblity of it being broken or jeopradized by the hide... say inside a tree (no sharp edges, usually somewhat soft). In the end however, although glass containers are easily come by and cheap. You probably are better off with a really good plastic container (lock n lock) or the good ol ammo can.

We have only placed four caches so far, none of them could be considered evil hides... although we will be placing some hopefully soon that could be Everyone of them so far has been within 10m of a trail of some sort. Weather it be paved, gravel or game trail. If placing a cache withing a canadian park we would follow this guideline / rule. There are certain reasons for this... to ensure the enviroment isn't to heavily impacted by our hobby, to make it more accessible to families who are camping there. And to make it a somewhat easier find. These people may only visit once a year, they are paying to get into the park and the fact that our cache is there may be a deciding factor that they came to that particular park. I guess we would have very descriptive hints as well. As a finder, I would probably be conscious of the guideline / rule. But may not follow it too closely as I may stumble furthur into the area than I realize during the thrill of the hunt. Our typical caching techniques would apply here as well though. We generally do not trudge directly towards a cache location (point to point). We look for a established trail or area that is less susceptable to damage to make our entry attempt. That being said, if the area looked as though it was safe to walk through,... dirt or rocky ground as opposed to heavy plant cover. We might search furthur into the wilderness to attempt our find if we needed too, thinking that the hider might have done so as well.

Congrats on the upcoming special find and Good Luck!

31 TB - 77 Cache 40.3% Scarborough (Toronto), Ontario, Canada

The Princess Auto located in Pickering / Ajax ontario area had some good ones last time we were there and I think they were selling them for a comparable price. To be sure there were some real stinkers in the pile but with a little bit of searching and testing we found four that were perfect.

We have camped at 5 different ontario parks this season, some of them had geocaches and some of them didn't. When they were absent from the park it didn't really affect our enjoyment of the park, however it certainly increased the enjoyment when they were present. It recently occured to us that we are addressing this topic from the head down, why not address it from the bottom up as well? Every person who uses the ontario parks system is given a permit, on the back of that permit is a comment card. The park managers and staff do actually read these cards when they open the expired permit box at the exit of the park. I don't think it would hurt for us as a community to make some sort of comment on the back while visiting these parks in regards to geocaching. In so far as respectfully saying please allow geocaching in ontario parks, maybe writing a link to the debate or even geocaching, Groundspeak. Petitions and talks are great, but could we help our cause by showing them we are "paying" customers? Sure if there is actually a geocache in the park it could "wake the sleeping giant" and in these situations it may not be a good idea. But in a park where there is not one, could it really hurt? If more parks staff new about geocaching this could assist us in our battle. Many of these staff members are much like us, they enjoy spending time in the outdoors. If we get them on our side it could help in some unforeseen ways. The right person at the right time on the "inside" could help this situation a great deal. Just wondering if anyone else thinks this is a good or bad idea.

I don't really have any recommendations as we have not done many downtown caches as of yet. I do however have some advice. Make sure to check the cache pages for any cache that someone recommends. We had some very heavy rainfall and flooding here on the 20th (I think) and and many of the caches located along some of the waterways have been lost. You may want to check if the cache owner or another cacher has confirmed it being there after that date before heading out.

I second the notions listed above! Especially if you have anything in the Highland Creek area. We did a cache maintenance visit late yesterday afternoon and decided to disable our cache due to the findings. Click the link to read the logs and see the photo's if your interested (hopefully the link works). FV006 (photo) shows a section that used to be wide enough to drive a large truck across with plenty of space on each side. Now there is almost nothing there to walk on at all. Even if caches were on level ground away from water it would be a good idea for them to be checked out. Considering how many of them out there are found soaking wet, or have fallen from their hidding places under regular weather conditions. Fern View

Our engagement had elements of geocaching invovled as well... I recall posting details in another thread somewhere. So I won't clutter this thread up with it as well as it was rather LONG. Congrats to the OP!

I did consider that but maintaining stealth while allowing the solar cell to remain in the direct sunlight would be difficult. Could you not place the solar panel higher than eye level (or in tree, top of pole etc) and run a long enough lead to the electro gizmo to maintain stealth?

Me and my girl started geocaching about a few months into our relationship. Been doing it for over a year and we just got engaged on the 6th of this month. And yes, GPS and Geocaching did manage to make its way into the proposal, but more as a means to an end.

Geepy

I have received an incredible amount of suggestions from you guys. Thank you so much! I am going to close the topic now however because I will never get around to actually working on the cache plaque if I don't! Thanks again!

We recently placed a cache that we requested finders only trade more costly items. We filled it with items ranging from $3 to $10. So far every person has traded fairly even or in some cases traded up significantly. It should also be noted that we placed this cache in a very nice trail that not many people in these parts new about. Made it a nice long hike along a very beautiful trail. And also made it a longer than average hike for our area. We have also had plenty of positive comments about it. My feeling is that because we didn't make it a cache n dash, and made it a out of the ordinary experience. People are more happy to trade something a little more if they trade at all. If you build it, they may come!

Hrmm, this is a possiblity as well... SIGH so many ways to proceed!