tands

Wow!!! What a great puzzle cache! I used to live on that island, so I had to solve it. It's very doable. I can't wait to get back to RI and go for this one. In the meantime, I'm gonna copy it, if the owner promises not to make me walk the plank! - T of TandS

Segway XT! Now, I think it's time they may a hybrid with a gas engine also. - T of TandS

Here's my opinion... I think that it's sad that some cachers view hunters as 'opponents.' Hunters are licensed users of the same spaces we like to use for geocaching. Their efforts have opened up many forest areas for recreational use. My father, an avid hunter, has started geocaching because he likes to be outdoors with a purpose when it's not hunting season. He loves the fact that he can waypoint his stands and blinds. He is an example of how the community of hunters is a ready-made group of promising new members to the geocaching community. Furthermore, if there's a group of sportsmen and sportswomen from whom we could take a page, it's hunters. They have repeatedly shown how to work within the political and community systems to educate folks about hunting and its benefits while protecting and enhancing their right to participate in the sport. Speaking for myself, I'd like to extend a hand to the hunting community to join the geocaching community, and I offer my thanks to them for blazing the alternative-use-of-public-lands trail that we as the geocaching community are now traveling down. And, my wife says I look great in orange, it's my color. Go figure. - T of TandS

Scissors? Briansnat got that Kung Fu Grip!!! Also, we go to the army-navy store near Ft Jackson here in Cola SC to buy waterproof log books of practically any size we want. We're still waiting for a cache log that says 'cache was wet, but log was fine.' - T of TandS

I'd recommend: Etrex Yellow (yes I'm a broken record) - has no cable but you can buy them here: http://pfranc.com/cgi-bin/pub/u_FL/?pid=eD1 for $15. The Legend is also a great unit and comes with a cable and does mapping, but has more bells and whistles. The reason I like the Yellow is that it's so simple that it seems to work better than higher end units. It still records tracks, meaning you can hike a trail, then download a track of your hike to your pc and view it on a map. Plus bells and whistles use juice, ie GPS food, ie buy Duracell stock! Geckos and the new Magellans are also very very nice, but I'm a big KISS fan (Detroit Rock City!) ie keep it simple, stupid! Any of the units folks are recommending here are great though! Speaking of batteries, bite the bullet and buy some IC3 batteries and a charger. About $30 will get you rechargeable batteries that outlast Lithium single-use cells on each charge and recharge in under 15 minutes. Good Luck and Welcome! - T of TandS

That's a Screamin Deal, dude!!! I wish I needed one, I'd jump on that in a heartbeat. Folks, I use a rig like this and it's SWEEEEET! Throw Vito Navigator II on there and you're cachin. - T of TandS

To be more specific, I carry a ready-to-go cache container with me at all times. There's no reason not to leave a log at a cache site while you're writing it up This is true, even if you're not sure about approval. It causes no issues at all if you've done the right thing and gotten landowner permission first! We also usually get 'pre-approval' on our caches and then do the finishing touches before they are finally enabled. But we see this as a courtesy extended to us by SC_Reviewer, who, by the way is AWESOME!!!!! It would be unreasonable to expect the reviewer to always be able to do this for us since it takes several logging transactions and much more time on the reviewer's part to help us this way. It all comes down to this: You know you're a geocache hider if... You always carry around a micro, small, and regular cache containers, full of swag, and ready to go, in each of your vehicles. Or... keep track of your friends who are planning to make a hide, and call them up to 'adversely possess' their ready-to-go containers if you get in a bind. Thank you Geoholic_28! - T of TandS

Cool Briansnat, Wondered where people got those munchkin logs! Now I can only say 'Duh' -T of TandS

My take on this subject is this: If the find logs are complimentary and talk about how hard a cache is, and there aren't many finds, then this is the type of cache that's hard and is worth finding. Adding our find to such a list is credit for finding a tough cache. Now the caches that are 1/1 and all the logs say 'found it in 1 minute' are the kind of caches that take us 3 trips to find. - T of TandS

I usually go find the location, come home and enter the cache page details, but I don't click the 'enable' button yet. Sometimes, I decide to change the container or the hide location while writing up the page details. We always make sure to have the container in place before we click the 'enable' button and send the cache page to be reviewed though. Well maybe once I made a mistake and had to go straight to the location with the container in the middle of the night right when our cache appeared live!!!! But I know a bunch of other cachers who've accidentally made this mistake too... So now, to be safe and sure, I always have a container with a log book in place, even if it's not what eventually ends up there, before I start typing in the cache details even if I don't plan to enable it right away. - T of TandS

Interestingly, you can use ring-laser-gyros right now to help you geocache... If you ride a Segway. - T of TandS

Brilliant! We plan to do this. - T of TandS

Here's my take on this. When two hiders team up on a good cache, it's not unreasonable for them to both want to share in the credit for something they're proud of. S and I want credit for the caches we placed. There's nothing wrong with that. If it's not something that folks reasonably want, then why does the site list credit for the first hider? Also, what's the motivation for anyone who feels the need to 'challenge' others who ask reasonable questions? It seems like that kind of thing is the same thing as saying 'I'm not a numbers person about hides, that make me special.' That's only my opinion. - T of TandS

Build one like this: The End and I will come. - T of TandS

Waterproof! - T of TandS

And before you know it, you'll be helping someone new become acquainted with the sport right here. OK, it's cool to ask the hider for a hint if you can't find a cache. You'll discover some of your best friends in the fellow cachers you meet. Competetiveness is cool, but laid-back-ness is cooler. Spend a little time learning how to punch coordinates in your gps. In no time, you'll start using GSAK and you won't need to punch them in anymore. Join in anywhere that looks fun: here in the forums, at event caches, and, my favorite, in trying to write the most creative DNF logs you can. That's my favorite creative outlet. You're gonna learn way more than you think you need to learn, and it's gonna be so fun you won't even notice the learning until it's too late, and you feel obligated to help someone new. You can contact other cachers by clicking on their handle, which brings up their profile where you can send a message. Hopefully other cachers in your area may see this post and offer to go with you on some finds. It is such a blast caching with others! It's all about fun. Some folks live it, like me, but I just learn how to focus on fun more by doing so. Welcome to the family. Once you're in, you can never get out. - T of TandS

Actually, an FTF is cool, but 6 FTFs in one shot, that would be special. Too bad it's too late.... - T of TandS

I'm changing our profile to include: Some of our hides are micros, but if you have a regular cache you want to hide where we have a micro, just email us and we'll archive the micro. We are all about full-size caches!!! Especially S. - T of TandS

One thing you don't want to do is invoke the wrath of the micro-hiders by trying to stake out turf. Being a micro hider (me, not S) if I knew someone was doing that, I'd order a gross (an amount that's ironic to micro haters) of micro containers and go berzerk. Really, I just posted that first part to light a fire under folks with good hiding skills. You don't want everyone who caches to go hide. If someone has a good cache idea though, you want them to go make a hide and not sit on their hands.... while I hide those gross micros! - T of TandS

Like I posted in another thread. A DNF on one of our caches this week is the only reason I went out to check it and find that it's missing. DNF=Displaced cache Notification Flag. Thanks to the cachers who flagged our cache with their log. - T of TandS

You were very nice to share, but you know those other FTF folks just beat you to those caches. Don't go trying to spoil their sense of victory by saying that 'you let them.' When my wife lets me win, and I figure out that she did (a very rare occurrence-the figuring out, a very common occurrence-the letting me win) I am very upset. So, it's cool to be so cool and share, but you don't want to come across as thinking you're so good you have to let others get the FTF. I'm the only one who's that good! - T of TandS

A DNF on one of my caches this week is the only reason I went out to check it and find that it's missing. DNF=Displaced cache Notification Flag. Thanks to the cachers who flagged my cache with their log. - T of TandS

Our favorite rule is the 'no stealth when busted' rule. If future-cachers (mistakenly labeled muggles quite often) spot us hunting for a cache and obviously are wondering what we're up to, we introduce ourselves and geocaching to them. We show them the GPS, which everybody thinks is cool, and ask them to help make the find. We usually trade email addresses and give them the www.geocaching.com site address. - T of TandS

I've got a bucky-tube micro ready to go as soon as I can do the following: Roll the log up tight enough. Find 2 bucky-bowls to use as caps. Convince S that I'm not the crazed micro-hider she knows I am. - T of TandS

We have a premium membership, but we have used none of its features to help us with FTFs. I wake up at 5am every day. God made me that way. First thing I do is pull up my account. Then I click on List Newest in SC. Then if there's a new cache close, I race Smudge of Team Wee Lee who also goes into work early to the hide. He's got a Mustang Cobra, but slow and steady wins the race and we usually arrive at the cache site at the same time. Teaming up, we make the find. Since we both go to work so early. We get off work in the mid afternoon. I must work less hard than he does, because around 3 in the afternoon each day as I'm ready to leave work, I List Newest in SC again. If I see one, I get S to give me permission and go for it. S and I have a mess of FTFs. Just become obsessed with it like I am, check the page every hour or two, and you'll get FTFs. One thing though, I love sharing FTFs. So if I'm going for one, I usually call another cacher or two to join in the fun. Usually they can't, but I wish they could. - T of TandS