Jeep_Dog
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Posts posted by Jeep_Dog
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Why didn't you get there first to hide a regular sized cache? The game's been around for nine years now.
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When was the last time any of the more experienced cachers thanked an owner for making it a fun game?
Uh, depends on your definition of "more experienced cachers" I suppose.
I try to leave unique logs on each cache which I find. Every so often, I find one that doesn't rate much of a comment.
If one of my caches gets the very infrequent thoughtful log, I send along a thanks as the CO for them taking the time to do so, and thank them for enhancing the game/activity.
When was the last time a caring cache owner thanked a finder for leaving a good log and making it a fun game?
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Given the restrictions on placing physical containers in so many places, I think it is too bad that virtuals do not have a limited place (other than those that are grandfathered into the game). And it is also too bad that archived virtuals cannot be adopted. But its Groundspeak's game so they make the rules.
Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, it is what it is.
Waymarking doesn't work for me. If I want to truly find the cool spots in a location in which I've never been, GC.COM seems to be the ticket. Is it geocachers have more imagination? Or perhaps they have not invested the same passion/energy into Waymarking as geocaching? It probably doesn't matter, but it too is what it is....
Most of the virtuals which I have encountered have been really cool, or take me to a cool spot, where a cache was too hard but the cacher's eye was definitely in play to mark the spot and make it a creative "find." There were lame ones, certainly, but it was easy enough to see "yup, this one would be lame, so I won't do it."
I didn't take an active interest into Virtuals until they were nixed, and didn't appeal to me until they were "grandfathered." Now I note that nearly all of the ones which COs have not archived and I've done since the grandfather clause have been really cool!
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I'm shocked that no one is falling on the floor and tearing at their clothes over the use of the derogatory term "gringo."
Yeah, well, it is all relative, my friend. In New Mexico, I'd rather be called a "gringo" rather than a "texan" any day...
After some interaction, I usually get upgraded to "Yanqui"
or ultimately earn "amigo." 
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"Gringos utilizar este objeto para sus juegos utilizando un tonto GPS. Por favor, no te muevas o tomar este objeto. Gracias!"
That is funny...Gringos-silly gps. This would probably work the best, or maybe the "this is not trash" one.
Thanks for noticing... I threw in some cultural humor in the hopes that such a statement would garner a chuckle and get one's attention, hence actually be effective.
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Do cache owners routinely audit their logbooks vs. what was posted on the webpage?
Some do and some do not. From what I've seen in the field and read in the forums, it appears that most do not do this routinely, if at all. There are those, however, that reconcile the difference between physical and online logs to check for the "bogus" factor.
It just seems like it would be an exercise in futility since hardly any logbooks are actually filled out sequentially, illegible due to moisture damage, changed names, etc.
An excercise in futility only if the cache container is a poor one. A good cache will have a good log. Changed names is relatively rare, and probably not that difficult to verify.
The irony probably is the caches where the logs are destroyed, which would make it an exercise in futililty, probably don't have cache owners who check routinely...
I guess I just don't understand why anyone would lie about finding a cache. It's not like you win a prize for getting to a certain number and there will always be somebody with more finds than you. It's kind of like what my Drill Sergeant said many years ago in basic training to those who faked their way through PT -- "you're only cheating yourself".
Well, that's about the point many folks try to make.
I have one logged cache (that is not an earthcache, locationaless, or virtual of course), I think it is my second, where I didn't sign the logbook. I didn't know any better, since I saw the "pros" and/or "legends" in the area do this quite often. I noted all I had to do was "find evidence" of a cache and claim the "find."
It was well before 100 where I revised my own personal standard (note I state "personal"), and learned the importance of integrity in actually finding and signing a log early in my caching career; this came after spending 3 hours on noth finding a cache that had been logged earlier in the morning with a "I build these things where I work. Called the owners to let them know what I found." I didn't know enough as a new cacher to read between the lines written by this very veteran cacher to know that it really meant "I didn't find the cache, and I called the owner to get a hint, still could not find them, so described to the owner the spot and am taking a smiley."
Through this, I learned the hard way the perhaps my actions can affect and/or ruin the fun for another cacher. So, Bitten will undoubtedly proclaim again that I ride upon a high horse, but the real truth of the matter is that I maintain my personal standards out of consideration of others, not as a moral "better than thou" attitude.
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There are some caches that are only possible to do by couch caching, such as 'Four Windows' GCF55A.
What do people think about such caches?
Is it wrong to do them?
If so, why - you're not cheating by couch caching in this instance as there is no other way do do the cache...
Mike
Perhaps because it is a virtual a place to where some cachers have been? To you a "couch cache," to others a virtual at a place to which they have actually been....
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For those that are wondering, "Halp i net thes Geocaching in Germany", when translated with Google's Language Tools, from German to English, translates as, "Halp i net thes Geocaching in Germany".
thought you'd like to know.
I got a good belly laugh on this, until I too used iGoogle and got this instead:
We will muggle your caches you unless leave stash note in Deutsch."
I'm just sayin'....
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If you were to ask a geocacher friend to wait on a cache that you wouldn't to go after, would you respect the other person wishes or ignore it and just go after that specific cache?
Its like asking a friend to wait on something and wouldn't a friend wait, or would a friend not ask someone to wait.
If your friend felt very strongly about going after certain caches together wouldn't you repsect their wishes and wait until they could go? or not?
Is it wrong to ask them to wait?
We've had this happen to us a couple of times, we told them about certain caches and was hoping to go together for them, but they had free time and went for them without telling us they were going. Then after that we told them about this area and it would be cool to go after them together and guess what they did it again with out us.
It depends on whether or not this could be an FTF.
Just kidding -
I am a person of my word. If I said that I'd wait to do a cache with you, I probably would. But, I probably wouldn't say this - probably more along the lines of "sure, I'll do the hike with you," and if I found the cache, would go again.
I've only asked one person to do one cache with me, and it was a 4.5 terrain, so both of us were kind enough to "hold off" and await a hiking partner. If he had decided to go it alone, then I could care a less, and in retrospect, probably would have shaved at least 2 hours off the expedition if I'd gone alone.
In a very round about way, I suppose I'd answer your questions with "yes, I would respect your wish if you asked to do a cache together and wait," and "I personally would not ask anyone to wait, so 'right' or 'wrong' of asking is not relevant to me."
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In July one of my caching buddies and I found a cache called No More Tree GC1FD37. It was in a really cool tree stump and the cache owner asked finders if they had an extra piece of paper to sit and write a story about what happened to the tree and leave it in the cache. It was a beautiful afternoon, so my buddy and I sat down and each wrote out a story about the tree. We appreciated the cache and thought the stories might inspire someone else to take the time instead of just grabbing the smiley, since that is what the owner had asked people to do. The very next finder, who has over a thousand finds and IMO should know better, took the stories out of the cache and bragged about it in their log. I am furious. We didn't leave those stories as swag to be lifted. I feel like I have three options here: Email the finders and demand they return the stories to the cache. Email the owner and ask if he wants to do anything about it (they were meant for him after all). Forget about it and chalk it up to the stupidity of the human race. Since the owner has gotten an email about their find, I am sure he knows what they have done. Its fine if he doesn't care, I just feel like these people should be called out for what they have done. I looked up their profile and see that they live in the burbs, about 10 to 15 miles from the cache site. Any opinions?
This is sad to hear. I appreciate your feelings of disenfranchisement, and probably would have some similar feelings.
Yet, some points.
1) Just because someone has 1000+ finds does not mean they are considerate of others. It merely means that they have submitted 1000+ online "found it logs" and may have found an equal number of geocaches. It certainly does not promise that they "get it."
2) Email and ask that it be returned. If the rudeness is instead returned, get the chalk out and mark one for "stupidity." Perhaps consider emailing your reflections to the cache owner? It is probably about the journey and thoughts, not about the paper.
I hope that cacher ends up "getting it." Thanks for taking the time to reflect at the cache site, as requested, and making this a better/more insightful activity for all of us!
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I have many caches out in heavily hispanic areas, and have never had a problem. If they disappear, I replace them. I have no idea who took them, so I do not accuse anyone.
Excellent point! For all we know, it could be a ravenous pack of cache-hating chihuahuas that cause these problems!
Very well, forum title suggestion: Cache/hides coming up missing in bilingual areas...
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I think it would be more effective to say something like. "If you touch this the INS will find you"
Not even remotely humorous. In the regions which we are discussing, a majority of the people to whom we refer are US citizens who speak Spanish. To assume the acronym INS would make a difference could be quite insulting to some.
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Yeah, after 30 or so FTFs, my only goal was to try to be no higher than "STF" so that I would discontinue being "FTDNF." I've been "FTDNF" on a number of caches, and realized this was something that I desired to avoid.
TFTFD!
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Maybe some sort of visual aid would be more effective?
Nope, that's no good, either. Understanding of pictures can be idiomatic based upon cultural interpretation, too (edit - yeah, case in point is the post below this one. What the heck does that picture mean?!?!? To me it looks like "an excessively long-horned three-headed goat pooped here").
My vote is an AUDIBLE aide. You know, a cache device which speaks it's nature, in all known languages of the area and expected tourists, to avoid all confusion.
Naturally, a side effect of this would be our DNF Ratios decreasing as caches speak to us as we approach them....
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Good grief.
So, have you talked to the land owners and asked them to not have their garden crew remove the cache? Your real issue here is with the land owners and any communication issue between you and them.
Yes, speaking of landowners...
Perhaps this should be solved "Cowboy They Who Herd Free-Range Bovines to More Fertile Pastures" style -
City Dweller Goes Geocaching
A citizen of Dallas got tired of all the stories of his office colleagues who went geocaching every weekend. They frequently boasted of their prowess in the hunt and how many caches they had found. So not to be outdone this city dweller decides he's going geocaching to show them all up. He buys the most expensive GPSr available, all his clothes and gear from Groundspeak and Cabella's, and goes geocaching. After an exasperating day of hiking through the brush and briars without finding a single cache, he heads back to his car. On the way back, he sees an easy 1/1 waypoint in his GPSr located in a small clearing next to a fence that is adjacent to parking and has a bilingual sticker depicting that this item is a geocache. He diverts from the trail 40 feet and easily finds the cache.
As the geocacher opens the book to log his first find , he was confronted by a rancher who says, "What the heck do you think you're doin', city boy?"
The geocacher replies, "I'm logging my find."
The rancher replies, "The Corps of Engineers are wrong with the fence boundry. This is my property, and that's my ammo can."
The new geocacher says, "Oh come on, I've been out here all day and and that is the only cache I've found, and I see the Corps of Engineer post marking the boundry right there. I found my first cache, and I'm logging this find!"
The rancher again stubbornly says, "My property, my ammo can."
Well, they argued for a few minutes and, finally, the rancher says, "Ok, I'll tell you what, we'll settle this cowboy style."
The geocacher says, "What's that?"
The rancher says, "Well, I kick you in the crotch as hard as I can, and then you kick me in the crotch as hard as you can, and we keep this up and the last man standing keeps the ammo can."
The geocacher not wanting to return home empty-handed and face the forums without a find reluctantly agrees. The rancher wearing large pointy cowboy boots haul back and kicks the guy in the crotch with all his might. The guy's eyes roll back in his head, he coughs and wheezes but barely manages to remain standing.
The geocacher composes himself somewhat and squeaks to the farmer, "Okay, now its my turn."
The rancher replies, "Oh, that there ain't my property. You can have that stupid ammo can."
(sorry, thought some levity was needed in here...)
edit - chad's friend, humor indeed. This time, just not so dry on my part....
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Tried to translate, but "tonto GPS" = "idiot GPS"???
Well, there goes my opinion of the Lone Ranger!
Check out Google's list of variations on the definition of "tonto!"
Uh, the "silly" or "cretin" reference was to the gringo geocacher's preference for their selected activity (which in this case would be geocaching), not to the GPSr.....
Plus, Tonto was indian American Indian (or "Navtive American," according to the obviously misnamed Bureau of Indian Affairs, whom most tribes seem to discount) not hispanic, so it is possible your Lone Ranger opinion need not be affected.
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I love this topic! The only stat which I really take seriously is my DNF count. Up in South Dakota, met some cachers at a cache, and they asked me how many finds I had. First, I was surprised they asked, since I didn't think this relevant, and second - I really did not know. I gave them a ballpark figure.
However, if they asked how many DNFs that I'd accrued, I could have provided that exact information with ease.
Alas, I run about 1 DNF for every 11 finds, which seems the "norm" with most folks here, running at the 11% mark.
I'm kind of surprised to see such consistency in DNF percentage among cachers. Plus, it is nice to know that I only suck slightly less at finding caches than I previously thought.
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"Gringos utilizar este objeto para sus juegos utilizando un tonto GPS. Por favor, no te muevas o tomar este objeto. Gracias!"
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I'm trying to be delicate here: On the one hand, I don't care if someone wants to armchair virtuals in Europe. I don't care if you have more finds than me. I don't care if you want to cache with a lack of integrity and not go through the effort to truely find a cache, just drive by GZ and call it good. It's your choice. Just don't blast me if I decide to delete your log because you cannot prove you found the cache. And that is key, IF I decide to delete... As a CO, it is my choice.
Driving by or giving up a search before the cache is found and still logging a smiley is clearly out of bounds. Just as walking away because of high muggle activity isn't an excuse for logging a find either.
What would you do?
Oh, bother, not the "fine European tradition of logging virtuals they have not visted re-tread.
As I posted back in '07 on the subject, I no-kidding got this email from an "armchair" or "couch" cacher -
"Hello Jeep Dog,
concerning virtual cache Buffalo Soldiers GC9117 I would like to confirm my solution as there is no reply from the cache owner. Since you have visited the cache in reality please let me know if I was correct.
Best regards,"
Yeah, I wonder why that cacher did not get a reply from the CO, and thought that since I had "visited the cache in reality" I was more inclined to reply then the CO?
Fester, to answer your question, if I owned caches/virtuals that were being logged from afar without a visit, then in my opinion they are "bogus," which would then require what I think a responsible action of deleting the log, as suggested in the guidelines.
Then again, we are talking about a definitive trend. What about onesies and twosies? Well, the Grande Pubah Master himself logged a cache without signing the logbook
, so who are we to judge? -
I wonder if I can fit a couch in a geocache..... I may need to get rid of one soon... Probably won't fit in a micro, huh?......
Probably not, but I did once find a cache that was a couch, and had a micro log to sign (Gee, I found a Sofa on the way to a cache...). Is that close enough?
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Besides losing respect for him, nothing.
Yeah, I'm with Brian and Riffster on this one.
Oh, if this hypothetical person caught in a sting logged one of my caches, I'd delete the log.
Then, of course, carry on with the obligatory 'loss of respect' and 'nada' course of action.
then again, we could always take their couch......
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Hmmm. In El Paso this wasn't a problem. Caches seemed to get muggled at the same rate as other places to which I've been in the US, and most were in English.
I did have one cache that had the stash note in Spanish, which didn't help since it was muggled just like any other cache - and was a bush cache that most likely got taken by the ground crew (despite the fact that after receiving permission, I had talked to the groundskeepers about the cache)...
Perhaps in some areas, Spanish would be a better choice. Most (not all, but most) gringos that I've encountered in the regions you list would probably understand the note in Spanish.
Perhaps you should try naming the cache in Spanish, too, as I did with this one!
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I love macabre spots - and if I find a good one, enhance it with the support of the likes of those such as Edgar Allen Poe, like with this cache The Raven.
That being said, I love caches in creepy places, although I must confess some caches in "creepy spots" didn't even strike me as unusual, since I was too busy focused on finding the cache. I suppose "spooky" is subjective.
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You don't want to show the tracking number in photos.
Too late! I've already "discovered" them!
Edit : Not a slam on you, Deuce.... it just isn't my technique to log hitchikers unless I move them, so I was being facetious...
or ultimately earn "amigo." 
, so who are we to judge? 
How long should you be geocaching before you hide your first cache
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I think a Haiku cache is a wonderful idea! I found one that was quite fun - Haiku Cache. Just remember that ALRs are no longer allowed, so understand that actually getting Haikus contributed will be hit and miss. For example, in the link I provided, you have to go back to 2008 to find a steady stream of Haiku logs.
Back to OP - it depends on "how long." It is difficult to quantify experience. Someone may have 500 caches found, but these finds may all be urban micros or LPCs. If this person is hiding an LPC (egads!), then probably the requisite experience is on hand.
I hid my first cache at around 50 finds. It is still in place after nearly 5 years, still a good cache, and gets good comments. At the time I was belittled by some for not having enough "experience."
On the flip side, I've seen some crappy caches placed by folks with more than 2K finds... 