KnifeMaker

I didn't intend to open a can of worms here, it was just a suggestion that I thought might be worth condsidering to make the event available to more people. Yes, I have been centrally located to the past events but I do care that a lot of people who might have wanted to attend could not because a cross country trip may have been too expensive or too time consuming. There is no location that is going to be convenient for everybody and that's what prompted my original post. I also like to attend car shows and one of the biggest, the Street Rod Nationals has done exactly the same thing. They have the Street Rod Nationals East here in Louisville every year and attract 10,000 cars from this side of the country and then have the Street Rod Nationals West on the west coast.

I sugggested GeoWoodstock simply because they have held successful large scale events for 4 years now and I am sure they have learned a few things along the way. My thinking was that under thier guidance or at least following their format is better than re-inventing the wheel. I am not familiar with the Midwest Geobash. Either way, I think replicating a successful well-known event would have better results than a new one.

Since GeoWoodstock has become the premier Geocaching event in the U.S. I have read several posts from people who wish it was closer to them so they could attend without extensive travel or expense. This is especially true for those on the west coast as most of the GeoWoodstock events so far have been in the eastern part of the U.S. As the popularity of the events grows maybe it should be a consideration to have two events, GeoWoodstock East and GeoWoodstock West. Many other annual events have adopted this idea as their popularity grew in order to make it available to more people across the country.

That's great. I didn't see that when I was looking for support articles. However, I think it would help if we could somehow compile those that specifically relate to local government support of Geocaching. A few enlightened areas have embraced Geocaching as a great promotional tool for the area. More often than not though, it seems the almost automatic initial reaction from parks departments and city governments is negative.

I recently made a pitch to our towns Mayor and our local Parks Department about the positive aspects of Geocaching. This came as the result of the Parks Department removing one my caches for the 3rd time while doing their annual landscaping of the area. I asked the Parks Department to please leave anything clearly labeled as a Geocache and it explained how it attracts visitors to parks and landmarks in the area which is something our Mayor has spoken of often. I recall reading at least a couple of articles about towns that had embraced and even promoted Geocaching as a way to attract visitors and promote their area attractions. However when I went searching for the articles, I could not find them. I would like to propose that this forum create a "Pinned" repository for such articles or links to articles and sites that promote the positive aspects of Geocaching. I feel this would serve everybody as a ready reference library for those needing "ammunition" to support their case when trying to convince local officials that Geocaching is really a good thing for the community. I know that I have read a few stories about local governments that have used Geocaching to promote their parks and attracts tourists. I remember reading about one that went so far as to place their own caches in parks with coupons and prizes. Lets start collecting these "good" articles and make them available to all. It seems like the few "bad" stories always get all of the press attention. It's time to turn that around.

My first hide was an offset cache that requires a little local history lesson to gather the clues to the final coordinates. The response has been good and several cachers have commented that they appreciated the history lesson and really like this type of cache. I plan to do more of this type but one problem that I have encountered is if any segment of a multi-step cache takes you within 528 feet of any other cache, our regional approver will not approve the cache. This really makes it difficult to add any new caches in many historic areas.

I have used mine for a few months now and I really like it, especially the dedicated Geocaching functions. I have found it to be very accurate and as mentioned before it has exceptional battery life. I have over 400 local caches loaded into the GPSR and I use a Palm IIIc to do my paperless caching. One of the best features of the 60cs is the map view showing cache icons. I can put the GPSR on my dashboard and just drive around and see any caches that are nearby.

I've had a GPSr for several years that I used for trips and in my work but I had never heard of geocaching until last October. That's when my wife and I traveled to the Smokey Mountains and rode our motorcycle across the infamous Deals Gap, better Know as the "Dragons Tail". See http://www.tailofthedragon.com After we returned, I was looking at the Dragons Tail web site and read that there are two geocaches along the route. Have never heard of a geocache before, I followed their link to geocaching.com and was hooked immediately.

The final cache IS more than 528 feet away from the other cache. The starting point of the offset cache was 241 feet away. The cache was designed to be dedicated to one of the Great Mayors of Louisville so I started the hunt at his statue and moved on from there, requiring the cache hunter to gather clues along the way to final destination. I'm not going to get into all of the details of my communications with the reviewer. This is not about bashing him (or her). My point was simply that, in an area with a lot of geocachers, a local resident might be more familiar with the area and have a better understanding of the whole picture and that would expedite the process. I think this is a great sport and that's why I immediately jumped in but my first experience in placing a cache has not been a very welcoming one.

I'm a newby but it seems like some of these are just too hard. I mean, who is going to find a hollowed-out log in the woods or a hollowed-out pine cone in a tree? The fun is in finding them and it should be a challenge but I think I would quickly become frustrated with the game if most caches were like some of these. There are some pretty neat ideas here though.

I have been into geocaching less than a month so I'm pretty green but I was hooked as soon as I heard about it. After my first hunt I signed up for the premium membership and bought myself a new, top-of-the-line GPS. After another week or so I was really into it and couldn't wait to hide my first cache. I put a lot of thought and effort into what I thought was a very interesting and educational multi-stage cache that includes over 40 interesting items for the takning. I bought a travel bug and came up with a novel travel bug idea, which I placed in the cache. Then came the review...... After a week, my "local" reviewer finally responded, denying approval. Since then we have been in a very frustrating game of email tag, going back and forth over things like railroad tracks that are no longer there, following my cache route takes you too close to another cache, etc. To say the least, my "local" reviewer has been far less than helpful, answering very detailed questions with one-sentence, or even one-word responses that do not anwer the questions. And, my "local" reviewer isn't even in my state! Why are caches in Louisville, Kentucky being reviewed by someone in Tennessee who is not all familiar with the area? I have found that geocaching is very big in this area. There are hundreds of caches within a few mile of my home. Surely there must be qualifed reviewers around here who are really "local". So, what does it take to become a reviewer? I have read several posts about long waits for approval due to backlogs. The simple solution seems to be more reviewers. As much as people are into it around here I find it hard to beleive that some of them aren't willing to spend the time reviewing caches. I'm sorry to be so long-winded. I thought caching was going to be great fun but his first experience in trying to start a cache has really just about put me off of the whole thing.

OK, I guess I'm a lurker. I'm pretty new to geocaching and I have been checking out the forums to learn a little bit more about the the sport, game, whatever it is. Anyway, I am enjoying it. I went out bought a new GPS after my first weekend of cache hunting. Actually, I stumbled in this quite by accident. I was looking at a web site about the "Tail of the Dragon" where I recently went on a motorcycle ride and noticed a reference to two geocaches being along the route. Having never heard of a geocache before, I followed their link to geoaching.com and was hooked immediately. Now if I can only get my first hide reviewed and approved (It's been 5 days now and no response at all). Knifemaker