tealeaf
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Posts posted by tealeaf
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Most of my hides are urban, easy to get to and have generous hints so i'm getting a fair amount of traffic, especially from newbies. I've disabled 2. One because it's in a touristy area and the sidewalk to it would be impossible to allow 6ft of distance between a cacher and any muggle using the sidewalk. The other is in a little free library (which is closed) but security cameras still show lots of folks checking for books.
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Six. One premium account that we share, a basic account that my husband created but has never used and don't know how to get rid of, an account I inherited when my first partner died, an account I was was gifted to keep some old virtuals alive, an account my previous partner created to hold statewide challenge caches and one I created to let newbies use but is now inactive as newbies now all come with phones and know more than I do. I'm also a co-CO on an account that places and holds events for our city/county open spaces.
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Awarding points to placers was a game changer for us. Having long ago found most of the highly favorited in our area that we can do, we thought we might pick up a couple of the souvenirs. We were stunned to receive enough favorites on our hides to get the final souvenir, including 8 on a cache we released during our cache celebration event.
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I've adopted 23 to keep and maintain and have adopted entire inventory from a few cachers who were leaving the game or the area and then adopted them out again to other owners who wanted them. I took all the caches from the guy who placed NM's oldest and somebody else wanted the physical ones. Couldn't transfer the virtuals so the CO gave me his account so we could keep them going. I've turned down a few requests for some I didn't want to own and suggested cachers who might want them.
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We've found 34 virtuals and 19 earthcaches and have never gotten a response. So it didn't occur to me that one might be expected when we launched our 4 earthcaches. We know and see most of our finders often but will think about it for those I don't know. I cache-sit for 2 ancient virtuals and have replied to a few of those who've written memorable logs but those are rare.
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I was surprised to see Moun10Bike 's post about the average premium member only getting 72 a year. I thought we were slackers by getting in the 200's most of the time. We may break 300 this year and I'm a bit nudged by the souvenirs. Souvenirs have caught on here in New Mexico but they seem to be prized more by the high number cachers. Whatever works.
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- In your mind, what is a high quality geocache?
- Physically, it is a sturdy, appropriate container with good coords. For the experience, it is a creative container and/or a compelling reason to be here (spectacular view, interesting art or something worth learning) or at least a good reason for coming other than just a smiley number.
- In your mind, what is a low quality geocache?
- A crappy container, low or no maintenance, a location that's inappropriate or unpleasant or that has no meaning at all. Power trail caches are usually low quality if they have minimal containers and offer the same one experience X number of times.
- What steps can the community take to improve geocache quality?
- Creativity can't be forced and lots of otherwise good people do crappy caches. We can all be more vigilant with NMs and DNFs. A descriptive DNF may help a reviewer ( ie the tree in the description is not here now as opposed to I can't find it, I'm sure it's gone) decide to contact the CO. Favorite points were an incentive to us to create better hides and we have. We rarely do premium hides as we get a lot of newbies and like to encourage them but then we are penalized because they can't give favorite points (why not eliminate the percentage rating of favs to finds?) Quality ratings might work better than favorites.
- What steps can Geocaching HQ take to improve geocache quality?
- Stop favoring/courting the app cachers who place thoughtless caches after a few finds and then disappear.
- When you make decisions based on an algorithm, why not share what it reflects? If people create to follow the known factors and the standards are high, how does keeping it a secret improve anything?
- We are already recently seeing more reviewers questioning caches of substandard maintenance and see this as a good direction. Occasionally overzealous on difficult hides that maybe should get a bit more slack.
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We do the Froggies event in metro Albuquerque every February to acknowledge local creativity. My personal favorite categories are best cache by a new cacher, best first cache by a not-so-new cacher and the most aggravating cache. We used to do best log but many of them are long and unwieldy on a ballot. We collect frogs all year long and the winners pick one and often use them for hides. One of the best is The Fairy Killer by Sandpig | GC46TBV ,
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I use one all the time but hadn't thought about putting the Garmin on it. I have a pen, a tiny flashlight, a nano roller and a safety pin to extract nano logs. At event where I don't know everyone, I clip on a name tag.
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Thanks for your time.
jim mcnamara (Tealeaf)
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Congratulations. I love happy endings that spill over into caching.
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GC3050Z You do not need to solve the puzzle if you find a cache in each county.
The original 2007 NM challenge is still doable but as each cache was a stand alone and there was never a final cache, it may not be what you are looking for. The point then was just get people to expand their trip through the state and in 2007, there were 8 counties with no caches. If you are doing the original 33 and find one archived, it's fine to log a nearby cache and note on the archived page which cache you used. It only matters if you live in NM and want a personal, custom cache created for you. That's limited to New Mexicans because after you find your custom cache, it becomes yours and maintenance by out of staters would be a problem. This is also covered on the profile page of NMGeocaching.
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All of these viewpoints reinforce what most of us have known for a long time; that caching is whatever you want it to be. I'm definitely at the other end of your spectrum and am now collaborative on all but the the easiest hides. At the beginning, I was willing to spend hours in a dump searching or hours online researching puzzle material. I cached for a few months with an FTF hound and I admit it was addictive but rarely try now. What used to seem like a challenge became like a job. I appreciate a well-done cache just as much if I find it in 5 minutes as I would if I had earned it a harder way. I call people a lot and I share everything I know. I've added spoiler hints to most of my own hides and most read them. My habits are well enough known that some offer me extra hints before I ask. They know they will get an entertaining and appreciative log. I cache for the friendships, the places I discover or learn more about and for the creativity in many hides. The hunt/search is no longer any more than means to those ends and the quicker and easier, the better.
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nmgeocaching.com no longer exists. I let the domain name expire due to lack of local interest. We do have a facebook group which does draw cachers planning to visit New Mexico and some newbies and curious muggles.
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Congratulations! Very nice touch bringing in the parents and the photographer.
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I have 2 public bookmark lists that I built to help visitors to our area. One lists caches that are near places that sightseers go (often with non-caching family). The other is about well-done caches that are easy to get to, usually in places you'd never go unless there was a cache. Would prefer not to be rated; if you don't like my choices, don't hunt for them.
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had that Happen on Monday. I'd logged but forgot to add the fav. Tried to add it and couldn't. Deleted the log and was able to add it when i relogged (while still on the page).
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Current round of NM movers and shakers.
cyclegreen 30,000
Wolf11469 13,000
bratbasset 7,000
Kingbee 4,000
Tocha 3,000
Waldoe 3,000
SerpenteriaDJ 1,000
Griswolds20005 1,000
At the beginning of the journey, these teams have reached 200
cumminsfamily
MisterAaron
Jess3T
theo3T
Lil Rainier1
Congrats to all these teams
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Our latest milestones
thoehn 25,000
wolf11469 12,000
Docgeo* 6,000
NM Balloon Crew 5,000
katnjoe 2,000
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200+
iGeoSTM
tiksquad
Pappy777
Congrats to all these active cachers.
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nmgeocaching.com is having problems and it may be a while before we can get it rebuilt. Since its few visitors can all come here, a New Mexico Thread seemed a logical place to keep up with the majority of what I post there. I acknowledge the milestones of New Mexican cachers starting with the 200th find and then in 1,000 find increments. I also keep up with state events and post occasional things of local interest.
Our December achievers are
200
Hypatia Penny
Garcia 2
del jensen
brock029
pnklopeznm@gmail.com
KarateNeko 2
Roadrunner505
Zuni jr
5000
Necki
6000
lindabug
sexyboo
7000
GPS Men
ABQ34
Frog Dog annd Corker
9000
fam2go
10,000
cougarox
Congrats to all these cachers on the move.
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Thank you too. Good to have back up options
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Another one of the 200 using it mostly for events. How do I find the state code for NM?
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I had some kind of ritual sacrifice done next to one of my caches. A cacher got to GZ and didn't even hunt after she spotted two birds with their severed heads surrounded by candles. She didn't log anything but sent me an email which I forwarded to the Open Space guy we work with. His response was that it was a first for the farm; but this goes on a lot in the foothills. Open Space takes pics and files police reports. The site is on the edge of an old farm that is now used to grow grain for birds and attracts a lot of birders and walkers.
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CoronaVirus and Geocaching
in West and Southwest
Posted
IgnotisPeverell starting publishing on May 1. She has a bit of a backlog but they are coming out.