Sportsterjeep

One man's trash is another mans treasure. If I have the kids along with me they want something interesting. Mctoys work wonders for a 4 y/o. He can play with them and then trade them up later. There is one cache that is specifically geared to kids in my local area. Ma & Pa Kettle's Kids Check it out, I want to take my 4 y/o up there and let him try.

funny story: The first cacher I met was at the Grove City Outlet Mall in PA. I was searching for the cache in the mall complex(don't worry, I won't add a spoiler), and a gentleman approached me and asked "are you caching?". Slightly surprised I said yes. We swapped some stories and eventually found this micro cache together. Made a new friend that day and checked out some of his caches later on. My wife(Acid_chipmunk) recently introduced her friend to caching. It took 45 minutes to explain. After going home she looked at the website. The very next day she showed up at my house wanting to borrow my wife and my GPS . Now she's hooked. Way to go hunny, (I'm so proud of her, hehe)

Well as an LEO I'm going to add a few comments. First off I love this sport, er hobby, ok addiction might be a better term. I've never had any problems, but then again I'm a part of that sacred brotherhood. I occasionally patrol by known cache sites just to see if anyone is visiting, or muggling them. Caches have the habit of being put in remote locations so as not to be found. These same remote locations are known to be used by drug users, dealers, college party addicts, and occasionally you may find people "parking". Should you worry about this, should you stop geocaching? Absolutely not. All cachers are going to have to deal with muggles, just use common sense. Now on to these nasty LEO's, like me, hehe. If you encounter any law enforcement officials explain what you're doing. Chances are they will ask you a few questions and then let you go on your way, as long as you are doing anything criminal, and your vehicle is up to the legal requirement par. Be polite and you should recieve the same treatment. If you are approached at a remote location don't be surprised if they ask if you have any illegal substance (drugs), or possibly ask to search your vehicle looking for them. I can't tell you how many times I've approached vehicles on back roads in spots that I have a suspicion of drug activity. These officers know that not everyone is a user/dealer, but questions need to be asked to find out the difference. Don't take it personal, you and the cache owner might not know that in the last month the officer talking to you made a couple drug arrests on the same back road that you are caching on. In the same perspective, If you find some signs of illegal activity(other than common liter), report it. In Pennsylvania DCNR permission is needed to place caches on State Forest land. Almost all of the DCNR LEO's know about this sport, and they support it because of the CITO efforts of the cachers. To wrap this up, as long as you are not doing anything illegal while you are caching, you should be fine.

Wow, some of these discussions get pretty heated. I'm going to stay on topic, but out of the arguments. First off I'm an LEO in Pennsylvania (PA). In PA you have the right to carry a concealed handgun, however you need a permit to do it. We have two types. Sportsmen and Protection. Sportsmen permits are used for hunting, fishing, trapping, and dog training. Notice geocaching is not listed. Under this type of permit you MAY NOT carry concealed. The weapon has to be in plain sight. You also MAY NOT carry it loaded in vehicle, as this is considered concealed. Also you can only carry it when engaged in one of the sports listed above and with a valid license for that activity (ie. hunting lisence). You get these from the treasurer at the county court house. Now on to the pretection permit. With this you can carry concealed on your body, fully loaded, and in your vehicle. Without this permit when you have a gun in your vehicle it MUST BE secured(locked), unloaded, with the ammo seperate, in the least accessable portion of your vehicle(trunk). The weapon should be concealed, common sense. In Philladelphia it MUST BE concealled and you MUST HAVE a permit. You MAY NOT carry into any government buildings, doing this will get you a free ride in a police car. Most of these buildings are marked and do not allow any type of weapon, and most have security and scanning personnel at the entrance. To obtain one of these permits go to any county sheriff's office. They run your info through the state system, which is linked to the federal system and check to see if you are a criminal, insane, have a protection from abuse order on you, and just make sure you are legally allowed to carry. You will be ran through this system everytime you renew it and every time you purchase a firearm. If after you have a firearm or permit you do something that excludes you from carrying or owning a gun your weapons and permit will be seized. And yes, I have taken permits and firearms many, many times. If, as a civilian, you choose to carry you should become informed. Take any classes you can get, ie. NRA civilian classes. Sometimes there is a fee but take the classes. As far as when you should use it, talk to an attorney, because they will be the ones you're going to need if you ever do have to use it on someone. Once again I'm always open for questions, just email me. If I can't answer your question, I'll direct you to someone who can

I noticed a couple did not find logs on a local cache and contacted the cacher who was trying to find it, I knew they were in the wrong area from their posts because I know the cache area. Something I realized is that many cachers rely heavily on the computer and GPS alone as their navigation source. What happens when you're out and the batteries run dead, or worse you have an expensive accident and break that precious GPS. This is'nt bad if you're in the middle of a town or suburbs. However once you run out of local caches that you can roll down the window and grab most of us will head to the wilds. Maps are extremely important, as is a compass and the knowledge to use them together. Don't know how, Find a local boy scout troop and go ask them. First hand experience is better than anything online or out of a book. In PA we have DCNR state forest maps that cover almost all of the wild areas you will cache in. These maps are topographic, show towns, roads, water, railroads, woods roads, driveable trails(if you see this in PA ya better be on foot or in a 4x4), snowmobile trails and many more. Best part is, just stop into any local DCNR office and you will get them for FREE!!!!! I have a complete set in each of my jeeps, along with a few extra sets at the house. Something else I adhere to is survivalism. No matter what happens, natural, man made, or murphy's , I will survive. My jeeps are equiped for it and all I have to do is judge the terrain and grab what I need. The list is to long to mention but I will hit a few highlights. Water, knife or multitool, firestarter, MRE's, Powerbar, maps, compass, GPSr(duh), first aid supplies, Kid supplies for 4 y/o and 4 month old, camping gear, gun. I'm a cop, and besides that I'm more worried about 4 legged villains than 2 legged villains. I've seen people attacked by vicious dogs in my own town and there are worse things than that in the woods. Also works well for signalling if I get hurt and having trouble getting out on my own, 3 shots, 3 whistle blasts, if you hear this pay attention to it, someday you might be blowing the whistle. Well I'm done rambling, feel free to contact me if you have any questions that you are to embarassed to ask. Remember, there are no dumb questions, especially when it comes to personal safety.