J.A.R.S.

Personally geocaching in SL was the best thing about Second Life for me. I got bored with just flying around. Looking for caches gave me something to do. I eventually gave up on SL because it kept freezing up my computer. Also, I thought I heard that there was a problem with SLgeocaching - the boxes kept being returned by the owners of the land.

That solution would only be preferable if all potential cache seekers enjoyed mulits as much as they enjoy regular caches.So, what's the difference between 12 individual caches and a single 12 stage multi?I thought I made myself clear. Some people don't care for multis. I agree, there are many people who avoid them for many varied and good reasons. See the "Why are multis less popular?" thread.

Same here: I use this for letterbox hybrids and stickers for regular caches.

I use the linoleum cutter for the most part and the hobby knife to carve out the tight spots. I like your stamp. Glad to see that you've hand-carved the stamp, personalized stamps make for a one-of-a-kind find. It's especially difficult to carve letters and you did a very good job of it.

Here's our sig stamp:

Have a look at this list of links to sites with images of letterbox stamps: http://www.angelfire.com/planet/lone-r/links.htm#photos

You might want to look up the cache page and post a note about the potential for damage to the wall and flower beds.

How does someone know you've found 100 in order to give you the guide? From the Dartmoor Letterboxing website http://www.dartmoorletterboxing.org/contact.htm : Apparently there are some popular Tors where you'll find lots of letterboxes hidden within a few feet of each other.

I've not done a lot of letterboxing, but my impression is that the examples given are not the ideal hide your average letterboxer would think of. Clues should lead a letterboxer directly to a letterbox, as long as they read them right... JARS point isn't that letterboxing causes more damage than geocaching, but that the potential for damage by hunting a letterbox has been highly understated in this thread. Right. There are good hides, there are bad hides in either game. In my experience I have not noticed considerable damage to the environment by either geocaching or letterboxing. From what I've read on the boards most of the banning has been done because of perceptions not reality. Latest 2 examples being Discovery Park in Seattle and the Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Strange, one day after the cache was published, the very first person to log said it already looked like a hand grenade had gone off. Have you been by the location to confirm the condition? If it's true and you really feel that geocachers did the damage as a result of searching for your cache perhaps the cache needs to be archived. What kind of damage? Could the damage have been done by wild animals rooting around for food or was it definitely human-induced damage?

Oh, by the way, I'm an avid letterboxer (since 2002) and love the past time just as much as I like geocaching. I just want to set the record straight about the history of letterboxing -- the North American version didn't start until 1998 (geocaching started in 2000). I also want to set the record straight on the perception that all letterboxing clues lead directly to a letterbox.

A little bit about the history of letterboxing: It began in Dartmoor, England in 1854 - a business card hidden in a glass bottle. It took 40 years for a 2nd letterbox to be planted. Another 44 years before a third letterbox was planted. From 1854 to 1976 (122 years) the number of letterboxes hidden in the moors of Dartmoor increased from 1 to 15. Letterboxing didn't really take off until 1976 when Tom Gant created a guide map pinpointing the fifteen letterboxes in existence. After the publication of the guide the hidden letterboxes grew into the 1000s by the 1980s. The guide is available to letterboxers who have found 100 letterboxes. You basically poke around until you find your first 100. Letterboxing didn't come to North America until 1998 when the Smithsonian magazine published an article about the British past time. So, technically letterboxing started over 100 years ago but didn't really take off in England until 1976 and didn't start in North America until 1998. And in England anyway, you have to poke around for your first 100 (no direct access so that one doesn't disrupt the natural environment). There are no public logs on the letterboxing databases. This gives the appearance that letterboxing does not damage the environment and that all letterboxers conscientiously place and maintain their letterboxes. When there is damage done as a result of a letterbox hide, no one knows about it except those who visit the letterbox. There's no "should be archived" option on the letterboxing databases. If a letterbox hider has abandoned the box and that box goes missing, finders could spend quite a bit of time searching for something that's not there - going over and over the area looking for a non-existent letterbox in a stump. If someone inadvertently plants in a sensitive area there's no way to warn others - the only recourse is to email the owner who hopefully is still active and will move or retire the box and change the status online. Sometimes the clues are so mysterious that they do not lead a letterboxer directly to the box: (from the Atlas Quest boards) and these comments from letterboxers:

The geocaching video that aired on PBS is available online at http://www.veoh.com/videos/v35459888CJZK2EA It was filmed in Texas at a Geowoodstock event. There's a Canadian connection - Binrat and Zartimus appear in the video.

To find examples of letterbox hybrids go to advanced search options (from the Hide & Seek A Cache page). Choose 'Letterbox Hybrid' from the 'All Geocaches' drop menu and then type in your postal code. If that doesn't get you many hits try by State/County. You'll find a variety of hiding methods for letterboxes (multi, off-set, traditional, puzzle) The letterbox must have a stamp in the box, whether you want to include trinkets is up to you. I personally ask that the box remain trinket-free because I worry that someone may trade-out the stamp thinking it is one of the trinkets. If you want to carve your own stamp out of an eraser, have a look at this tutorial. It's full of step-by-step photos. This tutorial is also really nice: http://sunnisan.com/jacqui/tute-carving.html Most letterboxers appreciate finding a hand-carved stamp in the box. It's so exciting to collect pieces of personal art.

Pros to archiving a cache after a few years: it opens up the location for another hider if it's a nice spot it would be great to have an excuse to re-visit the location it's another find for locals so they get there caching fix without having to drive long distances -- some people are unable to travel great distances I considered archiving a 5 year old cache of mine and asked, on our local forum, what people thought. It's a scenic location and a maintained cache and was one of the first hidden caches in our city. Only one person said I should archive it, the rest were very vocal about keeping it, and one said it was their first find and they occasionally revisit the cache for nostalgia's sake. So that persuaded me to leave it. Now though, whenever one of our caches goes missing we're more likely to archive it rather than replace it. Mostly because our area is somewhat saturated with caches and it opens up a spot for those itching to hide.

Has anyone been reading "Seattle City Parks Dept. Policy on caches in Discovery Park"? Lightning Jeff sent a Public Records Act request asking about damage attributed to caches, policies under consideration, etc. It was eye-opening. The City was not able to produce any documentation of any kind related to the allegations of damage. LF posted the pdf file of the City of Seattle documents.

You're welcome. Thanks for posting it there, it makes an excellent addition.

Did you get the coordinates? If so, you could post it on Waymarking.com. There's a Wee Folk Fairy Doors category and this one fits in perfectly. Check out the page, you'll be surprised that your mystical find isn't the only one out there. Gray's Lake is very similar to Mr. Little Guy in Minneapolis - he actually writes back to children that leave questions.

Here's mine. To transfer the image to the eraser I print out the image, cut it out, turn it face down on the eraser and dab a little acetone on the paper to transfer the image to the eraser. Then I start carving with a speedball linoleum cutter and leave the lines that will create the image when inked. I use the exacto knife to take out the small areas. Some people only use an exacto knife to carve. Linocutter tutorial: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/f...berCarving.html (lots of great photos to demonstrate the process) Razor knife tutorial: http://www.nettally.com/palmk/CarvingYourRubberStamp.html

Actually letterboxing started off with someone hiding a jar in the moors and leaving his calling card. Then he told his friends how to locate it and as proof of their visit they left their calling card. Letterboxing, originally, was probably more like finding a micro box - no trades just leave a something to prove you were there (then:calling card/now:sign the log). Here's a quick chronological history of letterboxing: England 1854 James Perrot left a calling card in a glass bottle at Cranmere Pool, Dartmoor and invited friends to find it. 1888 A small tin box replaced the original bottle. Visitors left self-addressed postcards. The next person to visit the letterbox (except if it was a same-day visitor) would retrieve the postcards and mail them back from their hometown. And so the activity gets named "Letterboxing". 1976 Tom Gant created a guide map pinpointing the fifteen letterboxes in existence, at which point letterboxing began to boom in a big way. 1980s Commercial rubber stamps and a notebook are used instead of calling cards or postcards. Clues are published in a clue catalogue or by WOM. North America 1998 Smithsonian publishes an article called "They Live and Breathe Letterboxing" 1998 Letterboxing starts in North America. The difference - clues are published online (not via a paper clue catalogue) and hand-carved stamps are used.

Handcrafted geocache-related stuff made by geocachers. I've found a bead bracelet where the bead letters spelled out geocaching, laminated geocaching 'official' permit tag, geocache bookmark with a geocache related saying on it e.g. "Using billion dollar hardware to find tupperware in the woods", a large personalized geocaching button magnet. I like them because they are one-of-a-kind and personal.

THe OP is not complaining about the presence of puzzles. She is merely suggesting that puzzle owners be willing to confirm coordinates and, perhaps, be willing to return an email. I'm glad you said that. The OP has at least twice tried point this out. I agree that confirmation is a considerate thing to do and as IBcrashen pointed out "The main reason is so people don`t wander into some place they are not suppose to be. It helps solve another "black eye" to be avoided by geocachers."

Here are the guidelines for mystery of puzzle caches: Note that the coordinates can take the player to a parking lot. Why treat letterboxes differently? In February the guidelines were changed to make it clearer: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=2727360 But apparently the guidelines are still as clear as mud.

I like the variety - traditionals being my favourite because I can easily use the PDA/pocket query method of finding them. My least favourite being caches that are hidden without much care or thought. But I like variety and I especially like creativity in all forms. One of our all time favourite caches was a micro cache by Barnies Band of Gold. We found it back on Aug 7 2002. The cache was 'I Spy' and if we found it today I think we would still think it was a great cache and an excellent example of what micros should strive to be. The only difference is we'd find it in a couple of seconds now because everyone has since copied the hiding method. It took us about 5 minutes to locate and it was sooooo spy-like for us. The location was historical and had a definite Austin Powers cool factor. It was also located next to the lake, so there was a nice view to top things off.

You could try virtual letterboxes on Atlas Quest. Most of the virtuals are quiz-like - search the internet for answers to questions in order to create a passkey. I just created one that requires people to search a photo looking for hidden boxes: http://www.atlasquest.com/lboxes/showboxin...ml?gBoxId=57226 R of JARS (Lone R)