softballmom19

The gas prices aren't stopping me from caching but I'm being a little more picky about where I go. I plan my routes so I drive to an area and do as many caches in that area without having to drive after arriving at location. If it means walking more so be it. I enjoy caching to much to give it up completly. I also take the gps with me when I go on vacation so I'll be looking for caches when we do that. I also do caches when I have to travel with my daughter to her softball games. While she is getting ready for the tournament I'll be looking for caches.

I have been caching for a little over a year. I had two run ins with police and one with a angry fisherman. The first run in with the police was because the cache was located near an abandoned building. The neighbor near by noticed more people around and called police about the activity. When I was approached by the police I told them what I was doing. They asked me to check with the cache owner to make sure they had the right to have the cache there. I did that and this owner was good enough to make sure all was ok. The owner even made sure the local police were now aware that that cache was there. The second run in with police was a cache placed on the porch of the police station. Walking back and forth trying to get a reading on the gps had a officer coming out and asking me what I was doing. I explained and then he pointed me in the right direction. The fisherman I had woken up when I came crashing through the underbrush looking for a cache. I never saw a person jump and grab a fishing pole is a defensive move as this guy did. I didn't find that cache until a later date since he pretty much chewed me up and spit me out. Didn't what to even deal with that angry bear.

I have had two hides in my area that are listed as being in plain sight. Both gave me a hard time. One was a nano that was attached to an old fashioned styled lamppost. This nano blended right in that is looked like part of the lamppost. The other was a magnetic box that was attached to a metal sculpture that it looked like it again belonged. I loved both of these since they were creative in the way they were hidden. The worst hides that I found are the ones that someone hides a cache without thinking about the weather,the container in the elements,the location and just throws a cache out there for the sake of being a cache owner. Most times these caches are a mess after a few months of being out there. Maintence issues galore.

You are willing to go out in any type of weather to find a new published cache just because its there and maybe get a FTF along the way.

I

I geocahce by myself quite often and I'm quite ok with being by myself in the woods. I have gotten hurt in the woods and took a nasty spill. I had to walk out since I was in an area where cell phone service was spotty at best. I always leave a message with my husband and also a note at home to where I went and when I'd plan to be back. I carry a cell phone and peper spray plus a pack with some first aid suupplies,water and what not. I have no dog phobia since I sometimes hike with the pooch. I've been an outdoor in the woods person since I was little so that why I'm comfortable I guess with it. Plus my family enjoyed the woods and liked outdoor activities such as camping,fishing and things such as that.

I have the Explorer GC and I love it. Having premuim membership will give you information on hints,attributes,logs and other information when you download caches into the gps so it makes it paperless which is a great. I have been using this gps since Christmas and I have fouetnd it to be pretty acturate. I have had it bounce around some under heavy cover but when I walk in circles I end up having it settle on a direction. It does seem to chew up batteries but then I'm using it six to seven hours a day. It seems to last for about 18 hours or so depending on the battery type. Using the better batteries does make a difference.

How many of you check the cache owners profile before going out to find a new hide in your area? Yes I realize there are cachers that have hidden many and now are hiding more and you recongize the name so you wouldn't check. On a name you aren't sure of would you check to see just how many they have found to see if they are a seasoned cacher? I didn't do this and went for a new hide in my area only to find out it was hidden by a cacher that has only one find to date. The hide itself wasn't that bad but the container is going to have problems in the elements. I want to say something to the owner of this cache but I don't want to put them off with hiding caches sine they did pick a great spot just a bad container. From the cache owners profile I didn't get the impression that it was a group that hid this cache.

Just wondering if there is a guideline as to how accessible as cache is to be for the cacher. If its placed in a spot that is out of reach for most people should there be something stated as such on the cache page? I came across two caches that with some climbing into a tree and another where I had to search around for something to stand on to reach the cache. All of these caches were marked as 1.5 or 2 as terrian which fit as for a the walk to the cache. The one cache that was placed out of reach in a tree was marked as being kid friendly. Ok may the kid would have better luck climbing the tree then I did.

I had that gps as my first gps and I found out it needed two cables to hook up to the geocaching website. I ended up having to learn how to manually enter the coordinates for each and every cache into the gps by hand. It takes time,effort and patience to do this. With time I got very good at doing this. I still have this unit but its has some major wear and tear issues so I now use it as a backup. I now have a Magellen Explorer GC that comes with a cable to download directly from the website. This gps isn't a top of the line gps but it has quite a bit of nice features and I have found it easy to use.

I have almost 300 finds and yes I have hunted quite a few differnet types of hides. Am I ready to hide my first cache? Nope. I feel that I still need more experience since I have gone after what are classed as easy finds to have to go back and look again since I didn't find it the first time. I have had ones classed as much harder and found without much trouble. With this I'm not sure if I would hide a good cache or not. If I hide a cache I want it to be one that people going for it are going to enjoy. Guess I'm being picky but I don't want to have a cache be something of a lemon. I have places in mind for my first but I'll checking these places out during all weather conditions so I have the best of coordinates and also to see if my cache place is a good one at all times.

I will pick up what I can but there are certain things I'm just not going to pick up. Used condoms is one thing. I also will not pick up broken glass unless I have gloves on which I do most times but not always. I also will not pick up rotten or spoiled food thats just nasty. Plastic,paper and things of that sort no problem. I always carry hand cleaner with me.

I wasn't even paying attention when I found my first 100 caches. I'm now at almost 300 and that was done in just over a year. My goal was to get 300 in a year and I almost did that missed by about 8 caches. I just go out when I can and do what I can. I'm not that picky but I do try to pick places that don't have a big muggle factor since I don't seem to be good at being sneaky or I look to sneaky that I tend to get someone asking me what I'm doing.

Snow caching is a whole different game then normal caching. First you have to find the right area then find the cache that could be buried under the snow just where is it now. I've dug for some and found nothing only to find later after the snow melted that I was several feet off. The snow can sometimes make it easy to find a cache if another cacher goes to find it before you leaving a trail. I had this happen. One place the cacher before me was either a vetarn that didn't want to give the cache location away or it was a newbie looking in all the wrong spots since the area was so tracked up and many places distrubed. My gps lead me almost right to it and I found in the first place I looked.

I emailed the owner and he changed the attributes on the cache page plus stated on the page that the cache isn't in the building. He was very nice about all of it and even gave me the excat location of the find. Which wasn't in the building to start with. Plus he is going to contact the owner of the building to let them know as well. He does have permission to have the cache where it is he stated in his email to me. Thanks all for the advice.

Trying to figure out the gps and when I thought I did still having it wrong. Having to enter all information by hand. Took over a hour some days to load. Finding out that tree cover plays games with gps and cloudy days sometimes made things tough. At times thinking I've got to be near this one now just where is it. Looking in places that say there is it to come up empty. Then looking in a spot already looked to find it. Having started with such a basic gps that I wonder how I found the number of caches that I did.

I went to find a cache that is listed as being in an abadnon building. There are no signs on building such as no trespassing or keep out. I started to look in the windows to see if I noticed the cache. As I was doing this a police car pulls in behind my car. He asked what I was doing and I explained. He stated that I shouldn't enter the building and that I need the owners permission to do so. I wonder now if this cache should be reevaluted and what I should do about this incident. I wouldn't want anyone else to get into trouble while doing this cache. What's your thoughts?

Out of stupid curiosity I looked to see just how many of the gallery pictures of TBs I could read the tracking numbers. It was stunning to see so many. I found several just looking through the pictures. Guess people don't think before posting a picture. Interesting in every way. For some I can see them now looking through the pictures and logging finds of them just by the tracking numbers.

I discovered in my possession a geocoin that I thought I had placed into a cache only to now realize that all I placed into the cache was the plastic sleeve and the coin must have fallen out. "What would be the best thing to do now with this coin? I have contacted the owner to let them know what happened. They have not gotten back to me as of yet.

I've have noticed a couple of caches near me that have TB listed that have not been moved in some time. These caches haven't been visited since the TB was dropped off. Can I even though I've logged these caches as found visit them to move on the TB?

I noticed that someone stated that Lock-N-lock containers are waterproof. I have found one that wasn't but I'm wondering if it was because it wasn't sealed properly or the fact that it had heavy rocks piled on top of it. I also have come across ammo cans that yes waterproof but the inside was just rank as could be. Worse then a gym locker with dirty sweat socks. The ziploc baggie is a great idea for awhile but I have come across too small of a bag for the log book and writing instrument. The baggie placed into a container that it has to be placed justed the right way. The bags just will not last with all the handling and all the rest.