Sagefox

This appears to indicate that there is something wrong with placing caches. From the perspective of the cache it doesn't care who placed it. Cache maintenance is perhaps the question. Costa Rica today may be similar to geocaching up through mid 2002 where ALL our first 20 finds and most of our first 100 finds were placed by vacationers. We would have been denied a lot of geocaching if it were not for those vacation caches. Also, we live in a visitor destination area and are the only active cache placers at this point in time. We WELCOME vacation caches.

Burn out on geocaching? What a strange notion.

We are going to Costa Rica for the holidays. Perhaps this has come up before but... what is the consensus on placing a vacation cache in a cache needy country? There are 11 caches in CR and during our 9 days we will cross paths with only one to three of them. CR seems to be almost the size of South Carolina so there appears to be plenty of room for a few more caches. Not likely that we will be stepping on local geocacher's toes. If this topic generates some positive responses I will petition gc.com for a waiver on the vacation rule for this specific trip. If it is possible that I can get approval for a couple of cache placements should they be regular (not maintainable), micro (less likely to be muggled) or virtual? It would not be the "end of the world" if a local happend to find a cache container. My guess is that in Costa Rica it would more likely be considered recycleable as a storage bin than in the US where we worry it will appear to be litter.

There is another current thread on this subject. Jeremy Irish's posted comment on that thread is a basic as you can get: "Travel bugs are meant to travel." Without any feelings of guilt you can pick up a travel bug from any cache and place it in any cache you want to. Many times people expect you to leave something in return but for a travel bug that is optional in my opinion. A travel bug is not something you can keep so you don't need to leave something that someone else can keep. Travel bug hotels usually request that you leave a bug if you take one but that is definitely your option to do so or not. That said, it is always a good gesture to advance the bug toward its goal or place it in a safe high traffic cache so someone else can. It is not good etiquette to take a travel bug to a remote cache that gets only a few visitors. It is a good gesture to leave something in a cache if you take a bug. Many of us add laminated instruction tags to tb's so future finders will be clear about the bug's goal. It is most important to leave a bug in a cache you consider safe from a non-cacher accidental find. I have rejected many containers as a place for tb’s because they appeared too vulnerable. I don’t ever want to be the last one to handle a tb.

I agree. I'm kind of like a raven - I like to grab shiny objects. I try very hard to accommodate bug goals but it doesn't always work out. We live far from high concentration cache areas and sometimes end up coming home with bugs that want to be somewhere else. When this happens I email the bug owner and offer travel options. Travel bugs are meant to be grabbed and secondarily it is nice when the grabber accommodates the goal in some way or at least doesn’t move it too far in the opposite direction. Some of our tb’s with instruction tags attached have been moved far off course and it is frustrating when that happens but it is part of the game. My own life has not always gone in the direction I intended.

Per each foot of length. And, of course, we know they were not referring to today's modern "ribbon rail" with lengths approximately 1/4 mile long. Not sure of the actual ribbon rail length - this is from memory of my railroad days some 28 years ago and from visual observations of new ribbon rail laying along side tracks prior to installation.

I like that approach. It is how I have been logging this visual reference type of benchmark. I always make sure I actually see the object that I believe is the intended reference point.

Went to the Kingdome benchmark site and I see the issue a little differently now. I believe all these finders were physically within sight of the flagpole benchmark before, and in at least two cases, during the destruction. I feel pretty neutral about retroactive find logs and it doesn't bother me if others log them. Given that thought I suppose I could log the Dome myself because I've seen it from ground, water and air several times. Don't think I will though.

Interesting timing. I'm just about to log a destroyed benchmark as a find. In this case the concrete block constructed solely for the benchmark is visible but the bronze (?) benchmark has been knocked out of the block probably by farm equipment. The block location fits the written description exactly and the rounded chip in the concrete is the size of a benchmark. No doubt that I found the location and no doubt the mark qualifies as destroyed because it cannot be used in surveying. I only have two finds to date that fit this question. The other one has the bronze benchmark lying on the ground beside the concrete. In the Kingdome example I would not log it as a find because the structure has been removed. (I have a videotape of the demolition of the Kingdome and can vouch that it was destroyed by some great pyrotechnics.)

Love it! Been wanting the total find count back on the page. The gallery is great and that a double click on the photo brings up the log is fun too. Other recent changes like the icons and maps are an added bonus.

quote:Originally posted by gilbertf:A log means you visited it. So if you visit your own cache to check it's still there, in good shape or to put a new book there or add content, it's logical to log your own visit to your own cache. In this case, as noted by others, you would log your visit as a NOTE. Any maintainence visit should be logged as a NOTE. It would normally be inappropriate to log your own cache as a FOUND. There could be mitigating circumstances such as the Eraseek example and possibly my earlier examples but even those are gray areas. If you are visiting your own cache and it is in substantially the same location as where you hid it then it should not be considered a find.

We are a caching team of two. Early on we logged a few of our own caches when Spark found them but was not involved with the hide and where she had no clues other than the cache page. These were special caches. I've placed over 70 caches and she has only been on a half dozen of those hides. We logged 3 at most in this manner. Logged one other of ours as a find where a helpful cache team replaced our lost container and hid it very differently. We had to find it just like anyone else. Later on I deleted all those finds or changed them to notes. Solved the condition by creating a "watch" account for Spark so she can watch specific caches she is interested in. Now I post her finds on that account. This way she can also log finds when I take her to cool caches that I've already logged. She actually doesn't care a hoot about logging separately and I do this for her only to humor myself. But it does keep questionable finds off our list. [This message was edited by Team Sagefox on November 03, 2003 at 11:56 AM.]

Roadcow and I each logged it as found because there is enough physical evidence at the site to establish its location. My previous photo shows the marker on top of its witness post and the broken rock is right where the description places it. I've been to this one several times in the course of my work, the last time being 3 days ago. The local surveyors know it is damaged and may have reported it. There is a benchmark at the bottom of the hill along the highway that is used for surveying in this area. It was important for me to note to the geocaching.com site that this marker is on private property with a residence being built 50' away so it is essentially off-limits to benchmark hunters. I'll consider making a report just to see what that is like but my consulting business has been hit very hard by my geocaching diversions so I don't know if I can deal with something new just yet.

Here is a photo of a benchmark disk that busted loose from its concrete base exposing the flange used for mounting in concrete. The benchmark is known as Sugarand is located near Elk, California. This was found on my clients property at its original location next to its wooden witness post.

I used to think cash in a cache was a cheap trade item. Hated myself in the morning when I did it. Now I collect all the coins and bills not intended to be travelers and send it to my favorite geocaching association when the stack reaches $10.00.

I can't imagine, for me personally, not paying for a premium membership as a contribution to the cause. Makes no difference to me if other people buy the premium membership or not but I do want to see as many premium members as it takes to keep geo.com financially sound. I can't imagine that I would ever place a member-only cache.

I always use track-up for driving and love it. I see north-up as a holdover from using paper road maps which have to be held north-up in order to read them. Also the usually larger scale of a road map lends itself to north-up. With the little screen on the gps I don't get much in the way of landmarks. North-up requires constant high level brain activity to transpose our tiny electronic maps map to visual navigation. Windy country roads and dense city road grids both can make this a difficult process. When you cross the 4 and 6 lane bridges in Sacramento or Seattle (or any city) and the arterial bends slightly and you need to make quick decisions track-up shows you exactly what to do next. I've had discussions with 3 other gps'ing males who prefer north-up. They are all smarter than me so it must be the correct method. In these discussions, though, the only instance where north-up seemed to be appropriate to me was in Roadcow's Vanagon where he has mounted his 17" lap-top on a high stand next to the driver's seat and connected his gps to it. With that large map zoomed out a constantly rotating map takes too much time to redraw and it is a bit disorienting. Ditto on the boy/girl directions issues. We've had lots of conversations about addresses v. the house with the pink curtains methods of navigation. I prefer the addresses. Probably also an result of limited brain capacity.

Geocachers Roadcow and Team Sagefox each have Vanagon campers that have been converted to Subaru engines. Gone is the 84 hp vasserleaker and in is the 130 hp, 16 valve engine that fits like it was made for VW. Conversion kit is available. Both vans have over 200,000 total miles. Pictured here on our Las Vegas Wedding trip last New Years.

544/102 I'm having fun with benchmarks. Our geocaching requires an overnight stay so we don't get to it all that often. Benchmarks on the other hand are scattered all over our rural county. Our 100th benchmark find was the Point Arena Lighthouse and here is a view from 115' up at the lantern level. (If I figure out how to post a photo.)

quote:Originally posted by canadazuuk:What's your average not founds in a day? I look for the average no-find to find ratio. Excel tells me that we have an overall no-find ratio of 8.46%. For the first 300 finds it was just under 10%, since then is 7%.

Average finds per month seems to be more meaningful to me for some reason. I also have an excel spread sheet in which I break out finds per month. When I look at that sheet it reminds me at a glance of what fun I was having and when. I can easily see the productive trips which leads me into a brief reminiscence of the fun that was had. I'm thinking of adding a column for mileage to see what Miles Driven Per Cache would look like. For us to get more than 2 finds per outing requires an overnight stay on the road somewhere. One holiday family trip involved 3100 miles, 4 states, 61 finds, 6 placements, 9 no-finds, five families visited and one wedding attended. Ave finds per month 23.65 Per day .788 4.22 months per 100 finds These numbers do not include any "cache machines" or other high density one day events. [This message was edited by Team Sagefox on October 04, 2003 at 01:26 PM.]

Cache approvals can take up to several days to process. I'd probably wait five days before requesting a follow-up.

quote:Originally posted by LowranceTracker1:He should have put it back and got a grip. Since we are back at the top with this one again I'll make comments but this one should be locked down because we are just recycling. To TL1 - Perhaps you should read more of the this topic. The "Remedy" that Kealia suggests was a result of this topic was actually laid out in email contacts with the placer of the coin and the before this topic originally posted. Remember that this coin, by owner instructions, is a traveler. This is important here. My intent,from the moment I took the coin and through the entire process was that IF the receipient was really interested I would make arrangements to get the coin to her. It APPEARED that she wasn't interested because it logically APPEARED that the traveler had been sitting in the cache for five days. Why would I not have the right to take the coin, in keeping with the coin owners instructions? I please don't let any of my comments appear to blame the coin placer who left the note. That was a very kind gesture which we intended to honor in my round about way and well before any flap developed.

I had a Canon A20 and LOVED it! Around $300. In a shuffle amongst family members I now have the A40 - more features, lower price. Then Spark used her overtime pay for a camera dedicated for her classroom. Why change horses? The new low A model is the A60 and it is a very nice camera and is smaller than the A40. Paid about $150 for the camera in a deal that included a 264mb disk, camera case, cleaning kit and an additional 16mb disk. Total price around $244 plus shipping. 2 mpixles. 3x optical zoom and short movie feature. This price is well below the advertised $229 for the camera alone. Send email inquiry to me for retailer name if interested. To complete the geo-geek look, the camera cases I buy are very small with a belt loop. The camera is always hanging at my side so I bring home three times as many photos now as I used to. And, of course, with digital you can immediately upload to the cache and benchmark pages. The A70 should be a very nice camera also. It must be the 3 mpixel version.

quote:Originally posted by LowranceTracker1:There was NO justification on his part to do so. Just curious. did you get past the first page before you responded?