Mark+Karen
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Posts posted by Mark+Karen
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I think we must be lucky in Swindon, a search from my home co-ords gives me 713 caches within 10 miles
10 mile radius is a long way however. I was considering more like if you were in a city / town centre had an hour or so to spare, and wanted to walk to nearby caches.
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So a shortcut which said "TFTC" wouldn't be acceptable even though it's what loads of cachers put down on the log? But a default which said "nice easy find" would?
You misunderstand, I'm not suggesting there be hard and fast rules. But that *any* shortcut real or perceived has the potential to come across as being lazy and disrespectful.
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I like the idea of 'many hands making light work' and I am sure between us locals we could arrange to share the load so please pass my details on to whoever is setting this up.
My main concern is will a GPS work in this very deep wooded valley ? The only cache placed here is in a clearing high on the side of the valley !
Even with a decent amount of tree cover GPS should be able to get some signal through. I always think that if there are problems where the GPS might not function correctly then you need to include more details in your description or hint than you would otherwise.
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Good idea to make a hotel if your cache is big enough. However I would advise against what a lot of 'hotel' owners do which is insist that if you remove a trackable that you must also put a trackable back in. Personally I think that's unacceptable and spoils the point of the game. Many refer to them as travelbug prisons for this reason!
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IPAD
in How do I...?
I think it would be rather clumsy to use too? I know when I'm out caching there are occasions on every hunt where I put my iPhone in my pocket. Both for when I'm hunting for the cache but also on the way to climb over obstacles or simply because I've got a several hundred yard walk and I don't need guidance along the way.
Putting an iPad into your pocket isn't really an option!
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Walked in circles with my Tom-Tom, got a new I phone and tried it, now I get within a foot most of the time except under trees, then its a little slow.
Yes I've noticed my iPhone 4 does struggle when there is tree cover. I found on one recent trip I had to slow down and walk very very slowly to allow it to catch up but it eventually got me to the right place. But I think pretty much all GPS units have issues under tree cover.
The problem is mostly with network coverage rather than data usage, where I live (North East England) it's mostly fine in town but if you get even slightly out into the countryside then coverage is patchy to say the least! - Not what you'd expect for such a densely populated area.
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What you can do is prepare your cache page in advance but don't list it as 'Active' then email the link or GC code to a reviewer and ask if the listing looks ok and if they would be likely to approve it, and if not can any changes be made.
That way at least you know if the listing will be approved before you go placing your caches and asking permissions.
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I've only started geocaching recently and my first cache I found with no trouble using the iPhone's Google Maps to locate the cache. I've tried two more times since then and have had no luck.
The first cache I tired was hidden in a city location and the hint suggested a stone marker that made it fairly easy to locate the cache without a precise location (there aren't a ton of stone markers all over the city). The next few caches I tried were all in a local park and the hints were along the lines of roots and I've been watching over the park for decades. Given I was in a park, there were a considerable number of roots and other things that have been in the park for decades. With the relatively inaccurate GPS on the iPhone I had no success.
Should I expect the majority of caches to be difficult to locate without a fairly accurate GPS unit? If not, is there any way for me to tell ahead of time where I'll have better luck (one of the caches I couldn't find was listed as one star for difficulty)?
What version of the iPhone do you have? Any less than iPhone 4 and the GPS isn't so good. Perhaps you could consider investing in a proper GPS unit to get you properly close into the caches.
But as others have said when you first start out it can be frustrating that you have DNF after DNF until you learn, almost subconsciously, what you are looking for. e.g. That pile of sticks or rock propped up against a tree will look entirely normal to a passing muggle but to a cacher it shines out like a beacon!
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I think any shortcuts have the ability to come across is disrespectful. The CO will have (hopefully) spent time and effort placing the cache, and it isn't too much to ask to ask for a little effort in return? That includes writing out the physical log by hand and writing out a decently sized online log.
A lot of caches don't have much to say about them but even "Nice easy find" is better than nothing.
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But they will have chosen the log type of "Found It!" which many will think is sufficient.
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Hiding gets just as adictive as finding, only it costs more.
Plus you have to seriously think about your hides and if you have the time to look after them, they are a commitment after all. I've placed all of mine so that if problems were reported I could go and at least see what the problem is the following weekend. I'm not sure how those with 100's of hides cope with this.
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I don't let it worry me. People can get to caches in many different ways, on foot, by bicycle, by bus, by car. It's up to them to figure out how to park and to comply with any parking restrictions they may find, just the same as I don't feel I need to put "don't drive through red lights" on my cache pages.
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there's a small charge for the car park (free for NT members) but no charge to enter the actual grounds
It's all good then
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Just a thought to ponder on. Could it have something to do with the zoom factor being used? I have noticed that when I zoom in as close as I can then the Cache is mapped in the correct location. As I said, just a thought.
That's certainly true on the iPhone as the location can appear to be quite different than when you zoom in.
But no, in this case it's just that the google map is wrong. In fact it has the river on the map to the east of here as running overground, when in fact it's underground, and even then it has it running around a quarter of a mile to the north of its real location at times.
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Personally I love wondrous variety!
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I'm very new and so this may be a stupid question but i'm confused by the various memberships and applications offered.
1. the premium membership online at the website (30/year)
This will give you various extra features such as being able to filter various types of cache on the main website and the ability to generate pocket queries and see Premium only caches.
2. the app at the iphone store that's 9.99
That's just the price for the app itself. If you also have premium membership you can access some of your premium member features through the app.
What is the difference among these three options and what's the best way to proceed for a new and beginner geocaching family?
If you have an iPhone I'd suggest just getting the app to start with, and then see about premium membership if you like it.
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All gone by the looks of things. Ever since GS moved things off these forums it's been a total shambles IMO
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Oh and did I say you've not got any cache submissions waiting for Review
it got published straight away 
I noticed. Thanks for publishing so quickly
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I've just submitted a new cache hide and I've had to put in the notes, and the cache description that the cache isn't where Google Maps would appear to put it.
It's in the correct location, but google makes it look like the cache is on the southern side of the river whereas it's actually on the northern side. The problem being that google's plotting of the river through Chester-le-Street is wildly inaccurate!
And yes, my coords are correct, checked against sat images and OS 1:25,000 maps which have the river in the right place it all looks fine.
Is this a common problem? And is there anything I can do about it aside from putting a warning on the cache description?
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Are the caches within the grounds of a NT property, do you need to pay an admission charge to get in?
I would imagine such caches might be difficult to get posted on GC.com if this is the case. But there's nothing to stop you having 'internal' caches where you pick up the coordinates from the visitor centre.
Myself I maintain a cache on NT property but it's free to access for all.
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Interesting. One of my caches http://coord.info/GC2BN9Z is right on cycle route 66. I wonder how I could incorporate that without putting off people who aren't interested in the cycling part?!
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What is the best phone for doing geocahing with? I am looking for one with GPS and online geocahing access but not to expensive. Please can you let me know what you reccommend. Thanks
If you want the sheer weight of choice of geocaching applications then the iPhone wins! You can use the official app, or many other unofficial ones. But, this certainly doesn't fit your requirement of not being expensive and I wouldn't recommend anything other than the iPhone 4 - the GPS on the previous versions was not up to scratch.
Following closely behind are Android devices, but the GPS can vary on different handsets so you'd need to do some careful research if choosing that route.
Nokia phones also have some geocaching apps as well as mapping like viewranger. My experience with GPS on my Nokia N97 was very poor indeed. In fact I needed to buy a bluetooth GPS dongle to get it to work at all - but I could have had a faulty unit.
If you just want a basic phone with GPS that will nagivate you to a location with no maps or automatic downloading of cache information etc then a cheap Nokia will probably do the job for you.
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Sheffield is tricky for caches. I stayed in the City Centre and there weren't many to find in the first place! Mostly nano's in the city centre. The only one I found was a nano by the sauce factory, and wasn't a very nice retrieval.
York is much better for caches. Firstly there's loads of them! There is a cache series which will take you right the way around the city walls, and there's much more besides.
I have a cache in York too, on the eastern side, next to the University, a nice easy one to do on the drive in perhaps
GC2BN9Z (York Science Park), and it's a big box, not a micro -
Yes, it's very annoying! As others have said, it doesn't even say "Thanks" it says nothing except they found the cache.
For a cache hider the only feedback you get from people who find the caches is from the logs. I don't want to just hear that you found it, but how did you find it, did you enjoy the walk there, who was with you, did you find it easily or not?
Otherwise it's just some random username that means nothing to me and they've found the cache, might as well not have bothered!
I think the iPhone app is a problem if that's where the logs are coming from. You choose "Found it" from the menu, but then you have to do another tap to open up a screen to write a message, it's all too temping to just skip that part and push "Send Log" instead a redesign to you have to write "something" would be appreciated!
Personally although I use the iPhone for all of my caching, including submitting logs, if I'm on a trip where I'm finding multiple caches that I wait until I get home to log my finds - still with the phone. As it's easier to write out the logs when your sat at home then when walking through a muddy field! Plus you can put things in context e.g. "Nice easy find, a pity the rest of the caches today weren't!"
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GC2BN9Z (York Science Park), and it's a big box, not a micro
Inactive cachers and cache archival
in United Kingdom and Ireland
Posted
But you have the possible issue of the original owner thinking "Ah, that cache I've been meaning to sort out for the last year, I'll go and pick it up today"...