WATreasureHunters

Here's to tooting your own horn. We hit 200 at Hamilton Viewpoint. Whoohoooo!

"Existing maintained virtuals on geocaching.com will be grandfathered on the web site, but we do not guarantee they will remain listed forever. We'll see how Waymarking goes." This quote is from the FAQs. Please say that virtuals are not leaving the GC website as of Jan1. I love virtuals (good virts, I know there are some lame ones out there) and have bookmarked several to do. Now, in the middle of August I hear (and if it was announced earlier than this, it is my own fault for not being on the forums very often) that they may be gone as of the first of the year. Many of the virts I want to do are at Mt St Helens, Mt Rainer, in other words SEASONAL locations. I now have six good weekends to try to bag these virts with this cloud of Jan 1 hanging over my head. With life intruding, this is not going to happen. With the logs from the previous cachers, I will probably visit some of these sites someday anyway. Because a fellow cacher thought it was worthwhile, and many other cachers agreed with him or her. But, darn it, I want to do it as part of this game, obsession, hobby... I have actually logged a waypoint, for the old AV8R locationless, so I cannot say I am against waypointing. I just think the spirit of the hunt is represented in many of the viruals currently on GC, and they should be allowed to stay. Someone has already made the grandfathering arguement very well, so I won't repeat. My heartfelt plea is to allow virtuals to grandfather on the the GC site. If that is not going to happen long term, consider the seasonal aspect of many caches (not just virtuals, and extend the "deadline" for removal. Very respectfully submitted, WATreasureHunters PS..The letter, BTW, was hilarous!

I love virtual caches. I thought they were fun, and in the case of some of the locationless caches especially, very educational for those of us with kids. My 3 year old not only knows the US Flag now, because of hunting for one for a locationless, but also started noticing other flags, and now knows our state flag, the Canadian flag, the diver down flag, and the Oregon flag. It has opened up conversation with my 6 year old neice about POW/MIAs, and public art, just to name a few. I never saw the issue with them. If you didn't care for them, then don't do them. I have not been on the new waymarketing site, so I speak to that. I just think it may be a mistake to get rid of a very fun and interesting part of the game. A prime example of this would be the Dash for Cache locationless. What a great concept! Just my two cents...

We hit 150 on August 4, with a FTF no less, at Galena (GCPX6K). We are having so much fun!

Just my two cents, being a cacher who is, 95% of the time, being followed by at least one, and usually three humans under the age of 7, McToys in caches are GREAT! Not to the exclusion of anything else, mind you. It is shocking how excited a three year old is when finding a Shrek watch, neopet or teletubbies keychain at the end of a short hike. Frankly, they could care less for the higher end do-dads. Swag is all dependent on where you are coming from. As the usual adult member of the group, I am a TNLNSL type, unless there is a TB present.

Hey, sorry for the time that went by. I wanted to let you know that I tried your solution that very same day you posted ( and thanks for your QUICK response, BTW). It seems to have worked! No issues in the last several days, and have been out and about frequently, with the machine off and on several times. THANKS!!! Sarah DSDVall

I have a couple month old eXplorist 200. It is a replacement for my first explorist 200 that I got for Christmas and the screen got cracked. Several (4or5) times now, and just recently, it has lost its data in the middle of a hike. I am zeroing in on a cache and the screen will flash and it will ask me for my location (North America), state, etc. Of course, POI are gone...its very frustrating. Also, a few times, maybe three, I have turned the thing on to find that all of my POI are gone, without it asking for location. Anyone else have simular experiences? Is this a possessed device. No warrenty on it, got it off eBay. So, does anyone know where I can get this thing fixed in Western WA, or can I somehow reset it myself (which probably won't work since that is what it seems to be doing on its own-resetting, I mean). Thanks in advance for comments and advice.