Phobos+Demos

Im paying $2.78/gal here in Arcata Ca for reg. (Not a typo, it was 2.98/gal a few months back.) It still does not cost that much to fill up my Honda but it has got me thinking of ways to get the most caches/gal.

If you like them hard I found this one (GCGJV7) only about 60 miles from my home in Arcata CA. Its not even a 4 terrian but since it was put out 7/28/03 no one has yet logged it. We are thinking of giving it a try later this summer. Just look at the cache discription, you know you want to.

Demos and I have been together for several years now but it was not until this last X-mas that we learned about Geocaching from a coworker. GCing was just what we needed, we had both been looking for a good outdoors sport that could be played at our pace together w/out much competition. GCing also makes a great excuse to leave town for a night or two, we get to spend real time w/ each other, see places we would have never seen, and add a few GC's to our find list. We also try not to put TOO much emphasis on how many we find. We tried to do a lot of caches in one day and just ended up stressing out. I don't know if I will propose to her by a personal geocache but I know we will go on a honeymoon that involves geocaching.

I do not bring a gun. I know all the areas I cache in well and know what to expect. I could see how having a gun could be a good thing in some area's. A mountain lion was recently seen VERY near a place I walk on a regular basis; I know it is probably more afraid of me than me of it but this did get me thinking about having some form of self defense. Anyone know of any EFECTIVE less than leathel form of self defens? My $0.02 on the whole right to own a gun brings two things to mind: 1: If the police can have a gun, I should also be allowed to have a gun. I want to be able to defend myself against any threat, even a police state. 2: "Better to have a gun and not need it, than need a gun and not have it." another movie reference. Note: Every police officer I know does their job with only the "to protect and serve" moto in mind, as well as just being good people. There is a long story that involves a close friend and a bad bike acident that ended well because the local law enforcment did their jobs without flaw. I would also like to note that I AM a tree sitting hippie, that is a math major at H.S.U. , that does also only vote Blue. I do belive there should be limits on what kinds of guns people should own. I don't know anyone that would hunt with a fully auto gun, from what I understand, the military isue "grunt" gun is not even fully auto, just 3 round burst. With all that said; responsible, educated gun ownership is fine by me. Phobos sorry for any sp errors, the girlfreind (Demos) really wanted me to " hurry up and get off the web".

We don't do a lot of long hiking, not that there is not the chance to, we just don't have the time to. Also in No Cal right on the ocean the weather does not change rapidly, how the day starts is probabbly how it will end. In the moring while I am drinking my coffee I will check the weather for the next few days. So I guess what I am trying to say is that we pack for the weather. Rain=rain gear, spair clothes. Sun=light clothers w/ a sweter in the event we end up out after dark. "we have time for just one more cache!" The stuff we always cary: -Water -GPSr's (we both ended up buying one) -Batteries (for GPS's) -Bug repelant -Sun screen -leatherman tool -A small led flashlight (LED's use a lot less battery juice. You could have it on for nights without changing the batteries. Also no "bulb" to brake if droped. I have used ours mostly to look in dark places before I shove my hand in for a cache.) -tide book for the area ( for many cache's we have been to it was nice to know if the tide was coming or going.) -Cell phone -whisle We are plaing some overnighters later this summer. We will also be bringing with the list above the following: compas and map, a real first-aid kit, signal mirror, ext. I would also like to add that I do my homework before I leave the house. i.e. what time is the sun going to set. What kind of terain am I going to be traveling over to get to the cache. As mentioned above, what is the weather going to be like for the next 2 days ( I know this will not work everywhere in the U.S. but it still can help). To close I also try to just use my head. "If I fall from this 20' rock trying to find a quick way back from the cache I won't be able to walk the 5miles back to the car which means I won't be able to log my find later. "

Here behind the redwood curtain in Nor Cal. where the average summer temp is in the low 60's and 70'anything is a heat wave that causes everyone to head for any building that is known to have an air conditioner. But we don't really get sun here anyway, so far this month we have had 3.22 in of rain and another storm is on its way. I like to carry one of those inflatible rafts, for any stream/road crossings I might have to make. To keep myself dry from this downpore I have fashioned a parka using sea mammale blubber and the skins of whatever small mammals I have managed to catch w/ my bare hands. We are so remote, that I ended up making my GPSr from 17 different computers and one small portible TV. Muggles see me with it and think I am some supernatural witch or warlock. "How could he have such powers". NO really I wear shorts and light weight shirt, Demos wears pants and a t-shirt. We always wear good hiking boots, "don't want to lose traction on those steep sea cliffs". If it is warm I bring my camaleback "cloudwalker" hydration system, it can carry all my stuff and 2L of water. If it is not warm I have a mountainsmith swift lumbar pack that works great as an over the sholder bag with it's included strap. It has pockets for two water bottles (we use these to hold the GPSr's when we get to ground zero; easy access on the trail. It could also hold water ) and a large pouch that will hold anything I might need(bug repelant, first aid, trade items, small flashlight, a folded copy of the GC we are on). It also has a small pouch that is compleatly water proof that we keep a cell phone in. I swear I am not a Mountainsmith or camelback salesman, they just works for us. No mammales are actually harmed in our GC'ing. Phobos and Demos

No avatar but you can see the the rest.

A zip code search would be great. A quick display of the 10day weather forcast in an area other than were you live, like a traval forcast. Some way of knowing how long you will have to drive to get to a cache i.e. ETA. Any of these would be good. Thanks Phobos

Yes we are both addicted. We plan entier vacations around geocaching. We have both missed obligations because "it is such a nice day and look hun there is a new cach just 25miles north that we could tottaly get!" We both have nearly died on steap sea cliffs, but in all seriousness, this sport has help both of us stay in shape and get outside, not to mention we can keep doing this for the rest of our lives.

Phobos: Working, taking photo's, brewing beer, going to school for an applied math deg. Demos: Working, also taking photo's, also brewing beer, going to school for a computer information systems deg. And we both are always thinking about Geocaching.

We started w/ a Magellan eXplorist 100. Around $90 through Amazon.com w/ shiping. It works great to this day. Not a lot to it but we love it, it gets a lock fast, keeps a lock once it has one and does well under lots of Redwood trees. Demos and I decided that we should get a 2nd GPSr after we came into some $$$. We could have bought a much more expensive color GPSr but we felt the color did not add much. After looking at a few different one's both Magellan and Garmin at Amazon.com we decided to put the $$$ in the gas tank and buy a Magellan eXplorist 200. Has a few more fetures than the 100 but still very easy to use. If we where to do it all over again we would have bought an eXplorist 300 or 400, among other things, they have a built in compass. The eXplorist 100 and 200 still tell you what direction you are going/pointing but you have to take a few steps. These work great for two young people that don't feel like they need every bell and whistle, we just wanted something that would tell us where the cache is. Thanks Phobos+Demos

I am a lurker because I am still learning about GC ing and It takes me some time to come up with a response that I feel contributes. I am not a lurker because of people being mean to each other in posts. To add my $0.02 to that topic; there is constructive criticism and then there is just being mean. If it is constructive criticism try to learn from it. In my experence if it is someone being mean they must have much worse problems in their life and being mean is the only way they can deal with it, so just ignore them and be happy that you had a legitimate question/statement. Thanks for listening. Phobos

Im 24 and Demos is also 24. We learned about geocaching from someone who is also right around our age. I would look at the stats. counting everybody, then count the age of people that are old enough to decide if they want to go geocaching. For example a 2 year old does not have much choice if they go w/ their parents but a 15 year old might want to do something else.