Salvelinus

Maybe another cacher who may have wanted to place a well thought out cache a long ways back on the now dubbed "Power Trail"? I know, I know, the rules say they still can...but they won't and you know it. Salvelinus

Unlike some people, I prefer to stick to productive commentary rather than half-witted personal insults. However, I will add this: Why should it matter to you how many caches I or anyone else choose to find in a day? I dont think it matters how many you find in a day. I'm in my fourth year of geocaching. Some already call me "Old School". I've seen geocaching grow exponentially in that time...but I don't necessarily think that growth has always been for the good of the sport. It's been good for GC.com, but not necessarily the sport. Geocaching was attractive to me because it always took me to interesting places or showed me something I never saw before. It was always, and still is, about the experience...not the numbers. Although I see caches popping up around me all the time. There are fewer and fewer of them (as a percentage) that sound remotely interesting. I eventually find most of them, but the desire to run out and check out that cool spot where there is now a geocache, is dwindling. This is what really concerns me, and cachers like myself. We see the game as diverging way too far from what it initially was all about and some of our passion is waning. It seems that as more people become involved in this sport, the less caches are placed with cache experience and cache quality as major factors. Those things use to be the roots of this game. Frankly, I'm stupified by this power trail concept and only see it as another divergence from inital concepts of geocaching. Some cachers may not care about that, but many of us still do. If this is what caching was like when I started. I never would have started. Having a cache every 0.1 mile is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. Why does it need to be that way? Why can't 3 or 4 along these trail be enough? Because the rules say you can? I just don't get it? I can only believe that, no matter how you may justify the "experience", its just for the numbers. Period. Can you still be "doing it right" and having a good time on those trails if only 3 or 4 caches were present? I bet I could! But nothing would aggrevate me more than acting like that idiot cell phone guy, "Can you see the cache yet?...Good!"..."Can you see the cache yet?...Good!"... I guess your response to me, as it has to others, would be "Well then don't do them". Believe me, I won't be doing them. But that dosn't eliminate the concept. How soon until these become the new "rage" causing more and more "Power trails" becoming filled wth poor hides, lousy containers, soggy logs, and frequent muggling. How soon until we debate the need to increase the distance between caches just to keep the numbers crowd from creating lame "Power Trails" just to up their counts. At one time I thought key holder caches on rest stop guard rails would never reach my caching area...but, unfortunatly they have. I expect one of these Power Trails to follow soon. Grrrrrrrrrr What if I, as a non-numbers geocacher, wanted to place a cache way back on those trails. Yeah, the rules say I can. But why would I? My cache would certainly get lost amongst the 130 others along the trail. Personally, I consider saturating an area with 50, 60, 70 ...100 caches is totally selfish to other cachers who may want to hide one there. I guess if your playing for numbers, those of us who play for the experience don't matter much. But heaven forbid if anyone bad mouths a numbers player For the most part, I don't really care what motivates people to cache. I just wish that when these off-shoot caching concepts form in someone'sr head that they take a moment and think back to the roots of geocaching and remember why it started and what it USE to be about. I also hope the roots that formed this game are strong enough to support so much "branching out". Can geocaching survive? <Rant Off> Salvelinus

Hawkeye is living oversees (China?) due to some new job...or something like that. He had a local cache around here that got ransacked and needed maintenance and permitted. Seems he didn't like the permitting process, so he archived it and made arrangements for it to be picked up. All this occurred last November. Its not much...but its something. Here is his cache that had the issues. His notes make me think he's not caching much anymore. Salvelinus

Killing everyone?!?!?!?!? Oh, yeah, and I try that, they send a SWAT team up to the bell-tower! Happy now? Geesh!

It is illegal to kill rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania without a permit. They are considered a threatned species by the state and protected appropriatly. It is very difficult to get a permit and with it you may hunt and harvest 2 snakes per year. Yet, we still have a bunch of irrational idiots who think they are doing some good by killing every one they see. Salvelinus

I'm more impressed that they found Brush Mountain the same weekend they did my Underground Railroad cache. That is one fulfilling caching weekend! And they placed the first Jeep TB in a local (within 35 miles) cache! Salvelinus

Why is more than two silly?

Earlier this spring I placed This Multi. It is a 9 stages long and covers about 70 miles. When you do this cache you become part of a story I wanted to tell. Each location was researched as being authenic,but I did use a bit of "storytelling" to bring the areas to life. I could think of no better way to make a 70mile long, 9 stage multi interesting enough for cachers to want to do it. So far its been well received. I think some of the discussion here is about multi-caches like This One. The owner did have maintenance issues with it so he decided to archive it. Just wanted to point out two styles of "long" multi-caches. One that seems to be working well and another that really didn't. Salvelinus

This is an easy one to answer. I've only done one in MD and I can't believe that it will be topped. We just did it last weekend as well. A group of us from PA ventured to Maryland to find The Upper Yough Trek cache. Our logs and the photos speak volumes. I prefer caches that have unique natural features, great scenery and a little bit of effort to get to. This cache has lots of all that...and more. To top it off, I completed this adventure with a great bunch of people! What more could you ask for while caching? Salvelinus

Ok, I have some other thoughts on criteria that "Top" cachers should have other than high stat totals: 1. CITO attendance and Trail Maintenance. 2. Quick response to cache maintenance when requested. 3. ALWAYS adhearing to THE rule that signing the logbook is required in order to get credit for a find? I hope these aren't too personal. Frankly, I'm in awe at the numbers myself. I just don't want this game to be all about numbers of finds and hides. There are many attributes to being a "top" cacher. High numbers of smily faces is only one of them. A fine accomplishment Lynn! Salvelinus edit: Duh!

ABSOLUTLY NONE! This is not a competitave hobby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Additionally, I'm refraining from bringing up several negative things here that may reduce one's "score". E-mail me if you would like more information, but I won't post it here. Salvelinus

Since when does the number of finds and hides you have make you the "top cacher"? I hope this isn't the direcction this hobby is going. Salvelinus

I just got an e-mail that another snakehead was caught by a fisherman in the Potomac River. Apparently they are established in that drainage to some degree. Being a Fisheries Biologist...the threat of this species is not taken for granted, but should not be overblown as well. If any of our MD, VA, DE or South Central PA caching fisherman catch one...kill it and report it immediatly to their State Fisheries Agency. Remember to record specifically where and when it was caught to help Fisheries Biologist gain knowledge of how far this animal has spread. Refer to the original post for links for what they look like. Salvelinus

I don't know what you are referring to specifically but there are several Wild Boar hunting preserves in PA. They are usually large areas of penned in land where hunters pay to go shoot one. Sometimes, the Boars will get out of the preserve area but usually return to the area because thats where their food is. So hunters didn't really bring them in...they are brought in for the hunters. Salvelinus

I agree with Brian on this one. Check out how much of your $15 Sierra membership goes toward political activities and compare that to how much goes toward conservation efforts. Consider a more local group...or the Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy focuses on buying land and protecting it from future development . Their motto: "Saving the Last Great Places on the Earth" ... I'm all for that! TNC Website

Kudos Geo-Packrat on putting our hobby in such a positive light! The "coal region" gets very little good press about much of anything and its has soooo many caching opportunities. The history of the area alone is facinating! I've found a few down there when I get back home to visit and I love seeing more and more popping up. Keep up the good work! Salvelinus

<wave to Polgara> I do both every chance I get. A few of my caches were set with Jeeps in mind. I just wish more cachers would think like me! Salvelinus

The money is all state funds issued through a program called "Growing Greener". The program is explained in the news release but basically the Pennsylvania DCNR aquires funding from various sources (landfill fees, Environmental mitigation, private donations, etc...) and awards grants to mostly private groups to do a multitude of "Green" projects. Interested groups and agencies must apply to the DCNR for the grants. Rarly has an application been denied and not funded in some capacity. In this specific case, the DCNR is using some of the money to aquire more rail trails. Not a penny of federal money is involved. Salvelinus

I have 3 of those "lame" ones I did not log and have no intention of ever logging them. If I knew what they were before I went for them...I never would have. My primary reason for hiding caches is not for them to just be found. Just finding something is not why I geocache at all. I hide caches so others will have a quality search and be able experience interesting and beautiful places. They may even learn something they didn't know before. At the end hopefully they will find something of mine that reflects what I hoped they would get out of the experience. Salvelinus

hmmm.... what I read was ONE cacher 20 days ago who said the contents were soggy (with no request for maintenance) and then 2 finders since then with no complaints. Doesn't look like a problem to me. Are you kidding me? Here is a quote from April 9...13 days after maintenance was suggested on March 27th. 20 days? What calender are you using? "Cache is there - but contents a little soggy. Tried to dry-out the standing water, signed the log and replaced it. Thanks for the hunt." Standing water? I would of been there within hours!!!!!!!!!!!! Salvelinus

Am I the only one who is curious why you need a drill and a hammer to place a cache? I'm not being critical...just curious. I say wait a bit. I know that's tough, but if they were going to return to "check it out" they would come back in a relatively short amount of time. After not finding it, they would likely lose it from their mind. Salvelinus

Regardless of who places them and for whatever reason, IMO these types of caches are commercial. They are placed at or near the commercial business and the theme IS the business. Seems like a good way to drum up some business. Get a free account at geocaching.com and start placing keyholders with a scrap of paper on a light pole in your parking lot. Maybe a coupon or two rolled up inside for the FTF prize? You could save a ton of $$$ on your advertising budget! And you get another to boot! Salvelinus BTW Maintenance was recommended on this One a month ago and there still is no aknowledgement that it has been done. I guess with triple digit hides, its tough to do timely maintenance.

Good to have finally met you Mastifflover! Geocaching is not my greatest passion. As you know trout, and trout fishing are! I feel similar about geocaching as I do about trout fishing. No matter how much I love the sport, there will always be times when other people involved in the sport do things to create an undesirable situation for me and many others. In those cases, I will first try to avoid those situations in the future and secondly, I try to do something to correct the situation to make it better for everyone. It is true some geocachers will always like caches in areas and in a condition like briansnat described, and trout fisherman will still fish in streams that are littered, crowded and overharvested. But don't ya think they would like them even better if a little more caring, thoughtfulness and compassion went in to those caches...and those trout streams? Those threads showed me that there are cachers who are looking for ways to totally avoid those undesirable caches and other cachers who are trying to prevent those undesirable caches to exist in the first place. It then becomes a conflict between those cachers who want a quality caching experience and those who just want to cache...fisherman are kind of similar. You and I are lucky, we live in areas full of great caches and great cachers. But I do worry about what the future of caching may look like when I see many caches showing up on the fringes of my cache area that have little caring, thoughtfulness and compassion given to them. Many people I cache with are dealing with some of those undesirable situation now and I really wonder if my passion for this sport will continue if/when I have to start directly dealing with them as well. Hopefully, I will never have to. Best Regards, Salvelinus

I was willing to let you complain some more without comment, but when you quote me and say to "Save your whining for your family" it raised my hackles. Don't go there unless you know me better. Tell me please...Do you label everyone who dosn't agree with your thinking a whiner? Or is is just me? Salvelinus

Thanks for the plug Enfanta! I placed this one with several cachers in mind and you were one of them. I was surprised at the amount of time it took you two to finish this one. I expected 5 to 6 hours. I guess the map work between stages may be more daunting than I thought. As you know, there was an issue about a late stage of this multi going missing. It has been fixed for several days and is now working well. I have other "solutions" if these later multi-stages get compromised. The good thing is that I drive by them daily and can keep tabs on them! Good Luck! Salvelinus