RockyRaab

Reception varies according to many variables. Overhead cover (from leaves to the roof of a tunnel) can diminish or eliminate the signal. Your GPSr may receive better when held horizontal (Garmin) or vertical (Magellan) depending on antenna design. Holding the unit near your body can interfere, as can any nearby structure that's not overhead, but which can cause reflected "echo" signals: cliffs, buildings, steel structures, etc. Weak batteries can cause the unit to act strangely, as can solar activity, nearby power transmissions lines, cell towers or a strong radio transmission source. Some people just have a magnetic personality - grin!

For those not understanding why or how an apparently straight path can become a spiral, it's simple geometry. If you cross every line of longitude at the same geometric angle (except due east or west), you MUST constantly turn. The reason is because lines of longitude aren't parallel. They all cross at the poles. Therefore, the effective ground path will spiral toward the pole, getting tighter as the latitude increases. Make sense? Clever quiz, Mr. cartographer-man!

Well, for cheese... I simply didn't see the "letterboxing" entry. (slaps forehead)

I simply made up a few sheets of tiny labels with my name on them. (used Avery 5267 Return Addy labels, 1/2" x 1.75") I get 80 labels per sheet. Cut them into four 20-label strips. No ink pad, no bulk. AND they fit onto even a narrow "strip" log for a 35mm can. Just peel, stick and date. Done. Next cache!

Two words: Neighborhood Watch. No matter if you agree, or even if your neighbor agrees. Somewhere on the block there's a little old lady looking out through her chintz curtains with a phone in her hand... ...and somebody else is going to have the thrill of explaining geocaching to an officer of the law.

Personally, I rate environmental advice from Greenpeace in the same category as getting menu suggestions from PETA.

Well, mine wasn't a problem with my browser, so I'll detail it. I had inadvertantly created two usernames here on the forums, and the subsequent "cookie" kept signing me in incorrectly after that. I didn't want to erase all my other - valid - cookies. So I simply sent an email to the powers that be and asked to have the incorrect username deleted. Done.

Like most things, this issue has two views. We should all be more appreciative of ANY effort to place a cache, and our logs should reflect that appreciation. However, seeing the same type of cache over and over (lampost hides after the first one is the perfect example) does tend to become stultifying. In that instance, we should remember that for every new cacher, lamposts are still creative and fresh hides. Becoming bored with common caches isn't all bad. It should stimulate us to be more and ever more creative with our own hides. In my own case, I hid three caches the other day. Two of them were 1/1 P&G hides on a theme. The other was my first multi-cache and utilized what I believe to be a clever first stage hide that allows it to be essentially invisible while in plain sight. Whether it's ever been used before is dubious, but it's never been seen around HERE before, so that makes it fresh for our locals. My next cache is a doozy, too. I saw an example of it a thousand miles from here, so it is again liable to be well received. If you ever get so bored by the game, just quit it. OR, take it upon yourself to make it even more clever and creative. Your choice.

I've never taken mine all the way down to zero, but 8 hours minimum is about right.

Or, a low-tech way... Go to a chain motel/hotel website, run a search for units in that town, and use the zip codes from their addresses. And a tedious way... (assuming you're a Premium Member) go to Map It for your home area, zoom all the way out and repeatedly scroll until you get to the area of your destination, then zoom back in again. It takes four or five "scrolls" to get half-way across the country, but it gets you there. This way also can highlight caches along the way if you're driving. Just zoom in to a likely stretch of highway, identify nearby caches and run a PQ with a likely one as the centerpoint. You can even bookmark them and build a "caches along ABC Highway" list that way.

I agree. If the muggle hadn't wanted what he found, he wouldn't have taken it. Now that he knows a secret spot for getting "goodies" he'll be back. If he took it once, he'll take it again. In a thief's mind, YOU'RE to blame for putting stuff out for the taking: he's just doing the normal thing by taking it.

Giggles is great! Signal would be proud of that one. (Or maybe not, being a frog!)

Here's another cryptic one: Head to toes: toes to cache.

True - but word play is so much fun! Running muggles: Rungles Frisbee muggles: Fribbles Canine owners: Doggles Hikers: Hickles Bikers: Bickles Joggers: Joggles Female joggers? Jiggles! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Suggested hint: As deep as a coffin.

Whew! For a minute there, I had visions of... Never mind. Logging a TB in and immediately back out of a cache is fairly common practice. Usually, it's done mostly to add to the TB's "mileage" numbers. But that's also a bit pointless if the caches are near each other. Personally, I only do this when I'm launching a new TB. I'll log it into/out of a cache that's quite near my home. That way, the bug's mileage is a bit more meaningful. (I launched my first one almost 175 miles from home, and have been kicking myself for it ever since.)

Just keep a few things in mind: If it's degradable - it will. (Also rustable, breakable or dropable) If it takes skill or care to close properly - it won't. (Also to hide) If it ever held food - some critter will eat it. If it's almost waterproof - it isn't. If it was designed to survive actual combat - it's perfect.

I'm not sure what you'll do when somebody's $10 ante gets taken and a McToy is left in exchange, either. Nobody is gonna pass up a $10 goodie, whether they admit it in their log or not. If this goes ahead, you'd be safer if the antes were $1 items.

I've logged three, including one yesterday; but that's the last I'll look for - probably. I agree that they are challenging, but once found, there's precious little reward for the challenge. If one is a "numbers" cacher, they count the same as an ammo box. But if one is in this for something other than numbers, well... I would definetely like to see the Nano category added, though. They are most certainly as different from Micro as Micro is from Small.

This happened just yesterday, as I was signing a logbook; my GPSr and several swag items spread out on a big rock next to a walking trail. I look up and there's a guy and his dog staring at me. "What'cha doing down there?" "Birdwatching," I said, "and taking notes." "You saw a bird down there?" he said, suspicious. "Nope, a nest. Wanted a better look." "Oh. You an Audubon member?" "Just an amateur." He took another look at the McToys, then turned and left, shaking his head.

If you're worried about saving paper, just sign your name and date in the log; that's all that is required. Post your verbosity in the online log where you use up nothing but bandwidth. I leave them open, so the next finder can get to the correct page quickly.

Utah. You could slog through mud - or die in an avalanche. You could get frostbite - or hike at 50 degrees. You could cache - or be snowed in with a power failure. ON THE SAME DAY!!

...sigh... There are two kinds of people in the world: those who THINK there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who don't. If someone gets electrocuted because he/she is seeking a cache that looks like an electrical box and is located near a REAL electrical box - then the person who placed that cache is going to get sued. Big time. Probably successfully. Disclaimer or no disclaimer. If you wish to take that risk by placing such caches, do so. It's only YOUR sum total of assets. If you wish to poke your fingers into live (or not) things that look like electrical boxes, please advise your next of kin that they should not sue anyone and everyone remotely responsible. I guess that's two kinds of people. ...sigh...

There's one here in Utah that isn't listed as a multi, but when you get there, the box has a lock and a set of coords. The key is at the second coords (only about 200 feet away). In this case, the lock and key were fine when I found them, but the cheap tool box cache container was a leaky, rusty, awful mess inside. It was supposed to be a "tool exchange" cache, but no tool inside it was worth taking. I suppose when you hide a non-waterproof box in a duck marsh next to the Great Salt Lake, you just might get some rust, huh? Surprise, surprise, surprise. I should've logged it as "Took lock and key, left soon-to-be-useless pliers."

I'd think it would be courteous to post the distance in the cache description, particularly in some circumstances. Example: a multi placed on a walking path. It would be courteous to know if the second or later stages were a mile or more away - or in some other area NOT on the path. Another example would be if travel between stages required driving. Of course, courtesy is an uncommon commodity these days.