[The Funniest Cache Story Ever!]

I am curious to hear everyone's funniest cache story. I know we all have one.

 

I was doing some caching on my way to an event. I was with my dad and a friend (and my dog). We couldn't find the cache. We were going to soon give up and head to the event when two vehicles pull up: other geocachers. They could apparently see us from the event. Apparently, this cache had gone missing so my group helped hide it again, since the owner had forgotten where the original container had been. Then when we were all trying to leave, my dog jumped up into one of the other cars and wouldn't get out. I think my dad had to pick her (my dog) up to get her out.

[The Funniest Cache Story Ever!]

Me and my fellow travellers did'nt think it was funny...but you might.

 

Skunked

 

I've run into skunks before. I was walking nearby my house, investigating a potential cache spot for the future. On my way back, I notice in a small irrigation ditch (I live in a fairly rural area with lots of fields) a white line... yeah. A family of skunks. I tried to run across the street, but they followed. I stopped for a few seconds and then slowly walked away. I don't know how I managed, but I didn't get skunked (but I'm sure they wanted to). Quite a time that was.

[Decoys]

Being new to the game, I was unaware that decoys were even done! Is this a normal practice?

 

If so, it will definitely throw some kinks in our hunts. Like you, we don't always have a lot of free time so we plan multi-caches for large blocks of time we have together. I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted.

 

In my area, where there are probably ~150 caches, only 2-3 have involved purposeful decoys... so they don't seem to be very common. A lot of caches have unintentional decoys (trash, mostly). Of the few that do use decoys, it's mentioned in the description or hints. One specifically says in the hints, "You'll know you're getting to the area when you start seeing decoys."

[Decoys]

Last month, I took a small geocaching trip a few hours from my city. While out, I thought it'd be fun to do a 5-part multi-cache. The last time I was in the area, I didn't have time for it. I made sure I did today. It took a while, but I made it to the fourth stage. Then I saw a laminated piece of paper with the name of the cache and "4th stage," but with no lat/long to the last stage. I looked around, thinking the lat/long clue might have fallen off. No luck finding it. It was MIA.

 

That's what I thought, anyway. In a recent log, someone found it and said they realized it was a decoy. The real lat/long clue was on a different tree nearby. There weren't any clues whatsoever to indicate this multi-cache might have been a decoy. I probably wouldn't be so mad if there was some sort of hint about a decoy, especially since I was visiting the area and had already devoted a good amount of time to the multi-cache (I was on the 4th leg of this cache and almost done).

 

What are everyone's thoughts about decoys set up and when do you think they should be used (if at all)?

[Desperate Moments]

Oh yes. I have a story. This happened when I was looking for a cache in the downtown area of my city- at a museum. It was a Sunday morning, so I figured it'd be a nice time for geocaching. I had found a few caches in the area- came to this one first... had no luck, came back on my way back to my truck. I was still fairly new to geocaching at that point (roughly 30 finds). My log:

 

The first time, I looked through all the rocks, most of the planters, whereever I thought might be a good hiding place. No luck. The second time... well, I didn't get a chance to look much. I was looking around one of the windows when a police car showed up. I was asked to put my hands in the air and approach the officer. I complied, of course. I then put my hands behind my back as my pockets were searched and I explained what geocaching was all about. I was let go and didn't get into any trouble, but still not a pleasant experience. I don't think I'll be coming back to look for this cache again. I might even avoid all in-city caches from now on.

 

I was incredibly scared by the whole thing (as you could tell from the last few sentences). It didn't take long for me to go out geocaching again, though. Two months later, I went back and found that cache with no problem. I haven't had anything nearly as bad as that and haven't had to deal with any cops since (although I almost thought I'd have to at one of my caches- it's off the side of a road at a bus stop and I saw a police car go by, but they didn't stop).

 

It varies if I tell anyone nearby what I'm doing. Once, I was out hiking and a man walking his dog asked me what I was doing. He saw I had a pen in my hand and my GPS, but thought it was some sort of pocket computer. I went along with that and said I was a student at the university doing research on the plants in the area. There have been other times where someone came by and I explained what I was doing and had people help me find the cache. It just depends on the circumstances- if I think they're trustworthy, if I could actually explain it clearly so they can understand it, how long I might be around these people, etc.

[My Personal Geocoin]

I really like the second one- by organizing all the flags like that, it functions wells. It was a little hard to follow with the more scattered flags. I think this will be a very neat coin when it's all done.

[Coin That Doesn't Exist?]

I recently bought a generic geocoin from geoswag.com to give away as a FTF prize. I gave detailed instructions to the individual who found the coin on how to activate it. I was very confused when I got an e-mail saying it didn't work. I have every reason to believe he did it right, since I then tried to get the activation code. I got this error message:

 

That coin's not found in our database

 

The failure to recieve a code could be due to the following:

 

# The activation code has already been retrieved.

# The Tracking code from the coin is incorrect.

# The Coin number from the coin is incorrect.

 

Please check to make sure the correct tracking code and Coin Number from the coin are entered in.

 

Please try to get your activation code again.

 

I even tried putting the tracking number in at geocaching.com to a message saying, "The Travel Bug you requested does not exist in the system." I've tried fixing common mistakes (0 and O, for example), but without any luck. I contacted Oakcoins/Geoswag and hope they'll be able to fix this.

 

Has anything like this happened to anyone else? Was any solution ever found- if so, do you remember what you had to do?

[How Long?]

If someone is holding your bug, I would wait at least two/three months before sending them an email asking if they need assistance in moving it. Keep it friendly.

 

Two weeks is expected length but sometimes, I'm sorry to say, it does take longer.

 

I agree- sometimes it does take longer than expected to drop off a TB. I'm trying to be patient and wait until August before contacting the person with my bug. She's only had it a month, but has been active in caching since picking it up. Since she's new, I'll check with her in a few weeks to make sure she knows how to drop a bug off and add that in her log. I know that things come up- maybe she keeps forgetting it at home when she goes out (I've done that- I meant to take my TB along.... only to realize it's still by my desk and has to wait for another day) or maybe she's waiting.

 

I think 2 months is reasonable, however- especially if the person is actively caching. At that point, even if they haven't logged on in a while, I think it's okay to e-mail (and be as polite as possible) and ask the status. From reading another post, I've heard it's good to sugar coat it as much as possible when asking the status and to see if it can get moving again. People usually don't like being told what to do or being accused of anything. So just be as nice as possible when requesting something like that.

[Thumb Drive Attached To A Tb]

I'm getting ready to release my first Travel Bug and had the idea of attaching it to a 128kb thumb-drive. I'd put a little about myself, and the bug, on a text file and maybe add a photo, on the drive and ask that anyone that gets the bug, to put something about themselves as well. Have you heard of anyone doing this before and what do you think of the idea?

 

Starcrwzr

 

Maybe a low-tech solution might work better, such as an a small 3.5" notebook or a bound collection of index cards would work just as well? That way people can still write about themselves without the worry of computer security (plus, you don't have to be very computer literate). If you want pictures, you might be able to find a small, cheap camera instead. You'd run the risk of it being stolen, but a traveling camera might work out.