infiniteMPG

I think with many things the FTF is something up to the owner's discretion to decide. There are people who don't think one person should sign everyone in the group's names to the log book, that each individual has to sign their own or it's not valid. I think the vast majority approach GC as a light hearted activity and shouldn't need a lawyer to figure out the rules. Yes, I think I've talked with him once. I do know of him, did a number of his caches and FTFed a few. I think he cached with rldill and Granpa Alex at some point. (And that's as far off topic as I can get.)That's definitely him and who he caches with. It all started when I tried to get him to maintain a couple of my NC caches around where my folks live. He got it bad but now has it a little more under control

Totally agree and as with many other aspects of GC, there's a lot of wiggle room for owners and seekers to have fun. Catching flack is part of the package, too, unfortunately. I can recall snagging a local FTF and got some flack because my watch battery died a few days earlier and I didn't notice. I wrote a date on the log sheet a couple days before it got posted and that got me a few emails.

When I hide a cache the last thing I do is walk away from the cache, pop into the find mode on the GPSr, then see if the coords I have lead me back to the cache and I can find it. So if people do this, the owner is actually the first person to find it... Okay, I'm ducking and running... put the bat down....

An ethical GC question. Imagine you're caching with others somewhere miles deep in the wild and you all split up. While split up someone hides a new cache. Later in the day everyone joins back up on the trails somewhere. The owner of the new hide shares the coords of their new cache with the others. They proceed to head out and find the new cache as they are half a day's hike in and not too far from the new cache, and chances are they won't be back for a long time if at all. They either sign the log sheet down at the bottom if at all, and do not enter a log online until after someone else claims the FTF. Since they're not claiming the FTF nor are they logging a find online until after a FTF is logged, even though this cache is not published when they found it, does it make their find any less valid? Like I said, an ethic's question.....

How does that rate compared to JB Weld? I live by JB Weld and having the two small tubes in the GC maintenance kit has been a lifesaver....

And also: Average total cache terrain Average physical cache terrain Yes, all of these are available from INATN, but only for Premium members and only if people actually use that site. I believe almost all that is available with CacheStats, too.

Ranger Fox, Greensboro, ehhh? I grew up in Burlington and used to live off Randleman Road just on the north side of 85/40 many years ago. If you run across a cacher up there named flawv1 it's my nephew I got addicted to the sport

We have cached in groups often and whenever there is a FTF, it's always a CO-FTF no matter who found it first. The caching was done as a "group" and not as a bunch of individuals competing against one another. For you folks who say there can only be one FTF, what if you're caching in a group on a multi and YOU were the FTF on all of the stages EXCEPT the final? Are you going to surrender your accomplishments on all the previous stages just because you didn't find the final first? What if you and the group are near GZ and the hint says it's below a twisted oak. You saw the twisted oak and announced "There it is!" but someone was closer to it then you at that time. So they got to GZ first and found it first even though you found the spot first. Or do you sneak over there to beat out everyone else to the FTF? And what if you're caching a five stage multi as a group of five and each person was the FTF on one of the stages???? I think that's putting a lot of complications and competition on to a relatively simple and fun recreational activity.

I have one stage of a rural multi that's one of those fake soda can containers and a group of cachers picked it up to CITO and gave up finding that stage. Quite a bit later one of them re-examined the can and found it was the stage. They got the coords and replaced it, but it's always a risk that these will get CITO'ed....

You can do up your profile page with all kinds of stats - get the free application - CacheStats at www.logicweave.com We like it and that's more then enough....

We found one of these not too long ago out in a nature preserve.... but it was well camouflaged and hanging 40-feet in the air with a really cool rope and pulley system. It's been there for a while and everything was dry and secure.

Okay, using a filter I can find all the caches I am trying to filter, they all have a common name. Then I can do a Global Replace and change the cache type and put a different icon in the normal icon's place. The only icons I have to pick from are other cache type icons, like the question mark for mystery, the ghost for virtuals, etc. The problem is that no matter what I pick I end up with some type of cache icon. What I'd rather do is make all these like a red dot, or some other icon, and not a geocaching icon at all. Any way to assign an icon to filtered caches other then a geocaching icon? What I want to do is to have them on my GPSr as waypoints but not have them as any kind of cache. As in the OP, I want them there in case I want to hide a cache, but I don't want them to be accessed thru my MAP60CSx's geocaching interface.

Forgot about my buddy at work and his Magellan story. I placed a cache about a mile from work and was waiting for it to get posted. Took several days and he was itching for the FTF because I told him about the hide. Finally it got posted but on day he was riding his bike (pedal bike, not motorcycle). He took off for the cache and called me about 1/2 an hour later. Turned out he forgot to zip up his pack and when he got to the cache site his Magellan was gone! He retraced his path and found when he went over some railroad tracks it must of popped out. Unfortunately this was a busy road with lots of big trucks and it was smashed flat. And I mean smashed! So I drove over, let him borrow my MAP60CSx and he got the FTF... and is now the owner of a Garmin eTrex instead of the Magellan (not saying a Garmin would handle that any better, he just got a better deal).

Ever hear gunshots nearby while hiking deep in the wild? Would you prefer to be mistaken for a vandal or a target? Everything has it's occasional risks and discomforts. Some people like the stealthy requirements of a muggle-challenge while others prefer to be so far removed that critters are the only muggles around. Different caches for different tastes. Doesn't make any of them worse or better then any others, only makes them better suited to different tastes. I sum up my tastes in caches the same way I sum up my musical tastes... I like the "good" ones. And what I think is "good" might change with my mood but I'm not going to say every micro is "bad" simply because of the size of the container. Life is too short to live with limitations and labels but I sure won't stand in the way of someone who wants to do that.

By seeking this geocache you agree to the terms and conditions that you will stumble and/or loose your balance, scrape your knee, poke your finger(s) pulling sand spurs off your socks/pants/hiking gear and other related clothing, get two splinters (minimum per person), acquire poison ivy and/or poison oak (or poison sumac is areas outside of the normal legal caching radius), stub your toe on a log (aka - may be rock or other obstruction hereby not specifically described in the afore mentioned document), mosquito bit on all exposed or uncovered body parts and sweat profusely. Any failure to meet these conditions will result in an expansion of your fun and may be considered "banked" until you seek the next cache where they may be redeemed with interest until the terms and conditions are satisfied.

A snake encounter is what got me my nice GC "FOCUS" shirt. We were at Suwannee River State Park here in Florida hiking the 12 mile Big Oak trail and caching along the way. I saw on the trail map there was a dot on the map and the words BIG OAK near where we were. So I had my hiking stick under one arm, my GPSr and map in my hands, and looking up at the trees thinking ONE of these oaks had to be THE Big Oak. A little ways down the trail Paddler Found walking behind me yelped out pretty loudly. I turned to see what was up and she was pointing on the trail yelling "You just stepped on that!" and I looked down to see about a 5-foot snake, coiled up laying in the trail looking at my like "What the h3ll are you doing?!??!?". It was sunning itself on the trail and I stepped on it and just kept walking. It slithered away seemingly unharmed and I didn't really see what it was, I was kind of thankful it didn't strike as we were about 6 miles from any civilization. Thus, the "FOCUS" shirt. Thus me spending a lot more time looking down rather then up when hiking.

There are many micro caches as you describe but also there are also many ammo can's just tossed off a trail somewhere with nothing more relevant about the hiding spot then the previous several miles or the next several miles. We often find an ammo can just laying under some tree and then walking back from the cache we see a big spooky tree with a hollow trunk, or several trees twisted and growing together, or some unique spot and look back at the bland hiding spot and wonder why that place was picked. Anyone hiding any cache is at least putting some effort forth to spread the game, but just as not every photo is a National Geographic cover, neither is every cache something to write home about. Fun is what you make it. I also agree with the time constraints.... maintaining several hundred hides takes about ten times the time every month that I get to put into seeking caches. But then again I get pleasure out of reading the fun others had at my hides, too.

So how challenged do you feel about walking down a trail and from 100 feet away, seeing one large tree coming up as you approach GZ and you just walk to the bottom of the tree and pick up the ammo can? I like the challenges, too, but also some caches are only there to bring you to a location. A guard rail cache on a curve in the road showing you a break in the trees and a beautiful view of a winding river, or on a guard rail cache hidden where a road curves around a mountain exposing an overlook into a marvelous valley... those are good caches, too. Each cache has a purpose, be it a challenge, a camo job, a story, some sentimental stuff, a celebration, a location, an event, some history, but the ones that are only hidden for the sake of hiding a cache have a higher chance of being a disappointment, regardless of size or technique.

Isn't that up there with "Don't hate cigarettes, hate the people that lite them".... Your analogy is apt if the person who is complaining about cigarettes is smoking one.And also when the person complaining about finding micros is also hiding them

Isn't that up there with "Don't hate cigarettes, hate the people that lite them".... Respect the planet with your hides, and your searching techniques. Except for LPC's. Plow them down with your SUV and then look for the 35mm canister in the rubble <jk>

FOUND IT! Works GREAT!!!! WOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!! No more screen clutter!!!! Thanks!!!!!

Two boxes???? Sounds like a multi Yeah, micros are the pits, nothing like an ammo can. Micros make you have accurate coords, you actually have to search and you can't find them when you're fifty feet from ground zero.... yuck! Okay, okay.... I was just kidding... put that back into Pandora's box and I'll leave quietly....

Been using out-of-the-box GSAK but was wondering if anyone had a quick answer for this. There is a series of just under 50 caches that I really have no interest in finding. I don't want to delete the waypoints as I am always on the hunt for new places to hide caches, but I'd rather them not be in my GPSr (MAP60CSx) as geocaches. They have a common naming scheme so it's easy to filter them, but what I'd like to do is change all of them to another symbol other then traditional (something like "other?"). I can edit them all one at a time, but thought their has to be a better way of doing this. Any quick hints before I start editing them one at a time? Thanks!

Just read the logs.... wow, now that's a caching adventure... literally....!!!

Several weeks ago we paddled the Little Manatee River and placed a paddle-only cache as far upstream as we could before the skies opened up on us. It was your standard decon, hanging solidly on a broken tree branch and camoed with some natural supplies. With nasty weather for a while we didn't expect a quick FTF. A few weeks later I get a call from another local cacher stating he had his family out for a paddle and his GPSr was bouncing all around and they'd been searching for 30 minutes with no luck. I dropped a little hint on him so he could settle his GPSr down and off he went again. Later that day I get another call from him, still out on the water, with a heck of a tale to tell. Turns out he spent another good bit of time looking and full of frustration he gave up. They started paddling back down stream and about 4/10th's of a mile down he just happened to look over on the bank and in some floating debris was a decon containing bobbing up and down in the water! Wow! He went and re-hid the cache for me but I still don't understand how it could of possibly come loose from it's mount the first time (squirrels at play?). Just think it's amazing that the FTF found the cache almost half a mile from GZ and was wondering if others had stories of a cache being found far from where it's supposed to be....