GerryandJoy

I'm not sure about any hard copy magazines, but The Online Geocacher is an ezine that you might look into for getting things published...

For what it's worth... My wife and I got into Geocaching last summer and when we started, it was more about the thrill of getting outside, away from the t.v. and doing something different together. it was about seeing sights and discovering areas in our own backyard that we never new existed. Geocaching helped us find a common interest together and to get rid of that lazy weekend mentality. The thrill of it was and still is for us in the actual finding of the cache that someone else had hidden as a bonus to the scenery we get to enjoy. Each cache was/is memorable for us, and we have hundreds of photographs of each of us with excited looks on our faces. As we find the cache and dig through it, yes, sometimes we are a bit disappointed in the things that we discover. There is just something about finding a lone toy soldier that the family dog has chewed up that to us is aesthetically unappealing. As we found more and more of these types of caches, we decided that we were going to try to do something about this. Like so many others, we went to the Dollar Tree and bought things that we thought would be more appealing...soap bubbles, neat little pencil erasers, bells etc. That lasted for 2 trips out because I realized that I was doing exactly the same thing that I had begun to hate. I figured out that I was going to change my own behavior. I understood that hey...I'm out here Geocaching...why am I going to put junk when I can put actual geocaching swag. Diligence paid off and I was able to find places that I could order things specifically related to Geocaching over theinternet. Groundspeak sells a multitude of things that I could buy and put inside caches...and yet not break the bank. So..now in the caches that I find...I will only put geocaching specific items. I practice CITO on every cache I find...those bubble gum wrappers are replaced with compass zipper pulls, or those chewed up lone toy soldiers are exchanged for travel racers. I remember the basics of what got us into Geocaching in the first place. The lure of treasure...whether it be a beautiful view of a lake I never knew existed...or that treasured trackable coin that started out in The Netherlands and has been moved to New Hampshire because My wife and I discovered it on The Cape and moved it along to the White Mountains on a weekend getaway. Pardon my long winded posting...but I just wanted to say what was on my mind. If everyone remembered back to when they first started Geocaching...and what drew them to it...then we might all be rewarded with Treasure...

Greetings Fellow Traveling Men Bro. Gerry Bates Marshal Massasoit/Narragansett Lodge Fall River, Ma.

Wow...I just noticed that. I sent the OP a messge but haven't heard back from them. Not sure if they are active any more or not they haven't logged a find since 2003...so I may look into some. I have a couple of sources in mind. This is an idea that I am liking a lot so I will stay with it.

jazep... sent you an email. hopefully I can help with something.

I had some cards printed up that say "Thanks For The Cache" on them. They have our Store Logo and our Forum Screen name. Once in awhile, I'll leave one of these in them. Also, we had some small 1/2 dollar size rubber softies made with our website on them. I've gotten several emails from people saying that they have forwarded the softies in caches they have found in our state onward to caches in their respective regions. Rarely will I leave one of our business cards, but we have not had complaints so far. I suppose it's a matter of listening to responses from people that log finds after you to see if there is any negative feedback.

Fantastic Idea. I would be interested in carrying some.

I resolve to find the time to get out and hit 100 caches this year. After 100, I think I'll have seen enough to know what NOT to do...and with luck will make my first hide!

Like so many others, We got into GeoCaching because of the idea of it. Take a few sets of numbers pulled from the Internet and use a gps to go miles and miles away to some unknown destination. Trudge for hours bushwhacking, climbing, wading, hiking through who knows what type of poisonous vegetation to a spot that we've never ever seen. The surprises in store for us with this type of activity are and have been on both sides of the fence. In some cases, we've come across beautiful views that we just never knew existed. Others have led us to spots where I've not wished anyone to see. The point is I suppose that with our pursuit of the unknown, we are always hoping for the treasure to be found. Whether that treasure is the natural beauty of the spot we finally end up, or the beauty of the reward after searching in vain and finally locating that well placed and disguised cache container. After a few initial disappointing finds inside the containers, we decided that we were going to try to better the experience of the cacher following behind us. Not being one to determine what is or is not treasure to the next person, we simply decided that we were going to try to make an impact on the quality of the caches that left us disappointed. We are still very new at this geocaching thing, but have already tried to make difference. At first we went to dollar stores and bought bubbles and other cheap things to put inside. We tried to make things kid friendly...and also considered those that have no children and yet want nice things. We started looking on the Internet and found ways to try to improve the caches...so we have created our own geocaching business so that we can offer things for people to purchase to place in their own caches. With this, we have built up our own geopack so that we can place nice things at the same time. As it turns out, I am my own best customer because I end up ordering things for my store inventory and they end up being put into my own cache finds. We are just trying to make the overall adventure pleasing to whomever may follow behind us.