NuBi

I’ve been reading the message boards regarding the state of Geocaching and I wanted your input. My Geocaching history: I have been caching since January 2002 and have noticed a slow decay in the cache quality in my area. What are the problems that I have noticed? 1. Poorly placed caches in bad locations. 2. Caches placed in too “public” of places (right next to suburban backyards while “muggles” are out playing in the yard). 3. Caches placed in obvious places a mere 15 feet from the parking lot. 4. Very low quality trading, resulting in TNLN. The solution? Many say “become a Premium member and filter filter filter”. I currently am a premium member and do not think that is the solution. Some say read the comments, if the say something like: “Nice cache”, “Easy Find”, “best to hunt this one in the black of night because of all of the neighbors” then you are warned of a potentially poor cache. Currently I have found that this actually works but I believe there is a better way… My idea: Create a form of Geocache report card. When you log your entry you are given several options. 1. Relative amount of “stealth” required. In other words are there 25 neighbors looking at why you are in “their” open space? Or is the cache so remote that if you hurt yourself, consider yourself dead because there is no cell phone coverage and not another human for 50 miles? 2. Quality of container. Is it standard Tupperware or a cleverly disguised work of art? 3. Ease of find. Is the cache hidden in a rotted log in the middle of a vast open field or is it so difficult to find that there are numerous “did not find” logs simply because it was so well hidden? 4. Laziness factor. Sure the cache may be hidden like the best of them but is it located so close to the parking lot that you burn more energy using your arm to shift gears then the walk to the cache? 5. Quality of goods. (This may be hard to control)… Has everyone decided to rob the cache of quality goods only to replace them with used golf balls? I still enjoy Geocaching partially because of what goodies may be waiting my discovery! As you can see, there could be some sort of formula whereby everyone would grade based off of their opinion and then there could be one master score much like the difficulty/terrain concept. What do you think??? Thanks! Nubi

>>"We're going to interview Cook, tally the costs and then meet with the >>prosecutor," he said. Give me a break... meet with the prosecutor... Everyone needs to learn to relax.

The other day I was caching in suburbia and found myself looking for the cache in a small grove of trees. When I walked 15 feet from the trees I noticed there were about 40-50 houses within sight of my location (you have to love those cookie-cutter houses!) I left shortly after searching for 10 minutes because of the “hey look at that creepy guy hanging out in the trees” feeling. Do any of you have similar experiences? I’m not sure if it is a sign of the Geocaching times but is it really necessary to hide a cache that badly, you need to put it in a small patch of trees surrounded by so many houses? I’ve been caching for about two years now and this “quality” of cache seems very common now. Have a great day! NuBi

Good caching skills... I often have thought how cool it would be to find a cache I was not looking for or did not have the coords for... Why don't you just pay to become a member? NuBi Parker, CO

We see the same problem at the complex I am living at (no snipers, rather dog mess)… In fact, my neighbor let’s her dog go in the tiny patch of grass right next to her door, next to our walkway. The grass is dead in a 4 ft by 3 ft rectangle and it is full of dog doo-doo. If her dog goes uses the grass next to where I park and she doesn’t clean it up, I kick the dried mess onto her door entryway. She still has not picked up on the subtle hints.

I want to add that yes, I am lazy too but there is a reason why... I live near Denver, CO and if you have ever been here, you will notice that Denver is flatter then Iowa. Of course the mountains just west of Denver are awesome. So what does this mean? Basically there are a bunch of urban parks and outlying county parks that do not contain a lot of places to hide caches. This results in the typical drive up caches. Why not just put them in the mountains you ask? Traffic and time. When I get off work, everyone else does too. To get to the closest "mountain" recreational area, count on a 45 minute drive through heavy traffic. Now that we are there, figure the cache is more difficult so plan on at least a one-two mile hike (mountainous terrain, not flat remember). The hunt takes 15 minutes once you arrive on location. Don't forget that if it is winter time, you will have about 30 minutes to find the cache before dark. Now you find the cache and head back to your car and them home. Total trip time: 3 hours. Remember, this is a park close to the mountains.. to get further into the mountains figure at least 75 minutes each way. How many of you have 3 hours to spare after work on any given day?

Recently I cracked the display cover (not the actual LCD screen) on my E-Trex Legend. Garmin wrote me saying it would cost $99 to refurbish the unit. Has anyone had any luck ordering parts for your Garmin GPS instead of sending it in? I would much rather pay for a new plastic case or "shell" for the GPS and do it myself then have them do it. Besides for $99, I could keep the cracks on the display, and buy a new el-chipo GPS for use as backup. Thanks NuBi

The draw that your GPS has on the car battery is very minimal. As soon as you run the car, the alternator charges the battery up... No problem. The only problem you *MAY* have is if you DC adapter fails and causes too much power to go into your GPS, but that is unlikely because the DC adapter has protection built into it and the GPS does too to prevent this. My guess is you run more of a risk of someone breaking into your car to get the GPS! NuBi

You may or may not have seen but we had caches banned here in Colorado Springs, CO about 1-2 months ago. The city feared that someone would sue if they got hurt by a geocache. We feel your pain!

1.35 M (4.43 FT) NORTH-NORTHWEST FROM THE CENTER OF A MANHOLE, 0.1 M (0.3 FT) EAST FROM THE EAST EDGE OF THE PAD, 0.1 M (0.3 FT) SOUTH FROM THE NORTH EDGE OF THE PAD AND ABOUT THE SAME HEIGHT AS THE ROAD. It should of read 0.1 M East from the West edge of the pad. But once you get there and actually open your eyes, it can be spotted from 15' away. Does anyone else out here like benchmarking better then geocaching? For me, this activity shadows geocaching by far. NuBi

I went back to the location today and if you can believe it, the benchmark was ON THE CEMENT PAD. I must of had severe tunnel vision when approaching the area because as you can see in the picture, it was right there. Anyway case closed.

First off, the picture is of a manhole. I thought it could be the mark because it looks like a bulseye, and it had the writing welded onto it. Now when I read the following after the fact... THE MARK IS A STANDARD COLORADO SPRINGS DEPT. OF UTILITIES DISK SET IN A DRILL HOLE ON TOP OF THE NORTH END OF A CONCRETE SLAB THAT IS A UTILITY MANHOLE BOX WHICH MEASURES 2.17 M (7.12 FT) BY 4.15 M (13.62 FT) WITH A POWER BOX MARKED--FTGX19 First problem, is that I didn't know what a drill hole should look like. Second I didn't know what COS Utilities uses for benchmarks. And third, there was nothing else in that square cement pad besides the manhole. 1.35 M (4.43 FT) NORTH-NORTHWEST FROM THE CENTER OF A MANHOLE, 0.1 M (0.3 FT) EAST FROM THE EAST EDGE OF THE PAD, 0.1 M (0.3 FT) SOUTH FROM THE NORTH EDGE OF THE PAD AND ABOUT THE SAME HEIGHT AS THE ROAD. This dosn't seem to make sence. In one line it says it's 4.43' N-NW but then it says it's east of the east edge of the pad. And then the light came on! I'm almost 100% sure I know the correct mark now. there was a hole about 4' NW of the manhole that had a stake nailed into it. There was a green plastic cover laying next to it that was broken in half. When I first saw it, it looked like a water sprinkler system. I'll have to go back tomorrow and take new pictures! Anyone notice geocaching is more of a private secluded sport, while hunting for benchmarks seems to put you next to busy roads, and near curious onlookers who think you are crazy?

First off, the picture is of a manhole. I thought it could be the mark because it looks like a bulseye, and it had the writing welded onto it. Now when I read the following after the fact... THE MARK IS A STANDARD COLORADO SPRINGS DEPT. OF UTILITIES DISK SET IN A DRILL HOLE ON TOP OF THE NORTH END OF A CONCRETE SLAB THAT IS A UTILITY MANHOLE BOX WHICH MEASURES 2.17 M (7.12 FT) BY 4.15 M (13.62 FT) WITH A POWER BOX MARKED--FTGX19 First problem, is that I didn't know what a drill hole should look like. Second I didn't know what COS Utilities uses for benchmarks. And third, there was nothing else in that square cement pad besides the manhole. 1.35 M (4.43 FT) NORTH-NORTHWEST FROM THE CENTER OF A MANHOLE, 0.1 M (0.3 FT) EAST FROM THE EAST EDGE OF THE PAD, 0.1 M (0.3 FT) SOUTH FROM THE NORTH EDGE OF THE PAD AND ABOUT THE SAME HEIGHT AS THE ROAD. This dosn't seem to make sence. In one line it says it's 4.43' N-NW but then it says it's east of the east edge of the pad. And then the light came on! I'm almost 100% sure I know the correct mark now. there was a hole about 4' NW of the manhole that had a stake nailed into it. There was a green plastic cover laying next to it that was broken in half. When I first saw it, it looked like a water sprinkler system. I'll have to go back tomorrow and take new pictures! Anyone notice geocaching is more of a private secluded sport, while hunting for benchmarks seems to put you next to busy roads, and near curious onlookers who think you are crazy?

http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=ae4295 Please give me your opinion, thanks!

I just started benchmarking and have noticed a few things. 1. More times then not I haven't been able to locate the benchmark either because it was on private property, fenced in, or on top of a tower. 2. People look at me as if I'm up to something illegal. For example, today I was in an alley next to the interstate. I was in public property that was adjacent to private property. I felt uncomfortable. I have actually considered looking into buying a bright yellow hard hat so people think I'm official or something. (don't laugh) Oh, one question. I found a benchmark at our post-office that was located about 4' above the ground plastered to the wall. There was the usual text on the mark, and it had a line stamped horizontally across the mark. What does the line mean? Thanks!

I just started benchmarking and have noticed a few things. 1. More times then not I haven't been able to locate the benchmark either because it was on private property, fenced in, or on top of a tower. 2. People look at me as if I'm up to something illegal. For example, today I was in an alley next to the interstate. I was in public property that was adjacent to private property. I felt uncomfortable. I have actually considered looking into buying a bright yellow hard hat so people think I'm official or something. (don't laugh) Oh, one question. I found a benchmark at our post-office that was located about 4' above the ground plastered to the wall. There was the usual text on the mark, and it had a line stamped horizontally across the mark. What does the line mean? Thanks!

Well, with any luck, you will get rain over there! Pike National Forest Here in Colorado reoppened after a month or so just today. It's been too dry here to allow recreational activities in the forest.

>All well and good but that still does nothing to >prevent the city from being sued in the event >something should happen. They are just trying to >limit their liabilities and they aren't >responsible if someone's mailbox gets blown up, >but they are if they get injured in the park. >Again, it's all about the money. I understand your point, and understand how they are trying to cover themselves, but answer this.. If you get hurt in a park while hiking, can you sue the city? If you can sue, then what's the real difference between getting hurt hiking and getting hurt via a cache? If they can get sued by a person getting hurt hiking, then hiking should be banned too. If you can't sue, then the city is saying you are accepting responsibility for your own actions while hiking, but we are accepting responsibility for you opening up containers. One positive idea perhaps... Maybe we as cachers in the Springs community could sign a waiver form saying we won't sue if we get hurt? What do you think? My $0.02.

>All well and good but that still does nothing to >prevent the city from being sued in the event >something should happen. They are just trying to >limit their liabilities and they aren't >responsible if someone's mailbox gets blown up, >but they are if they get injured in the park. >Again, it's all about the money. I understand your point, and understand how they are trying to cover themselves, but answer this.. If you get hurt in a park while hiking, can you sue the city? If you can sue, then what's the real difference between getting hurt hiking and getting hurt via a cache? If they can get sued by a person getting hurt hiking, then hiking should be banned too. If you can't sue, then the city is saying you are accepting responsibility for your own actions while hiking, but we are accepting responsibility for you opening up containers. One positive idea perhaps... Maybe we as cachers in the Springs community could sign a waiver form saying we won't sue if we get hurt? What do you think? My $0.02.

I found a hand grenade. It wasn't live and I took it. It's really fun to pretend pulling the pin, and rolling it to where my wife is eating, or roll it over by my cat!

I found a hand grenade. It wasn't live and I took it. It's really fun to pretend pulling the pin, and rolling it to where my wife is eating, or roll it over by my cat!

I have to agree with lullabud. What a joke. Are we supposed to accept the decision and forget about it because we don't want to piss anybody off? What's so silly about the idea is I had a micro cache in one of the parks here in Colorado Springs. It was placed in April, 2002 and retrieved last week. The original contents were a small pencil, an eraser, and a strip of paper. When I retrieved it, it contained an army patch, a jingle bell, 2 Mexican coins, and a sticker. No HIV needles, no bombs, no anthrax. I guess we cheated death this time!

I have to agree with lullabud. What a joke. Are we supposed to accept the decision and forget about it because we don't want to piss anybody off? What's so silly about the idea is I had a micro cache in one of the parks here in Colorado Springs. It was placed in April, 2002 and retrieved last week. The original contents were a small pencil, an eraser, and a strip of paper. When I retrieved it, it contained an army patch, a jingle bell, 2 Mexican coins, and a sticker. No HIV needles, no bombs, no anthrax. I guess we cheated death this time!

It looks like Colorado Springs Parks Dept is making a lot of people remove their geocaches from the parks.. This is part of an e-mail I received... After reviewing parks policies, staff members have determined that leaving a container of any kind in a public park within the City of Colorado Springs jurisdiction creates a potential hazard. We realize that the initial cache is placed with safe contents, but the Parks Department could be liable if someone were to tamper with the geocache container and cause harm to another person. On behalf of the Director of the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, I am asking that you remove your cache within the next two (2) weeks. Please keep in mind I will be monitoring the site, and park maintenance has been notified to remove any caches found after the two week period. What does everyone think?

Navigating in a small aircraft I was flying. (Managed to fly through some rain.. REMINDER TO ALL! A GPS will tell you where the airport is, not where the towers are!!!!!!!!) Finding a hotel on a vacation. Fishing spots. Mark the altitude atop Pikes Peak in Colorado. Used as a spedometer when my spedometer died in my car. On the bicycle to see how far I've biked. Road directions. Check what time it was. Ah, how I love my GPS!