WaldenRun
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Posts posted by WaldenRun
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MA has 173 pages of actives. I have found all the caches on the last two pages. I had to scroll forward to page 64 before finding a page without a find.
My first two hides are on page 165 of 173.
-WR
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All I know is I have a cache in a creek here. Terraserver show it in the creek, though you can't zoom in enough to pinpoint it. Google earth shows it in the ditch beside the road about 100 feet away.
I wouldn't trust googles accuracy very far, it's hit and miss at best.
I have heard these tales about GoogleEarth before, but haven't been able to verify one yet. Is this the cache you are talking about?:
It looks about right to me.
-WR
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I've heard this but Google Maps seems to be very accurate in the San Diego area. Of course, if our GPS measurement tool is only accurate with 15-30 feet then it's hard to know if Google Maps is off unless it's way off. By the way, don't the reviewers use Google Maps to check the locations of new cache submittals?Google Earth image registration can be quite a ways off. I've seen places where it is wrong by a couple hundred feet. So you could end up with very bad coordinates this way.Yes Fizzy, I certainly can understand where the GoogleEarth coords need to be checked against a second source. Can you supply a set of continental US coords where I can see a large discrepancy with something like USAPhotoMaps or Topozone?
Thanks,
-WR
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I'm working on a new cache that I want to hide underwater. Since I'm not a diver, I have no clue how to determine how much weight is needed to sink a very bouyant object.
Yes, I could just attach a lot of poundage, but I want folks to be able to pick the thing up.
So, does anyone know how to do this? Is there a math formula that will get me there?
First thing I would try is to add ballast until it sinks in my bathtub.
Of course, I would have to adjust for salinity if I was going to hide in the ocean (or certain lakes).
-WR
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I had trouble while hiding a difficult cache in the side of a cliff today. The cliff was on the edge of a lake in a cove so the GPSr naturally acted a bit strange. On top of that it was snowing so hard I could only see about 150 feet. I could not get a really good lock when I was on top of the cache, but the accuracy from out on the ice was good. I took several readings from both locations. I want to make sure the coordinates are as accurate as possible when submitted for the reviewer so how should I list them? Should I:
A. Use the coordinates straight from the GPSr at ground zero when the accuracy was 94 feet?
or
B. Use calculated coordinates from walking out into the open where the accuracy is 24 feet and work the numbers with an estimated distance and bearing?
Mapsource calculates the distance between the two locations (GZ and clear ice) as 528 feet when the actual distance was about 40 feet. My gut tells me to go with Option B.
See if you can zoom in with GoogleEarth and convince yourself that you have a good idea where the cache is in the photo. Mark a waypoint there and use the coordinates from GoogleEarth.
-WR
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I ran a pocket query earlier and usually get in it email within few minutes, but haven't received it yet tonight. I went back and generated another another and did not receive it yet either. I then went in and tried to send myself a message from the site and haven't received it yet either. I checked and my email is working.
Anyone else else experienceing slow PQs?
Lately, email has not been the most reliable part of the site. I am currently experiencing the same issue that you are, but I know another cacher for whom it is working quite quickly. I dunno.
-WR
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I just received notification of a new cache nearby (100 miles): Green River State Park (GC10WZ2) by Utah State Parks. Rated 1/1, a no-trading cache. Just sign the log and take a small souvenir item (with a little catch):
a State Park Fee is required to access this cache. The unspecified fee happens to be $5.00!
I am surprised you begrudge the $5 to maintain a park more than the $20+ dollars to the oil companies and Middle Eastern countries:
100 * 2 / 20 * 2.25
-WR
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This summer, we lost five marks when this event went off:
-WR
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Any advice? I've asked some of the people who've found it latley but they just seem to ignore me. This is one tough cache.
I'd probably think about something above my head that looks like a piece of a tree. Maybe a burl that has been hollowed out, or a branch stuck back into a drilled out hole. Please let us know after you figure it out.
-WR
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This is no different than a cache in a tree. You arrive on-site and send your kid up the tree. He brings the cache down and everyone logs the find. He then replaces the cache.
I usually end up playing the "kid". I get to swim the nasty river, swim out to the island, climb the tree, cross the tree, hang over the edge, go over the edge, etc. The biggest challenge doing this is dealing with an SO who is hysterical about the challenge, but wants the smiley.
-WR
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What pranks have you pulled on fellow cachers. Here is one of mine on a night cache a while back. Terminal of the Insane, check out the Oct. 23, 2005 logs.
I know one that was pulled ON me.
Last Spring, we saw a new cache pop up. Being FTF hounds at that point, we headed right out the door. We searched long and hard trying to get FTF on that "Sloop Fair Lady" cache, without success. Later, back at the apt, we started seeing Found logs from other cachers. Eventually, we returned and made the find without too much trouble, swearing we must have looked in that spot during our first visit.
Fast forward to a GeoMeet help this Fall. The host of the event comes over to chat and asks me if I ever checked to see what you could anagram from ""Sloop Fair Lady"...
-WR
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most ammo cans in an urban Environment get a visit from the local Bomb Squad even some ABS pipe caches. I will do large or medium but not ARMY Issue containers For urban placement. eventhough i would use a better container for a Bomb the GP thinks anything ARMY is Explosive.
Greg
I can't help but think some Boston caches might get "discovered" and blown up today.
Check CNN if this doesn't make sense to you.
-WR
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Fancy that. My five year was day before yesterday.
Lots o' changes in the game.
-WR
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Nashville TN suffered the same issue - lots of abandoned caches, lots of 'lame pointless caches' by some folks' definition, the whole area was suffering.
They worked with cache owners and their Reviewer and held a clean up event, scoured the listings for 'bad' caches, got a whole bunch of folks together, handed out 'hit lists' of caches to be collected or repaired, and groups went out and collected most of them, repaired others, and in one weekend worked wonders to bring happiness to the community and accuracy to the listings.
You might host something similar.
EDIT: Please don't move this thread, as this is an issue that affects every city, and I believe such periodic (yearly?) cache cleanups should be done everywhere!
An honest post would have included a bit more information about this cleanup.
There was a "whole bunch of folks" because they all wanted to log ANOTHER find on the caches. That certainly brought a lot of "happiness" to the Nashville folks. There are now some "new" micros in locations not too far from the old hides. Takes too much time to cache outside the city.
-WR
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So me and my girlfriend spent the weekend up in the Angeles Oaks area in So. Cal. this past weekend and did some hiking and caching, We then took a drive yesterday up to the top of some of the local mountains and we stopped at a turnout, i figured it would be a nice view and it was, as i stood there i looked around over the guardrail and spotted a small film canister hanging on a branch off the side of the turn out, my "geo senses" must have been at full speed ahead!
inside the canister was a tag that said GZ with its coordinates, no log or anything else, i put a note inside and logged i was there but the cache hasnt been listed yet, anything like this ever happen to you?
i posted a link to the pic here..
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a319/nyt...identalfind.jpg
Near as I can tell, you found waypoint two of this cache. Good job. Shorting multi's is one of my favorite parts of the game. Were you in the area of 34.1706 / -116.8868?
-WR
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The thing you are overlooking is the fact that the cache doesn't see the same amount of traffic for the entire three years. In fact, it is not extraordinary to see a mature cache in the woods to go weeks, months or even years between visits.... The last thing wwe want is three months worth of compacted leaves that form a "geo-trail" to become a hardpack dirt trail in three years, thus increasing erosion, and our hobby's impact on the land. ...That is not so true up this way. We still have limited micro-spew, so not everybody has developed a drive-by habit. Our newer cachers learn that woods are part of the game, and come to enjoy visiting them. If your Christmas crop of cachers is pavement bound, well, you reap what you sow.
-WR
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This article is somewhat more complex than an ad for a water purification system:
http://www.wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?reque...4&page=0235
I will be quite happy if just ONE Madison Avenue junkie lets the words sink in enough
so that next time his mind goes past the hiking hottie bending over the stream to use her
PUR.
-WR
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Filter schmilter. Bubbling brooks flowing over moss-covered rocks have always served me well. What is the advantage of the back-country if you can't trust the water? Yes, there are risks, but Taco Bell worries me a LOT more.
-WR
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Talk about "Remember When?"! I was just looking at the PQ results for my micro finds. I started caching at the end of January, 2002. I found my first micro in JUNE of that year, and at my first anniversary I STILL only had ONE.
-WR
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I just ran the Micro Spew Rating for all three cities. I used the first Zip Codes listed by the Post Office lookup for each city and a radius of 50 miles.
Biloxi (zip 39530) 59/176 (33.5% Spew)
Mobile (zip 36601) 53/190 (27.9% Spew)
New Orleans (zip 70112) 253/492 (51.4% Spew)
I'm covered in splooge, apparently. However, Biloxi has more Micro-Spew than Mobile, Mr. Kettle.
However, with 239 non-micro caches in the area (more than either Mobile or Biloxi) there is still plenty of caching to be done that doesn't involve offending the micro-haters in the crowd.
Great thread!
Y'all should come up to New England. I have been fighting micro-spew for a while, with moderate success. Of the 2157(!) caches within 50 miles of where I am sitting, only 221 are traditional micros, or just about 10%. I've had to be nasty at times, but we gotta make a stand
Yes, like the OP, I have lost my top spot to some numbers guys, but all of them have traveled out-of-region to hit high density spew areas. I'll only complain about that if they return and spread the infection.
I'm no so anti-micro that I don't hunt them, but my 195 traditional micros out of 2783 finds (7%) is sure to be one of the lower percentages amongst cachers with 2000+ finds.
-WR
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I am now thinking that anywhere near the perimeter is a bad idea. While I was taking some photos to log this locationless cache, someone wrote down my plate number. I was subsequently called into the FBI office in Providence RI to explain myself.
That experience was recalled when I found a recently hidden micro quite near the same airport. That led to this log.
Sooooooo, we are out this morning trying to FTF a new multi-cemetery cache. Yes, one of the stages is right next to the SAME airport. We were not there more than 90 seconds when Office Letsmovealongnow stops to see if things are OK.
-WR
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Not that I have ever used any of this, but GUIDs have not always been around. While they are now used in most places in the code, you should still be able to find areas where the old-style lookups are used. Those lookups tended to be based on adding one (1) to the ID of the last created item of that type.
Take log IDs for example. When using the site, you will usually see "?GUID=xyz" in the URL. However, "?LID=n" will also return a log entry. If n is latest log in the database, the next log will be n+1. So, a bot could TRY looking at each log as it is created. Rumor has it that this would also show you reviewer logs. That hole may have been closed.
In the OLD days, you could look at newly created caches quite easily using this technique. Fixing that was one of the first defenses made against FTF hackers.
I dare say the war is still being fought!
-WR
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What Fascinates You About Geocaching?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
That with the right sort of hide, I can motivate folks to go for a walk in the woods. When they come back out, I just think the World has gotten a little better. -WR