Gill & Tony

I'm trying to solve a puzzle cache, so I'm not going to put the actual values here. One part of the puzzle involves converting various coordinate formats to the more usual N12 34.567 E123 45.678 format. The example shown below has the same pattern of letters and numbers, but the actual values are different from the puzzle. So, can anyone advise what a coordinate formal which looks like d37tdv7th8g is called and, where I might find a converter? Thanks Tony

Lets go back to the very first mention if Lab Caches, a Groundspeak blog from 2014, long before Adventures were a thing https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2014/01/iheartgeocachingfaq/#:~:text=What is a Lab Cache,shape the future of geocaching. A Lab Cache is an experimental and extremely rare geocache type. These geocaches are a way for us to innovate and test new ideas to make geocaching even better. By creating and finding a Lab Cache, you’re helping shape the future of geocaching.

https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=144&pgid=948 Item 1.2 says Adventure Lab Caches are included in these statistics: Cache Types.

Groundspeak says they are. You say they aren't. Hmm... Who to believe? I agree that they are a half-hearted mongrel of a cache and Groundspeak should make them mainstream, but they are caches.

I completely agree with this, but there is a difference between someone breaking the rules and someone following the rules. Do I care if a team goes caching, splits up and finds lots of caches, signing each others'' names? No, because the caches are there waiting to be found. The fact that not everyone found every cache may be shonky, but there is no reason for me to care. Their approach isn't for me, but doesn't affect me. Do I care if someone logs finds on caches which aren't there? Yes, because that is against the rules and it can affect me.

Have I seen the Adventures in question? Yes. They did not meet the guidelines for adventures and so Groundspeak removed them. Problem solved. No, I would not go running around visiting waymarks. I use GSAK for my stats and GSAK would let me count waymarks in my stats. I found a few before I realised that they weren't for me and those few do not appear in my stats. Adventures are different from caches. Lab caches are caches.

I regard an adventure as a wrapper for (usually) up to 5 lab caches. The best adventures (and the majority in my experience) follow a theme. Each lab cache is an example of that theme. I find them enjoyable. Most adventures are more interesting and more fun than a bison tube in a slot in a sign or a systema container in the end of a guard rail. I have said many times that Groundspeak's implementation of lab caches is terrible, they should have been made mainstream long ago, they should have all the features of any other cache type. Come on HQ, do the right thing!

Why do you care about people wanting to "pump their numbers"? How does it impact you? If someone does 100 adventures and gets 500 finds, does that hurt you in any way? If you don't want adventure labs to "inflate your find count", don't do them. Nobody is forcing you to do them. I don't like waymarks. I don't do them, but I know other folk do like them so I don't bitch and moan about them. I just ignore them

True. Adventures and caches are not the same. An adventure is a wrapper for (usually) up to 5 Lab Caches. You don't have to perform any action at the posted coordinates of an adventure, you can't claim a find for an adventure.

I guess it depends upon your definition of "Cache". Go to a location, perform some action there, if required go to one or more other locations and perform an action at each, and after you have successfully completed the necessary actions you get awarded a find on one of the geocache listing services. That is a cache, at least to me. I agree that Groundspeak's implementation of lab caches is terrible. All the things we take for granted with other cache types are missing. I agree that Lab caches should have been taken out of the "experimental" bucket and made mainstream long ago. But that, at least to me, doesn't stop these half-hearted things from being caches.

I don't understand the problem. Lab caches are caches. OK, Groundspeak does a lousy job of their implementation, but if you find a lab cache it is a find, just like any other cache. I have a 2582 finds including 144 lab caches. I found 11 of those Lab caches before Adventures were a thing. At the two Mega events I attended, Lab caches were put out independently of any adventure and they had a theme within the event. The best adventures (and a majority in my experience) have a theme and the Lab caches follow that theme. To the best of my knowledge, nobody complained when we found 10 Lab caches one after the other at Alexandra, but there are lots of complaints when we find five one after the other in an adventure. I know Waymarking is a different thing, but I don't hear any complaints because you can get multiple "finds" at one location. An Art-Nouveau building with the construction date clearly displayed, housing a Post Office, which used to house a bank and has interesting door handles can get you 5 finds for a single photo. Like HoochDog I don't access my Groundspeak Statistics page. In my case because the stats are inaccurate, incomplete and limited. They don't include stats from other listing sites, they get the date wrong on half my lab caches (which destroyed my "most caches in a day" figure) and they simply don't allow the user to express the statistics in other ways. I use GSAK and FSG for my stats and post them on my own site. As far as I'm concerned Groundspeak stats are irrelevant.

Long before geocaching we lived in Bermuda for a few years. At that time, Bermuda residents with UK passports didn't need visas to enter the US. This was well-known by East Coast immigration officials. We went to California and took a day trip into Mexico (Tijuana). Getting into Mexico was no problem, but the West Coast immigration officials hadn't heard of Bermuda, let alone the visa arrangements. It took a long time to get back to the USA.

There are many people in this thread who dislike - hate even - Adventure labs. May I offer a simple suggestion to those folk: Don't download the app, delete the app if you have already loaded it and if Groundspeak offers you an AL credit, ignore it. That way you don't have to get involved in the game you hate, but those of us who do enjoy it can continue to do so. All this whinging and moaning about aspects of the game is what led to the emasculated version of challenge caches which we have today. Many really good challenges can no longer be made because folk whinged about them. Maybe you don't like AL's. Fine - ignore them. I don't like high-terrain caches - I'll just ignore them. But what I won't do is complain about them and try to get them removed.

OK, That would explain it. It does sound more like a bug than a feature. Sometimes, getting a correct answer takes a while, several second on occasion. Confusing for sure. I hope it is a bug and it gets fixed.

I visited a location yesterday, gave an incorrect answer and got the failure message. When I made another attempt and hit "Submit", nothing happened. No response. I drove home and tried again, no response. I restarted the phone and opened the app again, entered another incorrect attempt. Got the wrong answer message. Tried a third attempt and, again, no response. Has there been a change such that I can only make one try at an answer? Am I doing something wrong (apart from getting answers wrong)? Help, please.

But they are not indistinguishable, any more than my multi cache stats are indistinguishable from my traditional cache stats. Lab caches are just another type of cache, and have been since long before adventures. Go to a location, do whatever is necessary to complete the requirements for that cache type and claim the find. Requirements vary by cache type.

You may be missing the point. Unless you buy a SIM from the local provider you have no cell phone access. The ALO on the island lets you navigate to the locations with a GPSr, gather the answer, then get to somewhere with wireless access to answer the questions in the app. Having a fence bigger than the island means the question is unlocked anywhere on the island.

Low terrain short hike or P&G are fine for me. I'm not physically able to do long hikes over difficult terrain and I'll probably never fill my D/T grid, unless I can find challenges whose D & T are based on challenge difficulty. And power trails are great for getting Labyrinth souvenirs. 7 of 8 unfound caches nearest to my home are T3.0 or higher. I will never be able to claim those.

Norfolk Island has only one cell phone provider and no roaming ability. Most accommodation providers provide wireless access. The ALO on NI has a put a geofence bigger than the island so you can visit the locations, gather the information, return to your accommodation and answer the questions there, using wireless rather than mobile data.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/apply-some-common-sense-geocache-clue-triggers-bomb-scare-in-nelson/

Easy. I travelled to around 25 countries before I started caching and have since found caches in 42. Plus three countries (Hong Kong, Brunei, Bosnia and Herzegovina) where I visited post caching and didn't find any caches. Additional cost for caching beyond regular travel costs, negligible except for one exorbitant taxi fare for getting to a cache in Fiji. Why is it more unfair that I can afford, and enjoy, travelling; than the fact that I am not physically capable of high terrain caches and will never fill my Fizzy?

In central Florida, near the wonderfully named Yeehaw Junction is a power trail of (approximately 165) challenge caches. I discovered this several months before my trip to Florida and set about qualifying for as many as I could. My favourite was the Alphabetical Order challenge. Find a cache whose name begins with "A". At least one day later find one beginning with "B" all the way up to "Z". I was up to about "L" when I discovered the challenge. Lots of planning went into my next several caching trips. The only "X" cache within a few hundred kilometres was "Xenia Onatopp", one of a series based on James Bond characters. This was a short detour on my way to Sydney airport for another trip. I DNFed it! Fortunately my son created a puzzle cache - "X marks the spot" - not far from home and I got the "X" with an FTF. I finally completed the challenge a week or so before departure and finally claimed 33 of the challenges. The series is a great collection of challenges, many of which, including my favourite, would no longer be allowed.

GC57Z2N; GC47J4N; GC45RN3 Enjoy

My son has 3 (pre-moratorium) lonely cache challenges - 5, 15 and 50 years, based on minimum 183 days - and there is a checker for them. the checker allows multiple finds on the same day, so if you are 2nd to find on the day it still allows it. Unfortunately, having completed his 100 years he submitted the 100-year challenge which was rejected under the new rules.

I agree with this in general. However, in the context of someone asking for help, "How can I do some specific thing?" telling them that you or I wouldn't do it isn't relevant. They want to do it, so help them, or don't bother. In the context of someone asking "Should I do this thing?" giving an opinion is relevant