Mearth

A partial roll of self-sticking traction/grip tape. Haven't dropped my nalgene in the sea since.

Hazards are part of the game. I think it would be great to compile pics of the local hazards so that cachers passing through the area (or getting outdoors for the first time in their lives) have a heads up. Maybe in a regional forum? Maybe on the regional club 'sites? But I tend to agree that navigating the terrain (including flora and fauna) should be the cacher's responsibility. Curious: Since I don't live where poison ivy does...will it still getcha when it's dormant?

Okie Doke...I have a Palm on it's way. Don't know the details as a friend is sending their old model. I may return with questions! Thanks for the input. 'Hawks all the way...

This case involves plagiarism which i feel is malicious and should not be tolerated. Go get 'em.

Thanks for the info! I love the idea of the Tungsten (MP3!), but the price tag is hard to deal with. I have had a few folks recommend looking for used a Palm m500 saying they are now cheap and real straight-forward.

Well, there's that film can waypoint that I sat on for 20 minutes while I studied the surrounding area inch by inch. Then there's the cache I never did find because I locked my keys in my truck and realized it immediately. After many minutes of grubby knees and neck spasms peering in and around every wheel-well, I finally decided my hide-a-key was gone and called a friend to deliver my spare. It starts to rain. My cache-mates are wearing cotton and getting increasingly surly with me. Hunted for the cache in the meantime. Difficult hide. The clue was "look with your hands, not your eyes". Groped sandstone for 30 minutes with no luck. Friend shows up with her mother-in-law's spares. It's really raining now and pretty much dark and cache-mates are already piling in my friend's mini-van. Desperate, I again begin peering in the wheel wells, only this time my new mantra surfaces: "look with your hands..." and I reached out and grabbed the danged key hider (hidden originally BY ME) on the first try. Humiliations galore. I'd have much rather been aced on a 1* cache that evening.

Isn't the cache owner a big part of the problem in this case? If the cache was "long-missing"? I dunno...when I read the OP I flashed on a lonely gomer getting some sense of connection to the world by pretending to travel and play a game. Seems like a fairly harmless fantasy that has to bring him some satisfaction (which just reflects how miserable he must be). I vote to leave it alone. You're bound to encounter a more interesting problem to occupy your time. If not, you are welcome to a few of mine. Free shipping, world-wide.

I'm ready to buy a PDA and go paperless. I'm a penny-pincher with little (to no) innate techno-savvy. I'm hoping to get a no-nonsense model that holds a charge well. I prefer to spend my money on things that serve more than one purpose, so if you have a model that you routinely use for other things, I'd appreciate that info too. Any recommendations?

This is my fairly constant practice. I happen to have a steady supply of free swag so there's no expense. I think it's a great thing to do to keep the standards up some. But as mentioned previously, it doesn't last. One or two families with 3 or 4 kids all trading stuff they no longer want can have a big, quick impact. I also tend to stock my own caches with only a few toys, and lots of items that just about anybody could use. So far, this seems to stave off the plundering. Even a kid can't honestly look at a chewed, 4-cent army guy and call it a fair trade for a flashlight.

Truly masterful. I only hope to pull something like that off someday. I'll skip the flu part, though. Thanks for sharing the story. It's inspiring.

Thanks!

I'm having the same trouble, while watching another local cacher drop 1/2 a dozen TB's for a cache machine tomorrow! Or perhaps, all I'm seeing are her logs.

Server Error in '/' Application. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'TL_DATE_LOG', table 'GEO.dbo.TRACK_LOG_DISTANCE'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails. The statement has been terminated. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'TL_DATE_LOG', table 'GEO.dbo.TRACK_LOG_DISTANCE'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails. The statement has been terminated. Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below. Stack Trace: [sqlException: Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'TL_DATE_LOG', table 'GEO.dbo.TRACK_LOG_DISTANCE'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails. The statement has been terminated.] System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() +180 Groundspeak.Web.SqlData.SqlConnectionManager.ExecuteNonQuery(String sql, Database database) +148 Groundspeak.Web.SqlData.SqlWaypointController.CreateLogData(Guid LogGUID, Int64 WptRefID, Int64 OwnerID, DateTime LogDate, Int64 LogTypeID, String Note, Boolean IsEncrypted, Boolean OwnerCannotDelete, Int64 ObjWptID, WptDataSources DataSource, Double Latitude, Double Longitude) +2160 Groundspeak.Web.GPX.WptLog.Create(Guid LogGUID, Int64 OwnerID, Int64 WptRefID, DateTime LogDate, Int64 LogTypeID, String Note, Boolean IsEncrypted, Boolean OwnerCannotDelete, Int64 ObjWptID, WptDataSources DataSource, Double Latitude, Double Longitude) +164 Geocaching.UI.LogBookPanel.CreateNewLog(Boolean CheckConfirm) +2346 Geocaching.UI.LogBookPanel.LogButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) +43 System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e) +108 System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +57 System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +18 System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +33 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +1319 HUH? Anyone?

Your ashes can be made into glass beads. Then it would be up to you and your surviving cache partner to decide whether or not to identify the guy in the glass. Anybody in your area who blows or sculpts glass can do this for you. They look great and nobody would ever know just from looking at them. I have a friend who plans to be converted into glass beads so friends and family members can cart her around or toss her in the sea as they wish.

Antiseptic wipes, a bandana, bug juice, tweezers, a tiny bottle of baby powder, a thin menstrual pad (great, clean bandages for big scrapes), 3 butterfly bandaids, a packet of Emergen-C, a double shot of scotch, some duct tape and a couple of the green velcro strips that come with lettuce. I use all those supplies regularly enough that they've earned their space in my pack. I used to carry all the doo-dads but found that I just don't use them. Whenever possible, anything I plan to carry/propel very far should serve more than one purpose. Keeps the pack/kayak tidy and light.

Pitbull. Before I started caching, I had run into wolves, bears, snakes, elk in rut, displaced hornets and a bunch of randy banjo guys on acid, but none of them scared me like that relentless pitbull. Worst of all, I had fouled up the coordinates and was 2.5 miles from the cache so the whole encounter was unnecessary. I second the walking stick suggestion.

Dermistid beetle larvae may be available through your State U county extension office. I've used them and they work great and quickly. I laid a piece of window screen on the ground and dumped a layer of soil on it before spreading the larvae over the soil. Wrapped the skull in the whole deal and tucked it into my compost pile for a week or so. That skull didn't have a lot of tissues clinging to it, though. I don't know how long it would take for a really meaty bit. The upside: no stink, no fuss, no wicked fumes.

I've recently been playing with the additional features on my Legend and noticed that after a recent brisk walk, my average speed was 4.4 mph. This amazed me since I'm a shortie (average pace is 2.5 feet). I did walk the level stretches rapidly, but also moseyed along for about 1/4 mile when the rocks got interesting. So...I wonder if this feature is really of any use. I also wonder if those times when satellite connections lag, then my distance-to-waypoint drops from 500 ft to 380 ft in a matter of seconds, registers as rapid movement. I guess I could assume that I walk nearly 4 1/2 mph on average, but that doesn't add up. Anybody have the skinny on this?

Radio Shack film on my kid's coddled Gameboy has done a decent job: one corner is peeling and the film takes on tiny scratches of it's own. Invisible Shield on my abused GPS appears to be indestructable. It did cost more, but I don't think I will ever have to replace it.

Just wondering, how big were the nicer forums, and how big were the worst? Most of the friendlier forums I frequent are rather small. Most of the harsher forums I frequent are either rather large, or rather small (sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it?) I know what you mean. Of the two very nasty forums that come to mind, one is huge, and the other is quite small. The friendliest (and therefore most useful to most folks) I would call "medium-sized". They are all specialized forums to discuss hobbies/pasttimes/sport. In every forum there are a few folks who have been there from the start and offer the benefit of polarities. It's to be expected. There are plenty of open folks who post here. There are also, thankfully, the likes of Septic1tank to offer comic relief when things get edgy. I'm not sure the tendency toward edgy is a bad thing, it's just not my idea of rejuvinating, and since geocaching isn't my job... Lurking isn't a bad thing. I've learned tons from eavesdropping in here, and have added very little clutter. Edit: Maybe I'll even learn to spell Sept1c Tank?

At the risk of being perceived as thin-skinned (hmmm...isn't that a jab at the critics, too?) It doesn't really seem vicous, it just feels like a club. Sometimes clubs look like packs. Ever walk into an upriver tavern all by yourself? Those aren't vicous people. They're a bunch of largely bored fellas who've been staring at each other since first grade, have repeated all their usual arguments 1000 times and are totally predictable to each other. That hipster doofus in the sandals who blindly wanders in for a beer is a temporary diversion for all of them. It's a social feeding frenzy. This isn't the nicest forum I've spent time in, by any stretch, but it's not the worst I've seen either. I mostly lurk and will continue to do that.

Having lost a precious message board to obnoxious advertising that drives folks away, I agree that this issue should be a high priority. However, in the spirit of geocaching's preference for guidelines vs. rules, I think the forum mods should be given the elbow room to make any tricky evaluations for themselves rather than try to put an encompassing policy on paper. This assumes that noobie mods are mentored to some degree and any rogue mod that may appear in the future could be bullied off the playground.

Carbiners, whistles, tape measures, batteries, notepads, compasses, bandaids, sunscreen wipes, bug juice wipes, hair ties, ice-scrapers, flower seeds, CDs, DVDs, trading cards, sewing/repair kits, action figures, playing cards, i-ching coins, dart flights, mini sharpies, outlet adaptors, fishing lures, books, silver dollars, nail clippers, bandanas, sets of dice, beach safes/micro containers, leashes, pendants, padlocks, scredrivers, pliers, cat toys, dog toys, mini flashlights, etc... Once you get out and find a bunch, you'll see what NOT to leave: Any cheap plastic toy that is going to make a brief stop in your kid's life before moving on to the land-fill, paper products or electronic gadgets not in a ziplock (unless you drop it in an ammo can), your buy-twelve-get-one-free card with 2 punches in it, invitations to your next Avon party, anything that could smell remotely yummy to a critter, used golf balls, anything that's been chewed by your dog/cat/teething baby, anything easily shattered if the cache is dropped (like christmas tree ornaments!). A sure-fire treat is a "free pop" lid. I've seen those go before sets of TB tags. Go figure. Just have fun, and trade even.

If it gets up to Bellingham, there's a cache right near the Alaska ferry terminal for just this sort of mission. It seems to see a pretty steady stream of traffic. Of course, there's the risk of a stall in SE AK, but unless it's carted in hand to the actual race, this risk is ever-present. If it gets to B'ham, I'll move it to the terminal cache.

I log DNF's when I give up. That may be 15 minutes after initial arrival, or 3 visits later. DNF stands for 'did not find', right? Pretty straight forward to me. "Can't Be Found" logs are otherwise known as 'SBA' logs. Yesterday I posted a DNF on a cache because I didn't find the cache. I looked and fell and poked and slid and looked some more and tumbled fully, and didn't find it. It's somewhere under a blanket of icey snow on a steep bank hosting ferns and stumps and deep holes. Sparing another cacher the long string of self-esteem eroding Jerry Lewis moments that this cache currently entails seems like a worthwhile thing to do. Besides! I DidN't Find it.