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FloridaFour

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Everything posted by FloridaFour

  1. It would be great if you would sign the log. You can draw a little picture, you can even record the find on Atlasquest.com. If you don't know the name of the letterbox or its owner, you can discreetly describe the box in the forum for that state. Such as, "I found a letterbox with a squirrel stamp in it in Chesnut Park in Palm Harbor, FL. Does anyone know what this stamp might be?" Or do a search of the area, and you will likely be able to figure it out. Have fun, and keep passing the word about letterboxes to other geocachers. We are so outnumbered, we need all the help we can get, thanks!
  2. It's been a while since I added any maps. My mom is going to Alaska next week, and she wants to add maps to Oregon 450. What are the easiest map programs to download? I think we used something called GPSmap before. Not sure... Thanks...
  3. BY FAR, the best creative caches I've seen are on the west coast of Florida, near Tampa in the town's of Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs area, the caches that are must do..... and I mean MUST.. Are caches by Cachemedics. Look up their trailname, and check out all the FAVORITES points. Their Christmas Cache is my favorite. I still have several I need to find, and they do frequent maintenance, and upkeep. You can spend all day just doing their most popular caches, and they are practically drivebys, but very unique handcrafted caches.....
  4. Ah, interesting way to search. Thanks! I doubt I wll find out anything, but since people often pass through Stone Mountain on vacation, it could be anyone, and a short window to try to save the letterbox. Oh well, that's the way it goes. I lost all six of my travel bugs in geocaching in a few months, so a five year old letterbox is pretty darn good.
  5. OK, thanks everyone for giving me some ideas on what else to do. I think the closest caches to this letterbox are probably Varmint on the Mount, and Just Another Bird Cache. I've put watches on both and will see if any names resembling "the Mooney Clan" show up, or if anyone mentions trading out a hand carved stamp. These are both on The Mountain Trail, and might be possibilities. If they are from Opencaching, I give up. LOL. I really don't know how popular that website is, and it's going way beyond my attention span to try and figure it out just to find a letterbox stamp. Sadly, it may be lost. It was a letterbox that had 82 finders in the last 5 years... at least it had a pretty good run. RI Climber- I have no idea how you came up with this list: ZoomerEtc rosecachers Skillet68 LoneButterfly **GC190V3** tiehack pe_teach I did see a few of those names on these geocaches, though. I'd love to know how you searched for which geocachers logged on today. It might be useful to me in the future as people occasionally ask me to look for geocache listings, from the letterboxing site. Thanks! Andrea
  6. RIClimber.... Thanks for your reply and explanations. I saw red before I read your reply. Thanks! Especially for the 175 letterboxes in the park part. Yes, I think it is Mythical Beast- Red Cap. I will try to search logs of all the nearby caches since I've not really figured out the geoname yet. I hate contacting people ans asking them stuff, and getting such defensive replies. Just trying to help. Not blaming anyone! Bear with me ya'll...
  7. Ok, please let me clarify. It is not a letterbox/geocache hybrid. It is a letterbox, which does not use coordinates. In letterboxing, we use clues to find our boxes, these boxes contain hand carved stamps. Letterboxers would not take the stamp, and especially not take it and sidn their name. Geocachers may, by mistake..if they don't know what a letterbox is, and think it is for trade, because a geocache may be very near, and they found the letterbox by mistake. This happens frequently. Muggles don't usually sign their names when they take things. It could be someone from Opencaching.com. I could be completely wrong. It could be a muggle who signed their name. All I can do is investigate. Please , I've been geocaching for two years, I am trying to help a friend, that is all. Thank you to those that replied with name help. When I get home from work, I will try to find it. It is on the Mountain Trail. Andrea
  8. Hi there.. I need help finding geocachers who may go by the name The Mooney Clan. Today a friend reported to me that a letterbox called Mystical Beast had its stamp taken by mistake, and The Mooney Clan wrote in the logbook today that they took the stamp. I typed in The Mooney clan, and can't find them. The Mystical Beast letterbox is in Stone Mountain, GA. I'm not at a computer so I don't have any idea of the coords, but maybe someone here can help me find these cachers? The stamp was hand carved and a very good one. Does anyone know if there is a geo name search? Thanks FloridaFour
  9. I just wanted to reply for those of you that might read this... and for informational purposes... It turned out that what I had found was indeed a travel bug. HOWEVER. LOL!!!!!.... It was one stage of a Wherigo cache. This trackable was not supposed to be removed from the Wherigo cache. UGH! I had already driven 11 hours home before I found this out. Inside the cache, the travel bug had a sticker on it that said Do not Remove. Hmmm.... I DID read that. However, not knowing or ever having done a Wherigo like this, I thought it meant: Do not remove the stickers, one of which was the GC number. There was no GC number insribed on this item, it was only a sticker. Having only done one Wherigo Cache, I was not aware of this new twist of the game..... of non-travelling TRAVEL bugs. I emailed the cache owner and ended up mailing her the travel bug. I felt really bad... oh well! I still don't understand why something removeable... a travel bug... was used as an integral part of a geocache... which was 2 feet away and on the other side of an object from a letterbox. But...learn something new every day. Be careful when you add new twists to geocaching such as this one. Not to many people do the Wherigo's.
  10. WheW!!! Wait a seccie here.... I'm a letterboxer and boy, I sure do want to protect my stamps... BUT. It is NOT easy for letterboxers and geocachers to always be able to look up where letterboxes and geocaches are. Mystery caches, multi's and Wherigos don't always show up with exact coords. Letterboxers do not have GPS units. And lately people's GPS coords have been attrocious. (using a phone to plant a geocache...not a good idea, using Google Earth... even dumber). I have a gps and so I use it to locate geocaches before I plant a letterbox. And I also had to learn how to use the gps (buy it) and learn this whole daggum website... which to the computer not so literate is.... BIG. A lot of reading and looking. My mom has been geocaching with me for almost 2 years and still doesn't know how to make a pocket query. I do it for her. If you have ever been to Stone Mountain, GA, where there is oh... about 200 letterboxes, you will see that MOST of them have the location of: Stone Mountain, GA as their location on Atlasquest or LBNA. You have to actually sift through hundreds of clues, MANY of which are puzzle clues that are difficult to solve... to find the letterboxes. Or nightboxes that you need to use a flashlight to find. GOOD LUCK! BEST AND ONLY ADVICE I HAVE..... Create more Letterbox hybrids that REQUIRE gps AND clue use to educate geocachers about letterboxing. I have hybrids and geocachers don't always read the clues... mine require it or they won't find my box. LABEL the HECK out of your letterbox stamp, box, logbook, etc. Make your hybrid for Premium Members or put them on longer, more remote parts of a trail. Lock, tie down, glue to the lid, put in seperate compartments inside a larger container, or otherwise protect your HAND CARVED stamp. Thanks!
  11. My letterbox hybrid stamps are hand carved. One is of an alligator guarding a letterbox, and the box says: FL4's Letterbox Hybrid. Name of the stamp is Wildlife of Chesnut Park: The Keeper. (there are 3 other letterboxes in the series). My other stamp is a kayak and mangrove scene, and the words: Upper Tampa Bay Park. The name of the letterbox is.... Upper Tampa Bay Park Letterbox Hybrid... and the scene is one I have seen in the park. Come find em! The hand carved stamp... is THE reason I prefer letterboxing over many geocaches. I also do enjoy fun clues. Geocaching has other qualities I enjoy, such as going far off-trail, and creative, strange containers. (letterboxing has them, too, but I just haven't encountered much more than the plain plastic box or dreaded plastic bag/covered with duct tape pouch) I WON'T go looking for a letterbox with a store-bought stamp.
  12. I do both hobbies, and for me... I like to have gps and clues in my hybrids for the geocachers. For me, it is important to educate geocachers about letterboxing so when they do find a letterbox by accident, the stamp isn't traded out. If I only provide coords... I guarantee some of them don't even look at the icon and realise or understand what a Letterbox hybrid even is.... so.. they MUST look at my clues. I don't think it's wrong to make gps-only hybrids, (and it sure is easier to pass reviewer scrutiny), but then it's not as much a clue-based letterbox, as a geocache with a stamp. I list them on the letterboxing site, and put a link to over here. I mention on this site, that they should go to the letterboxing site if they want to log the letterbox, but I don't provide a link, as it is not allowed, and I've been asked to remove the link. I have two logbooks in one of my hybrids, and just one in the other, as a test. So far, no confusion on either one of those. The only confusion has been when geocachers follow the coords and start to look for the cache.... only to look at the description and hint after coming up short-handed, and realising they need to follow clues after they reach the coords.
  13. Ok, so while looking for a letterbox called Two At the Zoo, in Fernwood Trail, Cleveland Park, Greenville, SC, I found within two feet of the letterbox, a geocache and a monkey keychain travel bug. I looked up the gc number of the trackable and can't find it.... the log had I find Animals 1 on it... not sure if that's a person or the geocache name. It was a new decon container, with a replacement logbook and only one other name in it..... I thought I took coords, but apparently....not.... Anyway, kinda frustrated. I guess I need to look at the maps, and try to figure it out, but....I only have my cell phone for now. I can describe the exact item the box was in, but I don't want to give a total spoiler. Thanks...
  14. AWESOMENESS....geowoodstock... I went to one Mega Event in Georgia, just over 500 people. May 25 could be hot, though...eek. Wonder if I'm off that weekend, if so, I will try to go. I went Geocaching and letterboxing in San Juan, Puerto Rico a few weeks ago. Beautiful there...highly recommend it and Vieques Island. I haven't been geocaching much lately. I've been sucked deeply into the letterboxing world. I found I'm a pretty good stamp carver, especially in our area where there's not a lot of letterboxers. I won awards for my Chesnut Park series and my Upper Tampa Bay Park series. I think my geocaching experience helped make them more interesting, as well. I do want to put another hybrid and some letterboxes down in Walsingham Park in Largo, probably in October or so, when it's a bit cooler.
  15. I disagree... although I know a few letterboxers who whole-heartedly agree with you. But that's ok. But I do like to think I'm not wasting my five hours carving an eagle or an otter or a pile of gorgeous Florida Seashells for someone to think it's meaningless and pointless. Especially when I won quite some nice accolades on the letterboxing website for them, "box of the week", one of only 4 in my STATE in the past 4 years... and got "favorites points" from here and complements from some seasoned and respected cachers. It's something different than the standard geocache we see so many of. I try to make my clues fun and entertaining as well. What I take from hybrids is the cool stamped image (I prefer the hand-carved pieces of art to the store bought Hello Kitty junk). I love the clues, as well. In geocaching, when you get to "the spot", there is often nothing to do but sign and go... unless someone did take you to a fabulous scenic spot or has a cool creative container. With a letterbox hybrid, if someone took the time to carve a stamp... you get a little art surprise waiting for you, that you get to stamp and keep for your log. That's what I get from it, and it's not meaningless to me at all. Also the hybrid functions to educate geocachers about letterboxing, so if they accidentally find one of our letterboxes, they don't try and trade the stamp for a McToy. I also hope to bring some creative geocachers over to letterboxing, and bring some of the cool things about geocaching into the letterboxing game... and vice versa. My opinion only... but not a meaningless one. PS, any geocachers who would like to see examples of some of my stamps, please feel free to email me and I will send you a few pics. They are very special... to me and my letterboxing community. And my geocaching friends who have seen them...
  16. This is KEY for both letterboxes and geocaches, especially for letterboxes, since geocachers might swap out the stamp. But not foolproof. I am a letterboxer/geocacher who has personally witnessed TWICE geocachers signing letterboxes that happened to be near the cache, and they just happened to find the letterbox and didn't look carefully at it. Didn't look at the notices written on the letterbox, or pay attention to all the stamps in the letterbox or the stamp, etc. Once it was a geocacher who had found over 5000 caches and was just in a hurry...sign and go... It happens. I try my best. I have "Letterbox, not geocache," and multiple blurbs written on and in mine, and in the logbook. So far, so good. I also plant "in the shadow" of a geocache, so that hopefully no other cache will be placed too close to my letterboxes. But not many letterboxers also geocache and would know where a cache is in relation to where they might plant a letterbox. Planting letterbox/geocache hybrids is what I am doing to try and educate both sides and provide some interesting cache alternatives. Mine have coords to part of the trail and clues to find the box... They seem to be very well received.
  17. I think you will love letterboxing... no coords at all are needed....in fact, we don't want any coords, we want creative people who love great clues... email me if you are interested... A geocache/letterbox hybrid would also be a good fit for you... and we need more of those... they are fun, and they educate letterboxers about caching, and cachers about letterboxers. Take your time and read all about it...
  18. Ughghh... just lost a huge long reply.....argh. I am also a letterboxer and geocacher. I have 11 geocaches. I also have 11 letterboxes... I am spreading the love and educating about letterboxing by planting geocache letterbox hybrids. I point people to both websites. I've gotten great reviews from cachers (fave points) and letterboxers (2 blue diamonds and one purple diamond that I'm extremely proud of). I enjoy the artistic aspect of letterboxing, particularly making the artist trading cards, which is a sidebranch of letterboxing that geocaching does not have. I hope that some cachers would try letterboxing, and please do make some more letterbox/geocache hybrids. You can combine clues as long as GPS use is an integral part of the hunt (ask your reviewer for his/her personal take on this or email me or Lone R or some of the other hybrid makers). Most of the cachers who find my hybrids have never seen a hybrid and don't read the directions properly on how to locate the box. But they do enjoy the stamp and the clues, once they have figured it out. I add a series of letterboxes to be found after the geocache hybrid to further educate and try to attract artistic and interested geocachers to letterboxing. It would be great to combine the creative hide and camoflage techniques found in geocaching, with the creative stamps and clues found in letterboxing.... this is something that I've had a hard time melding... and getting people from both sides to appreciate... but I'm up for the challenge. We do the best we can do... Personally, I think those that take the stamps.....ARE NOT READING THIS>>>>> they are newbies and/or kids who just hunt and take...geocoins, swag, travelbugs, ammo cans, letterbox stamps...whatever they want. Most cachers I meet at events and talk to on these boards are pretty well aware of letterboxing. I welcome any cachers who want to come find my letterboxes... I am pretty sure you will love them. I'm in the Tampa Bay area... FloridaFour on Atlasquest. check it out if you're interested... come over to the art side... hey we also do artist trading cards... using the stamped images we make... we trade them in the mail and in person... it's a great offshoot for the artistic and for bad weather or health times.... ok, back in my corner I go...thanks for reading...
  19. That stinks. I have letterboxes and put big signs all over mine to ward off traders...I also check to make sure no caches are too close by. But I know it could still happen. I'm hoping my letterbox hybrids will help educate a few more.
  20. I planted new letterbox hybrids as well as regular letterboxes in Palm Harbor and Oldsmar. Check em out! Before it gets too hot.... And no, its not too hot yet.....July through Sept...that's too hot. And people, double and triple check your coords when you hide caches. Use a real gps, not a cell phone...and do something creative!!!! I'm sooooooooo over tiny micros in the woods.....at least make them something different... Someone's gotta compete with CacheMedics! Haha!
  21. My bridge caches...can give spotty gps reception and horrible cell phone gps reception...the iron in the bridge makes it hard to pinpoint. But I give good clues.
  22. I find that to be a problem with newbies...using a cell phone gps to hide a cache is worthless.... And I've also found using a cell phone to find a cache to be worthless... Just do a search...narrow down whose caches to hunt by Premium Member Only, favorites points and more experienced cachers. I have only 12 hides and about 260 finds, but I double and triple check my coords, give decent clues, and update clues if people seem to have trouble. Search Cachemedics caches in Palm Harbor/Tampa area if you like amazing urban/drive bys with cool hand made containers....or mine if you like parks, letterbox hybrids or bridges with cool views. I think FL has a lot of vacationers who use cell phones to make hides...and also the geography can make it difficult to give good clues.
  23. Went to a Mega Event recently and they had a GPS accuracy test. They did use some kind of fancy gps to set a coord to find. Then everyone used their gps and put flags with their names on them at the spot they picked. Whoever was closest got a prize. Decorate an ammo can contest. Bring pre-decorated cans or decorate them there, auction them off. The one who has the most votes wins a prize. Hide something at the event coords, with a note in it, the first to find gets a prize. Do not list it or tell anyone. Hardly anyone looks for a cache at the event coords, so this is kind of fun. Make a crossword puzzle, geo themed. Prizes for first 3 people who turn it in, or anyone who completes it gets put in a special drawing. Prizes for people who came the furthest, the oldest geocacher, the newest geocacher, the one with the craziest caching "outfit", etc. It's nice to have separate games for kids, too. Kids can get bored at events. Bring some plain containers, glue, leaves, or other arts and crafts and let them get together and decorate the container. Then raffle the containers off or let them take them home.
  24. Im 40, husband 47, kids 6 and 9, and my mom is 69. I've seen every age at events, but I'd say the majority of very active geocachers are 40+.
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