mhfares

I remember the incident Ville Saari.. it was my cache (Old books: GCMXPB). Its ironic that while some in the government are trying to open up, others are doing quite the opposite.

A friend of mine once said in Saudi you don’t want to take pics in public, you have google earth now. I took that as a joke. With digital cameras around, I take pictures a lot, as do many. I never had a problem before but then much of my pics are either indoor or out of the public eye in the great open outdoors .. with a society like ours that prize itself as being “private and different”, very little can be accomplished You should be able to take that pic for the kingdom tower CoyoteTrust. The parking lot of Obeikan bookstore provides a nice viewing angle.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093122410 Sounds trivial ? ..not in this land. A simple act of taking a picture in public required a royal decree.

Welcome to the game .. To start geocaching all you need is the ability to read coordinates. Gps’s come in many forms and shapes .. some are standalone which range from the simplest & cheapest to the more exotic and fancy looking. Others are integrated with another device like ppc or mobile phone ..etc. Coordinates alone will tell you the destination but maps will show you how to get there so they are a plus. Additionally, they can be a lot of joy to use. If the cache is more than one kilometer away from where you’re located, which is the usual case, then you definitely need a car. Cache listing will normally tell what kind of car you need to reach the site. I recommend you start with caches that have lower rating for both difficulty and terrain. Look at the (D/T) column next to the cache page and make your pick. Riyadh airport (GCRZR4) & The Lawrence- Riyadh 5* Hotel (GCG2TR) qualify for such low ratings and are on the same route, so you can do in one easy trip to the north of Riyadh. .. Enjoy.

It’s been 13 months since I posted my last stats but the numbers simply do not warrant a new analysis M&M. In spite of the new caches (& cachers) being introduced, the total number has not gone up much. Some existing caches are archived as well. So I'll wait a little bit longer.

Many of you know about Google earth and there is now a new release version 4 Beta. I tried it and I could tell the images are very recent and the coverage is more detailed now. After so many years with my yellow eTrex, I finally bought a new GPSMAP 276C and so I’m more into maps now. For those who do not know already, like me, I wanted to share few things with them: You can download coordinates from the geocaching site using the loc or gps format and read it directly into google earth, beside your gps unit. Before, I used to enter coordinates manually into my eTrex. Once you bring up Google Earth and read the way point file, you will be able to see the cache site as they are located in real terrain. This way you can plan your way before you start your engine, specially if you have more than one cache. Better yet, you can choose sites for new cache based on the terrain you see from top provided by the satellite image. Believe me, It’s a lot of fun this way. The possibilities of what you can do with this product are numerous. For this, Google made up an earth community of users to utilize the product along with a .KML/KMZ file. This is a file format for storing placemarks, network link information, and much more ..You can store your work in this format and share with others. Once the file is opened, it will start Google Earth and fly you to specific locations you described in your work. Of course, you have to have Google Earth installed which you can do easily and here is the link for that: http://earth.google.com Then you can read in the .KZ files from others. Here is one example I prepared for you. It shows the four different camel trails that you are all familiar with by now. Here is the link for the file: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.ph...0/page/2#468566 If you have the google earth installed, just read in the file and it will fly you to all the camel trails and more. Here is a snapshot of Faisal pinnacle: Check out the Chameleon with the superb view overlooking Faisal pinnacle. Speaking of which, look at the gap between the top of the pinnacle and the nearest point on the escarpment. It is about 600m according to the ruler in the google earth. See the shadow cast by the pinnacle in the back, the sun must be shining from the south at the time the image was captured .. probably late in the afternoon. Go down to the nearby camel trail 4 which is a multicache and check out the start and end points. You can see the cache site from the shadow cast on Lord Jimbo tomb. Check out the descent to Holey Cheese rock and the coffee pot in camel trail 3 (multicache), then visit the sherry snake at trail 2. Lastly but certainly no the least is camel trail 1. This is very interesting as you could see very clearly the trail winding down the escarpment. Here is a snapshot for that: I added few extras as you can see the dam not far from camel trail 1. Also check out the beautiful red sand dunes near Jakes (now archived). See the dry lake bed of Kharrara. I also added Abu Marwah Dhal (sinkhole) not far from the 400year old cache. You can see clearly the hole in the ground. The file contains only way points but imagine what you can do/share with tracks .. I leave this for your imagination. Enjoy.

I don’t know what the archiving rules are, and I suppose you could look them up (if there is such thing) or ask the moderator. However, I know this: If in anyway, I come across a cache that I believe is posing a threat to fellow geocachers, then I will make a note of it in my listed log and alert others about it including the cache owner.

I will be there ...

sorry but deadline for receiving photos is changed to January 23, 2006

Our second photo contest is back .. Please visit our revised website at: http://mhfares.tripod.com and submit your photo by email. Deadline for receiving photos is January 31, 2006

Happy holidays.. Christmas, New year and Eid Al-Adha .. the festive season is triple the joy this time of the year ..

It’s been a while since I visited Riyadh and I expect the lake to be filled this time of the year. I saw this picture in mekshat.com forum of a waterfall off one of the escarpments near the lake. I thought it was interesting … Can anyone identify the place? original picture in here: http://mekshat.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39807

Happy Eid to all geocachers everywhere. Good wishes on these joyous times.

I remember working for Aramco in another world another time (Jurassic period to be exact) The number of caches here has grown slowly but steadily over the last two years and I expect to see more. They are concentrated around Riyadh area reflecting the whereabouts of the setters. I live in Dammam, not far from Dhahram, and just like you I wonder why Aramcons are not cachin’. The eastern province with its close proximity to neighbouring Gulf States is ideal for geocaching in those countries as well. As M&M noted, we have great open outdoors for everyone to enjoy and we recently saw new comers to the sport from Riyadh. I hope to see more in other parts of the kingdom. It was Dec. 1984 when I first came into contact with ASC, Houston .. but that is another story not dating to Jurassic period ..

We had 19 entries from 10 participants and M&M scored the highest number of votes (10 out of 39) with photo: Cacol - Caching collateral. Footsteps on a star dune making him in first position. Second in place is clintontanderson with photo: Desert Driving (7 votes) Thanks to all who participated in the Best Photo contest .. I was amazed with the top quality of some of the pictures we received over the last two weeks. I really feel we all came out winners with those great shots .. didn't know we had this much talent and artistic appeal among us. The winner will receive an Ultra-light MP3 Player with FM Radio and SuperFast USB 2.0 Flash Drive (512MB) It will be delivered to the winner in cache form. I will stash the prize in a new cache to be created soon and will pass the coordinates to the winner so he can collect it. Once it’s been picked up, I will post the coordinates for the public as a new cache and will name it Prize. Once again thanks for taking part and congratulations to M&M

We do. In fact, we even have some in-depth analysis of our geocaching habits in this part of the world. To find out more, check out: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=97498

Sorry but I failed to mention that the pictures are for our group, Geocachers of Arabia .. We are a small group in Arabia and that's why we're turning to our fellow geocachers for help in casting their votes for best photo taken outdoor in Arabia during their grocaching trips.

Please help us with our Best Photo Contest by taking part in voting for the best picture. Here are the photos (19 in total): http://pub13.bravenet.com/photocenter/albu...747&album=27508 And you can cast your vote here: http://pub13.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=1052440747 Please choose ONLY one picture from the 19 listed. Last day is June 2, 2005 Thanks for your help ..

Please help us with our Best Photo Contest by taking part in voting for the best picture. Here are the photos (19 in total): http://pub13.bravenet.com/photocenter/albu...747&album=27508 And you can cast your vote here: http://pub13.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=1052440747 Please choose ONLY one picture from the 19 listed. Last day is June 2, 2005 Thanks for your help ..

Please help us with our Best Photo Contest by taking part in voting for the best picture. Here are the photos (19 in total): http://pub13.bravenet.com/photocenter/albu...747&album=27508 And you can cast your vote here: http://pub13.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=1052440747 Please choose ONLY one picture from the 19 listed. Last day is June 2, 2005 Thanks for your help ..

All of the above .. There are no categories here ..so don't think too much about it. What you are voting for is simply the "best photo". It could be a geocaching related or otherwise. Till we have more entries, we will keep it simple and general enough to accommodate a small number of pictures. Sure .. You can vote for any of the listed photos (including yours) but ONLY once. .. Enjoy

Our best photo contest will be closed in two days. Voting will start on June 1 and will last for two days. It is important that you choose ONLY one picture from the many choices listed on the voting page. You can access that page from "Cast Your Vote" under "Things To Do" in the home page of: http://arabiacachers.bravehost.com Or go directly to: http://pub13.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=1052440747 The photos are located in the photos center: http://pub13.bravenet.com/photocenter/albu...747&album=27508

Show us your best. We now have ten photos entered into the "Best Photo Contest". There will be a valuable prize for the winner so tell your friends about it .. No it's not a BMW nor a Mercedes but that thought crossed my mind. Hurry up .. last day for submitting your photos is next Tuesday May 31, 2005 .. you still have few more days. http://arabiacachers.bravehost.com/temp.html

The contest is now open for entries .. please visit our new web site at: http://arabiacachers.bravehost.com/temp.html and submit your photo .. Deadline for receiving photos is May 31, 2005 Tell your friends about it .. we will have valuable prizes for the winners

Ever wondered what the cache hiding behavior was like. Are there any features that differentiate the hiding habits of X from Y. Do geocachers in the west use higher rating than those in the east or vice versa. Does the terrain dictates what rating to use or is it the setter who dictates what terrain to hide in? Take a look at this review of "our character" in Arabia and find out: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...0entry1465856