The Commissar!

What Flask said!

Twice, one where the cache came up missing after we were there. I still wonder if someone could have seen us??? The other was being removed on a posted date and time and we intentionally tried to be LTF!

Huh? Oh...Yes, along with my canoe mate!

I work 5 days a week for money and 1.5 days at home! I love to be FTF! So I work at being FTF! I once got up around 3am to load my canoe on the truck, drive ~70 miles to paddle 2 miles into an aligator inhabited swamp just to be first to find! Addicted!

Yep! Yep! Addicted... Yep! Addicted but have to work for money to Geocache (and eat). NOPE! Has nothing to do with it for most folks who are hard core interested in the FTF. It will lure in cachers on the fringe but eventually they will get to the point where its not about the swag...its about the rush. Admittedly some better than others but still a rush! I attend a Geocachers anonymous meeting every other week...Addicted!

If I really look and did not find then I post a DNF. I have been known to do a quick drive-by on my morning commute as preparation for the real hunt at lunch or if necessary on the way home! If I am in the middle of a multi I may or may not post some notes along the way but I do not post a DNF because I am in the middle of the hunt! If I get to the final stage and look and can not find the cache then I post a DNF. I never go back and edit a DNF to a note or Find. Those are part of the cache history and as noted above usually some of the most amuseing posts to read. I have an experienced out of town cacher (way over 1000 finds) who is desperately trying to locate a mystry cache of mine and has visited the site no less than 5 times and given it a serious look and has not posted at all!

I have a Meriplat and use the built in compass (works no matter what angle you hold it) on most occasions but always have a Sylva in my pocket and a back-up in my truck. Of course to be very useful beyond doing a simple offset cache or navigating in the general direction you parked, you need a MAP too!

I have done half a dozen at night and wow, what a rush! I have a BFL but choose to use a tiny AAA Maglight instead. It draws less attention to you. One trip I lost battery power in the LFL and had to navigate out of the woods with the back-light on high on my Meriplat. I had several spare sets for her !

I took CheezerTKE caching today at lunch and he forgot to lower himself to his knee while presenting me with the caches log book to sign! Is there some kind of black mark I can give him for failing to execute his duties correctly?

In the mean time you could just load them straight to the GPS with the data cable. If you set the rate on the GPS, computer, and software to the fastest possible setting it only takes a minute or two to load 400 wpts...

You could also use this park as a step in a multi-cache and use the posted info there to get the coords. to the next or final spot that may be better suited to concealing your planned cache container...

My friends are in Moscow, Irkutsk/Angarsk(Siberia), and Novokuznetsk/Kemerovo (Siberia) They have started useing the Name at the top now too but otherwise they still use the old convention starting with country and working their way down. Change is slow there. As you can see from the pictures It is a beautiful country. The Commissar recommends a visit for those looking for a vacation off the beaten path! Very neat place to visit, but I like it just fine in the good old USA!

I use mine to navigate back and forth to work...my wife wonders why I can't find my way home without the GPSr after all these years!!

This is correct addressing for the Russian postal system. I have sent and received several letters to/from friends there and this is how they do it... Yes I know Ukrain is not Russia but they are closely related..

I own two for the list... Plundering Pluto Traveler A world traveler and Crazy Horse which is limited to a specific area...

I hadn't thought about it but I'm sure thats correct. additions to the list...paints, glues, spray foam sealer, 35mm film canisters(used but free), glow in the dark tacks, CITO bags, guns & ammo, camping gear, small watercraft and accessories, you can even buy a vehicle through the Sams club part of wally world...

If I am solo, I tend to focus on the task of Geocaching, BUT, I always try to enjoy the intended site where the cacher clearly sent you there for that reason. I don't tend to savor the beauty of a bush in a city park for long, but I will explore the memorials, a water fall or other especially striking (to me) feature, which has been as mundane as a turtle in an unexpected place or as fantastic as a mountain sunset with waterfall etc... If the children are with me I have to let them have their playtime or its no fun!

Depending on how hard it was to locate it could be: nothing = too easy found it = easy got it! = medium yes! = medium difficult YESSS! = difficult YESSS GOT IT! = very difficult YESSS GOT IT! followed by dancing = it was so difficult that I had hunt through my potty break to find it!

They are already in , In my other life I was a retailer and we called it a "specialty shop". You gather all the junk together that you already sell to people for a specific activity/event and make it easy for them to find what they want so they buy more stuff. Thats why they invented Wally/mart! For us! Its a Geocachers specialty shop... they have managed to import "most" everything a Geocacher needs to Geocache on the cheap! food, drink, clothing, footware, GPSr's, maps compass, trade items, gas, tapes, containers (except the best - ammo cans), first aid supplies, and on and on...

Being FTF also gets you the cache as originally intended when designed and placed. Try as we might, the cache is never replaced "exactly" as it was originally...You can get the same after a maintenance visit too ...And its FUN to race there to be first !

I also have a MeriPlat and love it! Keep in mind that the magnetic compass is affected by large chunks of metal (like your engine) nearby so you may start with the map screen for driving and switch to the compass screen once you get close... Edit to add content... FWIW, when I was running the 3.08 version firmware the compass was (on my unit) unaffected, but when I upgraded(?) to 4.06(?) it went wacky./ There is newer firmware now but I don't run it yet...

1st through 4th plus 6th because...I'm full of excitement, have learned a lot but still open minded and the thrill still there, Been around a while, people look to you for advice (sometimes), still like the game, but it takes a lot to impress you, and have risen out of the ashes to play again! And I swear I'm a lurker!

I, um, am, a-ya,LURKER (mostly) I have lurked in and out of this thread since it was started ! But since we have gotten up to page 7 and I am feeling lucky, here I am! Un-learked (well not really!) Now let me get back to my lurking... The Commissar Lurking about in SC

I have Mapsource Topo on my Vista and I've found the map to be extremely useful. I've used it for finding my way around strange cities, finding my way to the best place to park on a cache hunt and it also comes in very handy during certain cache hunts. For example, there was a cache on one side of a winding river that was too deep to wade and too cold and swift to swim. A quick look at the map showed me which side the cache was on, so I started out on the correct side. Saved me a few miles of walking had I chosen incorrectly. Another time I was bushwacking up a mountain looking for a trail to a cache. I used the contour lines to figure out where the trail was likely to be and bingo, there it was. One more that comes to mind was a cache near a cliff. The trail split and one went below and the other to the top. A look at the topo map showed the cache to be at the bottom of the cliff, so it saved me from taking the wrong trail. There are many other instances where the topo map came in handy on my Vista. I guess I could have just as easily used a mapping software such as NG Topo!, or Delorme, but I like having the map right on my display, instead of having to fumble for a paper map.

FWIW, in addition to being expensive, the PVC threads also tends to "stick" so you have to use a wrench to open them...I have not discovered any lasting solution to this problem. (I have lots of PVC laying about from an old hobby and figured I'd give it a try...)