Starkes

I've been a lifelong gamer and finding hidden treasures and power-ups is a common feature in many games. So, the idea and challenge of finding caches hidden throughout the world appealed to that side of me. I've always been somewhat achievement/goal oriented and so having a geocache as my objective gives me a reason to go outside and explore places I never would've bothered to visit otherwise. I also get a thrill out of being aware of this 'secret' aspect of the world and going out to locate these hidden containers in places everyone else walks past without a second thought. When I first started I was kind of careful and shy about looking for them if other people were nearby. Though, I find that as time goes on, my geocaching 'persona' has matured and so in a way, when I'm out there geocaching, I'm Starkes the geocacher, and my only concern is finding that cache (within reasonable bounds of course, I don't go so far as to break the law or ruin the environment). I don't worry so much about what other people think of that, or even worry about the other concerns in my life (I don't set out geocaching if I'm on a schedule or have other immediate obligations of any kind). It's a very present oriented activity for me, where I can take in the environment and see the world for what it is without my mood or preconceptions influencing my perceptions. So, in a way I find it has helped develop another dimension to my personality (but I don't obsess over caching with other people and only bring it up when people ask about what I've been doing). Usually people are interested to hear about it but more in a 'oh that sounds fun, but not really worth my time' sort of way. The only person I've gone caching with is my brother. I haven't invited anyone else to join me mostly because I'm distrustful of other people and feel like if I made an imposition, they'd come along more because they're trying to be 'nice' and 'friendly' rather than having a genuine interest in the activity.

About 14 miles to get the first Arizona geocache (GC57).

I only found out about it last year. I had a Garmin Oregon 400t I used for hunting, fishing, hiking, and general road navigation. One night I was just playing around with all the menu options and went to the 'geocaches' menu option that I had always ignored previously and it just told me 'visit website to learn more about geocaching' so I searched online about it and decided it sounded like a fun outdoor activity to involve myself in.

I could see raising a fuss if that was a 3 star or higher difficulty cache, where actually finding the hiding spot is a significant challenge that wasn't overcome by people logging that they found the remains lying around. In this case though, it's a 1 star with a description that tells what it is and where you can find it. I can see deleting 'TFTC' logs but if someone gave a description of what they found then it's reasonable to assume they visited the site and would've almost assuredly found the easy hide.

I only go after pins (trying to build up a collection of pins only found in caches), and so I usually trade in foreign coins (my father goes overseas for business frequently so I ask him to bring me coins/notes, mostly euro cents, hong kong dollars, and chinese yuan) since they fit in the same size of cache a pin could fit in.

Yeah some of the 5-star difficulty puzzle caches I've looked at seem next to impossible unless you're a CIA cryptographer or something. Though, my degree is in biochemistry and I recognize that code right away. Like someone else mentioned, those are the four bases of DNA. So, search wikipedia for 'genetic code' and I bet you can figure out the puzzle using the information in that article.

I found one that was a steel bolt with a hole drilled in the shaft for the log sheet and the hexagonal head was a cap that screwed on and off.

Micro/nano caches hidden somewhere around rock covered ground with a bunch of bushes/foilage. About a thousand places to look and it's almost more a matter of luck whether you turn over the right rock or not. Maybe it'd be easier if I had a metal detector or maybe a big magnet I could wave over the ground to at least find the metal ones.

Well I like going after urban caches in my city. I usually set out by picking out an area of around 4 blocks or so (defined by the major streets) with a good concentration of caches and then load my bicycle up in my truck and drive there. I park at one end of the concentration and then do a circuit hitting up caches on my bike so I still get good exercise and don't have to deal with the frustration of finding a parking space next to every cache. For me, I enjoy visiting areas of the city I've never had any occasion to visit. Yet, for others, those places stood out for them in some way and I try to see and appreciate the beauty of those special places. Though, most urban caches are micro/small sized (at least in the Phoenix, AZ area) so they can be hard to find if you have no idea of what to look for so I suggest researching cache containers and hide styles on these forums(or reading over the logs carefully of caches you consider going for). That also means there's little in the way of trade items/'swag' and trackables to be had if that was something you're interested in. Lastly, the hides can sometimes be in rather visible areas to other people or passing cars so you have to overcome self-consciousness and sometimes look like a dork walking across the landscape peering into bushes or overturning rocks, which sometimes attracts attention (I've had to explain myself to the police before so probably a good idea to rehearse a coherent explanation of the game and/or print out materials like the geocaching brochure.) For equipment, you basically just need your GPS and a pen or pencil to sign the logs with. Having blank paper is nice if you want to write down trackable numbers or if the log book is full. You may also want to carry tweezers since I've found several micro caches that have the log packed in and are too small to use your fingers to remove it.

How many people can you really describe as 'non-cachers'? That is, you know them well enough that you know they're familiar with the game, but that they also don't play it. Doesn't seem like describing that would come up often enough to have a specific term for it. 'Muggle' generally implies ignorance so I'd assume someone using 'non-cacher' means to imply familiarity but non-participation in the game. For those that know about the game and go destroying caches, I see them referred to as "geotrashers".

I'm still pretty new myself but keep adding to my geocache pack as I think of things or see useful suggestions on this forum. The GPSr, A pen, an extra pen, extra set of AA batteries (alkalines for the backup since my rechargables deplete themselves over time), tweezers (for extracting logs from narrow micro caches), a multitool, digital camera, a trash bag, two pairs of latex gloves, a few copies of the geocaching brochure(have had to explain myself to the police already so figured having those would make it easier), and a few extra blank notepad pages for copying travel bug numbers or if I find a full logbook. I've mostly been finding urban caches though I plan to go hiking for others at some point and will have a hiking pack ready for that with some food, water, first aid, matches, and the like.

Maybe he searched out other caches in the area but couldn't find any of them but yours, and he's one of those guys that doesn't post DNF logs. But yea, I don't think it's really fair to delete someone's online log without checking the physical one.

I've only been geocaching for about a month now but have been able to make most of the finds I attempt (I attribute it to too much time playing video games where a common feature is looking for hidden treasures). Though, there's definitely a learning curve when it comes to the variety of containers and hiding styles. My first DNF was a magnetic number decal on a power box with the log stuck on the back, that I didn't know would qualify as a cache since it wasn't really a container of any kind. Later I had searched out another one where the magnetic decal was the green "official geocache" one shown in the Groundspeak shop so when I saw that, I knew to look for such things in the future and sure enough I found the one I had missed in less than a minute when I came back to it. So yeah, most of the ones I've missed so far seem to involve a micro cache located at a site with bushes and trees along with rock covered ground. Sometimes it's in a clever spot or maybe it's just under rock #178 and I only turn over 120 rocks before moving on.

Well, if you didn't even open the container and see the logbook then you're just making the assumption that whatever you found was truly the cache. Granted in most cases it's usually a safe bet but I've read some stories about how some hides incorporate decoy caches (though I'm new to the game and haven't seen one like this yet). So, I wouldn't log a cache as found in this sort of situation (and I see avoiding muggles as part of the challenge of the cache anyways)

Geocaches in the Chernobyl zone...reminds me of the STALKER PC games. They were set in the zone and part of the game involved getting coordinates to hidden caches for supplies and other items, like guns, ammo, food, medicine, and vodka (just about everything you're not allowed to put in a geocache) http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/Stash

Rookie geocacher here. Have had an Oregon 400t for awhile now that I've used for hunting, hiking, fishing, and work (agricultural lab tech and have occasional have field work that GPS comes in handy for). Had someone ask about its features recently and so I looked at the geocaching menu option (that I've always ignored until then since it just pointed to the garmin website and figured it was some paid for service) and decided to find out what it really was about. Well, I had no idea it was an outdoor game (When it comes to electronics, I usually assume 'cache' to refer to the memory in some way), so I decided that since I like spending time outdoors anyways, I could add a new activity to involve myself. So far just been checking out the urban caches near my home and reading up on guides, tips, and other helpful information posted here but have been enjoying myself so far.