C-Ker1

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the input.

Found it, Carolyn. Thanks again for the help.

You can log them through a "backdoor" created by geocaching.com specifically for that purpose. I believe that the premium member gives you the URL to log it and you can use that. If you do a search on the forum, you'll find the instructions easily since this issue comes up fairly often. Also, from what we've noticed if you are using one of the GPSrs that allow you to upload your field notes, you can get around it that way. When you post a found to the GPS and upload it via field notes it seems to ignore the Premium Owner restrictions. Carolyn Thanks, Carolyn. I figured TPTB would have covered something like this, but I wasn't sure what to look for.

At a family reunion recently, my brother-in-law and I decided to sneak away and look some of the many caches in the park. We encountered a gentleman out for a hike while we were still on the walking trail, so we nodded as we passed each other. The next three times we saw the guy, we were coming out of the woods, crossing the path, and plunging into the woods on the other side. On the last encounter, we were over the hill checking out a large fallen tree and he stopped on the path just above us. Although he couldn't see us, we paused and waited until he moved along. When he finally started to move again, we returned to the path and discovered that he has stopped several yards away to answer his cell phone. We ended up approaching him and started a conversation. When we told him what we were doing, he said that he had been thinking about getting a GPSr. He had never heard of geocaching until we told him, but he said it sounded like something he would definitely enjoy.

Slow would be nice. I've had trouble getting from the main page to both my profile and the hide and seek page.

A month or so ago, the family was vacationing in a neighboring state and, of course, we did some caching along the way. A couple of the caches we found were mystery caches that required us to send answers to the owner, which we did when we would return to the hotel. After a week of waiting for a reply, we checked to see when the owner was last on the site--thinking that they, too, could have been traveling. One of the owners hadn't been online since October '08, but the other owner had visited Geocaching.com the same day I checked, plus, based on logged finds, a few days before. Based on the fact that, at least on the second owner's part, it appeared we were being ignored, we logged both caches as found. My question is this--how long should a cacher wait before logging a cache when waiting for an OK from the owner? We all know that life, and sometimes worse, can get in the way, but to log a find while making someone else wait for your reply before they can seems wrong.

I'm a non-premium member (mostly due to lack of finances), but I have no problem with PMO caches. I have seen some that make me wish I was a premium member based on the description, but I've never looked on the owner as elitist for making them PMO. The one thing about them that bothers me about them (and "bother" is actually too strong a word) is this--what does a non-premium member do if he or she does find one? I know the chances of stumbling across one is rare, unless they are looking for a place to hide one of their own, but what if they are with a premium member? I've got a family member that is a PM and we cache together. If he has a PMO cache pop up as next closest and we go searching for it, is there any way that I can get credit for a find or am I better off to sit in the truck and wait for the next non-member cache? I guess this is more of a curiosity question than anything.

That was our problem, and it turned out to be something as simple as going back and resigning the agreement.

Problem solved. This is just a guess, but it appears that at some point in the past few months the agreement that needs to be signed to download from geocaching has been updated. Since my brother-in-law had not gone back and re-agreed to the terms since this time, it was not sending us the pocket queries. Don't think I'm pointing fingers and laying the blame at the site; I'm just showing what happened to us. It all comes down to a simple oversight on our part. If anyone else is having trouble getting pocket queries, go into "Resources" and then click on "Geocaching Software"; it will let you know if you need to sign this agreement. Thanks for all of the help. C-Ker1

Still no luck. Oh, well; I guess we have to do this the hard way. Thanks anyway.

My brother-in-law and I have tried for the past few days to get a pocket query sent to us for an upcoming trip, but we have yet to receive any emails. We have tired having it sent to his email (since he has the premium membership), then we tried my email (as an alternate), and one other email (also as an alternate). I have checked the other topics concerning pocket queries and caching along a route from the past few days, but found nothing that helps with our problem. We've got a trip planned in the next few days(roughly 500 miles roundtrip), and we would really like to get a good selection of caches. Our only other option is to search for caches using Google maps, and I don't really want to search 500 miles worth of caches one at a time. Thanks in advance for any help I receive.

Aside from the typical scratches and sprains, the worse thing I ever had happen while caching was when I was in Italy visiting family. We went out caching/sightseeing on a Saturday, and as we were heading home from near the Italy/Slovenia border, I had a kidney stone attack. Only a few minutes from a cache, my brother-in-law asked if I wanted to head on home. Since we had to pass the cache site anyway, I said let's stop. It was at a little park which meant the possibility of facilities. We stopped--no facilities--and found the cache. We also took the time to search through the backpacks to see if anyone had any painkillers. After 4 Motrin, we got back into the car and started home. Again, my brother-in-law mentioned that we were only about a mile from another cache. Since the pain was starting to subside a little (I could now sit up straight again), I said let's stop. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I figured that since the chances of getting back to Italy to go caching were very slim, nothing short of death was going to keep me from searching.

Would it have something to do with the celebration of a 36th birthday?

1) My bad. I should have mentioned that the kid was around 12 years old. Sorry if I made anyone think we were talking about a younger child. 2) I never asked for the help; he volunteered. Before he arrived, we had already found an empty porn DVD case that left nothing to the imagination on the cover, so I was trying to keep him away from the area where it was. 3) Not all 12 year olds are trustworthy. This one might have been, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't bring his school buds around to see the cache. We didn't want to take a chance that the cache would be muggled because of us. I never figured someone would try to lay a guilt trip on me for simply adding a post.

In a situation where muggles are around, my group usually splits into two groups--the searchers and the distraction. While searching for a caches in a little park not to far from where my great-grandmother used to live, a young boy saw us checking the bushes and asked what we were doing. I told him we were looking for a cat named Muggles. He spent five minutes helping me "search" for the cat. The others in my group located the cache, signed the log, and then returned it to its spot. When they were ready to go, I told him that it might already have gone back home and we were going to go check. Since he lived near the little park, he promised me that he would keep an eye out for Muggles.

My sister and brother-in-law took a cruise earlier this year and picked up a few caches around the Mediterranean. Personally, I think it would be cool to go on a cruise that actually included a geocaching excursion to interested passengers.

Waymarking is probably not an option at this point since the majority of what is being seen is sand and camouflage. Thanks anyway.

Very cool. I hope that you have brought along a GPS during one of your visits.

Thanks. That's what I thought, but with the increased mention of them, I wasn't sure. I love the old virtuals, and I thought this was a way around them. I checked out one called 4 Windows (or something similar) and all you have to do is answer a couple questions and send a set of coords to the owner. I'm sure my family would prefer to stick to the ones that are preferred, as would I, so I'll just wait until they get home. In the meantime, we can go ahead and start planning our weekend gaching excursions.

I've seen armchair caches mentioned on a few geocaching sites that I visit recently, and I was wondering about their validity. I've got family stationed in a place where geocaches are few are very, very far between, and I thought if I passed on some of these so-called armchair caches, it might help to keep moral up. What I don't want to do is go against the grain and suggest something that isn't actually accepted. Could someone please enlighten me?

Someone suggested carpooling. There are a total of 5 people in the group I cache with that includes myself, 2 of my friends, and my cousins' 2 teens. Whenever we go, I always drive--that includes picking everyone up and taking them home. There are also times when we stop and eat that one of the teens has convieniently forgotten to bring enough money to eat on and I have to cover him. I once suggested that everybody kick in a few dollars every-so-often to help pay for our caching trips, and it they thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately, I'm the only one contributing to the cache-jar. My last couple of caching trips have been solo excursions. What would be the best way to bring up the subject of forking over some cash for the cache without making everyone mad? And, for the record, at least 3 of them tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves and are easily upset. Finding this "cash" definitely has a difficulty of 5.

My apologies for the double post. An error messages said that the post timed out and did not go through, so I posted again. Again, I am sorry.

Since all of the members of the team I belong to have their own accounts, there has to be at least 3 members present to sign a log by our team name. Even then, the only reason we sign it with a team name instead of our individual names is to save space. Everyone still logs it normally, but we say it was found with the team instead of listing the whole group individually.

...you hide a cache in your apartment, leave the door unlocked, and list it as a CITO so you don't have to waste valuable caching time on housecleaning. Seriously considering this.

My brother-in-law has a Premium membership, and by Summer, I hope to upgrade as well. What I want to know is can non-Premium members who are caching with a Premium member get credit for a Members Only Cache? There are a few of these types of caches in the nearest big league sports town, and if I take off for the weekend to go see a game, with the intent of picking up a few caches, and some non-Premium friends (that sounds rude) go caching with me, how do I tell them that "Even though you helped find it, you can't count it"?