Rckhnd

ooh and where does that wire go when the tree grows? there's nothing wrong with nails/screws in trees, otherwise the park's staff won't nail/screw their signs on them, would they? picture i took personally and this tree is very much alive, so please stop the myths about the nails in the trees Correct. Nails don't kill trees, girdling them does. Girdling a tree is when the tree is wrapped with an item such as wire. The tree tries to grow around the wire. IF it is a uniform wrap, the wire ends up blocking the cambium layer and strangling the tree. Many trees survive growing in fences because there is a section of bark that can still transport nutrients while the other section is growing around the wire. .....sorry, had a nerd moment.

My firefox recently did an upgrade on my mac. I used to be able to use the old maps to download into my GPS. After the last round of Geocaching.com upgrades, my mac now has to restart in 32 bit mode every time I want to download coordinates. NOW since the firefox upgrade, it tells me that it does not support the Garmin plugin for downloadsd at all! I haven't tried yet as I still have tons of coordinates on my gps. I don't like the new beta maps because it doesn't offer the cache info on the right side like the original maps do. I have to hover over each spot and wait to see what that cache is, whereas on the old maps I could roll my mouse over the names on the right and have it light up on the map. This is one option that shouldn't be changed, but that's another topic....

Both use exactly the same underlying map data. They will always show exactly the same thing. Neither will be always accurate. We stand with dfx, having found Google Earth to be just as wildly inaccurate as Google Maps. Will wonders never cease? I've plotted the same destination using google maps and then google earth. Google maps showed me different directions that were longer. I've also stepped outside and taken my coordinates at the house. Google earth pinpointed my house, google maps pinpointed the end of my driveway at the road 1/3 of a mile away. I'm pretty rural.

I have found google earth to be incredibly accurate, more so than google maps. It doesn't help much for forest type caches, but I have used it to bullseye a few. Now I prefer to use the gps and do a good old fashioned walk about.

I agree with the part about looking for it or not. I have gone for caches that turned out to be in a high density muggle population area. In those situations, I don't go looking for the cache and just move on to the next. I don't post a DNF for that because I never searched for it. Looking over my shoulder because it's in a tree on the edge of a busy Bi-Mart parking lot kinda takes away from the experience for me.

I tried messing with mac caching and some of those programs, but it was just making extra work. Not worth it. I just plug in my gps to the mac keyboard, use the original maps, and download directly on to my gps. As far as notes go, I just copy and paste those.

I log at the end of a day. Sometimes I will go back to the same cache twice or more in a day trying to find it. I only post one dnf for that day. I have also seen logs where it was stated that the person found it after so many tries, but never logged any dnf at all prior to finding it.

I just use hemostats.

Sounds like a fun cache to me! but hey, I drove over a hundred miles just to get the 'Original Stash Cache' outside of Portland. I enjoy the hunt and like the adventures. I would rather spend a weekend on a cool hunt that was involved rather than just blow out a dozen in a day. To me, it's about the memorable finds, and those have never been the quick and easy 'cache & dash' types.

Switch over to the aerial view from the compass / direction mode and move slowly until the blue dot (you) is at the target. You should be pretty close at that point. Signal reception isn't always the best though and you could be standing still for a while waiting for the app to catch up with you, but I primarily hunt in rural areas anyway, so that is bound to happen.

I have an iPhone 3GS, but I prefer to use a dedicated GPS. The margin of accuracy on my GPS is usually never more than 30' and sometimes it's spot on. The MOA on the iPhone varies a lot, over half a mile in some instances. The $10 Geocaching app is great for researching more info on a cache or for doing spur of the moment caching, but only if there is enough signal reception. The biggest problem I have with the iPhone is when people use it to hide caches. The coordinates are usually so far off that finding the cache becomes almost impossible.

I could imagine it being incredibly difficult in other areas. In Phoenix, for example, we have many areas with "loose granite". In other words, large areas (think surrounding parking lots, dumpsters, people's "yards", etc.) with a sea of similar colored 1/4 inch rocks. You could bury a cache then smooth over the rock cover. You'd never find it unless you go digging up the entire area. I think that would be BAD for geocaching and its reputation with the local community. From a safety perspective, if you were to go digging for a cache in the desert, you could easily dig into a nest of critters you really don't want to deal with. Any way you look at it, buried treasure has pitfalls especially when in/near urban areas. It's just not a great idea. Good point! Don't those Gila Monsters live underground? I hear they are poisonous. When I lived in New Mexico, it didn't take much to dig up a scorpion. State Troopers out here would just love to see me headed into the woods with a bag and shovel...... yeah, changed my mine, no buried caches.

If it happened, I believe they would be easy to find. Just look for the fresh turned dirt. That would show up easily in hardpan or a field of weeds and grasses.

Absolutely! The previous poster prefers the city, good for them. I think my son will be the same when HE grows up as well. I have no problem with city folk, just the crowds and restrictions, but that's MY problem and I've handled it. I live RURAL, waaaayy out. as a result, I have the freedom to hunt on my land, use fireworks, bonfire parties with plenty of parking and I break out my 'Binford 3000 Man's Barbecue' My closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away. I like to visit the city for shopping, movies, restaurants, etc., but at night I can go outside and see the Milky Way in the sky. Nobody bothers me, I try not to bother them. Oh yeah, I really appreciate the city folk that come out here and hide caches for me to find! THANKS!

That kind of crap is why I live in the country outside of city limits.

On some multi caches, there won't be a listing on here for the next leg. Part of the fun is plugging in the coordinates and finding it without a map. It's just another form of challenge. Keep going until you find the last one and sign the log! Don't look for the listing, just enter the coords and go for it.

Thanks for a first hunt! Very well placed. TNLN The property owner came out to see what I was doing and I explained the GeoCaching. The Cache is not on his property, just next to it. I found it in front of him and now he's considering joining up! - Said he understands now when people are parked there and walking around.

Decaff anyone?

You could always get a rubber stamp made. Then use a pad of permanent ink, which will eventually fade and wash away. That way you're not stuck with it forever and you can put it in a different spot at another time. - I just might do that. Tattoos are indeed very personal and permanent and because of that, I've never been able to accept one because I might have a different frame of mind next month. I almost got a dragon tattoo while I was studying Kung Fu, then I tore a groin muscle, moved out of state and was not able to find a truly asian form of Kung Fu since. If I had got the tattoo, it would have turned into a daily reminder for me of what almost was.

on the iPhone, press and hold the icon of the app you want removed. They will all start wiggling and have an X in the top corner. Tap the X on the app you want removed, then press the home button.

Incredible. Truly a committed cacher. Thx!

COOL!!!! I wish we had caches like that out here in Orygun! I'd unload all my favorite points on it if I could!

A post on the starter board reminded me of something. I went to a geoevent and met someone who has a TB tattoo on her arm. Bar code spider, numbers, all there. When I went to log a find, I found that the icon for her tattoo is a barcode human. I was fascinated by this whole setup and was wondering how do you go about getting that set up? I imagine you can get a TB and have the numbers tattooed on your body, but how do you go about getting it posted with a human icon and listed as a personal TB?

I'd be one of those "elitists" you're referring to. In my little corner of the world there has been an influx of people with newly acquired GPS-enabled phones that can pull up information on geocaches without any in-depth knowledge about the game. Some actually believe (initially) that it's a treasure hunt and if they find the cache they can keep it. Others don't know the importance of treating the cache respectfully and protecting the hide from muggles by being stealthy and replacing the cache properly. Short version...in our area, nice non-premium caches don't have a long shelf life. Premium members are a self-selected group of geocachers that have made a determination that Geocaching is going to be a regular activity. They are more knowledgeable and more invested into the activity (on average). As a result, premium-only caches have a longer shelf life (here, anyway). I just placed a cache that took over six months to accumulate the needed parts, It cost over $120 to construct and took six weeks to construct and deploy. If (when) it is muggled or destroyed it would take me months to replace with an equivalent cache. So I made it a PMO cache to extend it's life and my investment. If I ever decided to throw out uninteresting film canisters and pill bottles, I wouldn't bother with the PMO. But, if I've got a lot of time, money and effort invested into a "better" cache, I'll be an "elitist" and make it a PMO. Well stated.

I would support that idea if they put the maps back to normal... AND return the original, easier to use front page. ........kidding. It took me a few months to want to go premium.