Bear Paughs

"Rule" and "should" were the OP's words: Recommending a rule by its very nature implies recommending enforcement of the same. The rest of the discussion was centered around other cachers' opinions of why such a rule shouldn't be enforced. Did you happen to see the two word modifier that followed the word "rule" in the OPs post? Sure I did. But "rule of thumb" is defined essentially as a "rule" that has not been proven scientifically but is accepted as best practice. So at its basis, a rule is what we are speaking of. A rule of thumb is a type of rule, smart guy. Geez, have a few more hairs to split?

Funny, the cache page says this was a note, not a found log. I can't find any indication that the log has been altered in any way from exactly how it reads now. I have looked at the cache page, the log itself on a separate page, and the view of all the logs for the cache. Do you have access to some way of seeing a different log than I do? I think that was a subsequent log after the original found one was deleted or edited. The reviewer had instructed the owner to remove all the false finds for a cache that was not in its intended location. This was one a a few from 2 or 3 from the series that were taken to MWGB if I'm not mistaken. Similar series of logs are on more than one of the caches.

Rather than a recommended ratio of finds to hides, one thing I do offer up for those concerned with the number of hides others have is this: Hide a cache with the stipulation that placing a new cache is a requirement for logging a find. This encourages finders to hide without imposing a rule over their entire geocaching experience, just one cache. It sets a good example and does so in a friendlier, lighter tone than the way the original post and many subsequent ones have come across.

Well put.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the discussion at hand exactly. I saw many posts about not wanting to add to the number of boring micro placements, not about whether all micros were lame or to be hated. Many will still hunt for them because they're there to be found in large numbers, and not all are necessarily detestible. You actually make their point -- in some areas there may not be many 4 or 5 star cache finds and having a recommended ratio of 10:1 finds to hides would in all likelihood reduce the number of challenging hides and increase the lower difficulty micros (regardless of whether one likes or hates them).

"Rule" and "should" were the OP's words: Recommending a rule by its very nature implies recommending enforcement of the same. The rest of the discussion was centered around other cachers' opinions of why such a rule shouldn't be enforced.

I'm sorry, I can't answer your question about the software -- I assume you can install the updates from the Garmin site, but I'm not sure. I just wanted to poke my nose in here and say that this is a great idea and I applaud you for it -- my 10 year old stepson has a mild form of autism and some learning disabilities. We started geocaching last year and it has created such a difference in him. His motivation and focus have improved as well as his autism-related uncontrolled behaviors. We're about to give him his own account so he can backlog all of his finds. His teachers and support staff love the idea. In the meantime, it definitely has motivated him to read and do a lot of research on his own. Both he and his 8 year old brother love to take turns leading us to the cache. An eTrex should be very suitable for your niece. None of the bells and whistles that she doesn't need right now, just the basics. GSAK can talk to it as well. You can save different settings for each GPSr and basically just select the correct setting when sending the waypoints. We've actually used a Legend C and a Geko 201 and it takes only a couple minutes to load to both, even with changing out cables. Good luck to you and your niece!

Fels Naptha laundry soap, $0.89 or thereabouts at your local grocery store. Warning, it is a very strong laundry soap not meant for human skin, but for poison ivy it is the best and cheapest remedy.

Sorry, but this argument and the others that follow don't cut it. Of course, we all want fun, interesting and challenging caches. However, holding off placing by using the excuse of waiting for the perfect opportunity to place a 'quality cache' is just an excuse for not getting out there and doing it. If most people seek, but few place, it reduces the opportunities for all. Yeah, you're right. It's wayyyy better for people to place thoughtless uninspired caches just to maintain some magic ratio (which you yourself have failed to do) than to promote well thought out quality placements that will improve the activity. Everything that everyone else has contributed to this thread has been worthless. Great argument. By the way, I understand that my not getting out there and just placing a quality cache is an excuse according to you, but I'd be happy to do it, if you come to my house, work my job, take care of my husband and children (one of whom has special needs and requires a lot of attention) as well as find a suitable cache location in a pretty saturated area. I mean, the demands on my time are just an excuse and aren't valid. Boy, am I glad the cachers in my area are nothing like the OP. Despite my lack of cache placement thus far, they've been very welcoming and kind, and have sent several notes of encouragement and even thanks for our entertaining logs. We will place our caches according to our time frame and look forward to doing it, but I refuse to add to the problem by putting out more crap just for the sake of quantity. More crap is just that -- more crap.

1. Keep it out of daylight 2. Never get it wet 3. Never, ever, feed it after midnight

You should try posting in the regional forums. That will improve your chances of someone from your area seeing this. Good luck! I think there may also be a Waymarking category for geocaching tour guides on www.Waymarking.com, but I'd try to regional side first.

This is mine. In addition to tracking mileage I also use it as a journal of sorts of our geocaching trips.

The one disadvantage to these forums is the lack of user feedback like you'd find on eBay or the like. So I just wanted to make mention that I had a transaction with ricstone last week and would absolutely give him positive feedback. Our transaction went smoothly, quickly, and the item was just as described. I would absolutely do business with him again!

I only just this past week got the software that will allow me to autoroute on my Legend C. Before that I used googlemaps for driving directions to the caches. I found it the easiest to use and would just copy and paste the coordinates from geocaching.com site. On days when we would attempt more than one I would use the mapping features on the site or Mapsource Trip & Waypoint Manager to get a good overview in order to decide which caches to select that were in the same area. I'd determine the order of caches to hit and note that in a memo in my palm and include any driving directions I'd need from cache to cache.

I use a Palm Zire 21, and two types of software -- GSAK, which is indispensible, on my PC, and cachemate on my Palm. I am a premium member and use pocket queries, which I manage with GSAK. I send the info from GSAK directly to my GPS (a Garmin Legend C) and also to cachemate on my Palm. When out in the field I can access the cache descriptions, logs, even hints on my Palm. I used information from this article when I decided to go paperless: http://65.34.18.106/content.php?article.15 Depending on what kind of PDA you have Palm or PPC, will determine which software options are available to you. If you don't already have a PDA, you'll probably get a lot of feedback here that will suggest a Palm (most cheap ones are fine).

For the love of the sport, I hope that people place caches of quality in quantities they're able to maintain, not to meet some ratio. We have not yet placed our first cache yet because we want to find a cool place (seems they're all taken in our cache-rich area) and I don't want to place generic micros (which would be easy) to meet some ratio. I'd rather there be less caches for us to find if they were well thought, than more less-than-inspired caches. People should hide as many as they feel like and know they can maintain. Some people travel a lot or have other obligations that make owning caches more difficult. You don't know people's personal circumstances. In any case, I think there are way too many reasons that imposing a ratio isn't the best idea.

8 or 9 times has to be a record! Don't you guys ever use a lifeline? Phone a friend is a good one unless the friend that has found it already says "Goo Goo Gaa Gaa!" In general I'm so stubborn that I won't take a hint until I'm truly about to go mad. Sadly, after our first missed attempt on that cache I ran into another cacher who confirmed I was looking in the right spot. It could only be in one of two places, but it requires feeling it in order to find it. I ran my hands all over the durned thing it was attached to (and made my two boys do the same) on so many occasions it was pathetic. After making all of those attempts over the course of a almost a year, we finally found just a week or two ago.

I do A. Sometimes I may not log every DNF (after the first few), when I'm sure my own stupidity is standing in the way of a cache that is indeed there. But even in those cases I'll note the dates of my visit on my bookmark list that I keep of all our unresolved DNFs. I've had a lot of emails from local cachers who've said they find some of my DNF logs to be funny. Tell me about it -- one cache we went to about 8 or 9 times before we found it. Not only were we taunted by all the "easy find" logs, but on a recent one someone's 2 year old found the cache on their own and we still hadn't been able to!

Happy to say this one is finally found! Now on to my next closest... 1.3 miles for a multi that until just recently was disabled as the first stage was MIA. I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

You should have sent them the link for this post: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=136819

Let me start by saying that I don't own a Lowrance. But I was planning on buying one when I upgraded from my Garmin Geko 201. At the time I had the H2O in my sights after a lot of research (this was about a year ago.) I won a Garmin Legend C so I no longer had a need to upgrade. But had I made a purchase on my own it would have been a Lowrance at the time. I've only heard good things from the owners who post on these forums, and the more bang for your buck seems to be true -- that's why it was at the top of my list when I was in the market.

I know I only started a year ago, but I don't think it matters if you started in 2005, 2003, or 2000.... I don't think the intent was ever to find the spot -- it was to find the cache, correct? I find general vicinities of things all the time, but that's not geocaching. As for common courtesy of emailing the cacher, shouldn't the cacher have demonstrated the same courtesy by emailing the owner before logging it as a find? If the owner had said it was okay, then no problem. I honestly don't know why the person would be so upset -- If I were the one to not find the cache, I'd simply go back until I did find it. I thought that was the point of the game, finding the cache. (And I've had several caches where I've returned multiple times.) People who are so intent on upping their numbers should really investigate Waymarking -- that's all about finding the spot, and no need to waste time opening a cache and signing a log. If it hurts you that some anonymous person's actions were talked about harshly (albeit truthfully), then maybe you need to toughen up a bit. This discussion centered around how an unidentified party posted a found it log when they did not find it. That's all. No big deal. Nobody was unjustly accused of anything they didn't do. I'm sorry that it's apparently become such a big tragedy that it forced you to come to these forums where you've stated you do not wish to be. (Sadly for you, if anything, I think you helped the OP look better and have shown how petty the subject of the thread has behaved.)

My screenname on many other message boards has been One Sweet Shannon for years, adapted from a Dave Matthews Band Song and my first name. For geocaching we wanted a family nickname and my then-fiance's last name was Paugh (We've since married on Valentine's Day this year). It was one of his sons that actually came up with the name Bear Paughs and we all liked it. (I do have a personal travel bug with which I record my miles and our adventures, and the TB name is One Sweet Shannon.)

lol, easy there! I've got dibs!

pm sent.