Fairly Oddparents

Wow, your cache reviewer should consider a career as a diplomat. The concerns of the police are understandable given the current terrorist threat so it really shocks me that they didn't just demand that everything be removed. It is very generous of them to allow the caches to remain. They did a great job negotiating. I don't know if there have been any issues in the big US cities. I do know that geocaching was nearly banned in South Carolina. By the way, what constitutes suspicious behavior? If it includes talking into an electronic device that is not a phone then I'm in trouble.

We saw some sort of treasure hunting show on the Discovery Channel back around 2002. They did a segment on geocaching. They showed some couple caching near Seattle. When they opened the cache it had a t-shirt, some gift certificates to a restaurant, movie tickets, etc. Either caches were AWESOME back then or, as I suspect, it was planted for the sake of the show. Anyhoo, we thought it seemed like fun since we were outdoorsy types anyway (and a tad nerdy) so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, we didn't get around to buying a GPSr until 2004 but it's been fun ever since.

WOW! That's a clever cache and, judging by the photo, it has the cutest swag I've ever seen. That took some serious effort.

We trade but only because our daughter likes to find the "pirate treasure" so she almost always wants something. Sometimes the caches have no kid-friendly items so we take nothing but we still usually leave something small. I consider that trading up. I don't mind when people TNLNSL at our caches. What I DO mind is when they TSLNSL (Take Something Leave Nothing Signed Log). About a year ago a couple of guys who were caching together hit one of our caches and took about 5 things out of it and left nothing. I know this because they itemized the items they took when they logged on the cache page and stated that they left nothing. They had enough experience to know better. That annoys me.

Define "value". $5, $50? Whenever we start a new cache, we include a $25 restaurant gift certificate as a FTF prize. We have toyed with the idea of planting a members only premium cache with more valuable items. Dollar store items are the norm although at many caches, dollar store items would be an improvement. I think you will typically find items of slightly more value in members only caches. We got a new Leatherman tool in one. We once found a small uncut ruby in another but I doubt it is of any real value. Don't expect to find valuable things, just enjoy the challenge. Many people find more than 100 caches in a year and I doubt that any of us are sooooo wealthy that we could afford to leave things of value in each of them.

I can think of a couple of caches I would like to do this to. Did I miss something? It's some guy burning a cache in a BBQ grill to the tune of Fire Woman. The people who are commenting on it seem to think this guy is some sort of genius. What is so brilliant about it?

The caches I refuse to get are the ones where drug dealers or homeless people hang out, at or on trash dumpsters, illegal dumping sites, legal dumping sites, near wastewater treatment facilities, industrial areas, storm drains, attached to electrical transformers, or are on private property. I have nothing against micro caches if they take me some place scenic or interesting, but I am sick of 35mm film canisters randomly stuck in shrubs outside of K-Mart, Wal-Mart, grocery stores, etc. There is a guy in our area who owns about 30 of these and I've gotten to the point where if I see this guy is the cache owner, I delete the cache from my list. I have also decided to start avoiding caches placed under the skirts of street lights. It's not very clever, it's not public property, and it is potentially dangerous.

Oddly it appears that there is no cache reviewer attached to these caches. You can still send a note by clicking on "Log Your Visit" and then select either "Needs Archived" or "Needs Maintainance" from the drop down menu. The message should be sent to whomever the local cache reviewer is. Or, you could look at some of the newer caches near the moldy ones and see who their cache approver is then send them an email explaining the situation and include the waypoints for the caches in question.

We had an almost identical situation once, including a cache owner that had moved out of state and hadn't logged on in years. We contacted the cache approver and he told us it would be easier for us to remove the old cache and start over with one of our own in the same location. He archived the old cache, we removed the old cache box, planted a new cache in the same area, submitted the new cache request, and the same cache reviewer approved it for us. If you aren't interested in taking over the cache, you could just post a note in the cache's log stating that you have taken the cache home for maitainance and post another note when you return it. Although, a few people do cache without reading the cache pages, most will probably see your note.

I've never stumbled on a cache but we just had someone stumble on one of ours last week. He actually read the Stash Note and logged on to Geocaching.com. Here is what he logged: "I found this cache by accident. My company has the contract to remove litter from the park. During one of our early morning clean-ups I removed the "container" from where it was resting, placed it in a trash bucket, continued cleaning the area, walked back to the parking lot where the large trash cans are located, and proceeded to throw away all of the contents of my bucket. I then realized that the object I had picked up was not an item that should be thrown away. I opened it and read the contents. Very cool! I had never heard of Geocaching and obviously was not aware of what I had found. I am/was a true Muggle. The item is back in the place that I found it. After visiting this web site, I am truly interested in this sport/hobby. Thanks" We are extremely happy that he returned our cache and that we may have introduced someone new to the game.

Yes, a listing that is locked can be unlocked. No, you were not wrong to expect a reply. I would send an e-mail to the cache approver who first published your cache. If that doesn't work, I would look at some of the newer caches in your area and see who published them. If there is a different approver, try sending them an e-mail. If that doesn't work, go to the bottom of the Groundspeak page and click on "Contact Us", then click on "Groundspeak Help Page", then click on "Submit a Ticket" and follow the directions. It is also possible to just submit a new cache at the same coordinates and start all over with a new cache at the same location. If the reviewer doesn't get back to you immediately don't be too alarmed. They have lives in addition to administrating hundreds of caches. It may take several days for them to get back to you. If it were me, I would just cut and paste the info from my old cache to a page for a new cache and submit a new cache request, that is assuming no one else as placed a cache in the same location.

I'm sorry, FECES? Bastards. Yep. I don't think it was human, I think it was canine but it was definitely put in there on purpose. Needless to say, we didn't sign the log book.

I live in Florida and would never go searching for a cache in a storm drain. Alligators and poisonous snakes, oh my! Besides some paranoid type would probably call the bomb squad.

You can go through all the caches and request that your local cache approver archive the caches. Go to the cache page and click on Log Your Visit, then select Needs Archived from the drop down menu and write a brief note to the approver telling them why you think it should be archived. They will either see that it is a dead cache and archive it or contact the owner to see if they are going to replace it. If the owner doesn't respond or responds that they don't want the cache, they will archive it. In some large cities, there are so many caches that the approvers never stumble across them and see that they need archiving. Sometimes they need to have it brought to their attention. I live in a hurricane prone area and caches have a way of vanishing around here never to be replaced. I have used the steps above to request that 3 caches be archived and they were.

I think recipes are a good idea as long as the card is waterproofed in some way. Soggy paper stuck to the bottom of a cache is icky and hard to get out from under your fingernails. I once found and used a nice recipe for oatmeal cookies with currants. I think the cranes sound lovely too. That would be appreciated in my house.

We know that the point of geocaching is the hunt istself and not the finds buuuut, since you asked... The best thing we found in a cache was a small uncut ruby. So small uncut gemstones would be fun, not necessarily for any monetary value, but for the general interesting geological value. Small fossils would be good for the same reason. We also like any camping items or small tools, Swiss Army knife, Leatherman type tool, foreign coins, nice non-glass holiday ornaments, cute refrigerator magnets, flower seeds, handy kitchen utensils (I once found a Tupperware orange peeler and I use it often), batteries, blank CD/RW discs, new deck of cards, or anything that makes our wee princess happy. My daugher likes unopened McToys, plastic animals, unused hair barettes, new stickers, temporary tattoos, nice pencils or erasers, small books (printed or blank), magic towels, tokens for our local arcade, prize tickets for our local arcade, pool or beach toys, shell necklaces or bracelets, small flaslights or keychain lights. The operative words here being new, funtional, and clean. We typically leave the kinds of things we would like to find. Unfortunately, we are almost always trading up at a cache. At most of the caches we've been to lately we haven't even bothered to take something but we leave something decent hoping that it will set a good example and encourage others to be slightly more thoughtful. We hate dirty, used anything, religious propaganda, things of an X-rated nature, anything advertising a business, business cards, random broken pieces of garbage that were scraped out of the bottom of a junk drawer, Army men, toy guns, Mardi Gras beads (Mardi Gras is popular along the Gulf Coast so these beads are in every stinking cache), dice, coupons, photocopies of money, lip balm or anything else that is sticky and will melt all over the inside of a cache, feces, feminine hygiene products, etc. We have found all of these things in a cache.

Those caches under the street light skirts always make me nervous. I'm convinced that I am going to stick my hand under there, touch an exposed wire, and die a horrible spasming death. The bird house is a good idea so is the air conditioner. That sounds like a cool cache. I don't think we could do an AC unit but some other type of fake mechanical box might work. Unfortunately, hiding boxes in the bushes doesn't really work around here. Most of the bushes have been removed from the parks for some reason. Lots of Live Oak trees but very few bushes. These parks are really well maintained too so even though the parks office allows geocaches, they contract out the litter removal and landscape maintainance. It is unlikely that the contractors would realize something was a geocache and leave it alone. We have a micro that is in plain sight. It is in a hide-a-key container that looks like an inground sprinkler so to non-cachers it doesn't look out of place.

The coolest thing we found was a small, uncut ruby. I imagine once it was cut it would be very tiny but my daughter loves it. She thinks it's a pirate's jewel. We once found a new Swiss Army knife too. It has been very handy. When we start a new cache, we leave a $25 restaurant gift card as a FTF prize.

Like most of you, we are getting tired of 35mm film canisters stuck in a shrub outside of K-Mart. Where we live has several park areas and other public spaces that would be good cache locations. Unfortunately, they don't really lend themselves to a traditional full-size hide. We already have one micro (not a 35mm canister) and we don't want to place another one. Micros are spreading like a rash in our area. We are trying to figure out a way to place a full-size cache in an area with high visibility or a way to hide it in plain sight. Have you seen any full-size caches or caches hidden in plain sight? If so, which ones were they or what were they like? We are hoping that something sparks our creativity. Thanks!

The cache page will automatically show 1 user watching the cache. That user is you, the cache owner. Anything over 1 is other watchers. Not everyone watching a cache is necessarily sitting on the fence. Maybe they looked but couldn't find the cache and are watching the logs to see if anyone else finds it and if there are any clues in their logs. Or, maybe they are watching it because they really liked an interesting cache and they just like to read the logs of others who like it as much as they do. They could be waiting for a particular TB to land in that cache, or they are watching to see if a cache is put up for adoption, or they are waiting to see if a fellow geocacher that they are aquainted with finds a certain cache. It could be any number of reasons. In the case of one of our local caches, a cache-nazi logged a whiney log a while back. He is now watching the cache and if there are any subsequent cachers who refer back to his gripey log or who contradict his opinion in their own logs, he sends them a whiney e-mail and criticizes them. So I guess some people watch caches because they are control freaks.

While it isn't a requirement, I seriously suggest that you find a few caches before you hide a cache. Not to crush your rush, but I have to agree. In our local area recently we have had a few very new cachers hide caches without having found any or found less than 5. Their caches are now disabled because they were quickly muggled and since they weren't really into the sport yet, they have never gone out to replace their caches.

OP: What is wrong with a DNF log prompting actions by the owner? If I received a single DNF on a cache, I would not immediately run out and check on the cache. However, if I received several DNFs in a row, I would go check. If none of those people logged their DNFs, I wouldn't know there was a problem with the cache. Also, if I received a DNF, I would e-mail an extra hint to the person who logged it. I want people to enjoy caching as much as I do so I wouldn't want them to be frustrated by banging their head against a wall searching for a cache. I log DNFs after I have tried to find a cache twice. Logging a DNF does not reflect poorly on the person who logged it. It doesn't mean you are a failure.

For us, geocaching is about spending time together as a family, creating happy memories for our kids, teaching our kids to appreciate the environment, teaching our kids to use their brains, and getting our fat butts off the sofa. However, the swag is a small part of the appeal, especially as far as kids are concerned. If you weren't out there looking for something tangible, then why not just take coordinates of an interesting rock formation and tell everyone to go look for it. I imagine there would be far fewer participants if that were the case. We don't have great expectations for the treasure and we frequently take nothing since the quality is often poor or inappropriate. We certainly don't expect any items of great value. We always try to leave something even if we take nothing. We like to think that we are doing our small part to improve the quality of the treasure. Often there are very inexpensive things that are of value to grown-ups too. If everyone tried to place better things, even if they got nothing in return, then the quality of the treasure would eventually improve on a wider scale. I prefer to do this than just give up on the swag entirely. We are relatively new at this too. We recently placed our first cache and we tried to stock it well with better quality items. Those who have found it have all commented on how well stocked it was or how good the items were. We have also noticed that the people who have found it tend to leave nicer items in our cache than they do in some other caches. I guess finding good stuff inspires some people to leave good or better stuff.

Christineincali I think your little goody bags are great! Very clever. I would enjoy finding one of your bags and I know my daughter would too. It's nice that you put so much effort into it. I've been trying to come up with nice things for caches myself. I know people hate the McToys but my daughter loves them. I was thinking about seeds too. Years ago I used to make ornaments out of handmade paper that had seeds embedded in the paper. All you had to do was tear up the paper, add water and voila - flowers. I was thinking about putting those in caches. I never would have thought about the seeds attracting animals. I also thought about homemade citronella soap but I guess that might have the same effect. Back to the drawing board.

Hmmm... you guys are giving me some good ideas. I didn't even think about making our own items. You'd think that would have occured to me since I majored in art, duh. The wood pens sound beautiful. The canoe pin sounds nice too. In defense of McToys, my daughter loves them. To her, finding toys hidden in the woods is like finding the Holy Grail. She can't wait to go caching which is better than parking herself in front of the TV. However, I can see that people who don't have kids or grandkids would find it annoying. A local cacher in our area got so sick of kids meal toys that he created a large cache specifically for McToys so that people can dump them there and get rid of them. The kids love it. Thanks for the ideas!