Kite and Hawkeye
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Posts posted by Kite and Hawkeye
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We're looking to place our first cache soonishly, and I'm starting to prefer ammo boxes to Tupperware. However, I don't think we're going to be astonishly prolific, so I don't want a bunch of ammo cans -- just one or two, y'know, to tide us over for now. I know they're available from various places by mail order, but postage adds considerably to the cost. I know there are a lot of San Diego area cachers -- where do you get your stuff? Is there a surplus store in/around San Diego? Any help would be appreciated.
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We've got a Saturn with its original tires. On a long, straight stretch of freeway, we tested GPS vs speedometer, and found the GPS about three mph faster than the speedometer. Gave us pause, since we, uh, didn't think we were exceeding 80.
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As "Kite and Hawkeye," there are obviously two of us with a single team account. I (Kite) write all the logs, both at the cache and online, but I sign for both of us. Hawkeye's just as into the sport, but doesn't care for writing logs. If he had to, they'd probably be the excessively brief kind that I hate ("Found cache. Thanks."). We always cache together, and it's a coin toss as to who's holding the GPS. We don't care who spots the cache first; it not infrequently happens that I spot it while he's still triangulating and stuff. Doesn't matter, though; it's a team find, we both have a look at the cache, and we both, obviously, get credit in the log. When we did our very first cache, we toyed with the idea of separate logins, but since we always hunt together it didn't seem to make much sense. We're not at all competitive about it, which is why the team thing struck us as a good idea.
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.. is fixed, right? Yay.
But I've encountered some other odd behavior. I went to log a find this morning, and discovered I'd been logged out; the "log your visit" link was a "log in to log your visit" link. No problem. I logged in.. and was immediately taken to the forum main page, not to a "log your visit" page or even back to the cache page. I wasn't interested in forums right then, and hadn't done anything to indicate that I wanted to go to the forums. Is this expected behavior?
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Originally posted by Gwho:As I've been led to understand it, the clue is supposed to tell you _exactly_ where it is.
I don't know if hints are supposed to be a 100% dead giveaway; they're called hints, after all. But if they're worth encrypting, they ought to be good enough hints that they would be considered spoilers if they were written in the clear. I often decrypt the hints when printing the cache page simply because it's gotten too annoying to waste time decrypting in the field only to find a useless hint, or a wordy hint full of chatter that belonged in the cache description, or "no hint needed." Or a little poem about how I'm a cheater.
A good hint works when you're stumped, but I prefer ones that are a good solid nudge to ones that are an utterly dead giveaway. When in doubt, though, I'd rather people err on the side of an explicit hint rather than a maddeningly vague one. There seems to be a trend toward taunting cachers via hints, and that's just nasty.
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Originally posted by Rocket Man:What's with those Coronado Bridge Passes that you leave all over the place?
Rocket Man
What confuses me is that I thought I heard the bridge no longer required a toll
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quote:
Originally posted by Rocket Man:What's with those Coronado Bridge Passes that you leave all over the place?
Rocket Man
What confuses me is that I thought I heard the bridge no longer required a toll
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But that falls under the heading of "It's only useful once you know where the cache is." Having read that hint in the woods, I would have been irritated, and probably not have looked for a can, but after finding the cache and noticing the can, I would have put it together.I've seen more than one hint saying, "I hope this cache doesn't stump you." That's more obvious than "You can find it," but now that I'm sensitized to that sort of phrasing I know to start looking for a stump or a can or anything in an enigmatic hint that might be a noun.
My least favorite hint (on a great, fun cache, but one we'd never have found if we hadn't run into other geocachers at the site):
Cache is in plain sight, although if you're standing over it you won't see it. It is visible from almost all sides.
The cache was suspended twenty feet overhead from a rope. Because of that hint, we'd been searching UNDER things, since we'd been told it was possible to stand "over" the cache.
We have also been victims of the famous "look for a rock" in a rock-field, and encrypted hints that mention parking spots, good trail heads, emailing the owner, and/or the fact that there is a good place nearby to buy pie.
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The only time my eTrex updates distance slowly is when it's in battery save mode. I don't think the higher-priced models work any differently in that regard. That said, it'd be nifty to have a GPS with maps. Built-in compass might help with the bouncy arrow, but it's also a big battery suck (or so I've been told)...
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We went to REI this weekend and ended up with a pair of titanium Leki poles. I (Kite)am really glad we tried out a bunch before we bought anything -- I found rubber grips to be unbearable. I know you're not supposed to have a death grip on the pole, but just touching the rubber grips a little, they didn't feel good. Sticky, sweat-inducing, uncomfortable. I wasn't crazy about the cork grips either, but the poles we got have cork with a bit of foam on it and they feel great. I liked the positive angle, but it only came on really expensive poles.. poles which also had shock absorption, which I decided against because of the annoying clicky noise and the extra weight. The springiness itself felt a bit odd, though no doubt I'd have gotten used to it. Just decided it wasn't worth $50. Plus, the poles we got collapse down to 24", so packing them for a trip will be easy. Carbide tips (and we got rubber feet for use on concrete). Haven't had a chance to go geocaching with them yet, but playing around in the store they felt pretty good. They'll no doubt be better than the stick I've been using (it's been useful, but it's heavy and uncomfortable to hold. the titanium sticks, in comparison, are weightless).
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So, after reading this entire thread I've still got a few questions on walking sticks...
Up till now I (Kite) have been using a stick I picked up one day while hiking, but I'm now motivated to buy a nice aluminum (or titanium, or whatever) stick, since we're about to go on vacation and I don't think I'll be able to get my big stick in the luggage. Obviously, I'm going to need something that collapses down pretty small (I think I'd want this anyway, so I can stow it when I need the use of both my hands).
I've been doing some comparison shopping, and there's a bewildering variety of features available. I know I want a very comfortable grip (that's my stick's one flaw, even when I wrap the handle in cloth) and I don't want a rubber tip (I use my stick while stream-crossing, and have heard that rubber is more likely to slip when wet than a carbide tip). What I don't know is if 'anti-shock' properties are worth extra money, or if the 'positive angle' sticks actually do any good. Any opinions on those features would be welcome, as would any suggestions of a stick you use and like that fits my needs. Are there brands of walking stick to seek out/avoid in particular?
As I said, I'll keep researching on my own, just wondering what some of the common wisdom might be.. the kind of stuff you don't find on sites attempting to sell you things, where they're probably not going to mention the downside of this or that. Thanks for any advice.
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I like *some* hints in logs, occasionally, or simple advice, but they can spoil the hunt (which is, of course, the source of 'logs may contain spoilers'). It's nice of people to encrypt when they're giving away more than the original description does. On one cache we tried, there was obviously a gimmick, but it wasn't clear what it was, and everyone who logged it was careful to remain vague. As it turned out, the cache was missing, but we had to figure out what the gimmick had been to be sure of that, so it was still fun to apply our brains. Another team tried the cache just as it was being archived by the owner.. unfortunately, their log mentioned specifically what they'd been looking for. True, nobody else will be searching for it now that it's archived, but the owner may resurrect it and it'd be nice for the mystery to remain.
I like to err on the side of vagueness/encryption myself, and save blatant spoilers for the physical logbook where I know I'm talking to people who already know all there is to know. If I've really gotta talk about a great hunt, I'll talk to non-geocachers about it -- at least I can't spoil them, and I might turn them on to the sport!
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I like *some* hints in logs, occasionally, or simple advice, but they can spoil the hunt (which is, of course, the source of 'logs may contain spoilers'). It's nice of people to encrypt when they're giving away more than the original description does. On one cache we tried, there was obviously a gimmick, but it wasn't clear what it was, and everyone who logged it was careful to remain vague. As it turned out, the cache was missing, but we had to figure out what the gimmick had been to be sure of that, so it was still fun to apply our brains. Another team tried the cache just as it was being archived by the owner.. unfortunately, their log mentioned specifically what they'd been looking for. True, nobody else will be searching for it now that it's archived, but the owner may resurrect it and it'd be nice for the mystery to remain.
I like to err on the side of vagueness/encryption myself, and save blatant spoilers for the physical logbook where I know I'm talking to people who already know all there is to know. If I've really gotta talk about a great hunt, I'll talk to non-geocachers about it -- at least I can't spoil them, and I might turn them on to the sport!
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First Contactis another alien-themed puzzle cache. At the first waypoint, there are sheets bearing an encrypted message, which you have to solve to find the end cache's location. Took us overnight and exercised our knowledge of other attempts at alien contact. Definitely one of our more memorable caches (you end up seeing the mothership!)
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First Contactis another alien-themed puzzle cache. At the first waypoint, there are sheets bearing an encrypted message, which you have to solve to find the end cache's location. Took us overnight and exercised our knowledge of other attempts at alien contact. Definitely one of our more memorable caches (you end up seeing the mothership!)
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We were dismayed by poison oak early on in our geocaching career, but after a few finds we realized the awful truth... every single cache in San Diego County that isn't reachable from a paved road is buried in poison oak most of the year. If poison ivy, brambles, stinging nettles or any other nasty stuff is native (or really invasive) in your area, you almost have to assume that you'll encounter it on a given trip. I do appreciate warnings about unusual hazards (or the invaluable comment 'there's a way to avoid this evil hazard if you're careful,' if it's true), but if I had any sense I'd wear long pants caching. I go in expecting to get scratched up, and I generally succeed. Luckily, neither of us is particularly susceptible to poison oak rash. Hawkeye just got his first (and comparatively mild) case after two months of caching in poison oak season, and I've yet to get a blister.
On the other hand, I think caches requiring serious bushwhacking should indicate such in their rating and/or description. I would like to avoid such caches, personally, because I don't like the idea of leaving a swath of carnage behind me, even if all I step on are weeds (I can't generally tell the difference between a weed and an important native plant anyway.. I'm lucky I even know poison oak). But around here, if you're walking in a canyon, you're wading in the little red leaves. I do like to be warned about steep slopes involving loose dirt and little round pebbles, but that's a personal thing..
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I'm not interested in virtual or locationless caches, but I was surprised to see sentiment against micros. (I'm using 'against' loosely, in the sense that I'm surprised that there are people who say micros aren't their cup of tea or they don't care to hunt them.) As long as there's an actual hidden object to hunt, I'm happy, and since I live in an urban area micros often work where a large ammo box wouldn't. Is the drawback, to those who don't like them, that they're so small and easy to hide that people tend to chuck them any old where? Or that little can be put in them? Or that their size makes them unusually hard to locate unless they're hidden very intelligently?
I've only encountered three micros in the wild, but the hiding spots were very clever so I've got a pretty favorable opinion of them. Plus, my signature item actually fits in an Altoids tin.
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If the idea here is to hide so creatively that people are commonly skunked, aren't we looking at a difficulty of 4 or 5 rather than 2? That might also give admins who see a number of not-founds followed by an archive request something to think about -- a lot of not-found activity on a difficulty 2 implies that it's not there.
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How do you enter coordinates in on the etrex? Is it easier to enter when using the computer connection?To enter coordinates on an etrex, you pretend you're marking your current location as a waypoint. While you're editing the waypoint name and symbol, you can also edit the coordinates. You have to use two buttons to scroll through a list of numbers, and edit each digit to the coordinates you want. It's a bit of a pain, and an easier way would be nice, but it's not given me carpal tunnel yet.
Downloading with a cable is much, much easier, of course. The cable looks like it runs around $30; if a more expensive Garmin comes with it, it might well be worth the investment (and you'll get a slightly more featureful GPS to boot).
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Not to be boring, but we got ours at amazon.com. They have decent discounts, and free shipping (but you'll have to wait a few extra days if you go with that). Yellow etrex for $99, and we're perfectly happy with it after thirty caches.
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Not to be boring, but we got ours at amazon.com. They have decent discounts, and free shipping (but you'll have to wait a few extra days if you go with that). Yellow etrex for $99, and we're perfectly happy with it after thirty caches.
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We once searched for ages for a cache noted for its cleverness and difficulty (difficulty 5, terrain 1.5). After searching carefully and reading every last log, we thought we'd figured out the gimmick, and if we were right the cache was indeed gone. There was a no-find immediately before us, but the cacher didn't have a lot of finds so we weren't sure if that was significant.
I posted a simple not-found, and emailed the hider privately with my description of what we'd been looking for. He archived the cache immediately, because we'd been right. (This is a cache that would have been fairly obvious once you caught on to the trick.) Disappointing, because we'd really wanted to find it. Even though we were 99% sure the cache was missing, we didn't post a 'should be archived.' I think contacting the owner is the way to go; s/he will know right away if you were looking in the right spot, or for the right thing. Though if the owner hasn't logged in for months, a should-be-archived note might have its place.
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There was a cache at the San Diego County Fair this summer; it was a microcache hidden in an unobtrusive spot. After the fair ended, it was hidden elsewhere near the faigrounds. There didn't seem to be any problems with its approval, and it was a fun thing to do at the fair. I didn't think it really violated commercial cache rules; it's not like it was there for the sake of enticing people to pay for fair admission. I can see how there are gray areas with putting a cache in a place that requires an admission fee, but that also applies to some parks these days..
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Did they go out? We don't seem to have received one..
travel bug etiquette
in Trackables
Posted
I envy people who at least know where their bugs *are*, even if the holder takes their sweet time releasing them. We released our first bug, Bobby the Duck, a few weeks ago on vacation -- thought it would be fun to have him work his way home. He was picked up quickly by a nice team who took him across the state and complimented us on the instructional tag we included.
Within hours of being placed in his second cache, the bug was taken by a nameless 'team' of guys that some other cachers encountered in the area that weekend. They left a note in the logbook about how they were 'abducting' the bug. They even ran into the team who dropped him off nearby, *said* they had the bug, and promised to log him. It's been over a week and the bug hasn't even been logged out of the cache, and given those circumstances I don't think it's going to be. The tag included complete instructions -- and my email address. Nothing. It's frustrating and disappointing. If they really wanted to abduct the bug, the least they could do is send a ransom note. You can do everything right, leave instructions and written goals, but you can't protect yourself from jerks. The same day, two other perfectly nice teams stopped by the cache hoping to pick up our bug, but he wasn't there. Travel bug luck.
I wanted to be philosophical about it -- I knew the chances of the bug making it to its goal were slim, and I was prepared for him to have weeks or months of inactivity in the hands of various people.. but I didn't expect him to be flat-out ducknapped practically the first thing out. If he shows up later with pictures, it'll be a hoot, but I'm not holding out hope.