Runaround

Nothing surprises me anymore. I know of one cacher who has carved their GC.com username into trees near caches.

I think a trailer hitch on a Chevy Cavalier identifies you as an optimist.

Considering the range of pepper spray is very short and the volume quite small, I doubt you'd find it very useful. It would probably just further agitate the bear.

Sounds like time for a DPM.

That actually sounds like a positive in this situation.

The next time someone whines in this forum about there not being enough originality in geocaching, we should Markwell this thread. Give me an ammo can under a pile of sticks any day. What's really sad is some people needed the smiley bad enough to put their health at risk.

Like alkaline, the performance of a lithium battery is very much application dependent but for different reasons due the difference in the chemistry. If you have a device with a high power consumption curve, lithium will outperform anything else, particularly in applications where alkaline performs poorly. Put some lithium cells in a low drain application like that wall clock hanging in your kitchen and they'll perform like most other batteries.

DISCLAIMER: I work for Energizer. The Wikipedia article on alkaline batteries does a nice job in explaining why it is hard to give a stated capacity. It has to do with the chemistry of alkaline cells compared to NiMH. Reads like it may have been written by a battery company engineer. Hmmmm.... It's also why there are different types of batteries on the market. None of the manufacturers are trying to confuse the customer but it come across that way. The key is to match the right battery to the application and device. Personally, I use NiMH in my GPS. I can get all the free batteries I can use at the office but I like that I'm not always throwing something away. One last thought. There are alkaline battery "chargers" on the market but I can't recommend against them strongly enough. The websites that sell them usually claim that the battery manufacturers use the threat of leakage (chemical burns), fire, or explosion to scare consumers away from these chargers in order to protect our market share. The truth is that we recommend against these chargers due to the unacceptably high risk of leakage, fire, and explosion. These are very real risks as alkaline cells were not designed to be recharged. I've seen the results first hand and it is scary. Before I'd let any of my loved ones use one of these "alkaline chargers", I'd rather go to Wally World and buy a pack of Duracells.

Strange topic. I pay $30 for a product, not to keep the site running. If PQ's go away, I'll stop paying. GC.com is a business. They can run it anyway they want and treat customers anyway they want provided they aren't breaking the law. If you don't like the way they run their business, feel free to go elsewhere. Since they are a privately held business, they don't have an obligation to tell you anything. And if Jeremy's other car is a Ferrari, good for him.

So Bristol is the home of petty and vindictive cache owners? I'll scratch that off the vacation list.

Is there a trail within 100 yards of the "remote location" or an area called the "middle of nowhere"? If so, then don't underestimate other park users getting to the spot. I've hunted many "remote location" caches only to find footprints and litter in close proximity to the cache.

I agree, especially when some of the TB's have been sitting in a cache for months. Then I appoint myself TB parole officer and get them moving. A few years back I visited a TB prison in Florida while on vacation. I only had one bug to leave but removed 3 that had been sitting in there for quite a while. I got a nasty email from the cache owner threatening to delete my find and 3 nice emails from the TB owners. I told the cache owner he could do what he wanted since I don't give a rats behind about my find count and he can't erase my name from the TB track logs which showed I had been to the cache anyway.

I recently picked up a Canon SD1100 IS and so far I have been very happy. I like the brown color which beats the shiny silver of some models. I had an older Nikon that failed the gravity test. I guess that's why they put those little wrist straps on cameras.

I didn't care for the almond scent. The peppermint made me feel like I bathed with my toothpaste. I guess that's why they make 4 scents.

Score = [>1, <∞]

I use Dr. Bronners. The lavender scent isn't very manly but it cuts the multi-day trip funk better than the other scents. Just don't get any in your eyes. It really stings.

I was plotting an orienteering course and noticed the ballpoint pen I was carrying would move the compass needle if I got it too close. It doesn't have to be a big piece of metal like a car to affect to compass.

If I wanted to say what was really on my mind, I'd probably be given a posting vacation by the admins. I'm a board member of my local Audubon society, participate in Ohio's breeding bird survey, and have volunteered with a wildlife rehabilitator. I have seen the results of birds having a bad experience with monofilament first hand. This cache is such a bad idea that I'm inclined to think it was an attempt to troll. And if it isn't trolling, the cavalier attitude of the proponents is outright disturbing. I'm not a animals before people PETA type but this cache idea has to rank up there with one of the dumbest ideas ever put forth on this site. If you want geocaching to continue to thrive, I'd try to avoid irritating the animal-rights organizations. They can make such a huge noise that land managers would probably ban caching to get them to go away.

I wouldn't. It's tritium. It's often used in "glow-in-the-dark" watches and gauges. As long as it stays encapsulated in the little vials it is perfectly safe. Tritium cannot penetrate the skin. I'd recommend against eating it.

When caching alone, I have a 10 minute rule. After that, I move on to the next cache. If I'm with others, I'll call uncle after 15 minutes but defer to the group. At about 30 minutes, I begin to protest more loudly.

On a multi-use trail where bikes are allowed, I'd have no issue. On a dedicated hiking trail, I would have a problem unless it was being used by a disabled individual in place of a wheelchair.

There is a local cache hidden by a person who is a very prolific hider. The cache is in a strip of trees between a grocery store and a large commercial building. The cache page makes no mention of permission, just calling it a park and grab. I'm sure when the approver OK'd the cache they either assumed the owner had permission because they checked the box or if the approver asked, the cache owner lied. The strip of trees is not owned by the grocery store. It is owned by the company I work for who happens to own the large commercial building. Not that it really matters, but the grocery store actually leases the space from a real estate investment firm so the store manager is in no position to give permission for a cache at their location. The facility where I work contains a significant R&D operation. They take security very seriously including cameras and other measures to determine if someone is entering the property at any point. When I noticed the cache on GC.com, I went and spoke with the facility manager who called a meeting with the safety manager and the head of security. None of them were aware of geocaching or had given permission for the cache. I was not aware but they were already having an ongoing discussion because the security systems had picked up an unusual number of people entering the property at one location, particularly during the evenings and weekends. This was at the spot where the cache was located. The next day I brought in my GPS and the 4 of us went to check out the site. We confirmed the cache is in fact on company property. I was also able to review some of the security tapes and recognized several local cachers. The facility manager decided to let the cache stay figuring that pulling it might result in unwanted bad publicity and that it is very difficult to keep people away from that part of the property. He's not really happy, nor has he given permission, but he figures he has the situation contained. He decided that if there were problems with cachers wandering further onto the company property, he'd yank the cache. So far, only a few cachers have wandered closer to the building and have been greeted by security and escorted back to the property line. In the past month the cache was found for the 100th time. That means at least 100 people have unknowingly trespassed because of the cache owner. I've often been suspicious of some of the hides of this particular owner. They hide a lot of caches on the grounds of commercial properties, and only rarely do they mention permission. If they don't specifically mention permission, I skip the cache.

I've been using MacCaching and I've been satisfied. I was never a GSAK power user before I made the switch so it does everything I need. I downloaded both and just preferred the look and feel of MacCaching.

I know some cachers haul spare log books and containers with them on cache hunts but I don't. Cache maintenance is the owners responsibility. If I find a cache badly damaged or compromised I'll do what I can in the field but I don't carry replacement supplies. I'll dump out water, throw away ruined swag, and post a Needs Maintenance log but that's about it. I guess I've seen too many lazy cache owners who ignore repeated comments about a soaked log book or other damage. I've even seen one hider post a note on their own cache asking a future finder to drop off a new log. I applaud the actions of the OP. I don't care for nano's but I'm happy to see someone willing to perform necessary maintenance.

You'd have to ask a CMP employee. It's their rules and their decision. I'm just free help. I do know of caches that have been denied a permit for various reasons. In some cases it is because the cache is in a place closed to all visitors or at least closed to off-trail hiking. There was cache that was going to be hidden right in the middle of a bird banding and survey site that gets used year round. People and mist nets don't work well together. Another cache was placed in the area behind the shooting range used by the CMP Rangers. I'm not sure how they missed all the signs. Others were in areas with rare or threatened flora/fauna. Most cases are just people who don't like the rules, or perhaps any rules. They view it as their park paid for by their tax dollars and they should be able to do whatever they want. It's not like the system is oppressive. There are 1 to 4 permits per reservation depending on the size of the specific park. Every year there are unused permits. EDIT: correction