M3J

I have seen great caches from newer cachers and crappy caches from experienced cachers...it can go either way. My opinion (though this has been discussed many times before and I doubt it will ever happen) is that new cachers should have a minimum number of finds before placing a cache. Its not that they are not capable of placing good caches, I just feel that if have exposure to different types of caches, they would know what is fun and what is not so much fun. I find that most new cachers place urban micros as their first caches or something right in their front or back yard (as one of the other posters mentioned). After a while, urban micros are just not fun anymore and caches in yards always bother me. Yes, the cache owner may be OK with cachers coming into their yards but what do passersby or neighbors think when they see someone wandering through your yard or peering in your bushes? This is just an example but unless cachers have experienced different types of hides, they won't know what certain hides feel like for the finder. As I say though, some new cachers put out great hides, experiencce just improves the odds (hopefully).

Brendah, we have so many southern visitors to this area, it would be wonderful if you could check in. I think most of the logs on my hides are from people outside the area. That's cause most of us southerners are ex-northerners who still have to do the annual pilgramage home. I've done a lot of caches along the North Bay-Timmins route as well as Sudbury-Timmins. Done a lot in all three cities. I really enjoy the northern caches...especially those finds in 3 or 4 feet of snow that no one has bothered to look for in months Heck, even had two FTFs last christmas up in Timmins. I've been to Moosenee and points farther north (Atiwapiskat, Fort Albany, Kesatchewan) in my younger years...BC (Before Caching)...mosquitos would sure make caching up there a lot of fun!! I used to play in a pipe band in Timmins...never forget the trip up to Moosenee in the mid-late 80s when they opened their "new" arena and myself on snare and one piper had to marshall the dignitaries into the arena for the opening ceremony in our kilts...the looks from the natives......

Congrats MM!! It would really great if someone out east could plan an event like the three of ours. It would be neat to say there are events coast to coast.

I think that's a great idea. From our caching experiences up in the Sudbury/NB/Timmins triangle, I am sure an organization like this would be welcomed. MM, you might want to contact Murfster up in Timmins. He is a wealth of knowledge on caching in the north. Don's been at it for a little while

Cool. Ours is called "Milestones and Mistletoe" and runs from 4-6 so it starts at the same time as yours. Ours are LIVE and BigBadger has already posted their milestone goal! I would have expected mine published today, but it appears our famous reviewer won't publish it with a mention of donations to the Salvation Army Toy Drive....claims this makes it a charity event. I amended it with a shorter description of the toy drive. We'll see if that's good enough for him.

Keep an eye out for events to be posted in your area. That's the best way to meet other cachers and learn.

Cool. Ours is called "Milestones and Mistletoe" and runs from 4-6 so it starts at the same time as yours.

OK, we're a go. Its just in for submission as well. I made ours for the 14th as well (4-6pm) so that it will coincide with the BC event. Montana's in Cambridge...right beside the 401 for those travelling in and in the midst of a ton of shops for your christmas bargin hunting pleasure. Also, a toy drive for the Salvation Army will be part of it. Keep watching for the events!

Yikes! OK, I will go ahead with it since you have put yours into place. Since I have not heard from anyone to organize a Toronto or London area event, I am going to do it more local to make it easier on me. I will book something likely down by the 401 in Cambridge so that it is convenient for those travelling from out of town. I will book something tomorrow and post the event. Let me know the details of your event and I will duplicate it as best I can. Sorry to seem wishy washy...if you knew the lot that is my life right now, you'd see why I had thought to back off from the event but if I don't have to coordinate an out of town event, it will be pretty easy.

Well, not having heard from anyone this week (possibly due to me being out of commission for a few days earlier) and since the time is fast approaching, it is likely better to shelve this idea until next year. With Christmas coming, a few other events on the horizon, trying to coordinate across country, trying to get this off the ground in such a short time period was likely too ambitious. I will put another note out in the spring and maybe we can look at trying something like this next summer. Cheers Mike

Sorry folks, I had Cub Camp planning to do last week and was away all weekend at camp (trying planning and feeding 30 8-10 year olds and 15 adults for 2 days...I am still exhausted!!). We did manage to get 5 caches in as a group though...3 of which were Earthcaches which they had not done before...really enjoyed collecting fossils at Rock Glen Conservation Area. Anyway, on to bigger things... Sorry to hear about the 13th Brendah. Maybe you can find someone else from your neck of the woods. As far as Milestone's goes, I looked into it and it sounds like a really nice place but it may be a litle on the pricey side for most (as has been mentioned). I guess it depends on if we are planning on eating or just a few pints. Since there aren't Milestone's in most places (looks like mainland BC around Surrey, GTA, and Alberta, I would think location doesn't matter a ton. I have had someone who lives in the area recommend either Caseys, Montanas, or Boston Pizza in Milton. I am going to call this afternoon and get some info. I will also submit the event by tomorrow and will pass along the info to others. I like the idea of Milton as well since it is not as far for us K/W cachers and also points farther south. That being said, if there is someone willing to organize the Toronto/Mississauga area event, I could step in and do the one for London in Brendah's place. I may look to Woodstock for that one since it would be more central for both K/W and London. It would really be great if you guys could do one out west as well Helen. Any other takers for the east coast or in between coasts?? If we can decide today or tomorrow, that would be awesome!

Not a bad idea Ralph. Do you know if they have an area that would suit a group?

OK, I will set something up for Near North. There are cachers here who have either achieved the 1000 mark, are working on 600, or working on 500. Heck, there are even cachers here who recently managed the 100 mark, and that is good. I can set up the event, but need to coincide with when the 1000 is back in town. I like the idea! Consider this #2 in the Milestone Event cache series. I was just thinking after reading Mag Magician's post ... maybe it would be more logical for a Milestone Event to be held in London as well. It could be #3. London is way closer to me than Milton or Guelph and there would be a more likely chance that more people from this area would attend a London event than a toward Toronto event. I could do this IF I have help from someone else in the London area. I am too new to events to know all the best things that an event should have. I have only been to one since I started caching this past spring. Does that sound good M3J? Sounds great! At this point, I am looking at Dec 13th. Thoughts??

Yes, I'm with you on that one. Once I hit Find #2000 I pretty much gave up on the numbers game. Now I check on the map, find a park or area that looks nice and go bag a few caches and call it a day. I no longer care about finding every cache. If I read a description and the cache doesn't interest me, it goes on my Ignore list -- which has now grown to 68 caches. Let me tell you, caching has been more enjoyable these last few months than it had been in years. I agree for the most part. The only thing I am still hooked on is keeping the city clean of caches. I have this thing about not having any caches on my closest list within 30km. I know, I should seek therapy. When I am out of town, I pick and choose and when we travel, we look for the ones that would show us part of the area that's not a popular tourist trap. The best part about caching while on holidays is just that...have the locals show me the cool stuff. Mind you, sometimes its the locals showing me the nearest Bee Newspaper box or lampost micro, but generally the good outweighs the bad. I am just checking on a couple of date conflicts but I will publish this event shortly. Any other takers in other parts of the country want to coordinate dates for other similar events on the same day?

As has been mentioned by a few, I would not care one bit what the other cacher does. If I had planned on doing the final like that before he called, I would just ask him if would be OK if we stopped as I had it in the plans for the day. As long as he is OK with that (and I can't imagine why I'd be caching with someone who wouldn't...unless it was a 20km hike to the final), off we go. Otherwise, I'd just skip it for another day...no biggee. In terms of how he logs it, I couldn't care less. If he wants to log it as an FTF along with me, fine by me. Let the cache owner decide what he wants to do. Now, if he found the actual container and tried to tell me HE was FTF and not me...there would be a commotion... I've long since stopped really caring about FTFs. If they are close by and its convenient, I will go for it but if I don't get it, not a big deal at all. In the case above, I wouldn't be doing it so much as the person to get the FTF on the final, I would be more interested in solving the puzzles.

While I am sure not going to bring it up to the powers that be, there is one big difference between in car navigation systems and handheld GPS... The Nav system in my truck will not allow me to enter addresses, search POIs (aside from quick POIs like gas), or do many other seraches once I am moving over 5km/h. I wonder if they might expand this at some point to include not even having the GPS on since you can doo all of the above. I would assume the in car systems have these restrictions because the regulators wanted them at some point. Mind you, if I could enter coordinates into my Nav system, I wouldn't even need to turn the Oregon on...dare to dream...

Totally agree...that's why my stats are just mine. I don't compare my stats to others (except a few local caching friends...its always fun to rib each other in good fun). There are way too many variables... retired cachers vs working stiffs (read: time on their hands) folks living in cache dense areas vs the far north (right murfster??) those with physical limitations (I am still planning on Hilton Falls loop but with my leg injuries, it will likely put me out of commission for a few days) This is why I set goals for myself but they are based on what is reasonable and fun for me. I remember last year when I was really cranking out the numbers because I wanted to hit 2000 on my 40th birthday...it started to not be fun anymore. Sometimes I feel like a numbers run, sometimes I want to just do one or two really cool caches. Sometimes I want to do a bunch of historical multis, sometimes I only want to do traditionals. I just want to enjoy myself and have some fun in the outdoors. Sometimes that means its about numbers for the day, sometimes its doing a new type of cache or hide. Bottom line...my numbers are meaningful to me but they shouldn't be to anyone else...just as anyone else's are meaningless to me. Getting back to the original thought, I am going to check on one thing as there may be a CREW Pub night in Dec. If so, maybe I'll wait to do a Milestone Event for some other time.

Ahem!!! Central is between Toronto and Kitchener?????? Where the heck do you think the rest of us live? At least allow the courtesy of making central somewhere north of 9, and I will do my best to make 500 so I have a milestone to celebrate with you. Fair enough, I recognize that central is certainly a relative term! I had only suggested that general area as I am in Waterloo and am familiar with many of the establishments between here and Toronto. I am not familiar with any of the spots around 9. That being said, there is certainly a denser population of cachers down here so logistically, it still makes more sense to have it down here. My other thought, though, was that if others across the country wanted to have similar pub nights the same evening, it would be neat to see the number of milestones met in one evening. Plan a seperate event for Barrie or similar!! Cheers

Yeah, I had originally had hoped we could hit 3000 together on one of our BT hikes but as I told you in June, I just can't keep up to you Good luck tomorrow!

By all means take a serious interest in the hobby, I do. But clearly I don't care about the numbers. I participate due to my interest in technology, exercise and a quest to visit places I may not have had an opportunity or inclination to see otherwise. All these things I do for ME and those that choose to cache with me. BTW this forum is for more than "a monument to facilitating the capture and documentation of numbers....." I believe it is also a place to share experiences and knowledge as well as debating points of view. Seems you weren't too happy with me providing mine. At the end of the day the "numbers" mean nothing - it is the EXPERIENCE that made that number. Peace BBoG, I had debated not replying to your original post but those that know me likely already figured that would never happen I think you may misinterpret the numbers game for a competition. Just like golf, I don't care what others score (or how many finds they have...though it always makes for good ribbing of fellow cachers). For me, I set goals for myself as a personal challenge. Last year I had set a goal of hitting 2000 on my 40th birthdday this past January. Now I simply wanted to hit 3000 by the end of the year. Ideally, I would like to try and maintain 1000 a year, at least for the next couple of years. More of a personal target for me, however, is to cache in as many provinces, territories, states, and countries as possible. I have now cached in every province, 20 states, and 7 countries. All of this being said, however, I do not enjoy the lampost micro sort of thing just for a number. I wold rather the caches take me to beautiful locations...that is why I have travelled across the country twice just to go caching. If I wanted nothing but numbers, I could just as easily spend a few days in Toronto and clean up the easy ones instead of flying to Victoria. Bottom line, I guess, is that if you want to assume that my reason for getting a bunch of milestone markers all in once place just to thump our chests, that's your perogative. It might be a little less judgemental, however, to understand someone's viewpoint from their perspective, rather than your own, before criticizing. I just thought it would be fun to have a bunch of people holding up various signs of 100, 200, 500, 2000, or whatever up. Its all kinf od like a birthday...whether or not I want to get older is irrelevant...as long as I keep living, its going to happen and the number of years I have lived will be marked. Sometimes, people like to get together to celebrate those days.

As I approach number 3000, I had a thought (yeah, yeah...add your own comment here...) Would there be an interest in an event mid December that would be open to all (of course) but have a focus on trying to mark as many milestones as possible. I just it might be kind of cool to have a pub night or something similar that could be a combo Christmas Party and an event to gather as many cachers about to celebrate a milestone. Whatever your definition of a milestone is...be it 100, 500, 1,000, whatever. My thoughts are to have it in a pub or similar somewhere between Kitchener and Toronto so that as many as possible can attend. Thoughts? 1) Where? (Guelph? Milton?) 2) Weeknight or weekend? (my vote is weeknight) 3) Favorite pubs? As a seperate thought, wouldn't it be cool to have multiple events the same night/day across the country so there are tons of Canadian Cachers celebrating milestones the same day?

OK, as many know from my other posts, I had issues with my Colorado. I upgraded to the Oregon and had it out yesterday for a full day of caching (33 smileys) and driving the countryside. Bottom line...I LOVE this Oregon. Everything that the Colorado bugged me about is better on the Oregon (though the screen brightness is about the same in my uneducated opinion). I found navigating a breeze and very quick, accuracy was like my 60CSx (very good), no drift, fast warm up and aquisition, easy to manage screens, comfortable in my hand, and even though the Colorado was easy to get in and out of an auto mount than my 60CSx, the Oregon in the RAM mount couldn't be easier. I am quite happy I made the move. The Oregon, I dare say, may even be better than my 60CSx!!

I have not heard of anything. I'll e-mail him and see what he's working on... Basically what a DEM (digital elevation model) is, is a 'pixelated' representation of the terrain elevations (kind of like a bit map). This means that a person (or a program) can easily ask the question "What is the elevation at point x,y"? As opposed to a contour map, where the elevation information is stored as a series of lines of constant elevation. These lines can be in any order, in any dimension (x, y and z), which can make it very difficult (although not impossible) for a program to figure out the elevation at a given point, but it does make it easier to render some information. Dale A much better response than mine Thanks for teaching me something too!

Digital Elevation Models...basically, its what gives the Colorado and the Oregon the ability to display 3D topographic images....very cool stuff!

Thanks...that's kind of what I discovered. Funny though...I called Garmin and they said that since the SD Card info comes from the CD data, that the cards did not have DEM data. I called a few shops and they all say the cards only do, just as you indicated. Anybody try one of the Canada TOPO cards yet?