Fugads

Awesome cache. I wouldn't worry about guidelines requiring GPS use. There are a lot of puzzles caches out there that have you start in one place and then follow picture clues along a route to reach the final. This really isn't that different except that it might be easier to solve from home than some of the other variants I've seen. But no worries there either. Really loved the video you put together for this urban hide. Makes it fun.

Maybe it's silly of me to repeat what I already said earlier in this thread... but it wasn't entirely clear from my other post and it seems that someone new is asking a kind of different question. I had a cache published similar to the idea you describe above. See https://coord.info/GC5YP2N . Made for a very fun cache creation. The container was made up to look like a drone that had crashed into a tree, and I must say I enjoyed every aspect of putting this listing together.

I recently found a geoache which had some interesting entries in the logbook. Going back to 2014, there appears to a be non geocacher that found this remote wilderness cache and wrote some negative comments about geocaching in the book, even threatening to remove the cache entirely. While this person didn't make good on that threat, they continue to visit the cache once or twice a year and leave new comments each time they visit, sometimes calling the geocache trash, other times bemoaning how geocachers are "robots", sheep" or "connected lemmings", and suggesting that they are somehow unable to properly enjoy the area. It was interesting to see this person repeatedly leave these comments year after year, and the comments that geocachers would leave in response. It almost seemed like a dialogue of sorts, except the geocachers are only visiting the location a single time and are not seeing this person's replies and retorts. It got me thinking about what this person must be like and I ended up writing a blog post about it. The post also has pictures from the logbook. If I had to categorize this person from JL_HSTRE's list, I would probably say this person is a combination of #1 and #2. They view the geocache as trash in the wilderness, and also view the game as pointless/detrimental and not the way people should be getting outside. The thing I find most amusing about this is that the person keeps on visiting this geocache that they dislike, apparently checking up on it so that they can continue to comment on how they don't like it. It's like now that they know it is there, they can't help themselves but to look at it every time they walk by. I can sympathize with that feeling, even if I don't share this person's sentiments towards geocaching at all.

I'm sure there are loads of creative ways a drone can be used for geocaching. Here is an example of a cache I created using a drone (which has since been adopted out). https://coord.info/GC5YP2N OK, so maybe the drone only adds an element of fun to that one, but still... As for logging a cache with a drone... seems like that would be technologically prohibitive. But then, there are some very enterprising geocachers out there.

Looks like a new cyber attack for the new year. Oh goodie.

I just got a spam in my message center as well. This one reminds me of the smap cache-logs that were plaguing the site a few months ago. User was CHAS7336. Trying to figure out now how to report this.

I do this quite a bit but run into one small hiccup when I don't really know the ate I achieved a challenge. I signed a bunch of Challenge Cache logs a few years back when running a geo-art, most of which I didn't qualify for at the time. Every once in a while I'll wonder if I now qualify and go over the list. I sometimes find that I do qualify for a challenge, but am unsure about when I reached the qualification. I suppose I could try to figure that out, but I never bother to. I simply add my "found log" on the day that I realized that I met qualifications. Challenge caches are weird...

I really appreciate getting good logs and earning a favorite point on my hides. I don't have huge numbers but I think that those who do seek my hides tend to enjoy them. Or at least they create memorable experiences. Owned:60, 7 now archived (11.67%)Total finds of my caches:451 finds in 211 total days, 0.28/day, 1.95/week, 8.51/monthTotal finders of my caches:191Total finds I've made:2899Caching karma:0.16 (451/2899)Hide with the most finds:36, Dinner and a Movie (2015 GIFF Viewing Event), GC64299Hide with the most favorite points:16, Bear Necessities, GC33K9PHide found most frequently:Every 2.50 days, Lost Quadcopter, GC5YP2NTotal favorite points received:179 (41.7%)Log length, words:Average: 104, Longest: GC4GDG0 735

Just yesterday I got the same message about having exceeded my email quota. This struck me as very odd, since I don't use the feature that often, and when I do I get a copy of the email sent to mysef, so it was a simply matter to go back and see how many emails I've been sending using geocaching.com's portal. The answer was 6 last month, 3 in August, 15 in July. At least in my recent history, I haven't sent more than twenty messages in any given month. How can that possibly be exceeding a quota? Anyhow, I contacted GS about it and received a reply today to sign out of my account, close my browser, and clear cookies. Now I can send emails again. If you aren't actually sending a lot of emails, you may want to try that. I still do not believe I exceeded any quota though, and think something else is up. Perhaps tGS is monkeying with the system right now. Or perhaps somehow my account is being used to send emails through GS and unbeknownst to me. Creepy. In the end, I'm just glad I can send emails again. Nothing like have a solid record of your communiques.

I just got this message today, is it a new feature or is the system getting abused somehow? I don't send a lot of emails, and haven't used the system to send any emails this week. And yet, when I try to send someone an email through their profile page for an earthcache I found yesterday, it is telling me my quota has been reached. What gives? Is it possible that somehow someone is using my account ID to send emails for spam purposes? That's the only plausible explanation I can come up with. The alternative, that me sending 5-10 emails a month is exceeding their spam threshold seems ridiculous. Please help!

Two more: Yu4785 Marshall6048 Although I think the latter was already locked. Man these guys stink!

Sounds really fun. I have a similar multi cache with a required tool hidden along the way and it has been well received, even though it is not found often. Actually, my one recommendation is that you design the cache such that it is not too popular. Caches that are fairly involved and require equipment can be some of the best, but if it gets visited a lot it is bound to have more maintenance needs. Perhaps that is not an issue for you, but if it is, then designing the cache so that only those who are specifically interested in it, and making it difficult enough where most casual cachers will pass it by greatly improves longevity,a t least in my experience. Doing things like making the first stage simply a set of coords to stage 2 and having this be a decent hike will cut back on the number of casual visitors. Also, putting any tools in later stages such as 2 or beyond, so that only cachers who are already invested in finding the cache find the tools as well. Perhaps this feels a little wrong, maybe elitist to purposefully create a cache that does not have mass appeal, and indeed it may not be what you are wanting to do at all. But in my opinion, this is a good way to keep these more involved multi caches running for years and years. Then again, It really doesn't bother me much when my caches go for long spells without a find, it just makes those rare instances when they are found all the much more sweet.

Well, except when you've hiked over 10 miles through breathtaking wilderness to get to said ammo can. Then the ammo can under a tree is just right. Would that count as making you work for it?

Wow, folks are sure piling it on here. Well, it is an internet forum. For what it is worth I sympathize with the CO. I see his situation as analogous to many others that are frustrating for COs, such as when people cheat to get puzzle cache coordinates, or find ways to skip out on multi cache stages by finding spoilers. As a CO who creates some involved cache hunts, it is very disheartening to learn that some cachers will skip all the fun of the cache experience you have created just to get a smiley. I haven't ever thought about archiving my cache because of this, but I know some COs who do, especially for spoiled puzzles. The fact that the guidelines allow for any cache find to stand as long as some basic requirements are met, like signing the log, or in the OPs case, using the webcam, means that there is little a CO can do about this. Except, try to figure out ways to create better caches, puzzles and experiences. So I sympathize with the OP. In the end though, those few instances that have bothered me pale in comparison to the great logs I get from people who do experience my caches the way they are meant to be experienced. This positive far outweighs any frustrations I may get from the odd "cheater". Come to think of it, completing all the stages of a multi, finishing a Wherigo cartridge, solving a puzzle... all these things are in a sense ALR. If a cacher finds and signs the final, it doesn't matter if they did what you intended them to do. I'm probably guilty of this at some point too.

Another two on caches I was watching Donovan8052 Chas7330 Do their find logs automatically get deleted at some point? As far as I can tell, their find logs are still standing on the caches I was watching. Or do COs have to make the effort to get the logs deleted?

For a high CP cache, there is no limit to what I would do[... man I miss living in a Lonelycacheproject region. My longest hike for a geocache was a 26.5 mile hike to get Reeds Peak, in New Mexico. I had plans to go after a 40 mile backpacking cache in the Gila, but both times I was ready to go I was thwarted (once by a death in the family, and another time by flooding on the Gila). Right now I'm working on hiking all the completed segments of the Cumberland Trail in Tennessee. The segments are in the 8-15 mile range (one way). I have have found some nice caches along the trail, and other segments have none, so I have been trying to plant some hides while I'm out there. Getting permits isn't always straightforward though, which is a pain, but good trails like these deserve a cache or two to lure the geocacher/hiker out. Your accomplishments in Arizona are awesome. In my eyes, you are certainly a cacher to look up to. Oh, and when is the LCP going to go nationwide?

Sorry for reviving an old thread but I am also trying to find out more about the classification of earthcaches for a similar reason to the OP. It wasn't clear to me from the posts above, but someone mentioned that the classification system was "going away"? Is this the case? I couldn't tell much from the geocaching.org website, but then maybe I just missed something. Is the classification of earthcaches still a thing?

I almost always use my Garmin 60Csx, it reliably gets me there. I don't have a smartphone, but do have an Android tablet which I bring along in the car so I have some paperless caching features with me. That can be a huge help, but a lot of newer dedicated GPS units also have that feature. The navigation feature, GPS antenna and compass hardware in the tablet I have are not ideal for honing in on GZ, so I rarely ever use my Android device for cache unts (only if it is the only thing I have or if the cache is really easy.

I hid my first cache after only 6 weeks of being in the game, and a couple dozen finds. It is a pretty simple cache, but doesn't get found much since it is at the top of a difficult mountain climb (technical gear required). As I was getting into this hobby, I saw placing my own geocaches as a way of announcing my presence to the local community. Much more than simply posting find notes on caches you find, placing a geocache will get you some attention from the local geocachers and I was interested in getting to know some of the other local geocachers. My first caches (and really all my caches since then) were very much about the kind of geocaching I liked at the time. Any geocache I place I feel should be a reflection of me and what I like about the game, and I think as long as people do that they are in the right spirit. I made mistakes on some of my early caches, and have learned a lot since then, but that's all part of getting into a hobby. And people that have been geocaching a while should expect that from newer geocachers and forgive them for making mistakes. Better yet they should politely reach out to help those starting up avoid mistakes. A little outreach goes a long way.

Really interesting topic. The comparison of Geocaching to other more established games (Scrabble, D&D etc..) is a good one that is worth pondering. These are all clearly games though, and there is an aspect to geocaching that is more recreational hobby, which has some differences from structured games. I like to think of other recreational hobbies when pondering how geocaching has changed and how it might continue to change. For me, what always comes to mind is rock climbing. It is a hobby that I have participated in for years, and also has seen giant changes over the years. Like geocaching, rock climbing had humble beginnings, being practiced mostly by fringe groups and off the mainstream radar. Within those groups factions occurred, debates would get heated and people would bemoan the ruination of the sport. But that never occurred, and people have continued to enjoy climbing in ever increasing forms and ways. Eventually the sport has become more main stream (cause for whining by some, but celebrated by others) and now is considered a pretty normal activity for people to get into. Every time I see some thread on these forums I immediately make comparisons to climbing. Geocachers complain that D/T ratings are subjective, and are not consistent, climbers complain about climbing ratings. When geocachers go o about what should and shouldn't count as a find, I think of climbers arguing over climbing styles and whether a send was real. Geocachers squabble over FTFs, climbers bicker of first ascents. Occasionally tempers flare and geocachers have terrible things happen to their caches (getting taken or vandalized), the same things happen with climbers over chipping holds and chopping bolts. I feel like just about every issue has some comparison that makes sense to me. What is interesting about this to me is that climbing has been established as a recreational activity for quite a bit longer than geocaching, so in a sense it can provide a framework for seeing how geocaching might also change and grow. Despite controversies in the climbing community, the underlying fun of the sport has kept people at it. I hope the same will be the case for geocaching. There are lots of different kinds of people that call themselves climbers these days, from folks that only boulder, to those that are devoted to mountaineering and on the surface it can look like these are two different hobbies. People who just spend their time bouldering may have very little in common with mountaineers. And yet they can still identify with eachother and come together as a loose knit community. I kind of see geocaching going this way, with different styles or types of geocachers becoming more and more different, yet still coming together as a community just by participating in a geocache hunt. As long as the recreation of going out and finding a cache is fun, people will continue to do so. The biggest difference between geocaching and rock climbing is of course the internet database of geocaches. This is something that is central to geocaching, but something that climbers have long gone without. There are online databases of rock climbs, but these can hardly be considered the heart of the hobby. But for geocaching, the database of caches to be found is the heart of the hobby, and the companies and groups that maintain these end up wielding a good deal of influence over how the hobby evolves. This influence is not to be mistaken for absolute control though, because geocaching is still about individual geocachers hiding and finding caches. The way people end up playing the game will influence the game itself perhaps the stewards of the database are simply playing catch-up, trying to stay abreast of all the myriad of ways in which people have devised to take part. Other times it seems like those stewards are trying to keep the game a certain way, and I don't blame them. They need to figure out ways to keep the systems running and usable, and geocaches which strain their ability to keep everything running smoothly need to be addressed, lest the system fall apart. The fact that these central databases are so key to this recreational hobby is what can make this feel more like a game than a hobby. The owners of the databases need to have rules and structures in order to keep entropy in check. The climbing world doesn't have this problem as much. Rock climbs are etched in stone, much more permanent than a tupperware hidden in the woods. Once the climb is known about and described it can be published in a guidebook, or passed along to other climbers without much worry that it will change in 6 months or a year or longer. And while there is online bragging about what climbs you may have completed, posting about what you've climbed is not a big part of that hobby. in contrast, posting what geocaches you have found is the norm for geocachers. While there are those who hunt geocaches but do not post online logs, I am guessing they are in the minority and geocachers are much more concerned about proving their find online than climbers ever will be. This is all getting very rambling and I risk losing any coherence, but I wanted to finish with some thoughts about where geocaching might go from here. Much like rock climbing, I see geocaching continuing to grow and thrive since it is a fun recreational activity. I see this as the biggest strength of geocaching, that it has an enjoyable recreational activity at its core, that people will continue to participate in in one form or another. As it becomes more and more mainstream, there will be starker differences between different types of geocachers. These different kinds of geocachers will be more immediately recognized, and begin to develop sub communities within the broader community of geocaching, but not so much that they don't consider themselves geocachers. There may even be offshoot databases that cater to different kinds of geocachers, much as there are now bouldering guidebooks, sport climbing guidebooks etc... Debates over find ethics will continue, and even what we now consider a geocache will change (as it already is), but these will be background noises of a thriving community, rather than any death-throes of a dying one. Overall, I'm optimistic about the future of the hobby, one which is still in relative infancy, but one that continues to delight people around the world.

I'll chime in and add my thanks for what you are doing. I really like the Kit builder and the updates seem like they will be a nice improvement and worth the effort. I hope others think so as well. And early congrats on the upcoming milestone.

I've had a pretty good run of finding some old caches with their original logbooks. I suppose a lot depends on your caching area and whether 10 year old caches are even around you. I'm lucky in that nearby is a park with a bunch of caches placed in 2002, and most of them have their original logbooks. A few of those books were totally full, and new books have been added. Even if the logbooks aren't that old, it is just nice to find older caches that are off the beaten path.

I've got a few binders of geocaching related stuff. Most of the stuff in the binders are puzzle caches, either ones I've solved or one's I want to work on. A lot of puzzle caches can be worked on by pen and paper (sometimes it is even easier to do them this way) and then I have a nice record of my solution (or failed attempts). I also keep permits/permissions and other stuff from my hides, especially the origami related ones. I used to print out earthcache/virtuals listings before I had paperless capability and those are still in the binder as well. Guess it is time for some spring cleaning.

Thanks for your replies. I think I might take you up on your offer for my next one.

I just learned at an event today that Wherigo's could be hacked, because someone told me that the folks who found my 17 mile Wherigo hiking module (GC58JY1) simply found a way to see the final coords. I don't have any proof, but it seems like something that might have happened, so i decided to see how easy it is to do this. The answer was, really really easy. I am pretty disappointed, especially since I put a nice FTF prize in the cache. I have another 12 mile hiking Wherigo that I am planting tomorrow, and I suspect the same thing might happen. No prize going in that one. Is anyone else chuffed that it is so easy to get final coords for the module from the lua file? (as an aside I used the Rangerfox Wherigo\\kit for my builds).