The_Brownies

Why is eveyone obsessed with FTF prizes. Since when has geocaching been about FTF or what's in the cache? Yes, it cool seeing all the goodies inside the box, but caching is about having fun and visiting a place you might not have ever visted for any other reason then to find the cache. IF you want to put a FTF prize in a cache, then have at it. Personally, I'm also on a single family income, and I have never placed a FTF prize, nor do I see a need for this. It's the thrill of the hunt that should inspire a person to be the FTF. Not the contents.

Some cachers have got to be the first ones to the cache. It does not matter what's in the cache or if there is a FTF prize. They have to be first. Kind of like some drivers on the highway. They cannot stand to be behind you, even though your going 70 mph, so they rip on by and take the same off ramp your going to take. Then you pull up beside them at the first stoplight. WOW that saved them 10 seconds.

Put the whole thing together and then submit it.

No Problem..Using IE(internet Explorer) Open the cache page. Click on View ALL Logs. Now PRess CTRL+F and type in the word you are looking for. Click on FIND NEXT. You will get a match or you won't.

Oh Noooo!!!... This may work for certain caches, but for other caches, this is a baaaaaaaaaaaad idea. If you find a depleted cache, let the owner know the pickings are slim and maybe they should restock the contents. However, I thought caching was not about what is inside the box. It's about the find and having fun. If the contents are so la la, then remove the swag and replace it with some good items. I've done this a number of times. It should not be solely the stasher's job to make sure there are good items in the cache. Cachers need to stop swapping swag for good items. By the way, how many caches do you own and do you check your caches reguarly? Honestly, there are other things on the GC.com site that need more attention then forcing a cache owner to log a note every 4 month saying "YES there are cache contents of good quality in my cache" Here's a Technical Point as to why this is a bad idea. Before we begin, let me give you my credentials. I'm a veteran Relational Database Technician that works with databases in the range of 1 to 15+ gigabytes. The object to maintaining effeciency in a database is to cut out unnecessary log entries. Why? Becuase they take up unnecessary hard drive space. How much you might ask? Let me give you an example. Say each Log to a cache page eats up 2kb of GC.COM's server hard drive space. Say there are 25,000 regular caches out there and each owner has to log a note to their regular cache every 4 months. 2kb * 25,000 = 50,000kb of additional notes to the website. Multiply this by 4 and this adds up to an additional 200,000kb of hard drive space being eaten up every year just by notes from cache owners. To combat this, GC.COM buys more servers, and bumps up the membership charge to cover the cost. Now instead of $12 a year as a plat. member, now it's $36. As you can see from a technical, and financial aspect, this is a very bad idea. Also think about the rural geocachers. Not everyone has 500+ caches within a 20 mile radius of their home. We have to drive for our caches. Again, if GS made a rule like this, count on the number of caches placed to dramtically decrease and the number of archived caches to increase. In short, A wise person once said.. IF IT AINT BROKE DON'T FIX IT. -- That's my $1.25 cents on this thread..

Meridian Gold User and Love it. Very Easy to use and it's got to be one of the best on the market. Still Around $230. However, you need to ask yourself what do I want in a GPSR? The Small yellow Garmin etrex's can be had from Ebay for around $75-100 and they will find a cache just as well as my Magellan will. Another good model is the Magellan Sportrek. I recently viewed a thread where the user got a heck of a deal. I think after rebate the cost was around $130, and they are a very good unit. You might hear things about Magellan being more accurate than Garmin, but there are tons of people caching out there using both brands. My preferance is the Magellan, but I really don't think it matters as long as it is a Garmin or Magellan.

A cache I hid last year uses a combo lock with 4 tumblers. In order to unlock it, cachers have to find 4 micro's located around town. On each micro is a number and a fun twist is not to give the order of the combination. Let the cacher fiqure it out. Kind of like a mastermind game, but it has prooven to be a lot of fun for cachers in my area.

Receieved a message from my local cache approvers.. Here's the scoop from GS Ooppss.. Guess this section only contains the existing virtuals.. the new site is yet to come..

Granted the colors are the same. Probably the biggest thing to notice is the new icons and the fact these are locationless caches. Another nice thing is they are totally separate from physical caches. Kind of nice, if you want to keep virtuals/locationless caches separate from the physical cache finds.

My wife could careless. It's the micro-cache containers that get me into trouble. Whenever I see a container that has excellant possibilites, I buy it. I'm starting to get a good collection of them, so whenever I bring home a new micro container, I always have to come up with an excuse for the new container. "Honey.. I need this for my new Riddler Cache Series" She generally let's me off the hook since I don't spend more than $2-3 bucks on them. After 15 Years together, she knows me pretty good, so there is no hiding anything from her.

--- That's not entirely true... Option#1 Archive the original cache. That way everyone who originally found the cache will not loose the find. Then create a new cache page for the moved cache. Option #2 You could also simply edit your cache page and modify the coordinates to display the new cache's location. Of course I would put a little blurb on the cache page saying something to the effect that "Chance for a 2nd find -- If you already found this cache then you may log a 2nd find since the cache has been relocated."

While surfing around GC.com came accross the new Reverse Location Virtuals section. Pretty cool.. You can also got to the pages by clicking on the cache type icon and then clicking on the Reverse(locationless) cache icon. Currtenly you cannot place any of these new caches yet because the option is not available in the cache type drop down list when you create a new cache. Anyway, I give Jeremy 100 Brownie Points. Very nice way of addressing the hot virtual issue.

Look for a pair of Cobra or Motorolla FRS's for around $25 - $30. My local Radio Shack had a pair of Motorolla's for $30 including the charger and rechargeable batteries. Personally, I have two Cobra's and I'm very pleased with them. Just need to keep them dry. Dropped one in a lake last year while on a camping trip. Lucky I dropped it right close to shore. Anyway, I Opened it up, and let it air dry. Three days later it was good to go.

The Wheel of Fortune cache was definately very cool. However, if you want a hair pulling, nail bite'n, kick the can type of puzzle, try Fractal's Contact Cache

Happened to be finishing a cache when a fellow cacher pulled up with a friend. The cacher2 went on his way and found the cache while the veteran cacher and I got aquainted and shot the breeze. After a few minutes, I said tscheuss but something was not right. I was getting ready to get on the freeway when I looked in my rear view mirror to see geocacher 2 pushing geocacher 1's car. Apparently, the cache mobile would not start due to a low battery that had not had time to recharge. Luckily, the car was small and it was a stick shift so we tried to bump start it. Hmm.. it still would not run. I hopped in the seat and looked at the ignition which was turned to off. I asked cacher1.. Did you have the key turned to START? he could not remember.. Ok.. Let's try this again with the key on. As they pushed from behind, I popped the clutch.. -- Vrooom -- the little car started right up and my friends were able to go on their way home. It's funny how God places you in the correct places at the right time..

It depends on how bad you want to find the cache on your own. There were a couple caches in the area that I had tried to find serveral times but I simply did not understand the stasher's logic. Had to call in help before I was able to find them. Afterwards, I asked myself, would I have ever fiqured the caches out? I guess in time anything is possible.

Be Gentle.. or NO NO -- I don't want to go back into that deep dark hole.. I want to live !!

The backlighting will kill batteries in nothing flat. Use it sparingly. As far as batteries go. I use Duracell and Energizers. My experience has shown Energizers seem to last longer. Quick word on Rechargables. Been there, and done that. Sounds good, but after 5-10 recharges the life really starts going down and over the long run they will end up costing you a lot more than a large pack of batteries from Costco / Sams Club. Suggestions 1. Keep the backlight off 2. Carry extra batteries with you. 3. Shutoff the GPS between caches.

Thou shalt not exchange bad swag for good swag!!

The only thing you might try with the altoids can is making a rubber seal for it using small gas line that you would purchase at an auto parts store. Another idea would be to use silicon to waterproof the container. Underwater cache.. hmm... What about an old igloo water jug from Goodwill? It's cheap, whaterproof, and it could contain a lot of items.

Use to Geocache all the time in the Army with a military linsetic compass, map and a plotter. Actually it was called Land Navigation. We were given a map, the coordinates, and 3 hours to find 4 points that were located somewhere in the general area. Your probably asking "WHAT THE HECK IS A PLOTTER" It's a piece of plastic with triangles cut out. Based on the map scale, you aligned the plotter to the appropriate grid on the map. You would then use the tick marks on the side of the appropriate triangle to determine the resting place of the cache, which was useually a human sillouette with numbers RED / Yellow / Green or Blue. You wrote down the colored numbers based on your lane designation. I.e. if my lane designation was red, then I was to write down the red numbers. On to the next question -- How close do you get with a Plotter? Useally within 2 - 3 feet. So in short it is possible to do this the old fashioned way, using maps, a compass, plotter, and magnetic variation. However, I find the compass on the GPSR a lot easier to use. I do carry a small compass just in case my gpsr batteries die, but generally I check out the terrain maps before I hit a cache so there really is no need of a compass.

A variation of your idea has already been used. A local cacher decided to create a cache using a transmitter that would send back a code on a FRS radio channel. Check it out. The Line of Site Cache

Thought #2 -- Put a code word in the cache logbook, or tape a number to the container, or paint the container a certain color. Thought #3 -- Stop hiding caches. Then you do not have to worry about someone logging a bogus find. You won't have to worry about the replacement of the contents, and you won't be annoyed by the sometimes halarious logs you get when someone finds your cache.

Hmm.. GC.com already has travel bugs. What about a metal / plastic logbook tag? The tag would be affixed to the logbook or cache container... Nah.. if they want to cheat let them... The game is not about numbers. It's about fun and the hunt. The only person missing out is the dishonest cacher.

My feet have incurred BLISTERS.. Lots of blisters...