elfre

Thank you! That looks very interesting. Sorry I didn't reply earlier but I didn't receive a notification about your comment from the website.

Thank you! I like both those caches for different reasons, and they've given me some ideas I might be able to adapt locally.

Can anyone link me to a good EarthCache based around Liesegang bands? Ta.

+1

There is a lot of information about U.S. benchmarks on the "Groundspeak Benchmark Hunting" page. What you'll find from reading it is that anyone (including non-Americans) can "Log a Benchmark", but they don't count as a geocaching find. Logging a note instead of a find on a YOSM or Brass cap is really no different than how Americans have logged Benchmarks all along. I disagree. Brits and Canadians aren't allowed to log local benchmarks as USians are allowed to log local benchmarks and that's why these "special" caches were allowed in the first place. We were allowed a substitute that was seen as second best and now, after those caches have become much beloved, they're being taken away from us. We are NOT being offered a benchmark count as a substitute. It's a loss with NO substitute. "Write note" is a general feature with many uses that will NOT show me a distinct benchmark or YOSM count. Your argument is demonstrably wrong. These are 15 year old "special" caches (although box tickers don't get to score the original hiding date so there's no benefit for any hypothetical "stats" cachers - likewise arbitrary d/t box tickers) which Groundspeak has chosen to alter. If these were 15 year old "special" USian caches I have no doubt they'd have been "grandfathered" before anyone could draw breath, and I lol at anyone who pretends otherwise. The only argument I've seen so far in favour of actively altering these beloved historic caches is one of convenience for Groundspeak to cater more easily to cachers who wrongly double-log. So YOSM loggers are basically being punished for the stupidity and laziness of others. That's not a good ethical example to set. I'm sure Groundspeak have decided it's their preferred business model though so any discussion on this forum is almost certainly a waste of time (as is usually the case).

I made a different modest proposal for forum posting (a swift resolution for all your ranting needs) back in 2012 but not on April 1st so you get extra points for style.

The Americans do understand the appeal of logging benchmarks which is why the Americans are catered to by Groundspeak and allowed to log benchmarks. It's only the UK and Canada that are having our benchmark logging taken away. The excuse is that Groundspeak prefers to cater to people too stupid not to accidentally log a cache more than once and too lazy to delete their extra logs, instead of catering to long-time geocachers who actually use the system as intended. I've only ever logged one YOSM but I loved the idea of YOSM and very much appreciated the time and effort outforthehunt dedicated to keeping the cache viable for over 15 years. I also attended one of the extremely popular 15 year anniversary celebration events and can testify that there were new people in attendance who were already ramblers and trigpointers, but not geocachers yet, who were interested enough to climb a T3 hill to attend a geocaching event because it was celebrating Ye Ole Survey Monuments.

I remembered this thread today as I walked from Kiddie to Stourport along the cut, and especially when I found SCW - 12. I don't know if this helps you feel less frustrated but although I logged 21 finds today I also logged 5 dnfs and 3 of those were on the SCW series. It would have been 4 dnfs on that series but completely by chance I found the pieces of a container that had been muggled and managed to put them back together with a new log and then rehide the cache. It's usual to ask the cache owner if you need an extra hint but as I'm currently the last person to have rehidden SCW - 12 (your secret nemesis cache - we all have one! ) I'd be happy to give you an extra hint about the hide if you want one, although you'd need to use the private message or email system to ask me because I wouldn't post it here in the forums. Happy caching!

I was unlucky enough to have just retrieved a proxy TB when the original reappeared after being missing for three years.

If you want to create that then you should do it for your own satisfaction, and I'm sure some other people would participate. By contrast, today I picked up a travel bug that was missing from June 2004 to October 2016, and since its return to the game it has safely hopped across the Atlantic Ocean from the US to the UK. Happy endings do occasionally occur.

I've been caching since 2003 and don't recall running into that acronym before. ICT and MTT are common caching acronyms in the UK, so ICMTT is a reasonable extrapolation *if* a cacher already knows the first two. I've also seen other variations such as "hedera helix" or "iv" or "IV".

"Ivy Covered Tree" and "Ivy Covered Multi-Trunked Tree" (also "MTT" = "Multi-Trunked Tree"). I've been geocaching for six years, and have found 800 or so caches, and so far this year I've seen two hint acronyms that I could only interpret after finding the cache. The cache logs showed that one of them had mystified many other experienced local cachers too. My experience is that the hint field is often unhelpful and on higher difficulty caches can sometimes be intentionally misleading. Some COs seem to want to fill in the field without actually giving a hint, while at the other extreme are people who use shorthand terms that make sense to them but not to many other cachers. As you find more caches you'll develop more of a sense about the likely hiding places in a location. I find that "cacher's eye" is much more useful than most hints! Good luck, and happy caching!

Now that would be worth a car park by torchlight. Today I crawled through wild garlic on the banks of a stream for a cache. The springtime shoots are still fresh and at the stage when they smell sweet rather than pungent.

If you're having any trouble with the internal links to your own trackables in your profile then the following links should also work. Biography Map Gallery

This page touches on the subject too: http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=482

If you want deleted logs reinstated, and you think it's worth the effort for everyone involved, then you could contact the powers that be and ask them about it. As I understand it, and I might be wrong because the "Help Center" article isn't very helpful on the subject, deleted logs remain stored and can be seen by the powers that be. Help Center article: http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=204 There might be more useful information in previous threads on these forums if you are prepared to search for them. Or you might prefer to spend that time having fun and maybe finding new caches with your current team members....

This appears to be one of two trackables still logged into an event in the Czech Republic: https://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=6889452 I couldn't work out the "taken" trackable with a geocacher in Ohio as they all seem to be accounted for (allowing for individual people's lives occasionally getting in the way of their geocaching).

Hi, you might want to begin a new thread for your post, so more people see it. Also, project geocaching have some cachers who try to "rescue" travel bugs. Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions. You've helped me consider the possibilities. I've messaged the trackable's owner.

I put a note about the condition of the tag in the retrieval log. I haven't contacted the owner directly yet because I thought it would be better to offer them some suggested solutions, ranging from "do nothing" to "do something", than merely present them with a problem. I hadn't considered taping the laminate but that would probably extend its life for a while. I've definitely got plastic tags that would take paper in one side and marker on the back. I was just wondering if some genius has come up with a more lasting solution. It seems a pity to mail a four-year-old bug back to Canada from the UK though, especially because if this one dies they can just release a third version then. Luckily it's not my bug so I don't have to make any decisions.

I retrieved a proxy travel tag from a cache yesterday and the part including the logging code is a laminated paper photocopy of the original travel tag, with a non-waterproof keyring attached. After several years of travelling from cache to cache the plastic has de-laminated and left the tag paper, including the logging code, exposed to the elements. I think it's not going to be long before the code deteriorates to the point that it's not readable any more. I'd offer to try getting it relaminated but I'm not intending to go shopping in the city any time soon (and also if it didn't work then I'd've potentially destroyed someone else's trackable). Any suggestions for a cheap but reasonably durable proxy tag replacement solution that a lazy person could get delivered from ebay or wherever and offer (as a freebie, obviously) to the travel tag's owner?

I'm assuming you're looking for caching circuits you haven't previously completed? I don't know which areas you usually frequent but Malvern's far enough away that you probably haven't done both the higher level series there and you could link them together if you're feeling fit (although one cache currently involves wading/swimming ): https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6EEDW_north-hill-1-fiveways https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3GD2F_malvern-march-1-ivy That might make a reasonably energetic alternative to Wales or the South West coastal paths.

Did you find the geocoin in Cruise & Cache in Cozumel? Because the log immediately before yours says: Just sayin'.

1. Check that it says "trackable at geocaching.com" on it somewhere. 2. Re-check the code, especially if it's tiny or worn, because it's very easy to misread these. 3. If you found it in a cache then try looking at recent logs to see if anyone mentioned leaving a coin. 4. If you're going to an event any time soon then ask for help from experienced cacher who can actually see the coin. 5. If it's showing up as a new coin and no-one's claiming it back then you can activate it (but this would be very rare and usually a mistake by the placer unless it's a FTF prize). 6. Or return it to a cache and let someone else work it out. Good luck!

I can't help with your whole question, but my favourite central London traditional cache is Father Thames and the Mermaid, which has many favourite points, but the cache can only be found at lower tide and finders get their hands dirty. I hope you have a fun day in London!