GeoElmo6000

Hey not cool for a host to start without the guests

As someone who creates geocaching YouTube content, I can tell you that geocaching won't help his channel grow any noticeable amount than his already 1.3M subscribers. Geocaching YouTubing is a labor of love, not a way to make money or become an influencer. I create videos as a creative outlet and because I love doing it.

That's your call, of course, but I encourage you to not let how other people play the game affect your enjoyment of the game. I'm personally not a big fan of lab caches and I created a second (basic member) account to find lab caches for when I need to find that type in order to find a mystery bonus cache based on an Adventure. Some people are all about the numbers and good for them if that floats their boat. I found 30 caches last year total but they were caches I enjoyed finding, and I'm still a Premium Member to support the hobby which has opened up so many doors for me. Here are two rest stop Adventure "power trails" (without the trails) near me that people use to greatly increase their numbers. I believe the first one can be done from one's car and it's around 150 lab caches, the second I don't know about but there are over 50 Adventures that make it up. I ignore them, others enjoy them, my numbers are small compared to lots of others but that doesn't bother me. I don't feel more pure or wholesome about my cache finds or numbers, I just like certain cache types and am not into others.

I was just joking around. I'm just going to ask: please stop being that killjoy

"It should *now* be possible" I assume you mean... "Should not be possible" was the issue in the first place

I think it's relevant to mention the app-that-shall-not-be-named because new players often use it because it's free and allows them to access caches that the free geocaching app doesn't let them access. I highly doubt they understand what's happening behind the scenes with it not being an official API partner app and data scraping and all that. Most new players don't realize either that geocaches that the free geocaching app doesn't let them access aren't necessarily premium caches, and that they can access more caches via the website than they can via the app as a basic member.

The biggest troll I've encountered while geocaching is the big one up the hill from Geocaching HQ in the Fremont section of Seattle.

For any cache I plan to hide, I first check with the reviewer to see if the hiding space is free by creating a listing (dummy title and planned final coordinates are the only things necessary) and messaging the local reviewer about it. The side benefit is that the space is also then reserved for your cache for some amount of time, and you may be able to extend that time by posting notes on the page with updates.

I originally became a PM because I mistakenly thought you needed to be a PM in order to hide a cache. Whoops. Why am I still a PM all these years later? 1) Support one of my favorite hobbies 2) Can access all caches via the apps I use and on the website 3) Notifications - I don't go for FTF a lot but I do like being notified of new caches, or of caches being archived, etc. Three times I've been given a free year of premium membership, but for those I've had a film as a finalist in the Geocaching International Film Festival. I'll take that free membership anytime (along with the free GIFF geocoin!)

Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry about your wife. I don't know much about the people in the forums as it tends to be a pretty closed group but I try to remember there are real people with real life events happening behind these user names. For me I've changed just based on experience and growing interest in other hobbies. I've seen several geocachers get Lyme's disease or bad poison ivy from this game, which isn't worth it to me for this game. I used to hike in the woods all day but now I'm super careful and generally find deep woods caches in the winter and not spring through fall. I also used to crisscross my home area looking for caches but for the most part I find caches these days when traveling to new areas. When I'm home I have other things I like to do - swimming, cycling, filmmaking, animation, video games, etc. When I'm on a business trip or a family vacation I take advantage of being in a new place to find caches. With experience I've also taught several geocaching 101 classes, including one coming up in the next month. I have a great PowerPoint I've created and some great stories to share. I also like answering questions that new cachers ask on other social media groups. Hope this answers your question.

You can use project-gc's website but I don't remember the details. I once looked up on a map all the archived original virtual caches that were near me.

I'd be more interested in geocachers needing some experience to log a NA, but a much smaller number, 100 or even less. 50 maybe.

Yes, I created a second account that is a basic member account for finding labs, so that my lab cache finds don't mix with my geocache finds.

I eagerly anticipated attending an event hosted by a sort of infamous new geocacher who placed hides on private property, had hide coordinates hundreds of feet off, etc. In fact, several of those of us who attended were really interested to meet this person and talk to them about proper hide techniques. The event owner never showed up. Bummer! And hasn't hidden a cache since. And I think all their caches are archived at this point. I still attended the event with several others and we all logged it as attended. The event owner didn't though lol.

I just adopted a 21 year old virtual cache in NJ, from May 2002! The owner just archived it yesterday out of the blue and for some reason I was notified, so I posted a note saying how it was a shame it wasn't offered up for adoption. So the CO had it unarchived, messaged me and offered it to me, which I took! So I'm not the adoptive geo-dad of a 21 year old virtual cache. Fun! GC5A96 is the cache.

You can set up a gmail address for geocaching, then use the gmail app to give you notifications when emails arrive. The nice thing is that you can just reply to geocaching messenger messages by replying to the email you receive. Of course you can go into the messenger as well.

@CheekyBrit I'm curious what prompted you to revive this 5 year old thread? I'm guessing Aer72 isn't wondering this anymore.

Generally when you get close to a cache you should use your eyes to find it. Don't forget to pack those when you go geocaching.

Was the geocacher at the posted coordinates between the times stated as start and end? Then they attended. I've mentioned this before, but there was a relatively local CITO that was a river cleanup paddle CITO where the posted coordinates were at the dock (because you have to post coordinates at a stable point, and a river doesn't count). T5 CITO event. A geocacher showed up, said hi, signed the log, and left. There was a lot of back and forth between the CO deleting the log and the geocacher re-logging it. People were getting mad at each other over it. The next time the CO posted the meeting coordinates on an island in the river instead of the dock. It's not worth everyone getting mad over a geocache. It's supposed to be a game or hobby and not a competition.

Usually Keystone will step in and say "hey everyone, let's keep this on topic, we're supposed to be talking about <topic>". But there's been minimal talk about geocache of the week and lots of talk about adopting caches from CO's who no longer participate. Hi back. I never did return to NYC to find that cache near the the ferry.

This thread is mislabeled, it's about adopting geocaches from COs who have stopped playing, not about the Geocache of the Week.

I'm sorry to hear. I play when I want to and don't stress out about streaks or FTFs or anything. Last year I found 30 caches. I enjoyed the caches I found, and found them when I felt like geocaching. When I didn't feel like geocaching, I didn't force myself to go geocaching. I still love the hobby and support it through premium membership, and try to show the parts I love about geocaching through my videos and film festival entries. I don't do a ton of geocaching near home, I mostly participate when I'm on travel, as it's great for finding new places. It's okay to just play when you want, as often or not often as you want.

Oops, I already deleted your log! I'm only kidding! It's fun to see someone from the forums log one of my caches so I remember you (properly) logging the cache.

Here's something that irks me, when someone *not quite* follows my virtual cache instructions by messaging me a photo instead of posting it on the log. I tried to create an easily manageable virtual. My instructions are as follows: If someone messages me a photo without posting it, I'll kindly remind them that the logging requirements are to post the photo, not message it to me, and I'll even send a link to their log with an offer to help if they need help posting their photo. I should just delete the logs but then I feel bad, especially since they did take the photo and I did see it. But others who are looking at the logs don't know I've received the log and might think I'm just letting people get away with logging the cache without a photo. This thread is inspiring me to : 1) Message the people who didn't post a photo 2) Explain that they haven't yet posted their photo and that I will delete their log in 24 hours if they don't 3) Include a link to their log and invite them to relog it with the photo if I delete it Thoughts?

There are really three levels of cache access: 1) Premium membership - can access all caches via app or website 2) Basic member via website - can access all non-premium caches via the website only 3) Basic member via the app - can only access traditional caches rated with terrain and difficulty 2 or less, and events If you mark your cache as PMO (premium member only), you limit access to only item 1 above. If you leave it non-PMO, then it can only be accessed by basic members according to the type and D/T ratings. So if you have a traditional with D or T greater than 2, then for people only using the app, it's essentially a PMO cache. I don't mark my caches as PMO because I want more people to be able to find them, and I don't invest a lot in cache containers (typically use lock n locks). But I create a lot of mystery caches and so only the first two categories I listed above can find those. If you had some custom container that would be hard to replace you might want to mark it PMO. Hope this helps.