Azisbest

Don't tell other folks how to enjoy geocaching. If you think FTF's are important, super go get them. If you think FTF's are silly, fine let someone else break their neck attempting to be FTF. If you think a difficult hike with breathtaking vistas are the only caches you want to persue, do so. Some others like quickie urban ones. If you dont think newbies should attempt a hide, note how many caches the CO has found and dont go after his or her hide. If you hate micros (that would be me, lol) don't look for them, others love a good micro. I could go on, but you get the idea.

I am going to have to admit my ignorance here, I am new to sending pics. If you are being facetious and you are chiding me for the size of the pic, I am sorry I tried to downsize the thing on photobucket. If the pic really did downsize I cant tell from here, it looks huge, lol. Ohh No, Im sorry, I didn't mean anything disrespectful, The pictures are really small on my screen and I would like to see them bigger so I can get a good look at those scorpion looking things. Maybe you can post the link of the picture? Id like to see them, they look pretty cool. Strange, when looking at the forum posts on my computer the pic fills about 80% of the screen, its huge. But you say on yours its tiny? Maybe someone could tell me what I am doing wrong. Is this any better? Or the same.

I am going to have to admit my ignorance here, I am new to sending pics. If you are being facetious and you are chiding me for the size of the pic, I am sorry I tried to downsize the thing on photobucket. If the pic really did downsize I cant tell from here, it looks huge, lol.

alongside a nickel.

I have seen two different definitions of NC style depending on which part of the state you are in. Well, it's a wide state. We have mountains at one end and beaches galore at the other. And a lot of red clay and pine trees in between. We dont even bother naming mountains in Arizona that are only 6684 feet in altitude (Mt. Michell highest point in NC). But I guess, technically, it is a mountain.

Many of the folks I know call such needle-in-a-haystack hides "bad evil" hides, to distinguish them from the "good evil" hides that involve creative camouflage. With a "good evil" hide, there's an "Aha!" moment when you finally figure out what it is. With a "bad evil" hide, you were pretty sure it was one of those rocks, branches, knot holes, bolts, or whatever, and you're glad you finally examined the right one. I love "good evil" hides. I'm not a fan of "bad evil" hides. I couldn't agree more. Well said.

Only a real sadist would hide a cache in cholla. There is lots of it growing around here, and thus far I have never found a cache in one, thank heaven. Without a doubt chollas are the worst. For those of you who dont know a cholla is also called a jumping cactus, because it seems like they do. Dont wear tennis shoes into a cholla forest, trust me.

I hid my first cache with way less than 100 finds. I would wager my cache is in the top 10% of anyone who has found it, if you asked them. I have had people with thousands of finds say it was in the top five, not percent, top five. The number of finds has nothing to do with the quality of the hide. 1 out of 2 isn't bad. Notice some of the caches near your other goes against the guideline of: Caches near, on or under public structures deemed potential or possible targets for terrorist attacks. These may include but are not limited to highway bridges, dams, government buildings, elementary and secondary schools, and airports. And another cache in our area by a newbie, put near trash. The two first finders mentioned it and the CO said he would clean it up. When we got there it was still pretty trashed. Why would anyone put a good cache near underwear that obviously has been there for a long time, along with other assorted garbage? I am not saying every cacher under 100 finds is bad, but in many cases it happens. I admit my mistakes. And I sometimes wish they would put some kind of reminder when you submit a hide. Such as when you enter info that maybe some messages would come up " Did you double check your coords?" "Is it on private property?" "Is it really wheelchair accessible?" The second hide is no where near the airport AOA. And its two for two, I will put both hides up against 90% of what is out there.

I hid my first cache with way less than 100 finds. I would wager my cache is in the top 10% of anyone who has found it, if you asked them. I have had people with thousands of finds say it was in the top five, not percent, top five. The number of finds has nothing to do with the quality of the hide.

Something to wear when it's cold or raining. Since the hotter months are coming a bandolier or some sort might be better. See THIS I think I need a couple of those. Do they come in camo? Cold? Rain?

Now thats funny!

A jacket?? Whats a jacket?

Really nice, I'd love to have/find one myself, but like mentioned before, I'd bet it would be hard to keep it from getting crushed. Not to mention, I've only seen one cache big enough to put it in. But very nice for sure. Its not that big, lol. I have probably placed about 20 or so around here.

Would I keep it? Oh yeah! I just hope I got enough with me to trade for it. Looks fantastic! Cool hand-made stuff beats store bought stuff hands down any day, no contest. Keeping it from being crushed would be a challenge though. How large is the sculpture? The scorpion shown is probably an inch and a half long. They can be made larger or smaller. They are easy to crush so I can only put them in some containers.

What do you think of this homemade scorpion for swag? It is made of copper wire and seems appropos for the desert around here. Is it too cheap? I guess I'm asking, would you keep it if you found it in a cache?

First of all welcome to the hobby. When I give my beginning class I ask how many people think that they can follow their GPS to the site, look down and find the cache. More than half think that. Fifteen feet is well within the acceptable radius. Next time you get a cache in addition to seeing how far off you are look at the EPE which generally means that their is a greater than 50% chance the location (and yours or course) are in that radius. In theory if it is off for both you and the cache in opposite directions you could be that far from it and the coordinate info is correct. Always search at least 2 times EPE Lastly I disagree with the comment about iffy coordinates. I don't know a single cacher who does that. What I am talking about is wasting a trip to a cache, spending 20 minutes of so looking for it with no success. Reading the comments where someone posted the correct coordinates, returning to the cache and finding it within two minutes of stopping. This has happened to me three or four times recently. Unless you want to preform an exhaustive exegesis on the caches history everytime before attempting a find, this is irritating. With all the vagaries of the GPS taken into account why can a finder of the cache give spot on coordinates and the cache owner cant?

With only two caches hidden, I would say you have been very lucky if your coordinates are spot on. I would venture to say that the more caches you hide the more likely your coordinates are going to 'seem' a bit 'iffy' to those looking for your cache(s). As has been previously stated, there are any number of factors that can account for the coordinates being 15' off; not the least among them being someone moving the cache to a location that was more in keeping with where they thought the coordinates should have led them. Even with multiple readings and taking an average does not guarantee your coordinates will be exact for everyone else. How close you are to obstructions; i.e. buildings, trees, canyons, etc. can affect your accuracy; both in hiding and seeking a cache. How close you are to a body of water and heavy overcast days will also affect the accuracy. I'm happy if I can find a cache within 15 feet of where the coordinates have led me; such is not always the case. If I hide 100 caches the coordinates will always be spot on, I will double and triple check them if need be. If you know I have only two caches hidden you can read them as well and they are replete with people stating "the coordinates were exact" "I doubted the coordinates but they were spot on" etc. etc. Are you saying that no one "fudges" the coordinates to make a find more difficult?? If so you are a bit naive, these are the ones I am talking about. I am just trying to keep it real.

I think most people do give good coordinates, thats not the ones I am talking about. I am not talking about hints, just good coordinates. The real question is why are they hidding a Micro in a place that sounds like a Ammo can would be the best choice. I agree, and we have one guy in the area that states in his description, the coordinates are only to get you close, you have to use your geosense after that. I have no problem with this because I know I have an expanded search area to contend with, the dudes caches are fun.

I think most people do give good coordinates, thats not the ones I am talking about. I am not talking about hints, just good coordinates.

But if all the other posters are finding the cache 15ft south of the given coordinates, what do you think is going on? If the coordinates given are incorrect 15ft and my gps can have a 15ft error range now we have a 30 foot area to search. Im just encouraging people to give good coordinates and use creativity and inginuity to hide the cache, thats all.

Well sounds like 15 feet isn't that bad...Close enough.... if it was 35 or 40 feet then you might have a complant. I could hide a micro 15 feet off that you could never find, but I always give the correct coordinates.

As a fairly new person to the hobby I am quickly noticing that many cache owners give lets say iffy coordinates to their caches. Now looking for a micro among ten bushes with good coordinates can be frustrating, when the coordinates are 15 feet off it can increase the difficulty exponentially. Do you think this is done intentionally in order to increase the difficulty level? I enjoy difficult caches, but not when the difficulty is only a result of iffy coordinates.