timbee&suebee

We've also been having this problem for a couple of days. I log in, the "remember me" button is clicked, and I don't log out when I leave the site. But the next time I open the page I have to log in again. We have never had this issue before. It's not the biggest deal in the world but it is slightly annoying to have to log in every single time I open the page which can be a few times a day.

If we've attempted a cache find or a puzzle and are truly stuck I usually contact the last person to find/solve it before I contact the CO. If I don't get the help I need there then I will contact the CO. But I always tell them where we have looked in our search or what methods we have tried to solve their puzzle in the message so they know that we really did try and aren't just looking for a freebie hint. There have been a couple of times where a CO has not responded or hasn't given much help but most of the time we've found very responsive COs. They want us to find their caches so why wouldn't they want to help? And when I've had someone write to me to ask a question about one of our caches or one we've found previously I'm more than happy to help. There's nothing we all hate more than driving miles out of our way too look for a cache to end up with a frownie.

We bought our first GPSr in 2002 primarily to use for hiking so we could find our way back to the car. We had heard about geocaching so we gave it a try. I don't think there were many caches in our area at the time so it wasn't a hobby we persued much. We found 3 caches in 2002, 1 in 2003, 4 in 2004, 0 in 2005 and 4 in 2006. We had 2 finds in 2008 but only because we were visiting my dad, who is a cacher, and he wanted to go. Then we forgot about it all together. It wasn't until last summer when I was cleaning out a closet and came across our GPSr. I told timbee that we should try that again. We checked geocaching.com and found that there were now lots and lots of caches in our area. We did a couple in June of last year then in October we started going whole hog and making this a regular activity. We had a total of 14 finds in the first 9 years. In the last year we have added 800+ more finds to our statistics and I can't imagine a time that we will stop doing this because its a great way for us to spend time together.

If I was viewing this listing and saw that the three people were caching together (especially newbies) and got the DNF, I would have probably done a "write note" to the CO rather than a "NM". But either way, I understand that if they were travelling to your area and wanted to attempt your cache and saw that there were some DNFs that they would want some verification that the cache or that stage of the cache was actually still there. I have a cache that one person just wrote a note about in their log that said that they weren't able to find a stage. The next day I went out there to verify it was still there then I wrote a note to let everyone who might try to find it in the future know that it was there. I think it's just part of cache ownership. Why wouldn't you want to verify it so that people will continue to look for it? There have been caches that we have not bothered with because there have been DNFs or NMs that the CO hasn't responded to and we didn't want to waste our time looking for it if we weren't sure it was still there.

I agree that cache ownership is not for everyone and I applaud those who have thought through the decision to place or not. We have a caching friend with 600+ finds but he told us that he has no intention of placing any hides at this time. He has a demanding job (he's a firefighter) and a family with small children. Caching is his way of relaxing. Having to maintain caches he placed would make this a stressful hobby for him. I do understand a little about where the OP is coming from though. There are thousands of caches within 100 miles of where we live and new ones published every month so it would take us a long time to find all of them before we were wishing that new ones were placed. But where my dad lives there are very few caches. He has found all of the traditional/regular sized ones in his area. He won't bother with micros/LPCs/GRs so he rarely caches anymore. He has placed almost 30 caches himself - all very creative and well thought out - but they don't get many finds because there aren't many cachers in the area. I'm sure he would agree that he wishes that other cachers would place caches for him to be able to find in exchange. But I know he would rather have a few good caches than have an area littered with LPCs and GRs.

We've done a local four-stage multi-cache where one stage is about 10' up in a tree. It was very clever but it has it's downside. If I had done that cache myself, I never would have even attempted climbing up there. Fortunately my husband was with me and ok with climbing and got the info there for the next stage. But I have seen posts by other cachers who have attempted that cache and got to stage three (the tree) only to be disappointed that they couldn't complete it because they weren't able or willing to climb a tree. Even though the terrain rating for that stage (the CO was nice enough to include ratings for each stage) was a "3" it really wasn't telling enough. I do "3" terrains for hiking but I wouldn't climb a tree even though it had the same rating. I think if you are going to have a tree climb make sure it's approved by the property owner who would be ultimately reponsible for any liability from falls/injuries, make sure it's appropriate for the type of cachers you are trying to attract to the cache and make sure you give enough of a description/hint that lets potential seekers know what they will be up against so that they don't drive all the way out there just to be disappointment that they can't claim the find. One other thing to consider is that if the tree is your only or final stage that there will be some who will see the cache but not attempt the climb to get it but will still log it as a "find" because they spotted it. If that's ok with you, so be it. But if you require them to sign the log to claim the find, you should state that and be prepared to go out and check the log periodically to verify that everyone who logged it actually signed it. There is a local CO who is a stickler for this kind of thing and regularly deletes finds for those who haven't signed the log for one of his tough caches.

Why would you bother replacing a cache that was muggled before it ever had a find? Doesn't that say something about this placement like that it's not a good idea to put one there? And how are you going to maintiain it from such a distance? I think that is the more pressing question rather than whether you can log it as a find.

I don't think it's important that the person who is in charge of approving caches changes. Just find out the department in the town that grants the approval. There is a town one over from where I live that has a wonderful park with a long walking trail and no caches. I emailed the town secretary and asked which department I would contact to get approval for cache placement. She gave me the department and person's contact info. Because I have some other things going on right now, I might not get around to requesting permission for these caches until spring. But now I have the information about which department to write to and which person to contact. I can verify that the person in that department is the same person I was told (by checking the town's website), and if they are not there in the spring I can see who holds the same office and write to them. I think a lot of people make getting permission out to be more of a big deal than it has to be. It does take a little time to find out who to contact and then set up an appointment to meet with them and explain what geocaching is and what the plans for your cache are. But everyone we have received permission from was not only ok with it, they were quite excited about it. I figure, you take the time to plan the location, get the coordinates, make the listing and create your cache container. What is the big deal to devote a little more time to get the proper permissions so that all those other things you did aren't wasted when the town/park/etc take them down for not asking permission. Also consider the person looking for the cache. If permission wasn't granted, they might get in trouble for being some place they weren't supposed to be. Make it easy on the people you are placing this cache for and get permission then mention in your listing that permission was granted so that they can feel comfortable doing the search.

I have a cache that is a walking tour/puzzle of my town culminating with a cache container hidden at the local historical society. It took almost six weeks of letters, emails and phone calls but I got all my permissions in place before I placed my cache. I spoke with the society's president who then brought up the idea at their monthly meeting and the cache placement at their location was approved. In fact they were very excited about it because it's the town's 200th anniversary next year and they thought it would make a good tie-in. I spoke to the people at the mayor's office who said I needed to write a letter of request to the mayor for the cache and metnion in there about the liablility issue. They were concerned that someone would sue the town if they got hurt while geocaching. I reminded them that they allow citizens and visitors to walk around freely without signing liability waivers so this would be no different. I got permission from the mayor's office to have the tour and place the cache container (since the society property is considered town property). Then I spoke to the town police department to let them know that I had approval from the mayor and the society and to expect occasional visitors to town that might be walking around with electronic gear and near the society when it was closed. That was a good idea since a cacher mentioned to me that they were stopped by a town police officer who asked what they were doing wandering around. They told him they were caching and the officer was ok with it because he had the notice about it at the office. I also sent a letter to the neighbors next to the society since their back yard borders the area the cache is in just to let them know what was going on. It was a lot of work to get all of that in place but I feel much better that I did so that I know no one will have a problem with the cache at any stage. I also relayed in the cache description that the town/mayor gave approval and that the police and neighbors are aware of what's going on that way the cacher can feel more comfortable doing the cache without having to worry about using stealth.

I've actually written something to this effect a few times. After having found as many caches as we have, we get to expect certain cache types for certain locations and when we drive up to an area, we say "I bet it's a xxx" and sure enough it is. I'd love to be proven wrong though. It would be so great to drive up to a typical cache location and be surprised by the cache container.

I have been stuck on so many puzzles myself. I usually email the last person who found the cache, let them know what I've tried so far to solve it (so they know I didn't just open the listing, give up immediately and contact them) and ask them for a hint on how they figured it out. I don't need the solution, just a nudge in the right direction. And I've never had anyone who hasn't helped. And I do the same in return.

HaHaHaHaHa

Oh My Yes! I have sprained my ankle, skinned my knees, got cuts on my hands and my face and bruises from falling. And just this week I suffered two more injuries. On Tuesday I was wearing sandals while walking through the woods (I know... not a smart idea) and got my foot caught in some foliage on the ground. I tried to pull my foot out just to realize that the foliage was briars and by pulling my foot I was embedding the thorns and pulling them accross my foot causing multiple gashes. I kept searching though and did find the cache. Yesterday I was poking around in a hole near the base of a tree that looked like a promising hiding spot. I reached right into a nest of yellow jackets and got stung multiple times. Yowza did that hurt. I was in a lot of pain, swelled up and turned red around all the stings. But we kept caching and made 19 finds that day.

Howdy Timbee and Suebee. First off, you may find lots of benchmarks in your travels, which won't be in the NGS or Geocaching database. This is an excerpt from the FAQ section linked below: http://www.geocaching.com/mark/ Benchmarks Not in the Database I found a benchmark, but it isn't in the database. Why? To answer this question, you need to understand a bit about what "the database" is. The database used by Geocaching.com is a copy (from around 2000) of the database that NGS maintains. Although the NGS database has lots of marks in it, it does not have them all. In order for a mark to get into NGS's database, it has to go through a process known as "bluebooking" which ensures the disk meets the minimum requirements to be of geodetic quality (aka the highest quality possible). The NGS is not the only organization that creates and uses benchmarks and other types of control markers. In order for any mark to get "in the database" they must be "bluebooked", which can take a lot of time and effort and is often not done to save money. Remember, even though some marks might not be in the database, they are still highly important, both to businesses and to individual citizens such as your neighbors, so please treat them with respect, while enjoying the thrill of the hunt. We'll try to find other databases and add them to the site as well. If you have access to one of these databases and would like to submit it to Groundspeak, contact us. Since the Groundspeak benchmark database was obtained from the NGS in the year 2000, newer benchmarks and recent reports on older marks will not be visible here in Groundspeak's copy. Besides new disks, there are many cases of benchmarks monumented significantly before 2000 but entered the NGS database only after the year 2000. The benchmark I found is not in the database, how can I log it? If the benchmark is a disk-type marker or is referenced in an online database, you can log your find in the US Benchmarks category in Groundspeak's Waymarking site. If the benchmark is in Canada, you can log it in the Canadian Benchmarks category in Waymarking. Thanks for the info. This benchmark wasn't in the list but I learned more info for future benchmarking.

We did not take a photo of the benchmark because we didn't expect to need one. We figured that we would find it listed near the cache we found. We wrote down some of the info on the disk. The code number was 57HBC, year 1965, elevation 612'. The name on it (pretty sure - didn't write that down) was US Geological Survey. It was located on the top of an old stone bridge near Purcellville, VA.

After seeing some benchmarks near our past caching travels (but not realizing that they were log-able) and reading some about them on this site, we thought that we would start logging them as we came across them in the future. Yesterday on a caching trip we came across a benchmark by accident. It was set in the top of an old bridge (the cache was under the bridge). Since the cache listing didn't mention anything about a benchmark we took down the info and figured we would log it in with the caches. From the cache listing page (GC1TBMV - Curse of the FTF #4 - WLE - Clarkes Gap Bridge) I clicked on the link near the bottom of the page that says "find all nearby benchmarks". There was a long list but none of them was the one we spotted. This benchmark would have been within feet of the cache coordinates. All of these listed are almost a mile or more away. So my question is, how do I find this benchmark to log it if I don't know the PID number?

There are maps that show where caches are located. If you go to any cache listing in the area you are thinking about placing a cache then scroll down and click on the "view larger map" link on top of the area map you will see every cache placed in your area (Note that if you are not a premium member you won't see those icons). Then you can see if there are open areas for placement. Another way that we check to make sure a spot we've chosen is available is to do a search on the main page. Put in the coordinates of your cache then do a search. You will see all the caches nearby with the distance to each cache from your coordinates. This takes only a couple minutes and saves a lot of time if you find that you are within the exclusion zone. You didn't mention whether your caches were not approved just because of the saturation in your area or because of not having permission to place a cache in that location. That's a common issue.

They probably were caching together, although unless all three grabbed it at the same time I would think there could only be one. Around here we have individual cachers that get together to do caches as a group. And I've read logs where someone says they showed up to be FTF only to see another cacher there looking for it at the same time. So its very likely that two or more could share FTF honors.

I was checking in to see if others are having the same problem I am - not getting all my notification emails - and see that this is a common issue. There have been a number of times when we are planning a day of caching and we look on the big map for our area and see some non-smileys in an area we have already cached out. We click on them and see that they were caches that were recently published and within our notification area (25 miles) but we never got an email about them. One day I did get two emails about new caches but I knew there was something still not right. The notifications I got were for numbered caches (in this case 'cache name' 4 and 'cache name' 5) and when I went to the listing for number 5 I saw that the instructions said that the other four had to be found to find number 5. What? I only got notification of 4 and 5. There are others? So I clicked on the big map and there were the other three caches in the same park as the two I got notification about but never got emails for. I have received all the various notification emails when I have published a cache this past week and I believe I'm getting all the notification emails from those who have found my caches. But I'm not getting all of the newly published notifications. I double checked my notification settings and they are still enabled and have the distances correct. I've checked my spam folder and there are no emails from geocaching.com/Groundspeak there. I read the thread linked to in an earlier post about an issue Groundspeak was having that they say was resolved on or about July 30 but there have been a couple of new caches in my area that have been published since then that I still haven’t had notifications for. It's not even about getting FTF on these. But its frustrating to know that we've planned a trip and come back to find out there was another cache (or caches) in that same area that we missed because we aren't getting the notifications. Not sure if there is something else I can do to assure that I get all the notifications.

I've thought the same thing and I'd like to see that too. When we are looking on the large map we see the 'unfound cache' icon and say "why didn't we find that one when we were in the area making all the other finds". Then we click on it and remember that we looked but logged a DNF. A sad face would remind us that we had looked with no success and we could decide if it was one we would bother with again or try again. It would be a big time saver for us.

I thought this would be a fun idea too but I realize there isn't an accurate way to track this because the person who found the cache first might not be the one to log it first. There are people who use their phones to log while in the field. We do it the old-fashioned way and wait till we come home to get on our computers to log. If we were FTF then did some other caches in the area before coming home to log someone who found a cache after us but logged in the field would look like they were FTF for logging purposes even though they weren't. Fortunately around here FTF is for fun but is not so cutthroat as some of the posts on this thread would suggest in other areas.

WOW! I can't imagine someone doing that. Really what do you win by being FTF on a cache?

We had a similar situation - though not as many days as you. Now we are not sure how many days we have been in a row unless we keep track of it on a calendar. I agree that a "current streak" would be a great addition to the statistics page.

I would too. Then I would know to avoid those caches. I have no problem with the hides themselves. I just hate trying to get that tiny little log out to sign it and then having to carefully roll it up so it fits back in that stinkin' little container.

Amen to that! Can't tell you how many times we arrive at an area that has a micro hidden when there are so many bushes, rocks, stumps, logs, etc to hide a regular in/under. So annoying!