fauxSteve

One cheap-hide technique that I've seen before goes something like this: "I found this great location for a cache while I was out today, but I didn't have a good container with me. Therefore, the cache is a sandwich bag with a piece of paper in it to sign. Would the next finder please replace the bag with a better container. A small lock n' lock would work well. Thanks!" As long as enough hiders trade up, you will eventually have swag as well!

Very interesting information to add to my arsenal of tricks! Nothing to see here, move along...

I'm actually beginning to wonder about the e-mail notifications, but only from a single cacher. I've been receiving everything fine, both from my bookmark and watch lists. Everything, that is, except two found logs from a single cacher this past week. When the first cache was found a few days ago I assumed that maybe the email got lost or something, but tonight it happened a second time. Same finder, again on one of my owned caches. Now I'm wondering if they've found some kind of work-around to the notifications to me? The finder is from out of town, so there was never a DNF or a note on the page to update, and I've gotten everything else posted to my caches lately, so spam filters don't seem to be the problem (and I checked my bulk folder just in case). It's not really a problem to me, but it's weird! Any ideas?

Actually, "cache" comes from "cacher", a French verb for "to hide". While it is commonly associated with a hidden collection of items, the word has more to do with hiding stuff than the stuff necessarily being treasure. However, I welcome you you to hide ("cacher") some silver in any of my caches, or near them if it doesn't fit, and let me know. I will add it to my personal stash of goodies. Just don't bury it. We don't allow burying things here. However, I do have it on some authority that the essence of the defintion of the word 'bury' is treasure; as in "buried treasure", "buried golden nuggets", or "a big bag of buried Liberty Dollars" (I don't like emoticons, but feel free to insert your favorite one here).

While I agree that puzzle solving help should not be requested in the forums, I take a less harsh view of collaboration and help. I personally like the group mentioned early on in the thread that get together and brainstorm the difficult puzzles over pizza. I've found that puzzles have been a great source of geocaching community building. More than anything, I like to see people enjoy the game and get out of it what they want. For the record: if puzzles don't float someone's boat and they want help with one of mine, I happily give out ample hints (after it's been found, that is). That said, it sure is fun to figure out a cache puzzle all by myself! It makes me feel better than everyone else!

My stats: Travel Bugs Only / Traditional and Multi Caches Only 31 / 352 = 8.8% However, I don’t really know why other actual “box-type” caches with logbooks don’t count (in my case mainly Unknown Caches, which often have Travel Bugs, and to exclude them makes this whole study pointless depending on what is popular in your area). So, I’m including those as well now: Travel Bugs Only / Traditional, Multis, Unknown, Project APE and Letterbox Hybrids 31 / 424 = 7.3% (it's 31 / 420 = 7.4% without the APE or Letterboxes). Most of my T.B. trading occurs in Unknown Puzzle caches, so it seems odd to exclude them from the count. Of course, I didn’t include Events, Locationless or Virtuals. Seattle, WA On a side note, I do know one local cacher whose ratio is 292.5% of Bugs found to Traditionals and Multis. At least you know that he’ll move them around! Edited to add: "Oh, I thought this was the Travel Bug thread!"

Have fun up there! It looks like you'll have weather like my ride through the tunnel last year (wet!). I wish I could join you, but I've got a busy first half of the day today. Who knows, though, maybe I'll ride over to look for a certain Cootie Cacher this afternoon.

The aforementioned Wishbringer is one example. It uses an existing Infocom text adventure, but Z-Cache: The Adventures of Base Dentura is pretty cool in that a new game was actually written in which you are a cacher trying to find the cache and you get the real coordinates by playing the game. Plus, these are completely platform independent: you can play them on a PC, a Mac, Unix machines, just about anything supporting Java, Palm, Commedore 64, Apple II... There's a bonus cache to boot! I started writing a couple games myself, but haven't had the time to ever finish them... One day...

I will echo what others have said before: it's not really proper to come to the forums to ask for a solution to a puzzle cache. Instead, hit up the owner or local cachers for help . It's a great way to meet people. You know, wine and dine them and see if they give the solution! On a side note, I'm really surprised that the cache in question got approved for its obvious commercial connections (no, I'm not going to link to it). But that connection gives me a pretty good idea of where I'd start looking to solve the puzzle...

Not if I hurry up and steal all the good spots on campus, it won't!!!!

Why not? A lot of caches don't give much information or have clues. You can even take the minimalist approach to another level. This cache has been a local favorite for many and remains one of my favorite caching puzzles to date. But I guess a lot depends on your community of cachers and their expectations.

If you are in New Hampshire, this question is best asked in the regional forums: New England. I'm sure some helpful cachers there are familiar with the process at the state-wide level. A local geocaching group might even have an on-going communication with the State Parks already. Good luck!

I didn't understand all those big words, but I think I'm gonna be rich! Woo hoo! I'll just geocache all day long, and get me a cache for every dollar that's gonna be in my bank account! 1 1/2, 1, 1/2...

So far, so good! This has been a great discussion. In some of my recent caching, multi-caches are everywhere, and this type of "equation" keeps popping up. The answer that would have gotten you to the cache at many of them is the one quickly given by WH and followed up by a few others (quoted above). I, of course, mutiplied the numbers at first. But I think a few other interpretations have popped up that are really interesting and of good value to cache hiders (i.e., zeros before or after a single digit). It's always good to know how your hiders might interpret your instructions if you want to avoid problems (unless you're one of those evil hiders, of course)! Edited to change one letter!

I have had the opportunity to find caches in many states and several countries, and I have seen many different ways in which things are done. Here, however, I want to ask about a common variation I’ve seen that has caught me off guard. Suppose you were seeking a multi-cache with several waypoints, at each of which you get a number that helps solve the final question. For example, at waypoint #1 you count the number of wings on the bird sculpture (A=?), at wp#2 you count the number of windows on the front side of the house (B=?), and so on… After you collect several of these, and in order to find the final cache, you need to do a small amount of math. Here’s my question: what final coordinates would you, as a geocacher, come up with using the following formula? (This is hypothetical, but based on my own experiences.) Let’s say, A=3, B=5, C=6, and D=1. “The final cache is at: N 40° 07.(A+D)(D+1)D W 020° 20.(B+A)A(C+D)” Where are you going to look?

The fat lady is moving slow... Actually, solving the puzzle that provides the coordinates is only the first step. You still have to go find the cache, just like a traditional or multi-cache. Combine that with the fact that many puzzle caches are also devious hides because they are created by people who have already gone the extra step of concealing the actual coordinates and enjoy tormenting us (thanks goes out to some great hiders in the geo-community for providing me with lots of that kind of fun--you know who you are!). Therefore, I don't agree that they've been found once the coordinates are known. With that logic I could say that I've found every traditional cache out there! That being said, I've found a couch potato cache (once), I've found locationless caches (they involved work), I've found virtual caches (some really great locations) and I've found lame tupperware boxes filled with junk in a dumpy park. I had more fun finding the first three kinds! And now: edited to add this comment and to bring this back on topic: If a virtual is a place to go visit with your GPSr and to confirm your presence there, go there, find the spot, and happily log it. Don't just google your answer or Photochop your experience! Anyway, I think most of the "couch potato caches" have been chased out of town by this point, so most virtuals should require a physical visit to someplace or some interest to somebody (it just might not be me or you).

Here is a link to more information about downloading cache data. I can't imagine returning to printouts and hand-entering coordinates. I just get a pocket query delivered to me every week, download all of the waypoints to my GPSr and the cache descriptions to my PDA, and off I go. I mainly check for new caches to solve puzzles that usually involve important graphics or other things that are best done before leaving the house.

Depending on what you mean by "search new caches", this could be as simple as selecting your state or region in the "Hide and Seek a Cache" pull down-down menu. Those results are (for the most part) listed beginning with most recently hidden. Even in an active state like Washington, I can quickly look to see if any new caches have been added and (based on knowing who many of the cachers are) recognize if it is near me. For the few I don't recognize its just a quick link to the cache page to see if it is 200 miles away form me or three. (My comment about "for the most part" refers to caches that might have a given hidden date quite different from approval date. One example would be a cache that the approver had issues that needed to be fixed before listing, or in a couple devious cases of hiders deliberately predating their cache so that it appears a couple pages down on the list. That can really throw FTFers for a loop! ) --- Pocket Queries are a premium membership goodie, and a very good reason to join: "A Groundspeak Premium Membership provides you with additional features that a normal (free) membership does not provide. Through Pocket Queries you can bulk download caches based on precise search criteria, have the ability to create and view member-only caches, and have additional power-user options on the web site by panning and zooming the Geocaching.com online maps." --edited to add emphasis to the definition of Pocket queries--

I suggest asking in the German speaking forums for recommended caches in the areas or cities where you will be visiting. Let people know whether you want something in the city that is good for tourists (relatively quick find), or whatever best fits your travel needs. Many German cache pages also have English translations on them as well (especially the city caches). I think there are at least enough to keep you having fun. Look at the cache pages carefully, though, since caches are often more complex or longer than in the U.S. (multis with a lot of stages are very common). Another good option is to visit http://www.geocaching.de/. It is all in German, but if you click on the "Interaktive Karte" (interactive map) button on the menu (left side of page), you can see all (or most) of the caches in Germany on a map. I use that feature all the time! Click once to zoom into the region, and a second time to select a specific cache. You can then get to the geocaching page via a map!

Recent discussion Woo hoo! FTF! FTF!

Please, just pick your nose instead! It's really more pleasant to experience than music automatically playing on a webpage. Make it an optional link and I'm all for it (but I probably won't click on it).

I see this discussion is more about hints now... I was really happy when I got some unsolicited hints after I started caching in a new area that I'd moved into. They were often very vague or encrypted as a precaution at first. I saw it more as community building and I met some friendly local cachers through those messages. But I guess the cachers that don't want--or provide--the unsolicited hint might not be the friendly ones I want to meet anyway. If you ever see me post a DNF and want to send me nudge, a spolier, or glossy photo with the cache location, feel free!

I agree with cachers should not be afraid to post a DNF. Some hiders take more offense to them than others, and in some areas they seem to be more acceptable than others. I've changed some of my opinions as I've cached longer. These days I'll post a DNF quite easily, as long as I did go looking for at least a waypoint. At times, depending on how complicated the cache is (numerous waypoints, for example), I might post a note saying "I found waypoints 1 and 2, I'll return tomorrow for more when I have more time...” But I might post a DNF for: "I found waypoints 1 and 2, and looked for waypoint 3 for twenty minutes. I need to rethink this one." During the last week I had: DNF - I looked for the trailhead and followed two paths, neither of which took me to the trail. Although I never got close enough to even begin looking for the cache itself, my 45 minutes trying to find the right trail equal a DNF in my book. DNF - Got to where the coordinates zeroed out, and with low accuracy under heavy tree cover I looked around for an hour without finding anything. Note - I saw a downtown "Traditional" in a city I was visiting for the first time pop up on my GPSr. I walked over to it and looked at my Palm to read the description only to find out that it should be a Mystery cache (a multi collecting info from buildings, but no coordinates for the stops on the cache page--you either have to know the building from its brief description, have read the encrypted hint telling you to print out the pictures (!), or do preliminary research). It looks like a fun cache, but it is mislabeled as a Traditional (the cache is not at the listed coordinates). Some people are too proud too post a DNF, and some hiders are too proud to see DNFs on their cache pages. Your experiences will vary, but I think posting DNFs are a good thing. A good hider will also read the tone of DNFs to see if maybe they should consider making changes to their cache listing (bad coordinates, vague instructions, ect…) And evil cache hiders should be prepared to play along with meaner-sounding DNFs than those for regular caches (oops, different discussion).

This Geocaching vehicle is definitely stuck, and is hopefully not going anywhere anytime soon. It is quite close to the oldest surviving geocache in California, Firestone.

I'm pretty sure that they're referring to a "Hit-n-run-cache"--that is, an HNR. In the FAQ on the geocaching.nl website, "Hit-n-run-cache" is the phrase they use for a "Gemakkelijke en snel te bereiken cache." ("An easy and quick to reach cache.") I've also seen some caches called H&R caches. Edit: I changed an "or" to an "and", and one bit of wordiness. Same information, though.