BeachBuddies

Wow, your camera's a lot better than mine.. what kind do you have? Is it a digital?

Just got back from a day of caching, and an evening at the movies. We saw National Treasure. Although I read several reviews that panned it, I thought it was pretty good. I think most geocachers will enjoy it. It definitely reminded me of Blood and Guts.

Carry water -- even if you're sure you're not going to need it. Don't leave the path just because the arrow on your GPSr is pointing in a slightly different direction. Carry cache repair supplies (zip-lock baggies, and extra notebook and pen, a CITO bag); and fix up any caches that need it. A couple bandaids fit easily into a wallet, and you won't regret having them.

Although not a dicsussion group, I maintain a Categorized List of Locationless Caches. At the bottom you'll also find some links to software that does some similar things with plotting the locationless logs and such.

I always enjoy the threads with pictures of snakes and such... here's another one. We found this guy (and lots more like him) at a puzzle cache today. He'd make a good tie-clip, but I left him with his friends I didn't realize these guys were active this late in the season.

Well, technically the plural of datum would be data, IIR my Latin correctly. But that would just be confusing, and geodesy is complex enough hehe..

Warren -- All I can say is "WOW"... thanks for letting me join you for a small fraction of the ones you've done! -J (BeachBuddies)

And carved stamps. Please don't trade for the stamp if you find a Letterbox-hybrid cache!

I use PZKut, and I really like it. Very easy to carve, but quite durable. http://www.stampeaz.com/ For me, the "u"-shaped blades work best, then I scrape away instead of using a straight-edge exacto-knife blade. The hard part for me is doing the design; the carving I can do usually in a couple hours or so, while keeping my wife company in front of the TV.

Napa Valley is a fun area (especially if you like wine) with lots of good caches. Hiking, kayaking, beaches, moutains, etc... Or come out East and visit usl hike the Appalachian Trail for a week. Lots of caches on the trail.

Interesting... Streets and Trips is now available pre-packaged with a GPS. Microsoft Streets and Trips The 2005 version is now out. I ordered it on Amazon for $14 (after a $10 rebate from MS, and another $10 rebate from Amazon); pretty good deal. Amazon link

Just curious -- has anyone ever tried an experiment to see if there's any difference between the degradation rate between a MOC and non-MOC cache? You could hide two (or more) similar caches (same starting contents, similar terrain/difficulty, etc). Make half MOC and the other half non-MOC. Then see how they fared over time. Might be a fun experiment. Though you couldn't let anyone know you were "monitoring" the cache contents, that would influence the outcome (Hawthorne effect, I think it's called). I find my cache contents tend to degrade over the course of a year or so. I visit them about once a quarter (more often if any problems are reported). I remove any trash, and add a few trinkets usually. I am a member, but I've never hidden and MOC. I'll have to try it I guess. I doubt there would be much difference, but I suppose if there was, I would consider making more of mine MO -- mostly to reduce the maintenance requirements a bit. I don't mind the contents eventually disappearing; in fact I expect it. I'm always pleasantly surprised when I stop by to do some maintenance, and find some cool things in the cache.

Congrats Gary! I've been watching you get closer and closer to 1000.. you've been busy! I think it's time for another event, it would be good to see you again.

Strangely enough, the Prince William County section of the Washington Post also had an article on geocaching today. Here's a link (you may have to register to get to it though): Article Here's a cut-and-paste: Cache, Not Money, Is the Prize for Some GPS Enthusiasts By Ellen Crosby Special to The Washington Post Thursday, November 4, 2004; Page PW01 Two days after President Clinton granted civilians access to a Defense Department network of satellites in 2000, a man hid a notebook inside a watertight ammunition container in the woods near Portland, Ore., and posted the longitude and latitude coordinates on the Web. Before you could say Lewis and Clark, the game -- or sport -- of geocaching was born. Players around the world were investing in a hot, new high-tech toy, a hand-held Global Positioning System receiver, checking clues on the Internet and searching for the hidden container and similar treasures. According to www.geocaching.com, that single Web posting has morphed into a worldwide scavenger hunt encompassing more than 127,000 "caches" in 210 countries, including dozens in Prince William County. Some hiding places are almost predictable. Others would frustrate Indiana Jones. Most of the stash in the cache is straight out of a cereal box or the Dollar Store, so the thrill of the hunt isn't about searching for the Holy Grail. It's about the thrill of the hunt. "You get so used to looking at that indicator that you get to your destination and realize you don't know where your car is," said Ray Pfaff, a software engineer from Chantilly. He is speaking from experience. The rules of geocaching are simple. ("Geo" comes from geography; a "cache" is hunting and camping lingo for a hiding place for provisions or in computer terms refers to information stored in memory.) A waterproof container, such as Tupperware, an ammunition can or even a film canister, is filled with trinkets or items to trade and a logbook for recording visits. It is hidden but can't be buried. The information is registered on the official Web site. Geocachers download longitude and latitude coordinates into their GPS receivers after locating caches by Zip code, state or country, and they're off and running. Or climbing. Or swimming. "Within 100 miles of here, there are more than 2,600 caches," said Bill Tobalske, a retired Air Force chief master sergeant from Reston whose geocaching "handle" (many geocachers use an alias) is 2Wheel'in. "We tease him that he can't spell," said his wife, Bonnie, a Fairfax County firefighter and paramedic who goes by the handle MooseMaMa. "And he repairs bicycles now that he's retired." The Tobalskes went to Sterling recently to look for one of two caches hidden in Claude Moore Park. One cache, Claude's Vestals Gap Cache, belongs to the park, said park manager Pam Sheets, a new and enthusiastic geocacher who goes by the handle "iplay." "It's a mishmosh of items from Claude Moore Park and the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum, including pencils, key chains, rubber spiders, rubber snakes -- even a rubber cow," she said. "And a logbook, of course." The park's other cache, a private one called "Cat's Meow," is filled with toys for cat lovers. Cache owners who want to use public land must get permission, Sheets said, so they aren't placed where people might stomp on wildflowers or disturb endangered species, for example. "The way people are hiding things is becoming more interesting," Bonnie Tobalske said. "Some people leave a cryptic message that you have to figure out." One person took a series of two-sequence words from the Declaration of Independence after numbering all of the words. "You had to go back and find out which number words were selected in order to obtain the longitude and latitude," Bill Tobalske said. "Some people are demonic," Bonnie added. The Tobalskes decided to search for Cat's Meow. Bill knew where it was, but for Bonnie, it was her 101st cache. Bill plotted the location coordinates, known as a "waypoint," on a sophisticated color GPS receiver. "The trick to finding the cache is to follow the direction of the arrow on the screen -- and to keep moving -- or else the arrow disappears when the tracking satellites can no longer ascertain the direction of travel," he said. A GPS, however, knows only how close the cache is as the crow flies -- that is, in a straight line -- meaning it has no clue about altitude or terrain. To avoid surprises such as the fact that you need to cross the Potomac River to find your cache, some geocachers purchase topographical maps. And for the ultra-ultra-serious enthusiast, the information is available on CD-ROM, as long as the GPS has computer-download capability. "Remember the direction of that arrow when you get within 30 feet of the cache," Bill Tobalske said. "Because after that, you rely on your wits to find it. The GPS can't help when you're that close." "I always look for 'UPS,' " Bonnie said. "That's an Unusual Pile of Sticks. Or tromped-down leaves." They're not all tangible, either. Ray Pfaff placed what is known as a "virtual cache" at a Civil War marker commemorating the Battle of Chantilly in the Second Battle of Manassas. Anyone who finds the marker in a small park at the corner of Monument Drive and West Ox Road in western Fairfax County reports his or her visit on the geocaching.com Web site. "The reason I find it so important is if the Confederate forces had been just a little bit faster, they could have stopped the Union forces from retreating back to D.C. and made them surrender," Pfaff said. "That would have left D.C. more or less undefended and could have changed the whole outcome of the war." "It's a good way to learn about history," agreed Scott Allen of Herndon, a geocacher whose work for the Air Force involves combat search and rescue. "It's educational and interesting." Allen often goes geocaching with his 10-year-old daughter, Samantha, and his wife, Susan. The Cat's Meow, which has been around since Aug. 21, 2002, turned out to be an ammo can containing a logbook, pen, several cat toys, a small truck, assorted odds and ends and what was generally determined to be Mr. Potato Head. Bonnie Tobalske removed the truck, signed the logbook and left two yellow erasers in the shape of a firefighter's helmet and a fire hydrant. "Geocaching takes me to places I probably wouldn't go to," she said. "That's my goal in life -- to see as much as I possibly can."

It should be the same for all internet users. Yes, you would replace the number with whatever your image number is. If you've added that to your cache page, make sure the select the option that indicates you are providing HTML. If you don't, it won't work. Otherwise, I'm not sure that the problem would be. If you like, you can post the name or waypoint of your cache, and I'll take a look at the page. Or you could post the HTML you're trying to use, and maybe someone will spot the problem.

Thanks for the list Don!

It sounds like you might be pointing to a local copy of your image file, such as "C:\Images\MyImage.jpg", instead of pointing to a file using HTTP. You can use the "View Source" option on a cache page with an image to see how it's done. I usually upload my image to gc.com (you can do this the same way you change the image on your profile page), and then link to that. Here's a snippet from a FAQ I wrote about Using HTML on Cache Pages How do I add an image? If the image is already on an internet site, you can just add a link to it. Otherwise, you must upload it to the web site. You can do this by selecting the Edit Profile link on your My Cache Page. Then, select the change/edit link under one of the images (your Avatar or your Photo). Once uploaded, you can select your image to find the URL (i.e., the web address). Then, add the image to your cache page by inserting a link like this, using that URL: <img src="http://img.Groundspeak.com/cache/66389_600.gif">

Please add me to the list, thank you. BTW, where can we get more info on Earthcaches?

I use a shareware utility called FinePrint. It's software that acts like a printer, but allows you to do a lot of cool stuff to your document before forwarding it to a real printer. For example, you can you combine 2 pages into 1 (or even 4 or 8 into 1). You can repeat an image. You can resize things a bit. You can remove graphics, etc. Anyway, I print out some of the standard inserts, but I print them at different sizes using the 2-to-1, or 4-to-1 setting. Then, I fold them in half and laminate them. It costs about $1 at Staples to have a page laminated. Then I just cut out each "sheet", and include them when I hide a cache. The laminated ones hold up a lot better than just putting a sheet in a zip-lock bag. I think you can get FinePrint at www.fineprint.com Here's a pic:

Thanks Jeremy -- I was using that old URL because I had a link to it in my Favorites; I didn't realize it had changed. I'm sure the new links are fine. Thanks for the response.

Cool tool, Marky! If you don't mind, I'll add a link from my list page so people can get to it right from there.

I agree; I tend to ignore them after reading them once. What would work better for me is to "highlight" them somehow (more than just the "hot topic" icon. Maybe a different color for the title or something.

So, am I the only one? Can anyone else please test this to see if it works for you, or not? Thanks... If you're logged in, you can get to your upload page here: http://www.geocaching.com/upload/account_images.asp

For those interested in location caches, I just wanted to let you know that my Categorized Locationless List has moved. The new URL is: http://home.comcast.net/~geocacherbb/Locationless.html -BeachBuddies

I was trying to upload an image and got an error. This was the URL: http://www.geocaching.com/upload/account_images.asp?enter=Y This was the error: Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a004c' Path not found /upload/account_images.asp, line 195