Luckless

I usually sign the logs: Luckless was here, as Kilroy used to do.

Writing them and telling them you’re concerned about what they did and explaining to them that they were on private property and that they should not do that is okay. Some people aren’t very mindful of other people’s property. Maybe you were a little harsh, but hopefully it left an impression so they don’t trespass again. As someone who has hidden many caches I know that when you hide a cache it is very important to not only consider how to help cachers find the cache, but also to consider the 101 ways they can screw up doing that. I’ve abandoned some great hide ideas because there was the possibility of trouble. I’ve hidden caches in stone walls that people have dismantled, I’ve hidden them in lovely trees that have had the branches broken off, I’ve hidden them near a public garden where someone sifted through every inch of mulch scattering it near and far. I no longer hide caches in stone walls or beautifully trimmed trees in the park or near gardens. I try to anticipate things that people might do. My cache pages may be full of instructions of what not to do. It may have instructions like : The cache is not located in the cemetery. It is located just outside. Please be respectful of this place. ( I myself was quite angry once when I found a geocache someone had hidden in a cemetery and the last finder had used a broken piece of gravestone to cover it up with. Really? That’s just a no no.) You now know that there could be problems with people finding your cache. Someone here mentioned posting parking coordinates for your cache which sounds like a good idea. Another said your clue may have caused some confusion. Recently a friend was telling me about a cache we both had found. It involved a cache hidden in a container that you added water to so the cache floated to the top where you could grab it. I had read about these caches so I knew how to do it. My friend had not. He unscrewed the container, dumped out the cache then filled the container up with stones so the cache would be in easy reach near the top of the container when the container was screwed back in place. He thought he had met what he was supposed to do to get the cache since there were no instructions from the owner about what to do with the water they were instructed to bring to the cache other than to drink it. Being both a cache hider and a cache placer I can see both sides. Hopefully both finder and hider will work to make this game fun and enjoyable for all involved -the hider, the finder, the land owner and his neighbors).

They wouldn't bother me, (Took me a minute or two to get it) but in the interest of family friendly caches it's probably not a good idea.

OKay I'll play 10,506

I like how water tight peanut butter jars are- better than a lot of other containers. I try to remember to write that the container is a peanut butter jar to alert anyone with a peanut allergy- not sure if too many people with peanut allergies cache.

That doesn't sound it would be fun for someone that wants to find caches that exist for reasons other than to see who can place the most caches in an area. The areas are quite large, the caches are all well placed and most people here take pride in doing something interesting with their caches. It's not saturation for saturation's sake.

I'm sure people do try to saturate areas with micros- sounds boring. We have turf wars here which are a little different. People who live in a certain area will put out caches in that area then along comes someone else who invades that "territory" by putting up their own caches and so it goes, each trying to establish a couple more caches there than the other. Then others may come along with theirs. It's all in good fun.

So how would this work? If I get a membership and I place a premium cache and my membership runs out- then what? Would I no longer be able to view my own cache? Would the cache convert to a regular cache?

If I found I needed to go through a door that said it had an alarm to get a cache I'd head right to the management and tell them all about to see if it was okay to open the door. If there's a cache on their property, or requires crossing their property, then permission would have been obtained and they should be able to tell me.

My first thought was to contact the police.

I think the best thing you can do is always think about the person who comes after you. Are they going to enjoy finding the cache the way you left it? Most people know what shape they'd like to find a cache in. I'll spruce up a cache if it needs it- wipe out the dirt, remove any ruined swag or garbage, replace any lost necessities (log book, pencil, plastic bag, etc.), usually leave some kind of swag- a nice toy or other enjoyable item and then rehide the cache so it hopefully is the way the cache owner intended and fun to find. If everyone did this the quality of caches would probably improve. As a cache placer as well as a cache finder I don't like to see really nice items in the cache too long. The swag gets wet from people opening and closing the cache in the rain or snow and often dirty or broken too. I'd rather someone take the item than leave it to rot/rust in the cache. I've seen an awful lot of nice things ruined because people didn't think they could trade even for it. Just leave something nice and maybe later surprise someone with a really nice item of your own in another cache. That's the way I do it.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I had to list some (any) coordinates if I was creating a webpage that I was not submitting in order to save the information on the webpage (was it always like that- doesn't seem so). They may be bogus coordinates but that doesn't mean they aren't screwing up other caches somewhere. Sometimes I don't necessarily need to save an area for my cache. I just want to save the written information. It seems like last time I couldn't do that without listing some coordinates.

I had been doing a multi cache with a friend. We'd found the first couple of stages, but got stuck on the third one so we quit for the day. Later when I was in the area I decided to follow a hunch. I found the next stage high on a fence over my head. A piece of wood had been hollowed out to hold the container. As I pulled the piece of wood away from the fence...AGHHHHHH! About forty earwigs came raining down on me. The earwigs had decided to make the hollow in the piece of wood around the container their home and all fell out on top of me when I went to retrieve the piece of wood. I didn't want to finish the cache without my friend so we came back a few days later. I hadn't told her about the earwigs. We planned on eating a picnic lunch since we were in a park and then look for the cache. While I was eating she decided to look for the stage that I had already found and wandered off. She said she actually wanted to find it herself and not just go with the coodinates that I had found. I was sitting there wondering if she had found it when I hear, AGHHHHHH! Yep she found it.

I've removed abandoned letterboxes. There was no doubt they needed to go. They were no longer listed. The one was filled with water and sat two years before I tossed it out- algae filled green slimy mess. The other letterbox showed up in my cache. I had talked to the owner when I placed caches near her letterboxes, but got no response from her when I last emailed her about the letterbox turning up in my cache (and no longer listed on letterboxing.com). If it looks abandoned and a mess I've no qualms about getting rid of it- but I do try to always find the CO. If I know there is a cache in an area near where I'm caching I'll check on it and do what I can to fix it up. Sometimes they need a NA, but not before trying to let the CO know. I'll also look for caches I know to be archived to be sure they are gone. Usually they are gone, that's because they were archived because they were missing.

Here in New York where I am I can look for a cache in a state park now- off season- no admission fee- although some parks have hunting and those areas are restricted for the hunting season. The admission fee during the summer is applied to the car not how many people in the car (well I'm not sure if there is a limit). People over 62 diving the car do not have to pay to enter the park. I used to always get my mother -over 62- to drive me in to check on my caches- no admission fee. You can also enter without a fee after hours. Most people paying an entrance fee are probably there visiting the park and would probably pay it ($7) anyway regardless of whether or not they go geocaching. An Empire Passport can be had for $65 which allows you into most any state park throughout the state for that year. I might pay one or two admission fees a year to visit the park and check on my cache while there.

Where are you located? I'm in New York. You do need to fill out a two year permit to place a geocache in a state park (no fee). There is an admission fee to enter the park when the parks are in operation during the summertime.

That's too bad as geocaching does bring people into the parks and generates interest and revenue- maybe not a lot, but some. There are no fees for caches in state parks here. We placed twenty caches in a state park here and the park ranger was surprised every time someone commented to him on the caches. He wasn't expecting hearing that much about them and was surprised to see all the interest.

I guess you could say I'm old school. Didn't have smart phones for geocaching when I started. Didn't even know about the intro app until I read it here. What I have noticed is the increase in the number recent logs saying that it was their first find.

There is something like this already- beginner caches- that are highlighted on the listing. Usually a one/one and a half difficulty.

Since winter is coming and people stop caching I thought I'd make a very involved puzzle cache that would take some time to figure out. This could be done indoors during the harsh winter weather and the cache could later be found once the snow is melted (or before if they want to mess with the snow and ice). What is the limit (number) of characters I can use in the description?

I know you want known caches. I suspect if you also plant your own caches specific to the book these will eventually become popular because they are associated to the book.

Sounds fun. Also sounds like these are temporary caches.

I believe they are called ghost cachers around here.

I attended a late night event designed to tell the die-hard cachers from the norm. -In the dark in the rain.

I get mine free in the mail- lots of them- more than I could ever use. I cut them off the address labels that I receive from charities that are looking for money or from businesses offering them as a special gift. The address labels adhere very well to the log and are somewhat designed to stick tight even when the mail is delivered in the rain and gets wet.