dsandbro

It shouldn't. If everything is operating properly it won't. The concern is the 1 in 10,000,000 chance that something may happen. ...the aircraft avionics have a malfunction at the exact same moment your GPS malfunctions and has a power surge all during a critical moment during instrument approach...

Isn't degree of risk somewhat user subjective??? I have seen caches rated 4 and 5 for terrain that I thought were a leisurely stroll in the woods, and some 1 & 2's that scared me.

If your unit has auto-averaging then use it, otherwise don't bother. You have to average a minimum of 30 or so to get any real improvement in accuracy, and that becomes a hassle. If you come back on another day to get a 2nd set of reading, choose a different time of day. The satellites are nearly in the same position at the same time each day, varying by about 4 minutes or so.

UTM makes field math easier, as they are meters in both the x and y. With elevation in meters all three coordinates are in the same units. Trying to determine distance between points in lat long in the field is a pain with paper and pencil. ("Let's see... whats the cosine of 39 degrees, 14.26 minutes?" ).

Rocks and sticks have a weathered side that was exposed to the elements and a buried side that was only in contact with dirt. For some reason, people who try to re-hide the cache always get the wrong side up, and they stand out like a flashing neon light. You can spot a wrong-side-up rock from 50 feet away.

There may be no policy for caching specifically, but you can get fined for leaving ANY man-made thing behind in a designated wilderness area. That is the point of it in the first place. There were many incidents of this being enforced when I worked for the Salmon-Challis NF, which administered the Frank Church-RONR Wilderness. Wilderness areas are supposed to remain as close to natural as possible. This is also why they have such different wildfire-fighting policies for fires that occur in a wilderness area. That may be true for the FC-RONR wilderness, it is not true for all. Cachers are advised to check locally and not just assume that because one wilderness bans caches all wilderness ban caches, and conversely, because one allows caches do not assume all allow caches. A cursory check of caches listed on this website reveals that there are many inside designated Wilderness with full knowledge and consent of local Wilderness managers.

On my local NF less than 25% of the total land area has ever had a harvest entry, and less than 1% was a clearcut (too bad, the forest would be healthier with a few more well placed and well designed clearcuts, but politics trumps science). And this forest has historically been one of the largest timber producers.

True. The Forest Service has a management philosophy of decentralization as much as possible, with nationwide regulations as rare as possible. The Forest Service has always believed in local managers making local decisions for their local forests, with enacting local regulations only after problems have appeared. Unfortunately, many environmental groups are intent on using the courts to change that. ["No one ever made a good decision from a swivel chair." -- Gen. George Patton.] The downside of this is you can have different geocaching policies on adjacent National Forests. Confusing to the average forest user or cache owner. I am now retired from the FS, but when I worked for them I was the 'geocache monitor' as a collateral duty. I had to personally check out every new geocache placed on National Forest lands, so the taxpayers paid me to go geocaching (it was a tough job, but someone had to do it. ). I only found two that were questionable, one required some personal risk in getting to -- a stream crossing and a rock face scramble, and the other was at a archaeological site. Since there wasn't exactly a throng beating a path to either of the caches (3 logged visits in 2 years) we left them alone. There is no national policy on caches in Wilderness, although some wilderness activists try to claim there is. Local Wilderness managers are free enact their own geocaching policies, and some have banned them from designated Wilderness, others have no restrictions. So check locally.

My local Wal-Mart, in the hunting supplies. They only carry it seasonally, immediately before and during hunting season. Camo paint is available year around in the paint section. A wide variety of camo cloth patterns and materials are in the fabric section.

I suggest avoiding gobs of poison oak or beehives, too. Altough there is a certain amount of assumed risk when walking in the woods you should not intentionally add to the risk with the placement of your cache. A similar example would be placing the cache atop an unstable pile of rocks where a cache seeker could trigger a rockslide. You don't have to make it easy, just don't put it where unnecessary danger is obvious.

and another source. A free downloadable self-study course with exercises and examples. Made for firefighters, but useful for the layperson, too. http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/training/map_comp.pdf

If you feel you have cheated then you have. If you feel OK about the finds, then it is not cheating. I never considered geocaching to be a 'competition' where the number of finds meant anything. I search for my personal pleasure, and a day hiking in the woods and have nothing but DNF's is still a good day. Instead of counting your finds, count the number of smiles you generate caching, whether you find any caches or not. Isn't it all about spending time outdoors and going to interesting places in your neighborhood you haven't visited before?

I draw the line at mosquitoes. I will kill them by the thousands given any chance.

pronounce it phonetically, like 'catchy'.

I wouldn't worry about whether a rating is 1 vs 1.5, since the rating is pretty subjective anyway. I done some rated 4 & 5 that I thought were a stroll in the park and some 2's that nearly killed me. So indecisiveness over 0.5 points is definitely not warranted.

I buy mine at WalMart. The problem with it for geocaching is the color fades if exposed to direct sunlight for even just a few hours per day. The faded color is a bluish that really stands out. There have been a few caches I spotted quite a distance away because of the faded camo colors. So change the tape periodically.

"I never had any respect for a man who knew only one way to spell a word." --Mark Twain

Furlongs and cubits, occasionally rods and chains. I like meters (or metres to our UK and Canadian friends). UTM is in meters, and if the map gives elevations in meters then all three coordinates are in the same unit of measurement. Makes field math a lot easier.

Just put a disclaimer on the description that it is a religious themed cache. Then the cacher can decide for himself whether to search or not. I think I would leave out the picture of Muhammed with a bomb in his turban though....

I hike off-trail all the time. In fact prefer it to following the well-worn footpath. I seldom 'crash through the brush in a straight line' because that is a terribly inefficient way to hike and hard on the body and the brush. Picking your route by looking ahead is easier all the way around. Since it is unlikely any two people would choose the same serpentine path off-trail hiking is less disruptive than everyone following the same shortest straight line from the trail.

I'm a geo-wimp. Bad weather makes me stay inside and not go geocaching, so, yes, rain affects my locating ability.

The purpose a National Park is defined here: http://www.nps.gov/legacy/organic-act.htm

Most older USGS topo maps and most of the federal government data is in NAD27. More recent maps and data, including nearly all local government data, is in WGS84 or NAD83. You may consider NAD83 and WGS84 as interchangeable. The difference between the two across most of North America is negligible (millimeters). NAD27, however, is quite a bit different from the other two. The exact values vary depending on where you are, but here it is about 100 meters west and 80 meters north. On newer USGS maps you may see a faint gray or black + near the corners. That is the corner coordinates of the map in the other datum.

Clif bars are a bit more palatable than the other brands, but put that in context. All of them taste horrible, clif bars are just a little less horrible. On the other hand, clif bars do not seem to be very effective on me. PowerBars however really do work for me, if I can choke one down without gagging. A PowerBar washed down with a half water bottle of Ensure (powdered, and mixed with powdered milk) will completely recharge me in about 15 minutes. Your results may vary. I have also had some very good results with a banana, yogurt, and a handful of whole wheat crackers with a small plastic bottle of orange juice (Sunny Delight, or similar). But you need the means to keep them cool and unsmashed while out doing your thing. Surf some backpacking, running, or bicycling websites for more info on nutrition and endurance. What you eat before and after sustained activity is as important as what you eat during. In fact, a good pre-hike diet lessens (but not eliminate!) the need for refueling during the hike. A number of manufacturers sell supplements (e.g. eas.com, among others) that are very expensive and [probably] are better than you can do with real food alone. But -- is the extra few percent improvement in performance worth the hassle and price? For a professional athlete training for a competition maybe. Average guys like me --no.

It has only happened to me twice. Once I was there first, and he approached and asked if he could join in, I said sure. I still found it first. He was a geocacher from Holland in the U.S. visiting friends, and this was his first U.S. find. The other time the reverse. I walked up to a couple searching and asked if they would like some help. They too said join in and they found it before I did. Not a problem either time. We chatted for a few minutes, each signed the log, and said goodbye to each other. I don't see the point of hanging back trying to be inconspicuous and pretending not to watch them.