dsandbro

I used to. Like Mach-1 & Redtail above one of my collateral duties was to keep tabs on the geocaches in our forest. It was a tough job but someone had to do it. I have since retired and took a new job, so now all my caching is on my own time and expense.

I've noticed most of them fade after a few months in sunlight. And the color 'fades' into blue tones that actually stand out against a green/brown background.

The advantage of telescoping poles is you can adust the length for the terrain. And you can completely collapse them down and carry them on/in your pack when not needed. They are a bit fragile for putting any weight or force on them except normal walking or scrambling. They are not suitable for pushing/prying large limbs, logs, or rocks like a wooden stick.

The satellites are in approximately the same position the next day (actually, the specific geometry will be the same roughly every 23 hours and 56 minutes). So if you are getting a bad signal and return the next day at the same time you will probably get the same bad signal. So vary the time of day if you are getting a bad signal.

Locally, the flags are used to mark survey points, for veg or wildlife surveys. The flag is the center point for a circle where everything inside the circle is inventoried. A GPS will record the coordinates of the plot center. The flag basically is just a marker in case the crew must return to that particular inventory plot. There may or may not be a number marked on the flag with a felt tip pen. Plastic flagging is used for a number of purposes. Each local area has a color code -- here red is a property line, blue is a project boundary, red and white together is a monumented surveyors corner, et al. You can buy nearly any color combination in candy stripes, polka dots, checks, etc. Plastic is being phased out, being replaced with a cornstarch based polymer that breaks down after a few years and is not toxic to critters that decide to eat the flags.

A small jar of some gray powder. Attached was note saying this was the cremains of their dog, who loved to go geocaching with them, and to please carry the jar to the next cache (like a travel bug). I left the jar.

A physical cache may be immediately outside the boundary of a National Park and the easiest access is from inside the National Park. The NPS doesn't like it, but legally there is nothing they can do about it if the location of the cache itself is legal. A caveat -- We want to keep geocaching on as friendly of terms as possible with all the land agencies, even the NPS. So please don't place a new cache in a place like this just to stick it to the NPS.

Use the coordinates of the campground and the 'search by coordinate' function instead of by zip code. The coordinates need not be exact, within a couple tenths of a minute or so still yields satisfactory results.

The error was in the first line: 'Geocaching' provides fun & entertainment' I only cache to get Christmas and birthday presents to give away.

So in 72 years the error could be 40 feet. Everyone: report back here in 72 years (July 26, 2077) and tell us if you had any problems finding a cache because the coordinates were off.

DEET has been tested and retested countless times and found to be perfectly safe when used according to directions by an normal healthy adult. It should not be used on small children, of course, and there are a few rare individuals who are extremely sensitive to DEET (sensitive enough to cause prophylactic shock, and possibly be fatal). But 99% of all adults will have no problems. The Army found that concentrations above 30% do not increase effectiveness, but there seems to be anecdotal testimony to the contrary. If DEET is not for you, the recently approved eucalyptus oil based products may work.

More often alone than with someone.

and another book on map and compass use. This is free and downloadable (but kinda large). Self study course designed for wildland firefighters. http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/training/map_comp.pdf

OK. A little confusion and misunderstanding is apparent here. Wilderness can be designated inside a National Park, National Forest, BLM public lands, National Wildlife Refuges, or other federal lands. There is National Park Wilderness and National Park non-wilderness, same for National Forests, BLM public lands, and the rest. Per agency policy, physical caches are not allowed inside National Parks, whether it is National Park Wilderness or non-Wilderness. National Forests and BLM public lands generally allow caches freely (some exceptions) on non-Wilderness. Inside designated FS or BLM Wilderness, caches may or may not be allowed depending on local policy. Agency policies allow local managers leeway in how stringent to apply Wilderness Act restrictions, so the Desolation Wilderness in CA (most heavily used in the nation) does not allow caches while the Caribou Wilderness north of there (mostly empty, even on three day summer weekends) has caches inside with the full knowledge and consent of local Forest Service officials. Confusing enough for ya? Just to add some more complications to the mix -- state and local lands may have their own wilderness designation with their own separate rules. All these lands, Federal, state, and local, often lie adjacent to or inside each other, so a cache may be allowed at point A but not allowed at point B just a short distance away. Backcountry boundaries are often not marked well, so it is possible to not really be sure exactly whose jurisdiction lies beneath your feet. Check the GPS and map very carefully if anywhere near a boundary line. Just to be safe, don't place a new cache near a property line -- back off a distance, well beyond the margin of error in your GPS. 3x should be sufficient. National Forest roadless areas classified under the Roadless Initiative are NOT wilderness areas, and Wilderness Act restrictions do not apply to the roadless areas.

Does this mean I should not use my Caterpillar D-9 Bulldozer as a caching vehicle????

On some topo maps look for a small red cross ( '+' ) along the section lines. Those are monumented corners. You may see some real wacky townships like the 37 1/2 North in Nevada. Or an L shaped one in NW California. You may also see section numbers above 36 prefixed with a 'PB'. That means protracted boundary. It is unsurveyed but the lines are projected and the section is given a higher number to signify it is unofficial.

To find the PLSS (Public Land Survey System) corners in the forests look for 4" x 4" metal tags on trees about eye level. May be painted yellow or left metallic. They are called 'K-Tags'. A bonus donut to anyone who knows how they got that name. There are some software programs that convert (sorta) a PLSS location to Lat/long and UTM. Uses interpolation from known corners and the interpolation algorithm produces errors in irregular shaped sections. If anyone doesn't like the PLSS system, blame a guy named Thomas Jefferson (yeah THAT Tom Jefferson!). He thunk it up.

Other federal laws allow agencies some leeway in how provisions of laws are interpreted. If you disagree with how a local unit applies the regulations to geocaching, you could place one in a Wilderness and see if you receive a citation. Then you take a day off work, drive many miles to appear in front of a Federal magistrate and make your argument. The judge may or may not agree with you that the agency was overstepping its authority in the local interpretation. If you win the case you have a moral victory but you are still out a day's pay and expenses. If you lose you are out a day's pay and expenses, plus the fine and court costs. Just paying the fine by mail is cheaper.

Found a wilderness permit I got last fall: "INYO NATIONAL FOREST WILDERNESS REGULATIONS: Storing or leaving unattended equipment, personal property or supplies for more than 24 hours prohibited." IT IS VERY CLEAR, CACHES ARE NOT ALLOWED IN WILDERNESS AREAS. But having said that, geocaching.com has no qualms about listing such caches at this site, so you can find some here. It depends upon local management. Some national forests allow caches inside designated Wilderness Areas, some do not. It seems to depend mostly on how heavily used a Wilderness is. Lightly used Wilderness Areas have fewer restrictions and local managers are more tolerant of activities that are not allowed in other more heavily used areas. National Park lands do not, whether inside designated wilderness or out. Not sure of BLM Wilderness. Wilderness Study Areas and Proposed Wilderness are different. They are not officially designated as wilderness yet, so Wilderness Act restrictions do not apply, yet by policy the administering agency is to treat the area as if it were designated wilderness -- a legal grey area that has not yet been clarified. NF lands classified as 'roadless' are not Wilderness and the Wilderness Act does not apply to these lands. The Wilderness Act ONLY applies to federal lands designated as Wilderness by Congress and only Congress has the authority to do so. There are state wilderness areas on state lands but those are regulated by state law, not the 1964 Federal act.

After being a firefighter for over 25 years I can speak from first hand experience that ammunition can and does explode in a fire with sufficient force to injure someone. Not the same force as discharged from a firearm, but still sufficient to penetrate skin and injure. I have a couple of fellow firefighters who will show their scars to any doubters.

Howard Dean just went on a rant and blamed it on the republicans....

C'mon -- don't be a wimp. Use The PLSS and convert everything to township, range, section, 1/4 section, 1/4-1/4 section, etc!

A bit of a warning, though. I have spotted several caches from a fair distance away because the camo duct tape had changed color over time and now was multiple shades of blue and reddish. Don't know if different brands fade out differently or not, but some do (presumably the cheaper brands?).

The flight attendant may have checked with the pilot and she was relaying the pilot's instructions. The pilot-in-command has the right to restrict the use of electronics in flight even if the airline's policy is normally to allow them. If you read the policy, they all say 'at the pilot's discretion'. Federal Aviation Regulations give pilots wide latitude and authorities in flight, similar to ship captains in international waters.

As mentioned above trampled grass and a few rocks turned over IS NOT resource damage. Rilling, soil movement, and compacted surfaces are a concern, but I have not seen any of these caused by cacheseekers. There have been caches placed near where these were already occurring from other uses, but the cache is blameless. If anyone wishes to research resource impacts caused by simple use, go here and search the database. A whole library on what is resource damage, what is not, and what causes it. http://leopold.wilderness.net/pubs.cfm