redwoodkestrel

Ha, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm only using like, 17% of GSAK's capabilities. If you want to tell me the area you're looking in (or want to send me some pocket queries you've run in the area - that way they could exclude caches you've already found) I'd be happy to do some GSAK magic searching for you. Though it would have to wait a few hours, since my work computer is a Mac and thus doesn't have GSAK on it.

Yeah, the search function is incredibly limited. Usually if you're looking for caches with certain words in the title, you can go to Google and type "site:geocaching.com _________ (whatever word you're looking for)" but that's not going to work very well with numbers. When I was doing an alphanumeric challenge, GSAK was my savior - I could load in a bunch of pocket queries from around my area and then sort or search by the cache name. I also would look at the caches that other cachers used to fulfill the challenge to see which ones were in the area. Not the easiest solution, but I hope that helps!

Looking at the caches in the park, my guess would be this cache: GC3Q941, since people around the time of that last log start mentioning that they could only find the top to the cache and the rest was missing, until someone replaced the cache on 10/26. So my guess is that you found the log from the original cache. To contact the family just click their name at the top of the cache page under the name of the cache. That will take you to their profile, and then you can click "Send Message."

Your duplicate log is on this event: GC3VFYC

You can get a map from mygeocachingprofile.com They'll give you lots and lots (and lots!) of potential stats/maps/factoids to put on your profile, but you can customize it to just show the US map and the states you've cached in, if you want.

I enjoy finding pathtags in caches and trading mine with cachers I meet at events. I keep all the ones I've found or have been given on a chain and take them to events - people love looking through all of them. The $110 for 50 is just for the very first time you design your pathtag - after that, if you want to keep making the same one, it's about $1 per tag. When I first started caching I was leaving hand-painted sand dollar tests in caches as my signature item. But I got disheartened at nobody mentioning in subsequent logs about seeing them or taking them or even liking them. So I moved on to pathtags so that people could log when they found one of mine and I could track who was finding them and where. Honestly, I like most original sig items that cachers come up with and am always happy to find one, I've just found that the pathtags are just easiest to keep all together in one place and to keep track of!

Nope, can't see any caches in the area that it could possibly be. Checked the biggest of the other geocaching sites and didn't see it there either. So most likely either it was published and archived (and thus I can't see it on the map), or it was never published and the owner never removed the cache. Too bad there might be a series of caches out there all slowly becoming geo-litter!

Doing a quick scan of caches along the Kern River (and the forks of the Kern River), I don't see a cache "Lost Lizard" in the title. Can you be more specific as to where on the Kern you were when you found it? That might help us figure it out if actually has a different name. It also may be a cache that was published and then archived, or a cache that was never published (and was perhaps signed by someone who was with the CO when they hid it). There's the potential that it's the final of a puzzle or multi, but there are hardly any in the area.

On Saturday I was part of a scientific bioblitz in a local park that my organization and a few others had organized. We had about 60 members of the public out taking photos using an app with their smart phones (since phones provide georeferenced photos) and other cameras. All in all we made over 900 observations of at least 200 species (that number is still increasing as the community helps to ID organisms in the photos)! There aren't very many caches in the park we were in, but I made sure to go with the group that was bioblitzing to the top of the ridge, since there was a cache up there with coordinates to another unknown cache in the park. Found them both! View from the top of the park, where the first cache was: The ring-necked snake I found after finding the unknown cache:

I've seen cachers create their own tracking website for signature items they've created. For example, digitalfish. So if you have someone savvy enough to create the website, you'd just have to include a tracking number and the website url with each item.

You could call it a "Geocoin Hotel," much like TB hotels, but there's no guarantee that visitors would always add geocoins, and you can't make a "only take one if you leave one" rule. The cache itself would have to be open to all (or at least open to all premium members).

I also recommend Facebook - there are a few groups for those of us in the Bay Area. Look for "SF Peninsula Geocaching," "Bay Area Geocachers," and "San Francisco East Bay Geocaching." Lately there have also been quite a few geocaching outings planned in these groups. Introduce yourself and you're sure to find folks to geocache with (myself included, I live in SF too!). Welcome to the city!

I have never used the 10 but I love my eTrex 20. Pretty much everything I could ask for in a GPS unit, the 20 has.

Just use the geocaching.com map to look for long runs of caches. Doesn't look like there are any big power trails in KS, but there are definitely some areas that have a cache series all near each other: And definitely some longer trails in adjacent states: NE: MO: And the winner for length, OK:

I see your bug in the inventory of "Multi-Purpose Trail #1 - Not So Hard To Find." I'm assuming that's the one you dropped it in? In which case, all looks well!

I believe you need to move it to your inventory.

You can also ask your reviewer for a coord check - that way you could find out if there are any proximity issues BEFORE placing your cache. Some reviewers will do it if you just email them, others prefer if you set up the cache page with just very basic information, write a reviewer note requesting a coord check, and then enable it.

Or if you tell us where you were when you found it, we can help you track down the cache and the cache owner - assuming it's still an active cache and not archived.

Cacher #1: Cacher #2:

Do you have a bookmark list that includes these caches? You may be getting notifications through that.

I've used GPS Visualizer to convert GPX files to CSV (plain text) files before. I don't know if they have a limit on how big your file can be though.

I've found quite few boy scout caches and one or two girl scout caches. It seems to me that they eventually end up the same way: unmaintained. I know there are exceptions to this but I'd say at least 80% of the scouting caches I've found have basically been abandoned. I think the issue is that as part of the badge requirement, they place a cache... but there's nothing in the requirements about maintaining it. Or it may be mentioned but hey, once you get the badge, why bother? Maybe there should be a second badge - an "advanced geocaching" badge, perhaps? That you can earn once you get the first one, but has a maintenance requirement in it... maintain it for a year, then archive it? Because honestly, I think to keep up these caches in the long-term, you really need a commitment from the troop leader. Or require that any cache they place has to be an ammo can... the few scouting caches I've found that have been ammo cans have held up great over time.

Any on the HQ geotour are great: http://www.geocaching.com/adventures/geotours/hq. I really enjoyed Ode to the Golgafrinchan Phone Workers (GC32A0H).

First there were three DNFs in a row. Then: And then from the same cacher, same day, different caches: There are probably more...

I highly recommend the Seattle GeoTour created by Groundspeak (Geocaching Headquarters): http://www.geocaching.com/adventures/geotours/hq Nine great, creative caches that take you around the Fremont area of Seattle (where Groundspeak is located).