Planet

We need a thread merge. They aren't Hogs. They are early birds, and they got the worm. Whoopie. Edit: typo.

First to find is not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes the coordinates are off, even as much as a mile because of one small fat-fingered typo. I actually like it better if someone else does the re-con and lets me know if the cache is nice enough, and worthy of a visit. I pay no attention to who found it first. It's more important to know 'okay, who found it last?' This isn't a contest. There is no prize. It's just a great way to get outside with family and friends. Or without. If I went racing for every first to find out there I would waste so much gas. And nobody says you have to find every single cache, either. I just don't see what the big deal is about being first.

Factor in that you don't know the accuracy of the GPS used to hide the cache. When you get within 25' put the GPS down, start looking around and thinking like a geocacher. Open your eyes, watch your step, and look around you in obvious hiding places, then less obvious hiding places and it will always, and without fail, be in the last place you look. If you want total accuracy, 100 percent, go out and spend thousands of dollars on a Trimble GPS. Get the kind the land surveyors use. Otherwise be happy with an accuracy of 15 to 25 feet.

Please rate it a 5 so it will come up in my PQ. It's a 5.

I have It was arson.

It was the right decision. And I like virtuals. As a virtual, this would have fallen under the lame category, the way it was written. It would be a couch potato virtual, in the worst way. You can't change a cache type post-publication. And you can't skirt the rules. The Olympic Security rules. No caches. Why risk it? If people need to show they were at someplace special like the Olympics, they can always share their stories on Travel Bug pages. I've done that many times.

They're out there. Not exactly common, but not exactly a rarity either. This is a cache that everyone loves. An active RR track too. The Depot

That container looks like it won't last long and won't stay dry. Be prepared for a lot of maintenance visits.

BenOw, Sounds to me like you would want to get away from caching in tge more urban areas. You're not having very good luck. I walk away from caches that don't look good. If they even made it into my list of caches to look for that day. P.S. the "Ow" under my avatar has nothing to do with your user name.

No food in caches. No food in caches. No food in caches.

Yes, I do know. But I can't stop it.

We have not changed orienteering or letterboxing. They still work the same way. Apples vs oranges.

Just last week, I didn't have a pen. It's happened more than once. There is always some way to show you were there. Toothpick and a lighter: I've also used a stick and mud to sign a log. Crushed berries make ink too. In the very few micro caches I own, I tape the log sheet to a toothpick to roll it up. This gives people something to grab onto, to pull it out and makes rolling it back up tight easier.

Oh. Besides. People can now log in the field directly from their phones and actually say something interesting about their visit. I always write more than just Found it, or TFTC, in my logs. And I expect more than that from people who find my caches.

I don't know. I get more compliments on this big honkin' logbook, than I would ever get on on an instant logger. It even looks like people are writing neater and taking the time to take care of the book. It has been out there since 2005. Cache page. I prefer the old fashioned method. If I hike to a cache, it wasn't a hike to play with electronics. Some things do not need change. Something electronic won't last long in the wild. QR codes are already done somewhere else. I saw one once and it eas ruined from the weather.I like the physical log book. How would I know someone wouldn't post a photo of the QR code on Facebook and 50 people start logging it from their couch?

I signed on in 2002, but missed charter membership because I didn't even own a computer when I started, so I couldn't justify paying for a membership, I borrowed a friend's computer, or printed up cache pages at work. I bought one just for this hobby. I signed up eventually, but didn't know about charter membership, at all. I don't think not having one makes me any less of a member. I was appointed as the Grande Dame of the OBC (Old Boy's Club) back in 2003/03. I found a bunch of threads with mention of it, but not the original one. Then I started looking at those who posted to those thread, and noticed there are some charter members who have less than 100 finds, who still log in and keep their membership going. It is so not about the numbers. I need to go check into ClayJar's chat now and see if anyone misses me. Man, those were the good old days. Y'all got me reminiscing now looking back in time.

If everyone wanted to hide, a war would break out over turf. I do not think everyone should hide for a lot of reasons. Think about it. It would be bad for the game.

Please let's not put geocaching and golf on the same par. I can't afford country club dues.

Do what I do, if you can't solve the puzzle. Look for traditional caches. And go to events to discuss puzzles with the locals. Puzzles are too frustrating for me. It's like being made to do my math homework before I can go out and play, and I haven't been in school since 1975. Talk about a late detention!

OK, well that wasn't too hard to figure out who it was. They are not inactive. You can look at their profile and see that they logged in April of this year. They might have issues. But they are not inactive on the website. Edit, so yes, log the NM. Several of their caches already have them. 4/17 do. Only post a NM if there isn't one already. The ones that already have them, I'd write a friendly note, remind them. Lately, I need reminders for everything! I know I have to replace a logbook on one cache, and a container on another, but it has been too dang hot to go out. It's been really hot all across the US. Some of us ain't spring chickens, or in the best of health, and the heat and ozone, and air quality has been really bad. You gotta take stuff into consideration before getting all bothered about it.

If there hasn't been a reply for a Needs Maintenance in a long time, then someone should be posting Needs Archived, and the reviewer will get an email and can look into it. If some of the caches are in good shape, I would leave them alone, and let them be. Someone has to remove any that are archived and still there. Does anyone know what happened to this CO?

It might maybe have something to do with logging out, then back in. I always try that first when I encounter problems with changes in my profile. I haven't used that stats thing yet.

All they have to do is buy a TB dog tag for each shirt. Then hang on to the tags in case the washing machine chews up the shirt.

Who owns the land? Ask them if you can place a cache there. Then you'll have your answer.

I have walked away from many a cache that I wouldn't bother searching for. They were: Guardrail with no view and nothing redeeming about it. Behind a Cracker Barrel, by the dumpster, where they fed stray cats. Highway rest stops. Most, but not all, but most urban areas. Seedy, questionable, trashy locations. Any parking lot. I won't even pull in. In newspaper stands (the kind you need to pay to open, or any news stand) On mailboxes. In front, near, around, or behind a place of business. Basically, any cache that is not in a nice, interesting area. Almost any hide that says something like "There was no cache here, so I thought it needed one". Hide to show me something interesting. Don't hide just because there is no cache within 528'. PLEASE! My worst hide was one you had to get to by boat, in a cracked rock by a river, painted to look like a dragon. It was a good hide until I got the reports of the three things that made me not want to go back and maintain it. Copperheads, wolf spiders, and poison ivy. And people were trying to find it from shore, so there was the risk of falling. I certainly wouldn't call it a bad hide, and would have let it go with spiders and poison ivy, because the ivy would only affect people doing a boat cache from land. But when the ranger warned me about the copperheads, that was the last straw for that cache. I archived it. Otherwise, it was a good hide. See the teeth of the dragon?