AngelWolf93

I'm currently working on a 6-part cache, each of the first 5 caches will be independant puzzle caches, with the coordinates in a different language that uses a base-25 counting system. In each of the first 5 caches will be a piece of the coordinates for the last cache. Also, in each cache, including the last will be a hand-bound book with hand-drawn calligraphy, some in English and some in the foreign language, which will tell a story piece by piece. Each cache will be hidden in an area that relates to the story, and one may even be a Wherigo cache. It's taking me a while to get it ready to hide, but I think it'll be worth it.

I don't like LPC's, and I make a concerted effort not to look for them. If I go after a cache and find that it's an LPC, I will generally leave immediately and seek out the next one on my list. However, that's not the point of the question. The OP asked why people don't like LPC's. My reasons: 1) Most LPC's (and a lot of urban micros in general) tend to be uncreative, placed because a cache wasn't there, as opposed to placing one because it's a neat place. 2) Most LPC's are in places with metric cacheloads of muggles around, making stealth very tricky. Also, some are placed very near places that are manned most of the day (such as one 15 feet away from a drive-thru coffee shop in my area. You can't seek the cache without the baristas watching your every move). 3) Most LPC's are placed in parking lots of the local WalMart, Staples, Office Depot, Target, [insert big box store name here]^n. Once you've seen one big box store, you've seen them all, and there's nothing special about an expanse of asphalt signifying the demise of local culture. 4) Some LPC's contribute to "crap cache" saturation for an area. There are some parking lot caches that are neat hides, or neat containers, but they get pushed out or blocked from being hidden by lazy cachers placing LPC's. I wish people would stop to think about the following: If an LPC is the only place to put a cache in an area, what does that say about the area? Is it a genuinely interesting area that just doesn't have anywhere else to put a cache, or is it the parking lot at Staples, with no value other than an expanse of ashpalt? Or, is there somewhere more creative you could place the cache in the same area? The redeeming quality of urban micros in general (not necessarily LPC's) are that they offer a way for disabled cachers and others to hunt in a less-difficult environment. This is exactly why I agree with Wooden Cyclist in my outlook on the LPC. If you don't like them, don't hunt them. Leave them for people who do like them.

I, too, would like to see this. My idea/suggestion would be to offer a membership for $45 to $50 a year that includes one or two members with full Premium Member features plus 2-4 members with the ability to log and view PM only caches and change their forum title. That would give mom and dad the ability to run PQ's and load them on the GPS while giving the kids the ability to log the PM only caches. Just my $0.02 on the subject.

I'm definitely a 1,2,3,5,7 and 8. For me, the numbers and the FTF dom't really matter all that much. I'd be in group #9, too, if I didn't work weekends, when all the events are. I love Geocoins! I love finding caches large enough to trade them around, and I love watching my coins go around to other people all over the place. Oh, and I'm definitely an eggplant cacher. Great stuff!

I like caches with a purpose. Please don't hide a cache "just because there isn't one within 528 feet." Historical sites with lots of info about the area are my favorites. Close second are honest-to-goodness puzzle caches. I don't generally like "mystery" caches that are just offset multis. The whole "start at this point, then walk 200 feet SW to find the cache," to me, isn't a "mystery" cache. Next up are story caches. I love finding little bits of a story in a series of caches. It gets me motivated to find the rest of the series so I can find out how it ends! My preferences aside, hide what you'd like to find! Get creative.

Bluedamsel - I didn't feel like reading through every piece of vitriolic snarkiness and character assasination posted thus far, so please forgive me if this suggestion has already been proposed. The way that I've found to deal with lame micro saturation is to switch my game from finding to hiding. Start hiding the caches you'd like to find. If you're like me and like REALLY creative hides, I'm pretty sure you'll find hours of enjoyment just putting them together. I like historical and story caches, so I've been focusing on putting those out. Doing the research and developing the story is just as rewarding as finding the cache, because you're discovering it while you're researching. On the historical caches, it's almost like being FTF, because you're the one discovering the information. I tend to like a huge variety of caches, and urban micros (and even some rural micros) have their place, especially when I'm riding around town on my bike. But I sympathize with you regarding rural ones. As a hider, sometimes it can get frustrating trying to place a larger cache at a really interesting area that's already taken up by a lame micro stuck under a pipe. Get creative and cache the planet!

I agree in part with you, PureCougar. I don't mind urban micros and they can be fun to do on the bicycle or when I don't have the time for a really long hike. On the other hand, it bothers me when a cache hider just slaps up a hide-a-key with the description of "thought one should be here" outside a wonderful historic landmark or something with great cultural significance. I've got 60 finds, and I just hid my first one. I hid it at the area's oldest hospital and through research provided almost 4 pages of the history of the hospital. When the wonderful places are taken up by "spam" caches, then I definitely agree that it's depressing. You can choose to ignore most urban micros but when someone takes up cache density with spam, it takes away the opportunities for cache hiders that are willing to do the work to bring the area to life.

Awesome! Thanks everyone.

Sorry if this has been asked before. I searched and couldn't find anything close to my question, so here goes: I have an idea for a cache series. Each cache will tell a different piece of a story , and each will have a clue to the final cache. I'm seeing a 4-part series with a 5th and final cache. The first 4 would be traditional caches with a take-home clue inside with pieces of the coodrinates for the fifth, and the fifth would be a puzzle cache, requiring the pieces from the first four. When I set up the 5th cache, how far away from the actual cache can I set the coordinates on the site? Can the actual cache be over 500 feet from the listed coordinates? Thanks!

This is my bike. I'm a little different from most bicycle cachers in that I only use the car for trips outside of 25 miles. Anything within that radius, I ride my bike. Work, shopping, errands, everything. Caching by bike sometimes takes a lot of planning. You want an efficient route that will let you hit all the caches you want without doubling back or going exceedingly out of your way. Since this contest is about bike safety, here's my story. I ride every day down one of the busy arterials in our town. It's an older road with absolutely no room to expand to include bike lanes. The sidewalks have telephone poles, mailboxes, trash cans and fences all within handlebar-striking distance, and there are times when you just can't get between the mailbox and the fence (It's all right, I hate riding on the sidewalk, anyway). There are two lanes in either direction, so I tend to ride a little farther left and take most of the right lane when I'm riding, which angered motorists to no end. A few months ago, I almost got clipped by a speeding F350. It took the mirror right off my handlebars. If he'd have been closer, I'd have gotten his mirror to the back of the head. After that, I got some big, red panniers and sewed on some patches on the back. One is an EMT patch that I got from work, and the other is a Search and Rescue patch, that I got from, well, SAR. Ever since I put those patches on, no one honks, and everyone gives me plenty of room on the road. Being a public servant has it's advantages! If you're wondering, you can find the basic directions for the bicycle trailer here. Mine's a really large version of that one, and I've since added some plywood sides to it and a trailer gate in the back. It works like a charm for hauling 2 weeks worth of groceries, or the odd awkward load. In fact, it's better at hauling lumber and long loads than my car, and I use it to haul a lot of stuff.

You know, I was starting to get in with the folks who were defending you and at least trying to be optimistic, but after this one, you're on your own bud. Being obnoxious and rude has nothing to do with belief or disbelief in a god. It's "atheists" like you that end up setting the rest of us back every time we finally manage to convince people we're not amoral jerks. If you don't like the people in the game, stay away from them. Cache your way, cache our way, don't cache at all, it's your choice, but stirring up drama is not going to get you any love from anyone. Good luck selling the box, and please don't fob off your immaturity and lack of tact and manners on the fact that you don't belive in god.

Depending on where I'm going, I take up to 3 cameras with me. I take my Kodak EasyShare C340 for a quick snapshot camera, and I use it the most because it fits easily on my belt. If I'm going somewhere really scenic, I take my Digital Rebel XT, because it takes gorgeous photos, and if I'm going somewhere that I know I'm going to want really good pictures, I bring the zoom lens for it. Finally, if I'm doing really interesting caching, or going by bike, I'll bring my Sony Digital Handycam. I like to mount it on my bicycle handlebars and film the ride. None of them were bought specifically for geocaching, though. They just got drafted when I got into the hobby. The photography opportunities is one of the major reasons I love this hobby.

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My biggest frustration when I started out was the difficulty rating. It may be a 2 for the old hands, but for someone who's just getting into the game, it's more like a 4, especially if you haven't seen the type of container before. My biggest frustration now is the little bitty micros that go up "because there weren't any other caches around." I love a good cache, be it micro or otherwise, but some of the most interesting places get taken up by hiders that just slap a hide-a-key on a lamp pole (in the middle of a field that could support an ammo can), then don't even maintain it. We've got caches that have been disabled for 2 or 3 months out here, but not archived. I'd love to do a historical series, but a lot of the historical sites are taken up by these slap-a-cache hides. Most say only a basic size. No other info about the site, no idea why this place is special, just another urban micro. My other frustration, both as a new and more experienced cacher, is absolutely useless hints. If you don't have a hint, don't put anything in the box. I hate looking around for a cache for 45 minutes, then finally resorting to reading the hint and it's something like "This cache is so easy, even a moron could park and grab it, no hint needed." I don't know how much good these will do for a tutorial, but there's my $.02.

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I thought about this myself when I started getting back into Geocaching. I will only pick up a TB or other trackable on two conditions. 1 - I'm going somewhere interesting that will further the TB's mission or the TB is located in a remote cache that doesn't get a lot of traffic, and is likely to get stuck there. Or 2 - It's a really neat TB that is located at a cache the geo-missus can't get to. In the first instance, I will move it on as soon as possible when I get to my destination or find a more well-traveled cache that it will fit in. In the second, I'll move it on as soon as I show it to the wife and then find a cache it'll fit in. I'm starting to get into Geocoins, and this also crossed my mind. I got a few from a friend who happens to be a Groundspeak employee, and they're so nifty I don't want to lose them, so I won't be sending them out. However, now when I order my own geocoins, I always order 2 of each. That way, I can collect one and send the other out on a mission. Since I still have one in my collection, I don't have to worry whether I see the other one again or not. If I send a TB out, I'll make sure that I have a duplicate of the TB at home, or I'll send something that has no sentimental value out into the wild. As far as official etiquette, I've not seen any. I would expect the person who picked up my traveler to move it along within a couple weeks to a month at most. After 4 weeks, I'd probably try to get in contact with the cacher and ask them, politely, to please move it on so it can continue it's journey.

I, for one, would LOVE to run on a cache series like that. I'm planning one myself that's more PG than PG-13. I would note it on the page and what cachers do after they've read it is their own problem. They can't say you didn't warn them!

I'm of three minds here. One is that a lot of the caches in my area have something like "was driving by here and thought it would be a good place for a cache." It really doesn't imply much effort on the part of the hider, and it's met with not a whole lot of effort by me. If you're driving around slapping hide-a-keys on telephone poles every 500 feet, don't expect much of a log. Also, how long does it really take to say "another LPC at Wally World?" Our area here is absolutely saturated with 1/1-2/2 micros. Another thought is the constant posts about spoilers. I don't want to encrypt every one of my logs, and with the caches in the city, it's really hard to say something about them that doesn't completely give them away. It's even hard to post pictures without doing the same. I like posting pictures, and if there's really anything interesting about the site, I'll post a picture, but if I did it for every one, there'd be a bunch of different views of our 3 WalMarts, and a thousand pictures of lamp posts. Finally, for a really good cache that has historical or other significance, I'll post a large log, with two or three pictures. If it's something that the hider has done their homework on, and made it a really interesting thing, I'll make it worth their while with my log. If it's another LPC at a supermarket, they get TFTC unless something makes it special.

Just ran across this thread today. Thanks to everyone, and I'll add mine: USMC SigInt (Signals Intelligence) Crypto Linguist 1999-2003, Operation Enduring Freedom.

Here's a good addition to a bicycle for the cachers that like to do some more of the out of the way caches that require a little hike. Cleated shoes aren't all that great for hiking up a hillside, but going with strictly platform pedals tends to waste a lot of energy, hence: Power Grips. I have these on my bicycle and they make it really easy to wear standard shoes or even hiking boots without having to worry about mud getting in the cleats. With the extra-long ones, you can even wear your snow boots with them. What other accessories do you bike cachers use for your adventures?

Hey, everyone! I'm a bicycle cacher in Southern OR. What I like most is that you can take a bike places that you wouldn't be able to take a car, and you can stop in places you couldn't in a car. That cool micro that you've been dying to get that's on a street corner with no parking for blocks? Easy on a bike. I also like the planning that goes into my cache days. You don't really have to worry about gas, but you have to look closer at terrain and hills, and distance. I plan my caching days along a nice riding route that gives me a lot of exercise as I'm caching. The bad part is that you're limited in the distance you can do in one day, but with proper planning, I could strap the bike to the car, drive to a nice central location, and do a circuit of a bunch of caches, then go home. Anyone else have any thoughts, advice, ramblings on Bicycle Caching?

I cache because I enjoy seeing parts of my town that I've never seen before. It gives me a chance to check out parks and other interesting places. Another reason is the hiking. I love to hike and I love the scenery around my area. I also get to see some great scenery around the places I travel as well. It gives me a reason to ride my bike for hours and miles. I was never really into the whole exercise for exercise's sake, so having a reason to go out gives me incentive to do it. I cache by bicycle (at least around town) for this very reason. Last, but not least - It's FUN!

Haven't been to a formal CITO event yet, but when I'm out caching, I always line one of the panniers on my bicycle with a small trash bag. They're the grocery shopping basket panniers, so it stays open and I just toss things in as I go and change the bag when necessary.

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