hairball45
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Posts
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Posts posted by hairball45
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I've only seen valuable things in a cache very few times. Since I either carry absolutely nothing to swap or at best dollar store junk, the valuable things were still there when I left. I did take a ten dollar silver certificate once, it was earmarked as a FTF prize. I still have it too, worth more than the ten bucks to me.
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I think I have questioned exactly one log on one of my caches. The name on the online log was unfamiliar, so I checked the profile and learned that the finder was from Japan, and didn't show any other logs for a cache in the States. The cache is in a rural location in Central Ohio. It sounded kind of fishy to me, so I drove out and took a look. Lo and Behold, there was his signature. Why only one cache on a stateside visit? Why mine in an obscure location in Ohio? Heck if I know, but it gave me faith in the general honesty of folks. I guess this is just another thing not to get your skivvies in a bunch over.
hairball
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Thanks, Raine
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I have used two different high end smartphones, a now retired BlackBerry Storm running CacheSense and Geocache Navigator, and a Droid 3 using Neongeo, C:Geo, and the newly released CacheSense for Android (beta tester). Both were reasonably accurate, not as much so as either of my GPS units, but useable. My money is still on the Garmins for the durability factor however.
The phones do allow instant local searches and a lot of flexibility in that department, as well as immediate logging from the field and a lot of other handy features but I'd rather drop my Oregon on a rock than my Droid. Water? No comparison.
Solution? Carry both. And, when I manage to fall down a cliff I can call back to the car so the wife can get the police or rescue team out for me
Oh yeah. Since I can get accurate waypoints from the Oregon, they can use them to find me.
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Without six or eight nested quotes, I also would like to ask the recently viewed caches be moved to a tab or otherwise relocated. I am preparing for a cross country trip and I have looked at a lot of caches that I will never look at again, having them disqualified from my list of potential hunts. I don't need to see them again. I also follow links to random caches mentioned in the forums and other places that I will never hunt nor be within 1500 miles of. Again, I don't need to see them again. Even my 10-year-old-technology Legend C records at least the name of my finds. I can revisit them easily enough. My newer Oregon features field note uploads, taking care of both found and not found revisits. Using my Android phone, I can log from the field assuming cell coverage. If not, logs will be held until service is available.
I get the feeling that GS is attempting to make the site easy to use for new users, and new recruits to this hobby/sport/game/passtime. That's well and good, but it shouldn't at the same time kludged up for users who can find a tab when they need to.
hairball
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Will I do challenges? Hmmm. Lemme think.... Yeah, probably some of them. I have no problem with virts, earth caches, events, or other non container cache derivatives being on the website or counting in one's find count. As stated many times, if you don't want them in your find count don't log them as found or attended.
OK, that said, some of the first "challenges" are obviously created to make fun of the concept.(I did kiss a frog statue as an ALR once when they were allowed. Posted the picture too.) I suspect that as the initial fuss dies down that will stop or at least slow down. Hopefully the folks who are randomly giving challenges nowhere near their purvey thumbs down will lose interest and let the thing settle out.
Now. Which ones will I do? I'll do challenges that require you to actually go someplace and do something. I won't stick my tongue out at a tree or pick up trash in my back yard as a challenge. I might well take my own picture at the top of a hill by a particular monument, but, hey, that's a virtual. I might post a picture of a yellow Jeep and say where I saw it, complete with coords but, Oh wait! that's a locationless cache and it too has a history around here. Do I really care if they count as finds or not, but if virts and locationless caches, so do challenges. So, bring 'em on, make them searchable and put out GPX files for them so that I can put them in my Garmin or Droid. And oh yeah, show us who made them.
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November 11 is the holiday once known as Armistice Day, now usually called Veterans Day, at least in the U.S.. As a vet, I certainly have no objection to folks practicing their Constitutional Freedom Of Assembly on November 11 or any other day. That freedom thing, that's why we served and many continue to serve. Get together with you friends, talk about caching or freedom or raising ducks. Call it an event, a gathering or a pow-wow. Use those freedoms to celebrate freedom. If their are 11-11-11 events, I'll surely find one.
hairball
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Yup. The CITO in the park behind my house is done and gone. No goodie bags for us. great concept though.
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I had a similar "discovery" on one of my coins a couple of weeks ago, coming I think from an armchair logger in Germany. I e-mailed the so called finder and told him that unless he had been in my den recently, I very much doubt that he had seen the coin and politely deleted his log.
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Shucks Brian, I thought Snooki was out your way.
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My main tool is my Garmin, but I have both the Trimble app and CacheSense on my BB Storm.The Trimble allows hot access to GC.com, CacheSense uses Pocket Queries, although rumor has it that the app is soon to add that capability too. Both tie to the GPS and allow cache hunting with reasonable accuracy. Over all I prefer CacheSense. It's ten bucks forever on App World or OTA @ their website.
hairball
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I used an Etrex Legend C for about 5 years and 1600 caches. I've recently moved to an Oregon 450 and sometimes use one of a couple apps on my BlackBerry Storm, but I'd never be afraid to recommend the Etrex to anybody, especially someone starting out, if for no other reason its relative toughness compared to your smartphone.
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www.gpsfiledepot.com will likely have what you need at the very reasonable free price.
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On a gloomy cold day, the best for such things, I was hunting for a cache on playground equipment. Since I don't have little kids to back me up, those gray days are good. As I hunted, here came a live kid, asking me "Whatcha doin' mister?" "I'm the playground inspector, making sure this is safe for you." "OK" he said departing. No nervous mom or unhappy dad around.
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I still like GSAK for loading my Oregon. As stated earlier GSAK can slice and dice the PQs like nothing else, also allowing you to see what you are going to load before you do so. I like to keep puzzles in my PQ for instance, but only load the solved ones into the GPS so that I'm not out there looking at the bogus coords and going after it. Some parts of the area are thick with them and they just confuse the issue. I do like the ability of copying my field notes on caches from the Oregon. Of course I could fine tune the PQ before I even get it, but then I might miss the easy puzzles, the sort I do best with.
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I've got Mapsource installed, which, it does appear, is no longer a free d/l. However, they are touting Basecamp for map installs.
I downloaded it the other day, as I am replacing my venerable Legend C with an Oregon 450 and have a pot full of maps, free and otherwise.
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Left pocket: Two pens, a little cash
Right pocket: Small flashlight, pocket knife, BlackBerry
Coat pocket (assuming I'm wearing one): AA batteries
Hung around neck or in hand: GPS
Outta cover it unless you are on a mountain trek of several miles. Given that the bulk of caches around here are in urban locations or city parks, I don't think you stand much chance of being eaten by bears.
Oh yeah, the pens, cash, flashlight, pocket knife, and BB are with me even if I'm not caching.
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Muggles is fine. Whether or not it came from Harry Potter, or jazz musicians from the 1920's or Indonesian cab drivers working in Macau, it doesn't really matter. It has become the most common term for non players around here. About all the alternatives I've heard seem forced, stilted, or made up. But for snake's sake, never, never "mugglers".
Oh yeah, Moose Tracks, although, around this time of year Peppermint usually graces our freezer.
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I just drop my pathtag in the occasional cache. I just figure it's a gift to the next person who wants it. No swap necessary.
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I own an orange vest purchased from a store that has a cache in its parking lot. It cost me a big fat ten bucks. Even with this bit of PPE though, I'll avoid the woods for the week following Thanksgiving, deer gun season here in OH. (Shotgun with slug, no long rifles). Yes, most of the hunting accidents involve Joe Dimwit shooting himself or his uncle, but I'll pass that week. Other than that though, I fear no deer or turkey hunter if I'm in my orange. Somebody up the page mentioned wearing WHITE. Really? Ever wonder why they call them "White Tails"? That would be, I'm afraid just a little better than wearing a branch on your head and traditional brown Carrharts to top off the outfit.
Happy hunting.
hairball
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I played with BlackStar for awhile but was never able to get it to navigate or do much of anything else. It's gone now. I still prefer CacheSense to any of them, but nothing beats the good old Garmin. It just doesn't do the PDA type stuff. Paperless pre-BlackBerry was handled by an aging Palm.
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Hey Murph - Trimble's page says that the 9630 is supported. I have GCN on a Storm 9530. It works OK, I like CacheSense better. GCN was on the BB App World a couple of weeks ago for ten bucks. You own it, no monthly user fees or subscription. I looked the other day and it is now $19.99. Same no fees apply.
I do prefer CacheSense. Same $10, a lot like having GSAK on your 'Berry. The only thing it lacks is realtime hot access to the web. It does work with GPX files, Trimble doesn't.
HTH
Oooooh ooooh ooooh! It just struck me. I'm thinking that it was probably your friendly local Verizon rep that told you GCN wasn't available. If that's the case, he's right. Kinda. It isn't available through VCast or any of that, but yes, it is on BB App World. You can also get it direct from Trimble, but it will cost $40 a year.
hairball
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I've found a micro (matchstick container) imbedded in a styrofoam skull. It was in an old, inactive cemetery. Cool as can be, but it might not meet the "guidelines" as currently interpreted since it was on a headstone, kind of around back near the very edge of the cemetery.
Oh well.
Now that it's legal is it legal?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
A few years ago I was hunting for a micro (which turned out to be a magnetic key hide on a guard rail), and found a key hide under a park bench nearby. I took it back to the car to open it and sign the log, and lo and behold, there were six or so fat buds in it. Sadly I am a bit less crazy than I was in my youth, so I just dropped them on the ground and let the wind take them. I kind of figured that to be the best bet, security clearance job and involvement in local politics all with the potential for ugly consequences. As to the folks taking the original post as being for real: "Why so serious?"