WVangler

I have only found 925 caches so far and had yet to ever discover a single jeep travelbug until a week or two ago when the cache across the road from my house (on my watch list) had a green jeep tb dropped into it. To say I was a little giddy is an understatement. I practically knocked the door down to run over to scarf it up. I have it in my possession now and will drop it off into the cache I have earmarked for my 1000th find to commemorate the day.

You might try contacting some folks in the OVGEO. Ohio Valley Geocachers

There are currently 4 other forums for WV now... Tri State area (WV, KY, OH) MAGPI (Mountaineer Geocaching Persons of Interest) Mostly Morgantown/Fairmont/Clarksburg area, but there are several of us from other parts of the state who are active on there...hence why there is also a sMAGPI portion of the site (the "s" referring to "Southern"). Statewide Outdoor Adventure Sport site including geocaching This is a site I created. Ohio Valley Geocaching (northern panhandle area) There has been some rumbling of a group formed in the eastern panhandle as well, but I don't know their website yet. Hope these links help others. I created the WVMountainsport site because I didn't know of the other groups. Maybe these links will save other folks the effort and headache of getting in touch with other WV cachers.

Here is one of mine that I've been having fun with. It still hasn't been found yet. It Sucks Being a Number

I actually like Elliot in the Morning in small doses. When I work in the eastern panhandle area of West Virginia you can listen to all the D.C. radio stations and my favorite is DC101. But you are talking about a radio host who act is regularly being abrasive and obnoxious. I mean, he typically does things like ask female callers what kind of 'adult toys' they like to use. It's part of the act. It is kinda sorta like Howard Stern or Bob and Tom (both shows I can't stand) but sometimes Elliot is pretty funny. So I'll give him a pass on this one. Unlike many sports, urban geocaching does sound kind of weird to muggles until they've actually done it.

I haven't created the cache yet, but have purchased the stuff to do it and it is all riding around in the back of my car. I'm going to create an urban night cache with LPC's. At the coordinates one will lift the skirt to find a tube containing a laser pointer (got it at Dollar General for $1). I won't provide instructions, but hopefully the cacher will finally spot an outline of the shape of the laser pointer made out of reflective tape on top of the lamp post skirt. By setting the laser inside the outline and pushing the button it will direct them to the next lamp post skirt...but under that skirt will only be a mirror. Then by looking there they will see another reflective tape outline where the mirror must be held (are you getting that this will require at least two people?). I figure one mirror reflection of the laser to the final location will be enough, but you can take the idea and do what you want with it. Like I said, I haven't done it yet and I'm honestly not sure if I came up with the idea myself or if I'd heard something about an urban night cache similar to this, but forgot who told me or what the details of it was. I really don't care, all I know is that there is nothing like it near me so I've got to try to put one out like it. I plan on calling it "Zap".

Yeah, I know here in WV so many people confuse Virginia Creeper with poison oak. Thing is, poison ivy grows in amongst the Virginia Creeper so people get it confused because they break out. I've noticed though that I get less and less reaction to poison ivy, but I won't tempt it. My nemesis is stinging nettles. I HATE nettles...if you wear shorts in the stuff it will eatchoo up.

--> QUOTE(R.O.B @ Apr 20 2009, 07:20 PM) 3909456[/snapback] I used to have a cache called " Black Beast of Arrrggghhh ". It got muggled after some stoners decided to make a party spot near the cache and took it. I finally got around to recreating it. Dude, that is FREAKING AWESOME! Doesn't matter if you care or not because I'm stealing your idea! I'll give you credit on my cache page though ha ha. The lake where I have my Quest for the Holy Grail multi is about a 1000 acre park and it only has 4 caches in it now. I'm gonna place a lot more there and it seems only fitting to have one or twelve more Monty Python themed caches around it.

I'm not even remotely a pilot, but I cache with one sometimes. His screen name is PilotJ (his wife is "Crew") hence why most of his logs are signed by PilotJ and Crew. He is a 'nam vet chopper pilot and is retired from flying a medical evac chopper. I have a lot of respect for him as a vet, a pilot and an amazing cacher...I'm competing with him to get to 1000 caches by the end of the year. We both started January with our 300th milestones so we've been in heated competition for a while, but he is VERY generous with giving me clues on caches he has found.

Oh man, the staff casting a shadow thing is really cool, but my creation doesn't require that. The back of the Staff of Ra headpiece contains some heiroglypics that I've carved into it and the number associated with each symbol. Inside the Grail Diary the cacher will have to search for the heiroglyphics to determine the coordinates to the Ark. As for being a high priest, well, the Nazi's didn't worry much about that...should you? I'm sure there are probably other renditions of this and other movies that are great, I wish there were lots more. I have way more fun with themed caches than just an ordinary lock and lock under a pile of sticks. That's a part of my reason for being disgruntled about the ALR guideline changes. I like deviation from the norm. My ideas for my Monty Python and the HOly Grail props I thought of on my own, but there may be another like it somewhere by coincidence. For the Indiana Jones props, my inspiration was 1) I'd heard about a famous Indiana Jones series near my brother's home in Charlotte, NC, but hadn't logged it 2) just wanted to do an Indiana Jones multi and these are the only props I could think of that I could create (well, I considered making Sankara Stones <Sivilinga> from Temple of Doom, but decided to maybe wait and create a different multi for that movie. I am gonna try to come up with a boatload of rubber snakes to put around the Ark when I place it in a couple of weeks. I'm still looking for the perfect 'antique looking' container to put the Staff of Ra headpiece and grail diary in. I hate to do all that and then put them into an ordinary lock and lock. I should note, anyone can do this. Sculpey is available at any craft store and you can make anything with it, then use some spraypaint for added affect.

I'm pretty proud of this multi. My opus is still the Quest for the Holy Grail multi (posted a few pages back...it is GC1K0M0). So here is the first stage components...the Grail Diary and the headpiece to the Staff of Ra. Both will be required to solve the coordinates to stage two. Here is the final...the Ark of the Covenant I haven't hid it yet, but it will be on the opposite side of the lake from GC1K0M0 The Quest for the Holy Grail. Trying to make my very very small hometown a geocaching destination. I haven't even hid this one yet and am already formulating the next great cache props.

My brother was telling me about one in North Carolina that is in a cemetery. The coords take you to the cemetery, but the mystery is solved by looking at headstones. On the key headstone he said the name of the deceased person was "G.O. Cash".

Hi, don't forget WVMountainsport.com. I created this site in part to bring statewide geocachers together, not just a regional focus. Link Please join and post often!

Yes you can. Use PQs. I agree that PQs of attributes don't cover night caches well enough. I did a pocket query for night caches in my state and only found some about 2 1/2 hours from me. Then just the other day I was in a different area much closer and started looking up cache descriptions and discovered that there were a half dozen night caches in that area alone that NEVER showed up on my PQ of night cache attributes.

From the Highest Cache in Colorado...

Also, here is a plain sight cache that I didn't really come up with. I saw it somewhere else, but tweaked the design a bit. I put one end down in some riprap rocks and the other against a building. To get the film cannister out you have to twist a thumb screw to drop it down. I've made a couple of these and have only placed one so far. I also made a hollow bolt on my metal lathe, but it got muggled. I recently made another one, but haven't placed it yet either.

Hey all, just wanted to share my latest multi cache creation. It is waiting for review now so it is not active yet. I've spent the last couple of months working on it. Stupid me - I didn't take any photos of the finished products or them at their locations. But anyway, it is a Monty Python & The Holy Grail theme. The first stage is an arrow (message for you sir), the second is the trojan rabbit, the third is the Holy Hand Grenade and the last is an ammo can containing the Holy Grail. I added a laminated portion containing the "3 shalt thou count" rendition from the movie in Old English text on the lid of the chest here that is not pictured... Here is the rabbit before I added the hinge and wheels an important addition that rests inside the rabbit Oh Concorde, you shall not have been fatally wounded in vain The most Holy Grail It is my opus cache to date. Unfortunately, I spent countless hours exploring places to put the thing and kept finding issues...most notably they were places I was afraid of the containers getting muggled. I settled on a park near my hometown where I visit often. I hauled the 50 lbs. of cache containers nearly a mile up steep trails looking for a great cliff/cave (cave of caerbannog) to put the Holy Hand Grenade complete with a toy rabbit nearby, but in the area I was heading to find such suitable places I ran into a couple of hunters so I turned back and went on a different trail where I ran out of steam and ended up just hiding the caches along a ridgeline. I will probably change the coordinates and cache locations to suit those things later this summer, but the props were eating at me to get out there so I went ahead and activated the description. Also, I thought you'd be interested to see this cache I logged recently in West Virginia. It's nothing more than a magnetic key holder....yeah right! (I put my cap on the cache container for scale)

I would like to see a geocaching ezine with an edgy content and great graphic design in this format... http://www.thisisfly.com I really dig their format. I'm wanting to put together a local ezine in that format that encompasses all outdoor adventure sport in my state. This is the service I plan to use... http://www.zmags.com/us

I haven't done any CITO events yet (thinking about organizing one though), but I am actively involved in Trout Unlimited and we do trash cleanups at several streams in the area annually. I've seen it ALL (well, not the adult toys as mentioned earlier, but most everything else is fair game). I did two clean ups this year and had the same trash-pickin-up-buddy at both of them. See the theme... Problem is that in one of these wild trout streams you can stand in one spot for a couple of hours and fill the bags up...

Is there any easy way to bring up benchmarks on a google map page similar to the cache mapping page?

I use a TomTom loaded with cache POI via GSAK of my whole state in my car for driving to cache sites. At the site I currently use: Garmin GPS V (but am getting a Delorme PN-20 for Christmas) iPod Nano (but only holds 1000 waypoints so it has my home caches) loaded via GSAK Palm IIIxe (got on ebay for $0.99) loaded with another 2000 or so caches (but is maxed out on memory ) loaded via GSAK running Cachemate My caching backpack stays in the car, it has in it: -Several homemade caches (camo'd plastic tubes, pill fobs, etc.) in case I see a killer location -Roll of camo duct tape -Swag toys in case my kids are with me and want to trade -Personal Log Book in case I find a letterbox -Personal stamp in case I find a letterbox -Inkpad in case I find a letterbox -Compass for finding letterboxes since my GPS doesn't have one internally -Pocket on backpack dedicated to geocoins/tb's -tweezers for hard to get out logs -Flashlight for looking back under rock cliffs and dark openings -small surgical scissors, small tube of superglue, couple of extra logbooks and printed log sheets for cache repair -Pens (I leave them in caches all the time by accident) and Sharpies -Muggle Cards -Laminated signature cards

Looks like the PN40 on J&R is out of stock My wife authorized me to go ahead and order a new GPS for my Christmas present and I'd decided to get the PN20. I'm not overly impatient so I don't think the loading time/redraws will initially seem to be a big deal to me. I need something where I can see trail maps and stream names and the paperless caching + price makes this a no brainer. However, I'd like to be able to load more than 1000 waypoints (caches) and I've heard that you can't load additional caches into the micro-SD (is this correct?). I travel all over my home state and don't want to be limited to loading just those caches in my local area. What about the PN40, how many caches can you load into it? I'm not sure that the extra expense is justified for me, especially since the J&R $289 deal is not looking too promising currently. But I think I'm gonna cool my heels and think about it for a couple of days before ordering. I may end up tossing in some of my saved up mad money into the pot and go ahead and get the PN40 if it goes back in stock anytime soon. I know I'm not gonna pay more than $300 for a GPSr at this time. I'm currently using a borrowed Garmin GPS V so I'm sure that any of them would seem like a world beater.

Just launched a new website that includes a WV specific geocaching forum. Hope some can participate. The website is intended to bring outdoor sport enthusiasts such as backpackers, paddlers, cavers, cachers, etc. together and to discuss conservation. Thanks for visiting, http://wvmountainsport.com I appreciate any participation I can get from WV geocachers. Eventually, as popularity builds up from a variety of users, I will begin working on launching a quarterly e-zine (online magazine) with original content. It will be comprehensive of all WV outdoor adventure sports including geocaching. So if anyone is a good writer or has some ideas pass them along. Several dominos have to fall before that gets going, but I want to let everyone know.

Granted, I've only found 101 caches as of this evening, but the one I found this evening was a 5 star nano and it deserved a high ranking. (GCXEXT) Now it only took me about 1 1/2 hours worth of time to find it and I can imagine it gets much more difficult than that. Personally, if it has as many 'didn't find' logs as 'found' logs I'd say it is pushing the envelope of a 5 star. If a cache had twice as many 'didn't finds' then I'd say it is goes beyond 5 star to the just ridiculous level.