Ghengis Jon

I've used the Magellan Sportrac series for a few years now, and cannot find a single bad (or even marginal) thing to say about them. Cheap, rugged, accurate and reliable. I realize that Garmin et al also make quality products, but I can only speak from my experience. I've heard other cachers say that Magellan's customer service is ' less than stellar'. I've never had a problem with my poor abused units, so service doesn't ever enter my formula. The darn things are so cheap that if one started to fail, I'd simply buy another. But I can't kill or wear out the two I already have.

I don't care for (and usually ignore) micro/nano caches because one of my geo-caching joys is leaving my signature coin for others. Not that there is anything wrong with a nano/micro, just a personal preference.

Yeah, but if you would have designed your wooden tanks out of balsa instead of maple, the gas mileage would improved enough to insure a gov't order!

Yes, I have been guilty of exceedingly dull on-line logs. This one has inspired me to change my ways. I plunged through the undergrowth, barely noticing the swarm of gnats or their mosquito escort that hummed about my head. 200 feet to go. I glanced pensively upwards at the canopy of foliage above me, realizing that enough leaves remained to possibly interfere with the already weak satellite signal strength. 170 feet. The moist humus and twigs that my hurried steps kicked up clung to my socks, annoying me all the more as I would have to pause to pick myself clean, delaying my arrival at the objective. I knew that cold, merciless death could be lurking behind any tree, concealed behind any bush. Suddenly, a sharp crack of a branch snapped my attention to the right. My GPS said the target was 120 feet away as I halted immediately, dropping to a crouch, hopefully out of the sight of whatever had gained entry into my area. Silently, I cursed myself for the summer camouflage I was wearing, regretting that I failed to take the time to don the browner autumn apparel. Deer or bear might miss me but dreaded muggles could be a different story. Completely unarmed, I dared not move, even to wipe the face paint tinted sweat from my brow, not wishing to compromise my already exposed position. I could hear the soft whispering of the wind through the trees and the faint caws of distant crows, clearly upset at something. Squatting motionless for what seemed to be an eternity, my legs began to burn and my toes began to cramp as I commenced a visual sweep of the vicinity, my eyes lingering in the direction of the hidden cache. Could it be there? Or maybe over there? My mind raced as I considered my ever dwindling options. Sprint the final 40 yards or slowly stand to face whatever geo-terror might be stalking me? Should I continue the excruciating wait or face my fate head-on in what I always had hoped to be a blaze of glory, earning me a place in the oral histories told over generations at geo-campfires. I steeled my nerves, took a deep breath and stood, ignoring my leg muscles screaming in agony. There! A young 4 point buck bolted back into the brush, more alarmed than myself at sudden movement. I sighed a deep sigh of relief, momentarily terrified at the thought of hand to hand combat with a muggle. I had lived to cache another day. I double checked my GPS heading and quickened my pace to nearly a trot, cold sweat running down between my shoulder blades. At a reading of 4 feet I halted, knowing that from here on, I could only succeed by my own wits and instincts. My head swiveled back and forth, scanning all potential concealments. My raptor like gaze locked upon the most promising possibility. Dropping to my belly, I crawled to debris I suspected to be ever so slightly out of place. I had deduced correctly! Feverishly, I opened the cache. To my relief, the logbook was on top, no need to waste precious time digging through swag. Taking nothing, I quickly signed the record and thrust in an extraordinarily rare and highly coveted XXXXXXXXX. For the time being, mankind would be safe from its influence, until the next unsuspecting geocacher was snared by its irresistible draw. I rapidly closed the cache and re-concealed it, knowing that every second I delayed increased my risk of being uncovered. Carefully concealing any traces of my presence, I silently left by a different route than the one I had entered by. As I burst out from the scrub, my body tingled with relief, having survived another cache find without being glimpsed or having to shed blood in that epic struggle known as geocaching. Finding myself reassured, I headed for home to change into urban camouflage and re-equip myself for next harrowing task – stealthily locating and utilizing a wireless enabled coffee shop to log that valuable cache find. The adrenaline flow would only subside, until the next time when danger reared its ugly head. I had beaten the Reaper once again.

Yes, its all about the hunt. But I also leave expensive swag in the deluded effort that doing so will shame others into doing the same. Lead by example!

I suppose it depends on the signature item. I leave a fully attributed 2000 year old coin that bears the legend "Signature Coin of Ghengis Jon" on the coin flip. I WANT cachers to take them, especially kids. I get to combine/share my two favorite hobbies in one expedition! Plus, I hope that I'm putting out a not- so-subtle hint that broken McToys in caches just don't cut it.

I leave my signature item/coin specifically to be taken by others in trade. Since it seems that only half the cachers log what they take (on-line), I follow a cache I visit for half a dozen or so subsequent visits to see who takes the item and their reaction to it. Then I stop watching. On two occassions, I have left a signature item that I specifically requested (in the on-line log) to remain for the cache owners. One was for Scouts and the other for 4-H'ers. Otherwise, its up for grabs. I really wish that cachers would log it when they take something from a cache. I have placed roughly 10 signature coins in my own cache since March, and I think only two have been logged as taken. Sheesh.

What a moron. Let them ban cellphones and crackberries if he's concerned about tracking and 'buddy systems'. I take my GPSr on the plane so light fingered TSA personnel don't abscond with it. If you want to make flying a more enjoyable and safer experience, ban all carry-on luggage. As a jaded frequent flyer, the only thing more annoying than 9 rows of collicky, screaming babies are the lobotomized travelers with their roller bags which they use to indiscriminately crush other people's belongings. GPSr's are not the problem.

1.5 miles as the crow flies.

Granted, I maintain all of ONE cache in my area. But this question goes out to all owners. I've been reading (mostly lurking) a lot of comments here at GS concerning ettiquette. Geojerks, fake finds, et al bring out out many strong feelings. But it seems some cache owners compare written logs to the on-line ones. And delete those on-line ones without a corresponding written log. How common is this? It never crossed my mind to compare logs. I can't imagine deleting any on-line log unless its profanity laden or contains someone's personal information. My question is how closely do cache owners monitor logs? Am I the only owner that has too much else going on in his life to worry about such things? Is your 'score' (or anyone else's for that matter) really that important? I get the impression that for some, the cache's log history is the crux on which the world's sole existence rests upon. There was one poster that gleefully remarked how he (or she?) had deleted several logs in one week because of no written ones, suspicion of a fake find, improper cache re-placement and some other reasons I don't recall. Perhaps the thrill of being a small scale geocache god? This gives me the impression that that owner is a 43 year old loser living in his mother's basement who only gets out to check on caches. Am I being too cynical or is log deletion far more common than I realize?

Geocaching and fishing go together just fine. If a cache is near water or if I must go past water, I take advantage of it. Almost as good as a clipboard and hard hat for camo against muggles.

I leave signature items for anyone. I've only taken one, because it was a cool refridgerator magnet.

I always leave something but only occasionally take things. Once I darn near emptied an ammo can of dirty, broken McToys and GOP (Lyndon LeRouche) propaganda leaflets. In this particular case I left a mid 3rd century Gallienus Ant with a hippocamp on the reverse, put all the junk in my trash bag, and moved on. I e-mailed the cache owner what I had done, (sadly got no response), and feel no remorse for cleaning up/out a cache. Hope I didn't offend anyone's sensibilities. I usually put *good* swag in caches, trying to set an example.

For those who place smaller caches (not film canister sized), please make sure the opening is at least 2" wide to accomodate swag. Lately I've come across what seem to be large vitamin bottles with smallish openings. My signature item comes in a 2"x2" 'coin flip' and sometimes doesn't go into a cache without disfigurement. Part of the joy of geocaching (for me) is leaving valuable/amazing swag - size matters!

Hey MouseF - Having 5 and 11 year olds, I can tell you that not much brings about instant good behavior than the statement "I wanted to go geocaching this afternoon, but I can only take GOOD boys with me." . Now if I could only figure out a way for the wife to 'comply' with only the offer of geocaching......

I was in Canada recently and came across a locked ammo can. It was chained to a tree in a secluded part of a rest area. According to the log, since locking it, muggles ceased to be an issue. Wasn't any problem for me as the lock combination was displayed in the GC Cache listing.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised last night. I went out to restock and the last cacher (?) filled the cache with a bunch of items and not the usual swill, I mean swag. The log revealed nothing. Thank you, whoever you are. Personally, I usually take nothing and always leave an item. On a side note, I was speaking (rather e-mailing) another cacher who made an interesting observation. Said his cache had been out for 2 years now and seen many cycles of swag rotate through. However, a small Bible was one of the first items left in it. But after 2 years, no one has taken the book. I wonder if there is a general uneasiness of taking a religious item or just coincIdence?

"f***" - starts with f and ends in ck with a vowel in between. HINT: its not the word 'firetruck'; word has only 4 letters. BEM? I have no idea that means, although I can come up with some twisted but unlikely possibilities!

WTF is a military abbreviation (like ASAP, BOHICA, etc) meaning "what the f***?!" . CSP is Calif State Parks.

I placed my first cache a couple of months ago. Inspired by the stories of others, I filled the beast with decent swag figuring if everyone traded at least equally, a very cool cache could be enjoyed by all. After a recent substantial rainfall, I checked on it and the darn thing was nearly empty. I don't think it was muggled as the few remaining items were pretty neat and would have certainly been swiped. Reading both the internal and on-line logs, very few swag trades were reported. Sadly, this seems to be the norm. I place a signature item in visited caches that is intended to shock and awe - I eagerly (and usually vainly) await log reports of the reaction. I posed the question of reporting swag swapping here at Groundspeak and surprisingly found substantial ambivalent attitudes. Oh well, live and learn. So how often do the 'old hands' check on their caches? I'll be going out to reload the swag soon and am wondering if I'll be making this a regularly scheduled event? Should I continue with good swag or am I just a fool with more money than brains?

I leave ancient coins (1700-2000 years old) as my sig item. I always ID, label, and coin flip 'em with my geocache handle. Hopefully they please both young and old finders. My ulterior motive is to spawn an interest in history or collecting. Too many cool hobbies I grew up with (model building, coin/stamp collecting, fw fishing, etc) are heading for extinction in this age of violent vidiots. Personally, I don't take anything, but my 10 and 6 year olds do when they come with.

I've maintained a cache of mine 4 times since first putting it out. Each time I've dropped in an expensive signature item. Yet the logs, both written and on-line, reveals no one to have taken the sig item - eyt they've obviously been removed. Granted, I put them there to be taken, but it'd be nice to know who got them (and hopefully their reaction to the find!). Is it common to TNLNSL regardless of what you actually do?

The best one I've heard about was set by a friend of a friend. To date, only one person has found it; he signed the paper log, but did not log it on-line. Its an urban cache, in a highly cluttered area. The cache owner mounted a hollowed out, stolen (!!!) security camera on the side of a building and thats the cache!

A couple of warning shots also serves as an effective deterrent.

"Geo-Dogging" - the use of a pet as an excuse to go out geocaching. As in "No honey, I can't stay home and help you host a candle party. I've got to take the dog out for a run in the woods."