Fridge01

The definition of 'guideline' is "recommended practice that allows some discretion or leeway in interpretation". So when following the size GUIDELINES you get top use your own judgement. If it's between sizes I'd use whichever size fits the hide better. If hiding it in the woods where ammo cans live I'd definitely call it a small. If in an open area where micros abound I'd have no problem calling it a regular.

sandwiches in a tortilla wrap. takes up less space than regular bread.

Interesting discussions. Here's what I've been doing. 1. if it has an easy rating I'll log a DNF after a minute. It's supposed to be easy. If the rating is higher I don't think it's fair or accurate to log DNF without a good search. 2. I'd post a Note here. good information for the next would-be searcher but not much of a search myself. 3. No log. peering from outside isn't enough to bother with. 4. DNF. shaky coordinates make good info for everyone involved. Yes I know some people offset their coordinates on purpose. If it's more than 15 feet I don't mind calling them on it. 5. no log. a quick DNF on a hard hide is not good information.

Groundspeak newsletter this week encourages us to log DNFs when we "gave it a good search". This is a good time to discuss when it is appropriate to not log a DNF. What if you looked briefly before deciding you'd rather spend your time somewhere else? Do you log it? Sometimes I'll post a DNF anyway, sometimes a Note explaining why I left early, and sometimes it's not worth writing anything. Here are some examples. 1. "I hate shrub hunts. I gave it a minute and then on to the next one." 2. "walked around once. If I linger here I'll look suspicious." 3. "Yuck. It's nasty in there. I peered in and didn't see anything." 4. "GPS pointed to open space, I suspect the coordinates are off." 5. "Wow, this one looks time consuming. Looked in a couple places then decided maybe some other day."

go to the cache page and log a note verifying that it is still in play. better yet, have the CO do that. I'm reluctant to search for forgotten caches because so many of them are missing or have owners who just don't care. Show me otherwise and I'm more likely to look for it.

Just Do It! You can read all you want but you won't know what it's really like until you get out and try it. ...but since you asked. For your first few caches avoid those with higher difficulty rating, those with several DNFs logged, and older caches that haven't been found recently. Look for caches hidden in interesting places (scenic views, on trails, in parks, etc.). Find out if there are any events nearby and go meet the local geocachers. and most importantly, Have Fun!

A woman saw me return a lamp skirt cache in Port Orange FL and she called 9-1-1 to report a possible terrorist planting explosives. Four cop cars pulled me over. One of them went to check out my story, two stood there chatting with me, and the 4th cop had an attitude. "If I see somebody hide something I'll cite them for littering." He ridiculed us for being too old for "Easter Egg hunts". Then he wanted to call a drug sniffing dog to check for other illegal activities. So what am I doing differently now? Nothing really. I did nothing illegal. It's an amusing story and a fond memory of geocaching.

Has the geocaching website changed recently? or is it my computer? I can't decrypt hints. clicking in Decrypt refreshes the page with the hint still encrypted. The logs no longer appear on the cache description page. I have to click on View Logs to see them. and the map on the right side of the page no longer appears. Does anyone recognize these issues? any hints?

sign the log and put it back. make a note of anything interesting so I can put it in my log. I'm reluctant to drop logsheets or remove trash because of past experience. I've removed "trash" that turned out to be something important, like further instructions or a well-worn tb. I've dropped logsheets where they weren't wanted because finding a cleverly hidden logsheet was supposed to be part of the hide. so now I'm reluctant to mess with anything, and agree with the person who said if the CO can't maintain it then maybe they shouldn't own it.

go out for one cache? I just wait and let them pile up until there's a nice cache route in one area. unless it's real close or I'm driving by it anyway.

I've enjoyed power trails. boring = spending 20 minutes in one place and not finding anything. Fun is what you make of it. I refuse to robo-sign and that forces me to find something interesting and different to say about each one. It's only boring if you get obsessed with numbers and ignore the journey.

I read about geocaching in a book called Maphead, bought a GPS receiver online, then went out geocaching with my girlfriend. We did it for several months before meeting any other geocachers. I had played a map game called St Valentine's Day Massacre. In their promo they had a quote from Ken Jennings, the guy who won all that money on Jeopardy. He played that game and wrote about it in his book. I checked the book out of the library and read it. One chapter was about geocaching, which Ken also does. sounded interesting so I looked up the website and tried it. I had a frustrating day where I logged a pile of DNFs. One cache owner emailed me and invited me to a geocachers breakfast. We attended, met a lot of cachers, and haven't looked back since.