funinthealps

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Go hunt tupperware. Finding tupperware in the woods in sooooo much fun and I'll be glad to show you how to find it. But when it comes to m.m. Shhhhhhhhhhhh! Know what I'm saying?

I've be planning on planting a cache here in the States which uses multiple languages, or perhaps a cache where the discription is in Irish just to make it more of a puzzle. I do not think there should be any kind of English rule. Most geocachers are tech smart and can figure out a way or have instant access to a translation program. I'm a Macintosh user and can easily translate via a dashboard widget. Others use Babblefish etc... I understand that the OP is Norwegian with English skills, but in my opinion English speakers ie. Brits and Americans already have an expectation of being catered to and that a rule stating that English must be used would only add to this arrogance and hinder the game. When in Rome... My €2 Funinthealps

Sounds interesting and fun. I've been thinking of several ideas along the same line. If it pans out I'd be game. Please keep us posted on what pans out. Funinthealps

Do yourself a favor and place your caches, make your own discription sheets, and introduce the lil guys/girls to how caching works. There is obviously a problem with certain moderators and a handfull of reviewers to bother with publishing in on GC.com. You can always turn on the motavated ones to GC.com after they understand the nuts and bolts of navagation. First things first, SHOW them how to NAVAGATE using a gps. The tupperware in the woods is the game they can play after learning the skill. Best of luck, Funinthealps

You'll get rid of the bruising quicker if you get some potassium in you. Two fruits that are high in potassium are kewi and bananas.

If the cache were "inside" it wouldn't be conducive to caching because of how most handheld GPS peter out once indoors. Personally I don't think I'd persue an indoor cache. And, I can see the conflict in the Guidelines. However, a good friend of mine has an awesome cache located outside his pizza place on the side of Schweitzer Mtn. Room With a View where he and his staff can watch people search for the cache. Sure, sometimes people will come in for a slice and a beer after finding the cache but in no way is there any pressure or connection to the two. Maybe this would work better for you.

A song by the late musical genius Frank Zappa just came to mind after reading this post. Part of one verse says "California's got the most of them". Not to cut down Californians and I didn't think Frank ment to either, but the name of the tune is Flakes. And please don't get me wrong. Minnesota is full of jack a@@es. If only we lived in a world where everone was respectful and had common sense.

Mine is Finnster. A good friend who I grew up with. He, his wife, and the mighty Finn (their son) were stopping by for a visit on their way back to Idaho. When they asked if I knew where Pill Hill was and explained that they had to stop at a park over by St. Mary's Hospital to find a cache the explination of the game began. We've both been using a GPS for sailing for years but I had not heard of the game. He explained it, showed me the website, I grabbed my GPS, and have since found nearly 80 in a few months. Hidden several as well. Just went out to Idaho for a visit a few weeks back and as it turns out a guy I used to teach skiing with in Germany is now a Sandpoint local (Schwitzer Guy) and is big time into caching as well. I found his cache (Hermits Hollow) located off one of the ski runs at Schwitzer Mtn. So I guess I have a Geoparent and Geocousin. Funinthealps

Before I moved back to the States I was working for the Department of Defense (U.S.) teaching skiing/snowboarding and sailing. On the side I started and ran a tour operator business. The business arranged skiing/snowboarding, biking, hiking, rafting, canyoning, and sightseeing tours around the German/Austrian border. Our clients/guests were native English speakers who wanted to enjoy the region without the language barriers and hassels of trying to make their own arrangements. I was thinking about what to name the company and Funinthealps seemed obvious because even though we offered a lot of services our main goal was to provide fun in the alps. That handle has since stuck and I'm still active taking care of logistics. We've since added trips to Ireland (My wife is Irish and I lived there for a couple years) but never changed the name (Fun in Europe?). Doesn't have the same ring to it. If anyone ever wants to go caching over there let me know. I continually make trips over there and will I'll gladly set it up.

My Springer Seamus is such an out of control nut that I dread the day I'm going to have to carry him out. He has no concept of danger and nearly creases himself each time we go out in the woods (basically daily). He'll be 2 next month and pushing close to 60 pounds.

GPS I don't need no stinking GPS

Dang! Were you sober? I feel for you regardless. Snapped my achillies playing wallyball (years before geocachings inception). 3 months in 2 different casts. Fret not, you'll heal. Pins might make metal detectors a pain in the arse though. Best of luck to you. Funinthealps

Here here Jeremy. A very ignorant article. I hug trees harder than most but what a silly conclusion the author had as far as geogaching. The amount of trash we pick up is far greater than the amount of concentrated junk we (or some people ) leave. Personally I leave rare or no longer minted European coins. For the most part, CITO aside, geocachers, at least the ones I've met, are very earth-friendly responsible people. Funinthealps

I think a Geocaching dog HELMUT would be more appropirate for my do Seamus. He hit a barb wire fence face first doing 90 last Saturday while out caching. No harm done though. Suggestions; I'm in it for the cache or as seen on a human shirt Will hike for cache or If I had opposable thumbs I'd be signing the logbook Funinthealps

I went out to place a cache the other day and when I got to the spot I've been scoping out this local guy Amerakana was sitting Indaian style right with pen in hand waiting for me to put it down so he could sign the log book. Just kidding

This may be an old topic but the last couple days made me wonder how other geo-cachers may have hurt themselves. My wife and I have been pretty fortunate until this morning (I'll get to that in a minute) but the dog had taken a few hits. Saturday we were hiking up to the Lair (a nice cache located in a cave on the bluffs of the Mississippi) and as we were cutting across a farm field we watched Seamus (our dog) go face first into a barb wire fence at nearly full speed. It shook him up a bit and gave him a small cut above his eye but no real harm done. In the past we've seen him do cartwheels, amass loads of pickers, and a few slip and falls but unbelieveably no broken bones or serious lacerations. I, on the other hand, woke up this morning and thought that I got a good jab from a stick when I was doing some bushwacking yesterday morning. Didn't remember any sharp pokes so upon further inspection I discovered I had a tick lodged deep into my torso. So I grabbed the rubbing alcohol and caught the wife before she left for work. Sure enough there was a bright red ring around the bite and the tick was quite small. As it turns out I was bitten by a female deertick and am now on antibiotics for the next 3 weeks. Not a huge deal but a story worth mentioning. If you get bit by a tick and notice a bright red ring I cannot stress enough that you should immediatly see your doctor and get some meds. I'll be fine but the complications of leaving Lyme Disease untreated would be far worse. Anyhow, I'm just curious if there are other stories of carnage on the trail. Funinthealps

Just kidding of course

no, I don't think so, at least not according to the COMPLETE IDOITS GUIDE TO GEOCACHING As I understand it, it was buried but the lid was exposed. A no no today. Hey, the second cache ever placed had alcohol in it. Alcohol? Who needs travel bugs!

Just to put in my £2 worth, I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine (the guy that got me into caching) and was telling him how my brother-in-law, who was visiting from Ireland, and I went looking for a Micro Lake Pepin Challenge. The sole motavation was to get a FTF. Although we didn't find it, we saw a beautiful area, the dog had a good swim, and we left to find a nice traditional cache afterwards. He said without hesitation "I can't stand micors". "Micros are a pain in the a@@" "If you want to find a cool cache you need to come back out here (N. Idaho) and find Fern Gratto". So that's unofficially his opinion. I did some miro searching the other day in Minneapolis and a couple virtuals as well. Do I like them? Sure if it's all that's available. LPC was good in a way that it took me to a nice place and had me crawling around and up some big ol' trees. If it were in the Lake City Wallmart parking lot I'd of been disappointed. I'd prefer to challenge myself physically rather than psychologically. Tomorrow the wife, dog, and I are going after Lair. It's a 3/4 located in a cave on the banks of the Mississippi. Supposed to be a bit of a climb. In my opinion, the old-school challenge is more my cup of tea. With that said, I feel, the bottom line lies in the creativity of the owner. If there isn't creativity involved, or if it doesn't take you to someplace you may never see, then the cache is mearly a statistic.

Well today I practiced what I preach. Drove 20 miles out of town with the plans of finding 3 caches. First one was in front of a VFW next to a high and elementary school. As it turned out school was getting out right about the time I arrived. I tried to look without drawing too much attention but the kids just kept coming. I opted to leave it for another day. The second one of these elaborate playgrounds. Cache listing stated that some crawling would be involved. When I got there wouldn't you know it there were two moms with their kids. If I had a kid to use as a decoy I may have went for it but I just had the dog and he never seems to help much. There too, I opted to save that one for another day. The third cache however was located in a Wildlife Management Area and which was in the boonies. The dog had a great run and I scored the cache. Was only 1 for 3 today but that's the way it goes sometimes. BTW nobody got killed on todays mission although I did have a bit of road rage on the way home. I'll never be able to understand how people can talk on their cell phone, smoke a cig, and drive slowly in the left lane. Knuckleheads!

What's the difference? Good God, I've been sentenced to 3 years in Minnesota not sent. Only here due to my wifes job. Only 448 days till we're out on parole. There is a place in Wisconsin with the acronym D.C. that is a little slice of heaven. There, the people think straight, love the Packers, and you can buy beer on Sundays

I can say that all of the previous advice is quite good. Foot health is so very important. Having worked as a professional ski and snowboard instructor for many seasons, as well as being an avid outdoorsman, I can't stress enough how important it is for your feet to be comfortable. Let's start with socks. fox-and-the-hound was very correct in their recommendation. Socks aren't quite as conducive to your feet as are boots. Meaning if you have a wide foot (like mine) or narrow, or high arch, fallen arch etc... the type of sock you buy will not make a difference. With that said, a quality sock, a "wicking" sock will make a load of difference. When I used to spend 100+ days in my ski boots for 10+ hrs. per day I knew what feet problems were. One brand of sock I can highly recommend is Thorlo. They help with chaffing, wick moisture from your feet, and are knitted in a way to reduce blistering. As an instructor I owned 7 pairs so I had fresh ones for each day of the week. Boots are another story. Weather you be, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, or standing on an assembly line for 12 hours a day you need something that will give you proper support. It is in my opinion that you go to a reputable outdoors shop and try on a variety of boots. briansnat is right that a particular brand is not the answer. Chances are you will not get off cheaply. Expect to pay $85-150. It will seem like a lot but the bottom line is you get what you pay for. If you do not use them a lot (say 10 times a year) you're still only paying $10 a year for them. But, if you get an inexpensive pair for $35 and have to miss a days work because you have blisters on your blisters where's the savings? Just like in the business world "You have to dress for success". So many of my colleagues cannot stand Winter. I live in Minnesota where people claim to be thick skinned and rugged. But, they continually complain every time a cloud blows over. When I see what they wear during the Winter months it doesn't suprise me as to why they do not like Winter. You won't need 'em in Cali but when it's -10 I love my Sorrels. Nothing better than telling Mother Nature to "bring it on". To save you some ching I suggest finding the right brand/boot that works for you and note the size. Then hit E-Bay to buy 'em. This is what I did for my wifes Dansko clogs. She wears them when she's on call and couldn't be happier. In stores they were $110 but I got them new on e-bay for $65. Good Luck, funinthealps

I think that your words scare me. The phrase "at all costs" is very strong and absolute and rigid, and implies that you would easily kill a muggle who witnessed you retrieving a cache in order to silence them (i.e., to prevent them from harming the cache or telling other muggles about the cache.) While I can see that it might be very reasonable to kill another geocacher who might be about to beat me to an FTF, I cannot see killing muggles indiscriminately, and if you continue this practice, it could give geocaching a bad name. We have had several local cachers around here who have killed muggles to silence them, and I have always felt that this tactic was excessive, possibly even illegal, and maybe even immoral. So, you may wish to rethink your philosophy and attach a little less importance to keeping geocaching activities secret from muggles. Geeze, you East Coasters are harsh. Are you serious? Maybe "at all costs" is a bit absolute but I didn't realize that a forum post would need to be run by a team of scholors for proof reading before hitting the almighty "add reply" button. To clear things up, what I ment was that the "I don't care who sees me" reply previously posted is, to me, an unacceptable way to cache. The biggest "cost" in my "at all costs" statement may mean leaving the cache and not signing the almighty log book if it means being seen,or perhaps going back to the cache at a later time, as to not be seen retrieving it when muggelers are about. The phrase "at all costs" isn't nearly as strong as the word "hate" which I tend not to use. Oh wait, I just did. Dang! I hate it when I do that. Crap! I just did it again! From here on out I vow never to use the word hate and will avoid doing so at all costs. Oh my God I think I just killed an innocent bystander. Doh!

Would censorship apply to TBs as well? My Name is Donkey

While I think you are taking the 'I belong here, so ignore me' stance a little too far, I doubt that you don't care as much as you state, or you would probably ignore the caches. I do think that cachers should make an effort to not be spotted removing or replacing an urban cache, just as we would if we were in the woods and someone wandered down the trail. In my opinion, we owe it to the next cacher to try to keep caches from getting muggled. I have to agree with sbell111 on this one. While some may think it's a pain to score a visable cache without being seen others find pleasure in the amount of stealth and covertness needed to get the job done. Maybe the angle that the cache placer may have taken is "sure it's right there in front of you", but how are you going to get it? Do you have the patience? Are you cunning enough? We do owe it to the cache owner and future cachers to keep any cache from being muggled at all costs.