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I like the idea of trading cards, or anything personal for that matter. I'd much rather trade for items like that than anything else. I've only been caching for a month or so and I've seen a few personalized items - wooden nickels, bottle caps with a caching team's name, etc. I designed a geocaching sticker with my home state and icons of cache types as a sig item to leave. If the log book is big enough I'll place a sticker by my name and leave a few in a bag for others to take. It was a quick design I threw together for an all-day caching run I did yesterday. I'm in the process of putting some other designs together but free time is hard to come by these days. The good thing is I can get stickers printed for nearly nothing. I work for a screenprinting company and we also print banners, signs, etc. so I can experiment without investing much money.

Wow, it's really pathetic that some folks get their kicks from behaving this way. I'm not a violent person but it would be compelling to crack skulls over something like this. Like said above, placing a trail cam (with permission, of course) near the cache might give a chance to see their faces and hopefully have something to offer police. Good luck

It's definitely disappointing to find a poor container that's soggy. Yesterday I did a lot of caching and found a few unsuitable containers. Standard tupperware that isn't made to be waterproof, food containers, etc. I won't put any trade items in if I suspect they'll just be ruined.

Yes.... need to think up a story... in trouble if I don't.... Did ya ever think what happens when they call your bluff and find out you are lying? Maybe nothing.... maybe not nothing..... Truth works pretty good most of the time. Yeah, I thought of that. Since I was trespassing on private property I figured my story would give me a better chance of getting off the hook than telling them what I was actually doing. The way I look at it, as honest as Geocaching is I don't think everyone would be okay with it, especially near the back door of a Red Lobster at 7am on a Sunday morning. In all honesty I probably would've told the truth anyway. I had nothing to hide. It was amusing to me thinking out the scenario of explaining my presence to the security guards.

Thanks for the reply Mrs B

I picked up my first TB the other day. I wasn't sure what the proper protocol was so I emailed the owner and told him/her what I planned to do with it. Since I haven't received a response I'm hoping some of you can offer guidance. Instead of placing it in another local cache (in Virginia) I was planning on moving it to a cache in West Virginia. The thing is, I won't be going up there for a few weeks, maybe a month. My cousin works for Olive Garden and is being moved to Beckley in the near future. I told the TB owner that if he/she isn't okay with this I would move it to a local cache asap. So, what do you all think? Would you be okay with someone holding your TB a little longer than normal if that meant a move to a new state? By the way, I am logging it with each new cache I visit so there's record of its travel.

There have been a couple of times where I aroused the suspicion of security. One cache was in a Red Lobster parking lot and the coords put the cache right in the shrubbery in front of the building. I sat in my car for a few minutes debating what to do. Luckily it was early Sunday morning so no one was around and the lack of spectators made me decide to push forward. So here I am, delicately moving through the shrubs when Mall security drives past. They were probably 150-200 yards away but I saw they were watching me. I started concocting a story in my head about a friend's angry girlfriend throwing his phone in the bushes to explain myself but I was fortunate enough that they moved on.

I've been lurking for a month or so. It's been interesting and informative to read about what veteran cachers have to say. I got a kick out of the creative container thread, there are some really creative folks here. It's kinda funny how things fall into place sometimes. I found out about caching through Instagram. A guy I follow posts pictures of his finds and they sparked my curiosity. Now I'm hooked, and really enjoying the game. I've always enjoyed walking trails and taking in the sights of nature so caching is right up my alley. My wife isn't so keen on it but once our daughter gets a little older and can handle walking in the woods I have a feeling we'll turn this into a family activity. Since this is an open discussion I'd like to ask about seeking help for a puzzle cache. Only about a handful of people have actually found it and all their logs state how easy it was to figure out. I'm a smart guy but I'm totally stumped. Would it be frowned upon to post a pic of the puzzle (with no mention of the specific cache) for opinions?

It does. I started with the iPhone app and it gives you all info about the cache, shows logs, photos and accesses Google maps to give you an aerial view of the location.

Sorry you didn't find what you were looking for. I am always happy when I find the songs of the birds, the fragrance of the flowers, an interesting rock formation or waterfall, sometimes a snake, or a deer, or a squirrel, or even a footprint. The box got me out there, but what I found was more personal and elusive than what would fit in the box. I completely agree. This past Saturday I discovered an awesome set of trails that I had never known about...all because of geocaching. I've lived in this area my whole life and never knew about these trails. It was a great time. The farthest cache, which was about 2.5 miles from the starting point, overlooked a lake. It was really peaceful sitting there while signing the log The swag wasn't all that great, but the journey was the real treat. I saw a large snapping turtle, two black snakes mating, some interesting insects, got some exercise, detached myself from being in front of a computer screen....all good things.

I'm new to caching and even though the idea of hiding my own cache is appealing I feel an obligation to gain more experience before I start hiding my own caches. The way I look at it, it's in my own interest to learn more about the game from vets and get a good feel for what works and what doesn't work in terms of good containers, good locations. As a new member it wouldn't offend me to have to acquire a certain number of finds before being able to hide my own.

I got lucky a couple weeks ago and found a guy selling Soviet-era naval pins on Craigslist. When I got to his house he had a freezer bag full of naval pins which I also picked up. All together I paid $22. I'm keeping the Soviet pins because they're unique and I find historical items like these interesting but the naval pins will make good swag. They range from small lapel pins commemorating various US Battleships to generic anchors, USA insignia, etc. I'm also working on creating some stickers relating to caching to leave as sig items. My idea is to leave a bunch in caches so numerous people can take something personalized. When I get the designs together I'll post them here for opinions.

I came across a treasure trove of good swag items the other day. I found a guy on Craigslist selling some old Soviet pins which look to me like they were for formal Naval dress attire. I find historical items like these interesting and planned to keep them for my personal collection. Once I got there he also showed me a freezer bag of US Navy pins. Some look like official US Navy pins, others are like commemorative items for certain Destroyers and various conflicts. Now I have a load of good swag items for trade in the event I find something of equal value in a good cache.

Thanks for the tip Gitchee-Gummee, I'll keep that in mind.

There have been a couple that I've given a full effort to search for and failed to find so I logged a DNF and blamed my lack of success on something other than my own failings. Seriously though, if the last few logs are DNF and I can't find it I will assume it's either been removed by someone or the force is not strong enough within me. There are a couple that I haven't found that I didn't log DNF because I plan to go back. One was my very first search, when I had absolutely no clue what I was looking for. Now that I've seen a few clever containers and have discovered how creative some of them are I'm going back to get revenge!

I've noticed the same thing in regard to crappy trade items. I've only found 3 containers that had items for trade and two were good, one was utter garbage. Business cards, the seal to a milk drink, wet towel from Buffalo Wild Wings, used erasers....it was pathetic. I like geocaching for the hunt and being outdoors, and I don't have a "what can I gain" attitude, but I'd be lying if I didn't say part of the fun is finding a container of cool items to trade. I went to the dollar store and picked up some random items - LED keychain flashlights, toy cars, marbles, etc...things for the little ones. Then, I went home and looked through my keepsake stuff from over the years and decided to pick through it all to find worthy items for adults. So, my way of upping the swag ante is to maintain caches in my area. Last weekend I revisited a cache I had already found and added numerous items so that hopefully the next person will have some decent stuff to look through.

This is exactly why I'm hesitant to keep my phone as my primary GPS. Since I'm new I've completed fairly easy, urban searches with a few in the woods so it hasn't been a big deal. Last week I was searching for a cache by a creek. According to the trail map there was quite a long walk involved (which I didn't mind) but the direct path involved shimmying across a fallen tree to the other side. My adventurous side said "go for it!" but after considering possibly falling, injuring myself, ruining my $700 phone and being stranded I decided to enjoy the walk. If I had a waterproof GPS I may have been more apt to take the chance. While I save up for a GPS I think I'll pick up a drybox for just such a situation.

I just started caching and have had reasonable success with my iPhone 4 but I'm thinking of investing in a dedicated GPS. For one, using GPS apps drains my battery big time. Secondly, on all day hunts I don't want to be limited by battery life. It's not bad at all, but having the option to swap out batteries makes a dedicated GPS a better choice. The only knock on GPS for me is price. I don't want a bottom of the barrel unit but at the same time I'm on a budget. I'm guessing GPS units of all sorts have been discussed here so I'll search the forum for more info.