Korichnovui

It may get around the rule because technically you could solve the teamwork cache without help if you physically went to the other location yourself?

So I learned about "benchmarking" or whatever we're going to call it when I did a cleverly done traditional geocache that taught about it and even referred to some nearby ones to go find. I wrote down the GPS coordinates and went for it yesterday with my father-in-law, who is a retired surveyer. Good thing I brought him along because his "geosense" for benchmarking was very high, whereas mine was not. The ones I was looking for had "scaled" coordinates so my first lesson was, yeah, the mark is "somewhere around here". My father-in-law was usually able to instantly identify the likely spot from a distance and walk right up to it. One of them was about a foot underground! The others we found were incorporated into concrete structures to control irrigation flow, so by the end of our trek (found 4 out of 5) I had gotten the hang of it, but I imagine each area will have its own quirks. So yeah, geocaching this is not. My first tips/tricks that I learned were 1. Be aware of scaled vs adjusted coordinates 2. Do some research before trying to find - read other logs - sometimes people will put their own GPS coordinates in the log Another "this is not geocaching" issue I noticed: some of these are on private property... How do you guys deal with that? Final question: I'd be interested in finding a few of these that haven't been logged by geocachers before. What tips/tricks do you have to identify likely benchmarks that could be found? Any low-hanging fruit?

I went through a short period where I thought writing things like “TFTC” was the cool thing to do. Once I learned what it stood for, I thought, “Oh, this is how we write logs.” Thank goodness I delved a little deeper and learned more about it.

I recently did a geocoin challenge and at one of the caches I was handing the log to the next person and I said something like, “Here, want the log?” The guy took it but he also shrugged and said, “Nah, I don’t bother signing these things any more.” really got me thinking. Maybe he just cares about his personal experience and doesn’t care about numbers? Or just lazy? Or what?

Two basic tips I would give are: 1. Be familiar with the concept of GPS coordinates. Very familiar. More familiar. There are different formats. Get a feel for how far each number moves you on a map. Stuff like that. 2. Check out geocachingtoolbox.com . It can be an eye-opening experience, a sort of “tip of the iceberg” of what you’re up against when it comes to mystery caches.

Cachly seems to be fully functional in this regard

Is it traditional? Also, see other thread about “FTF effect”. Some people may be biding their time until there’s a compelling reason to go there (ie more caches or they have an errand in the area anyway) Also depends on your area. You could compare it to other caches of the same type nearby hidden recently, scroll down in the logs and see what kind of activity they got.

I agree with the last 2 posts. There is a wonderful range of flexibility and customization in the world geocaching, but there is also a line and consideration for others in the game must be given.

I have been trying to put some effort into my logs lately (maybe not as much as rhyming couplets) I did a series of 5 caches recently out on the water, all from one CO, on a paddleboard. For the logs I gave a somewhat lengthy account of the experience and divided it up into 5 stops. I was rather pleased with myself the way I wrote it, rather than one thing 5 times over copy/pasted.

I'll jump in and add that I have absolutely no interest in these people. Mainly because I haven't met them. I'm sure they are nice folks.

I could have sworn I read specifically 20 earthcaches but now I can’t find it. part of the problem is that all the recommendations, tips, and guidelines are confusingly spread out among at least 5 webpages across 2 separate websites....

But I see how it would be considered rude to demand or expect hints! Feels so millenial, entitled.... I may have worked really hard on making that mystery, why should I just give it away to you? I think this thread is so fun. Everyone has their opinions on the unspoken rules of the game (and unspoken rules of society in general). I guess they’re “unspoken” because they’re not absolute and for every opinion, there’s going to be a differing one somewhere.

Ok, it looks like I have more to learn on this Earthcache stuff I tried looking up the guidelines before but somehow only saw part of them (only section 4.1), not these other sections, so I'm glad you showed me that I also see they recommend doing 20 Earthcaches before making my own...

Hi all, I was wanting to make an Earthcache and I have a spot and a concept picked out. I was doing research on the topic and starting to put some things together. But I've heard (and seen) that Earthcaches are held to pretty high geological science standards so I've gotten nervous that my concept might not be robust enough. I wanted to do one on the idea of a rain shadow. Where I live, we are in the rain shadow of the cascade mtn's, making my area in SE Washington a desert when usually people think "luscious green forest" when they think of Washington. Briefly, a rain shadow is when moisture-laden air driven by prevailing winds goes up a mountain range, and decreasing pressure/temp causes precipitation. The wind coming down the other side is dry and sucks up moisture from the ground, making a different climate. I will go into more detail for the earthcache, including diagrams etc. Is this going to be robust enough idea for an Earthcache?

I think the issue here is that a trailhead specifically can be found without GPS, like many trailheads are listed in google maps or other map systems, so there's no need for "GPS the way it's used for geocaching" at any point in the cache search

My children have been excited to go geocaching with me, and 2 of them got their own accounts. 1 of them paid for premium membership with allowance money, but the other younger one hasn't, and I control their account. We've been doing a lot of geocaching lately for the hidden creatures thing and we've come across some PMO caches. There's nothing special or different (better maintained, etc) about these caches when compared to all the non-PMO caches we've done, with 1 exception: They're more annoying for me to log on my kid's non-PMO account! One thing that I recently discovered about PMO caches is that you can view an "audit" of who viewed your cache description page, and when, and how many times. That's interesting. If I make a 5/5 cache someday I'd be tempted to make it PMO just so I could observe who is "working on it".

I know the reviewers in my area well enough by now that such a hide would be faulted due the ability to solve it without the use of GPS. It would be difficult to get it published. I know because I’ve already had some back and forth with them on puzzle caches I made that use aerial footage for part of the puzzle. I went to extra lengths to make sure that GPS needed to be used.

To be clear, I understand the stipulation that GPS needs to be used at some point, commonly as a starting place. I'm fine with that.

What excites me about the letterbox hybrid is the ability to give instructions of some sort in a GPS-free, nontraditional way. I suppose this could also be done with multi-cache, though. So the addition of a unique, interesting stamp to complete the "theme" or "story" seems important to distinguish it. That said, I'm not very artistic in the way of carving and such. I have designed a stamp or two on websites, though, which turned out well, and hopefully that will be "good enough" if the stamp image ends up unique and fitting for the overall experience.

New question about letterboxing -- Any concerns about durability of the stamp in subfreezing weather? Anything I should be aware of there? Temperatures can dip below freezing where I live. I might as well add that it can get over 100 degrees F in the summer, too.

Wow thanks for all the great responses The 1 letterbox I did was a simple "go this way off the path and look for X", it was very simple but it seems like there's a lot of potential. I'll try to find 1 or 2 more, though they seem pretty rare where I'm at. I've read a bit about letterboxing and I'm going to try to understand the history/heritage of it before I make my own. I'd be very interested in the type of letterbox that gives you instructions that cannot be solved ahead of time, only once you are at the geozone. But perhaps a compass could be used rudimentarily? "Look in the direction of approximately X degrees and note Y feature" For the multis, I totally get what you're saying about making the stages meaningful and also telling a story. There's one in my town that I spent a lot of time on, it had an art theme, had to visit various public art pieces and count something about the piece to decipher the final. I thought that was pretty neat. Also, we are taking a family trip to a beach town next month, and I've got my eye on a couple of multis that are meant to "showcase the town". I'll see how those work out.

Hi guys, I was thinking about setting a goal to make at least 1 of each type of cache. I haven't done very many multi-cache or letterbox, though. I want to make good, high quality caches so I thought I'd ask for advice. 1. What factors do you think go into a great multicache? 2. What factors do you think go into a great letterbox hybrid?

Got Dragon today We took advantage of these few days that we had nothing else going on Time to take a break and finish the challenge in a more leisurely fashion

My team is attacking this with gusto. We have planned out clusters to hit and we’ve already done 3 major clusters, with 4th scheduled later today. It helps that we are still pretty new and haven’t found all the caches in our area.

You do not need to be premium, no. One of my kid accounts is basic and they are earning the souvenirs.