The Leprechauns

It's wonderful to see you back in the game. Most forum participants will not know of your contribution to geocaching history - the Northern California DeLorme Challenge. The growth of challenge caches is definitely something that's changed over the years! You can most certainly cache outside the USA without eating up smartphone data. Download cache data and maps to your phone over wifi and save the info for offline use. Put your phone into airplane mode, fire up your geocaching app, and venture out. The GPS works, and you've saved the info you need! I've done this for trips to four foreign countries.

Common cache descriptions in 2019: "Part of the ABC series along XYZ Road. Just another one for the numbers. Easy P&G." Common cache descriptions in 2002 contained: - A summary of the area I'd be visiting, and why it was cool - Directions on how best to approach the cache - Detailed listing of the cache contents (often themed) - Warnings about any expected hazards (ticks, mud, stream crossings, snakes, etc.) On Labor Day weekend I took a group of geocachers visiting from out of town to several of my caches, including two that I hadn't visited in years. They were ammo boxes in great shape with the original logbooks from 15 years ago. But I was most surprised to re-read my own cache descriptions - they were long, engaging stories. Few geocachers read them anymore, I'd bet. One of the caches had been visited four times this year, mainly because a series of 30 caches grew up around it. The other cache had only been found once this year; it's all by itself in a wooded valley.

Thank you for pointing this out. I think that HQ missed an opportunity here.

I had no trouble filling out the form and requesting a promotional trackable. I used Microsoft Edge, the successor to Internet Explorer.

You could write a message along the following lines: Of course, you won't do that, because you're a nicer person than I am. I am known for writing "story of my roadtrip" logs. However, I take care to only tell a particular cache owner that background story ONE time. Later logs to a cache owned by the same CO skip the travelogue.

Not quite as epic as a flight to/from New Zealand, but I had a great International Geocaching Day. This weekend, I completed my Double Fizzy Grid, found a dozen T5 caches by kayak, and found an Adventure Lab series on the day it was published. We also visited two great museums along the way.

"Hamsters as travel bugs" is a concept that's gained popularity as the size of the average geocache continues to shrink. The hamsters appreciate the utility of the "took it to" log, preferring to be "dipped" in multiple caches before returning to the roomy environs of the current holder's home. "Discover" logs on these trackables are popular at events, especially among the younger geocachers. "Mark missing" logs provide a convenient way to memorialize the expiration of a hamster. Which happens. I do have one hamsterbug at my home that keeps getting dozens of logs saying "Greetings from Germany." I guess he had a lot of friends there before I retrieved this hamster from a cache near my home.

Thanks, fizzy, for letting me know that my "Crystal Methamster" travel bug had made it to California. I hope you enjoyed reading the story.

You can create the bookmark list for purposes of including the link when you build the cache pages. BUT, you won't be able to populate the list until the caches are published, so you will need to do that in a hurry post-publication. If you go to one of your unpublished cache pages you will note that the "Add to List" option is missing from the menu at the top right. And, if you try to add the GC Code to your bookmark list manually (by entering the GC Code in the input box at the upper right of the bookmark list page), you will get an error message - the text of which must be many, many years old: "You can not bookmark an unapproved listing."

I've found 20 different geocache types, plus a benchmark. When I got an email saying I'd only found 15 geocache types, I was mightily confused.

I still read the forums daily, but I only post under this account when I have something to say using my player voice. I have a lot to say when it comes to hamstercaching. It's alive and well! This weekend, I am transporting a large number of hamsters across state lines to Ohio. They will be deposited in caches that are accessible only by kayak. Is that inappropriate? I figure that there is a water source nearby. In addition, my avatar and signature line both continue to pay homage to this exciting and essential "side game."

I'm in a very similar boat, having received 340 FP's on my hides. I don't know what I'd do with them! Under the current system I've handed out all but 32 of the FP's I've earned in the course of 7500 or so finds. I think that, over time, the ratio of 1:10 works out very well. My number of available FP's goes up when I go on a "numbers run," and it can dip low when I intentionally seek out great caches, like a gadget cache or challenge cache or a long hike. I can't even fill my "Top 5% Greatest Cache Hunts" bookmark list with enough "best of the best" caches. It has 248 entries, rather than the mathematic goal of 380. In large part, this is due to the archival of old selections - which has been suggested above as a way to "free up" favorite points. (Trivia: one of the first 100 bookmark lists ever created, my linked list was used to advocate for the introduction of the Favorite Points feature. So, yeah, I love FP's.) An idea that looks good from one person's perspective may have unintended consequences when applied to other participants.

Fixed that for you. Please see this explanation in the Help Center. Also, keep your political views to yourself. I want to read about geocaching issues here. Thanks.

I think that the Creation Celebration had the goal of empowering people to place better caches. Getting rid of "seed caches," "Curse of the FTF" caches and "Pay it Forward" caches was a good thing. I want to find caches thoughtfully placed by people who want to hide a cache, not lame caches hidden by people who feel forced/compelled to fulfill a requirement on another cache page (including an event). There are still plenty of lame caches, but I like that the website doesn't wish to encourage or endorse the placement of lame caches.

The Block Party grew out of the success of the Groundspeak Lost and Found Event on July 4, 2010. The Block Party followed each year after that, from 2011 to 2015 (the 15th anniversary of geocaching). They stopped because the event became too popular for its own good, consuming a fair bit of staff resources that were better devoted to maintaining and improving the website, apps, etc. Deepdiggingmole, if you would like to see an example of a profile with all of the available cache type icons, click on my name. You can also click through to see cache pages for the event types you're interested in seeing more details about.

The only thing I know about Lima is that Congress keeps making the Army buy tanks there. Hopefully there's more going on than just the plant. Lima was the setting for "Glee," the Fox musical comedy TV series that ran from 2009 to 2015. I'm amazed that there are no caches in the area which commemorate the show and its fictional William McKinley High School. There is, however, a cache series hidden by the Lima Convention and Visitors Bureau. Yes, that's a thing. There's also a cache-friendly local park system and an active local caching group that holds monthly meet and greets. In nearby Wapakoneta, there's one of the most epic caches in the entire State of Ohio: Mocopulence, with 380 favorite points. THAT is the way to color in a missing degree, grid or county for a challenge cache. Wapakoneta is also the birthplace of Neil Armstrong, and there's a museum there about the Apollo program. Caches commemorate this and many other spots relating to Armstrong. The county has a healthy covering of cemetery caches in the "Spirit Quest" series. Which all goes to show, geocachers are able to discover the cool spots to visit anywhere in the world, thanks to the caches placed by local hiders to bring us there. Even in Lima, Ohio. I'm looking forward to my visit there.

My mid-year status check: 1. To find at least 250 "Challenge Caches" (212 so far). I'm up to 227 challenge caches logged now. 2. Complete the Ohio History Challenge (28 old school caches down, 14 to go). I'm up to 30 finds (12 to go) for this tough challenge cache. All but one are in southwest Ohio, where I visit monthly. 3. Complete the Ohio 360 Degree Challenge (245 degrees cached, 115 to go). Due to several carefully planned "degree caching trips," I'm up to 338 degrees completed, with just 22 left to find during a planned trip to fabulous Lima, Ohio and surrounding countryside. Hampton Inn is the official sponsor of my efforts to log this difficult challenge, as I don't live in Ohio. 4. To find caches in contiguous counties from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast (8 counties to go). No change. Trip to Colorado & Utah is planned for next year. 5. To find caches in contiguous counties from the US northern border to southern border (13 counties to go). No change, but a trip this fall will get me closer by driving from Pittsburgh to Arkansas. 6. To log at least 2 finds on each of the 81 Terrain & Difficulty Star combinations ("Double Fizzy" - 5 grids left). No change, but a kayaking trip is in the planning stages. 7. To find at least two caches hidden in each month since May 2000 ("Double Jasmer" - 4 months left). No change; still need a second cache in four Year 2000 months. 8. To find caches in all 50 US states and DC (46 down, 5 to go). No change. Alaska, Hawaii, the Dakotas and Minnesota remain virgin caching territory. 9. To find 360 virtual caches (266 down, 94 to go). I'm up to 269 ghosts on my profile. Looking forward to the v2.0 virtuals! 10. To find 150 letterbox hybrid caches (110 down, 40 to go). I'm now up to 117 letterbox hybrid finds, 33 caches away from my goal.

My mind reached back to a pre-geocaching hobby of mine: model railroading. Check out this HO gauge guardrail kit. Near it on the page, I saw where you could buy a little parking lot to go with it! I've found a cache way out in the woods, with a stream fording and a hill climb, that was billed as a lamp post cache. It was a model railroad size of lamp post, super glued to the top of a small-size container. Gave it a favorite point. Now you've got me thinking of all my pre-2002 hobbies, which have fallen by the wayside in favor of the one addiction that rules them all.

I've visited Mingo twice. It is in the middle of nowhere, which is part of its appeal and a reason for its longevity. Located just off an exit from Interstate Highway 70, the cache is more than three hours driving distance from the nearest major airport (Denver). Seven hours is a long Uber trip! Have a look at the Google map link on the cache page, including the street view from I-70, and you will see what you're up against. There's no train station, no bus stop. Just wide open space. I recommend renting a car at the Denver airport and making a day of it. If you're truly set against driving, your best option may be to find other geocachers interested in making a road trip, and offering to share expenses. While in the area, consider visiting Arikaree, also hidden in May 2000 by the same Cache Owner. About 100 miles from Mingo, Arikaree offers more interesting scenery.

1. It was the very first Event to be awarded the Mega Event icon. 2. It's been the largest USA event for many years. 3. Unlike most other Mega Events, Woodstock moves all around the country, and now outside of the USA. 4. jogps.

It's quite common for GeoWoodstock fans to log their "Will Attend" immediately at this year's event during the presentation where the following year's event location is announced. It's timed so that the page "goes live" right near that announcement. There are people who go to Woodstock every year, planning their vacations around it, including a handful who have attended each event since the first one back in 2003. I'm a lightweight: I skipped this year's event, and I've "only" been to six in the past. But for next year, the combination of an HQ celebration, the Going APE event, and Woodstock is pretty compelling. I expect to attend!

I recently passed my 500 DNF's milestone (#ISAG) so this question is near and dear to me. Since the introduction of bookmark lists 15 or so years ago, I have kept a bookmark list of all my DNF's that includes a running count of DNF's that I later resolved with a "found it." I love being able to show a map of that bookmark list, so that I can see my incompetence displayed worldwide in graphic form. Once you invest the time to create the list, it's fun and easy to maintain.

A recent discussion, and explanation, can be found beginning with this post.

Wikipedia says that "The first record of Mardi Gras being celebrated in Louisiana was at the mouth of the Mississippi River in what is now lower Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on March 2, 1699." In my book, that counts as "17th Century" and it's pretty darn close to New Orleans. Still, I have to award the OP a prize for the "Most Unpredictable Reason to Cancel Premium Membership." Definite style points there.