blackhorse221

Since this has evolved into a conversation about personalized tokens, what is the best way to create some of these tokens? I really love Snoogans' metal tokens, although the burned wooden nickels seem a bit more economical. I'm hunting around online, and it seems that a decent DIY kit is going to run me $300-400 for initial start up. Has anyone found any cheaper set up?

That'd be a nice feature for Groundspeak to offer on this website! *hint, hint*

Same here. I went on Amazon and bought a bunch of very inexpensive toy compasses, finger lights, other cheap fun swag to throw in caches. Orientaltrading.com, other websites like that, dollar stores are all great sources of simple stuff that won't break the bank. I always clean out the bottle caps and trash. The other day, I found a 7.62mm rifle cartridge in a cache!

Same as OzzOzz. I'm out in the West Valley and just started geocaching a few months ago, so I'm relatively new as well. I've done a bit of caching out of state, and am just starting to ease myself into mystery and puzzle caches. Feel free to PM me anytime!

Thanks. I've dropped others in caches without logging near home, but we really wanted this one to start from home and travel around. The kids like seeing it on the map. Thanks for the help, it worked perfectly.

I'll add a question here, since it pertains to this topic. I already dropped a TB in a cache out of state, but forgot to visit a local cache. Is there any way to go back and add this to a local cache find in order to get the mileage calculated?

I didn't know there were different permissions based on basic vs. premium, but consider this another vote for Tapatalk support. Or another similar app designed for Android & iPhone (I guess). I'm hooked on this forum, dangit.

Just went out for 11 finds today, but the heat was absolutely brutal. Went through two bottles of water. Good thing the next-to-last one was next to a Sonic for a cherry lime slushie! Came home to find out it was 114 degrees in the area we were driving around.

Not necessarily true, Harry Dolphin. It depends on the department's policies. The department I work for has no such policy. If someone can articulate why the person may be in immediate danger, such as a missing child, suspicion of a crime (kidnapping) or a 79 year old man who has not returned from activity in the desert, we would begin a search immediately. There is no national standard on when a search must begin or when an NCIC entry can be made. Phoenix PD is not the only department out here that has a mandatory 24 hour policy, but they are the biggest. Either way, this is an incredible story with a tragic ending. Tragic because a cacher beloved in this community is gone, but incredible because how that community responded when he went missing, and how they have rallied around each other in love and support.

I use the "talking on my cell phone trick." It's a good excuse for leaning against a lamp post (the good ol' LPC) or standing outside your vehicle while pacing back and forth.

Awesome idea. Personalized swag is some of the best out there. I just cleaned out a cache full of soggy business cards and movie stubs and threw in a whole bunch of little finger lights and mini compasses for the kids. $20 on Amazon got me two big bags full of little trinkets perfect for Geocaching. And the kids love this kind of stuff. I'm not expecting $40 leatherman knives and gas cards in every cache, but for crying out loud, stop throwing trash in there, people! No more pennies (unless they're stamped/collector types), bottle caps, spent bullet cartridges, etc. Get creative and have quality!

I'll resurrect a two week old topic. I'm a homicide detective, and was recently working a case late into the night. While on the case, my phone buzzed alerting me to a new cache a couple miles away. I was itching to get at it, but work has to come first. Finally wrapped up the case at about 4am and did a two mile detour to swing by the new cache. Still managed to log a FTF after a 22 hour work day!

I'm new to GeoCaching, although I was a Land Navigation and Forward Obs instructor for the Army for years. So the land nav part isn't tough for me. But dragging our two young kids around is quite the challenge! We just started last weekend, and are definitely hooked. We're in the west valley area of Phoenix, Arizona, so we're starting small with the caches around us. Looking forward to expanding out of our local circle and seeing the great caches that everyone has come up with. Thanks for the great hides!

I'd say probably caches around "high profile" areas, such as government buildings, airports (mentioned above), college campuses and near abandoned buildings or closed businesses. Also anything around electronic, lighting or water pumping stations where thieves would go to steal metal for scrap value. That would be my opinion. It may be a bit different in different areas. Someone standing at the corner of a community park holding a GPS wouldn't be near as suspicious as someone ducking down in a darkened corner of a closed commercial building at night. A good idea might be to keep a few of the various info sheets I've found on this forum with this website to hand to any police officer that contacts you.

I'm an LEO and new to GeoCaching, so I can kind of give you the "other perspective." Here in Arizona we're dealing with a lot of metal theft (as is everywhere in the U.S.) When we see someone poking around the edges of a fence or park, the first thought is "looking for metal". Also, the very nature of stealth caching (posting lookouts, parking away from the target, etc.) would naturally be suspicious. Be honest with any LEO that stops you. Point him towards this website, explain what the hobby is. Show him your GPS or phone so he can see that you're actually tracking a cache and not just making up a crazy story. And realize that many LEOs just revert to their "Alpha Male" tendency when challenged with something that they've never heard of before and say "well, you need to leave." Just leave and try another method to educate him and his agency at a later time. Better to log a DNF than get a trespassing ticket. I'm off the road now, working Robbery/Homicide. But I look back to how I would have responded to GeoCaching a few years ago when I was still on patrol. I probably would have joined in the hunt! But I'm a bit of the exception to the rule.