mikedx

Oh yeah, and we should tell the people from the state parks. Good press!

Tony, I think it's a great idea and I'd be happy to attend. I don't think it would take anything away from out next get together. My only concern is that Cabwaylingo is so far west and how many people could make the drive. But count me in.

So the lady to talk to from the WV State Parks called me up today. She said that there was NO truth to the rumors that anyone was trying to pull caches out of the state parks. She said she got some information on us that there were actual families that geocaches (don't know who she thought we were). She said she thought it was great that it got us out into their parks. I invited her to do Molly's Folly, and she said she and her supervisor would be happy to attend. Will invite you guys to go with us when we pick a date. I sent her a bunch of links to what geocaching is all about. I also invited her & anyone from WV State Parks to come to the get together. She said she would like to attend. I'll ask her if she's so happy about geocaching that she'll give us a discount on a shelter. Imagine being able to say WV geocaching get together, sponsered by WV State Parks. Bet Pennsylvania would be envious of us. I've had two maybe nots about the 8th. If I hear much more, I'll just have to bite the bullet and change it back to May 18th. I know you can't please everybody, but I really did want to be able to see everybody. Mike

Thanks for the information. I made a mistake in thinking that it didn't have expandable memory and you had to buy the GPS to whether it had 2 to 8 mb internal. So obviously for what I want I should just buy the cheapest and then buy some expandable memory. I just bought the Magellan Meridian for $110 on outpost.com and 64 mb memory for $32 from amazon. Like you said, it was only $4 more than 32mb.

I currently have a Magellan 315 that's great except for no roadmaps. I'm going to give my 315 to my daughter, and was looking to update to one of the sleeker looking Magellans with maps. Now I see that they come in various amounts of memory that are proporational to price. I'm not planning the upgrade for anything else than being able to look at backroads for a "shorter" approach to caches. My question is how many megabytes memory do I need if I want to be able to upload the majority of West Virginia at one time?

Still haven't talked to the lady from state parks. Will invite her to the event, or to go caching at least. Page is up. Date is set, but you can vote on location. Tharp, sent you an email.

I just got off the phone with the assistant chief of WV State Parks & recreation. He told me that for the most part they are all for it, as it gets people out to their parks. His exception is that a certain someone and their grandaughtEr got Lost In the woods at Beech Fork State Park. He said it was a problem for them cuz they didn't know that there were any caches out there. Had they known where the cache was, they could have got to her sooner. He suggested as a courtesy that we alert the local parks when we place a cache. Other than that, he said that they are opposed to making rules or regulations. He said they were for less laws, not more. I am supposed to be talking to the girl from the parks who is specifically looking into geocaching on Monday. I'll be sure to invite her on a cache hunt.

I am currently trying to get first hand info from the cacher who talked about the prob with the state park people. I guess I should have got the facts to begin with, but will do so now. I went by the engineering expo today and talked with some people from the state parks. They told me to go straight to the top and gave me the chief and assistant chief's name and number. I'll go ahead and talk to them. I'll mention that fact that I work for the WV Department of Environmental Protection to try to add some credibility. I'll update everyone when I get more info. Thanks, Mike

I thought maybe I'd get the ball rolling towards our next cache get together. Looking at my caches, I have noticed that there is a great many more new cachers out in WV. I'm looking for ideas & suggestions. I thought maybe May would be a good month, so that we can get outdoors, and hopefully meet many who couldn't attend before. So to start out with some questions... 1. When? I assume Sat or Sun would be best due to travel time. Anybody want to pick out weekends they couldn't make it in May? 2a. Where? Outdoors, obviously. Now Sutton is the geographical center of the state. But last time we discussed this we had no one east of Roane county that posted. If there is anybody out east that perfers Sutton, please post. Otherwise Charleston seemed to work for everybody before, parks such as Coonskin and Little Creek come to mind. 2b. Where? Would anyone mind pitching in a few dollars to rent a shelter? What do you guys think about bringing a pot luck lunch? 3. Activities? We could christen a new permanent cache for this, and geowhiz and I thought about hiding some minicaches and having a game that day where you team up with somebody you don't know and see which team can find all the mini's first. 4. Associating? I'm not sure I'm all that hip to forming a WV Geocachers Society (when we could be spending that time caching), but I'm hearing rumors that some people at the State Parks are working to ban caches there. We need some kind of coalition to speak to them and let them know that it is better for them. Anyway, we are only in the beginning stages of this, and I would like to hear ideas and try to work with the majority rule. Thanks, Mike

Can you do something about the trail signs that say no hiking alone? I've run into several while caching in KY...

Following the directions from Leprechauns, cache #136 is Loundon Heights Cache which is 4 months older than Rich Creek. It was archived since it was on NPS property. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=136 Rich Creek is the oldest active cache though. Bookworm, I don't think anyone will ever have all of the caches, as they come out too quickly and all over the state. They can also be too difficult. Here's one that you have to be a rock climber http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=31249 NO THANKS!!! There are currently 123 active in WV counting the one meeting. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?state_id=49&submit2=Submit

Thanks to Man In The Wild, Queenfish, EliJoMikMiNi, WVAK47, & IWILLFIND. Link will only work for two weeks or so... http://www.dailymail.com/news/Outdoors/2003020740/ [This message was edited by mikedx on February 07, 2003 at 10:43 AM.]

Thanks to Man In The Wild, Queenfish, EliJoMikMiNi, WVAK47, & IWILLFIND. Link will only work for two weeks or so... http://www.dailymail.com/news/Outdoors/2003020740/ [This message was edited by mikedx on February 07, 2003 at 10:44 AM.]

WVDan, When we asked around for the meeting in Charleston, there wasn't much response for those on the east side. We are planning on having another later (maybe a cookout). If there was any interest from the eastern side of the state, I would suggest moving it to Sutton, which is the center of the state. I realize that it's further for you, but I'm not aware of that much interest in your area. Of course it's up to you, and if you get the response and have it I'll try to come up. But statistically, the majority of WV cachers are west of Sutton. Thanks, Mike

MITW, There are 7 caches "listed" as being before 7/11/01. The next to earliest is WV Treasure Trove by rapp. As for rich creek riches, I wouldn't call it a "cache" exactly. You don't have to pay $25 to get there either. But you do have to take a road that a coal company dominates, but doesn't own. A car will get you within .5 miles if it's dry. Anyone interested in going email me for directions. As for WV treasure trove, it's a nice walk on almost level ground. Something I hear you really enjoy...

Tim, I'm from the east side of Lincoln Co. I graduated from Duval in 89. I don't think there are any Egnor's over there. I've done the 5 in Logan & if you place more, it's not too far a drive for me. See ya on Sunday.

I agree with spiker. Let's make this one an informal meet & greet and we can plan the where and when of doing a big event cache later in the year for those far off to plan. If you want to cache, there is a GREAT cache 5 miles south of Southridge. I say that only because it's mine (Oregonia) Count me in! p.s. Let's invite those from NJ and then make fun of the way they talk.

I agree that Sutton is the center, but until we hear from the easterners (hint hint), all those that have posted so far are on the west side. I have sent emails to: tmp, SenecaRocks, magpie7777, Mr. & Mrs. Mountaineer, two-bit joe, Leif Erickson, cos crew, WV Sloth, Herd Fan 84. And I apologized if Eli contacted them already.

Sorry about taking so long to respond. I usually don't check the message board since it's usually all about NJ. I had been talking with Eli about getting together but just hadn't gotten around to it. Finding the others are pretty easy. Just go to the site that lists the top cachers in each state. Anybody that been to a couple in WV we can email. Plus post an event cache in the area. I look forward to getting together & swapping stories. I'll tell Canyonwalk, Geowhiz, & MeeMaw.

I flew on United a couple months ago and had my GPS with me cuz I too thought it would be neat to see how fast & altitude. But during the stewardesses preflight instructions, she specifically stated that a GPS should not be turned on at any time during the flight. I thought about sneaking it on anyway, but I get scared enough about flying and didn't want to risk the karma...

From the topic posted I thought I'd add my name in. I've been caching for 7 months and the number of WV caches has grown from 84 to 118 in that time frame. I got my mom and my daughters into the sport. I've lost track of all the state parks and wildlife management areas I've visited since starting. You'd think that this sport would rule in WV due to it's geography/scenery, but it'll catch on. Cache's I'll recommend for starting out: It's a ... Hometown Family Panther's Lair Wine Cellar Good luck and email me if you need any advice about any specific caches. With any luck, you'll run into the 2 living legends of WV caching, Man In The Wild and Elijomikmini... Mikedx

I agree that I like to do it without any hints at all to make it more fun/challenging. But...I got burned once cuz I only printed out the first pages of logs. Had I printed all out the log entries, I would have seen the infamous "cache not found at these coordinates" as ApK says. It cost me another 82 mile trip to go back and get it after it was 0.25 miles off from where posted. Got that one fixed now.

I thank you and all of the future geocachers going here will too!

I recently did geocache by starfish-medic: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=20962 Note he has 0 finds/1 hide. Well the coordinates for the cache are 0.25 miles off. It has been mentioned in several posts that the coordinates are off, but I didn't load up all the logs to find out myself (I don't need no stinkin hints). Anyway, I emailed the owner 2 weeks ago and haven't heard from him. I think I can safely say that it's abandoned. I'm not sure I want to take ownership, as it's 79 miles from where I live. However, it's a neat cache in good shape and I just want the coordinates changed. First, it's safe to say it's abandoned, right? Second, is there a way I can get the moderators to change the coordinates without assuming ownership? I guess I could post in the region and see if someone would be willing to take it over. Thanks, Mike

I am posting this link only for people to PLEASE not to make the same mistake I did. I am certainly not proud of what I did. Keep in mind that you can't do what you used to 10 years ago. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=7748 I want to publically state that I was warned in advance about traveling the way I did and that I accept full responsibility for my actions. For anyone who would like to tell me how stupid I was, you may do so without reprisal from me. I'm just happy to be alive. I really think it might have made the difference that I attended church that particular morning.As for caching, I plan on going again tomorrow. Hey, the GPS followed me. But I will never, NEVER, take any more chances on a river.