aharris

Consider this 2 votes for GC73C2 Blood and Guts (LINK).

George Washington - First job was a surveyor

I'm in Alexandria, so I definitely can't give you the local angle. However, if you search for caches around Warrenton you'll find a number of them. If you click on the cache owner's name, you can send a message to them via their profile page. Many of the caches hidden in Warrenton are local to Fauquier County. If you still need interviews, the Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization could probably help you out as well.

Oh, and I forgot to mention Hemi(ingway) is a yellow lab and the girlfriend's pup is half lab and half ????. We adopted her dog two years ago this March, and he has been an incredibly great dog. I HIGHLY recommend the breed/mix. If possible, try to take a look at the pup's mother. It'll give you a great hint as to what kind of dog you're going to get

I first got this idea from Snoogans, but if you make him a geodog, order a travel bug, add it to the pup's collar and you can log your geodog's visit to every cache the pup visits with you. My caching pup, Hemi(ngway), has one and any cacher that meets us out on the hunt are allowed to "grab" his travel bug also.

upgraded to Garmin GPSmap 60CSx thanks to the GF!

Great Work, Team Tiki! I've got some footage in the can from down in SC when I got a few caches down there, with the idea of doing something just like this. I'm back in Alexandria, VA, now and would love to help out with any future shoots you might want to work on. As for suggestions on other topics, I like the ideas mentioned above. One that I was working on was a cache rescue and cache maintenance videos. Oh that we could have had footage of me going tail over head to rescue the remains of a muggled cache... Regarding more exotic spots, I'm trying to put together a team now to go after Blood and Guts in Virginia (GC73C2) now. If you're interested, that entire process has the makings of a great video.

Still being a bit of a newbie, (84 finds, 1 hide) I must say that I am always delighted to see a new log on my only cache. It's especially nice for me because I've been out of state for seven months and it gives a sense of how things are back home (The GF handles maintenace for me.). In any event, I'll finally get back home next month, and I can't wait to go to the cache and read the logbook! I can't say that I have a favorite log, but when Two Buck Chuck was able to resume caching after the birth of his son, he took took him to my cache and it's one of the best logs my cache has had. It's below... After three months of no caching, Two Buck Chuck is back in action, this time with seven-week old Two Buck Chuck Jr. in tow. I needed to get out of the house for a change of scenery, so I strapped TBC Jr. in the Baby Bjoern and gave this one a try. There weren't too many people out today in the heat & humidity, so I managed to grab the cache and take it over to the picnic table with no problem. It looks like the Old Town side access point to the park will soon close once the demolition of the old span begins. Just follow the brown Jines Point Park parking signs down S. Washington St., which will turn you back around to the north for a right turn to a temporary parking area on the other side of the bridge. Well done--a nicely placed cache with a fun theme. I left a mini-bottle of Miracle Bubbles (dogs like to chase bubbles, right?) and took the rubber ducky key chain. Thanks! Great thread Snoogans!

I have been trying for the last couple of hours to purchase items from Groundspeak's geocache site. When I log in with my exisiting user name and password I get an error message. I created a new account with a different email and it will not work. I requested the lost password and it still would not let me log in to make a purchase. s there something going on with the server that is keeping us from making purchases?

I hosted my first event (GCTP5Y) a month after I started caching on the day after St. Patrick's Day. After starting caching, I found myself quickly wanting to meet the people behind so many great caches I discovered in my first fifty finds. Having attended a number of blog-meets, I had long past got over my phobia of "meeting a bunch of people from the internet." To add to the fun for the event, I bought a little six pack of St. Patrick's Day green mini-mugs and placed them in caches that the GF and I particularly liked. Whoever showed up with a green mini-mug was treated to a drink of their choice on me. In the end we had about 20 cachers show up, and it was a delight to meet so many folks from diverse backgrounds. The GF who wasn't as impressed with meeting bloggers as I was had an entirely different and pleasant opinion of meeting geocachers. On a side note, Snoogans, I'm watching Quantum Leap and hoping to take a crack at it next fall. Job requirements and my personal desire to find many more caches before I try it are responsible for the time delay. I have loved reading all the logs for it. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll get a chance to meet you at an event and trade canine TBs. I've already copied your idea of putting a travel bug on your dog.

It seems like it depends on the area you're viewing for the age of the images. When I looked at our house, I was able to determine they were only about a year old. Again, the most useful part for me has been the bird's eye view function for my area. Thanks for pointing out the age for your area, though.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not affiliated with, nor will I receive any benefit from this. I've been watching to see if this popped in the forums, and haven't seen it yet. Microsoft is re-tooling some of it's web presence to try to compete better with Google, Yahoo, and others. The part of these new efforts I'm interested is the Live Local mapping service. It's pretty similar to Google's maps but it has a twist for some areas. Especially for the areas with the bird's eye view available it has been very helpful to me in determining the terrain of the caches I'm going after. For example, Type Zero (GCTYP0) is a multi cache with the first stage in a unique spot. Using the bird's eye view, I knew exactly what I was going to run into for that stage. The downside is it does not allow you to search for locations using the coordinates from the cache page. However, it still is in a beta version, so it's possible they could add that functionality later. In any event, it has been pretty helpful to me in my area (DC/No. VA). However, when you get to areas without the most detailed aerial photos or sans the Bird's Eye View, it's about the same level of detail as GoogleEarth. Clearly, the KML functionality with GoogleEarth gives it the decisive edge in usefulness for cachers. Still, I've found it to be a useful second reference at times. Anyways, it's anotehr tool in the toolbox for cachers. Maybe if we send enough comments into them during the beta, they can add the search by coordinates functionality.

Just a note that I also picked up today...apparently most cell phones since 9/11 have some sort of GPS tracking chip in them, mainly related to helping first responders locate folks who have dialed 911. I presume the trick is being able to unlock this functionality on their phones. Sorry to be talking to myself on this one, but to me it is interesting that we might be able to use our cell phones as GPSrs instead of using them just as paperless caching machines...

The GF just sent me a copy of this press release via a contact at AOL. I wonder if this means we'll be able to go caching without a GPSr... Released at 9:00 AM EST 4/3/06 MAPQUEST LAUNCHES NEW MOBILE OFFERINGS MAPQUEST AND TELMAP ANNOUNCE MAPQUEST NAVIGATOR, MAKING TURN-BY-TURN NAVIGATION AVAILABLE ON MOBILE PHONES Free Access to MapQuest.com for Web-Enabled Mobile Phones LAS VEGAS, NV, April 3, 2006 - As part of MapQuest's ongoing commitment to make maps and directions available on mobile devices, the Company today announced two new products, MapQuest Navigator and Web based mobile services, making it easier for consumers to find their destinations. MapQuest is the leading mapping destination on the Web* serving upwards of 40 million individuals and thousands of businesses with software solutions. MapQuest, a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, joins its parent company in its commitment to bring its most popular content and services to mobile users everywhere. MapQuest® Navigator, in partnership with Telmap, will soon enable consumers to access Global Positioning Service (GPS), turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions on mobile phones. The MapQuest Navigator service represents leading-edge technology in online navigation and gives consumers a powerful new level of convenience that’s available when they need it most. Based on the next generation technology 'MOND' Mobile Optimized Navigation Data, from Telmap, a world-leading provider of mobile mapping and navigation solutions, MapQuest Navigator displays dynamic, full-color maps and provides accurate turn-by-turn navigation instructions by voice, graphics and text. The system includes a database of millions of restaurants, hotels, theaters and other points of interest which consumers can navigate to, direct dial to make reservations or send any location to a friend via text message. MapQuest also announced that it is making it easier for consumers with Web-enabled mobile phones to access MapQuest.com. Available now, the free Web service is specifically designed and formatted for mobile phones and provides a convenient way for anyone with a Web-enabled phone to access interactive maps, get driving directions and find places. The service is based on technology from InfoGin Ltd., a leading pioneer of Web to mobile content adaptation solutions. Consumers can access this service on their mobile phones by going to http://wap.mapquest.com <http://wap.mapquest.com/> . “MapQuest Navigator and Web-enabled services provide consumers with some of the most powerful and convenient solutions for finding places while they are mobile,” said Jim Greiner, VP and GM of MapQuest. "We're giving consumers the ability to find any place and get there whenever and wherever they need it most - while they are on the go." "We believe that Telmap's unmatched mobile navigation technology together with a highly recognized brand like MapQuest creates the perfect offering for the current US market, and suits the American consumers' needs in the best way, " said Oren Nissim, CEO of Telmap. The MapQuest Navigator mobile offering Includes: MapQuest Navigator will provide clear, easy-to-follow directions to a location either from a selected starting point or from the consumer’s current location, using GPS technology. Other features will include: * Audible turn-by-turn directions, using GPS, right on your phone; * Allows users to enjoy the navigation experience while making and receiving phone calls; * Millions of points of interest to explore with the same quality and relevance offered on MapQuest.com; * Optimized routing calculation to find the fastest or shortest route, or to avoid toll roads, highways or other specific elements; * Full pedestrian navigation that ignores vehicle turning and one-way driving restrictions; * Print-quality dynamic color maps with zoom-in/out, pan and point on map functionality; * Intuitive location search for address, intersection or zip code, including unique “points of interest” search capabilities; * Automatic re-routing without the need to contact the server; and * Support for BREW, Java, BlackBerry, Windows mobile and Symbian. MapQuest expects the MapQuest Navigator service will be available through major U.S. wireless carriers later this year. To get more information, go to http://www.mapquest.com/mobile.

For what it's worth, I'm still a newbie, but I was tempted early on to run out there and place a cache, but thought better of it. Instead, I put a personal restriction of finding a minimum of 50 caches of differing types before placing my first. For the caches in my area, I realized I was only seeing a few examples of caches.d I wanted to get a good idea of the different kinds of caches in my area. In doing so, it led me to an important and early relevation--I enjoy caching more when I do the kind of caches I want to do (there's a thread about that somewhere in here). At 55 found, I've only done a few multi's and two virtuals, but of the traditional caches I've found the range and method of hiding has been pretty diverse. From an APE cache, to the ammo cans, to the old bison tube drilled into a log, a micro in a crowded part of Old Town Alexandria park, to the old magnetic keyholder under a bus stop bench, my experience has shown me a lot of different methods and types. When I was still at around 20 found, I posted a message to our local yahoo group asking for advice and one of the local caching veterans offered to help me with it and check my coords, etc.. Of course, a more veteran veteran cacher had helped him with his early caches. I would recommend reaching out to your local cachers for advice and help. They're easy to find--they're the ones logged on all the caches near your area. One place i did look for inspiration here in the forums is in the thread "Coolest cache containers." Have a look there for some great ideas. In any event, I reached my 50 cache benchmark and I'll be spending a few days here scouting and putting out my first cache. I hope my fellow cachers will enjoy it and give me an needed feedback.

My sentiments exactly, I bear no ill will towards O'Gara and just point it out because of my own 'misadventures' with the press...I fear that someone with the express saw the local broadcast news piece, thought it was interesting, and decided to pull something off the wire to run in the Express. To be fair, the Express article cut some of the original article (only so many column inches you know...). In any case, here is a direct quote from our local yahoo group that fits your suggestion--

Article in entirety is below and can be found at the following link. Cache prizes The high-tech treasure hunt known as geocaching draws legions of GPS hobbyists — but not without some controversy. By Hugo Martín Times Staff Writer February 16, 2006 "Do we go right?" Jack Ogborn asks his partner, Shirley O'Connell, as the couple hike up a dirt trail at the base of the Verdugo Mountains in Glendale. O'Connell's eyes are fixed on a hand-held GPS device that tells her their quarry is a few yards away and to the left, near a low-hanging maple tree. They stop when they reach the coordinates displayed on the tiny screen and begin to root through a patch of dried weeds and shrubs. "I found it!" Ogborn says, pulling out the hidden treasure: a camouflage-colored container filled with plastic toys. Just then, a man in baggy shorts walks by and gives the couple a suspecting stare. "Muggles," Ogborn sneers at the hiker. It's a term from the Harry Potter fantasy books, used to describe nonmagical folks. In Ogborn's world, muggles are people who don't understand or appreciate geocaching. Only two years ago, this retired couple from Arleta were muggles themselves. Now, geocaching is their passion. "We love it," O'Connell says. "We get caches, exercise and entertainment." Geocaching is a hobby that combines hiking and treasure hunting with the latest advances in portable global positioning system devices. Cachers, as they like to be called, hide waterproof containers — caches— and mark their exact locations with GPS coordinates that are posted on the Internet. Other cachers get the coordinates, punch the numbers into hand-held GPS receivers and follow the digital directions to the hidden prizes. What's inside the containers — usually cheap knickknacks, plastic toys and a logbook — is not significant. It's the challenge of the hunt that fuels this sport. Serious cachers compete to uncover the greatest number of caches. The world champion claims more than 12,000. The hobby is surging in popularity, almost doubling in new players annually for nearly six years. And now is the time of year when the pastime gains the most newcomers. More geocaching converts are born in December, January and February, because that is typically when people who receive GPS units as Christmas gifts discover that the hand-held devices have some recreational uses besides locating the nearest Starbucks outlet. But geocaching is not as simple as following directions from a GPS unit, which is accurate to within 10 feet at best. At the satellite coordinates, a cache might be placed inside a fake rock, a plastic apple, a man-made bird nest, even a knot in an oak tree. A cache can be as big as a car battery or as small as a pencil eraser. The extremely difficult caches come with clues posted on the Internet. Ogborn and O'Connell's favorite cache was in an Oxnard park where the GPS device led them to a patch of green grass. At the spot, they found nothing but a lowly snail. They gave up, but returned a few days later to find the same snail in the same spot. The snail, which was fake, was the cache and contained a tiny scroll instead of a logbook. Cachers track the birth of the hobby to May 1, 2000, the day President Clinton signed legislation giving the public access to extremely accurate satellite signals previously reserved for the military. Within days, computer-savvy adventurers began posting Internet GPS coordinates for hidden treasures in Oregon, California, Kansas and Illinois. Today, geocaching has grown into a sport with about 1 million players worldwide, enthusiasts who rummage through parks, trails and city streets in search of more than 222,000 caches in 219 countries, according to Geocaching.com, a leading geocaching website. There are now caches in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia and Lebanon. A brazen soul even put a cache in the arm of a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad. Attend a geocaching party and you are likely to meet baby boomers and retirees with an affinity for high-tech gadgets, brain-draining puzzles and outdoor adventures. The banter will be laced with words such as "travel bug" (an item that is moved from cache to cache), "spoiler" (a hint that gives away a hiding spot), "swag" (the trinkets found in the cache) and "microcache" (a very, very small hidden container). Sounds like a hobby for nerds? No doubt, but geocaching can be stimulating and addictive. "It's the challenge of the search that we like," says Frank Marler, a Navy veteran who along with his wife, Sandy, has uncovered about 300 caches in about a year. The hobby is not without controversy. Local, state and national park officials have mixed feelings about geocaching. Some park officials prohibit the hobby, and others allow it only with prior approval. Though cache hunting encourages outdoor exploration, national park officials are wary of visitors who leave sealed containers hidden on public land, particularly since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As a matter of federal policy, rangers are to confiscate all containers left for more than 24 hours on federal land. Rangers say that some cachers damage parkland by wandering off established trails and slogging through vegetation for the best hiding spot. A park ranger at the Mojave National Preserve uncovered a partially buried cache in a Native American archeological site. Kirk Gebicke, the preserve's supervising park ranger, says the cache he pulled from a rock cove in the site four years ago was one of about 40 caches he and other rangers have uncovered. "It's fun. I like doing it myself," he says of geocaching. But it can be destructive if cachers take the hobby into sensitive wilderness terrain, Gebicke says. Park officials such as Gebicke suggest that cachers take part in an alternative pastime called "virtual caching." Instead of searching for a hidden treasure, cachers follow GPS coordinates to a "virtual prize," such as a scenic view from a mountain peak or a little-known landmark in a city park. Bryan Roth, co-founder of Geocaching.com, concedes that some overenthusiastic cachers may damage the environment. But he says most cachers are law-abiding enthusiasts and concerned environmentalists. "We really don't want to damage the environment," he says. The rules for geocaching are simple: If you find a cache, you may take a prize from the container but you must replace it with a prize of your own. Each cache includes a logbook to sign as proof of your find. In the case of microcaches, you sign a tiny scroll hidden inside. Money, food and drugs are not allowed in the caches. You may not bury a cache or damage the surroundings. If you hide the cache on private land, you must get permission from the landlord. Geocaching has no governing body or enforcement arm. It's a pastime that operates on the honor system, and as a result, debates over the ethical way of playing the game are common at geocaching gatherings and online forums. One recurring discussion: Is the ultimate goal to attain a high cache count or is it to experience great adventures, meet new people and explore the great outdoors? For Steve O'Gara, an aerospace worker from Agoura Hills, the count is crucial. He ranks third in the world with more than 7,000 uncovered caches, an achievement he attributes to a technique he calls "power caching." When O'Gara takes his girlfriend and 14-year-old son power caching, he strives to find as many caches as possible. His record is 102 in a day. If O'Gara can't find a cache within seven minutes, he doesn't linger to enjoy the scenery. "If you don't find it in seven minutes, you are not going to find it," he says. To cut his search time, he concedes, he has forced his four-wheel-drive Jeep over hiking trails, sidewalks and public parkland. "I have no qualms about taking my Jeep over bushes," he says. O'Gara, a loud, gregarious Harley-Davidson aficionado with salt-and-pepper hair, takes pride in his cache count. At a gathering of geocachers in a crowded pizza joint in Camarillo, he loudly reminds others of his lofty status in the geocaching world and playfully teases those who have yet to crack the 1,000-cache mark.John NOBLE, a longtime hiker from Thousand Oaks, cringes at such talk. He got hooked on the hobby three years ago and sees it as another way to enjoy the outdoors. He has uncovered more than 1,000 caches, often with his three children in tow. Noble, an avid environmentalist, makes it a practice to pick up litter as he hunts for caches. Noble frowns upon O'Gara's technique. "I enjoy the sport but that's not what it's about for me," he says. "Steve will do anything if it means getting a cache." O'Gara knows he is the subject of scorn from fellow cachers, but he doesn't lose any sleep over it. "It's mindless fun," he says of the hobby. And it can be risky. About a year ago, O'Gara was questioned at gunpoint when police spotted him and friends searching for a cache near railroad tracks in Riverside. After the officers holstered their guns, the police told O'Gara that they feared the cachers were terrorists plotting to disrupt rail service. O'Gara and his friends were released with a warning. Marler, the Navy vet, says he was confronted about a year ago by two men who grew suspicious when they spotted him snooping around the gates of an elementary school in Point Hueneme. "Once you explain it, people are usually pretty cool," he adds. While O'Gara takes pleasure in uncovering caches, others, like Roland Herman of Thousand Oaks, delight in hiding caches. Herman, the manager of a high-tech company, works in his garage in his free time creating lifelike caches that blend into the environment. He takes pride in a real acorn he fitted with a tiny metal container that opens with a twist to reveal a tiny scroll inside. Herman hid the acorn in a hole in the bark of an oak tree. Herman has also fitted caches inside fake bolts on trail signs. He once hid a cache in a split log that was held together by magnets and concealed another in a plastic egg hidden in an abandoned bird's nest. "I get more fun trying to outwit them," he says of his fellow cachers. "When they find my caches, they get a real thrill from it too." Back at the base of the Verdugo Mountains, Ogborn, 78, and O'Connell, 84, put away their hiking poles and decide to try a "multi-cache," a hunt that involves two or more locations and multiple GPS coordinates. The cache is in the final location. The multi-cache should be a good challenge, says Ogborn, who, along with O'Connell, has uncovered more than 1,000 caches. Ogborn opens the trunk of his Honda Accord to reveal a hoard of geocaching paraphernalia: dozens of plastic film canisters he uses as cache containers, plastic toys to put in the caches, rubber gloves for reaching into dark, dirty places and a step ladder for getting at caches in trees. Ogborn is a retired gas company planner. O'Connell worked as a sales manager for a machinery firm. Two years ago, O'Connell's son introduced the couple to geocaching. At the time, they stayed in shape by power walking at a local mall. Ogborn and O'Connell did not consider themselves outdoors enthusiasts or computer wonks, but after only a few cache searches they were hooked. Now they attend geocaching parties, travel around the state in search of challenging quests and hide an occasional cache. "You don't always know what you are going to get into in this world," says O'Connell, who, like her partner, is polite and soft-spoken but energetic. The coordinates to the multi-cache lead the couple to a cul-de-sac behind a supermarket in La Cañada Flintridge. Ogborn becomes animated. He says the cacher who hid this is known for creating challenging hunts. Ogborn's GPS receiver says the first clue is 400 feet south of the car. The couple eye the GPS device as they stroll to a set of newspaper racks in front of a post office. The GPS unit indicates the cache is somewhere in or around the newspaper racks. Ogborn puts on his rubber gloves and reaches behind and below the newspaper racks. Nothing. O'Connell reminds Ogborn that this cache came with one clue: "Free homes, land and Cache." One of the racks distributes a free magazine called "Homes and Land." The couple agree that the clue refers to that rack. Ogborn reaches under the rack and finds a tiny cylinder container, the size of a AAA battery, stuck to the bottom with a magnet. Inside the container, he uncovers a tiny scroll that reads, "Box 1062 displays your next clue." Box 1062 must refer to a post office box in the nearby post office, the couple decide. They are right. Inside the tiny glass door of Box 1062, Ogborn and O'Connell see a set of handwritten coordinates. Ogborn punches the numbers into his GPS device, which tells him that the final cache is 470 feet north. The couple hike back toward their car at the end of the cul-de-sac. The GPS receiver directs Ogborn and O'Connell to a spot on the sidewalk, bordered by a scrawny tree and a knee-high bush. There is nothing in the tree so, with his gloved hand, Ogborn reaches under the bush. "He thinks he's going to get us on this last one," a determined Ogborn says of the cacher who hid the container. The couple root around for a few minutes until O'Connell pulls out a green plastic water jug from behind the bush — the final cache. She pops open the lid and pours out the contents: a toy car, an eraser, a plastic coin, a pen and a logbook. "That was a good one," Ogborn says as O'Connell signs the logbook. "It almost got me." The couple put the jug back in its hiding place and shuffle back to their car. They buckle up and speed off. Another cache is waiting to be found.

This article has been discussed previously in this thread, but it has now shown up in the Washington Post Express. The Express is a free small paper available at across the D.C. metro area and at every subway stop. You can see the article at this link and selecting p. 29. Now I know that O Gara had a number of defenders in the previous thread, but when it showed up in our region, a number of folks in our local group weren't real happy with the notion of destructive behavior in these quotes-- This particularly upsetting because just last Friday and over the weekend, local Fox affiliate did a wonderfully positive segment on geocaching featuring some of the more veteran cachers in our area. The reporter actually had to find the caches! So, you might imagine how it hurt a bit to see this in print with a wider audience than the segment on the Fox affiliate. From reading the previous thread, I'm sure O'Gara is a swell guy and was using some of his dry humor that the reporter decided to use (it's happened to me before even though I explicitly explained that all my comments were off the record, and I almost lost my job!). Surely, a fellow with that many finds and hides is much more sensitive to the parks and nature than what the reporter attributed to him. I mention all this to caution geocachers to be very careful when dealing with the press. From the previous thread, I could see that the story was originally in the LA Times. The Times put it on the wire and a South Florida publication picked it up, and next thing you know the Washington Post has it in their Express. Be aware that the interview you do in Seattle could easily make it to a paper in Buffalo. And what you say in jest very may well make it into print and hurt the positive PR other geocachers are generating in other parts of the country. And remember rule #1 of dealing with the press; you are NEVER, EVER, 'off the record.' <steps off soapbox>