Kissyfurs

Now that I'm no longer a "newbie" and I'll write logs as long as I want, I do have another question- how do I find out what my average log length is?

What's "common-sense" for you, isn't for another person. I live in the middle of nowhere, literally. There's not a store in walking distance and I work an hour away. Could I move closer to my job to lessen my carbon footprint? Sure. Am I going to? NO WAY! I built a log cabin in the woods with no neighbors because I wanted a log cabin in the woods with no neighbors. I don't see anything wrong with the way I choose to live. If I'm doing any reducing, it's to save money, so we can agree there. I don't tell my kids to turn off the lights because PBS says I should, I do it because my electric bill is three digits long. However, I don't believe that in doing so, I'm having any sort of impact on the environment. I figure it's a game of averages. All of your conservations efforts are zeroing out my non-efforts, so we come out flush in the end I believe the planet has ways to renew itself. While enough of any activity can certainly have an effect, I don't believe we've hit the level where we are seriously damaging the planet yet. I don't dispute that it's possible we could get there, but I think that as a whole, the small changes companies have made along with some major conservation efforts are what's going to keep us afloat, not my turning off the tap water when I brush my teeth. It's not a bad thing and I don't think anyone has presented it as so. I'm simply giving you my point of view which differs from yours. We've having a friendly, computerized discussion. No one has run either of us out of town for expressing our opinions. Just because I disagree with you, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. We'd have nothing to talk about if we all agreed...

Do you really care? The environmental impact is minimal. Instead of geocaching they could be riding quads and dirtbikes ripping up natural lands, driving drunk and end up crashing on a mountain and have all the chemicals from a car leak into the water usplly for hundreds and thousands of plants and animals. Or even better, and it's only one word. NASCAR. Or what about all the fuel burned everytime a spacecraft is launched. No, per user, a geocacher has way less impact than other passtimes. Come to think of it a group of 5 or 10 cachers going out once a month probably impacts the environment less than the transport of one NASCAR racecar, once. Of course I care - or I wouldn't have raised the point, would I? And the extreme examples you cite, presumably to try to prove your point, do nothing to make me feel less of a duty to act responsibly. Pointing to some dramatic excess by others to justify our own excesses is just lazy. While I don't buy into the whole spiel about global warming (that's a separate discussion), if you're worried about environment impact, there are several things more damaging to the environment than cars- air conditioning for one. Should those people in a Southern environment suffer through the heat and discontinue the use of their A/C for an overall impact that is almost immeasurable? Do you consider the “environmental impact” of everything that you do? Washing dishes uses up valuable water- PBS is always after my kids to conserve water (never mind that it’s a renewable resource). However, using paper plates is killing trees. Each article of clothing you buy supports factories which pump more pollution into the air than one car could ever hope to. Practically everything you do can be related to some detrimental impact to the environment. They key point is that those impacts are miniscule and practically immeasurable. Do you really believe that we should entirely change our way of life and reduce our enjoyment of the earth because of these impacts? Perhaps you do, and that’s OK- feel free to join greenfleet and ease your conscious a bit. The consensus seems to be not to push the way you enjoy the game onto other people. I don’t feel my driving to and from a cache, or two, or ten, has an overall negative effect on the environment. Why limit my enjoyment of the game or tell me what I can (and can’t) do just to fit with your beliefs? If you feel strongly about the issue, don’t do that challenge. You’re free to enjoy the game as you see fit, so let others do the same.

OK, I give up and have to ask. Did a search, went through 3 pages of forums, and apparently everyone is smarter than I... What exactly is GSAK? What does it stand for? I see it mentioned everywhere but the context keeps throwing me off and I can't figure out what it is...

I'm fairly new to the game (only 51 found caches), but I'm noticing a huge discrepancy in difficulty/terrain ratings and in coordinates for caches. I think that once someone finds the cache, they should be able to enter what they feel is the difficulty/terrain rating. While the CO's ratings would stand, other users could see what people who found the cache believe it is. For example, there is a cache with a difficulty rating of 1.5 stars. I've been searching three times and have gone with a total of 4 other people- we can't find it (CO verified it's in place). However, I did a 3.5/3.5 cache today with a friend in heels and dress pants and found it in less than 30 seconds of searching. Also, I've seen several caches that have an incorrect size listed. A cache listed as a small that was a key holder, a hollowed out log that barely had room for a log and pencil listed a regular and another that could hold small items listed as a nano. I e-mailed the CO all three times, but haven't received a response on any of them. Just my two cents...

A minor injury, but my only geocaching mishap so far (it's early in the game, give it time). Don't view the log if blood makes you squeemish! Fair warning... My failed FTF

I have to be honest- I usually avoid these types of caches. However, since I've now cherry picked the easy caches near where I work, I now have to either find these ones or skip lunch time caching. I just went for a cache this morning with a friend before work. It was on a billboard in a VERY busy intersection. Forget stealth- we just looked (for about 15 minutes until we came up with the find). While at least 200 cars probably drove by in that time frame, not one person stopped or asked what we were doing. I think most people are too wrapped up in their day to day to give you much of a second thought. It was much easier than I anticipated it to be. The best hint that I received was to get a hard hat and a reflective vest. I'm considering trying that... If you can, stick to caches that are in less populated areas to begin with. Once you get the feel for how they are hiding, it should cut down on your search time and if you do decide to go for high traffic areas, hopefully it won't take as long to find the goods.

I recently went after a newly published cache in my area, hoping to score my second FTF. The cache was listed as a regular size cache, so I brought along two (what I consider to be) nice pieces of SWAG to trade- a moleskin notebook and a small maglite flashlight from a set that I bought in bulk. Despite the cache being published the night before, I was lucky enough to get the FTF. It was noted on the cache page that there was a FTF prize, and it turned out to be a $10 GC to a local convenience store. The catch, however, was that the cache was one of the hollowed out geoching.com logs with a very small space inside- not what I was expecting at all for a regular size cache. Neither of the two pieces of SWAG that I brought along would fit and there was nothing else in the cache aside from the logbook. I signed the log and took the GC- and I noted on the cache that the SWAG I brought wouldn't fit and for future cachers to be aware that while the container may be regular size, the hiding space within is certainly not. I stopped by later in the day and dropped off a few carabineers that I purchased at the local dollar store. I kind of feel like I gipped the cache of a good prize which leads me to my two questions: 1. Is the FTF "prize" (assuming there is one) considered to be SWAG and subject to the trade even/up rules? 2. Any ideas for small smaller "good" swag that I can put in caches of this size?

I've seen a couple of people refer to power trails? What are these and how do I find them?

For me, I feel the same way. I started geocaching last year and did about 20 caches. I put the standard TFTC or wrote a sentence or two. By the end of summer, I lost my infatuation with the sport and quickly forgot about it. This summer, I decided to pick it up again, if for no other reason than to have something to do on my lunch hour at work. I've found that I really enjoy telling my story- from how I decided on that particular cache to all the follies that ensured on the way to said cache. Sometimes, writing about the cache is the most memorable part of the cache for me! It's good to see that my novels are not frowned upon! Since I rarely do more than one cache a day, there's no risk of cut-and-paste logs from me, either.

I've seen challenges on local cacher's pages- I think one is called the Delorme challenge (or something similar) where they're trying to get a cache in every county or every grid of the state- are these also dead and gone?

I'm thinking about hiding my first cache and had two questions: 1. Is it possible to get accurate GPS coordinates using only an iphone? I do have an Explorist, but I hate it. I've used it a handful of times and I personally find my iphone much more user friendly and easier to use. To be fair, I never gave the explorist much of a chance, but it just irritated me in the small chance that I did give it, so it resides in the top junk drawer for the most part. 2. How do I find out who owns a piece of land that I want to hide a cache on? There is a sawmill by my parents house with a rather large pond behind it in the woods. I always assumed the sawmill owned the pond, and I grew up fishing there all through the summer with the local neighborhood kids. when I approached them about hiding the cache, they informed me that this wasn't their property. Several leads later, I still can't find the correct owner. Is there an easy way to find this out? I really wanted to put a cahce here as it's a place that a lot of people don't know exists and I had a lot of fun here growing up.

If people were logging DNFs, that cacher would know in advance that it's a tricky cache. I completely agree. If you’re not prepared to log a DNF for a cache that YOU DIDN’T FIND, then don’t play the game. If I see a cache with a lot of DNFs logged, I’ll generally skip it as I’m fairly new to this whole endeavor. However, I’m also just as peeved when I do hunt for a cache and read the notes later- “finally found on my third trip”, “Found the second time around with XXX cacher” or “Had to call the CO for 6 hints before I was able to find it, fortunately the flashing neon light with ‘cache here’ that he placed especially for me led me in the right direction”. Man up, hike your skirt and log the DNF. Your 100% find rate only impresses the newbie too inexperienced to know better…

Growing up, I LOVED the cartoon Kissyfur, despite the fact that it only ran two seasons. My dad started calling me Kissyfurs after the cartoon and it just stuck. Now, no one, and I mean NO ONE remembers the cartoon.

There are no strict rules of what you have to do- Just go with what feels right for you. If it was me, I'd log a find by anyone in the family, regardless of how many members were there. If stats are, or if you think they may become, important to you, then have everyone keep their same account. It may be a fun game to see if the kids can get more finds than mom or dad. Bottom line is to figure out what works for you and to go with it.

Glad you had such a good first experience. Since it sounds like you plan to bring your daughter along, my best advice is to do a little research ahead of time. Look at the terrain/difficulty ratings of the cache. Nothing will kill your enthusiasm faster than going after difficult caches and not being able to find them. Pay attention to the size as well- if she's looking to trade for item, stick to the regular size containers. Take some time to explore the forums- there is a lot that you can learn! Most of all, have fun and enjoy!

I completely agree with that. I log a DNF if it has to do directly with the cache. If I can't find it for reasons unrelated to the cache hunt - like I ran out of gas I don't post it. +1 for this. I often find that I sometimes begin to search and run out of time or the place gets overrun by muggles- that's a DNF for me. Why is everyone so scared of putting a DNF on their log? Do they bite???

I discovered it by accident. I did an internet search (can't remember for what now) but something about geocaching came up as a result. I said "what the heck is geocaching?" and it's been a learning experience from there. Don't forget that geocaching is a relatively new sport/activity. I think it's going to become more popular along with the advances in technology and I fear that's not a good thing for the future of geocaching...

My best trick- act like you're on your cell phone and poking at the lamp post to relive the boredom of talking to the person on the other line!

I think you need to let go of the hard feelings and move on. Think about it for a minute- suppose you saw a football game for the first time in your life. You loved it so much, that you decided to go see three more. After seeing these 4 games, you decided to organize one of your own and invited everyone in town to come play. The game is most likely going to be a disaster as you probably don't know all of the rules of the game, you're not familiar with all of the penalties and you might not even know who to set up the field properly or who plays what position. The people that took time out of their day to come to and participate in that game are probably going to be a little bit upset. You can relate this to anything in life that you try before you have a full understanding. What's important is that you've realized your mistake and you're fixing it. You've found the forums and you're investigating the official rules (and perhaps the "unofficial" ones- I have my own opinion on those that I'll refrain from). You're learning what cachers like and dislike. Your hides are getting better and you're getting some positive responses. Maintain the caches that you've put out and just enjoy the game for awhile. Find some caches with your children and don't worry about being part of the geocaching "community"- it will happen by chance, not by force. On a personal note, I've found between 30-40 caches right now. I'm not an expert by any means and I record my fair share of DNF logs. I've seen a small fraction of the ways that a cache can be hidden and I have no intention to hide one of my own until at least next year. For now, I'm enjoying learning all about this new adventure and introducing it to my current friends. I've taken a girl that I work with caching at lunch time 7 or 8 times. She finally set up her own account and in one weekend, now has more finds than I've managed to get in over a year. Perhaps you want to try this activity with some of your current friends rather than searching for new ones. One last piece of advice, from one newbie to another. It's not necessarily about the cache, it's about the journey to get there. Even with such a low number of finds, I may not remember what a cache looked like, or what was in it, but I can probably tell you a story about each one and things that I've learned- the closest parking spot to the cache is not always the best route, Terrain/difficulty ratings are there for a reason, always have an extra shirt on hand, etc. Don't try to force things to happen, just enjoy the sport.

My previous two attempts at a FTF were foiled by the same guy- he e-mailed me to say that he wouldn't be going for this until the afternoon (maybe he isn't such a jerk after all) so I was sure the cops were going to stop by or I was going to be bitten by a poisonious snake or attacked by rabid dogs or...

Here's my log from this morning- Oh, Happy Day! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?ID=3701481

Added this log today, being encouraged by all the positive responses here! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=46cdfed8-5707-4489-879a-edef1dc8f587

Thanks for all the great feedback. Your responses have convinced me to take even more time on my logs and really give people something to enjoy. No more two sentence logs from me. The world is about to hear about every bloody toe, every misguided bushwack, every bee's nest and every attacking furry (and non-furry) critter. PS- the toe still hurts like a mother-something. To add insult to injury, the FTF went to a guy who beat me the previous day by 14 minutes on what would have been my first EVER FTF. As of this writing, I am still sporting a band-aid on my tootsie and FTF-less

I have to admit that when I saw the topic, I thought the OP was complaining about long logs, and I was eager to give them a piece of my mind. Instead I find a group of like minded individuals here that enjoy a good story. We're not all extinct yet. I still occasionally write a long nostalgic log OUT IN THE FIELD LOG / NOTEBOOK (I don't mean from a Cell Phone) for a cache that reminds me of the good old days. It often took longer back then to read through the logbook than it took to make the find. Actually, I think I liked your recent circuitous Johnstown Park FIND even more. And it was GASP, even longer. You are about as close to Pittsburgh as I am to Philadelphia. If you ever travel 150 miles East, please find one or two of my multi hour Multi-Caches and write stories as long as you like. I will keep it in mind when I head towards Gettysburg in a few weeks!