KG1960

There was cache that I found that was laying out in the open on the ground under a tree. There was a hollow in the tree about 5 feet off the ground so I put it back in there. The hint seemed to indicate this is where it should go. 2 or 3 subsequent posts also said they found the cache in the open on the ground. I'm guessing that some animal took exception to having an ammo box in his livingroom. The masked bandit in the previous post would be my first suspect.

On another forum that I participate in about rock collecting and rock polishing via tumbling and other methods, someone mentioned they do geocaching, briefly described it, and listed geocaching.com. I checked out the web site, it sounded interesting, and there were a couple of caches just a few miles from my house. It happened that we had an old Magellan GPS at work so I borrowed it over a weekend and found one cache. Liked it so much I bought my own GPS and here I am! You should have seen this old GPS. It had a detached antenna with a 6 foot wire and an external battery pack that came with a belt to hold it around your waist. It must have been quite a sight wandering around with this thing!

You're right - that would be awesome!! However, I just looked at the Illinois DNR web site and viewed some of the maps they have for some of the state parks that I am familiar with. The maps, which you can view on your computer and download to print, seem too general or too large a scale to be of much use with a GPS. The error might be extreme at small scales. Plus, they seem to show just the main trails and not the smaller side trails. So, I'm guessing that more detailed trail maps don't exist. Also, I would assume that each brand of GPS has their own proprietary map format. Although, it would be great if one could get such maps into one's GPS.

Yes, the center of Illinois is in a town named Chestnut, and there is a marker there that I have waymarked.

I don't think I have ever traveled more than about 10 or 15 miles one way for the sole purpose of caching. Today is typical example: We traveled about 100 miles round trip to meet parents-in-law for dinner and a visit. We found three caches in their area on the way home.

Another possibility is Waymarking.com. For example, Scout65 mentioned the airport by Lincoln, IL. The airplane museum, a military memorial, and the airport itself are waymarked, so that would be something to perhaps go after. Or, you can create some waymarks yourself. Since the museum is open to the public (as are some areas of the airport) there shouldn't be any problems with security (I don't believe that this airport has any commercial flights - that might be the difference). I have logged visits on the mentioned waymarks. The next time I am in the area and have extra time, I thinking of stopping by again and creating waymarks of some the museums aircraft under the category, "static aircraft displays". So, this is another option.

Remember also that trading items is not required. Only once have I ever taken anything. That was one of the time my wife was with and we found a plastic key fob that said Illinois State Univ. (where my wife went). Luckily I happened to have some new pens with me so we left a couple of those. Other than that I have never taken anything. The main reason is that the hunt is the thrill for me and I don't really care what's in the cache or even if there is anything at all. Secondly, I really haven't found much that I would want. My son has more than once made the comment, "Looks like somebody cleaned out the back seat of their car and put it all in here." Plus, quite often I found the items in the cache to be deteriorated or damaged. In a recent find there was standing water in the cache container. Fortunately the log was sealed in a plastic bag and was in good condition but the same couldn't be said for the other items. Whatever that I may have left would soon be damaged like all the other stuff, so why bother? Of course, how you enjoy this hobby is entirely up to you, but my method is to enjoy the hunt and enjoy being outdoor observing nature.

We found one cache with a camera in it, GCJMPR. The owner posted the photos, and we are numbers VT2007-12 and 13. A nice idea. I like Tally Dragon's idea of making a collage out of the pictures. That would make it easier to go through the photos trying to find mine. There are about 70 something photos posted on that one cache we found.

I would take Geoscooter's suggestion and see a doctor. After a week it should be getting better, at least not worse, even if you hadn't done anything about it. You do know, of course, that the remedies that you already have tried may need to be used for a few days before they have any affect. Good luck!

You can also go to the web site of your state's DNR or Dept. of Conservation or whatevber they call themselves. The Illinois one states their geocaching policies and requirements. The site also lists contact numbers for all of the state parks and recreation areas.

What I would do is log a DNF and briefly describe what you did in your attempt to find it. Then wait and see if anyone else eventually finds it. There is a tendency to think (I know this from experience) that the cache is missing when one can't find it, when it was there all the time. Don't lose sleep over not finding one every so often - there's plenty more to find!

It seems odd that someone would put their address on their keys. I wouldn't. Drive by the address to satisfy your curiosity, but I would be very wary of actually going up to the front door. I would just mail the keys to the address (without any return address).

Of all the hobbies I have ever done, geocaching is the cheapest. Here are some I haven't seen mentioned yet. I'm a railroad nut. In May I drove 660 miles to attend the annual meet of a railroad historical society that I'm a member of (the meet is in a different city each year). Four nights in hotels, 1400 miles worth of gas, food, and meet fee = $700. By the way, I did some geocaching on this trip also - the cheap part of the trip! Now about model railroading: I have several locomotive models in the $100 to $150 range and several a bit less. It is possible to spend maybe $3,000 for a hand-built brass locomotive model (I don't have any of those). Throw in many RR cars and a layout to run it all on. I estimate I may have around $4,000 total in all my model RR stuff.

I just finished the survey. I would be interested in seeing the results, thanks!

Wow! Nice car! Note my online name. It stands for my 1960 VW Karmann Ghia.

I did as exactly as Ragtop2 said. Everything works fine (to a GPSMAP 60). If you just a handfull or less of waypoints to load, then this method is fine, but if you want to load a bunch of them, then the Pocket Query is the way to go.

My wife usually doesn't go with me and my son (or me alone) when we do caches in our home area, but on trips and vacations she comes along and enjoys it. Sometimes she finds it before the rest of us. Here's my experience. Last summer I had a summer intern with me. She was going to enter graduate school that fall. My job requires a fair amount of travel (day time) in my district. One day we were going to be in a small town and I saw that there was a cache in the local city park. It looked like it would be an easy one to do over the lunch hour. I told her about it and asked if she would be interested in finding it. Sure she said. I let her hold the GPSr and we followed the arrow. We had to make our own trail the last 200 feet or so through the woods. She liked it so much that we did several more lunch time caches through the summer. Another example. I'm in a rock and fossil club and we had a recent field trip to look for fossils. I brought my GPSr along (but there were no caches in the area). A girl in the club asked how the GPSr was working and I showed her some of its features. I then talked about geocaching and she said that it sounded like fun, so maybe next field trip there might a cache or two in the area in the area to do. So, see, there are girls that like geocaching. Just keep looking!

Or, maybe he didn't have computer access until he got home to Colorado and got his dates mixed up when he logged it.

I probably would have gone for the cache, but I would have to see the area first and maybe know its background. The cache hider, no doubt, went right past the sign when hiding his cache, so I think he should have mentioned in his writeup exactly what its intention was.

I'm a rockhound and polish rocks in a tumbler. I leave a couple of polished rocks in the cache, that is, when absent-minded me remembers to take some along when I leave home. Even when I leave some rocks, I hardly ever take anything. Quite often, I leave nothing - take nothing. From these forums many cachers do that - TN, LN. For me the thrill is in the hunt (and hiking through a woods) and not what's in the cache. My leaving some polished rocks is my way of showing my appreciation of other cachers for hiding their caches.

A thought has come to me about cell phones a few times especially when I'm out in some more remote spots of state parks or even city parks If you had to call for help, say you fell and broke a leg, could you tell the rescuers were to find you? Like even the name of the park? I don't always pay attention to all of that myself. I know, obviously, you could tell them the coords, but that may delay things while they try to figure it out.

I also seem to have this same problem. I found three caches on April 24, 2007. I do a regular search by zip code and get a list of caches. The one I found in this zip code does not have a red check mark by it, nor does it have my found date. However, clicking on this cache and going to its page and scrolling down to the logs, I see my "found it" log properly entered. Example: Moffitt Nature Park Cache, GCTHNN.

As others have said, when I tell about geocaching, some people seem interested and others not. The ones not usually shrug their shoulders and have no further comment beyond some neutral statement. But, there was this one guy who wouldn't let it rest. Everytime he saw me, he would say something stupid at me and laugh. Finally, I put out my hand like I was wanting to shake hands and I said, "I appreciate you paying your taxes. Thank you for helping pay for a 100 billion dollar satelite system that lets me find Tupperware containers hid in tree stumps." He never said a thing after that.

Did it

Just had a thought - look up a cache or two in a Forest Preserve. Find the ones with a recent visit, and go there. Then follow the tracks in the snow. I know this may sound like cheating, but since you are just starting out, try it. You can then get familiar with how your GPSr reacts in the field.