KG1960

Me = 57 Son who has been with me on about half of the hunts and has own user name and GPSr = 19 Wife who occasionally goes with us and enjoys it, about the same as me.

Welcome, Vicki I hope you will have as fun with this as I have had. I just started this last spring. Cold? Who cares? I have about 18 finds since the first of the year. I grew up in Des Plaines and my mother still lives there. We have found several caches in the Forest Preserves near Des Plaines when visiting her (haven't been there this winter though). Most of those would be reasonable to do in the winter even with a bit of snow on the ground (note I said a bit, not two feet). One advantage of caching when it's cold is that hardly anyone else is around. We are thinking of visiting my mother in a couple of of weeks. If the weather is good enough to drive in, then it's good enough for this 57 year old to try a few more Froest Preserve caches. Good luck caching!!

Yes, footprints!! I found a cache in a somewhat remote city park. Found it - no problems. Then two or three days later, another cacher found it. In his log he said that the only footprints in the whole park were from the previous cacher!

I am also somewhat new at this. As the others have said, it's pretty much up to you. I have never been asked for a hint, but my thoughts at the moment are that if I thought that the person has made a sincere attempt at finding the cache rather than just being lazy about it, I would be more inclined to give a hint. However, how you would know that from a simple email, I don't know. Good luck with your geocaching endeavors. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

There's a state park near here that allows hunting in certain areas. A newspaper article this year said a lot more area was opened up for hunting (it's archery deer season now with two weekends for firearms). I advised my son, who recently bought his own GPS, not to go there until deer season is over. I wouldn't go there either. I am not sure if I could tell which parts allow hunting and which don't, so why take a chance - there are enough city parks around that do not allow hunting to take care of any geocache urges.

The Advanced Auto stores around here sell a 24 pack of AA's for $4.88. That's what I use. They seem to work well and I always carry extra ones in my pocket. I use NiMH in my digital camera but that's not on continuously.

I'm somewhat new at this. My first find was just last Memorial Day weekend with a borrowed GPS. Within a week of that I had my own, and now have about 65 finds. I like hiking in the woods so that is my preference for where to look for caches, although I have done other kinds. I haven't moved/taken/logged any TB's because I'm never sure just when I might go on the next hunt and would feel pressured into doing it just to get to TB moving again. My son enjoys geocaching, too, and has been along with me on about half of my finds. In fact, he just bought himself a GPS. My wife has been along sometimes and enjoys it, although I think she likes hiking in the woods more than geocaching itself. I usually don't trade anything. However, I'm also a rock hound and have a tumbler to polish rocks, and I usually leave some polished rocks in the caches I find (that is, when I remember to take some when I leave home). During the last couple of months, I have also gotten into Waymarking. I have listed about 44 waymarks and have about that many visits. I'm interested in historical sites, sites having to do with technology or historical technology, nature sites, sites with good scenic views, and similar. Waymarking looks like a way of finding out about these examples that otherwise I might not be aware of.

What Occam said are my thought exactly! - especially the local history aspect of it. Yes, *.loc is a good first step.

Upon opening the home page, I'll glance at the new waymark listing and look at the new category list. I'll then probalby search for all waymarks using my own zip code to see if anything new is nearby, or I'll use the zip code for someplace that I might be going to. If I have an idea for creating a new waymark, I'll check its zip code to make sure no one else has already way marked it. I'll take a look at the forums, too (obviously, here I am!).

I really didn't know anything about geocaching until some one mentioned it on another forum that I participate in - a forum on polishing rocks (lapidary). He mentioned some of his caching activities and gave this web address, gc.com. I checked it out and it looked interesting. Also, luckily, we had a GPSr at work from way back (a real dinosuar) so I borrowed it and found my first cache. I had bought my own by my second cache.

On August 30, I visited and logged an airplane museum that was listed under the History Museum category. Now I noticed that this same museum is also now listed under Aviation Museums. May I log a visit for the new listing using the same date as my original visit or do I have to go there a second time?

Geocaching is perhaps my favorite activity in the woods. I'm not real crazy about urban caches but have done a few. However, Waymarking I find to be very fascinating. I enjoy seeing historical entities such as sites, buildings, other structure, or even just a historical marker sign. There is a site near here that has a piece of the Berlin wall on display. This being central Illinois, there is a fair amount of things related to Abraham Lincoln. I already knew general things but there are a lot of details that I wasn't aware of that I find fascinating. I have published a waymark for an old courthouse where Lincoln practiced law. One more thing, I travel a fair amount for my job and find it fairly easy to log a waymark over lunch hour or get enough info to publish one. Plus, I don't have to worry about hiking through a forest and getting mud, bristles, or whatever all over me (that has happened while geocaching) and then having to go back to work.

I do both geocaching and Waymarking. They are different enough that I can't directly compare them with each other. I greatly enjoy hunting for a cache in the woods - perhaps my favorite outdoor actvity. I also like Waymarking. I have visited historically or otherwise interesting places that I not have otherwise bothered with. I have learned some tidbits of historical information that I didn't know before, and I find that quite interesing. So far I have published two waymarks and visited 13 others. Not high numbers but the first one was done in the first week of August. I plan on increaasing those number as I get the opportunities to do so.

For the last few years one of my other hobbies has been rebuilding a 1960 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. I started using KG1960 as my online name in an air-cooled VW forum which turned out to be quite useful at times. Since then I have used that name everywhere else. That way my little brain has only one name to remeber!

I think at least some bushwhacking is what makes all this interesting. However, sometimes I will do a quick cache over lunch hour (I get a full hour) at a nearby city park, and in that case I may prefer no bushwhacking so I don't end up having to go back to work covered in mud or whatever. Some indication would be nice although many cache descriptions already say something about how much bushwhacking is required. As the previous post said, the season may be important. We did some caches in May in a nearby state park and there was little undergrowth. We went to the same park last week and the undergrowth was waist to chest high in places. (edited for grammar correction)

In my mind, I really don't see why some people get all hung up on what's in the cache as long as there is a log. Only once have I ever taken anything. I polish rocks by tumbling them, so I usually leave some polished rocks even though I don't take anything. The thrill for me is in the hunt. The thrill is seeing wildlife while hiking through the woods. The thrill is getting over rougher terrain than I would have otherwise tried. As far as mementos of the caches go, the online log is good enough for me. But, of course, each to his own.

You are trying to navigate on the surface of a sphere with a flat map. It won't work. The shortest distance along the surface of a sphere between two points on the surface is along a great circle. A great circle is a circle around the sphere that has its center at the center of the sphere. Example, the shortest flying distance between Chicago and Frankfurt, Germany is a route that goes over Greenland, not straight east. When leaving Frankfurt to go to Chicago (Frankfurt is at a more northerly latitude), you have to fly some to the north to have the shortest way to Chicago. Use a globe, not a flat map, and it will be obvious.

It looks like many have already, but it still sounds like a good idea. On the home page of geocaching.com on the top left is a menu choice "Hide and seek a cache". You can search by keyword. I tried "fisherman" and got 100 returns. I looked at only 3 or 4 of them. It sounded like the caches had some fishing accessories in them such as hooks, sinker, etc. and/or were placed near fishing spots. I haven't actually found any so all I know what I read in the descriptions. Just because others have done a fishing theme doesn't mean you shouldn't. It sounds like a good idea.

Even Mapquest will show the city streets by the park. About a month ago I was in Springfield, IL, overnight on business so I decided to try a few caches (without maps). Even though I had been to this city many times, a certain cache was in a park on a side of town that I had never been to. The park turned out to be inside a subdivision. Just using the arrow on my GPSr, I eventually found the entrance. I just had to circle around a few times getting closer and closer and after several dead ends.

My pet peeve about surveys are that sometimes you have to pick just one response out of several when in reality several of the responses may fit. Example: Do you geocache- 1. alone 2. with family 3. with friends I could pick all of them. A better way with this question would be to indicate percentages of each one rather than having to choose just one. I do think your idea of a survey would be very interesting, and I would be interested in seeing the final results.

Like Ibycus said, whether or not I might follow the request depends on what it is. If it's reasonable, I'll play along, why not? I found what might be called a mini-micro. All it had was a tiny piece of paper too small to sign but with the instructions to write, when you log online, a fantasy story about what you would hide in the cache. That was kind of interesting. Anyway, even if my post gets deleted, what's one less smiley?

We always have liked hiking and other outdoor activities, but usually reserved those for vacations and special trips. With geocaching, we have been out a lot more frequently. We have discovered parks that were unknown to us and discovered parts of other parks that we didn't know were there. Cool!

I usually have a small, cheap 99 cent pocket knife. I have never carried aflashlight yet.

Looks like 378 within 50 miles. Since I have only about 40 finds so far, there's no lack of opportunity here.

22 miles, I hadn't realized there were so many so close!