JKMonkey

Only "?" caches I've found so far have been fake bolts.

Talk about increasing the difficulty level O_o

From what I've always been told, a Five Star Terrain difficulty requires special equipment. Since swimming doesn't really require any special equipment (aside from maybe water wings xD) it should be maybe a 3.5, 4 depending on the length of the swim and condition of the water.

well you did find it so i dont see why not

I'm 18 and I do caching 100% independent of my family. Just ask mom to take the car out and go find a few with some friends, seems like a healthy hobby for a teenager to have, it's a shame more don't.

IMO, the CO shouldn't have given away any hints for the FTF, after that you can show them the cache for all I care but how can it you reward someone with a FTF if they needed hints to be the first to find it?

This sounds like the best cource of action. The other day I was talking to a friend of mine whose 17 and his responce to my explanation of Geocaching was "So why don't people just steal the caches?" When I tried to explain that it just ruins the game, he joked that he would go around and steal caches, then keep them as a prize for himself (which he was only joking about, but still it shows that even the oldest kids aren't as respectful as they should be with caches). If you do use an actual cache, make sure it's either a temp or archived, don't need any more MIA active caches xD.

Just being out in nature and the thrill of the hunt were reason's enough for me to get started, but once you start paying attention to your find count and other stats you kinda get addicted.

A magnetic compass is an essentila part of any cacher's "Cacheing Kit", never go wandering through an unfarmiliar place without a good ol' compass, never know when your GPSr will die or be dropped.

just buy the TB and put the code on the custom TB that you make. It might cost the same but it'll make it a bit more unique

Check with the CO, but it's common courtesy to not give away the exact location or container contents, at least from what I've seen anyway.

Personally when I get to a cache site I touch everything. If it moves I check under it, if not I leave it alone, unless it's obvious that it's not moving (i.e. A locked electrical box, no need to go cutting off the lock to check inside for a cache that won't be there.)

Doesn't matter whether the guy parked legally or not, he's FTF regardless.

Also look for one-one 1/2 star caches, those tend to be kid friendly, but remember to always look at the attributes!

I came into the game with the idea of just doing it alone and it ended up that I've only done one out of my eleven caches alone (and it turns out to have been my first). You'll find or convert someone just give it time

Could just be bad coords. But then again, if it was done deliberately, what would it be classified as?

I dont even know how that would get passed by a reviewer, I mean isnt it their job to kind of get rid of these potentially dangerous caches?

It's only possible if they didn't sign the logs and leapfrogged to each individual cache without any breaks. Technically doable, but not practical or likely.

Don't know why it would be considered cheating, I mean you did find it, which is the point of the game.

I never quite understood that. Like are come cachers so obsessed with not logging a DNF that they think if they can't find it it's not there? Personally I would log a Needs Maintenance only if a cache needed maintaining, if a cache is actually lost I'd probably just chock it up to me not finding it. A few DNF's in a row by different people should give away that the cache is gone.

Well it's plastic so it wouldn't set off any metal detectors, but you might want to keep their lids off and in ziploc bags just to be safe.

That's insane! Who would travel over 1000 miles for one cache?

Kind of hard to hide larger caches close to humanity, it only makes sense that 80% of caches would be micros to reduce their risk of being muggled and make them easier to hide.

Wow, 19 on your first day!? Most I've ever gotten in one day is two

looks like an awesome cache! just looked it up and its only 20 miles away from me, definately going to get this one next weekend!