Quest Master

Hey! I'm glad you enjoyed the cache! Thanks for all of the kind words! If you do make it back to the Fayette Cong be sure to try out some of the other fine caches hidden there.

You can't go wrong caching in the "Fayette Cong" as it is affectionately known by geocachers in this part of the world. There are no junk caches here. Yet. Let me recommend my two favorite hides: Sand Quarry Polly Takes the Plunge

Untrue. State Forest "Wild Areas" should not be confused with "Natural Areas". Geocaches ARE allowed in State Forest Wild Areas with a permit.

Ah man....it was disabled last time I was out that way, but I managed to get the one that it's based on during my return trip. It's definitely on the top of my list to do. All ready to go. *LAME* as new!

There are 3 nice caches in the Peters Lake area which is a little closer than Mingo. Peter's Lake Geocache (GCHTT8) My Cache Runneth Over (GCJTN6) A Bridge Too Far (GCKDTH) There is also a really interesting park and grab nearby: The Centaur's Delight (GCMF05) This is definitely worth checking out if you like old ruins and stuff!

I've heard tale that TRI-GO is going to have a regular forum in the near future. I don't know how near because I'm not privy to that and because we're too far disorganized to have a timetable. Thank goodness for that. Whatever you do, don't sign up for a premium membership to get the MOC's. There are exactly 7 MOC's within 100 miles of Pittsbugh (15222). One of them (mine) is disabled. Two (including the disabled one) are in PA, Three are in OH, and there is one each in WV and MD. I don't see that there is anything special in this list. While we're on the off-topic boast about DNF to find ratios, nobody has ever legitimately found my MOC. Woo Hoo! It requres genius, of course, to hide some dinky thing where nobody can find it.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=gcq6kx

I remembered this old thread and it reminded me of something that happened up in the mountains near my home in Southwestern PA. I looked it up in the newspaper archives which in turn inspired me to make a cache out of it. Here's a preview: On December 4, 1993, a deer hunter accidentally found the site of this “cache”. It was a very strange thing to find out here in the middle of the woods. It looked like some kind of a mysterious altar or shrine. The centerpiece was a large triangular rock with “Tony + Joyce” and “My Lady – My Love” carved into it. The lone item set up on it was a pack of cigarettes tucked neatly under a glass bottle. The altar was flanked on either side by handmade stone walls which had traces of a residue that appeared to be wax from candles that had burned there. An empty picture frame was nailed to a nearby tree and a faded Polaroid photograph was found at its base. The “cache” was found beside the altar under a large flat rock. It was a coffee can that contained a small picture of a woman in a bathing suit, a six-inch statue of a boy and girl hugging, and a half-dozen pieces of female undergarments – panties in the woods! The authorities were notified and the state police in Greensburg were called in to investigate. They brought in a team of ten searchers and bloodhounds but nothing more was found other than a few empty beer cans which were believed to be unrelated to the case. They found no evidence of foul play but the mystery of this strange site and the rouge cache that had been placed without a permit from the Bureau of Forestry warranted further investigation. They were concerned for the safety of the woman in the pictures because they believed that she might possibly be a crime victim. Who was she? Was this Joyce? What had happened to her? Was she in any danger? Did she or Tony have a permit to hide this cache of panties in the woods? The investigation dragged on for almost two weeks before the mystery was solved. If you want to know the end of this story, you’ll have to find the cache… I swear that I didn’t make this stuff up! This really did happen and my account of it is factual. Here's the really weird part: When I went to hide this cache, I was aiming for a spot true to the newspaper accounts and I stumbled across THE rock with “Tony + Joyce” etched into it. Try to imagine my surprise! This graffito has been here for close to 15 years! I got a little creeped out finding this. If you want to try this cache, it will be released in conjuction with an event cache (GCP1WK) being held nearby at Laurel Summit State Park on July 10.

I think that the position of the PGC is actually that they don't have an "official" position and I, for one, would like to see it stay that way. If we play nice and respect their rules and don't endanger the game or interfere with the hunters, they won't have to adopt an official geocaching policy that could end up being very restrictive. I maintain very informal and cordial relations with a few wardens and land managers. They really don't want to enforce any rules against our silly game but they will if they have to. Don't give them a reason.

Are there any turkey hunters on this board who can comment on any issues relating to sharing the woods with geocachers? I think that the risk of being shot by a turkey hunter is just about nil but I am concerned that I might disturb them in this activity. I don't worry so much about deer season because the hunters tell me that I might actually help them by kicking out the deer. I just have to concern myself with not looking like a deer so that I don't accidentally get shot by a high powered rifle. I don't know but I'm pretty sure that turkey hunting is different. I don't think that I would be helping them out much by crashing around through the woods when they're trying to do their calls and stuff. Is it inconsiderate to go geocaching in an area where people are turkey hunting? Should I just stay out of the woods until after 12:00? Do they hunt turkey on Sundays? When does the season end?

I don't know about rude or arrogant but I've heard tale that my local approver has been brandishing a "legalistic cudgel". I'm not sure what that is but I'm very afraid.

Zzzzzzzzzzz..... Wake me up when you get to 348.

Ack! I wish that the numbers would go away whenever I read a post like this. I have no numbers-related goals. I write logs to share something of the experience of finding the cache with the person who hid it and the rest of the community. If it isn't an experience worth mentioning, I don't log it at all. If people are logging my caches for the sole purpose of getting their number, I'd prefer that they didn't log at all.

Thanks for posting this! I was unaware of the recognition. I don't know how much the cache contributed to keeping the area clean because it doesn't see a whole lot of traffic but I'm pleased that somebody thinks that it's making a difference. It probably does help some whenever somebody picks up even one bag of the most obvious trash because litter does tend to attract more litter. People tend to think twice about throwing down a beer can in a cleaned-up area. I'd personally like to thank everyone who tried this cache and did their part to pick up some of the garbage.

Oops, I misunderstood. I was wondering about your totals, however. Are virts included in the totals? I was also considering something that was posted a few days ago. It stands to reason that as we grow, more caches will be placed in urban areas. This hasn't stopped caches from being placed in rural areas, however. There are more people in urban areas, and those areas tend to support mostly micros. Rural areas have less people and, therefore, less caches. These caches tend to include a higher percentage of 'traditional' caches. I'm starting to see why CR doesn't like to read your posts. Virtuals were included in my figures. The percentage totals for micros would increase slightly if they were omitted but that wouldn't change the trend The fact that more people live in urban areas is completely irrelevant. They (collectively) are living in the same place that they have always lived. They just choose to hide a greater percentage of micros these days.

I'm not sure how you did your math but you definitely got that last figure wrong. You were probably confused by my cumulative totals which are confusing. I did that because it was convenient rather than taking it a step further to show the true year by year totals. Those would work out to be: 2001: (1%) 1 micro, 93 total caches 2002: (4%) 9 micros, 206 total caches 2003: (15%) 52 micros, 346 total caches 2004: (29%) 172 micros, 591 total caches 2005: (56%) 83 micros, 149 total caches Healthy? Like I said before, it depends on your perspective.

I said that I wouldn't bother to crunch the numbers but I did anyway. My data is a collection of caches located within 100 miles of my home in Southwestern Pennsylvania. I'll offer results based on time to appease sbell. Cumulative totals thru: 2001: (1%) 1 micro, 93 total caches 2002: (3%) 10 micros, 299 total caches 2003: (10%) 62 micros, 645 total caches 2004: (19%) 234 micros, 1236 total caches 2005: (23%) 317 micros, 1385 total caches I think that 23% is a low number relative to most areas. I'll consider myself lucky. I see, however, that the trend toward micros is accellerating. This same data reveals that 83 out of 149 (55%) of the caches placed so far this year were micros. Admittedly this number may be skewed somewhat due to the weather but I'm definitely seeing a trend. The writing is on the wall.

That depends entirely on your point of view. This thread is discussing the direction of geocaching which I believe to be moving away from the "long-hikes" genre of geocaches and toward the "urban micro" type. This is my perception. I could crunch the numbers like CR did but I'm not going to bother because I'm quite sure that I would get the same sort of result. It seems to be less and less about location, location, location, and more and more abount numbers, numbers, numbers. Some will like this trend. Some not. The people who will hunt anything, won't care one way or another. Is the game being ruined? Like I said, that depends on your point of view.

One can't help but notice that there are a lot of people posting to this thread who have no concept of what this game was like a few years ago. One can't help but think that they have precious little perspective on the direction of this game.

I don't think it's funny. You just don't get it do you. This isn't a protest. It's resignation. He's given up on geocaching. This cacher enjoyed the "significant hike" cache and that's what he hid. He has archived all but one and that one will be gone soon also. You think it's funny. I think it's sad. He doesn't see that there is a future for this type of cache. Few people in his area are hunting them and even fewer are hiding them. The old school geocachers are disappearing and they won't be coming back. The significant hikers aren't going to give this site a second look after they type in their home zip and see that this game is hide-and-seek in parking lots and "find number xx out of yy caches today". My favorite hiders left the game a long time ago and I know that they won't be coming back. It's sad. I'm not laughing. I can forsee the day that I will lose interest and quit hiding also. When the micro bombers hit my hometown a la Nashville, it will be time to go. Enjoy it while you still can.

Dibs on the turpike micros!! LMAO!!

...and break it.

The new "lists" feature, when fully realized, could be a good tool to promote quality caches. I think there have been discussions about creating a special ratings list (like the watch list, or ignore list, only different) that would be used for some kind of ratings system. This might encourage quality hides and/or inspire a lot of petty politics and bickering but something's got to give. Kill the stats. Kill them dead. Let them be viewable only to the account holder. Stop the counts seen on the cache pages at 99+. If somebody with 99+ finds DNF's my cache, that's the same as somebody with 5000 finds not finding it. I don't need to know this number for any other reason.

I disagree. I think that this advice is to continue doing what you're doing. If you would not enjoy looking for a specific cache (or type of cache), don't. Only go after the caches that you believe will bring you joy. Some people like only caches that give them a nice commune with nature. Others only like numbers runs. Still others like all of them. Whatever your likes or dislikes are, try to choose your caches to visit as few of the stinkers as possible. Of course you won't be able to totally avoid crummy caches. Will you miss some good ones because they were toss out with the chaff? Yup. Luckily, there are plenty to look for. Disagree all you want, and delete my "rude" logs while you're at it, but don't expect me or anyone else to continue to play and contribute to a game that evolves into a big pile of lame. It's an oversimplification to say that a proliferation of junk caches does not harm the game for those players who are not content to hunt anything for a stat. This game and this website is only as good as its content. My favorite hiders disappeared from this game a log time ago and they won't be so easily replaced. These types aren't going to be very impressed when they type in their home zip and see that this is a game of hide-and-seek in parking lots. If there are any such caches that might appeal to them still left out there somewhere, they won't see them because they'll be way down on page #19 of their search on account of some genius who conjured up the "Chihuahua Series" of 102 magneto-microscraps stuck on guardrails and lightposts. And you can forget about them signing up for a premium account to get the ignore feature because they'll be ignoring this mess from the get go. There was a time when I didn't have to pick and choose which caches I hunted. It seemed like everybody had actually read the site's tutorial for creating a cache and paid attention to it: I regret that this site has lost that vision and is evolving towards numbers, numbers, numbers rather than location, location, location. When the cache polluters start bombing my area (and they will) it will be time for me to list my stuff elsewhere or take my ammo cans and go home. Have fun with that...

Tell them that their "Pot of Gold" is on Quest Master's ignore list.