The Li'l Bears

No sooner did I send this, then a whole bunch of new caches suddenly appeared - approved! I guess - never mind ...???? ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Just curious. We've had almost immediate approval here in KY since the addition of an admin for our state . I also noticed on the main page that the newest cache in TN was listed on Monday and that was one of the last 15 listed. Surely there have been more submissions since then... Hmmmm.... Must be the new submission form. At least noticing this, I'm not taking waiting personally (big grin). On the contary, I'm going to take the opportunity with no new caches to FIND to get all my HIDDEN ones finally typed up and submitted. That way when everything kicks in again there'll be an eye-popping wave to get people around here back out on the trails. ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Definitely want to throw our congrats in too. Way to go you clever devil (although I'm still more impressed with your many HIDES, than you finds) ~ Poppy Bear Good Job! ~Tynan and Bryn Bears ...and he has a full time job too? ~ Momsy Bear EEEEA ahhh OO spth EEEEEEEEE (giggle) ~ Aedon and Nolan Bears (hey they're only 16 mos) ~The Li'l Bears (from Lexington, KY) PS: It's nice to see so many of the Geocky memebers are keeping tabs on you ! Thanks for everything you bring to the game and brought to our fledgling group here in CKY. ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

I'd like to add to Nate's response to Mojo's concerns. We only got involved because we knew that the land managers were ALREADY getting ready to write guidelines. We didn't want KY to go the way of other states where the guidelines were written without input from Geocachers. Many of THOSE guidelines were VERY limiting for people wanting to place caches. True, many were later adjusted, but only after months of pulled caches and overall difficulty for all involved ... not to mention an erosion of trust and cooperation. By being proactive, we're hoping to avoid all that and start with good relations right from the beginning. We're all hoping for clear, easy to follow rules that make sense to all parties involved (Hiders, Seekers, and Managers). The best way we can see towards this goal is to work with the agencies before and while they come up with policies. Keep in mind, they were already getting ready to do this anyway (without us). We're just hoping to have a voice in the process. Greg, AKA: Poppy Bear of the Li'l Bears, ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

You were a big step ahead of me on getting this topic up. I too am a member of GEOCKY and am feeling a lot more optimistic these days about the new sets of rules that are coming out of various state park systems. For a while there, it looked like state after state was going to ban caching in the SP systems. Anyone else had any experience with dealing with land-management people? Also curious if the National Parks are a complete dead issue or if there could be some fututre compromise there too. Poppy Bear ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

The usual locationless rules are that you can only claim one find, even if you find 2 completely different qualifying spots. However, with this being a 2 person effort, can you get a find as a helper and as an instigator? I'm doing one for someone as Helper and would love to do one based on our name too. Greg, AKA Poppy Bear The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY [This message was edited by The Li'l Bears on February 01, 2003 at 09:08 PM.]

Following an incident where a cache was placed in a nature preserve without permission, there has been a ban on caching in KY State Nature Preserves. The cache in question was at Pilot Knob and unfortunately it went so far as to suggest an alternate route to the cache that was clearly marked as "Out of Bounds". This unfortunately was a bad introduction of Geocaching to the Preserve managers. They pointed out that the "short-cut" was both dangerous and through sensitive areas both geologically and ecologically. They contacted Jeremy who immediately archived the cache, which has since been physically removed. As a result of all this, they have now placed a ban on ALL caching at ALL State Nature Preserves (including virtuals). Our group, GEOCKY, is planning to meet with these officials to try to repair the damage and come up with a plan that will protect Geocaching AND the Preserves and Parks in the state. My guess is that any agreement that we can reach with the Preserves will ere on the side of protecting nature (since that the focus of the preserves in the first place) where as the agreement with the parks will be more middle of the road. That said, we agree that cachers (as a general lot) are pretty heads-up people who are respectful of nature and are good stewards of the places we visit. The whole "Cache In Trash Out" movement is clear evidence of this. I would think that caching ought to be able to coexist with any type of park or preserve as long as we do things in a good manner ... for instance, a cache in a Preserve should not take seekers off trail, bushwacking through sensitive areas (which could generally be about anywhere in a preserve.) BUT, what if cachers take extra care to place a clever cache that is tricky to find, but easy to get to on an established trail. There is a cache in the Raven Run Nature Sanctuary (in Fayette County, KY ... just SE of Lexington) that is of this type. Hope this helps fill readers in on what is going on here in KY and what GEOCKY is trying to do to help with the whole situation. Unfortunately, we have been getting several responses telling us that we should just mind our own business. I'm afraid that if the responsible geocachers in this game don't take a stand and work to improve relations with park and preserve managers, it could jeapordize caching in some of the best places for caching in the first place. Not to mention that it could result in literally 100s of existing caches being removed by park officials if geocaching is banned in state or local parks ... and that's just here in CKY. Luckily there have not been too many caches placed in or around preserves and at least one of them has already been voluntarily removed by the cache owner pending the outcome of our meetings with the preserve people in a few weeks. Greg AKA Poppy Bear of ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

I can't believe this thread is STILL going. Well for anyone in KY caching that's missed it... Show Me the Cache will be celebrating #1000 with an event in the Loisville area this coming weekend. The event cache is up now and is called 'Show Me The 1000th Cache' ... what else? We HOPE to make it but are still unsure. 3 of our 4 girls are just starting to get over being sick right now. Fingers crossed. Poppy Seed of ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

With the X-mas rush over traffic is returning to normal. It shouldn't be ANYTHING like trying to get out of Bella Notte last time. Calvin & Tammy: glad you guys can make it! Nate: Nice work. Let's come up with a simple dues or something to spread the initial costs out. Maybe $5-10/ team to get everything going and leave a li'l extra ...? TTF: Still impressed with the name ! PY: Let's go cachin' WDP: (in particular Jen): wanna go 2? WC: see ya soon ... R the bugs on their way back from FL? Have a wonderful New Year's Everyone! Sleep it all off while we're out cachin tomorrow .... Later, Poppy Bear ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

I'll put up an event page now! Stay tuned to see when it gets approved. One other thought is that the UK BBall game is at 4:00 that day. I suppose we COULD pick a spot that'll have the game so that after meeting we could stick around and watch the game. Course we could just go somewhere else to watch the game and if it's on regular TV I should watch it at home anyway. Just a scrambled thought to throw out. I still like the Cafe best. Poppy Bear of ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Such hospitable Yankees the Hoys are ! Nate, your place would be fine with me, so would Joe Beth. I do think INDOORS would be the best for encouraging sitting and talking. Cold is fine for crawling up and down hills looking for sticks, but it gets cold just sitting. Having kids I'd guess your place might be easier for you all (even though you would be hosting). We have parties here for all major events now because even the work of throwing a party is easier than getting the whole bear clan out to someplace else. Let's hear from Jen and Paddy too about whether the date/time is good. Then if all agree, why don't you post the event cache and use the best parking spot for the coords. Course it would be funny to just post the coords outside your front door and not tell any of us your address so you can watch us all wandering around outside your windows with our GPSrs. Then again, that may get you evicted (LOL ). Whatever we do, we need to get it up SOON. quote: If 3-4 people reply to this (or email me) that they are serious about it as a long-term thing, then I will buy the domain tonight or Thursday and (hopefully) have it set up by Saturday, pointing to a placeholder on my webspace for now. As for the Domian name, I think it IS a good idea and the direction we should go. I really like Team Tired Feet's acronym so maybe something like www.geocky.com (or org, or whatever). All sounds good folks, Poppy Bear ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

First of all that acronym is pronounced Jockey as it ties in so well with the Bluegrass region. (Thanks Team Tired Feet for that one). I'm starting this thread because we are working on starting a Central KY Geocaching club in e-mails that are getting hard to follow. This way we can pull all those ideas together and brainstorm a li'l more... We would also love to get comments and suggestions from people and/or groups outside CKY who have already gone through this process in their areas. So far we've talked about putting up a simple web site to get things started with the possibility of it growing into something bigger and fancier (like what Michigan has). We've discussed what should be on that site like: active cachers in this area, pictures, contact info, a must do cache list, etc.. We've also talked about putting forth a blanket proposal from the group to the Parks and Rec. people here in towm to come up with a general geocaching agreement to help promote both geocaching and proper use of the parks. Hopefully this could simplify the permission process for caches or maybe even make it a blanket permission as long as we follow some common sense guidelines. Finally, we've talked about sitting down over coffee (and maybe Tiramisu) at JoeBeth Cafe to hash some of this out in person. Everone up for another event cache? I think someone suggested JoeBeth Cafe, 2pm Saturday 1/4/03? If there's agreement one of us could post the cache. I'll do it unless someone else WANTS to. This is (as Joe would say) Soooooooooo Coooool to see caching here taking off so well. So what say you Jen, Patrick, Nate, TTF ( like the new shorter name), Wendy, Calvin, and anyone else that;s interested...? Greg: AKA Poppy Bear from ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

This is my favorite cache to date, despite almost knocking myself out looking for it. At least I didn't break my leg like the fella that was hunting it's sister cache in Nashville. Joe put us down as helping hide this and I want everyone to know we take NO credit for this. We'll check on it for him to keep it in good shape, but it took me over 2 hours to find the damned thing myself. As Joe would say (if he weren't such a humble guy), It's Tooooooooooo Coooooooooooooool! Thanks again joGPS! Greg, AKA Poppy Bear from ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

GEOcachers of Central KY ...pronounced Jockey to tie in with our area's ties with horse racing. Hey, thanks for starting this thread. Geocaching has just recently exploded in Central KY and we are in the process of trying to organize a group and website. I'm sure we'll be contacting and checking on a lot of the sites and groups listed above. If anyone has any good pointers to help us avoid potential pitfalls, I'd appreciate them either privately or on the thread. Thanks, Greg, AKA Poppy Bear of ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Oops ... replied to the wrong thread ... Sorry, Poppy Bear of ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Never have I been more intrigued by a cache I haven't even been to yet. I can't wait to try this one. I hope we don't walk tight in and just stumble upon it by dumb luck. ~GG ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Never have I been more intrigued by a cache I haven't even been to yet. I can't wait to try this one. I hope we don't walk tight in and just stumble upon it by dumb luck. ~GG ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Less than 24 hours from the big event. I hope the weather clears up, especially since we seem to have outdone ourselves on the caches . I count 12 new ones this week (counting the event itself). Not to mention the new one we're making and any TB's people will be exchanging. I put the TB on the event page since I'm giving it to joGPS to take back south. Looking forward. BTW Jenn, it will just be ONE Bear. Everyone else will be away at noon-time . ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Less than 24 hours from the big event. I hope the weather clears up, especially since we seem to have outdone ourselves on the caches . I count 12 new ones this week (counting the event itself). Not to mention the new one we're making and any TB's people will be exchanging. I put the TB on the event page since I'm giving it to joGPS to take back south. Looking forward. BTW Jenn, it will just be ONE Bear. Everyone else will be away at noon-time . ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Before (and since) Travel Bugs came out, other people have weird things that travel around. Check out the links section of the main site for info on the Monkey cache and I think on the nuts too. I've seen them somewhere, they're their own little game and I believe they are trying to collect current nuts to renumber them for a new game. Seems like they are in the southwest, maybe arizona. The monkeys are in PA. Wooden nickels have caught on in OH ... etc. It shouldn't effect you putting out a cache. These things just might end up in your cache for people trading. ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Yes, I believe a flare gun would probably kill someone in the range that you'd likely be using it in self-defense. Careful where ya point that thing. ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Since event caches are really a one day (even certain time) thing, this, I think, would be different. For instance a X-mas cache that only lasts from Thanksgiving to X-mas .... or a B-day cache that contains X present to be given to the first X cachers. When the cache is empty, archive it. Of course I don't see any reason you can't do it within the current structure. Just post a note when the cache is getting close to it's end so people won't search it after it's gone. In fact, edit the cache to warn people that it's leaving soon. Anyone hunting a cache that they last printed more than a week or two ago is just being silly. I do have some that I haven't had time to find that I printed FOREVER ago BUT, I'll double check them before I go find them at this point. JMHO, Greg ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

I know that the Pirates, Paddy, and I are planning to bring stuff. I'll be supplying the box, log, etc and some 'Bear' stuff. Please bring something to add, especially signature stuff. We'll be giving the final cache away for someone to hide (I think). Anyway, someone will take it to hide. I'm also gonna bring a 'Do-It-Yourself Travel Bug Kit' complete with Groundspeak Tags. Looking forward to meeting ya'll. Greg (Poppy Bear) ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

I know that the Pirates, Paddy, and I are planning to bring stuff. I'll be supplying the box, log, etc and some 'Bear' stuff. Please bring something to add, especially signature stuff. We'll be giving the final cache away for someone to hide (I think). Anyway, someone will take it to hide. I'm also gonna bring a 'Do-It-Yourself Travel Bug Kit' complete with Groundspeak Tags. Looking forward to meeting ya'll. Greg (Poppy Bear) ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY

Here in Lexington, KY we have about 5 of us that all compete for the FTF. We call it a "woo Hoo" in refernce to Paddy Yenar who has about as many FTF in KY as anyone. IN CNY, where my mom (MaMa Bear) caches, she and others put really nice prizes in for the FTF which make it even worse. She likes to use TBs, Canadian Geocoins, and WG $$ for FTF prizes. GG ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY