Mrs. Captain Picard

I just got back from Saint Kitts, and find myself with two countries listed in my stats--St. Kitts, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Evidently, this problem hasn't been resolved in the past 4 years. Is anyone out there writing this down????

I propose that we change the wording on the cache submission page from "Listing is Active" (with checkbox) to "Ready to be Found" or "Cache is in place and ready to be found, if appropriate" or "cache is available to be found now" or some other language to that effect. Recently, we've had several instances where a listing is posted, people run out to be FTF, look for hours and hours, and then here comes the cache owner, with cache in hand, ready to put it out. Usually, the owner didn't "realize" that the listing would be approved so quickly and they thought they had time to get the cache in place before people started looking for it. You can imagine how unhappy the FTF hopefuls are! I think part of this problem is that the word "active" in the submission form is pretty ambiguous. If you said the words I suggested above, it might be more clear exactly what you are signifying when you check that box. Also, a checkmark is a default here. If you made a blank box the default, the cache owner would have to THINK ABOUT checking the box, and it would prompt them to read the purpose for the box and make a better decision. Obviously, these are fairly new players and communication at a local level isn't an option because these people most likely aren't connected to the community yet. A few simple changes might help steer these people in the right direction! Mrs. Captain Picard

Nonsense! I travel alot and I enjoy finding the cards, which I consider collectible as signature items, even when they are not in "pristine" condition. In all honesty, I usually stuff them down my cleavage, and they look worse when I get back to the car than when I found them, but that's ok! I always take all the cards that are in a cache, and I keep them in a box in my closet. Hope to find yours in a cache soon!

Hey Duncan, this thread has really grown into a treasure trove of best caches. Geocachers come through again! After recovering from my trip to San Diego, I'd have to say that my favorite area was Point Loma for its scenic beauty and historic significance. I enjoyed hiking in the Laguna Mtns and consider myself really, really fortunate that you took me caching there. Getting a FTF was a thrill!!! And I saw the best fake rock I've ever seen there. I'll try to come back soon and clean out all the rest of the caches I missed the first time! OR, if you run out of puzzle caches, you can come visit in Austin and snag a zillion or two!!!

I'm coming into town this weekend, but I don't know where Tuna Mountain is! Can you name a cache that's there?

Jeremy, my bike riding event was GCKQWK. You can see the discussion I was having with our approver. Originally, the cache page described how we would practice our "route" function in the GPS by riding our bikes to find one of my caches. I was told that "going geocaching is not an event". I changed the notes to remove the caching and resubmitted. You will be able to see the conversation that followed in the approver notes.

Jeremy just told me that the forums were the venue for protesting denied caches, so I suggest we post here rather than direct communication. I don't have anything against our approver personally. I've never met him. And if we stick to the facts, I think its more productive than many other things that have been happening.

Jeremy, I'll check and see if I got an automated reply. Thanks for your interest. In Austin, we communicate using a YahooGroup. I just posted a note asking people to post here with factual information on instances where LEGITIMATE caches or events were rejected. I asked them to give the facts and leave the high emotion out of it. Hopefully, if there's truly a problem, you'll see it and be willing to act to resolve it. Julie

Jeremy, yes, I sent an email to the "contact us" link on the website and never got a reply. But no, I didn't post to the forums. First, because I'm not a regular participant here, but second, because at the time I didn't want to get "black balled" in Texas by publicly calling our approver out. I want to get my caches approved! I hope other Texans will post their bad experiences backed by fact instead of emotion so if a real problem is identified, it can be corrected. I'm sure that's what you want, too. I can't tell you how many hours of adventure GC.com has given me, and I want to be able to move our sport FORWARD in Texas rather than backward! But there's something in the way down here......

Jeremy, my protest relates to the fact that postings in Texas seem to be rejected for purely arbitrary reasons! I've organized a number of fun events ranging from camping to juggling and the usual eating. All of a sudden, it appears that the only acceptable event that can be held in Texas is one that originates in a restaurant. And then we were told we needed a two week advance notice for events. HUH? The event I was organizing that got disapproved was a bike ride where we would teach about the routing function in GPSs and practice it on a bike ride. The Events Calendar that weekend was full of similar events, some involving geocaching, some not, the whole range. But MINE was rejected because our state's approver said a bike ride was not an event. Just because he FELT LIKE a bike ride was not an event. There just was no valid reason I shouldn't have been able to hold an event centered around bicycles. I offered changes to my event to fit whatever criteria he had, but he had decided my event was going to be disapproved and that was that. No bicycling event. That just tells me that there is something getting in the way of the promotion of geocaching as a sport. Here, we're trying to build our community, and we can't get through our very own GC.com approver to do it! I Want To Have A Biking Event!!!!!!!!! Why can't I?

Before she broke up with her musician boyfriend, you could almost always find her at the club where he was performing...... now you're on your own!

MustangPhreak & Phate's suggestion of the Veloway is a good one unless you prefer longer distances. It's a paved three-mile loop that is so beautiful and twisty that you don't feel like you're going in circles. It's exclusive to bikes and rollerbladers and it's quite unique to Austin. After hitting the three caches there, you can ride over to other nearby caches. To find the caches there, just search on Veloway.

TreyB's suggestion for the greenbelt is for mountain biking only. I'm a cacher and a road rider in Austin, and if you'll tell me the distance you prefer, whether you prefer city riding or country riding, and how far you're willing to travel outside Austin, I'll make sure you get a couple of my favorite routes and possibly some maps to go with it. My favorite book on the subject is The Best Bike Rides in Texas by Andy White which can be found at bookstores. It's got good maps and it's good about getting you on safe roads away from traffic. The Austin Cycling Association also stages large group rides every Saturday and Sunday morning with varying distances leaving from different points on the outskirts of town. Here's their web site: http://www.ccsi.com/~aca/ For the ACA rides, you show up at the starting point, they hand you a map and try to split up the group by distance, but the group doesn't necessarily stay together. Have a great time in Austin! Feel free to hit MY caches near downtown Austin: Kirk vs. Picard Terra's Treasure SoCo--SoCool Let Me Count the Ways All were nominated for this years Austin's Cache Awards.

There was nothing wrong with virtuals the way they were before they started getting rejected. I can say for certain that some virtuals I have gone on have all the adventure and surprise that a good cache has. I've been to some places that have blown me away, but I would have NEVER gone there but for a virtual. It is ALWAYS MY CHOICE which caches I go after. I want all my choices available to me on one website.