swizzle

No its not on that site. I can't even click on NY. As far as the whole No Trespassing thing goes I wonder if they are intentionally posting the sign to keep the area to themselves and their own families. Kind of a private perk beach to the people that work in that building. The first guy, the surveour, said he just came back from alaska and geocaching is big up there. So he definately knows what geocaching is. The other guy acted like he's come across a few caches/cachers but they both might not understand the whole concept of the game I suppose. I looked on the dec's interactive mapping program and it highlights all of the dec areas in green. The area that I'm being told is state land isn't highlighted at all. Can there be a difference between state land and dec state land or are they one in the same? Swizzle

Here's a copy and paste from my email that the reviewer sent to me about the one spot in question. There never was a cache here. You can view archived caches you have found. You should not need to view any archived caches you have not logged. I think I'm going to email him another spot I want to know about and give him the link to this thread. He did answer my question about this one spot. I don't think he understands the value of these archives. I'm not going to flood him with e-mails though. But its nice to know that he can look up these for me even if it does make him grumpy. Swizzle

So I go to the field office of the Hudson River Black River Regulating District today to look for state lands around the Great Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondacks that haven't been allocated to permit owners. The guy seemed like he was trying to help me without actually trying to help me. Acted like everything was too offical or needed a special request from a higher up. I wanted to know where public access was on the lake so I could place some caches. He kept telling me that the state land all around the lake is almost completely blocked by private land. I then asked him if I could put a cache on the field office property. Its right on the lake and its state land. That would also require special permission and he started acting nervous. He told me he'd have to ask another guy. I ask if I could talk to the guy instead of him playing the middle man. A bit reluctantly he went and got the guy. I talked to him for a while and because of potential "security" issues I'm not allowed to put a cache on their field office property. He then told me about a spot just down the road where I could place a cache. Has lake access, overviews a lot of the towns, hamlets and villages that are now under water. That's what I'm looking for is spots like this around the lake that I can set up my history of the lake cache at. He said there's a gate and just walk around it and I can go all through this area. There's a mile stretch of state land here. I say thanx and leave. Go to the spot an there's a sign that says no trespassing on the gate. I turned right back around and told him I can't put a cache here, no one will go to it if that sign is there. He agreed and said that he's not quite even sure why that sign is there and that he'll go check on it. I am far from intimidating. I'm 5'2" and quite laidback and both of these guys were acting like a caught them with there pants down? Well anyways we get the ok to go down and I ask him if I can get it in writing that its ok for anyone to access that spot. He can't do it and obviously didn't know who could give me that type of note to add to my cache page. He says he'll go check on the sign but I don't think he's going to. Sounds to me like he just wishes I would walk away and forget about it. Well with the ok me and wifey and 2 boys head down to the beach and scope the spot out and other then the plywood, roofing tin, old junk tires, boat trailer, some type of junk platform and some other misc. junk its nice. I'm guessing that they don't want the general public to know about it. Maybe there's more "state trash" that I haven't seen yet. If he doesn't remove the sign or put a different sign up that isn't a no trespassing sign then what should I do next. I really want to open up this spot. I honestly don't think they should have it gated off. If they didn't though I'm sure the place would be trashed. Has anyone else this much trouble finding state land thats accessible to everyone? Sometime this week I'll be going to the DEC to access more maps of wilderness areas. I just want a bit of help on how to push the right buttons without pushing to hard. The first guy said it would take him weeks to go through all the maps for me to get the maps that I want to look at. After all there's 400 of them. In the half hour that I was there I went through 50 maps. It just seems like he's trying to keep me in the dark about something. Any ideas? Swizzle

With your fake rock I also read that before it dries you take a real rock that has some bumps or some type of texture to it and press that all over your fake rock to give it some texture. Swizzle

And then there are caches where the baggie is the entire container. Wrap a baggie in camo duct tape and call it a cache! Already found 2 of those this year. One was a little more creative. They used burap and something to stiffen it and then wrapped it in camo duct tape. Swizzle

No comment at this time!!!

Careful there. First off who gets to decide when my cache stops being mine and is suddenly free for the taking. That property isn't abandoned, it's cached. Second of all the archived Geocaching.com listing just may be listed elsewhere. You better be sure about what you are taking before you take it. Well that should be obvious when you pick it up and there's a stash note for another site. "There should be a stash note right?" If its a navicache or something else then the logbook should easily reveal the last person that found it. If the last find was over a year ago and it looks like a geocache then I personally wouldn't have any problems removing it myself. If everything is nice and dry and the contents are still good to go then I'd try to find out who the owner is and email them and see if they want to unarchive it or adopt it out if they are no longer cachin'. I'm talking about removing geotrash, mushy logs and vintage micky d toys. I have no intentions of stealing an ammo can full of geocoins. Most of the caches in 2005 and back were tupperware. At least all that I have found that date back that far. Swizzle

The reason a cache was archived and it's history can tell you about the viablity of a new hide in the area. It can also tell you what may make that location viable for a cache. A classic case of those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. OK. I can understand that I've found a great place for a cache, maybe in an old cemetery. So I wonder, "Why are there no caches here already?". Seems simple enough to email my reviewer and ask "Were there any caches that used be here that are archived and if so why were they archived?" Then I can use that information to decide if I want to try putting a new cache in that location or perhaps what I could do differently so that my cache won't have the same problems. I don't see why I would need to find all the old archived locations just out of curiosity as to where someone might have had a cache in the past. And while it might be admirable to go looking for abandoned caches to remove the litter, how do I really know the cache is abandoned versus the cache owner just decided no to deal with Geocaching.com any more? I can't see Geocaching.com having any official need to provide information on archived caches just so someone can go remove something that isn't theirs to remove in the first place. I've already e-mailed my reviewer about a spot going on about 30 hours ago now. Still no response. Using the archives are great for finding new spots for caches. I just moved to this area in January and as I already posted above if it wasn't for the archived cache that I was looking for I never would have found the 3 nature trails along side of an old aquaduct that is 2 miles long and a nice easy walk. Well I may have found it without the archive but by then someone else may have put their caches there. Also if I find a cache that has been archived from well over a year ago and the owner hasn't logged on in a year then I can assume that he's not coming back anytime soon. Am I suppose to leave an archived cache in place just in case the guy decides to come back after a year. If he sees my cache there and wants his container back bad enough he can email me. I may even work with him to give him his location back. Depending on the situation. You make it sound like I'm hunting for ammo cans and swag. I'd be happy to toss out a waterlogged film can if its still there. There should be a time limit that a cache need to be removed by before it is considered geotrash and available for anyone in the geocaching community to remove. I can't picture someone coming back online after a year or so of absence from caching and sueing over an ammo can full of toys. I know of all the recent archives in my area. I'm looking for locations of where a cache use to be before I got into caching in 2006. Swizzle

Lazy, lazy, lazy, cheap? Searching the archives is an extra part of researching places to place caches. If I'm looking at a dozen possible areas to hide a cache then spending an hour looking for any archived caches that might be there is extra work if anything. I can put a log in a film can and hide it anywhere's. The fact that I'm searching the archives is to potential make another plain jane cache into something better. I could copy and past a blob of history and call it better but why do that when there's a museum up the street and a local historical society in every town that could tell me more that I could add to my listings to improve it further. Maybe an ammo can thief in the area could help me to decide on another container. Swizzle

Another thing that could be useful that I forgot to mention is the cache page itself. Maybe the cache had a funny twist to it or a bit of history that I didn't know about. I might want to try to recreate that same cache. Maybe the coords 300 feet away offers better hidey holes or better concealment to the cacher. Swizzle

I was thinking something similar without all the bells and whistles. Just a container covered in fake fur. Have a clue like the one I'm using in my "Booger In A Tree Hole" cache "Elbow deep ticklin' squirrel feet is where you'll find me". You could call it the "Rabid Squirrel". which would be funny because squirrels can't get rabies. If you're gonna add some action to it then set up a trail camera with video close to the cache and make the hidey hole obvious. Swizzle

I have no intentions of placing caches in active cemeteries without first seeking permisson. That was just one example of the many places I'd like to place a cache. Probably a poor example I know but just one example. One of the cemeteries here had a cache in it and I went to look for it. I found an angry guy on a lawnmower that told me to take it home with me or he'd throw the d*** thing out. He isn't the owner of the cemetery but could be a problem even if I did gain the proper permission to place a cache there. I want to see if there was any conflicts within a certain cache area and then maybe determine if there's a way to get around those issues. Swizzle

To save me the time and trouble of placing a cache in an area that has a high muggle problem, or needs special permission to place it or if the cache was just unmaintained or plain non-existant. I like to make speciality containers and if there's a good chance it will be muggled then I don't want to waste my time setting up a cache there or making an extravigant container. Besides the older archives can give you leads on where to put caches by surfering all of that archived caches finders. 3 of the caches that I placed are all because of one archived cache that I went looking for. I didn't know the place even existed until that DNF. Another reason is the possibility of locating an older cache that was never recovered. There's gotta be a ton of caches out there that have good hides and a few DNF's that frustrated a new cache placer into believeing that its no longer there. Not everyone goes back out and retrieves their caches. If its nothing but geotrash then it could give you a sweet hidey hole in return for some cito. Swizzle

That's what I've been doing is surfing profiles. I just can't help but feel I'm missing some of the caches in my area because of some of these areas being perfect for a cache. Could it be that my area is so geonomical poor that these 2 large cemeteries have never had a cache in them. I keep surfing profiles but I know I'm missing some of them. So many cachers and most of them started caching in other states. So even our local cachers have very few older caches in their finds. Is there any other alternative programs that could be used to find archived caches? Maybe something that cachers could add to by posting the arcived caches that they've found in their own searches. Some of the archived caches I'm looking at are of extreme interest to me but are 50, 60 even 70 miles away or more. It might not help me to add those to another program but it could help someone else. Maybe in turn they could post an archived cache that I missed in my area. Thanx for the info guys. Swizzle

So we all pretty much know by now that we are not getting the feature back that allows us to view all of the archived caches. There was however the mention of asking your reviewer about past caches and he could work with you. I was wondering for 1, How do I email my reviewer? Do I set up a cache page and just post a reviewer note for him to check an area or can I e-mail reviewers directly. Will it always involve building a cache page just to ask him. 3. Will the reviewer only be able to provide info on archived caches with .10 or can I get a request for a larger area. Probably pushing it but would he possibly be able to provide me with all the archived caches within say a mile or even a 10 mile radius? I don't plan on flooding the poor guy with coords to check but some areas maybe rather large. The one cemetery that I'm thinking about putting a cache in is big enough for 2 caches. If I post the coords for a prefered spot then I might not get the archived cache listing that was on the other side of the cemetery. Swizzle

I figured I would put this in the getting started forum because it is the start of a lot of caches. I didn't get to my turtle yet today. I was out trying to place 2 more caches. I got one set but the container on the other was to small for my prefered hidey hole. I'll try to get the rest of his guts out today. Swizzle

Snack baggies always seem to fit the small notebooks very nicely but a bit tight. They work but don't hold up to repeated cachers. What dimensions do you need for your micro cache? Please don't say nano. Swizzle

I'm sure some of you out there have a few pics of your craftiest caches that you'd like to share. I'd like to see some original work, fine work, and some of your craftiest hides. If you'd like to remain anynomous so no one knows what your cache looks like then email me the pics and I'll post them for you under a fake name and location. I had another cacher post one of my evil caches for me in CCC for the same reason. This isn't meant to be a CCC thread. What I'm hoping to see and share with others is how you create your CCC's from start to finish. What materials and methods. Maybe some others can get some inspiration off of this thread and create their own unique containers. I'll be posting my street lamp into a snapping turtle cache as I make it. Right now I'm in the process of gutting it and I'll post some pics as I go. Lets share some good cache making tips and tricks. Swizzle

I was hoping for the zinc or aluminium. Swizzle

Head shops usually have them. You might not want the ones with the pretty leafs on it. I know it looks like a camo ziplock but those are pot leaves man. Sometimes you can get them 1" x 1" square with no picks. If they say they don't have them ask them how they sell screens. Sometimes you'll get a little baggy with the purchase of a few screens. Usually .10 each. Well that's what I heard or read somewhere's anyways. I've never been to such a place before. I never really needed a "tobacco water pipe". Swizzle

Due to the fact that the other thread was locked and my question has gone unanswered I decided to start a new thread. Is the removal of ones clothes to aquire a cache considered an Addition Logging Requirement? I hope not because I would like to set up one of these caches myself and I don't want the idea shut down before I have it published. Is it bending the rules? I think we should be able to require ALR in very limited and certain situations. I haven't found a situation with any of my caches where I would require any ALR's but I know some cache should have something in place. For instance with a cemetery cache, you don't want to place a cache next to a certain headstone but you want to know someone visited the headstone so you ask for info from it to confirm they did indeed visit the site. As far as nudie cachin goes I personally think any nudie cache should be clothing optional. Otherwise it should be considered as an ALR. (Yes I know that the stone could be used as a waypoint in a puzzle/mystery cache, poor example I know). So should I just shut up now and hope no reviewers catch wind of this thread or should this still be open for discussion. Swizzle

Maybe he had a hook phobia or something. He did want me to buy plastic guards for all of the treble hooks or remove them completely. He did express his concern about muggle kids who may possible stumble on the cache and unknowningly dive in hands first to grab the shineys. If he could see the location of the hide then he shouldn't have had any concerns about it at all. I do plan on putting another fishing cache there in the very near future. It will have a very small fishing kit inside the container but it will be in a seperate container all together. I also had a TB that was a fishing lure. That one had a plastic hook guard on it. The last I knew it was just the tag. I'm gonna try to get it back and maybe change his journey. As far as the power cacher goes. I'll be doing a hike with him and some other local cachers soon. He's a decent guy and I'm sure we'll be having some more cachin adventures and events in the future. Swizzle

There should be some type of prize to the person who places the 1,000,000th active cache. Maybe a golden (painted) ammo can with 1,000,000th cache written on the side. Swizzle

I had spent about $50 bucks in tackle and a tackle box and such for just such a cache. I did the whole cache page up and then the battle began. There was a considerable amount of arguing and negotiating with the reviewer to allow me to have the cache. #1- absolutely no knives. I bought a fillet knife and had it in the cache and had to drive 40 miles one way to remove it, #2 was this cache is suppose to be kid friendly so because of the hooks being a potential problem I had to lock the tackle box. Didn't seem to work. A local power cacher pryed the box open to get to the log. #3 I had to list links to all of my other kid friendly caches in the area and make sure that everyone knew that THIS IS NOT A KID FRIENDLY CACHE!!! Lots of bold letters and warnings and such. The reviewer really bent over backwards for me to get this one published. I have to admit at first I wasn't happy with him at all over the cost and extra trip and what not but he's not suppose to allow any of the hooks and knives in the cache at all. I feel bad now because I gave him a lot of grief before he finally published it. I even went as far as giving coords to a rowboat that is left for the general public. Providing that you can find where the last person left it. My suggestion is to go ahead and make your fishermens cache and have the coords to it posted on the lid of your "fishermen's cache" that's actually published online. That way someone who is just fishing for smiley's can grab that first cache, sign the log and go. Anyone wanting to spend more time there can take a few extra minutes to look for your unlisted cache by using the coords on the lid of the first and then the reviewer doesn't have to know about all the sharp pointys. Swizzle

If its a required nudie area and you absolutely had to take off your clothes to find the cache then wouldn't that be considered an ALR? I thought ALR's were against the rules. If not I might try to make my own island nudie cache. There's plenty of backwoods lake and pond islands around here that could be used. I'd name it Skeeter on my Peter. Swizzle