conradv

And one other thing - I live in northern Idaho where Terrain is everything - 2,500 elevation gains are the norm here - there are definatly "drive-by" caches, but when we talk about terrain, we're talking about getting your hiking boots out and stocking up on your 10 essentials. It's strange to think that there is a "physical" component once you get to a cache. Usually, we're pretty darn worn out by the time we even get to 'em!

I guess if that's the way that they mean it, then yes, I understand. I just don't think that it should be separated like that. The "tree" should be part of the "terrain" (in my view), and not part of the "difficulty."

This is absolutely crazy. If it is missing, post that it is missing. It was not found, how is a person to know that it isn't there? I totally disagree that this is "Geocaching" (on edit: I guess that I'm not part of that "100% of folks", and am thankfull of that.)

After trying to read this entire thread, I just can't understand how a "replacement" cache could even be considered due to the fact that the original Cacher was never contacted before the "replacement" was put in. It's just absolutely silly. To not find something, even if the entire mountain where the cache was originally located on has now dropped 2 miles into the Ocean doesn't seem like a good reason to put in a replacement just for the benifit of future cachers who may make a trip and find the mountain and cache gone! If it's there, it's there. If the owner asks you to replace it, then replace it. Am I that goofy in thinking that it's all about the Owner? It's his/her Cache, it's his/her desicion to replace... ?

I don't understand. What did I introduce to your statement? You said that it should be a 1 in difficulty and possibly a 4 in Terrain. From a Moderator's statement, there is a Physical category in both. I really think that this "Difficulty vs Terrain" thing is very arbitrary. Why not have a "Physical" and a "Mental" rating?

From the Mod's post above: Difficulty rating: * Easy. In plain sight or can be found in a few minutes of searching. ** Average. The average cache hunter would be able to find this in less than 30 minutes of hunting. *** Challenging. An experienced cache hunter will find this challenging, and it could take up a good portion of an afternoon. **** Difficult. A real challenge for the experienced cache hunter - may require special skills or knowledge, or in-depth preparation to find. May require multiple days / trips to complete. ***** Extreme. A serious mental or physical challenge. Requires specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment to find cache. Now couldn't the 45 degree slope be "difficult"? If you are climbing up a talus slope, it definately requires specialized knowledge - I've known people to separate a shoulder when they slipped.... A lot of caches in my area are on mountaintops, and are indeed difficult as well as having a high terrain rating. Terrain refers to the physical layout of the land. Difficulty refers to the method with which the cache is hidden after you get across the terrain. So the "physical challenge" is only related to the cache itself? Like if the lid is made of stone and you have to lift it up? I understand your explanation, but I don't understand what phyisical challenge you can do that has nothing to do with the terrain. (I guess I would consider a cliff at the cache site to still be part of the terrain.)

From the Mod's post above: Difficulty rating: * Easy. In plain sight or can be found in a few minutes of searching. ** Average. The average cache hunter would be able to find this in less than 30 minutes of hunting. *** Challenging. An experienced cache hunter will find this challenging, and it could take up a good portion of an afternoon. **** Difficult. A real challenge for the experienced cache hunter - may require special skills or knowledge, or in-depth preparation to find. May require multiple days / trips to complete. ***** Extreme. A serious mental or physical challenge. Requires specialized knowledge, skills, or equipment to find cache. Now couldn't the 45 degree slope be "difficult"? If you are climbing up a talus slope, it definately requires specialized knowledge - I've known people to separate a shoulder when they slipped.... A lot of caches in my area are on mountaintops, and are indeed difficult as well as having a high terrain rating.

When you type in all of the info to submit your cache, there's a little link on the page where you can answer a bunch of questions and it gives you "recommended" ratings. Here's the link it gives: http://www.clayjar.com/gcrs/

Seems like every week there's a new thread like this one. I really believe that the intent of a cache is to hold it in your hands, open it up, check out the cool stuff, read the logs if there's time, and Sign The Logbook. The only reason I can see for people not signing and still posting a "Found It" is for the little Smileys. And (IMHO) that's not the reason for GC. (except when the log is gone/destroyed and a valid attempt has been made)

I live up in the sticks (northern Idaho - Western Montana) where any Cache is at least a "challenge" - some are near roadways, but most are hikes through the beautiful woods in my area. So thankfully, I don't have to deal with micros at all - with all the effort to put out caches in my area, I can't imagine someone hiking in 3 miles and deciding to put a pencil sized cache and calling it good... lol

I know this has been hashed over and over in the last month, but the way I look at it is this: If the physical cache that you can hold in your hands was not found, there is absolutely no way that it should be logged as "found." As far as signing the log book, etc..., there may be circumstances that make this impossible where I don't think that someone should not get a "found".

That's what I was getting at - that and finding out his identity so that we can all make his life miserable.

Any news on the IP address?

I guess most of us aren't part of the "club"....

Probably my best story was when I was a teenager. I worked on my grandpa's potato farm (Northern Idaho) and we were laying sprinklers out in the field. They were 40' aluminum with center risers. I stopped the tractor in the field, and it happened to be underneath the 230kV line that ran through the middle of the field. As I jumped down, I started to hear something. I looked around at my co-worker, then looked at the pipe wagon. The pipes were vibrating. I looked up and noticed that the wagon was directly under the line. I believe that this line had 25' offsets. Since I was the boss, I made my buddy jump up on to the tractor (I made sure to tell him to "jump") to move it. We didn't park underneath the lines anymore, but you could feel a pipe humming moving it the 20 rows when we were under the lines. Come to think of it, I think I made him do those pipes too... It's Good To Be The King...

That's cool, just as long as it's not 'silly'.... Actually, it IS quite silly.

This thread is funny.

I survey 230kV & 500kV BPA powerlines, & what you're hearing is pretty normal. After you've been in a large Substation (a "meeting place" or switchyard if you will) and you can actually FEEL the voltage (we can't even raise our arms over our heads in a substation and have to be tested yearly), that's when it gets scary. I don't like substations. At all.

I pretty much agree with this as well - why not give the Cache hiders a few different options with their cache? If a conformation code is needed, it's pretty easey to say so on the cache page. Or if there are other ideas floating around, they may be worth a try. It may add a little bit of "spice" to have to deal with each cache individually, rather than go on "cache sweeps" where you're doing the same thing over and over and over... JMHO

I don't get why some of these people feel the need to "find" a cache that they've never found...to build Smiley Armies? The very first cache I looked for, I couldn't find because the coordinates were off (it was new-never found) and I contacted the owner who promptly checked and republished the coordinates. I didn't even consider posting a Found. It'd be like winning an Easter Egg hunt with an Empty Basket by claiming that you had "found" the most eggs because you could see them from the starting line, or you just "knew" that they were out there in the grass somewhere...

That is a GLO quarter corner monument. (The East Quarter Corner of Section 22, and the West Quarter Corner of Section 23, set in 1915) It's a Survey Mon. You can look at old GLO maps (at your county courthouse) to see locations of section corners. Originally, most corners were these GLO caps, but as time went by, and they got destroyed, or corrected, a lot have been replaced by Registered Land Surveyor (RLS) caps.