Inmountains

I have been caching a very LONG time, since the summer of 2002. I have seen numerous changes to our past time, the web site, GPS units, etc.... But one thing was constant, when a search is done using a GC code, THAT CACHE is returned, nothing more, nothing less. Not a list of active caches around an area. I didn't have to use the Browser address for the search. Let's say that I wanted to see what cache "GC1" was, I could just put that in the search field and get it returned to me. Last night, I had to literally scroll through every find I have to find certain caches. Now what is really weird is that I can use the Geocaching App to search by GC number, I just did a search for GC699F and it returned "Tuckerville Mine" in Colorado. Hidden 10/10/02 and archived 10/18/03 due to being in a National Forest. The reason for the importance of this cache, not just that I was third to last to find it, but that I actually went up that following summer and removed the cache from it's location, so to help the Geocaching Community. As a tip to the powers that be, you should have a "HISTORY" search available on Geocaching.com that a person could do a search for just INACTIVE caches, whether Archived, Cancelled or Never Published (but still has a GC code). Overall, I do not like the look of the new page, too much WHITE/BLANK space. I would rather see ads for Geocaching paraphernalia then white space, because then I would know that Geocaching is making money and money is what is used to improve our hobby. I also think the website has lost functionality, meaning it is taking MORE clicks to get to where you want to go, not less. The Opening Page should have as many ways to get to wherever in the site you want to go. For instance, since I am a Premium Member, I would love to "Build Pocket Queries" with ONE CLICK from the start page.

How come I can't seem to search ARCHIVED caches now? When I do a GC search for an archived cache, the cache is not returned. I need access to them for certain challenges caches. Thanks.

The gentleman being interviewed for this Real Estate Podcast mentioned Geocaching as his hobby, I found it interesting. http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/08/28/bp-podcast-085-mike-mckinize/

Doesn't this also mean that the geocache owner can DELEGATE cache maintenance to someone else? I have several Geocaches in Colorado, some that are very popular, but I moved to California. I always appreciate any help I can get if there is a problem. While I get back about once a year, if there is a wet log or a missing container, I ask a local cacher to fix it. I do not know who came up with the term "throwdown" but it is derogatory. When I replace a cache, nearly every time it is with a much better container and a waterproof log sheet. And I don't just replace a cache because I can't find it. I have found three caches this year that had not been found in over two years, I know the difference between a cache being difficult and a cache being muggled. My record is eight trips to a cache to actually find it, so I don't give up easily. But in urban caches, between the urban campers, the gardners, the kids and whoever else might be passing by, a muggled cache is as common as a piece of litter. Here is another scenario. I have already found a cache and I am visiting the area again and find the cache is now MISSING. So I replace it, write a note on the cache page that it was missing and I replaced it and for the CO to let me know if it was OK. So my assisting my fellow cacher is doing a "throwdown?" I like to think of it as more of a "hand up" or a "pick up" to assist the CO.

How about geocaching in the cemetery after your father's funeral and wearing a suit while caching? My father and mother got me into geocaching so it was an honor and tribute to him. I just had a problem climbing graveyard trees in dress shoes, a white shirt, tie and dress jacket. But it was also a continuation as I found 15 caches on the day he died, February 29, 2012. I held his hand as he passed at 8:30 PM that evening. I told him that now he can find a LOT of caches and to start at the second star to the right!! Yes, I teared up while caching the day of his funeral.

Why is there no souvenir for Russia? Estonia?

Discourtesy. Not saying Thank You when someone repairs your cache. Holding a TB too long.

I stand corrected, I meant Geo Bucket. I am a premium member, have been since 2002. Is Geo Bucket the best app for the iPad/iPhone??

I have the same question as I will be in 10 different countries in June. I called Verizon and my iPhone 4 will be useless but my wife's iPhone 5 will work. But I also have the iPad 2 and while it will work, overseas data rates are very expensive. But the cruise ship and hotel has WiFi where I can access internet data for free. I was wondering if there is a good app for the iPhone and iPad that I can download a group of caches while I am on the ship, transfer them to my Garmin 60Csx before I leave the ship and then be able to cache. I saw an app called Cache Bucket, is it any good? I use GSAK all the time and while that will work OK, it would be cumbersome, whereas being able to open an App on my iPhone/iPad and download the nearest 500 caches would be an excellent alternative. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Let me give the short story of what happened on a cache that caused me to post this question. On my first search for this cache, it had not been found in 3 months, but no DNFs were posted. We did not find it and posted a DNF, my uncle and myself. I went back one more time and did not find it, so I emailed the cache owner to get a little more help. He told me another hint, so I went back to find it, no luck. I tried again, and no luck so I contacted the last finder, who told me that he has told several people where he hid it. He gave me the exact location, the exact description of where he put it. I went back and it is NOT there. So then I posted a "needs archived" and a person who found the cache a couple of years ago posted after me that the cache does not need to be archived and that it is still there. So I went back out and could not find it again. I even asked the cacher who said not to archive it for a hint and he did not answer me. But luckily, the reviewer saw that the pattern of finds, which was about two months between finds, had become 9 months since it was found, 10 months now, and that the CO needs to check on it. So I agree with "knowschad", a DNF should be posted after every search that comes up empty. But my guess is that that will never happen. With the exception of extenuating circumstances, I think a CO needs to check on any cache that has not been found in six months (I have two caches over 13,000 feet elevation, so going 8 or 9 months between finds is normal). For me, there is nothing more exhilerating than finding a cache that has not been found in the last 3 months and nothing more frustrating than looking for a cache that is not even there.

I don't know what is more entertaining, those who are obsessed with "FTF" or those who are obsessed with those who are obsessed with "FTF." If you don't like to see someone bragging, then don't read the forum but if you do, don't be critical. The entire Geocaching forum is full of people "bragging." I think the longest thread could be titled "Look at the Cache Container I made." Personally, I see no problem with people bragging as long as the bragging is not used to put someone else down. For instance, if I were able to finish running a marathon, I would tell my friends I finished a marathon. I wouldn't say, "I ran a marathon, and I bet you couldn't" The FTF stat, as well as the Finds stat, are really nothing more than the honorable word of the person stating it. I could sit here and post a "found it" log on 100,000 caches and there is no audit of it. The only stat that is verifiable is the "hidden" stat and even than has a few holes in it. I could hide a cache and let someone else claim to hide it. The entire Geocaching game is based on honor and integrity. Some folks have it and some folks do not. At the end of the day, if I had fun, what more could I ask for? There are a lot of days I had fun and I found ONE cache. The best days caching, for me, are when I run into another cacher and have a pleasant conversation with them. Or when I go out with my kids (who are all adults now, except one, she is 16) and share some laughs and a find or two. The day I reached 1,000 finds I had my sixteen year old daughter and 14 year old niece with me, and we found a total of 8 caches. We had a BLAST! So who has the most FTFs? Who is John Galt?

You will have to forgive me here as I am not sure what "SBers" are? Since you say "it is about the SPORTS," I assume it is some sort of sport? Is it Snow Boarders, Sail Boaters, Skim Boarders, Surf Boarders, Sand Buggy Riders, Sun Bathers, or it might even mean Sun Bowlers or Super Bowlers? In any case, I do believe it is the SPORT that does come first and then you create the friendship, laughs, commaraderie, etc... around the SPORT. So for Power Trailers, it is about the Geocaching NUMBERS first, and then you create the friendships, laughs, commaraderie, etc... around the common ground of Geocaching. So let me reiterate, I SEE NO PROBLEM WITH IT, none whatsoever. But don't say the "numbers don't matter much." EVERYTHING about a Power Trail is about the NUMBERS. Stopping every 528 feet across the Mojave Desert is not exactly a highly sought after past time. There has to be an ulterior motive and that is NUMBERS. As a matter of fact, I plan on trying to do part of the Route 66 Power Trail myself, sometime soon. And my reason? Purely for the numbers, purely to test myself on how many I can do by myself. Oh wait, numbers don't mean much, I am doing it to get away from the "rat race" that is Southern California and find some solitude! LOL

Oh yea, forgot, a ream of paper a week!

Wow, I grab my iPad and head out the door. Once a month or sometimes even two, I will empty my GPS and reload GSAK into it. Just today, I forgot my Garmin and found 3 with just my iPad. While I also have an iPhone, the iPad is a much bigger screen, easier for us old guys to see. The Geocaching app is all I need and I have found caches in Canada, Alaska, Oregon and even on a trip down to Calipatria, California while doing some volunteer work on a Wildlife Refuge. Talk about old school, back in the day, we had to PRINT OUT the entire cache, maybe 20 or 30 of them, hand load them into the Garmin eTrex and hope to God we did it right. Ahhh, the good ole days!!!

Here is a question for you cachers. I looked for a cache and logged a DNF. I have been back four more times now, and still can't find it. Should I log a DNF for each trip or just let my one DNF post be enough?

I know Power Trails are a new concept to Caching, I have been caching since 2002, longer than most (I see a few on here that joined in 2001). So I guess PTs have a different set of rules, which is fine, if most agree with them. I know that if someone removed a cache I placed and replaced it with a different cache, I would be fuming. The last cache I placed I spent 10 hours building. I currently have one on my patio that has 5 hours in it's creation and it is not done yet. The one cache that took 10 hours to build, the first 10 finders gave it a "favorite" point, which is my goal when I hide caches. For any of your PTers, you KNOW, and you KNOW that you KNOW, it is about the NUMBERS. If it were about commaraderie, friendship, laughs and good times, you can get that at a Sports Bar, on a Picnic, Camping, Bowling, Golfing, etc.... If it weren't about the numbers, you wouldn't be leapfrogging cars and exchanging caches. LET ME say this, I see NOTHING WRONG with any of this, I just have a problem with people saying "It is not about the numbers" when it IS purely about the numbers. MajorJarhead states "We bagged over 2000 on the combined runs" and then "The numbers are a small fracional part of the sport" If it was a "small fractional part", then why did you post it ahead of "fun" and "cammaraderie?" Again, NOTHING wrong with it, no rules broken, no one hurt, everyone had fun. BUT, it IS about the numbers. GO FOR THE NUMBERS, if that is your FUN, then knock yourself out. I believe the Ventura Kids (I think that is their name) have the record at over 1,100 found in one day. My question is, who has the one day record, SOLO, without exchanging caches, and personally signing and dating each log? How many could YOU DO if you had to start and stop your car, get out, find the cache, sign the log, replace the cache, and move to the next one? I think after about 200, I would be DOG TIRED!

So here's a question. For every DNF logged, how many REAL DNF's do you think there were? In an urban area, I would guess at least 5-10 do not log a DNF for every one who does. What bother's me is when there is an urban cache with over 1,000,000 people living withing 10 miles of it, and there are 4 or 5 DNFs and it hasn't been found for over a year, why the owner won't go out and verify that it is still there?!?! Since there are 4 or 5 recorded DNFs, I bet there is at least 40 cachers who really DID NOT FIND IT. If you hid a cache and 40 cachers did not find it, who really looked for it, wouldn't you make an adjustment on it?

I have a very large cache on my property called, "The Howard Blake Memorial T.B. Hospital", GCWD98. I am about 15 miles south of Los Angeles, in Orange County, CA, very near Disneyland. Let me know if you need any more information.

I have the iPad 1 and the iPad 2 and use them all the time for caching. As a matter of fact, I can use the iPad and leave the Garmin in the car most times. And using "FIND NEAREST CACHES" on the Geocaching apps, there is never a need to create a PQ or download to the Garmin. I took an Alaskan Cruise and found all the caches with only my iPad. I can see a few instances where being able to download from the iPad to the Garmin would be nice, like when you don't want to carry the iPad with you due to rain, snow or other inclement weather/conditions. Hopefully there is enough of an interest to create an app for this.

I have been a Geocacher for a while, since 2002, and have been enjoying the sport at a leisurely pace. I did a cache in the Durango, Colorado area that required you to find the 10 OLDEST caches in the County. Since the entire county had less than 100 caches at the time, it was quite easy to figure out the ten oldest. But I was wondering, is there a way to do a SEARCH of caches by "Date Hidden?" Obviously, you can do a search and then click on the HIDDEN column to sort by date hidden and you can put them into GSAK and again, sort by Date Hidden. But is there a way to do a direct SEARCH for the oldest caches on the Geocaching website? Other parameters that I do not know if they are available: 1. Favorite Votes 2. Number of Times Found 3. Number of Times DNFed As a final question, are there any statistics that you would find interesting? Sports fans LOVE statistics, so why not bring them into Geocaching? Here is what I would find fascinating: 1. Find/DNF percentage. If a cache were found 100 times and had 2 DNFs, the rating would be 50, 100/2. But if a cache has 50 finds and 40 DNFs, the rating would be 1.25 50/40. (The biggest problem here is folks not logging DNFs) 2. Finds per year. If one cache had 100 finds in one year and another cache has 100 finds over five years, they would be vastly different. (The biggest problem here is demographics as a cache with 1,000,000 living nearby is different than a cache with 5,000 living nearby) 3. Finds over time. Similar to finds per year, but this would be "Days per Find." Are there any statistics you would find fascinating?

According to the Geocaching Fact Sheet on Geocaching.com, there are only three rules. 1. If you take something, leave something of equal or greater value. 2. You must sign the log. 3. You must log it online at Geocaching.com Obviously, there is no one to enforce the rules except the CO can delete a find log. There are no GC police. There are so many variances that they cannot even be listed. Finding 1,000 caches in a metro area is vastly different than finding 1,000 caches hidden in the forests of the Rocky Mountains. If a Power Trail is the way you enjoy caching, more power to you. Obviously, the search is less than five seconds. Personally, I get enjoyment from finding a tricky hide. For me, finding and signing a log every 500 feet along a highway would be fun for about five caches, then it would become work. After a couple of easy finds, I tell myself that I sure hope the next one is harder so I am challenged. But that is how I enjoy the game. So here is my question: When does a hobby become an obsession? LOL

Actually, I enjoy repairing caches. While we all know that it is ultimately the cache owners responsibility to maintain the cache, assisting a cache owner with maintenance helps with the comaraderie of geocachers. While I can understand if someone wants to place a cache that is occupied by a NM cache, they should report a NA on that cache, when I am caching, I want to make sure the cache is better than when I found it. There are a myriad of reasons why a CO may not or cannot maintain a cache. My mother had many caches, some very popular, and she passed away last year. Geocahing.com will not allow me to take ownership of the caches, some with hundreds of finds, so I maintain them in honor of my mother. After she died, I had to move from Colorado to California, and I appreciate folks who maintain my Colorado caches. There are no other cachers that lived within ten miles of me so it is difficult to find someone to adopt them. Therefore, unless you want to place your own cache in the area, repairing the cache helps our hobby. It does not make the CO lazy, the CO is already lazy or UNABLE to maintain the cache, such as me regarding my caches a thousand miles from me.

I own about a dozen caches here in the small town I live in, Bayfield, Colorado. All the caches are within 2 miles of my house. So I check them and find that people who have logged finds on them have NOT signed the log any where. Then I email them to ask if they had trouble with the cache as I see they logged a find but did not sign the log. Wow, they rip my head off. You would think I was an NBA ref who called a foul on Kobe Bryant. So I just stopped bothering with calling folks out on their CHEATING. If they want to CHEAT, that is their business.

Well, if you want to count my 170 IQ, my job as a Finance Director for a Mulit Million Dollar Non Profit, my Bachelor's Degree graduating Magna Cum Laude, etc.., an idiot, that is your right. But when I see a post count of over 17,000 in 8 and a half years, I make the assertation that that person likes to speak their mind, that they like to be heard. I believe your post points to the fact that your shoes size is larger than your IQ. Now THAT is derogatory, but I call it as I see it. Like I posted earlier, in the past 1-2 years, the caching community has become rude, arrogant and brought in a totally lower class of people. I rest my case. Done with these forums, no intelligent life here.