joedohn

What a shame...

Here's my vote for Seneca's idea. Good idea!

I've had a number of MOC's and non-MOC's and changed a few from MOC to public when requested (by cachers not yet supporting the site financially). The only conclusion I've drawn about the worth of MOC's is they help protect caches in urban areas. It stands to reason that the higher density of bored people with computers found in a city will result in more plundered caches. Particularly after geocaching has been advertised in the local media. If I was an immature high-schooler on summer vacation I'd think plundering caches would be a fun source of punishment-free vandalism. I'm not trying to paint all kids with the same broad brush but I remember being this way myself (along with most of my little friends) at a certain point in my youth. I wouldn't have driven out of town for 20 miles and climbed a trail 2000ft for my thrills if I knew I could take the bus to a local park to search for and raid a hidden cache. And who know's, maybe Dad even has a GPSR I could borrow while he's away at work. Anyway, it's a likely enough scenario and I think MOC's help protect against this kind of stuff. We ought to change the name of MOC's to what they really are which is 'protected caches'. That will help defuse some of the populist posturing by those bent on labeling fellow cachers as elitist.

You are one generous hearted guy. I'm humbled....

You are one generous hearted guy. I'm humbled....

I wanted to share this physical log I found in my archived (soon to be active again) Big View cache today. It really caught my attention and I wondered if the person who wrote it became a geocacher. 9/8/01 Saturday approx. 11 am. Stumbled across this by accident. I've been fighting with my girlfriend and thought a nice walk in the woods would do me good. Wow, what a cool thing to find. I don't know what you guys do but it sounds like a lot of fun. Oh, by the way, it's an awesome day to be up here. Clear sky, 60 degrees, just perfect. I'm gonna have to check this website out and see what this is all about. Been nice talking to you. Have fun on your next adventure. p.s. didn't take anything. -Lost Soul Lost Soul, are you out there? Joe

Egads! those contour lines are awful close together...

I think they're fine except for urban caches. A knife hidden deep in the forest is different than the knife hidden in a city park. However, I would remove illegal knives from any cache (switchblades etc.).

Well George, you sold me. I can appreciate what you say about the canyon and your additional comments help clear up my personal reservations. I think you should go ahead with it and I wish I was around to log it. It's probably just as well you ran this idea up in the forums first. Might help it get approved. Joe

I remember a forum thread where Jeremy explained the disinterest the GPS manufactureres had in paying promotional fees. Apparently, they felt Geocaching was doing all the promotion they needed and for free. This thread was quite awhile ago, maybe things have changed since then. Wait... here's the link posted 05 March 2002 10:53 AM All he does is make a passing comment about it. [This message was edited by joedohn on June 26, 2002 at 06:52 AM.]

Devious! I never succeed in finding microcaches. The only way I would have found this one would have been from knocking my head against the support in frustration until it accidently slid out.

Devious! I never succeed in finding microcaches. The only way I would have found this one would have been from knocking my head against the support in frustration until it accidently slid out.

I would be there in a minute! I visited the fossil cache Geo Quest mentioned and it was very neat. I have to agree with the others though if the idea is for cachers to collect fossils it would be better not to. Joe

Interesting idea. I wonder if you can determine if the fossil site is being studied or otherwise valued? Maybe a call to a local university archaeology department or land management office could confirm if your area is important. I went on college archeaology field trips (while attending Stanislaus St.) to sites that weren't marked in any way. If a stray wanderer had discovered them while exploring they wouldn't have known they were significant to anybody. The unfortunate thing about fossils is that once they're removed from their site they lose much of their informative value. It's also true though there are a lot of fossils and not all of them are important. Out of curiosity, is this Del Puerto Canyon? I love that place.

Bummer... that must be an all time record for speed of plundering (that would be a good topic for the general forums). It sounds like a totally malicious act the way the contents were strewn about. I hope this isn't the beginning of another series of targeted cache plunderings. Are you going to put it back? If not, let us in on the secret. Your web page description really got me curious to know where you put it.

Bummer... that must be an all time record for speed of plundering (that would be a good topic for the general forums). It sounds like a totally malicious act the way the contents were strewn about. I hope this isn't the beginning of another series of targeted cache plunderings. Are you going to put it back? If not, let us in on the secret. Your web page description really got me curious to know where you put it.

Although skepticism is the 1st filter I usually view these things through, I don't have a problem with this idea. Really, it's the service that's being sold. The geocaching part is almost incidental. It may as well be rockhounding or birding. I could foresee some difficulty with the caches being posted on Geocaching.com. You would probably want the cache contents to be maintained at a certain level of quality (for the tourists) but even posting them as 'members only' the trend in cache quality will always be downhill as other cachers find them.

Boy, first you start excluding other cachers and next thing you know things get out of hand and you find yourself excluding gays. Oh wait.... Social commentary aside it looks like fun. Why wasn't there geocaching when I was a scout?

You're getting personal again. Send me an email if your desire is to refute me specifically.

I think it's generous of Jeremy (or current modifier of this thread) to allow the posting of a sales pitch from a commercial geocaching site.

What a great idea... the concept feels very geocaching-esque. It's a natural to combine with a cache. I'll be looking over my bookshelf and starting an account. Thanks for introducing me to something new Team WSMF!

What a great idea... the concept feels very geocaching-esque. It's a natural to combine with a cache. I'll be looking over my bookshelf and starting an account. Thanks for introducing me to something new Team WSMF!

What's bookcrossing? It's a term I haven't seen before. I am intrigued...

What's bookcrossing? It's a term I haven't seen before. I am intrigued...

davieboy, Topozone lists Cliff Park at N47.38.400, W117.25.030. SPOKANE NW quad You could use these coordinates to post the web page and maybe get people to the park succesfully. Beyond that, unless you're using compass and landmarks as clues to the cache, it wouldn't work without the GPS receiver. Keep us posted if you try this. It would be interesting to see if you can make this work without the GPSR.