sdarken

Lots of people dont seem to realize that the micro category includes nano-sized containers. A simple wording change could fix that issue.

In Northern California heat, even painted plastic that is left exposed to sunlight seems to break down over time. Put a plastic container under a pile of rocks and it's only a matter of time before the rocks destroy the container. I've lost numerous containers that way. Put the same container in a shelter location (eg: inside a stump and it can last for years and years.). Painted plastics works a bit better. Plastic that's covered with tape works even better but in exposed situations I still see those snaps coming off. I have a PVC pipe cache that's completely covered (fence post) and stays completely dry. I wouldn't recommend pipe caches in most urban settings however as they tend to be associated with pipe bombs by non-cachers. I dont think there's a single right answer to the question about containers. It depends on climate and the hide location.

One of the more useful things I learned from these forums is that if you're approached by police, be honest. The last thing you should do is to lie to a police officer. Geocaching is not illegal. Once the officer figures out that you're not doing anything illegal you'll be on your way. For other types of authority figures (eg: mall security), use your best judgment. All caches should have adequate permission to be placed but the fact is that permission is not always obtained. Sometimes telling the truth will get a cache removed. I tend to protect caches in the same way that I hope others will protect my caches and that means I'll be cautious about revealing the location of a cache to a non-cacher.

Having a cache inside a sign sounds interesting and the "geocachers welcome" thing would make me feel better about searching for the cache however I agree with a previous comment that it seems problematic to have a cache that depends on the hours of the store, the days that the store is open etc. Lots of people cache without paper and will waste a lot of time looking for a cache at the coordinates before reading the description. While that might be their fault, I can see it causing issues. Is there some way to have a cache located on/under/behind some permanent signage rather than the temporary sign?

Staying OT.... Given that the OP didn't understand that a nano should be classified as a micro it does suggest that a little tweak to the wording might assist more people to choose micro instead of other/unknown when listing a nano. I think lots of people might be experiencing the same confusion. Many times on the forum I've read that people apparently try and trick others into searching for their nano by not listing the size. I just dont believe that's true.

Yes

Here's another gopher snake. I saw this one on the weekend. He was on the paved trail and my wife freaked out at the sight of him. And here's a little red-sided garter snake I found while searching a few weeks ago. I lifted a rock and there he was. Since the clue was something like "It's not real" I thought I'd found the cache. I was reaching down when he took off...

Link

I think it's doubtful that anyone has done that. It would be an incredible amount of driving. Sounds like years of work to accomplish. How about this for an accomplishment: Find a cache in 48 different U.S states in 10 days. (TeamAlamogul, 2007) http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...de-520a753e42b9

Though it should really be your parents job to find ways to spend time with you..... How about figuring out things they like to do and compromise. So your mom likes to shop - why not suggest a trip to that outlet mall on the other side of town and make a couple of geocaching stops on the way. Maybe your dad likes to ride a bike - suggest a ride through a new park, stopping at geocaches along the way. Or perhaps he like old car/plane or military stuff :- find a military or plane museum some distance away that has some caches nearby or on the way. My wife and kids dont cache but my wife doesn't mind a stroll along flat trails as long as it's not too long so I can find things to do with her. My son doesn't geocache needs to be dragged away from his video games but he quite likes taking photos so I try and find places with photo opportunities. I can't get them out all the time but now-and-then works out fine.

That's a fun post. A nice balance of positive and negative. I expect you could probably write another list of 40 things after your next 100 caches too. I've learned an incredible amount from geocaching. Not only the kinds of things you've listed here but things like how to read topo maps, names of plants, trees and animals... the list goes on and on.

Getting back on topic..... I can think of twice where I've accidentally put the entire cache into my bag and left with it. Both times I got home and found it in my caching bag and had a doh! moment. I didn't log this as as "took geocache, left nothing". I was too embarrassed to do that. I did return the cache as quickly as possibly. I can remember as least one other time I got home and found the paper log in my pocket. It happened to be a cache where only one of my kids could actually retrieve and replace the cache so there was some bribery involved on my part to get my kids to help replace the log.

The book logs were not killed by online logging, but by micros. The trend of just a sig eventually wore onto the regular caches. I'd say that physical logging was partially changed by micros but also by the proliferation of all types of caches. In the early days a hiking trail might have had one cache on it so people used that cache as a destination and they spent more time at the cache location so there was more time to write. These days the same trail might have a number of caches and it's not practical for someone to write a story in each log book. In some regards, caches have became a commodity rather than a luxury. Back on topic... without online logs I would have lost interest in the game. The community and shared experiences kept me interested in the game. There's no way I would have hidden more than a few caches if I hadn't received lots of positive feedback about my caches and I wouldn't be inclined to continually return to my caches to see if anyone had written in the log books. Something else to think about.... what would happen to geocaching if the logging was suddenly disabled. Imagine how miserable it would become over time as caches and owners disappeared and there was no way to know if a cache still existed.

However I dont think I'll ever get used to Team Cotati's avatar

I felt the same way when I first started visiting but it's a bit like watching bull fights. The first bull fight seems brutal, the second seems a little less brutal and so on. By the forth or fifth you begin to appreciate the finer points. It's the same way around here. Eventually you get used to the rudeness, bickering and nitpickers and you learn to focus on the interesting bits.

You might want to verify that link. It was correct when I posted in in ***2008**. Here is the new link.

The quarter is a great idea for caches overseas. Add a nickle and a penny as well and you'd make some young coin collector very happy.

You might want to take a look in the GPS and Technology forum to read about software options. I've never heard of anyone caching with an iPad. It wouldn't be a good thing to drop. There is software for your Blackberry. Here is one option. There may be other choices.

Welcome to the game! Here's a Geocaching Dictionary that will explain all the strange terminology

Yep. That's pretty ambitious for someone that joined 3 days ago. Based on the 2 caches you've found so far I'm guessing you live near Willits. Will you really want to drive the 150 miles to check on stage 1 if it goes missing?

Thousands of people are already using that feedback area so this definitely doesn't fall into the category of improvements that no-one wants. Not every bug is worth fixing. Which is more important :- to fix a minor bug that affects a few people or to add functionality that lots of people can potentially use? In the software business, perfection is something that is rarely possible or practical. If every bug had to be fixed we'd never ever see anything new since the developers would always be chasing their tails. From what I've seen, the major bugs are fixed almost immediately after the monthly release. I don't necessarily agree with where GS does invest their development resources but it can be a very subjective topic. Maybe the new feedback feature will finally GS the kind of data they they need to see where geocachers want development resources used.

Follow the link at the bottom of any of the emails that you're receiving to switch off the notifications foor one topic or, do as I just did, and update your profile in the feedback system so that it never sends anything for any topic.

It would be funny to be an observer (watching all the tennis balls rolling down the street for example) but maybe not fun being a finder. I detest residential caches in general and a cache that required me to go through someone's garbage bin in plain view on a residential street isn't one that I'd enjoy. Put the same cache somewhere with a nice view and nobody watching me and I'd be happy to spend as much time as it required.

Sprinkler-head caches are a pet peeve of mine because people end up fiddling with real sprinklers regardless of whether the cache is them or not. Sometimes real sprinkler heads get left in pieces by careless searchers but even if they are put back together properly, disassembling and reassembling a sprinkler head will almost always leave the sprinkler mis-aligned, spraying water in the wrong direction. (Since most sprinkler heads tend to be spraying 180 degrees rather than 360 degrees). This can result in damaged landscaping when plants dont get watered. Unfortunately this is a case of the genie already being out of the bottle. Even if nobody ever placed another sprinklerhead cache, geocachers are still going to fiddle with real sprinkler heads after exhausting other options. The recommendation to people to gently pull on a sprinkler head to see if it's connected to anything is probably the best method of controlling the damage. Disassembling sprinkler heads should be discouraged.

Do the coordinates put you in a parking lot for either of the caches that you couldn't find? Are there any lightpoles nearby? If so, you might want to investigate them further. There's a very common kind of hide that stumps everyone the first time they come across it. You wont need to climb the lightpole and you wont need any screwdrivers or wrenches. Any if it's helpful to know, even experience geocaches have trouble sometimes. I've got nearly 3000 finds and I still fail to find probably a quarter of the caches I look for on the first attempt.