hat_man

Thanks everyone. I only get out every now and again, but this year I will probably get out more often. When you've been doing this for a few years and are just coming up on #250 you aren't a hardcore cacher. I don't mind being able to load up the ones in an area that I am working in and find a few after work. I am hoping to have more weekend time to plan longer trips or find a group to go with or just a "Geo-Buddy". Caching alone kind of sucks and a middle aged,overweight,guy hanging out in parks and residential neighborhoods "looking suspicious" is usually an invitation for a visit from local LEO's. I'm glad to hear it is still a viable and accurate unit though. Now if my geo-senses can catch up with the unit I might even make #500 before I hit retirement age. Thanks again for the information. Take care and Happy caching.

Got into caching some years ago as an on again off again pastime. I have always enjoyed it. I still use my Garmin E-trex Venture HC. Does anyone else still use this one or has it become "obsolete"? Are there any updates that I may need? I went to the Garmin site but the updates listed don't seem to really pertain to caching. They seem like updates that make it a little more "user-friendly", but not from a technology standpoint, but rather more "fit and finish". Is there anything I can do to make this a better unit or is it still a good one for caching? I am getting into caching more and more and this year I want to make this my go to pastime. Thanks for any advice.

Hello fellow cachers, IIRC wasn't there a section of the forums some time back to help cachers find a caching buddy in their area? I have cached alone and it is fun but with the price of gas and getting tired of spending a whole day in the truck by myself, I am looking for someone who would like to get together every once in a while and go caching. I live in Northwestern Illinois and would like to plan caching trips that would take the better part of the day and give the opportunity to find a good number of caches. It's not about the numbers for me but being able to get out and have fun and socialize. My wife doesn't enjoy the outdoors nearly as much as I do and wouldn't have any fun spending the day in the truck while I go searching. If there is still an area in the forums to "Find a Caching Buddy" can someone direct me there? Thanks. Happy Caching!

Not a webcam but it seems I heard of a cacher that hid stage 1 of a multi outside his home. Then took a Polaroid of the "searchers" from his window. This was a 3 stage multi IIRC. He would immediately go out to the final and place the pic in the container. Kind of creepy but definitely something different.

Well I must be the WORST cacher ever. It seems that every cache I find I am the LAST one to find it. Everyone else has their name before mine.

I had thought about the 5 gallon bucket idea also. It's still an option though . Not trying to promote one of my own hides here but I do have one called LAME NANO (GC1DH8V). The logs are usually fun to read. Back on topic though, we have a cacher that has saturated out area in nanos, but at least some of them have some history (a plaque, mural, etc.) or a view attached with them. Some are just there...well... because they are there. What bothers me about some of them though is the way they are rated. 2.5 terrain and 2-3 diff. for a PNG? There are two that you can literally reach from the drivers seat with the door open. He has (I believe) around 400 hides and has flooded my area and other cities also. IMHO... Don't place a hide just because there isn't another one within 528'. If you are a serial hider then be responsible and take care of your hides. After 3 DNF's or if someone says the log is full then go and check on it or replace it in a timely manner. If it is too far away from home or you don't have time, then maybe you shouldn't have placed it in the first place. I'll never fault him for it. We all play the game our own way. There are numbers hounds, serial hiders, great caches, and bad ones too. It's like a bag of jelly beans. You can complain all you want, but the jelly bean company isn't going to quit putting the licorice flavored jelly beans in the bag just because YOU don't like them. Some people like the licorice ones.

You sound like my kinda cacher NYPC . Now if we could only clone you . Not making any judgements on other hiders here...........I'm just sayin'.

I'm not sure if it's an old "geo" wives tale, but I had heard of a CO that had a multi where stage one was in front of the house. If you were "seen" he would take your picture rather "stealthily". Stage two was quite a ways away and the final was near stage one. When you left stage one he would take your pic and place it in the final. I'm sure there were some pretty surprised cachers with that one.

I only have 4 hides out there but they are placed for different reasons. two are placed for the wonderful view they provide. Of these two one is 20' from the parking area and one is 3/4+ mile walk in the woods on groomed trails. One is made to be hard to find but super easy to walk to. And one is a spoof on all the magnetic nanos that have inundated our area. I try and make the cache pages interesting and sometimes funny and give accurate coord's. To me, a great cache would be a 3/3 cache. Just hard enough to give the finder a feeling of accomplishment for the smiley and just hard enough to give the hider a feeling of a job well done. The hides that bother me are the ones where you can tell the hider has gone down the road/path/bike trail/etc. with GPS in hand and says "Well, we're a 1/10th mile from the last one. Now then, where's a spot to throw this film can/magnetic/etc." We all play the game diffrently so I will never fault this type of hider, but to me, it takes some of the creativity out of the game. Just my 2 cents.

I know that it's not my responsibility to replace the TB's, I just wanted to help make it easier to keep them in play. After reading some of the posts in the TB forums I still wonder, if they are re-released will they lose their milage? If I re-released them (at the owners discretion) in another hide near there or in another one of mine, would they retain milage and age? Just doing what I can to help.

Hello everyone, I have a cache here in Illinois that has been either stolen or severely muggled. I spent almost an hour searching the surrounding area (100' radius) for any remains of it but there is nothing there. The log book contained history on the indian mounds near the cache, but to me the biggest loss is the 2 travel bugs that were in the hide. One has been out there for 5 years and had over 50,000 miles on it. I contacted both owners to let them know the bad news. This is my question----- Can these TB's be replaced and re-placed in another cache to keep them "alive"? I feel bad for the owners and would be willing to give them my home address if they want to mail me new ones or even just order new ones myself if they want. I have never dealt with tracking or logging TB's but have seen many of them in hides. I guess I just don't know the protocol for having one come up missing in one of my hides. Any advice out there from the TB community? Thanks

Just out of curiosity..... hasn't this person just admitted to theft? I don't understand blogging all that well but it shouldn't be too hard for someone to find out who this person is and report them to the local LEO's. Especially if they were placed with the permission of the local DNR. I feel sorry for the folks that had started the travel bug. A 9000 mile trip brought to an unhappy end. I wonder whose it was.

I hate to use one of my hides as an example, as I know it happens to others often, but why do people put in their logs "The cache is gone." as it it were a statement of fact. I have a hide that is easy to walk to, looks fairly easy to find from a distance, but is hard to find. Reading the logs posted shows that most that go looking for it don't find it on the first try. Some have asked for hints (and I don't mind giving them), returned and found it, and a few have made the return trip and found it without. Just taking the time to read the logs would lead someone to believe that it's a toughie. Other finders have posted notes after a DNF that in their opinion it's probably still there. I usually check a cache that has a DNF posted to it and this one is no execption. I may not post a note that I have checked it after every DNF but it does get checked. The last cacher to post that it is gone has over 1000 finds. Some of the DNF logs posted are by cachers with 1000 finds and they have gone back a second time and found it. IMHO, when a log is posted that says the cache is gone then someone coming behind that cacher may pass at it based on that satement. If you think a cache has gone missing, post your DNF and ask that the CO take a look and verify it's still there or e-mail the CO and ask for help or hints, but don't just assume that the cache is gone because you can't find it. Again IMHO.

I recently heard the term challenge cache mentioned. What are they and where can I find out more about them? Thanks.

Thank you all for the great ideas. I enjoy the hunt and the finds (when I can find them lol). I trade when there is room but mostly I like leaving things. It seems that some don't trade even or up. I don't know how many pop tabs and broken keys I have seen in caches. I decided when I started I wasn't going to beone of those folks. These are all excellent ideas and now I know where to look for new goodies. Again thank you all. Take care and Happy caching Hat_man

Thank you all. Any more ideas? These are great. I had never thought of rummage sales. I have found some really nice things at the dollar stores but some of it seems "cheap". What kinds of things do you all find helpful in a cache? Batteries,flashlights,extra pens and such. I guess helpful things would rank right up there with neat inexpensive stuff. I do have a cache out there with some foreign coins in it. I think they do make a good trade item. Thanks Chysalides.

I don't know how to pull out selected lines from other posts to respond to them but I will try and reply. As for Dave Ulmer I can't say why he left. Maybe he didn't like where he saw this hobby going, maybe he didn't like all the bickering, maybe his fun-o-meter bottomed out. Who knows. Maybe someone who is still in contact with him should ask him. You know, the "straight from the horses mouth" concept. I don't disregard the arguments made here about this topic. And as for micro-haters I don't think I said anyone was. Even though I know that they are out there. I was trying to say that I find it sad that people could devote 3 pages (soon to be more I'm sure) arguing such a trivial subject. 3 pages on placing knives or "adult material" of drugs into caches I could see. Cachers vandalizing others caches or destroying GZ or getting cachers banned from areas, yeah 3 pages or more. But not listing a nano as a micro? It sounds like everyone wants to be able filter out nanos (that are listed as unknown) but keep micros (that may or may not be nanos). So people will hunt a micro but not a nano or an unknown? They pulled up the cache, hunted it, found it, and are upset that it wasn't listed right? Did they claim a "find" on the cache. If they are so upset then maybe they should give their smileys back for all the nano finds they have that were listed as unknown/other. See how far that flies. As far as percentage of nano finds, without looking mine are probably around 20%-25% too. But with 60% (just a guess if I do the math it should be higher) micro (usually nano) hides in my area it isn't surprising. I do look at them on a one-by-one basis, but I still hunt them. And I don't think this is an invalid discussion topic. I just think it should have been put to bed by now. We have heard the nano vs. micro vs. unknown topic before. Just beating a dead horse in my humble opinion. I'm not really trying to imply that anyone here isn't having fun. I was just trying to get people to quit focussing on the "specifics" and step back and look at the "bigger picture". A shift of perspective can be good at times. "If I filter out all the 'other' then I eliminate all the Virtuals, Events, and Earthcaches that are (incorrectly) listed as "other'..." Wouldn't these types have to be listed as "other"? If I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say there I apologize. "...as well as some other caches that the CO has decided are outside the box and should be other." I think this is where some of the angst lies. People have their own idea of what size caches fits into their own box and what doesn't. I haven't looked at a "hide a cache" page lately but I think next to micro it says "e.g. 35mm film canister" If that isn't right I stand corrected. I think it means that the cache is to be roughly the same size as a film can. A nano doesn't fit that. So where do you put it? The only catagory it falls into would be "other" just by not falling into the rest of the choices. And what do you do with a cache that is larger than a lock-n-lock but smaller than a 5 gallon bucket? Is it a regular or a large? Do we really need a box for every imaginable size cache? "Listing a nano as "other" breaks the tools..." (I say this with my tounge firmly planted in my cheek. If you all don't see the humor then, oh well) I thought we were the "tools". Geocaching- the sport where you are the search engine.

Isn't it amazing that something that started out as a neat and new and FUN concept (Thank you Dave Ulmer) could turn into this kind of bickering and argumentative and UN-FUN thread. If you like hunting small (not the cache listing definition just the physical one) sized hides then great. Don't filter them out and have FUN. If you don't like those types of hides, great, then filter them out and have FUN. If you like the challenge then hunt them all. But remember to have FUN. Come on folks, 3 pages of ranting about something so trivial? Now that's UN-FUN. Is that why we all got into this? To have UN-FUN? If the fun-o-meter is that low then maybe it's time to re-evaluate why you do this. Step back, take a deep breath and have FUN! Not everyone is going to "play" the same as you, or me for that matter, but I think we can all agree this was (and still is for some) supposed to be FUN. Just the humble opinion of another cacher.

Not to take away from other threads here about swag but some are sooooooo long that I just don't have the time to read all the posts in them. I enjoy finding caches with enough room for trading but I do believe in "trade even or trade up." Sometimes I just leave something without trading, but I don't want to leave "junk". Now, I know "junk" to some is "junque" to others so let's not start griping on other peoples ideas, but unfortunately I don't have the same "income" as I used to, and I need some ideas on inexpensive good trade stuff. Any ideas out there would be greatly appreciated. Happy Caching.

I have one hide that I give hints to if the cacher asks. I have 3 different "levels" of hints for that particular cache. I also have one hide that the whole cache page/story is a clue.

I have been known to "hang out" in the area but by no means right on top of one of my caches. Have met a few cachers this way.

We have a cache here in Illinois that was placed approx. 15' from the final of a multi that had been placed well over a year before. I think sometimes that caches are reviewed by different reviewers, and I think I read somewhere in the forums that at one time final locations weren't even given to the reviewer only the starting point. They have a tough job and it's their volunteer help that keeps us going. They have to try and help new cachers place caches while being true to previous hiders not to spoil their fun. It is hard, especially if your area has many multi or mystery caches. I don't know if the reviewers can let you know which cache a new hide might be in proximity to (not the final location just the GC#) but if they can maybe a polite e-mail to the owner would help find a workable location for both parties. Just my two cents.

Hello, I think this is where I want to post this. Please move if it needs to be somewhere else. From the home page I click on Hide and Seek a Cache then enter an address for what ever jobsite I am working at for the week. The list of caches that is displayed has the left hand edge cropped off. This would be the edge showing how far from my home each particular cache is and the general direction of the cache and the icon for what type of hide it is (Traditional,Multi,etc.). This only seems to happen when I use the Hide and Seek a Cache option to look up caches. If I use the Postal Code option from the home page the screen is correct. This seemed to have started when the site was changed. (by the way I like the new look) If this has been discussed somewhere else then I apologize for asking again. I haven't been back to the forums in quite a while. Any information on how to get the screen back would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time, Hat_man

Thank you all for your thoughts. I have been rather busy and haven't had time to get back here until now. I think I have a better idea of what I am looking for and what information I need to let cachers know before they go out. The "puzzles" wouldn't really require much for field work (no calculators,sliderules,Enigma machines,etc.) or really any math skills. Just more of an ability to think outside the box and having a keen eye for observation. I'm not sure there are any puzzle caches near here to do but I will have to look. The Rubicks Cube idea had crossed my mind, but it can be so frustrating to solve if you have never done it. I didn't want anything quite so involved. I had thought about putting together a "prototype" and taking it to an event to see what others might think of it. I'm thinking maybe 2 "puzzles" to solve would be plenty even though I have many ideas. Again I thank all of you for your input. I'll take it all to heart. Take Care and Happy Hunting Hat_Man

I have an idea for a "puzzle" multi. I can't get into too much detail, but I do have a couple of questions. 1) What information needs to be given on the cache page? The reason I ask is that part of the "puzzle" is something physical in the container that you have to "manipulate" (not like a Japanese Puzzle Box or anything like that) or use one of your senses on or think outside the box to get the next set of coord's. Stage one would be listed on the cache page but the following stages would have to be inferred from the clues in the containers. 2) Is there such a thing as a "puzzle" multi or are they allowed? I guess this should have been question one, huh? 3) Would there be any interest in this type of hide/hides? A couple of the ideas I have require your "thinking cap". This would maybe make it interesting, but at the same time might drive people away. Also, the "clue" would need to stay with the container. That would mean no taking it home to work on. If you can figure out the "pattern" then it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes or so to get the next coord's. 4) What about making it a multi but being able to log each hide individually with a nice final? Only thought this because it might be an easier way to complete without having to spend an entire afternoon on just one cache/smiley. Let me know what you all think or if this is even possible. Thanks and Happy Hunting Hat_man