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I feel really unprepared reading everyone's lists. I just take a pen. I did one day of caching when I walked more than 12km and I didn't have more than my phone, portable battery and cord, a pen and a tb to move on. IT all went in my pockets. It hasn't changed much now that I have a gps.

My vote would be that you found it. Replacement log sheets are common. You found a container and signed "the" log. I would have also posted a NM. The container needs to be repaired. It was a strange situation as the owner said they replaced the inner in a maintenance log from the week before I found it and they're an experienced cacher with a lot of hides. it's PMO only and hidden quite well, so it probably wasn't muggled. i couldn't help but think that maybe it wasn't' the cache, but the likelihood of there being a hollowed out rock at the coordinates was too slim to keep looking elsewhere. i really can't imagine people logging a find when they haven't found anything at all though. i legitimately thought about it for 5 minutes even though i had found it, technically. i can't understand how people could just lie about it and justify it.

I've logged one cache where it's debatable as to whether I actually found it. It was one of those fake rock caches (not evident in the description) and I found the outer section but no bottom or log or anything. The bottom had gone missing before based on recent logs and a local cacher with a lot of experience had said in his log that he only found the outer but placed his found it sticker inside the container and logged it as a find, so I wrote my initials on the sticker and mentioned it in my log. I mean, I found the cache, but wasn't sure whether it counted seeing as the rest was missing.

I introduced myself to geocaching and I've shown one person and told a few. I'm optimistic that one will take it up and I'm taking another on a caching trip in a few weeks.

I have never run out the door at 2am trying for an FTF but I have run out the door at 2 pm trying for an FTF, it's easy to criticize when you make up stuff. there are people who do, though.

Something I found helpful when I first started caching (and even now, to an extent), was choosing a few caches and going through all the information on the page so I could get the most information out of it as possible, especially from the logs and even the photos (although they're often misleading). I then would go out for a few hours and go to the few caches I looked at and it really helped me. If I cant get one of them, it's okay because I have a few others planned and the odds are that I'll be able to get one of them. It sounds silly because geocaching is a hobby, not a serious thing, but if I took the pressure off myself and told myself not to worry about it, I generally did better at finding caches. I agree that small-regular caches can be easier to find, though I have to admit that most of the few larger ones I've found have been more recently for me. IF you try to do a few of the beginner recommended caches, you might have a bit more luck. I looked at caches near your other finds and there are a few beginner ones fairly close to you. Make sure that the box to display beginner caches in green is ticked. If you do get an opportunity, I've found many of the urban bushland-type caches and ones in parks that I've done to be a little easier than the other urban ones as it's often fairly easy to spot the pile of rocks, sticks or the other thing that looks especially unnatural. In terms of muggles, I really don't think I've tried too hard to hide what I'm doing. I've found that when I act like I'm supposed to be doing what I'm doing, people don't give a second glance. That said, fake mobile phone conversations is especially handy. I've also found that I can get away with a lot, especially in parks and the bush, just by virtue of my appearance as a student. I was wearing my university hoodie once and someone came and asked me what degree I'm doing and what my experiment was; they figured I was studying environmental science and that I was measuring levels for something. I just said yes because it seemed easier than explaining geocaching but then we ended up having a pretty decent conversation about it. Tying shoelaces is often useful as well, but that only works if your shoes have laces (a mistake I've made before!) I really did struggle at first; the first cache I found was a piece of concrete in a fig tree and if that wasn't the world's most obvious "camouflage" i've seen, I don't know what is. After that, I really struggled because I didn't realise that caches weren't all going to be that obvious.

When I first started geocaching I tried one or two, mainly because I would rely heavily on past logs and wanted to see if I could find a cache without that. I got one the other day without going out specifically for it; i was in the area already caching and saw the email notification 3 hours after it arrived in my inbox and seeing as I was so close I decided to go for it. I figured someone else may have beat me to it, especially when it took me so long to work out how to get to the spot I needed to park, but I managed a joint ftf with a local guy who was telling me about all his FTFs. If there is a cache particularly close to me I might go out for the FTF in the future, but I really don't feel the need to go out again.

I'm still a beginner, which I probably don't have to state as it's overwhelmingly obvious from my goals - find 50 caches, which should happen tomorrow - 100 caches - cache in another country (hopefully nz next month) - hide my first cache - log the nearby earth caches - GET A LARGE CACHE! I've been caching a year and still haven't found a large cache. I don't really have any longterm goals. It's taken me a year to get 50 caches, but I've gotten 20 in the past two days alone. I just want to try to start to put caching into my daily routine, or at least go caching once a week.

I'm still new, but after reading all of the posts (i'm procrastinating right now) i agree with some of the things that have been raised. It really irks me when micro and nano caches are listed as small. As someone new at this, I've gone looking for a few caches that are highlighted as green because they are listed as small but they're really micros. In one case, the micro was in a piece of wood that, if hollowed out fully, would be a small container, but it only had room for the micro container. I also don't like caches that are on, or very close to private property. There was one that seemed to be right in someone's front garden, well within what would be their private property. The name of the cache and the description suggested that it was in their garden and I felt quite uncomfortable. I cache using my smartphone so I thought it might have been slightly off, but i checked the logs and experienced cachers had the same issue and many just logged DNF and left. I don't like TFTC logs either. I may not own any caches, but as someone who is still inexperienced and looks to the logs as extra help and, at times, suggestions that i'm on the right track, i like seeing more than just a few letters. Heck, I think I'd enjoy reading logs even if I wasn't looking for clues. I always log from my phone in the field and it's not that hard to write more than a few letters. Maybe it's because I like to read, but I've read some great logs that have made me laugh and I'd rather see more of those than log after log of TFTC. Interestingly enough, I found that there were more tiny logs and copy-paste logs when I started in my smaller hometown than here in the city, which I wasn't expecting.

Hi Guys, I'm starting to look at placing some caches. I've got two micro planned, one of them almost ready to go, but i'm going to try and find a few more before I place them. Obviously I'm still new at caching so I do want a bit more experience before I place them. Anyway, I would really like to do a larger one that is a little different. I would love to get an ammo can and fill it with books, with a note in the description to bring a book to trade. ideally, i'd love to have the books wrapped so you can't see what it is, but have a rough description (genre, age appropriateness etc) written on the paper. if i did that, i'd tell the cachers to do somethign the same. Perhaps I'd include the paper and tape, or whatever, in the cache itself. I've seen some libraries and book stores doing something similar lately and people seem to enjoy it. i feel like it could be a fun cache. if i do this, i'll be adding all the books that start off in the cache to book crossing so they can be tracked on there. my concern is the waterproofing of an ammo can. from what i've read, most are, but given that i'm wanting to put books in an ammo can, i'm a little concerned. would putting another container inside an ammo can be a good idea or bagging the books, either individually or combined? any advice? thanks