The Navigatorz

I didn't even ask him to get mine when it arrived near Othello, he just volunteered and retrieved it. But knowing what a nice guy he is, he probably would go to Boise and get yours if you asked him too. It was a nice race Blue J. Our travel bugs staretd in Austria and a year later made it home (well yours is almost home). Now about that $100 bet. I'll accept a personal check. (Just kidding).

I never paid much attention to it before so thanks for pointing it out. I spent some time this evening using the waypoint search engine. Pretty cool. I haven't decided yet whether I will become an active waymarker, but even if I don't, I will use it as a resource for locating the coordinates of Points of Interest I may want to visit while away on business trips if I have time.

Hey thanks so much. I haven't looked into Waymarking much but I can see where it can be quite handy if you're looking for something like the Liberty Bell. Checking the coordinates on the geocaching.com google maps there appears to be multi that starts there called Ben Franklin Phone Home (GCNFQD). I can see where one can use Waymarking.com to find a point of interest, and from the results, find nearby caches on geocaching.com. Now to find coordinates for the other points of interests. I wonder if I can find coordinates for a nearby historic covered bridge? Hmmm, I may just become a waymarker.

I've never been to Philly before and I hope I have some time to see the historic district. By the way Ambrosia, I haven't any experience with Waymarking and I know you do. I'm interested in getting coordinates for POI in Philadelphia, such as the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's grave, Betsy Ross house, etc. Do you think there are waymarks for those kinds of things and how would I get their coordinates. Does Waymarking have a search engine to locate points of interest like those?

To change the subject, I'm traveling to Philadelphia and Atlanta next week. Any Cache-cadian have a Travel Bug that needs to go to either of those places?

Huh? Who's slamming everyone for finding more than they hide? I don't think you understand the gist of the posts.

No, that's another engineer co-worker friend of mine. He knows about geocaching and he has the gadgets (gps/pda) but he hasn't given geocaching a try....yet.

Really? Mine took 30 minutes to write. Regarding the newbies, be on the lookout for a coworker friend of mine. He goes by betti loo (the name of his dog). He's an engineer too! Maybe he'll bring in more puzzle caches....yeah!! (But lately he's been trying to figure out my Snowflakes cache without success...heehee).

Thanks Patudles for the constructive comments. Robinego, I’d prefer we keep the jabs, like pouty child, out of this discussion. The once a month club was started by Patudles a couple of years ago (and she and I discussed this at the time) as a way to generate more cache hides in our area. Many people thought it was a great idea and we had several participants, and it worked well, and it was fun. Last year we had fewer participants and this year even less signed up. When I signed on this year, I in fact did sign on hoping that several others would do the same (just as we did the first year). But it didn’t work out that way this year. So lately I was thinking about it and to be honest, it didn’t seem fair to sign on to a commitment to a club like this with so few participants. My intention was simply this: I made a public commitment to hide a cache a month, and now I don’t feel that way, so I made a public note that I wasn’t going to do that anymore. I didn’t want anyone asking me at the end of the year why I didn’t hide one a month if I did not. I also don’t want hiding caches to feel like an obligation. The hide a month club worked well the first year, but it seems silly at this point so I was just asking in my way why don’t we just drop the whole club idea. No one has to commit to anything and let’s just hide caches as we feel. I may just continue like I always do and hide an average of 25 a year, or I may only hide 1 this year. Who knows. My intention wasn’t to slam anyone else and if anyone felt that I did then I apologize. If we’re going to have this so called hide a month club, but only a few sign up, then in my mind it seems unfair and we may as well not continue. That’s all.

If you're not finding local caches, then I wasn't referring to you.

This club only makes sense to me if there are more participants. Remember a couple of years ago how fun it was to see new caches pop up all the time. It's not that way anymore. You can only find caches if others hide them (thats how the game works). But if only a minority of geocachers are hiding them on a regular basis, and the non-participants are enjoying the fruits, then it seems unfair. At this time I am rescinding my commitment to hide one a month. I also motion that this club be disbanded. Do I hear a second?

I think you scared the guy off because he deleted all of his logs. Poor guy. He'll probably quit geocaching now!

To those who have been working on the puzzle, White Noise, I SOLVED IT!!!! Even though it's back in Pennsylvania and I may never go after the cache, it's been a challenging and fun puzzle to work on. I emailed the waypoint to other Cache-cadians a few weeks ago and several of us have worked on it from time to time. I'm not sure if I'll copy it for a local cache yet, although I do have the cache owner's permission to copy it. I'm just not sure how evil I want to be. Great job pghlooking on a fun but challenging puzzle cache.

I'll try the local Office Depot and Staples and if they don't have them I'll send you a buck for a few. Thanks for the replies.

Does anyone know where to get some small ziplock plastic bags? Not the sandwich sized bags, but the small kind that are around 1-1/2" x 2" or so to contain log sheets for micros? Also, for those interested in low cost low maintenance containers, I see that Costco carries a box of 26 various sized Snap n Lok containers (very similar to LoknLok containers), for only $19. That's about $ 0.75 per container. Not bad. That's supply for about 2 years worth of hides.

Well so far it looks like Mr. Gadget is the only one who has committed to hiding at least one cache a month in 2007. A club of one, is no fun, so I'll join. Anyone else? Come on...it will be fun.

If you're referring to Devils Spur cache, then yes, its just over a mile with very little elevation gain. Beehive lookout cache is only a 1/4 mile hike in the summer (several miles in the winter since the gate is closed at the Mission Ridge road). Anyway, it looks like a group hike to Devils Spur is in the making for next spring when the snow melts (possibly both Devils Spur and Beehive Lookout). Who wants to participate? Sounds like g-people are interested. Blue J? Ambrosia? Anyone else? I'll be going too to check on the caches and possibly hide another.

Ok, let's do it!! But not until the snow melts. I'm not up to the idea of snowshoeing uphill for several miles, then digging through several feet of snow, just to free a TB (even though it was I that dropped it in that cache 15 months ago). Let's shoot for sometime in May next year.

Spoken from a True Geocacher

By the way, I should go check on those caches next spring after the snow melts, so if you or anyone wants to come with me, you're more than welcome. Maybe we can do a group hike, and hide a cache or two along the way. Looks like a TB is stranded up in my Beehive Lookout cache called Traveling Angel It set out on its journey in July 05 and 6 weeks later ended up in that cache, only to be stranded for 1-1/2 years. Poor TB. We're going to have to go up there and get it back into circulation.

You can get to the cache locations by snowshoeing, but the difficulty and terrain rating will probably be 2 or 3 stars higher. With all the snow up there, the gate at the entrance to the Liberty Beehive road is probably closed and locked, so you would have to snowshoe a few miles (compared to a 1/4 mile walk in the summer). Then when you got to the cache locations, better have a shovel as you would need to dig down through several feet of snow to find the cache.

Not sure what that means. Looks like you found 233 in 2005 and 313 in 2006. Looks like you had a good year.

Ok, since you asked. I looked back on the previous thread started by Patudles and here are the ones who committed to hiding one cache per month (or averaging 1 a month for the year) for year 2006: The Navigatorz, g-people, xy,xx,xy,xy,xy,xy, Blue J Wenatchee, Mr. Gadget #2, and Patudles. Ambrosia said she will commit to "trying" and "maybe" average one per month. How did everyone who committed, (or commit to try) do? Mr. Gadget 26 Hides g-people 24 Hides The Navigatorz 16 Hides Patudles 15 Hides Blue J Wenatchee 15 Hides xy,xx,xy,xy,xy,xy 4 Hides Ambrosia 2 Hides Overall the Cache-cadians contributed over 120 hides this year. Others who did not commit to the Once a Month club, but provide some fun quality caches: ccmin(5), Barnabirdys (5), D-born 2B in D-wild (5), Jackknap (4), Robinego (4), Max-X (3), Team Mensch (3) Thanks everyone for the Hides. We love them and thank you for the fun. And a special thanks to Mr. Gadget and g-people for going above and beyond. Shall we make re-commitments for 2007? Maybe recruit some others to join the club?

Ok. I'll keep them active for 1 more year for you (and others). If not found in 2007, then Poof...they're gone.

Question for the Cache-cadians: Should a perfectly good geocache be archived if it doesn't get anymore visitors? I have a couple of geocaches that haven't seen visitors since the fall of 2005. Not a single visitor in 2006. I think the reason why is because most of the local cachers have already found them, and they are kind of out of the way for out of towners to go after. The caches in question are Beehive Mountain Lookout Site last found on 10/1/2005 and Devils Spur last found on 9/8/2005. I suppose there's no harm leaving them there for another year and see what happens, but with the lack of activity at those sites, I could remove them to free up a location for someone else. Anyway, I'm curious as to what others think. Also, do you have caches that no longer see activity and what do you plan to do with them?