bunkerdave

I have not noticed there are a ton of single, female cachers in my area, so my hopes are not high for meeting one that is into it as much as me...I have, however, introduced several over the last couple of years. Only one of whom I know has actually purchased her own GPS and gone caching without me. Still not sure if she was hoping she and I would do more caching together, or if she dropped the 600 bones on her set up so she wouldn't have to call me to go caching ....any thoughts on this from the ladycachers in the forums?

Not sure this counts as a Geo-dating success story, but it fits with this thread, which, I realize, has been stopped for a while. Maybe this will re-open it and there will be ANOTHER success story (?) Went on a date a couple of weeks ago, and when we got in my car, she looks at the GPS stuck to my windshield and asks "What's that?" two minutes later we were headed for the nearest geocache I had not yet found. When we get parked, I hand her the GPS, show her the pointer screen and tell her "go for it." Off she goes, and 5 minutes later we are fishing through the ample contents of her first geocache. She seemed pretty excited about it at the time, but you never know if it will stick. A week later, my phone rings..."Is this a good deal? A streetpilot 3 for $400?" I say, "You want to spend $400 on a GPS?" She says, well, I really want to take my kids out geocaching, and I want to be sure and get a good GPS." Soo...long story short, I dropped by her house, and showed her my two day old GPSMAP 60CS...she got hers yesterday in the mail. Soulmates? Who knows...I do know this, however...$400 for a GPS is a heck of a lot less than I paid for my first wife's wedding ring. I can't help but read with envy the saga of Mopar and Geo Ho...might be fun to see if there are more of those out there.

Ok, someone has already asked me about uploading from multiple map suites, so here goes. 1) Open up your Mapsource Topo AND your CitySelect software on your desktop. 2) Select the Topo maps you want, and copy them (CTRL+C) 3) Go into CitySelect (The two Mapping suites use the same browser) 4) Select the maps you want in City Select (There are a lot less of them than there are in Topo.) 5) Right click in the area where you now see the names of the CitySelect maps you are uploading, and click PASTE. This adds all the TOPO maps you copied to the CitySelect maps you just selected. 6) Upload as usual. Essentially, what you are doing is taking the map/database data from TOPO and merging it with CitySelect. It just occurred to me that this might work, had I read the instructions more thoroughly, I am sure it would have talked about this. It is quite nice, and switching from Topo to CitySelect doesn't seem to be a big deal. You have databases in each that are not in the other, and all the data for both software suites are displayed in the FIND menu together. Obviously you will not be able to carry as large an area as you could if you just loaded one or the other. I loaded all of Utah, plus about 50 miles around the perimeter, and had plenty of room to spare. You can also have SOME of the Topos and SOME of the CitySelect displayed on the map screen, but I have found that displaying the CItySelect gives more data around town. Another difference is that TOPO shows considerable more of the backroads and streams (which makes sense) and CitySelect does not have these data at all. Anyway, There you have it. Hopefully my instructions are coherent enough to make sense to everyone. If not, feel free to e-mail me or just post here with any questions.

Just something a few of us Utah Cachers were wondering about, and I figured out today. I am sure most of you fine folks have already managed this, but in case you have not.... If you have multiple Mapsource software packages, you can load more than one into the 60CS. Anyone who DOESN'T know how to do this, post here, and I will post the instructions on how to do it here. For example, I have Mapsource Topo and City Select. I want the databases and detailed mapping for both. So how do you have both of them in your GPS, since with each new upload, it erases the old mapset?

I recently adopted the first cache I ever found - The Wasteland Stash - and it has been logged 207 times. It was placed Feb. 22, 2001, so it's had a little time to percolate. Not one of your prettier sites, it is just outside the gate of an old sewage treatment plant.

I can appreciate the motivation to be FTF...I myself have done this several time, most recently last Friday. I didn't try for the cache until almost a week after it was first placed, and my trek to the cache involved packing my mountain bike up 4 miles of virtually unclimbable trail so I could experience my version of nirvana on the return trip. For me, being FTF is only meaningful when getting there is actually a challenge. To each their own. I almost prefer to wait a while on most caches, just so I have more to read while I scarf jerky and trail mix once I find it. In Utah we are very fortunate to have our beloved "Cach-u-nuts." This wonderful couple takes time every month or so to orchestrate games that create excitement in our state, often using the caches that are already there. Prizes range from valuable to sentimental, but always are treasured by those who have earned them, because of the experience they represent. Presently we are engaged in a game called "In Search of the Hermit's Coins" in which coins travel around the state between the oldest 48 caches in our state. They can only be placed in these venerable caches, which has created a sort of "homage" to the caches which have been around the longest. Once a coin is placed in a cache, it is logged on cachunuts.com and everyone knows it is there. I need not illucidate further on the melee that commonly ensues. My own story - I found myself on May 25 tromping through a wetland at 3:30 am, lamp on head, GPS in hand, searching for a cache I first located nearly three years ago in order to retrieve a coin that was placed there at 10:30 PM the night before. As the game is still in its early stages, I anticipate many such escapades will are in the making. We can only hope! bd

I never knew Bill (Billzjeep) but I was the first, and one of only two, to find his Spring Canyon Point/Cache. All I can say is that if this man put into everything he did the same degree of care and attention as he did in this cache, then the world lost a good one. I still vividly remember the experience of hunting this cache late at night, and actually FINDING it, believe it or not, among the sandstone maze of SE Utah. God Bless Billzjeep.

I know this topic has been dead for a while, but did we ever determine if GPS units actually display the time as transmitted to them and synchronized continuously by the satellites? I have watched this closely since I got my Magellan Map330 some time ago, and have noticed that my cell phone and my GPS are ALWAYS in perfect synchronization. I am not sure if all carriers sync phones this way, I use Verizon, but I do know that when I do take a moment to watch my GPS clock and the clocks on both of my cell phones, they all have precisely the same time - yes, down to the second. I have done this with as many as 6 Verizon cell phones and three GPS units, different makes and models, and noticed the same thing. So...there is clearly a synchronization function at work. I like that. Keeps me out of hot water with the boss.

I placed one back in August 2001 that has only been visited on three separate occasions...one of those was a two person visit, so four people have actually been to it. Here is the URL: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=6327 Just thought I would chime that in, in case anyone actually WANTS to place a cache that will hardly ever be visited. (?) It appears that leaving them at elevations over 12,000 feet tends to keep them lonely. bunkerdave

Wow...and I thought MY ex-wife hated caching. I started caching in April 2001...and I got divorced in June 2002. While it sounds like there are a lot bigger problems than caching at issue here, I can tell you that as soon as my wife left, I had a lot less interest in caching than I had previously. Ask yourself if you are caching to GET AWAY from your wife, or because you really really enjoy it that much....my guess is it's somewhere in between. If the marriage is really that bad...then something else needs to give, but caching is nowhere near worth throwing away a marriage over. Good luck to you.

Hi all of you out in Geocaching land...I am going to rehash a thread I did a couple years ago and see what happens. The idea was that I wanted to have icons and things for my desktop that were GPS/Geocaching related...I lack the skills to create things like these, so I thought I would draw on the collective body of knowledge and see what everyone came up with. For the last two years I have had a really nice cursor of my beloved Magellan MAP330 GPS Unit on my desktop, but I started having some serious troubles recently with my computer, and I upgraded my OS...I think I lost the cursor in that upgrade. Anyway, I went back to the forums, which was where I originally got the cursors and icons, but the links are now dead, as I feared. Then I thought, in two years since then, the sport has grown wildly, and I am sure there are lots of cachers out there who have, or would like to have, these same things for the computers. So if you have such a thing, maybe you could make them available to all of us...I know I will be anxiously waiting. Cheers! bunkerdave

Probably nothing new to add here, but I would like to go on record saying that I prefer geocaching and this website NOT become a medium for promoting agendas, political, religious, or otherwise. This is a game, and is intended to be enjoyed by all, without having to encounter anyone's personal agenda every time we log in to this site, or open a cache. While the ideas may be perfectly rational and welcome, the promotion thereof through this sport is simply in poor taste. I am all for free speech, but I think to take a game and make it a means to promote your own ideas, be they widely accepted or WAAAAAAY out there, is just plain rude. bunkerdave

I have found a couple that had gift certificates for dinner, and others that had nice items, such as knives, binoculars, etc - you know, useful stuff, as opposed to the typical happy meal toys and used golf balls. A group of us did a multicache/cannonballrun style thing back in 2001 in which the idea was that we placed caches all over the state of Utah, in prime locations of varying difficulty level. Each cache held an item and a keyword, which would indicate that the cache had been visited. Points were awarded based on first, second, third, etc., and the cacher with the most points won a brand new GPS. The irony was that it was probably 1500 miles to drive out and get all these caches, which at current gas prices, would have almost bought a GPS, without all the driving. Of course, as we all know...what fun would THAT be!? bunkerdave

For me, it has really just been about lifestyle change. And about kind of a "graduation" of sorts from caching to hiking to extended backpacking. Geocaching, and GPS, gave me the confidence and familiarity with my adopted home of Utah (I am originally from Idaho) to be able to go out and not worry about getting lost. (I have a terrible sense of direction in the wilderness, and don't really like to spend too much time navigating, hence GPS.) ANYWAY, I have found great pleasure in hunting some tough caches, although at first I tried to hit everything that came up on my radar. I enjoy planning backpacking trips that will take me to a cache or two, if someone has seen fit to place one there. If not, then I just enjoy the hike. bunkerdave

I was just checking in here, noticing all the polls that have cropped up, and started wondering what is the longest any "active" cacher has gone without logging any finds. I went on a hunt on December 8, and have not been out since. If the weather holds, I may go out tomorrow and introduse yet another friend to our hobby, however. I guess that would make it 91 days since my last hunt. Anyone else top that? bunkerdave

I had one that was lodged in the fence around my backyard for about a year and a half. I removed it when I moved out of the house, but sure met some great people that way. There is a park behind that house that allowed public access, although the access was pretty tricky to find. I had a dog in the backyard who was a very good alert system whenever anyone would come to the cache. Some days I would come home from work, and my wife would tell me she saw a car circling our block slowly earlier that day, then heard Ben (the dog) barking at something...then I would look at the website, and almost without fail, there would be an entry. If I was home, I would go out and spy on the people, and take their picture if I could manage it. Lots of fun. If you have a good spot for such a cache, I recommend it. bunkerdave

I don't find it difficult at all...but then, I don't really try to "sell" anyone on it. "Someone goes out and hides something, somewhere. They record where they hide it using a GPS. They put the location coordinates on the Internet, and anyone with access to the website, and a GPS, can go out and find it." Doesn't get much simpler than that. As has been said...some get it, some don't. Everyone can't be as cool as we are. bunkerdave

What a touching thing to actually be missed. Seriously, I don't think I will ever be able to (or ever want to) completely leave Geocaching. I had a call just the other day from a reporter at the local newspaper wanting to do yet another article on geocaching, and apparently someone still has the impression that I am the one to talk to...go figure. I think the last cache hunt I did was on December 8th, and I think I logged 5 that day, a pretty good number for me anymore. By way of an update, I think you will agree that I have had a pretty rough year...I share this with all of you only because it appears there are some who are interested, and also because I think there is a lesson here for all of us to learn about MODERATION. I guess I started caching because I was interested in GPS, and because my career at the time (accouting) was boring me to death. I felt I needed some adventure in my life, and thought exploring new places with my GPS seemed like just the cure.as many of you have found, it can certainly do that. What I failed to realized was that too much of a good thing, is a BAD thing. I remember taking off after work to go hunt caches, and returning home to my wife and little daughter after they had both gone to bed, with a cold dinner on the table waiting for me. When I was not out caching, I was home surfing these very forums or loading new caches into my GPS or planning the hunt I would take on the next day. There has been a lot written about the addiction some of us have experienced to this sport, and most of it has been quite tongue in cheek, and rightly so. I am probably only speaking for myself, because I doubt any of you good people are shortsighted enough to let something like this take over your life. I guess the biggest reason I have not done a lot of caching of late is that every time I go out, I think of the times that I went when I was married, and how my caching (along with other things) ended my marriage, once and for all. The last year, as you would expect, has been very hard, with losing essentially everything of importance in my life, and trying to get everything figured out, but things are going as well as one could hope, and I am doing well again. Caching is by no means on my list of important things anymore, but it is one of my favorite hobbies. I kind of "graduated" from caching to backpacking last summer, and spent a lot of time doing trips that took me to some wonderful caches. I hope to do more this year, and look forward to seeing all of you on the trail. Cache on! bunkerdave bunkerdave

I would say my favorite caches I have visted are the following, for a variety of reasons: Royal Treasure - just an extremely memorable experience that not everyone has the guts to achieve. Adventure Caches 1 and 2 - Great ideas, and we all had a TON of fun solving/hunting them, Emerald - Just another excuse to take a great hike. Zeus' Roost - My personal #100, and one of the best dayhikes I know of. Potter's Pond - Utah's First ever Geocache, a terrific location, and a really well done cache. Winter Quarters - To my knowledge, only 5 cachers have been able to reach this one, which says something. I used a different route than the trail, which makes this a particularly memorable find, but even via the intended trail, this on is sure to challenge. Beaver Springs - This one is not that hard, but what I really enjoyed was the way it required me to use route-finding skills with the map on my GPS. The view is spectacular from the cache, as well as the very cool cairn where the cache is hidden. Amos' Rest - This was my 200th cache find, with a great group of caching legends, including UtahJean and DHobby1. This is a terrific little dayhike in Mill Creek Canyon, and a nice place for a cache. Big Elk Lake - This is the most recently visited of the caches on my list, and one of my favorites. The hike to this backcountry is nothing short of spectacular, whichever route you use, and the serenity which rewards the diligent hiker is unsurpassed in Utah. Truly a cacher's dream location. Strongly recommend camping here. Well, there you have MY top ten. It was tough choosing just 10, but I would have to say that these are the ones I liked best. Can't wait to hear the responses of others. bunkerdave

I placed a cache a year ago on a mountain at 12,185 feet elevation. It is basically unreachable for half the year, as it would be completely buried under several feet of snow. Add to that the fact that it is near Moab, Utah, which is one of the most remote corners of the United States, and that it is a 4 mile hike up broken rock to get to the cache site. The only reason anyone visited it was that it was the final stage of a multicache game that sent players all over Utah. The prize was a new GPS unit. Once the winner visited the cache, no one else was willing to settle for second place. The cache has now sat dormant for 362 days, and I have begun to consider retrieving it. Several have mentioned to me that they have plans to visit, but as yet, just the one. The way I see it, is there is a place for these kind of caches. Even if no one ever visits them, what is the harm? I pretty much always use ammo boxes for my caches, so they will be there for years and years to come, unless someone or something walks off with them. The longer they sit, the more interesting it will be when a cacher does get there, because they will look in the cache and know that no one has been there in X number of months/years. I have always enjoyed the caches that are never visited, because they are almost always the hardest to get to, and are often the most memorable. And the trip, and the memory, is what caching is really all about. bunkerdave

I can remember not too long ago when I had the forums open on my computer screen almost all day long. Since then, I have been far less interested in what is being said about geocaching. I would agree that for the most part, the forums are a great place for new entrants in this hobby to learn a lot in a short time, and to associate with others who enjoy it. I also found them to be a valuable source of information on software, GPS, and mapping, all of which are the real reason I got into caching in the first place. That said, I have probably posted 10 times, or less, since the new forums started up. The main reason for this is as has been stated; there really just isn't that much new being discussed. It is good to see new participants learning all the things that make the experience enjoyable, and most importantly, learning the etiquette that makes it possible for all of us to continue enjoying the sport well into the future. bunkerdave

Having slowed down significantly my participation in Geocaching, most of my finds now take place either when I am out of town and want to see some interesting places, when I meet someone who I want to introduce to it, or when I am planning a hike and there happens to be a cache or two in the area. Such was the case with the "Emerald Cache" placed on Mount Timpanogos at about 11,200 feet elevation. I was hiking to the summit, and remembered there was a cache there. I pulled out my PDA, and sure enough, I had the information, thanks to pathetique.com. I input the coordinates and found the cache en route to the summit. Total trip (hiking time) was 12 hours, for 13.8 miles of hiking. Elevation gain was around 4,000 feet. I highly recommend this cache (mostly the hike) to any who want a truly memorable experience. I left my binoculars in the cache so that any who came after me could enjoy the view a little more. bunkerdave

Well, I see that my cache was indeed posted. I am not sure if the response to this poll was THE overwhelming reason, but I like to think that it was, and the process works. Thanks for all the thoughtful responses posted here, on both sides of the issue. I too hope this does not get too carried away, as Texas would be one heck of a place to try and complete. Oh well...time will tell. Stay tuned to see if anyone ever actually logs this one...could be awhile - or not. Might be my hardest one yet! bunkerdave

I posted the following cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=23541 and it has been disapproved as "too elitist". I would appreciate feedback from other cachers on this. I have discussed it with other local cachers, and they all wanted SOMONE to do it, so they could log it themselves, when they became eligible. bunkerdave

I have posted it THREE times now, and it has been disapproved each time. First the entire committee disaaproved it (in fairness, that was a true locationless cache, with no real cache out there at all, so that was ok with me) Then I placed a cache, and posted it as you see here. That was also rejected, by one member of the committee. I contacted him personally, and he said that he assumed it was the same as the first one. After he realized it was not the same, he said he apologized and should have approved it. I reposted it (again) and it has now been rejected by erik881-r as "too elitist". Here is the entire message as posted to the cache page (now archived) May 25 by erik88l-r (333 found) You can [delete] or [encrypt] this log entry. dejavu? I believe another admin has already archived this. We have member only caches, but this gets a bit too elitist as only the most seasoned 'cachers would be able to participate. A visitor to the state or a newbie wouldn't have a chance of finding this cache. IMHO geocaching.com admin I would be interested in hearing some thought on THIS argument. I guess I will just have to re-post my cache (yet again) since we are all in agreement that this is a legitimate, worthwhile cache. bunkerdave