Too Tall John
-
Posts
2484 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Too Tall John
-
-
I broke the screen on my Oregon within the first couple weeks of having it. I sent it back & they replaced it for a service charge. I suspect the reason mine wasn't free is that it wasn't from a side impact, but from driving a stick right through the screen! Still, it was much cheaper than having to buy a new GPS.
After the new one came to me, I started looking for ways to protect the screen. I found the Zagg website and, while I realized it wouldn't help with another stick, it would be better than nothing. A couple years later and it was starting to look a little worse for the wear (don't get bug spray on a Zagg!). I went through their free replacement program and when the new protector arrived, it was super-simple to get the old one off. Then, you just need to send the old one back! Easy-Peasy.
I think both companies offer a great product and are willing to stand behind them, which goes a long way!
-
Looking over the bookmark, is the gorge challenge "ITHACA *IS* GORGE-OUS CHALLENGE"? I didn't find a 500 Puzzle/500 Multi Challenge, but I did find in NY the "Multi-Mystery Challenge", a 500/300 Challenge.I'd be curios to see what a bookmark list for Challenge in New York state would look like because I suspect that creating Challenge Caches is somewhat of a regional thing. I know of one challenge cache locally has asks you to find caches in some of the many gorges in the area and came across one yesterday that requires you to find 500 multi and 500 puzzle caches. So far nobody has logged a find on that one. -
Heh... If it's close enough, it's probably sitting in the evidence room at the station. . .What's the distance from the crime scene to your cache location? If it's close, have you considered temporarily disabling your listing until the investigation is complete? I'd hate for an unsuspecting searcher to get into an uncomfortable situation. -
There are 33,000 McDonald's. If you ate 3 meals a day for just over 30 years, you'd have eaten at them all.OK....here is another perspective...Are you more likely to:
1) Eat at every McDonalds
or
2) Find every cache
There are 1,740,710 active caches according to GC.com. To find all the caches out there in the same 30 year time frame, you'd need to find 159 caches a day for that same 30 years.
Consistently finding 159 caches in a day might be impossible, but so is your heart surviving 30 years of "McFood".
-
Are you loading GPX files for individual caches? Why not just load in a PQ of your area? It's easier, and might solve your issue.
I have an older Oregon (300) and I find if I load 2 500-Cache PQ's in at the same time, it frequently doesn't show the caches, but if I load one PQ, start up the unit, then load the next, it does just fine. I suspect making the poor GPS parse 100 individual GPX files all at once is just taxing the poor thing beyond it's capabilities.
-
So, I was looking at this bookmark (I pointed it out in post 2) and found GC2R5YE: Puzzle Insanity Challenge in Oregon! If you look in this bookmark you could probably find one in Washington, closer to you in BC. Sorry, It looks like the guy who compiled the bookmarks is just doing the US States, you Canadians are on your own...I have recently completed a challenge cache where I had to find 50 caches, in a row, that are not traditional caches. There is no time limit on it. I came across this challenge on a bookmark that was on a different challenge cache. My problem now is I can not find this challenge cache in order for log it. I thought it was in Oregon, but I couldn't find it. If anyone knows the GC code, could you please post it here?Thanks
-
This thread is about Throw Downs and the cachers who throw them.
The discussion about logging Finds vs DNFs on caches far from home, while an interesting topic, belongs in it's own thread.
-
And what I meant is that doing nothing is better than a throwdown in that case.
Sure. But I am suggesting that in that scenario, a throwdown is better than DOING NOTHING. That's all I meant. Nothing more, nothing less.
I think TTJ was referring to the last scenario, where both the cache and owner are gone. The container should never be replaced in that scenario, but rather a NA should be logged.
There, I highlighted it for you
Sounds like a NA would be the appropriate action for a cache like that. Perpetuating a cache that doesn't have an owner is a bad idea.The problem I see here is that anyone here in the forums on a regular basis is probably out maintaining their caches. Throw downs for a delinquent owner, where the cache is confirmed missing, I am not sure I have a problem with. A NM or NA would be better of course. But in the case where the cache AND the owner are confirmed missing? A throw down is better than doing nothing.
-
Congrats!DONE!!!!That series was GREAT!!!
THB
I'm still looking forward to hiding one on one of the islands.
-
Sounds like a NA would be the appropriate action for a cache like that. Perpetuating a cache that doesn't have an owner is a bad idea.The problem I see here is that anyone here in the forums on a regular basis is probably out maintaining their caches. Throw downs for a delinquent owner, where the cache is confirmed missing, I am not sure I have a problem with. A NM or NA would be better of course. But in the case where the cache AND the owner are confirmed missing? A throw down is better than doing nothing. -
I start my THREADS with "So" but I start many of my posts (including the last one) with "Well"So, I am obsessed why everyone feels compelled to start their posts with SO.
-
Everyone starts at the same number of caches to find, yes, but...I'm less sure about "Challenge caches cannot include restrictions based on 'date found'; caches found before the challenge cache publication date can count towards the achievement of the challenge.". I can see the logic in banning this; but I also see the logic in setting a challenge which starts today - so everyone has the same starting point.I was working on the NH "Know Your Local Cacher" challenge, where you need to find 3 different cache types hidden by 10 different cachers. Once you've cleared out your home area and found most of the non-Traditional caches in a even larger circumference, do you know how long it takes to do this? Many cachers in my area have hidden only one or two cache types, and those who have hidden more, I'd already found all their caches of one type. If I was a new cacher, I'd have been able to finish this one in a week.
-
Well, this is embarrassing...When I first got the pic showing missing sigs, I assumed that they had somehow stumbled across one of the older containers that I managed to overlook due to cache migration. If I can't be certain I'll find the cache, how can someone else!?!?
I stopped off today to pick up the Hide-a-Key. I didn't find it, I found one of the earlier containers, hidden underneath the bridge as described in the email:
Opened it up, and there was their signature, so it wasn't a Hide-a-Key after all. Glad I didn't start deleting logs just yet.Ah I remember it well....[snip] I finally found a magnetic "Hide-A-Key" stuck to an I-beam almost halfway across the width of the bridge. It was up pretty high and maybe ten feet from the end of the bridge. I believe the beam angles towards the center of the bridge. There were several other names in the log as I recall.
Still want to know how the container got so very far away from where it belongs... 
Another mystery: There is still one signature missing from the combined sets of logbooks. What did they find???
-
I'd imagine there were several of these in different areas, there was something like it here in NH.
Did a requirement like this get squashed by the new guidelines? If so, did they grandfather already existing caches, or did they archive 'em? I haven't looked recently for the one here in NH (which, I think wanted you to have a % of your finds be puzzles...) but if the cache you're looking for fell victim to the guidelines, that'd be why you can't find it. What new guidelines? Specifically:
One should not have to 'give up' finding other caches to achieve a challenge cache's requirements. To state that "10% of your find count needs to be Attended Logs" would require the geocacher to stop finding other types of caches and could affect their overall enjoyment of the game.You might find this guy's bookmarks helpful in finding Challenge Caches.
-
So, I just found out that one of my hides had been "replaced" by a "helpful" cacher. It is a Bison Tube hidden magnetically on a railroad trestle. Not the easiest cache to find, but that's kinda the point. I got an email from the last finders of the bison tube with a photo attachment showing the log, missing signatures of those who logged the cache between 11/10/11 and 04/27/12.
I know the last cacher whose name wasn't on the log so I emailed him. Got back:
Here's the thing that really bugs me: According to the cache description, "There is no need to leave the decking." I thought about hiding the cache down below, but due to the icy grade around the bridge abutments leading into the sometimes fast-running, frigid river, this would be an extremely dangerous cache to attempt in winter, and since this rail-trail is primarily used in winter, I went for the hide reachable from the safety of the bridge deck. Also, why did I never get a note from whoever hid the hide-a-key? "Oh, hey, we couldn't find your cache, so we hid a new one!" And finally, there are about a bazillion potential places this cache could be hidden. Why on earth would you throw down a cache when you can't be sure the cache is still there? The Bison tube out there now is the 3rd container in the life of the cache. When I first got the pic showing missing sigs, I assumed that they had somehow stumbled across one of the older containers that I managed to overlook due to cache migration. If I can't be certain I'll find the cache, how can someone else!?!?Ah I remember it well....it was my second trip back to try to find this one. This time I was accompanied by barefootgal who had a vague recollection of it. I searched from the deck of the bridge with no luck. Then I climbed down the rocks on the left side nearest the Pizza Barn. I searched the abutment of the bridge then started searching the beams. I finally found a magnetic "Hide-A-Key" stuck to an I-beam almost halfway across the width of the bridge. It was up pretty high and maybe ten feet from the end of the bridge. I believe the beam angles towards the center of the bridge. There were several other names in the log as I recall.Last summer, I had another cache get hit with a Throw-Down. The logs now only exist in my email notifications, but here they are:
8/13/2011Great morning caching with *** today...
Path is now a road, *** replaced the cache as we were thinking it may have been plowed under
First off, if they read past logs, or even cache descriptions of the surrounding caches, they would have realized the caches were along an old woods road. There was no widening of the trail, they graded the potholes out of the road! They had managed to pull the grader over far enough to make a tree lean towards the cache, but that was about the extent of the damage to the hide. Next, if they had looked at the cache Title or Description, they would have read that this cache is a "Bison Tube." The description says "Hope you enjoy this hide, it's a bit different from your average Bison Tube Hide." Apparently, they took "different" to mean they should hide an Airborne Container. Actually, different means the container is a toy American Bison with a hole drilled through the body so a preform would fit. Here's what I thought about it at the time:8/13/2011OH MY new WIDER trail now, in the past couple days... GZ was a bull dozed mess. Replaced cache with New container. TFTC
Too Tall John performed maintenanceMonday, 15 August 2011
With reports that the area had been bulldozed and that the cache had been replaced by the last two seekers, I set out to check for myself. Since the point of this cache is the "Bison-Tube-ness" of the cache and I don't currently have the necessary materials to replace it, I planned on archiving the cache if it was, indeed, missing. Gone or not, I needed to come back out here. If it was gone, I needed to verify that for myself, and remove the throwdown before archiving the cache. If it was still in place, I needed to remove the throwdown before someone else got confused by finding it instead of the real cache.
It was not missing. Cache was in place, I almost knelt on the throwdown when I retrieved the original. The road might be a couple feet wider than it used to be, but for the most part looks the same as it has since I first ventured out. Well, minus a few potholes. I must say the cache was just feet from destruction, but it was, and is, quite findable.
While I appreciate the sentiment of the two cachers who decided to replace the cache, I am a bit baffled at why they thought an Airborne container would be appropriate, especially when the cache is named "Bison Tube" and is described as "a bit different from your average Bison Tube Hide". Different it was, but it followed neither the spirit nor the letter of the cache description.
So, I'd say thanks for bringing me back out here, but I had other nearby caches that I haven't found yet that I didn't go after today so that I could come fix this one.
So, back to the title: If You 'Gotta' Leave a Throwdown...
- Be sure the cache isn't there. Can't be sure, DNF it.
- Read the cache page. It might have information that might not only help you hide the cache in an appropriate manner, it might help you find the cache!
- Let the Cache Owner know what you did. Your container could be potentially confusing for other cachers, or even placed in a spot the CO avoided for good reasons. Their name is now attached to what you did.
- Think again. You don't 'Gotta' Throw Down.
- DNF It's helpful to CO's to get DNF logs.
- DNF There is no shame in a DNF log.
- DNF Even if you feel ashamed of DNF's, nobody but you can pull up the full list of your DNF's. It's really ok.
...So, other than perhaps a couple extra "DNF"'s, what else did I leave off this list?
(In the interest of full disclosure, I have "Thrown Down" a cache. Sort of. I had the cache owner on the phone, who verified that I was looking in the right place, and as it was a location that wasn't easy to get to, he asked me to replace it. So, now that I think of it, not really a throwdown at all.)
-
Not geocaching at all.There is also G.P.S. [2009] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536065/Also, I want my nine minutes back.
-
Try clearing your browser's cache. It might help, it might not.
If that doesn't help, restart your computer.
If that doesn't help, come to think of it, I got an unusual 505 error from GC.com within the past 24 hours, but haven't been logging any caches....Three engineers were riding in a car: a mechanical engineer, a chemical engineer, and a Microsoft software engineer. The car stalled, and they rolled it to the side of the road.The mechanical engineer popped the hood, looked in and said "Look. The drive belt is loose. All we have to do is tighten it up and the car will work just fine."
The chemical engineer replied "No, that's all wrong. The problem is fuel contamination. We have to drain the fuel, filter it, and then everything will be A-OK."
The Microsoft software engineer told the other two "No, I've seen this problem before. We have to get back in the car, close all the windows, shut down the car, get out, get back in, start up the car, open all the windows, and then it will run."
-
Have you ever made a smart remark then realized it was truer than you meant?Put a stamp and pad in the final and call it a Letterbox Hybrid.Is there a theme for the cache that might translate into a LB stamp? If it's simple enough, I might even be able to help with the carving...
-
Put a stamp and pad in the final and call it a Letterbox Hybrid.
-
Actually, this log...
Now isn't that just SILLY???Actually, for a lot of them, their nitpicking has to do with how much they despise geocaching and geocachers.
WE're all such niiiiiiiiiiice people! Some people just love to be haters...
...led to quite a discussion on the Atlas Quest forums. I got quite a few very nice responses from LBers who read the thread. There are some who are quite snobbish and give the rest a bad name. Just like there are some cachers who go and trade out the LB Stamps who give the rest of us a bad name.I'm sorry, but geocaching.com is not the authority on what is or is not a letterbox. I just think people here should know that. If it cannot be found without a GPSr, it's not a letterbox, and putting a stamp in the cache doesn't make it one. Tigquilt, I'm sure your series is appreciated by geocachers, but it does nothing for letterboxers -- they don't know it exists. Might as well have just left the stamp out and called it a regular geocache. -
According to the LetterBoxers of North America WebsiteThat's interesting, I always thought a Letterbox hybrid was a letterbox (actually listed on one or more of the letterboxing sites with the traditional means of finding) that was also listed as a geocache on GC.com. Seems to me that a geocache with a stamp in it (listed only here) is nothing more than a geocache with a stamp in it, and not a letterbox or hybrid at all.
If EMS can be seen as a legit LB listing entity, why cant GC.com?Beyond that, getting clues themselves can be part of the game. Sometimes clues are learned of only via word of mouth, and I know of cases where one of the "goodies" in a letterbox is a clue to another letterbox, unavailable elsewhere! Box hiders have no doubt come up with clever ways to transmit their clues beyond the simple publishing of them on the Internet, although at least in the US, that vast percentage of boxes have their clues published on the LbNA web site. Other sites may also publish some clues and sometimes clues are found at local outdoor retailers and clubs, such as Eastern Mountain Sports.Perhaps more importantly, according to the LBNA Website
Coordinates? Ooh... Sounds like you can use a GPS to find some letterboxes...Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. -
With 150+ SD caches out there, that's over 15% of a 1000 cache PQ filtered out. If people are willing to go out of their way to get a 10% discount, won't they go out of their way even more to keep from loosing 15% of something?You can use GSAK to delete the unwated snoopy caches as all most all of them have SD in the start of their name as way for people to quickly filterPlus filtering with GSAK is an extra step when, without filtering, I can just drop the PQ file into my Oregon's GPX file.
Oh, and I'd have to get GSAK.
I can solve the puzzles at my leisure and pick and choose caches based on the towns they are in as listed in Team Skywalker's Bookmark.
-
See? Ya learn something new every day! Does that mean the background in the forums is 424242? Oops... I guess not... It's edefef
When I used the Firefox "Inspect element" tool, it says the background colour for that box is EFF4F9, or (239, 244, 249). That's grabbing it right from the source code.
Thanks!What I get is #EFF4F8 or 239,244,248Only one digit off from my EFF4F9 but still not a perfect match.
-
Load 'em into your GPS. When you find the perfect spot, check and see if any of the nearby caches show up as less than .1 mile. As long as there's no multis or puzzles, you'll be good. If there are hidden caches (multis or puzzles) the landowner you're getting written permission from should know about them if it's a spot that requires permission.
Still want to know how the container got so very far away from where it belongs... 
WE're all such niiiiiiiiiiice people! Some people just love to be haters...
If You 'Gotta' Leave a Throwdown...
in General geocaching topics
Posted