Big Red One

quote:Originally posted by Brogan:This is what I'm after.... should we be looking at teams attempting to move their own bugs cross country?, should it be a general release from a gathering or other high traffic area and a strictly hands off race?, can you grab somebody elses bug and backtrack it? What do you all think?????? While I understand the reasoning, the fact is if someone intends to play dirty, then not allowing owners to touch bugs (their own or others) just means that they will get their friends to do it, or will simply not log their grab. The One State Rule should apply because its monitorable, but other than that rely on people's understanding of the prisoner's dilemna - if any racing bugs start getting messed with, the whole concept will probably collapse as owners go after each other's bugs. Maybe if we allow it, but ask people to log their actions, the bugs won't just disappear. I'm still in, in any case. just let me know when and where to send my bugs. (I travel a lot myself, so plenty of notice would be appreciated.) A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way

But in order for those of us in flyover land to participate, maybe we make it a round the world race. regardless of where you start from you have to log caches in five specified states (New York, California, Illinois, Florida and Washington) other than your home state (if your home state is one of the named states you have to add Texas), ten countries (Australia, four in Asia, one in Africa, four in Europe) and then return home. Think anyone would finish? A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

At the risk of keeping this up near the top for a few more days. I am planning a trip to Florida. Amazingly enough, if I want tips, I will look in the appropriate forum for info. I am certainly not expecting it to be posted here in the Midwest, just in case, even though far more people hereabouts are likely to be heading for Florida rather than Vancouver. Cheers. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

My favorite hide so far in the metro is kingboreas' hide in Hidden Falls Park. "040 Hidden Falls Regional Park" by kingboreas (GC344D). It is simply amazing. a great side benefit is that there are three other hides in Hidden Falls park, and two or three on the other side of the river in Minneapolis, including "Minnehaha Falls Park Tour" by WatrWalker (GC370D), which is a cool and inventive multiple (I found it, but had to use the clue because I screwed up one of the clues). If that's not enough, I would go to one of those and then click on "nearby caches" - this would give you a list for a full day of caching, centered around some really excellent hides. In addition you would have a bunch of great walks/views centered around the Mississipi. Another really clever hide is "The Suspense Is Killing Me" by Bogeyboy (GCAE44), but its on the other side of Mpls, out in Plymouth. Enjoy. :cool A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by TeamJiffy:If you're bored and feel lost, <> cache-in the state you're in... oh yeah!! Almost sold my GPSr It happened just the other day I was spending too much time I could've said it wasn't my way But I didn't and I wonder why Feel like letting my geocache flag fly Yes I feel like I always geocache Must be because I lost two bugs at Christmas I'm not feelin up to par Increases my paranoia Like finding a cache, but its not there But I'm not giving in a inch to fear 'Cause I, I miss myself this year I feel like I always geooooooocache When I finally get myself together, I'm gonna get down in that sunny Southern weather And find a place or two to cache Separate the traditional from the multicache I feel like I always ...... geooooocache, yeah A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Cache Canucks:...but the infamous http://www.ottertooth.com/Temagami/Nature/fishingspider.htm is still in ample supply up here in Ontario's cottage country during those lazy, hazy days of summer. I learned a long time ago that you never go swimming under a cottage dock unless you were absolutely _certain_ whether or not one of these not-so-wee beasties was living on its underside. And 'round here we have the Wolf spider. And when using an outhouse, one should always take a quick peek under the rim before sittin' down . . . just in case. Folks have been bit in the most,um, uncomfortable places. :eek But we don't usually have to worry about getting webbed when walking in the woods. Our only poisonous snake is so sad, that if you get bitten you have the satisfaction of knowing the snake will probably also die. And we don't have to worry about 'gators or other things that think people are moving entrees. Instead we have other ways to hurt ourselves in the outdoors in the winter, most involving snowmobiles and alcohol, and the rest involving checking if the ice is safe yet (or, in the spring, still) by walking (or driving) out on it. :cool A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

Boy, you had me going with your Subject. How can you hate REI, I wondered. Its like hating sex, or, or. . . oh I don't know. The concept is just sort a befuddling. But it turns out its the same sort of love/hate relationship my wife has with REI/Galyans, etc. "Hi, Honey." "Where were you?" "Oh, I just stopped by REI." "[sitting down] Oh god, how much this time?" "They were having a sale - I saved SO much money. Hey, we'll need this stuff anyway." Me, I've simply surrendered to my addiction - sorta like geocaching. Which reminds me. Yesterday was the one month anniversary of my first find. 68 finds and one hide later, I'm having a blast. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

I hit another first today - the first time I suggested a cache should be archived. I am preparing for a trip to Florida and noticed that the last four logs were DNFs and that the owner had not responded or done any logged geocaching since August. So maybe we can help clean up the system a little. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Kite & Hawkeye:There's a huge difference between leaving a golf ball you found on the ground as you walked to the cache, and leaving a brand new one or a package. whew!! I agree. The worst I've seen (other than the twigs some boys left in the geocaching event I arranged for my son's Boy Scout Troop) was a used wine cork. It was a nice wine, but puh-leeeze. How could anyone imagine that anyone else would want their used wine cork? A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

I've released my first Travel Bug without a tag. I just wrote the number on the back of the bug. This bug is a plastic bookmark that I want people to use (and then share what they've read) before they send on its way. Thus it seems ideal for this because it has a flat surface to write the number on, and the tag would get in the way when using it as a bookmark. I will share any significant comments I receive here. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Team VE:However, I'm pretty sure that "Finding" the same bug repeadedly does not get counted as multiple finds Nope. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by BassoonPilot:This is why I think cache owners should be required to re-verify their continued involvement in the sport _and_ the continued viability of their caches at least once a year. (Regardless of the amount or lack of activity the cache has received.) A failure to re-verify would lead to a follow up e-mail from an administrator, which if unanswered would lead to the cache being archived (and removed by a volunteer from the area.) This strikes me as a great idea, though I would suggest more frequent - say every six months. And logging a maintenance visit (a new button for owners?) would satisfy the requirement. Maybe I'm just anal, but it seems to me that proper care and feeding of a cache requires visits at least that often - though there are probably exceptions. If you can't get there that often, put the thing up for adoption or close it down. So I vote yes. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Geo-Johnson's:How about the first time running into another geocacher out on the trails........The first ones we ran into were very friendly and we chatted for a little bit........We ran into another one on the same day at a different cache that didn't seem to want to socialize much. The hardest part is working up the nerve to ask them if they're geocachers and hope they don't say "no what is geocaching?" Or the first time you are engrossed in a cache and look up to see a non-geocacher looking at you like you are a little touched in the head. O.K., so you don't see a 43-year-old with a three day beard sitting on a trail surrounded by children's toys every day - and this is probably a good thing, but hey - you're out following around a large furry creature waiting for it to poop so you can collect the evidence and take it home - so don't look at me as if I have three heads. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way

quote:Originally posted by 9Key:Have your folks ever had a tbug reach a goal? Not one of mine, but I placed a bug in its final destination and watched it get picked up by the "family." Of course, we had "liberated" it from that cache a few days earlier, but the kids just couldn't resist, so we took it on a three day caching trip around the area, and returned it. Had several cordial e-mail discussions with the owner about his bug as well. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by dwmurphy: I still vote for one day a year when it should be legal to shoot stupid people and the day after Thanksgiving should be it. we can't do that. All the hunters would head for the malls - it'd be like seeding a field to hunt for geese, or dragging cash behind an ambulance to hunt attorneys. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by wyoduckhunter:It's not a sport unless there is something dead in the back of the truck when you get home. Remind me never to go geocaching with you. Thanks A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Sissy-n-CR: It's not fun running full-face into one these: http://img.Groundspeak.com/cache/40826_400.jpg aaackk. I do hope that is seriously magnified. One of the benefits to the north country is the six-month spell of cool weather does cut back on the nastier creepy crawlies and other varmints. Mostly we just have to think about the two-legged kind, and bear, and the odd cougar here or there. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Kerry: Now if you've got something that really makes sense instead of trying to make all this black magic hooah out of nothing then please feel free. BUT at least spell out what your trying to say. Cheers, Kerry. Yes, and it may help you to spell out what you want to say by trying paragraphs (a wonderful device for ordering your thoughts), even basic sentence structure (subject-verb-object works pretty well for starters) would help. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Kerry: Now if you've got something that really makes sense instead of trying to make all this black magic hooah out of nothing then please feel free. BUT at least spell out what your trying to say. Cheers, Kerry. Yes, and it may help you to spell out what you want to say by trying paragraphs (a wonderful device for ordering your thoughts), even basic sentence structure (subject-verb-object works pretty well for starters) would help. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:I was recently advised that the context of the information that i have aquired is the type that most people get a large salary for and that I should seek to be a consultant in these matters. LOL, but Anderson isn't hiring these days. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Ramness570: "my garmin 48 showed coords as N XX° X.335 W 08X° X.152 instead of N XX° X.335 W 08X° X.151" LOL People are idiots, what can you do? Move on. A local cache had been placed in a site that had been used as a dump for concrete fill, and then partially covered with dirt, then left for twenty (?) years, leading to heavy tree and brush growth. Great site. There were literally hundreds of potential hiding spots, and I searched every one within 30 feet or so of where the coordinates led me on my GPSr, including a lot of time on my hands and knees or on my belly reaching into some dark hole, half expecting to pull out a bloody stump. No luck. After 45 minutes I quit. So then I go back and read the logs. The person before me had found the cache at a spot about 50 feet away, and had posted their coords. I went back with the new coords and first tried to find it with the owners coords - same place. The new coords, and we find it within 5 minutes. My coords at the hiding spot differ from the previous finders coords by 2 one-thousandths of longitude, and were exactly the same on latitude. So I posted them, not to suggest that the previous finder was wrong by 2 one-thousandths, but to show how close my reading was to hers, compared to the posted coords. It is possible that both our locations are wrong. It is possible that the cache was moved. Lots of things are possible, but the owner now has more information to help in improving his cache site, if he wants to A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

quote:Originally posted by Kite & Hawkeye: On the other hand, I think there's a special circle of, uh, heck, waiting for people who leave golf balls in caches. Do they expect somebody, anybody, ever, to say, "ooh, a golf ball! never mind the dirt, I can wash it!" and take it home? Gee, I hope not, having left my share of golf balls. I don't leave dirty balls, though (or dirty anything) and golf balls seem a reasonable trade item, given how blasted expensive they are. (Or maybe that's just cause I leave so many scattered around the course behind me.) I tend to leave either marketing balls or "branded" range balls, so hopefully, that's different. I do hope there's a special place, though, for people who leave stuff like used corks, pine cones (in a pine forest - gee isn't that special) and, I kid you not, twigs. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way

This is something I've been thinking about. It is understandable when you hit an older cache and it is filled with junk. Too bad, but understandable human nature being what it is. What I have difficulty with are cachers who start their cache with two or three cheap mctoys. That's it. They have lots of caches, but they are all filled (or not filled) with cheap stuff. And the logs invariably consist of one or two sheets of paper, folded and shoved in the cache. Recently one guy in our area set out a cache and didn't bother with either paper or pencil. I was critical in my log. And the next week he started two more caches, this time he included three folded sheets of paper in each, but no pencils. So I started wondering, why don't we have a way for people to rate caches. Maybe an option that pops up for experienced geocachers to comment on quality of the cache, quality of stuff in the cache, accuracy or terrain/difficulty ratings. I've read the discussions Markwell flagged on ratings, but it seems to me that it still doesn't get around the subjective issue or the fact that some people are apparently rating their caches without any review of the guidelines at all. This could be addressed by having geocachers (maybe just those with some minimum level of experience - 50 caches, 100 caches, 6 months + 50 caches, whatever) review and rate the cache. I guess the idea is to set up a rating system along the lines of e-bay. Just a few thoughts. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step . . . and then I get in my truck and drive the rest of the way.

Sorry about the delay in responding, Rubbertoe, I had some heavy days geocaching with the kids, and its been all I can do to keep up with the logs. The answer to your question is that the owner of the cache in question logged it, both in the log book and on his cache page, but still hasn't logged the bug, or responded to a query. But I guess you've also answered my question, I can send an e-mail to the bug owner and let him know the situation. Thanks.

As long as you are looking at this - what about the situation where the owner of a cache has removed a bug, and not logged it, or moved it on. Whether or not this is intentional, it has the effect of increasing traffic to his cache as people come looking for the bug.