The Hearse

Premium members (and I see you are one) may set up a Pocket Query to do what you wish to do. I have set one up that reports new caches in my area once a week.

Imagination!

Let the Neath Worthies get out and do their thing but let others try and improve the activity for them.

I'm with Firestars on this one. It is a shame that cache owners cannot log this type of occurrence without deleting because we celebrate local cachers acheiving milestones and we must trust their claim.

Not to include a log will take Geocaching into a new era. The log provides the only proof that the seeker has really bagged the cache. I understand your sentiment but one or two of my caches have finds on the web pages without a corresponding log in the cache… and some of these are by seekers able to bag caches at phenomenal rates. Not to include a log may encourage others to log finds without leaving their keyboard. The most significant point however is that signing the log is closure for the seeker and gives them the satisfaction of a job well done.

Though there is little to disagree with Happy Humphrey's argument it misses an important point, which is “the dross” saturation is preventing quality caches being set (and let's admit it, whatever you wish from geocaching there are many hides that satisfy no-one). The Geocaching community has yet to find a solution to this problem. One way is to encourage those that set caches, when they were perhaps too inexperienced to know what makes a truly excellent hide, to review their caches with a view to upgrading them. On reflection, it would not be a bad principle for everyone who owns a cache. Those that own caches must bear in mind that they not only own the cache but also the rights over quite a considerable area around it.

Normally I would agree with Bear and Ragged however the local police in Abu Dhabi are hot on caches and you may need to warn your father off that he may need to engage in some nifty footwork. Note a well placed cache now may be a restricted area of the future.

We have tried this ourselves as an experiment and it is not easy or, in our opinion, much fun. Deciding on a location to look is fairly straightforward but not knowing the size of cache or any information whatsoever other than there is only one in the immediate area, leads to a lot of fruitless hunting. Nevertheless, that could be us. Often we are surprised at where a setter has positioned a cache from the options available but if to others the locations are just where they would have set them, the problem would not arise.

This is a well discussed topic and we have hundreds of examples of where excellent cache locations cannot be used because of a poorly placed micro. It is now very diffcult to set those imaginative and superb caches that launched geocaching that not only deprives new baggers but prevents us setting examples of what can be acheived to other setters. Regretably reviewers cannot influence the quality of the sport but only enforce the rules.

There is nothing wrong at all with your suggestion about posting a note though I suspect it will have little effect. It is also alright for you to contact the cache owner to see whether they are prepared to undertake a mainteance check and move the TB on for you. I am assuming the cache is too far away from you for you to assist by nudging the TB a little distance between caches.

I had a problem a year or two ago. Though the police stopped me for taking a photograph, the real reason it transpired was using a GPS in a way and place they had not previously experienced. Moreover, I particularly watched for the no photographing signs and in this case, I hadn't seen one. A later check made me believe that the cache was outside the prohibited area and before I reached the no photography signs. The most concerning part of the whole experience was that it took a little time to be told that even photography was the problem leaving me in a situation for which I had no explanation.

You can often do the conversion through the GPS. Make sure the GPS is in the format you wish to input the coordinates and then input them. Change the GPS settings to the new format and the coordinates will be displayed in the new format.

Absolutely fabulous photographs though perhaps we need to add an additional category for a photograph that includes a cache or GPS.

How about being allowed to allocate a favourite for every five favourites your caches earn and one favourite for every hundred caches found. Hey hey a great system though, welcome back ye olde good days.

A worthy resolution but perhaps not a challenging one. How about including that at least one of the five must have a "Favourite" tag and if this presents too much of a challenge in the early weeks while the system gets up and running and tags are awarded. You could include saying that of the all the caches you bag in 2011, fifty must have a favourite tag. I believe by including "Favourite" tags your experience will be more challenging as the run of the mill micros are unlikely to attract them and more rewarding because they will be awarded to the more thought through hides... and don't forget to let us know how you are getting on. Happy caching.

I have bagged a few in buildings and normally it doesn't present a problem provided the description is good enough and you can assure they seeker they are not trespassing. I went to one in the hotel gardens next to the windows of their lounge bar. I was unaware that in the bar was a framed description of what Geocaching is about including the whereabouts of the cache. I found it very off-putting trying every anti-muggle trick in the book, much to the amusement of the onlookers. I would not want to set myself up for that experience again.

Bear in mind that Geocaching is about using a GPS and real challenges in this vein are in desperately short supply. If this is what you had in mind then crack on. On the other hand, I think we have more than enough caches where the difficult part starts when the GPS is put away and a considerable proportion of these involve scrubbing through ivy or stones. Much good advice has been given and may I add some more. Remember the seasons. A difficult cache set in winter becomes very easy in summer if trampled vegetation and grass gives the location away. Similarly, a well hidden cache in summer may become very obvious when the vegetation dies back. The challenge I offer to you is when setting a difficult cache, use an average size container. It is all too easy to set an impossible cache with a micro or nano. When it comes to the hint, the rule of thunb to which my team works is to knock two off the total score. We also seriously reconsider a cache with a toal score of more than seven. A very specific reason is needed to set a cache that requires extensive planning to get to and then be very diffcult to find once the bagger has arrived at the site. Lastly check DNF log entries very carefully. If you set a diffcult cache you need to be meticulous in your description because how the cache looks to you when you set it may appear very different to the finder and the DNF logs will assist you ensure that it was the finder and not you at fault... that is once you have read through the frustrations that DNFs generate.

Normally, I would agree with your sentiment but not on this occasion. There are more than sufficient caches to encourage all types of geocachers but it is the premium members that fund the activity and without them where would we be? Reward premium members with their occasional indulgence and continuing enjoying the activity for free.

Checking sets is not common practise in the UK and so what I am about to describe most probably does not apply in this instance. Elsewhere we would set caches as a team and once set, a team member, who stayed away from the set, would look for it to check co-ordinates and ensure how the cache looked to the setter in the description was how it would appear to someone approaching the cache anew. Some of those that checked the cache would claim a FTF, the scallywags. To address your complaint, there are clearly those that are able to sustain incredible find rates at each outing and claiming an FTF when you accompany the setter is low down the heinous crime league. Geocaching is a personal thing to which you must apply personal standards and forget what everyone else may be up to. I know it can be frustrating for those that enjoy FTFs but there are still plenty about to be bagged.

I reported a very similar cache within these forums and was shocked at the number of people defending it; they branded me as not understanding the nature of modern caching. What angered me about this particular cache positioned in brambles at the base of a gate post three feet from a busy road is a very short walk away is an ideal spot with parking but even this argument was deemed without merit. Good on your stance but I am afraid that those that consider anything less than 20 finds a poor afternoon’s sport will take exception to your comments. As to honest log entries, get real. It is diffcult to assess whether entries are from cachers that individuals trust, most cachers are too courteous to include a poor log entry, most of the rest couldn't be bothered with the anxst that follows a poor report. Geocaching in this country has evolved too far to start policing it now and if it hadn't, logs are not an effective way of going about it... well look at the logs and convince me they are!

Geocaching has never been subversive in the way you suggest. The activity has changed out of all recognition from how it started out when there were relatively few caches presenting much more of a challenge than today each requiring an element of planning before you set out. Since then the number of caches have multiplied in a logarithmic curve and so have the number of geocachers and the type of person that geocaches. We have seen trails introduced and establish themselves as the core of the activity. In my view, there are two causes for controls being placed on geocaching. First from security when the authorities rightly found that people looking for hidden containers close to sensitive establishments caused the unnecessary deployment of security officials. Second, the shear numbers of people meant that landowners began to object and would not tolerate caches when they once did.

I thought I had read somewhere that caches could not be placed in churches except virtuals that is. I had a quick look at GAGB but could not confirm my understanding. Certainly, our two local churches have micros... both in holes that could easily accommodate a normal size cache! The question could be extended to cover church land because most land belonging to the church does not contain a church and if I am right about permission not being given to place caches in churches, it might just include all church land.

Travel a few miles north of Bath to the M4 motorway and heading westwards will take you over the Severn Bridge and into Wales. It is a very straight forward journey with a very convenient stop just before the boundary in which put on the pre-requisite woad before making the crossing... and watch out for Mrs Blorenges who lurks just over the border in rather frightening regalia.

When considering the longevity of TBs it might be better to refer to mileage rather than time. In some parts of the World TBs can spend a considerable time sitting in caches waiting to be claimed whereas here they tend to rattle along at a fairly smart pace and therefore pass from cacher to cacher quickly thereby increasing their chance of being intercepted by the rouge TB hounds.

Maybe I was just lucky but I did spend 4 years in the US and thoroughly enjoyed my geocaching there. My experience was that TBs went missing much less frequently indeed most of my TBs there are still rattling up the mileage where many of mine in the UK are wherever TBs go to rest. Moreoever they are held in much higher regard, e.g. I was kept informed by those who were having difficulty placing it in a new cache of what was happening with the TB and two separate people felt that my TB’s required a little TLC and posted them back to me for refurbishment and rerelease. Geocachers also engage more by providing photographs, more fulsome write-ups in the log and make a serious attempt to meet the TB’s mission; all of which greatly add to the enjoyment of owning a TB. One last aspect is that coins are used in the US for all sorts of things and they are not the novelty that they are here. Whereas geocoins here tend to ramp only a little mileage before presumably appearing in a TB hound's display at home, in the US Geocoins can often achieve similar mileage as conventional TBs. Perhaps I should conclude by saying that I prefer living here, I am not pining for a return assignment.