Happy Boy
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Posts
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Posts posted by Happy Boy
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263? That seems like a lot for 24 hours, even though they were in a cache dense area. Assuming they were caching the whole time without really going to the restroom and eating on the go and no sleep while caching in the dark, that means the time between finds was a little over 5 minutes! It often takes me 5 minutes to find one, and sometimes more! Even if the caches were within walking distance, this would have been hard to do, and I don't know of anyplace that has 263 caches within walking distance. The most I have ever done in that time stretch was 23, I believe. Realistically, the most I can see one group do together is 60. If this is true, then this record may be harder to break than any record in sports.
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In South Carolina, it has to be TinSparrow. Not only does he have the most hides, he was key in starting the SCGA and sponsors many events. He also has adopted many geocaches that were started by others.
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Same thing with my page. They don't have an actual location, so their "spots" should not come up. The website is acting strangely today. For some reason, although the LCs show up, they are not in the actual count, as my 100 find radius that I have not found is at 357, only one up from yesterday.
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In Hartsville, SC, I once found a letterbox and thought it was the cache. I was confused and angry, since it seemed like the perfect hiding spot. Then I looked behind where the letterbox was sitting and found the cache.
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I liked the opening post by Sparrowhawk. Here's my idea of a really bad log:
I was walking in the woods when I saw your box. I didn't initially think much of it at first, but I realized that in these times, it very well could have been placed by a terrorist. So I called the FBI, and they told me to move away as they evacuated the 1 mile radius of your box. The FBI agents then exploded the box, causing a loud sound which you probably heard, and wondered what that was. Well sir, that was your mystery box exploding. The only thing left of the box was the logbook, which in the explosion was sent through the air a mile to where I was standing. I read the logbook and noticed that your box probably was not threatening. So right now I am signing it with my apologies. Fortunately, the FBI told me that your name and phone number was listed on the box. They are very angry with you, however, for placing a box in the middle of this forest that could have potentially threatened national security. So right now you should be expecting helicopters over your house with FBI agents storming it any minute now. They told me that they do not expect this to be a peaceful encounter. So you are likely to face years in federal prison. Sorry for any inconvenience this might bring.
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This sign is at the trailhead near a cache:
When going off the trail for this cache, make sure you don't go too far off or else...
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Sesqui has 12, the most of any park in SC that I know of. Hunting Island near Beaufort has 11. Harbison has 6, Poinsett has 5 as well as Lee SNA. Peachtree, which I will visit soon for the first time, has 3 (although one has been DNFed a lot with no finds of recent).
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I have to wonder.. if there had been a Geocaching sticker on the outside of the container, would this have happened?
As I understand, the cache was labeled, and even the trip wire was labeled.
I guess if you did happen to plant a bomb, labeling it as not a bomb will keep it from being detected.
The cache was investgated as suspicious that's all, not blown up.
One cache I found was labeled "Geocache (Not a Bomb)" That cache was an ammo can magnetically attached to the bottom of an inactive train car. That cache was also later plundered.
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Anyone who geocaches is not all about the numbers. They chose this activity for reasons that are not about the numbers, whether they enjoy them or not. If someone was completely interested in numbers and not geocaching, they would do something else with numbers that they enjoy. I, for one, like numbers. There are many games with numbers that I do not enjoy, and therefore I do not do them. However, I like geocaching, so I do that, and keep up with the numbers. I like keeping up with who has the most finds, not to compete with them but to be amazed at their level of activity. Many geocachers with lots of finds also do many difficult caches as well. Personally, without a good stats page now, what I enjoy is the filter finds page as well as the numbers of my uncle and cachers I have met at events. I try to find all caches in my area, difficult or not. And lately it seems that any cache that is easy to find is declared boring or not fun. It does not matter if the cache is in a nice park or along a nice trail, if it is easy to find, the owner of the cache and those who enjoy finding it are considered to be racking up their own numbers. There are some finds I have that many people can not do. The locals who live in that area who are not able to find it and have hundreds (or thousands) of finds should be as well-respected as those with less than 50 finds who enjoy 5/5s.
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On Thanksgiving of 2002, my uncle and cousin came to town, and we went geocaching together for the first time. We did not have a GPS at that time. We used clues and a Mapquest printout to show the location of the cache compared to the lake and streets. On our first attempt in the morning, we could not find it. Then we came back after lunch and found it. Now my uncle has 231 finds, and I have 239.
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I have 3 days that stand out:
#3: I went to a multi-cache in some gardens. This was supposed to be my only cache of the day. Previously, I could not find stage 1, which was in a tree that at that time was right next to an occupied picnic table. I came back and with alittle searching, found it. Then went to stage 2 (also the final spot), which is apparently hidden somewhere in a wooden structure. I went through the whole structure, meanwhile there are joggers going by and numerous kids also near the cache, and I'm looking for a very well hidden micro looking like an idiot. After at least an hour and maybe two, I gave up with no finds on the day. Later I went back to the cache, and still couldn't find it, and this particular cache was turning my mom off geocaching. At least that day I found 3 caches. I recently got a clue from a previous finder (which lately is the only way people have been finding it), and I plan on attempting it again soon, but my opinion of this cache is still low.
#2: Another multi-cache, this time it was in 3 locations of the county. The first stage was easy, then came the 2nd stage. It required you to use a map of a historic cemetery to find certain monuments (about 10 I believe), and then use information to get to the next stage, which was at a historic park. The 3rd stage wasn't difficult, until the actual cache. The clue was that it was at the base of a tree, and there were plenty of trees along trail. Took a while, and then had to give up. Turns out, the cache had floated about 70 feet from the coords and was not at the base of a tree! One cacher stumbled on it and put it back at the base of a tree near the coords. I then went out and easily found it. But that day, I spent most of the afternoon on a cache that I couldn't find. I barely had enough time to find one cache.
#1: Yet another multi. I noticed as I approached stage 1, it appeared to be at the state mental hospital. Indeed, it was at the entrance. I got the information for stage 2, but got the math wrong and ended up a mile away. Re-did the math and I was back at the mental hospital, this time in the middle of its lawn about 100 yards from the road at what appeared to be a monument. I got the information, and I looked around and saw police cars moving around. I didn't think much of that, but tried not to look suspicious. I figured out with my GPS where stage 3 was, and started walking toward it. I then checked back to see where the police cars were, and I saw one turn off the mental hospital driveway and on to the lawn, followed by the other car. The police cars then made a beeline STRAIGHT AT ME! I took at least 10 minutes explaining to the cops what I was doing. They didn't seem to understand it, but they said that previously they had to chase off "treasure-hunters." They said the public is not allowed anywhere on the mental hospital grounds, and that I had to leave. I ended up finding two caches that day, and requested that particular cache to be archived, which it was for a few days until the owner changed the location of stage 2. This weekend I went back out and tried it again, only to realize this time the owner made a math error when moving stage 2. That has been corrected, and sometime I hope to find this cache.
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I'm 17. My parents go along with me, but primarily for transportation purposes. I do all the planning, all the navigation, and most of the searching. Until reading a few earlier posts, I assumed that I was the youngest cacher who did most of the work in getting the cache. Most people at the events I go to seem to be 50ish.
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My closest not found is 26.6 miles. It requires a boat to reach, and at this time of year it is almost impossible to rent one. Plus I don't have much experience manuevering a canoe. So I probably will go a while without finding it.
That is the only one I haven't found within 30 miles of my house. The 17 other caches within 40 miles of my house I haven't found break down like this:
4 caches I have DNFed
4 caches placed within the last couple of weeks that I haven't been able to get to
3 disabled
2 real long and somewhat complicated multis
1 puzzle cache
1 members only cache
1 real hard long multi (though listed as a regular) that is frequently DNFed.
1 cache that for no real reason I have never been able to attempt.
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Most urban micros I don't like, especially those that aren't in parks. I have seen micros that have been in parking lots or on the side of a building. I had never been stopped by the police in my 14 months of geocaching, until this weekend, in which I was stopped twice! Once was on the grounds of a mental hospital, where despite being close to the road, the public isn't allowed anywhere on the grounds of the hospital for the protection of the patients. It was a 5-stage multi, and I was caught on stage 2 recording information from what appeared to be a monument. The police had not known about it, though they said they chased away some people before, and from their descrption it appeared to be geocachers as well. They said that the public is not allowed and told me to leave. When I got home I requested the cache to be archived, and right now it is. I also was questioned by police at a cemetery when someone heard noise from the woods when I fell in some briars. On this cache, the police were fine with it.
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About 155 caches in a 50 mile radius for me, about 70 percent of those are finds or hides for me. There are a total of 46 caches within 50 miles of me that I have not found. 15 of those are within 40 miles, most of which have some reason for which I haven't found it. I have also found every cache within 25 miles of my house.
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In my opinion, a bad cache is one that is in a bad location, most bad locations are urban micros. For me, I don't care much about trading, but I have never seen a good item in a micro, and micros have become too common lately. Parking lots and shopping centers are usually not places for a cache. I also do not like trying to search for difficult caches in areas with lots of people. Finding a cache that is well hidden when you are trying to not be noticed is frustrating.
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I had some non-cachers find one of my caches once and signed the logbook. What was amazing about that is that it was a cache with a 4 terrain. Also I once had a case in where a non-cacher walked on a trail that one of caches was on, and then when searching on information for the trail, turned up my cache page. He then went to cache, signed the log book, and then logged it on this website.
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Lately most caches are micros, which as a novelty are interesting to find, but now there are so many it just gets annoying. The SC style for micros is a film canister attached to some discrete object (such as a brick or rock). The SC regular cache style is at the base of a tree (not necessarily fallen) covered in debris. Haven't seen a rockpile here yet, but I did this summer out west. Rockpiles must be a western thing.
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I too would like to see a leaderboard, both on world and local levels. It does not necessarily reflect who is the "best" geocacher. There is no way to determine that, and that is not what this website is about. When I went to an event recently, I recognized the people there because of looking at the SC leaderboard. A leaderboard simply reflects the level of activity of that cacher, and shows who participates most in geocaching.
When I started geocaching, I thought it sounded like a cool idea, as I enjoy hiking and being out in the woods as well as using maps. Just before I started, I noticed a thread in the SE forums that gave a link to Dan's page. When I saw Dan's page, geocaching now got my attention on another one of my interests: stats. I love statistics, since there is so much you can do with them. I started off competing with my uncle, but once I passed him, I turned my attention to the South Carolina leaderboard. When the site went down, I was ranked 21st, and was just shy of the top 20
I get my enjoyment from geocaching from statistics, and comparing mine to others. I was never upset that there were 20 ahead of me in SC. I just liked the comparison, and the motivation to do more caching. As for the variety of caches (1/1s, 5/5s, virtuals, regular, multis), it is a matter of preference. Being in a low density area I go for all of them. My favorite caches are those that have difficult terrain, and I don't believe in putting the caches out in the open. I also find some multis fun. If you like long caches and your totals are low, fine. That's not a problem, and no one is saying that you are not at the level of those who do plenty of easy 1/1s. As I said previously, the rankings rank the activity of the cacher, not the quality of the cacher. Maybe we could create a sortable stats page that puts cachers in the order of cache types found (most multis found, most 3/3s or above found) so we could reward cachers who choose more difficult caches.
As for cheating, we could take away the option of logging a find for your own cache. That would be easy to do. And cache owners can delete fake logs. Therefore, I really don't see cheating as an issue.
Let's have stats for people like me (as well as many others on this board) so we can enjoy geocaching our way. If you like stats, fine. If you enjoy the activity of it and difficult caches, fine. I seriously doubt anyone would do trashtalking or much whining, and I would discourage that. As people have said before, no one complained about Dan's site. Let's make a fun hobby even more fun by adding a stat page.
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In the 35 caches I've found so far, I have seen many bad clues. The worst so far was this weekend, which stated that the cache is at the base of a tree. However, there were HUNDREDS of trees in that location. Making things worse was that it came at the end of a long multi-stage cache that took a few hours, and I came away empty handed.
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I just checked the cache. Someone has just found the cache, but not taken the postcard!
The postcard was placed prominently in the cache, now I placed it at the top, so the first thing they see when they open the container is "Racing Postcard". If this does not work, I will have to attach a note to the cache that says "Please take postcard" to it.
Anyway, at least someone has found the cache. No one has found Palmetto Park Geocache since March 23. (and that find was by my best friend who I introduced to Geocaching)
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Actually there is a regular cache on the Alberta/Montana Border, called international
I might attempt this cache, as I will be near there in early June. It has not been found since October.
As for where the Alethiometrists want in B.C., I know them, and I can say they like Vancouver (the city) and/or Whistler, which is a destination of one of their travel bugs.
South Carolina Senate Activity
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Okay, the main result of the meeting is that the bill will be put off until the session meets again in January. Both sides had about a half dozen speakers, including a few geocachers. Even most of the people who favor the bill understood this time what geocaching is, and most were okay with it, only one speaker seemed to have a grudge against all geocachers. I think that the bill is going to pass, but fortunately not in its current form. Virtuals may end up being accepted in the end, and the likely result is regulation of cemetery caches, instead of an outright ban. I am just hoping that this is all limited to cemeteries and not other historic sites.