me_chris

That must have been a very recent purchase - lot of guys still yearning for the IZULA - still a little hard to obtain. RAT RC3 is also an excellent choice; particularly if you want to attach it to your pack strap. 1095 steel, drop point blade, full tang construction, micarta handles and great sheath system, makes it my kind of fixed blade. John The IZULA was a very recent purchase - it arrived about a week ago but very quickly became a favorite. I'm a bit of a knife nut though so I have more blades than I really need - but we all have our obsessions right? I wanted a desert tan one but those seem to be difficult to obtain so I settled for an OD green. But, who knows, I might buy another one so I can keep one in the car - at $50 for a quality blade its not a bad thing to have more than one

No permit needed - just check local knife laws. Some cities have a limit of blade length to 3 inches for fixed blade knives, if so, I HIGHLY recommend the Rat Cutlery IZULA or (if you can afford it) the Rat Cutlery RC-3 http://www.ratcutlery.com I have the IZULA (pictured above) and it is probably one of my favorite knives. It is carbon steele though so it takes some care to keep from rusting. My other favorite small fixed blade is the CRKT Dogfish (pictured below) Both of these have blades shorter than 3 inches so they will fit within most knife regulations (for places that have such regulations) and they are small enough to not alarm the sheeple :-)

Heres another link - they describe the ammo boxes as "being easily available to the public through Army surplus stores".. hopefully it stays that way. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/new...0,5524790.story

I generally search until I find the cache. I have spent up to an hour at a cache site before. Granted, sometimes I do give up if the weather is bad or if I think the cache might be missing... I guess I don't really have a set time that I search - it sort of depends on my mood that day I will also spend more time searching for an ammo box than I will for a micro. Hope this helps!

Arent we all born? :-P

I saw it too - my TiVo caught it :-) It would be interesting to see if more people check out Geocaching.com...

Are there crimes near geocaches, or are there just geocaches near crimes? the criminals probably don't log on to geocaching.com to scout out their new body hiding spots...

Depends on where you live in Illinois... Up near Chicago where my parents live, it is really quite remarkable to find a cache that requires a hike of over a mile... But... Down in Carbondale where I live, the longest hike I have done to find a cache was 7 miles round trip. I would like to do a longer one though... That River to River trail is looking more and more interesting, although I have never done an overnight hike before...

Technically, you could get really drunk, go hide a cache, then try to find it sober and log it since you wouldn't know where you hid your own cache... I mean... technically... it could work I'm not saying it would be a good idea... But it could work...

I second that... "Really officer, I'm not doing anything wrong, just geocaching" - "then what is the scanner for? do all geocachers have police scanners? what are you all really up to? are you planning on burying things here?"

I would for sure hunt that series - cept that it is several hundred miles form where I live... but other than that, it sounds great! :-)

Wow, and there I was thinking I was the only one that had this problem! Basically the same thing - I have rock climbing/mountaineering experience, the girlfriend doesnt, so I am a bit more cautious around unstable rock formations than she is. She has no problem going right to the edge of a limestone or even sandstone (ghasp!) cliff. We have also done a little bit of impromptu free climbing to get to a trail (we werent caching, we were bouldering) and I would definitely much rather have a rope and harnass. I havent had any big scares like bears or anything while out caching, but keeping the girl a safe distance from the edge of 200 foot cliffs is plenty scary enough

I suspect not too many where you could truly say "just a given" unless they have published a specific policy to that effect. But in general if it is public land, it is reasonable to "assume" permission unless the land manager or agency has a specific policy. Some sure-fire clues that it is NOT a "given" are signs like "unlawful to leave marked trails" or "sensitive geological/botanical area" or "geocachers will be shot." Is there a "QBQ?" (Question behind the question) When I first started I was anxious to place a cache or two and I felt like all the cool places were taken. Indeed cache density was much less in those days. i imagine a newbie now finds it even more frustrating. Add to that the perceived "hassle" of asking permission and it seems like newcomers can't participate in the hiding, at least not in any way beyond the lame. Actually, I have found that asking permission isn't really that hard once one finds out who is in charge of a given land. You should routinely do so BEFORE you go to the trouble of finding that ideal hiding spot. This will minimize your disappointment if the answer is "no." As to "what are those areas," I think you have the proverbial cart in front of the horse. It will be much better in general to find a cool place and THEN determine if permission is needed rather than just go place a cache somewhere the primary reason that you picked the location being that you didn't need to get permission. I try to stay out of any areas that have signs warning that I might be shot...

You can get them here: http://www.firetacks.com/ They no longer manufacture the flat-style tacks since sales have dropped on those after they introduced the much more visible 3D and 4D style tacks... These really are excellent for marking trails at night

No. It's one of the cheapest hobbies you could get into and, for folks that are already avid outdoors enthusiasts, it can be zero-cost too. True there - I already had everything I needed. Didn't even know about geocaching when I bought my first GPSr for hiking. The only extra expense tha tI have had was the PM but that is by choice and it is only $3/month... My other hobby is photography... -Good 35mm camera (Canon A1) = $100 - $300 on Ebay -Good digital camera (Nikon D70s) = $300 - $600 on Ebay -The camera that I don't have but want (Nikon D300) = $2,000 - $3,500 on Ebay -Lenses for the various cameras = Anywhere from $100 to $6,000 depending on what you buy -Tripod = $30 for a cheapie all the way to $1,700 for a good one on Ebay -Good camera bag (Naneu Pro Alpha) = $74 - $90 on Ebay -... and the list goes on and on... Geocaching is cheap.

This thread just makes me want to move to Colorado... In Illinois the best I can hope for is a hill that is a couple hundred feet high... Beautiful pictures everyone - thanks for sharing!

I haven't had any problems, I always just thought that they were Lock n' Locks with an embedded logo? Also, BTW, possibly that $7 might only buy a gallon in a year or two

adequate Firefox, ftw. Long live built-in spell check :-)

It is a reflective trial marker used to show a trail at night when you shine a flashlight on it - sometimes called Firetacks... Might be part of a Night-Only cache?

That is just weird... But definitely cool though! :-)

Just got these for Christmas! The Juice S2 (orange) stays in my pocket now, it is my regular EDC knife, and the Blast comes caching/hiking/camping, etc... :-)

I need to drive my Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (3.4L V6) until 2009... Then I buy a Honda Civic Hybrid... So, hopefully gas prices won't hit $8 per gallon until 2009 Honestly though, I am hoping that we figure something else out - maybe switch over completely to Ethanol like they did in Columbia (I think - it is one of those slightly messed up South American countries). Ethanol isn't much more environmentally friendly than gas, but we can produce it for less money, and we don't have to go through the middle east to get to it (last time I checked, Nebraska didn't want to nuke anyone). Either way, I'm stuck at 22mpg in my Olds until 2009

There is a map on the cache page - if you click on it, then a google map loads - this is often how I start. Figuring out how to get there is sortof part of the puzzle, but the maps help a lot. Good luck! :-)

The FDIC doesn't insure stuff buried in the woods... it does, however, insure any melons I put in the bank

Wide Area Augmentation System - makes your GPS more accurate by correcting some of the error inherent in satellite communications... Check out the Wikipedia article here: WAAS