RichardMoore

There is a major difference in that, in the case of CarleenP's cache the owner gave the finders the option of using a picture of the tree as proof. If the picture had been the wrong tree I'm sure the owner would have deleted her find. It would compare to using a photo as proof of finding a virtual cache. Not that it makes any difference, but just out of curiousity, was the cache visible from the ground? Did the picture of the tree include the cache? Once again, the owner of the cache is content with the picture and that's what counts. RichardMoore

Hey! Just a few minutes ago, when I checked your profile, you had one travel bug, Squeaky, and now you have another one. I assume that the problem is with Squeaky. See how in the unnamed one it says "Last seen in the hands of the owner?" That is what should be on Squeaky. I don't know why it isn't, but doing what I said before should fix it. RichardMoore Okay, I just went back to check the spelling on Squeaky (I had it wrong) and noticed that the unnamed travel bug is now Phil the Fish. You must be working on your travel bugs now so I'm not going back to your profile until tomorrow! I hope it works out.

For some reason, I don't know why but I'm sure someone else will, the bug is not listed as being "in the hands of the owner..." You should still have the copy of the bug's tag. Use the number on that to "grab" the bug from it's present unknown location. That will put it in your hands. Then log a note on the cache that you left the bug in. At the bottom of the log form is the drop-down for the travel bugs. Click on the bug and then submit the log and it should be all taken care of. RichardMoore

CO Admin, Thanks for knocking this thread back into line. However, since we now know that you're out there listening , can this subject be pinned? RichardMoore

Do you mean "how do you remove a bug from your watch list"? From your cache page click on "Manage Watch Lists." Then just click on "remove" next to the name of the bug. This is assuming that the bug isn't yours. If it is yours I don't know how, or even if, you can remove it. RichardMoore

"Peeps"? I've been called a lot of things in my life, but I think that is the first time anyone ever called me a yellow-sugar-coated marshmallow. RichardMoore

The Cleveland Metroparks has only one rule about going off-trail. Bicycles are only permitted on paved areas, not on or off any of the other trails. You can walk pretty much anywhere you want, the only areas to avoid are the maintenance yards and such. Motorized vehicles are, of course, not allowed anywhere but on the roads and parking areas. RichardMoore

Rooboy, check her profile. She IS a lawyer. Carleen, it's a game. You followed the rules. You won the prize. The fact that you intended to make it more difficult (ie, climb the tree when you didn't have to) is irrelevant. Besides, we don't want you risking life and limb (pun intended) just to add one more cache to your list. And, if this is the biggest concern you have in your life I'll gladly give you some of my problems. RichardMoore

Couldn't the notice/request for wheelchair access information be one of the "pinned" threads? RichardMoore

What's a RacRook? RichardMoore

Welcome, Pyewacket! (Why Pyewacket?) I have a couple of ideas for you: ~ Post a request in the forum for your region asking if there is a local group of cachers that can advise you. "Is there anyone out there from (insert name of your city here)?" ~ Check all the logs from the caches that are the closest to you. The total number of finds for each cacher is listed next to their name. Figure out which cachers have the most finds and e-mail them through the website. They would know the real difficulty rating of the caches, and in a lot of cases would meet you somewhere to guide you on the first few. Good luck, RichardMoore

Sport, hobby, game, whatever. Let's get back to the original question: Do we want it to be recognized by that GAISF group? NO, NO, NO!!!!! Recognition by any organization like that usually means that there have to be set rules and regulations. Let's keep geocaching casual, with people free to interpret the guidelines in a way that makes them happy. RichardMoore

I was one of those cachers who don't log their finds online. For the first eight and a half months that I was geocaching I did not have a computer and was not online, so I didn't have an e-mail address. I found out where the caches were by using an internet-access computer in the library. Yes, I know that I could have gotten an e-mail address even under those circumstances, but I was uncomfortable with my ignorance of the computer world so I would go in, look up and print the nearest caches, and leave. Quickly. Then I got a computer, some training in how to use it, and time to practice. Two weeks later I signed up with GC.com and started catching up on my logs. Luckily I had kept the printouts for every cache that I found, with notes about when I found the cache, etc. For the next few days the cachers who were watching the local caches kept getting "Just catching up on my logs" logs. I had found 68 caches that I had to log! By the way, the day after I signed up I had my first First-To-Find, so my first "real time" log was also my first FTF. So now you know at least one reason why some cachers don't log their finds on the site. RichardMoore

I have found a moving cache. I used a Sharpie marker to write a note on a large leaf so that any one looking in the area after I left would know that it was gone. I weighed the leaf down with a couple of rocks so it wouldn't blow away. I wrote the date and time that I took the cache on the leaf so the next finder would know how much they missed it by. Writing a note on a leaf? Hey, paper is made from trees, I just cut out the middle-man! RichardMoore

I'm not sure why you are such a stickler for details. Why require them to get out of the car? Why require them to even drive there? "I printed out the sheet, I'm sure I could have found it, so I logged it as a find". Actually, I recently had a cacher log a find on my virtual cache who stated in his log "Been here so many times it was not necessery to actualy go down there. Figrued it out by the discription you left. Probably see this thing atleast 3 to 4 times a day" [sic]. I e-mailed him twice and gave him a week to find the answer to the question (as proof that he'd been there) and then deleted his find. RichardMoore

I have had three occasions when the cache that I was searching for turned out to be missing. On the first one I put a note on the cache page warning other cachers that it might be missing and e-mailed the owner with an exact description of the area and the location that I thought it was in (there was a tupperware-shaped print on the ground). For the second one I e-mailed the owner, a previous finder had already noted on the page that it might end up missing. He had unknowingly recruited a couple of non-caching kids to help him find the cache, and realized his mistake later. Did I mention that I was 120 miles from home when I was looking for this cache? The third one was with a group. We were sure we had the right place but couldn't find the microcache. We called a cacher who had found it, who called the cache owner's aunt, who came out to where we were and verified that we were in the right spot and the cache was missing. Then she told us that the cache owner wanted to meet us, if we had time, so we followed her to his office. While we were there we signed a notebook that he had and left trade goods with him. In all three cases I would have found the cache if it had been there. The third one was the only one that I logged as a find. That is how I play the game. RichardMoore

With all the geocachers from all walks of life out there there must be someone who works at Wal-Mart who can find out. Any volunteers? Also, I don't think that you can equate an adult geocaching to a kid on a skateboard. Unless the geocacher is running at top speed down the sidewalk in front of the store while looking at his GPSr instead of where he's going. The "Frisbee Rule" is a judgement call on the part of the store manager, and most of them would take the easy way out and leave you alone if you are not bothering anyone (read "paying customers"). RichardMoore

Translation: I want to do a better job at photoshopping locationless/virtual cache logs, so I'm using my sockpuppet acount to ask for help. Okay, let's go with the idea that RJ is not a geocacher who is trying to photoshop locationless and virtual caches. It's possible that he is, as he states, merely trying to trick someone for another reason. That makes him either a con-man or a practical joker. The most socially acceptable option would be that he is a practical joker. Anyone who would go through that much trouble to get a "giggle" has a serious problem and should seek counseling immediately, before someone responds to one of his pranks with a blunt object. Any way you look at it, something just don't smell right in his request. RichardMoore

Hi guys! My friend RichardMoore has made a brochure to tell people about geocaching! You can read the text of it on my homepage: My Webpage I hope this link works. I've never done this before and I'm only a little squirrel so it's hard to hit the right buttons sometimes! Have fun! Jeeps the Squirrel Uh, Jeeps? You forgot to log me out and yourself in before you posted this. Those nice people out there might get a little confused and think I'm talking to myself. Sorry, folks. Jeeps get's excited and impatient sometimes. But then, don't we all? RichardMoore

And what could tptb do about it? A long history of dealing with people has taught me that just saying that something needs to be done will not get it done. Give them a reasonable solution and it will probably happen. It seems to me that most of the travel bugs that disappear are taken by new cachers that lose interest in the sport. The second biggest problem is cachers who simply don't know what a travel bug is and what it's supposed to do, or unregistered cachers who can't log a bug even if they know what it is. The only reasonable solution, and I don't know if it would work, I'm just guessing, would be to change the site so you have to have an account to view the caches. Part of the application for an account could be a paragraph covering each of the major "problem areas" with a place to check after reading it. But you don't want to make it too involved, or no one will sign up. As naive as it may sound, I have a lot of faith in tptb at GC.com. I think that they do take the travel bug problem seriously and are trying to solve it, but there are also a lot of other things that people want them to do. What is the greatest priority? RichardMoore "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," but it's also the first one to be replaced.

There are also multi-caches that use dates or other information on monuments or signs to get the coordinates. For example: Add the last two digits of the year to these coordinates to get the next location. As Lazyboy suggested, go out and find a few more to get an idea of what others have done. I would suggest that you then use your imagination and personal non-geocaching experience to see what you can come up with. Is there something that you have at work that would make a unique and interesting tag or micro? I've seen pill bottles, wooden dowels with a wire rope going through them, a metal tag bolted to a brick, and weights from a dumbell used for the different stages of multis. Have fun with the cache, that's what it's all about. RichardMoore

I agree. There is, or should be, a logical progression when placing caches. First try for a traditional. If a traditional won't fit, make it a micro, or the start of a multi that goes to where a traditional will fit. If it's a particularly good spot and a micro won't work, then think about making it a virtual. There was a cache that I went to that was an Altoids tin in an area with a lot of downed trees and brush. It looked like that is where the park dumped the debris from storm cleanup. Lots of places to hide a traditional container, and hundreds of places for a micro. Add to that the fact that it was right next to a tennis court and the cache hider is notorious for having bad coordinates. His hint: You don't need this. Look harder! But I may be biased. I like traditional caches more than micros. I like micros more than virtuals. I like virtuals. Add up all these likes and you get: I love geocaching. I just like some parts better than others. And, Eraseek, you were the only one who mentioned regulating anything. I think the rest of us are just talking about our preferences. RichardMoore

I did it the low-tech way. I found all of the caches near me first. Then, when I started looking for locations to place a cache, I knew where the other caches were and could avoid that spot. I also knew where the various parts of multis were. Doing it that way would also give new cachers some experience before they go out and hide a cache. RichardMoore

I have a dream of placing the world's largest cache. It would be a multi with a total distance traveled of around 150 to 200 miles. The final location would be on several hundred acres of land that I would own. The container would be an 8x8 storage shed, well camouflaged,with shelves that contain the trade goods (stuffed animals, Tonka trucks, small appliances). There would also be a table and chair to make it more comfortable when filling out the logbook, and a light in the shed so you can see what's there (solar panel and storage battery). There would be a combination lock on the door. You get the combination somewhere along the line. Of course, my primary cache-mobile would be a motorhome with a Jeep Wrangler on the back. I would travel around the country, parking at Wal-Mart (rumor has it that their corporate policy allows overnight stays for self-contained rv's) and going to all of the caches around that particular store. Do you get the idea that I spend a lot of time dreaming of winning the lottery? RichardMoore My old Pappy used to say, "Having a lot of money just means that you have different problems." And I would reply, "Yeah, like 'Should I buy the silver or the red Corvette?'"

My signature is my website URL. It's not much, but I don't have any formal computer training so I'm kinda proud of it. I do, however, sometimes end my posts with a line or two. RichardMoore When in danger, Or in doubt, Run in circles, Scream and shout. Robert Heinlein