CoronaKid

Hi all, For those of you that listen to Podcacher, you may have heard that there is currently a Podcacher Idol contest going on. Go to Podcacher.com and listen to show 228 and listen to the three finalists (myself included) give their geocaching tips. Be sure to vote for your favorite one by this Friday, August 14. The one with the most votes will be named Podcacher Idol. I'd be honored to win but think that all three of us are deserving. Just vote for the one you like best: Show 228 link: http://cdn1.libsyn.com/podcacher/PodCacher...f1660a57676cb74 Link for voting: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?fo...ZWxEVXZCNFE6MA..

Skillet - I was just searching for a topic on SCG and this one from July 2005 popped up. Instead of creating a new thread, I just added to it. Speaking of which, does anyone know of a forum that the SCG folks hang out when SCG is down. I miss my daily fix of HaZzMaTtology.

Looks like the hackers took over the SCG site. I read Fullon's post before he took the site down. It looks like he's going to have to erase everything and start from scratch. I hope he's able to get the site back up and running soon. Death to all hackers!

This was my 100th cache, "There's an echo here," and I was thrilled to have my young son along.

What's strange is that he started out writing perfectly normal logs and then the logs get progressively stranger. Onset of dementia or just someone using geocaching.com as a writing outlet? I'm guessing he's just an aspiring writer and this just happens to be the medium he chose to use.

Does anybody here know what's going on with the Socal Geocachers site? It has been down all this morning. I sure hope it didn't go away because it was my favorite geocaching site.

I'm sorry, but I find the idea of limiting yourself to just a few FTF's comical. I have 13 FTF's and I got most of them by simply stopping by on the way home from work. Anyone that checks for new caches regularly should be able to snag some FTF's. I realize that in some areas this may be much tougher, but I think that's what make getting FTF all that much more fun.

Thanks for the markwell guys! Next time I'll just assume that any and all articles related to geocaching are fully documented and commented on within minutes of being printed. Normally, I check out earlier topics but it's Monday and I was just being lazy.

I posted this on the Socal Geocachers site, but I thought it might be an interesting topic here as well. I was reading a story on the Badlands in National Geographic and noticed that geocaching was mentioned in the story. I think it was on page 90 or so. The focus of the story was on the beauty of the Badlands with a focus on the fossil digs. It appears that the people digging up fossils are concerned about geocaching because people are hiding caches close to fossils. Since they already have a problem with people stealing fossils, they are worried that posting exact coordinates to rare fossils will lead to more fossil theft. To be fair, they did mention that geocaching does help to bring more visitors and tourists to the area. I also noticed that they hypenated geocaching to read "geo-caching." Anyway, I just thought it was interesting and worth mentioning. Anybody have any thoughts on the issue? Personally, I think the positives of bringing geocachers to the Badlands outweighs the possible negatives. I can understand their concern but I think that geocachers are simply the easy target.

For me this usually depends on a lot of factors with the biggest factor being time. If I know I only have a few minutes to get to the cache site and find the cache, then I always decode and read the hint ahead of time. While I would love to find every cache without using a hint, sometimes I just want a quick cache and dash on the way home from work. As for searching time, I usually only give myself about ten minutes for a cache and dash. If I've hiked a good distance then I'll usually give up after a good 20 to 30 minute search. I've noticed that lately it is very rare that I don't find the cache. My geosense must be getting stronger.

I'm with Bons here, I think that we may not be hearing both sides of the story and there was some sort of miscommunication along the way. Perhaps they saw the boys dumping out the water and had the attitude of "serves you right." If this was the case, I still think what they did is unacceptable and truly appalling behavior. Every cacher that I've run across has always been extra friendly and will bend over backwards to help you out if there's a problem.

Jollybgood, use the same instructions that I listed above and instead of clicking "Cancel Subscription" just update your payment information at the bottom of the Subscription Details page and click "Update Information." Hope this helps!

I'm not really sure if Harrald's way works, but this is the official way to do it as explained on the PayPal site: 1. Click on the My Account tab 2. Click on the History tab 3. Enter the approximate date period that you last completed a Geocaching subscription payment. For example if you know approximately that you last subscribed between January and March of last year then enter 01/01/03 to 03/31/03. 4. Find your Geocaching subscription and click the details link. 5. Click Cancel Subscription You have successfully cancelled the Geocaching subscription. This is also a great way to find out when you have to renew again.

Garmin Legend as well. I found it to be the best bang for the buck considering all the rebates and other incentives. I think I paid a total of $109 when all was said and done. I've had it over a year and I love it so far! No complaints.

I wanted to make the suggestion to add some sort of address book to the My Cache Page. I converse with a bunch of other cachers and it would be nice to have all their address and phone information contained within the My Cache Page. I currently use other mail programs to store all this information, but I think it makes sense to add this feature directly into the My Cache Page. Thanks!

I once used this shoe tying trick while I was wearing shoes that had no laces. No one was the wiser.

No way. If I don't find the cache it's always a DNF. One time I actually found a cache that was plundered. As I came upon the cache, I saw log pages scattered all around the area. As I got closer I also found various toys and other items that were obviously part of the cache. I even actually found the ammo box just laying out in the open. Guess what? I still didn't log it as a find. Why? Because in my mind I didn't find the cache in the area that the hider intended. With the cache owner's permission, I took the ammo box and all the loose stuff I could find and reincarnated the cache in another location.

Well, the first thing I'm going to do is increase the exemptions on my W2. I'd rather get the money upfront than let the government earn interest on MY money. I'm getting back $1500 this year and I plan on putting it all toward future bills such as property taxes and homeowners insurance (which goes dramatically up every year now). I always laugh when I read about the lack of inflation when all my bills seem to be inflated every year.

I know this has probably been talked to death, but I just wanted to add my suggestion that the travel bugs be dropped to the BOTTOM of the My Cache Page. I'm at the point where I don't want to take TB's anymore because that will mean I'll have to scroll forever to find my cache logs! Can someone please explain to me why it was decided to place them first? It just doesn't make sense to me since there are a lot of geocachers that ignore TB's completely.

A good and free tool to use is USAPhotoMaps. Although the aerial shots are sometimes ten years old, a lot of areas are already fully developed and haven't really changed in ten years. For areas with new construction, this tool will only be marginally helpful. Once I get a good aerial shot, I usually can figure out the best place to park. BTW, a good tip for zeroing in on a cache is to look for an easy way in rather than bushwacking straight toward the cache, especially if it's labeled as an easy cache. I still remember when I was a newbie and I would end up making a difficulty 1 cache into a difficulty 4 cache. Once I got to the cache, I saw the easy trail back down.

I don't mean to start the age-old Garmin vs. Magellan reception strength war, but one thing I wanted to point out is that a lot of people (myself included) are convinced that the Magellan's are in no way better at keeping a satellite lock, it's just that the Magellans tend to give you the false impression that they still have a strong satellite lock. I've owned both types of GPSrs and I can say from experience that this is true. I tested this out once while caching in an area with poor reception. Although the Magellan seemed to stay locked on better, the navigational arrow began leading me in the wrong direction. This gave me nothing more than a false sense of security. FWIW, I'd rather lose a satellite lock than be led astray. I almost always use my Garmin Legend now and couldn't be happier.

Personally (and I'm not alone in my thinking), signature items are not really meant to be traded. I view them more like travel bugs with the option that you can keep them if you like. That being said, I do think that you should at least leave your own signature item if you take someone elses. Contributing to the sport is what keeps geocaching fun. I try and get the signature item from all the cachers I've met, emailed, or are just LEGENDS.

I'm with Divine on this one and I love Mopar's cartoon. LC's just don't do it for me. I've done a couple and it was sort of a ho-hum experience. I like traditional caches because there is always the element of actually finding (or not finding) something. Taking a picture of my GPS in front of a large 'whatchamacallit' can quickly become tiresome. This is not to say that LC's don't have a place in geocaching since a few of them can actually be quite interesting. To each his own I say.

Actually, they are not $4.75: 4 .50 ammo cans ......... $12.97 std shipping .................. $5.99 heavy package surcharge $5.00 total............................. $23.96 or $5.99 each Cheaper Then Dirt is about the same price too: 4 .50 ammo cans ......... $15.88 std shipping .................. $7.99 heavy package surcharge $0.00 total............................. $23.87 or $5.97 each Still not bad considering most of my local places want anywhere from $8-$15(!) for one .50 can, plus tax. I think in general, the smaller .30 cal/7.62 cans are just fine for caches, and it's really hard to beat Cheaper Then Dirt there: 6 .30 ammo cans ......... $19.97 std shipping .................. $7.99 heavy package surcharge $0.00 total............................. $27.96 or $4.66 each LOL...I was just about to post with the exact same calculations that I got. I was also going to suggest CheaperthanDirt's 6-pack of .30 ammo cans. For caches, I agree that the .30 ammon cans are more than adequate. FWIW.

Did I just see these on EBAY for sale? Hmmm...those coins look a lot like Vacman's geocoins. I bet Trogdor and Vacman used the same coin maker. He told me he spent around $5.50 per coin so it looks like he could MAKE a slight profit selling them on eBay. In all seriousness, I can't believe that someone (especially another cacher) would actually bid and purchase a personalized Geocoin. It kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? And who the heck would actually put a Geocoin up for bid anyways? The whole thing just seems bizarre to me. Oh well, to each his own.