NYPaddleCacher

there was a cache that I found (I think I may have been FTF) that was along a trail not far from here. There are a couple of places where one could get onto the trail. Just before I got to the trail was within a few feet of a steep drop, about 200 feet to a rocky river bed. There was nothing in the cache listing about appropriateness for children. When I mentioned the cliff in my log the CO thanked me and said that she'd come in from the other direction so was unaware of the steep cliff. She subsequently added a note in the description and a "not recommended for kids" attribute.

These might work.

Winter tip. Don't hide a cache just after a snowstorm. Finders will just follow your tracks directly to the cache.

Blinking yellow or amber lights on a vehicle might not be legal unless it actually is being used as a hazard vehicle. If you're not actually using the vehicle in a manner allowed by state laws you could get a ticket.

Early on I adopted several caches that I had previously found. It would seem to me that this would be the most common scenario. Unless the previous CO has a very good reputation, how does one know that a cache is worth adopting if they haven't found it?

Keep in mind however, that the data for each geocache does not contain the county in which it's located (and of course, a lot of countries don't *have* counties). Sites like project-gc will derive the county name from the lat/long coordinates using an external service. While you may be able to see county lines on a map you would not be able to search for a list of caches in a specific county.

Consider quality over quantity

Something else to consider for urban hides. If it's very difficult to find, it might lead to muggles noticing someone searching for it more than an easier hide. More important, is how difficult the cache is to retrieve and replace. I once found a cache after just a few seconds of searching at GZ, but it took me nearly five minutes to pry the container out its hiding spot. One a cacher has located the container, then has it in hand, some place close by where one can sign the log without getting noticed will help protect it as well. As an example, there was a cache in Barcelona that was across from a museum that was a stop for tourist groups. I was able to quickly located the magnetic container that was shoulder height (I'm average height). Even though there was a tour group of about 15 people within 20' of me I was able to grab the container when the tour leader directed their attention to some sculpture then walk away to sign the log, and quickly replace it without stopping as I walked by.

If you move the cache to new coordinates, but keep the same listing (and GC code) nobody will get an additional Found It chance. The system prevents logging a cache as found more than once.

I'm not a reviewer but that would look to me like they were gaming the system and trying to get past reviewer review. All it would take is a message to the reviewer, explaining the situation, and as long as there were no proximity issues, they'd make the change. Work with your reviewers, not against them.

Presumably there are geocaches there. Keep in mind that this is an international forum and many would not know where this place is located.

I don't think so. Lockheed Martin is responsible for designing and launching most of them.

That's too bad. In this case, the stage would have been up in a clock/bell tower that was open from 12-2pm for a daily chimes concert. I've gone up the 165 steps a couple of times and not only is it a very unique experience to be in the room as chimes are being played but the view is spectacular.

Maybe the website/api *should* hide the coordinates when a cache is disabled. It wouldn't prevent someone from finding the cache if they'd already downloaded the coordinates to their device, but it would prevent apps which obtain cache data in real time via the API from being able to navigate to the cache.

It might be easier for some to understand if it is explained how those lat/long coordinates are applied to the physical globe. Imagine drawing a line around the globe on it's surface and you'll get a circle. There are 360 degrees in a circle. If one starts at the equator and goes toward the north pole, it would start at zero degrees and reach 90 degrees at the north pole. If the equator is at zero degrees, then going toward the south pole could be described as negative degrees with -90 degrees at the south pole. With only 90 degree marks between the equator and the north/south pole, breaking each degree into 60 increments (minutes) allows for greater accuracy. and as a decimal value, to three places to the right of the decimal, accuracy down to 6' for so can be achieved. The same visual representation can be show when turning the circle on it's side, with zero degrees at the Greenwich mean line, and traveling along the equator. When a lat/long value is expressed in decimal degrees (0 to +/- 90 degrees) it's fairly easy to visualize those coordinates on a globe, but simple understanding that each degree can be broken up into 60 minutes it's still fairly easy to understand. While Google does often use decimal degrees format, it's certainly not proprietary to Google. Although we all see lat/long coordinates displayed as Degrees Decimal Minutes, under the hood a GPX file contains lat/long coordinates in Decimal Degrees format (without hemisphere designators). It's much easier to do coordinate math in decimal degrees.

Yep. Three caches per day is 1095 caches per year. IMHO, finding over 1000 caches a year goes beyond basic geocaching and an introduction to the game. Heck, I've never found more than 500 in a year.

What you need is small dry bag that you can keep in that net. Something like this:

After further review, one article I read suggested that the implementation of selective availability was rather simple. Each satellite broadcasts a unique signal that tells the receiver the time at the satellite in space. Each satellite also has a unique position in space. The GPS receiver knows where every satellite is supposed to be, knows what time it is on the ground, and hears the signal from each satellite about what time it was in space when the signal was sent. The receiver uses all of this information to calculate the time it took for at least 4 satellite messages to travel to the Earth, and then uses the known position for those 4 (or more) satellites to figure out your latitude, longitude, and elevation. With Selective Availability on, the GPS receiver doesn't know what time it really is at the satellites, because the S.A. makes the satellite send the wrong time. The time the satellite sends is usually pretty close to the real time, but not exact. Without knowing the exact times at the satellites when they create their time message, the receiver cannot tell you the exact location you are trying to measure. This means the GPS receiver gives you a less accurate position because of S.A too!

If I were to guess, it was more of a software switch rather than a physical blue switch.

I don't know if that's really the case. A lot of really inexpensive recreational kayaks don't have bulkheads or waterproof compartment. A decent recreational (and all touring) kayak will have a bulkhead with a water *resistant* compartment. In some cases it's just a hatch with an attached bag underneath. In either case, I'd put anything that you really don't want to get wet in a drybag first.

There is no official record for who is FTF on any given cache. Anyone that choose to make a claim on being FTF can use whatever means they choose to record their claim. What that means is that more than one person can make a claim that they were the first to find on any given cache, and drama ensues when more than one person makes the game. There isn't even agreement on what constitutes a FTF. Some actually think that it's the first to log online. Someone consider a FTF it the cache was found before it was published. Sometimes someone accompanies the cache owner when the cache is hidden and signs the log at that time, then proclaims FTF as soon as it's published. It's created debates and arguments between geocachers in a game that is dependent about cooperation between it's players. There have been reported issues of caches placed in parks, then published after "business hours", but that hasn't stopped some from entering the park when it's closed to get that FTF.

Okay, if a cache that is only available once a week (for how long?) isn't "quite right", how about a cache that is only available certain times of the day (like many caches in town parks). Assuming that is okay, where is the line drawn. The guideline stipulates "Caches must be available most of the week." Does "most of the week" mean more than 84 hours or some amount of time on more than 3.5 days. At one time I considered placing a cache that had a stage in a location that was only open to the public about 2 hours a day, M-F (no direct person interaction was required). It would only be available about 10 hours a week, but would be available for two hours, five out the seven days in a week.

They also don't consider how long someone has been playing. I'm in the (low end of) the 1001-10000 range but have been playing since 2007. I recall that when I was at around 1100 finds, 6-7 years ago, I read the log of someone that had found more than that since they had joined a couple of days earlier while spending a weekend in Nevada.

I left $5 for the FTF on the first cache I had (13 years ago) and haven't left anything since. It didn't take long to witness the drama that is associated with the FTF unofficial side game so I didn't want to encourage it by providing a "prize".

Recreational Equipment, Inc.