Singletree Expedition

Another option would be to use a third party search engine such as Google: Entering a search term such as this in Google... cleveland metroparks -hotel site:geocaching.com ...will search only geocaching.com for the search terms. I have added the "-hotel" to exclude the accomodations from the results. But, this would not work for subscriber only caches.

And we've gone from that, to Wherigo? LOL! At least nobody can complain that we're not trying to help! Sticker... Wherigo? What's the difference? Okay, okay, I'll go find my emulator and get back to armchairing some more Wherigo caches... nevermind me.

As far as I am concerned Wherigo is still very much a niche game. I would guess that probably 90% of those with Groundspeak accounts do not have the hardware necessary to do Wherigo caches. I certainly won't argue with that. Still, it is a relevant method to "hide a visual clue for a puzzle cache instead of using a physical container... [without] ...defacing public property".

One option would possibly be using http://gpsvisualizer.com to convert the GPX to plain text, then open (or copy) that into Calc. You may have to use the "Text to Columns" feature to get the columns to work out.

What version of Excel do you have? Excel 2003 will open the GPX since it is XML. That said, there are other tools such as GSAK that may be better suited for your needs.

Don't forget about Wherigo.

As an active caver in two of these states (TN & VA), I have also been following the news and appreciate the post here. While observing cave closures is most important, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the containment and decontamination procedures established by FWS. Recommended procedures to prevent the possible spread of white-nose syndrome http://www.fws.gov/northeast/whitenosemess...tml#containment Draft protocols to reduce transmission of WNS in Virginia by humans http://www.caves.org/WNS/WNS-VA.pdf And after seeing a startling post on a caving forum, it is also advisable to resist the temptation of driving long distances to cave out of your normal area. For obvious reasons, this could potentially be worse than limiting your caving activity to a single county in the impacted area.

That would be the Southern Terminus of the Pacifc Crest National Scenic Trail that runs from Mexico to Canada. I've never seen it, but the writing on the monument kind of gave it away.

That'd be Indian Pipe. [Edit to add the photo]

Virgin Falls (Tennessee) The Virgin Falls Earthcache by Monkeybrad is impressively unique. The waterfall exits from a cave and falls 110 feet to disappear into another cave. By the way, this thread mentions that a "led hike" to Virgin Falls is being considered for Sunday, 24 May 2009 (the day after Geowoodstock VII). Cumberland Falls (Kentucky) The Cumberland Falls Earthcache by hoppe2findyou is one of the only, if not the only, locations in the world that has a naturally occuring, predictable moonbow (lunar rainbow).

If I used this "mark missing" option for my non-traveling coins, it would be tough to tell which are my non-travelers and which are bona fide missing. I would find it useful to have another option similar to "Mark Item Missing" but more descriptive for this purpose. Maybe something like this: Any bugs/coins that are in the "Personal Collection" would be filtered out of the available list when logging a cache. If you want to get them moving, just "Move to last location" and you're good to go.

That's it. Thanks entogeek!

Here are just a few of the wildlife pics from our gallery: (all were taken while caching) Whitetail Deer Grouse Coyote Hawk Toads Spider Squirrel Spotted fawns Copperhead Does anybody know what this is?

Perfect Pitch.

Thanks for all of the responses so far. I'm already glad that I asked. To clarify, the "banjo" reference is a totally-random-non-spoiler-example. It fits the potential-real-world-scenario in that finders may choose a subset of any eligible caches that could have any D/T rating. Now, what do you call it when you throw a banjo in a dumpster and it hits an accordian?

Looking for a fresh-perspective... Should a challenge cache that requires you to first find other caches be rated considering only the final cache? Or should the rating be escalated based on the required caches? A hypothetical example: A cache has a true Difficulty/Terrain rating of D1.5/T3.5. The ALR for eligibility requires you to find 10 caches with the word "banjo" in the title. The rating for each cache could be anything, but finding those caches may require significant planning and dedication. It is clear that due to the involved preparation and effort, the difficulty should increase. Should the terrain rating also increase? This is a hypothetical example used for illustration purposes only. All opinions are appreciated, but no banjo jokes will be tolerated.

When this thread first started, I would've been hesitant to say that I appreciated cemetery caches any more than other caches. But after some thought and reminiscing I realize that some of our caching highlights have involved cemeteries and memorial sites. In fact, the first cache we ever found was in a cemetery. Many of our visits have led to strong emotion. For this reason, I understand the hesitation... but I've never felt that a cache was disrespectful. Many times, I have seen an area adversely impacted by a search for a cache. Yet, I have never seen this in a cemetery. Often, the area is improved. That said, if I thought for a moment that a family member of the deceased could perceive a cache as disrespectful then I would not hide or seek the cache.

Now, that's funny. It's automatically assigned (incrementally). It's base-31. Here's more information from Markwell discussing a brief history.

This bookmark list is always a good place to start: San Diego's Consensus Favorites And, in case this isn't enough, as you browse the caches on this list, you'll find a number of individual favorite bookmark lists which will yield many more highlights of the San Diego caching scene... Perfect. Thanks!

Hey San Diego! We plan to visit from Tennessee in July. We'll be with non-cachers so we may just hit the highlights. Any recommendations for quality must-do caches? We enjoy scenic terrain. We normally love a good challenge, but will likely have time for only short hikes. This may be our once-in-a-lifetime visit to SD, so we want to make it count. Thanks for any tips.

As a Travel Bug (TB) owner, I am always disappointed to see a note saying "I would've moved the TB, but I didn't have anything to trade".

I agree with baloo&bd; some great points by the 3doxies. One thing to consider, though, is that advantages of MOCs are not always for the hider. Aside from those challenge caches that are most easily completed with Premium features, consider this... Let's say you have a puzzle cache requiring days or weeks of effort for the finders. Perhaps it requires driving to various landmarks with significantly difficult puzzle solving at each stage. Now, let's say you are considering archiving it due to few finds. Would it impact your decision to archive if the audit log showed even one determined solver with a high number of consistent "hits"? Like many things, the audit trail has the potential for both good and bad. And like many things, the "bad" is what gets all the press. That said, keep doing whatever you're doing. Just don't archive your new puzzles yet, because we've solved three that we haven't yet found.

I have found a good way to provide an extra layer of protection. Make a cache a simple muti or a simple ALR puzzle. Really cuts down on the casual visitor. Yes, we often do that in addition to the PMO classification. Works like a charm! And, as is true of many owners of really extreme and dangerous caches, we also employ pre-requisite screening for some of our most extreme caches, that is, a prospective finder must have completed at least 5 to 10 of our other extreme 5/5 Psycho caches before they are even able to receive/decode the true waypoint coordinates for the final stage of the super-extreme Psycho cache. Works like a charm! See Psycho Urban Cache #9 and Psycho Urban Cache #14 for sample specimens! Can you please remove the PMO status for these caches so that we can have a look? (yeah, I'm joking)

How about those hints that use "left" and "right" for direction? It's rarely obvious what that means. ...or maybe it's just because we usually approach from an unexpected direction. East & West are much better indicators.

Also consider that some cache challenges are most easily completed by using Premium Member features such as Pocket Queries, Bookmark Lists, and Caches-Along-A-Route. And restricting a cache could lessen the chance that a new cacher mistakenly finds the cache without meeting the ALR. I once saw where a new cacher logged a Fizzy Challenge as his very first find. Fortunately, it did not discourage him after his first find was deleted. Should I feel guilty for finding humor in someone getting their first find deleted? Nah, that's funny!