PhilippeGPS

I'm looking to buy a used copy of MapSource Metroguide Europe. Don't need the latest version (6.0), an earlier version that works would be fine. Contact me at me@zigzagcreations.com. Thanks.

As many of you know I have now left the Bay Area, for probably - but hopefully not - a long time. I will miss all of you, and the Bay Area Geocaching scene in general. I'd like to thank in particular the 4 Geocachers who adopted my 13 caches: The Rat, WeBeDnD, Motorbug and trode. Geocaching will for sure remain my favorite sport. So if you're ever around in Belgium and need Geocaching advice, just let me know - but be prepared for long multi's and wet weather! "Met vriendelijke groeten", PhilippeGPS

Any TB that needs a "ride" to Europe can contact me in the next 2 weeks. I've got 4 for now, can carry many more if needed.

I think Hemlock has not approved a N-CA cache for the last 3 days. He must be out of town, or at least off-line. Did anyone notice that too ? Is there a GC.com procedure to have other approvers take over the back-log when this happens ? In the past I saw out-of-state approvers work on CA caches, but I haven't seen this lately.

I'm planning a trip to Europe this summer and would like to find someone in the South Bay who has the Mapsource Metroguide Europe CD (that's the Garmin software) and who would let me download a couple of map segments to my GPSr before leaving (leaving around June 20th). If anyone can help me, contact me via Geocaching email. Thanks!

Great! But too bad I need one extra click to get to my Pocket Queries.

As a Member I've enjoyed the Pocket Query feature. I have a suggestion to improve this: allow multiple selections into 1 query, or make it possible to send multiple queries into 1 file. Example, I use 3 queries: a. 50 closest puzzle caches [type = unknown/mistery] b. 50 closest caches with terrain 3 or more c. 50 closest caches with difficulty 3 or more I use Utopia to manage the resulting waypoints. Now I have to save and open 3 files. It would great if I could: - either define a query as a. AND b. AND c. [and eliminating doubles] - or just get the resulting files of a. and b. and c. into 1 file or ZIP. Just an idea for a future release.

Yes and no. I've been offered hints by one finder and by another Geocacher who had received the hint. But I refused - for now. When hints are passed along, I prefer them to be available for everyone, like in an 'OOPS'-log, or directly on the cache page by the owner. Meanwhile, there are enough other puzzle caches popping up, almost on a daily basis. So I let Buzzy rest.

You could call it "Extreme Geocaching". This morning's story in the SJMN of a terrorist in France blackmailing the French rail. He/she's giving GPS coordinates of the bombs if payment conditions are met. He/she did a "goodwil test" by giving out one set of coordinates. I can imagine a whole group of French policemen walking around a train station with their GPS until one shouts "Je l'ai trouvé!". The story is at: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...rld/8103055.htm

Reader mail & answer from Earthlink.net's newsletter: Geocaching revisited… "I am shocked that you would advertise for Geocaching. They promote breaking the law by trespassing across private or federal property. For example, go to The Outer Limits where they acknowledge that the cache is on Vandenberg Air Force Base, a federal reservation. At this time in our national security, I don't think it's a good idea to trespass on a federal reservation. And, I don't think it's a good idea that EarthLink promote a Web site that encourages breaking the law." —Bobi Editor's Reply: We check out all the Web sites we review carefully, and Geocaching.com does not promote trespassing. If you look at their Guide to Creating and Hiding a Cache page you'll find this: "Will it be on private or public land?—If you place it on private land, please ask permission before putting it there! If you place the cache on public lands you need to contact the managing agency to find out about their rules. You will be in violation of federal regulation by placing a cache in any area administered by the National Park Service (US). The National Park regulations are intended to protect the fragile environment, and historical and cultural areas found in the parks."

quote:Originally posted by Ron Streeter:. Take a look at your cacher profile, then click on the index tab marked Cacher Stats (or words to that effect). Neat! Ron __I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.__ Cool, indeed, but you don't see your total finds anymore - you have to add them up (or go to a cache page). Am I right ?

Thanks Team Geo-Remdation. I've been contacted by a Geocacher near Netcong, NJ, who will be so kind to help me out. So, for now, I'm helped, Thanks anyway!

Nostrada, looking at your coordinates (66 39.72) you may have more options than you think. Using 66 as your W longitude: - northeastern Canada (New Brunswick) Using 66 as you N latitude: - Norway, Sweden, Finland Good Luck!

Nostrada, I'm not 100% sure, but I think you're only supposed to divide the minutes by 2, not the who;e coordinates. At least that's how I read the instructions. So that would give you 66 39.72 .

Who wants to help me with this cache, and get credit for it ? I came upon the Where's In A Name? locationless cache recently. For those who don't know this very watched cache (73 watching currently !), one needs to find another Geocacher located somewhere in the world with coordinates determined by your Geocaching name. More details on the web page. Decoding my own Geocaching name I get 74° 45.47. I decided this would be a good Western Longitude in the middle of the North Eastern region to start my search. I draw a line from the Atlantic to the Canadian border along W 74° 45.47. Below is a list of locations/cities along that line. If you are close to this Western Longitude line, you could help me, and get credit for the find too! Feel free to reply to this post, or via my Geocaching account (PhilippeGPS) if you want to go for this find. I think it's a great idea for a cache, and get to know other Geocachers! Here's the list, south to north: NEW JERSEY: - Stone Harbor - Corbin City - Hammonton - Mount Holly - Trenton/Ewing - Montgomery - Whitehouse - Netcong - Montague PENNSYLVANIA: - Milford - Port Jarvis NEW YORK: - Monticello - Liberty - Pepacton Reservoir - Davenport - Worcester - Cherry Valley - Little Falls - Fulton Chain Lakes - Cranberry Lake - Potsdam - Massena I hope this will work! Philippe

quote:Originally posted by The Rat: Two sets of eyes are definitely useful And don't forget 2 brains. It's soooooo easy to make mistakes on those easy caclultations.

quote:Originally posted by boulter: Did you guys use the Fast Forward or should I plan on doing the road block? I did the first waypoint this weekend and planning to move on to the next soon as this cache is creeping up on my closest caches. Jeff The Fast Forward will let you skip the first roadblock and detours only. But those are not too challenging - except for what The Rat has mentioned. Just make sure your do the 2 detours if you choose not to go for the FF. Make sure you check the logs, or with GeoROCKS! directly, before you go for the final pit stop. There's some maintenance needed on one of the legs.

I have only a limited number of caches, but here are my stats: NAME - DIF/TER - MAR - APR - MAY - JUN European Highways (puzzle) - 2.5/2.5 - 6 - 2 - 2 - 3 Dark Overlook (hike) - 1/2.5 - X - 3 - 3 - 2 crabbels CASE (puzzle) - 4/1 - X - X - 7 - 1 cards are us (regular) - 1.5/1 - X - X - 15 - 4 pass over art (multi) - 2.5/1 - X - X - 8 - 8 Redwood Preserve (regular) - 1.5/2 - X - X - 8 - 9 OTAN (puzzle) - 3.5/2.5 - X - X - 1 - 5 Travel Long Distances (puzzle) - 4/1.5 - X - X - X - 1

quote:Originally posted by GeoROCKS!:My two cents: my Amazing Race multicache (3/3)hasn't been visited in 144 days, .... [This message was edited by GeoROCKS! on June 26, 2003 at 06:55 PM.] I'm working on your Amazing Race, but these days it's wayyyyyyyy to warm for the last leg. Hope to get there soon!

quote:Originally posted by LilDevil: quote:Originally posted by The Rat:What's the deal with this new format for the Nearest To list? The first time I saw it, there were little boxes showing whether or not I had found the cache, ... Tonight when I looked, the little boxes were gone, ... You have to be logged in to see the hidden/found status. Also, from My Cache Page, under Search for nearest caches from your home coordinates, you can click on 'filter finds' and it will only show caches you haven't found. Good luck clearing you first page now! Lil Devil http://www.lildevil.org/images/smiley/lildevil.gif I was actually happily surprised with the new format, because of the found/hidden filtering option. It is now so much easier to find the nearest caches, and the new ones, not only from my home, but from any search option chosen. Agreed with Marky that you can not anymore say that yo've cleared x pages, but we'll have to work with miles. With the exception of Border Patrol #3 (more like Bother Patrol ....) I'm at 6.0 miles. So, sorry Rat, no complaint from me to Groundspeak. I think it's an improvement.

quote:Originally posted by kablooey: ... It's precisely for the reason that caches might not be approved for a week that I think we need some alternate system. I don't intend it to be exclusionary or privileged in any way. In fact, if it's just my caches, I'll probably add a link to each of my cache pages, allowing people to sign up for notification of my new caches. I agree with The Rat that one should not shortcut GC.com on this, and certainly not create a group of insiders that gets notified of unpublished caches. When I agreed I would like to get a notification, it's only when the cache is approved.

quote:Originally posted by TeamJiffy:One thing everyone should know: the new approver (he/she/them) understands that puzzle caches don’t give the real coordinates. Being clueful in this manner, this(these) new approver(s) is(are) bright enough to say “please give the real coordinates.” If you don’t do this, then your cache approval will be needlessly delayed. -Jif At first I was reluctant to give out my coordinates, for the obvious reason that the approver is probably also a cacher, and probably has a bunch of cacher-friends who would like to know these things, and be the first notified of new caches. But after all, I don't care to give out the coordinates. Anyone is free to cheat in Geocaching. Just log visits you never made. Almost nobody checks the signed logs against the web logs. This is not a competition. If you cheat, you're basically cheating against yourself, not others. Still, why could GC.com not have caches approved by out-of-state approvers ? That would be so much better. Don't you think ?

Re: Kablooey's idea for a notification system: I would definitly be interested in that, but agree with others that a Yahoo-group is not the way to go because it is a magnet for spam. Any other automatic notification system (email or SMS) would be better than that.

Can't show a picture, but the container at Take and HIDE a cache is a large plastic container, about 3' x 2' x 2', the biggest I ever saw.

My 2 cents: if your multi will involve more than, say, 10 miles of driving/biking/hiking, post it as separate (virtual) caches, with some kind bonus cache at the end that you can only access with information you gathered during the other steps. I know of 2 of those type here in the SF Bay Area (the Solar System, and the Light Rail series). For the cache owner it's about the same amount of work to post, and the hunters get credit also when they do just part of the series.