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...you've been telling friends about this fascinating pastime and they alternatively nod knowingly and shake their heads, talk about you, offer you another drink/counselling and generally think you are off your rocker.

Great Idea! We can think of lots of ideas but for starters: invite government officials to discuss geocaching on public lands Jeremy,of course, to discuss the web site, future plans, etc. GPS manufacturers to discuss their latest recreationl software/hardware regional reps from every country or region in the US to give reports games and contests including a major geocache or two. Tours to the local geocaches! vendors to help underwrite the costs and let them talk about and sell stuff like, GPSrs, mapping software, army surplus, outdoor gear, etc. If you have it in September, you should consider Portland, OR as the home. That way you could ride the coattails of the GPS 2000 conference to be held there on Sept. 23-27 at the Oregon Convention Center. It is a GPS techno junkies nirvana with over 2000 folks from over 40 countries coming to talk GPS. Learn more at http://www.ion.org. At $465 most of us wouldn't go to their event but it would broing over 100 vendors of GPS technology to town and they could all come over and talk to us at some smaller venue.

quote:Originally posted by broek:I just posted a new cache, and it fits the profile of this message: >>FLITS<< Hehe... this one is certainly different. I wonder if this one will eventually be archived, given the quasi-criminal bent... However, I have zero room to talk, since I was able to log this cache for a speeding ticket I received while Team Lead Pipe was off caching in Columbus, Ohio. Details and a picture are in the log for this cache. I wonder if this will turn some of the more avid cachers into hardened criminals just so that they can log a find... "Honestly officer, I wasn't carjacking, I was GEOCACHING!!" Hmmm... ------------------ Team Lead Pipe Geocaching since June 2001 Neutiquam Erro

Markwell: Hey, I did not mean to offend you. As for those little smile faces, I just did not put any in. Myself, I have yet to read anything here that you should be slammed for. A poke in the ribs maybe, but that was about it. When, and If I am offended by anything you or anyone else puts here, I will try to keep it out of these logs and contact you directly. Until you hear a knock on the door and there are two guys out there named Guido and Luigi, take everthing I flip you as snide remarks and razzing. Now as for the laptop, Over my head and shaking it? Is that geek talk? I tried the throwing it on the floor and dancing around it while screaming curses about inbreed programers and such but that did not help. Oh man, programers are now going to be after me.

This post marks the conclusion of the geocaching quilt project. I am currently quilting the quilt and will have it finished in a few days...watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics was a great time to sew!! I have been reflecting on this project as I've sewn. The project was started in Mid October with the first packets of blocks going out 10/28. Over 30 packets of blocks were sent out. There are 320 blocks in the quilt. 960 individual pieces of fabric. 2 borders, very thin batting and a backing that I think reflects GPS tracking... Over 25 states are represented in the signatures. Additionally, many blocks were signed in far off reaches of Canada as well!! And 2 blocks were signed in Germany. I received many encouraging e-mails, snail mails, photos, a few treasures (Canadian tatoos, prayer flags, magnet, travelor and a fed ex envelope)and in the midst of it I was able to participate in a geocaching survey and talk, real time, with other cachers. Now as I sew and read the blocks I can picture caching events where there was warm breezes and more cachers that quilt squares, caches hidden only to find an on slaught of eager cachers waiting to join and too few blocks to accomodate them all, boys scouts who draw great aliens, a variety of caching dogs who left behind decrative paw prints, cachers who work daily around the airline industry just as my husband does, children who's first cache found them signing a square, reflections of the 9/11 disaster and the aftermath that seemed to impress on people what really is important in life, Mopar's square that looked like the pen bled..I touched it up and have wondered ever since if he's ok with it, the names of so many cachers that I've read about in caching posts, the square that is written in latin and I still don't know what it says and the square that is simply signed "outsider" with a tiny face and makes me wonder who this perwson is and if he always caches alone.....Anyway the quilt it self is something just to sit and read and smile over and over with. I think that it will make a GREAT tangible thankyou! Now what I am interested in, is other cachers thoughts on the project. The quilt has gotten so large that it is difficult to clearly see each block....should I take pictures of sections of the quilt and post them so people can see where there square is? Do people want to send e-mails with messages that they want included when the quilt is delivered? Geezeeeeeeee Time to go caching! It's 40 here and sunny....bonus...time to get off the computer and outside!! DxChallenged

I think you'll have to decide whether or not it is more important that people actually end up finding the cache, in which case you'd include more specific info, or if you risk people not finding the cache, in which case you give less specific info. I'm sure there are people who don't even start out the door before they read the clue and have never even gone through the trouble of manually decrypting code. Others won't and will only decrypt it at last resort. You won't be able to control that aspect of it. So just go with one of the two choices you have before you based on what kind of experience you want this to be. Either a cache that, in the end, is findable, or one that is tough even after decoding the clue. Heavens knows I've seen my share of those!! Which leads to another question: What good is a clue if in the end it doesn't help you find the cache? (Talk amongst yourselves.) ------------------ Tyler Slack's Geocaching in Utah

Check them out again. They have a picture contest going on and, by the looks of it, they are planning a year end get together with prizes (provided of course you find all six of their caches). Maybe if we get on the really, really good side of the Cleveland Metroparks, they can talk to the Cuyahoga Valley Recreation Area to open up to caching. But all of that is just wishful thinking. ------------------ Never hold a cat and a Dustbuster at the same time. [This message has been edited by OblongFred (edited 08 February 2002).]

Check them out again. They have a picture contest going on and, by the looks of it, they are planning a year end get together with prizes (provided of course you find all six of their caches). Maybe if we get on the really, really good side of the Cleveland Metroparks, they can talk to the Cuyahoga Valley Recreation Area to open up to caching. But all of that is just wishful thinking. ------------------ Never hold a cat and a Dustbuster at the same time. [This message has been edited by OblongFred (edited 08 February 2002).]

quote:Originally posted by chaosmanor:Well, I can certainly see both sides to this discussion. The point of "trading fair" is valid, as is the original one. A cache that has mostly kids stuff in it *should* be marked as such. If nothing else, it means that finders should have kids things along to put in the cache, even if they don't have kids along with them. Our youngest is in college, but we have grandkids, so any kiddy trinkets will find a home. For us, the idea of geocaching is to find the cache, and see whatever is to be seen there. BUT, we do put a little time and thought into what we might want to leave in a cache once we find it, and if what is in the cache isn't of much value to us, we are a little disappointed. So we try to make up for it by giving better than we got. In fact, we kinda get a kick out of looking for cache goodies on our trips, especially things that are obviously from someplace not near the cache. Putting a redwood bookmark in a cache in the Mojave desert has a peculiar appeal! The best cache adventure I ever had was to a cache that really had very little in it, but that didn't reduce the joy of finding it at all. The cache had a code to be solved, and a guardian to be passed, and a moderately difficult hike (at least for this overweight guy), and the finding of it still brings a thrill. I worked hard for it, and I was the first to find it. I have no idea, anymore, what I took out or left (except for a "Where's George?" dollar, which I put in every cache I find), but I can still remember how jazzed I was to find it, after a couple of hours of searching hither and yon. Still, I have to agree that a cache that is aimed at children should be posted as such, if only in fairness to the kids. Any cache which is easily accessible to them should be highlighted! Show 'em there are other things to do besides play gameboy BTW: sure, you can put a few of your radios Out West; talk radio takes up a huge piece of the AM bands out here. [This message has been edited by chaosmanor (edited 08 February 2002).] Your answer makes the most sense of all, at least to me it does. No matter what the cache includes--lets leave it better than we found it. Clarencio

quote:Originally posted by chaosmanor:Well, I can certainly see both sides to this discussion. The point of "trading fair" is valid, as is the original one. A cache that has mostly kids stuff in it *should* be marked as such. If nothing else, it means that finders should have kids things along to put in the cache, even if they don't have kids along with them. Our youngest is in college, but we have grandkids, so any kiddy trinkets will find a home. For us, the idea of geocaching is to find the cache, and see whatever is to be seen there. BUT, we do put a little time and thought into what we might want to leave in a cache once we find it, and if what is in the cache isn't of much value to us, we are a little disappointed. So we try to make up for it by giving better than we got. In fact, we kinda get a kick out of looking for cache goodies on our trips, especially things that are obviously from someplace not near the cache. Putting a redwood bookmark in a cache in the Mojave desert has a peculiar appeal! The best cache adventure I ever had was to a cache that really had very little in it, but that didn't reduce the joy of finding it at all. The cache had a code to be solved, and a guardian to be passed, and a moderately difficult hike (at least for this overweight guy), and the finding of it still brings a thrill. I worked hard for it, and I was the first to find it. I have no idea, anymore, what I took out or left (except for a "Where's George?" dollar, which I put in every cache I find), but I can still remember how jazzed I was to find it, after a couple of hours of searching hither and yon. Still, I have to agree that a cache that is aimed at children should be posted as such, if only in fairness to the kids. Any cache which is easily accessible to them should be highlighted! Show 'em there are other things to do besides play gameboy BTW: sure, you can put a few of your radios Out West; talk radio takes up a huge piece of the AM bands out here. [This message has been edited by chaosmanor (edited 08 February 2002).] Your answer makes the most sense of all, at least to me it does. No matter what the cache includes--lets leave it better than we found it. Clarencio

in it *should* be marked as such. If nothing else, it means that finders should have kids things along to put in the cache, even if they don't have kids along with them. Our youngest is in college, but we have grandkids, so any kiddy trinkets will find a home. For us, the idea of geocaching is to find the cache, and see whatever is to be seen there. BUT, we do put a little time and thought into what we might want to leave in a cache once we find it, and if what is in the cache isn't of much value to us, we are a little disappointed. So we try to make up for it by giving better than we got. In fact, we kinda get a kick out of looking for cache goodies on our trips, especially things that are obviously from someplace not near the cache. Putting a redwood bookmark in a cache in the Mojave desert has a peculiar appeal! The best cache adventure I ever had was to a cache that really had very little in it, but that didn't reduce the joy of finding it at all. The cache had a code to be solved, and a guardian to be passed, and a moderately difficult hike (at least for this overweight guy), and the finding of it still brings a thrill. I worked hard for it, and I was the first to find it. I have no idea, anymore, what I took out or left (except for a "Where's George?" dollar, which I put in every cache I find), but I can still remember how jazzed I was to find it, after a couple of hours of searching hither and yon. Still, I have to agree that a cache that is aimed at children should be posted as such, if only in fairness to the kids. Any cache which is easily accessible to them should be highlighted! Show 'em there are other things to do besides play gameboy BTW: sure, you can put a few of your radios Out West; talk radio takes up a huge piece of the AM bands out here. [This message has been edited by chaosmanor (edited 08 February 2002).]

Well, I can certainly see both sides to this discussion. The point of "trading fair" is valid, as is the original one. A cache that has mostly kids stuff in it *should* be marked as such. If nothing else, it means that finders should have kids things along to put in the cache, even if they don't have kids along with them. Our youngest is in college, but we have grandkids, so any kiddy trinkets will find a home. For us, the idea of geocaching is to find the cache, and see whatever is to be seen there. BUT, we do put a little time and thought into what we might want to leave in a cache once we find it, and if what is in the cache isn't of much value to us, we are a little disappointed. So we try to make up for it by giving better than we got. In fact, we kinda get a kick out of looking for cache goodies on our trips, especially things that are obviously from someplace not near the cache. Putting a redwood bookmark in a cache in the Mojave desert has a peculiar appeal! The best cache adventure I ever had was to a cache that really had very little in it, but that didn't reduce the joy of finding it at all. The cache had a code to be solved, and a guardian to be passed, and a moderately difficult hike (at least for this overweight guy), and the finding of it still brings a thrill. I worked hard for it, and I was the first to find it. I have no idea, anymore, what I took out or left (except for a "Where's George?" dollar, which I put in every cache I find), but I can still remember how jazzed I was to find it, after a couple of hours of searching hither and yon. Still, I have to agree that a cache that is aimed at children should be posted as such, if only in fairness to the kids. Any cache which is easily accessible to them should be highlighted! Show 'em there are other things to do besides play gameboy BTW: sure, you can put a few of your radios Out West; talk radio takes up a huge piece of the AM bands out here. [This message has been edited by chaosmanor (edited 08 February 2002).]

in it *should* be marked as such. If nothing else, it means that finders should have kids things along to put in the cache, even if they don't have kids along with them. Our youngest is in college, but we have grandkids, so any kiddy trinkets will find a home. For us, the idea of geocaching is to find the cache, and see whatever is to be seen there. BUT, we do put a little time and thought into what we might want to leave in a cache once we find it, and if what is in the cache isn't of much value to us, we are a little disappointed. So we try to make up for it by giving better than we got. In fact, we kinda get a kick out of looking for cache goodies on our trips, especially things that are obviously from someplace not near the cache. Putting a redwood bookmark in a cache in the Mojave desert has a peculiar appeal! The best cache adventure I ever had was to a cache that really had very little in it, but that didn't reduce the joy of finding it at all. The cache had a code to be solved, and a guardian to be passed, and a moderately difficult hike (at least for this overweight guy), and the finding of it still brings a thrill. I worked hard for it, and I was the first to find it. I have no idea, anymore, what I took out or left (except for a "Where's George?" dollar, which I put in every cache I find), but I can still remember how jazzed I was to find it, after a couple of hours of searching hither and yon. Still, I have to agree that a cache that is aimed at children should be posted as such, if only in fairness to the kids. Any cache which is easily accessible to them should be highlighted! Show 'em there are other things to do besides play gameboy BTW: sure, you can put a few of your radios Out West; talk radio takes up a huge piece of the AM bands out here. [This message has been edited by chaosmanor (edited 08 February 2002).]

Well, I can certainly see both sides to this discussion. The point of "trading fair" is valid, as is the original one. A cache that has mostly kids stuff in it *should* be marked as such. If nothing else, it means that finders should have kids things along to put in the cache, even if they don't have kids along with them. Our youngest is in college, but we have grandkids, so any kiddy trinkets will find a home. For us, the idea of geocaching is to find the cache, and see whatever is to be seen there. BUT, we do put a little time and thought into what we might want to leave in a cache once we find it, and if what is in the cache isn't of much value to us, we are a little disappointed. So we try to make up for it by giving better than we got. In fact, we kinda get a kick out of looking for cache goodies on our trips, especially things that are obviously from someplace not near the cache. Putting a redwood bookmark in a cache in the Mojave desert has a peculiar appeal! The best cache adventure I ever had was to a cache that really had very little in it, but that didn't reduce the joy of finding it at all. The cache had a code to be solved, and a guardian to be passed, and a moderately difficult hike (at least for this overweight guy), and the finding of it still brings a thrill. I worked hard for it, and I was the first to find it. I have no idea, anymore, what I took out or left (except for a "Where's George?" dollar, which I put in every cache I find), but I can still remember how jazzed I was to find it, after a couple of hours of searching hither and yon. Still, I have to agree that a cache that is aimed at children should be posted as such, if only in fairness to the kids. Any cache which is easily accessible to them should be highlighted! Show 'em there are other things to do besides play gameboy BTW: sure, you can put a few of your radios Out West; talk radio takes up a huge piece of the AM bands out here. [This message has been edited by chaosmanor (edited 08 February 2002).]

Thank you, mikemtn I don't know what UBB is I don't know what HTML is, (although I have heard of it) I thought the search button at the top of the page searched the thread you were looking at, not all the threads on geocaching.com. The first time I was ever in a chat room in my life (and I'm 40) was in ClayJar's geocache room. I was completely embarrassed because I didn't know how to actually talk in the room. I missed the little white bar for typing text at the bottom. People who love me are proud of me for trying new things and for being willing to learn by asking questions even if the answers are obvious to everyone around me. And yes, I do give them a chuckle on a regular basis. Maybe that's why they keep me around. Most of the folks on this thread so far are names I recognize from reading the forums for the past two months. So are people who only know how to walk around outside and look for stuff not have the computer savvy to be part of this sport?

quote:Originally posted by VentureForth:It's been a while since there's been talk about the Rhino, so if you don't remember, click HERE. Wouldn't that be just awesome for paintball??? It would add a whole new twist to hide & seek games also.

quote:Originally posted by Buck8Point: HEHEHEH It does kinda blend in dont it? Yea if that old couch could talk, it would have alot to say.. It has seen some shenanigans...heheheheh I wish I could find an Old Cheezy Couch Contest to enter it into. it would win hands down. Looks to me like that coffee table was made by igloo.....Buck, do you decorate professionally?

Hi Martin Clan! I assume that the cache you are having trouble with is da Vinci's Cable? I haven't received mail from you, but I teamed up with Jeremy to hide that cache and it is actually assigned to his account, so mail through the web site to the cache owner will go to him rather than to me (if that's the method you used). For what it's worth, da Vinci's Cable is in an area of very dense forest, and poor satellite signal is unfortunately the norm there. You are not alone. If you read through the logs, you'll see that most talk about the lack of signal reception. That's why we chose to include thorough hints and spoiler photos in the cache listing. I hope that you haven't reached the level of complete frustration, and will hang in there to complete the cache hunt! One point that I wanted to bring up is to keep in mind that Garmin uses two types of antennae in its GPS units, so comparing Garmin as a whole to Magellan in terms of reception is not valid. The two antennae types used are the patch style used in the eTrex, et al., and the helix type used in the GPS V, et al. These two different antennae types have different strengths and weaknesses, but overall each is very good. The problem that you are experiencing might be related to the fact that, compared to other GPS units, the Venture has a pretty small patch antenna. The rest of them have either helix antennae or larger patch antennae. In my understanding, the patch gets very good reception in one direction (in the case of the Venture when held flat, straight up), while the helix gets good reception in multiple directions from the horizon on up. As you might imagine, the smaller the patch antenna, the less signal it can pull in, so the Venture could be at a disadvantage in this case because of its size compared to the other units with larger patches (e.g. the GPS 12x). However, in some instances, it will perform better than the helix units in areas where the horizon is blocked (for example, a deep ravine). This is because it does a good job focusing on the signals above and "ignoring" the signals coming from the side. Meanwhile, the units with helix antennae (e.g. the GPS V) will try to pick up signal coming in from the side. Those side signals are more prone to multipathing (i.e. reflection) when they bounce through the trees (or buildings, or ravine walls, etc.), so accuracy may be worse than when using a patch in such instances. Regardless, my own experience has shown me that the helix is superior (although I still would like to see a scientific analysis of the ability of various antenna types to pull in signal in a variety of conditions). On my first geocaching outing with my new GPS V, I was with Jeremy who had an eTrex Venture. There was no comparison on the trip we made as to which unit was doing a better job of pulling in signal. In fact, the difference was so pronounced that Jeremy purchased a GPS V the next week! Another thing to keep in mind is that at various times of the day, a given spot may have terrible satellite geometry overhead, and you cannot pull in a signal. A couple of days later, you might be at the same spot at the same time and have great geometry overhead, and a completely different experience at that spot. My suggestion to you is to not give up, and to try again at a different time. Let me know how it goes, and don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions or there is anything else with which I can help. ------------------ Jon (Moun10Bike) N 47° 36.649', W 122° 3.616' www.switchbacks.com/geocaching.html

Ok. Time for my 2 cents on the ignore button issue. First, I can see multiple uses for such a filter. Filtering out sub-par caches seems to be getting a lot of talk here, and I would consider using an ignore button to filter them out if there were caches of low quality in my area. However, since that is not currently a problem for my area, I would use it in a different manner. I would ignore caches I can?t reach because I don?t have a boat or that are close by but require a long drive or expensive ferry ride. Secondly, since a majority of cachers don?t read these forums, I would bet that if an ignore feature were implemented on the site it would not provide an accurate assessment of the cache quality. For example, Alvin and Beth, a retired couple, decide that they are not going to attempt to find the local cache that requires a scramble down a cliff and climb up a safe but daunting ladder, so they chose to ignore the cache since it exceeds there abilities. By posting a ?x ignoring this cache? on this cache page would be more a reflection on the abilities or taste of some of the local cachers as apposed to the quality of the cache. I hate to see the spread of trash caches, and think that they do pose a threat to the long-term acceptability of geocaching, but an ignore button won?t solve that problem

It's been a while since there's been talk about the Rhino, so if you don't remember, click HERE. Wouldn't that be just awesome for paintball??? ------------------ VentureForth out to the wild, wet forest...

quote:Originally posted by WM5L:What happend to the Beer talk back at the first? I am confused now after reading all these posts all I want to know when and where the traveling mug is going to start so I can break it in!!! Lets get this going. Jim/WM5L We had a major winter storm through OK last week and I was offline. I;m in CA this week at a conference and I think I'll plant it here. The first mug will be at the Tied House in San Jose this evening. -E ------------------ N35°32.981 W98°34.631

quote:Originally posted by Alan2: Hey Buck, Nice camo on your couch. Nearly missed it!! HEHEHEH It does kinda blend in dont it? Yea if that old couch could talk, it would have alot to say.. It has seen some shenanigans...heheheheh I wish I could find an Old Cheezy Couch Contest to enter it into. it would win hands down. ------------------ Buck8Point "If I can't fix it, It's definately Broke."

quote:Originally posted by philgolden:I just noticed that there are no caches in Louisiana. BUMMER! That is about to change. My question is how can I attract folks in to Louisiana for some treasure hunting? ... Thanks in advance!!! Hi, I am waiting to get my GPS and get started here in Portland, ORegon. I never heard of this sport until Saturday. I was watching the news and we have special part where each week a guy tells us places to go outdoors and he went with a family who does geocaching and that is how I heard of it. It sounded great and I have been checking it out and I am excited about it. Maybe you can get ahold of someone at the local tv station and have them talk about it somehow. Just a thought, it worked to get me interested. Good Luck Mamasmaug

Folks, I'm new to the Geocaching and can't figure out how to get EasyGPS software to work with the Garmin Venture unit. I'm on the right Comm port (1), the port checks out, but it cannot talk to the Garmin unit. What is not being set right? Also, what does it take to download the waypoints from the Geocach website? I check the ones I want to download, tell it to download, it takes me to a dialog box for downloading EasyGPS. Then I click on the last item, to download the waypoints, and I get another log in screen. What gives..help!!!

Could any kind sould out there talk me through how to convert WGS-84 co-ordinates, as found on this website, to MS Autoroute co-ordinates?? Also how to do this in reverse?? (i.e. convert MS Autoroute pins to WGS-84??) Many Many Thanks James