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I actually heard about Geocaching from "Cool Site of the Day" from it's January 8, 2001 award to this site. I was really intrigued by the idea, but it wasn't until my birthday in March that I could convince my wife to let me buy the GPS I wanted. Soon after, when I got my big doofus out of the La-z-boy and started taking my 5yo hiking, my wife started condoning our cache trips, and even encouraging them. Reasons to enjoy it for me: Exercise - I wasn't getting enough, and probably still am not getting enough. But I'm getting more now than I was. Hiking - I know, it sounds like "Exercise" but not really. I've always enjoyed walking in the woods or in nature areas, but B.G. (Before Geocaching) never had a good excuse or the time. True, my lawn is getting tall, but I'm really having fun. Toys - Cool hobby with a really neat gadget. I also get to play justified hours on the computer at night - with no complaints from the Mrs. about duration. Bonding with the Boy - My kid's got mild ADHD, and this sport is FABULOUS for him. Goal oriented, interesting and keeps him on target. It's a great experience for him, and helps him learn to focus. I'm also having a great time doing this with him. Spending Time with the Rest of the Fam - After a cache hunt in Tennessee, my wife got hooked. We've now extended our caches to include the Mrs. and a 20 month old "root toucher" (every root that crosses the trail must be touched and explained "roo?" Yes, Sam, that's a root.) Anytime, Anywhere - We've always loved to travel to distant parts of the country for our vacations, but have worried about taking the two boys just to enjoy the beauty. Now we also have something fun to do while we're at these distant spots, and that makes the trip worth it for everyone. The People that I meet - having talked with many of these people in the forums, having run across the same names logging the area caches, and even having our first gathering this Saturday, I've found that Geocachers are the nicest group of people you could ask for. In what other activity could you have 3000 containers, and maybe close to 1000 registered users, all using the honor system - effectively!?! Admittedly, this next one is low on my list, but the self-esteem portion is neat: I'm trendy - Having always been the nerdy geek in HS and College, it's neat to talk about my hobby for a couple of weeks, and then have my co-workes come up and say, "Hey, I saw something that Peter Jennings did last night on Geocaching. Isn't that what you've been doing?" This isn't why I got into Geocaching, nor why I continue to do it. It's just a nice perk.

HR> I agree with you on this when you talk about Terrain rating. If my part of Michigan had a place to put a cache with a 5 star terrain rating (and if I was actually able to get there) I would not make it extremly hard to find once at the location. It would be fun to combine the two and have a multi-part cache with a very hard puzzle to deduce the location that you would be rafting to. You would solve the puzzle in relativly easy terrain and then head downriver when you were sure you had it. That could be a 5/5 and still meet the criteria of being able to actually find it once you got there. Rusty...

Hey ... does anyone have an extra $20,000,000 laying around ... we can get together with the Russians and put a Geocache on the space station! Talk about weird sat. geometry!?!?!?!

It's a coming, As soon as I get the right road to start and can talk Red into going. But first, Early Elk hunt takes priority.

hmmm...I have to try and remember how that works. A reporter once told me that anything placed for public view is public domain. But I think I am saying this wrong. But I'll do one better and talk to Dan and get official permission for use on the website. This way all bases are covered and everyone will be happy ------------------ Quinn Stone Rochester, NY.14616 www.Navicache.com

hmmm...I have to try and remember how that works. A reporter once told me that anything placed for public view is public domain. But I think I am saying this wrong. But I'll do one better and talk to Dan and get official permission for use on the website. This way all bases are covered and everyone will be happy ------------------ Quinn Stone Rochester, NY.14616 www.Navicache.com

iving away a Etrex that was Given to me by Kim of advancedgps.com , I could have kept it or raffled it off. But I love the sport and I like the people who I meet as a result of it, thus I wanted to give it to someone who liked Geocaching as much as I, thus the drawing tab on my site. Navitee's... you must know the HUGE profit in the tee-shirt business, and also seeing as I do not buy them bulk but just sell them so people can have a geocaching Item with a logo. I make .50 on each shirt. this should get me a vette in no time This is a hobby to me and nothing more. I geocache every free moment I get ( and some moments I shouldn't while working ) I have always spoken my mind about geocaching.com and Jeremy Irish as well, Geocaching.com I have always thought to be a great site (wouldn't come here as often if I didn't) Jeremy however I didn't like much due to what I would have considered to be outcasting anyone who had a opinion of their own. Did I assume this?... maybe, was I wrong?... Maybe. But I am willing to dump this all in the past and go from here. I have had so many contacts about doing news stories (local and not so local)and each time I do one I always place mention of Geocaching.com and the great site that it is. heck!...I have a full tape of other news clips I did based on this. You even have a newspaper link from a story I did here doing nothing but praising your site. So, I wish to drop this junk talk and maybe start playing the game more as well as help the new kids. If there is something of bother please feel free to contact me and I would be more than happy to work it out. right now I have much to do as far as working out bugs on my site and move towards a face lift for it as well. Jeremy I thank you for your comments and wish you all the best. ------------------ Quinn Stone Rochester, NY.14616 www.Navicache.com

iving away a Etrex that was Given to me by Kim of advancedgps.com , I could have kept it or raffled it off. But I love the sport and I like the people who I meet as a result of it, thus I wanted to give it to someone who liked Geocaching as much as I, thus the drawing tab on my site. Navitee's... you must know the HUGE profit in the tee-shirt business, and also seeing as I do not buy them bulk but just sell them so people can have a geocaching Item with a logo. I make .50 on each shirt. this should get me a vette in no time This is a hobby to me and nothing more. I geocache every free moment I get ( and some moments I shouldn't while working ) I have always spoken my mind about geocaching.com and Jeremy Irish as well, Geocaching.com I have always thought to be a great site (wouldn't come here as often if I didn't) Jeremy however I didn't like much due to what I would have considered to be outcasting anyone who had a opinion of their own. Did I assume this?... maybe, was I wrong?... Maybe. But I am willing to dump this all in the past and go from here. I have had so many contacts about doing news stories (local and not so local)and each time I do one I always place mention of Geocaching.com and the great site that it is. heck!...I have a full tape of other news clips I did based on this. You even have a newspaper link from a story I did here doing nothing but praising your site. So, I wish to drop this junk talk and maybe start playing the game more as well as help the new kids. If there is something of bother please feel free to contact me and I would be more than happy to work it out. right now I have much to do as far as working out bugs on my site and move towards a face lift for it as well. Jeremy I thank you for your comments and wish you all the best. ------------------ Quinn Stone Rochester, NY.14616 www.Navicache.com

Heh. There was one article where I was misquoted and ended up demeaning mountain bikers. I got a lot of hate email from that one (It was in Colorado. Never talk negative about mountain biking there). I also have a dry humor so I have to be careful cracking jokes to a reporter. One time I was joking and saying that geeks and gun toting libertarians can play this game side by side. It's amazing what someone can do to that comment. I just saw the piece and it was very well done (and you do have a cute daughter, Quinnow.) Jeremy

quote:Originally posted by kbraband: I wish you could pick him up. As far as I know he's still at Ic Age Vista waiting for a lift. That's a beautiful cache hike, by the way. You'd really like it. (hint, hint) Unfortunately, next four weekends are booked, Caching with a virgin, Chicago area Geocaching picnic 7/14 (Isn't that nice how I worked in a plug ) Tennessee Caching after that. So, I won't make it up to Ice Age until well after 8/1/01. If Stinky stays around that far, I'll see if I can talk the wife into that long of a jaunt. My Scooby and Shaggy are doing so well that I think the Chicagoans are LOVING hitchhikers. Another in the fray wouldn't be bad...

quote:Originally posted by kbraband: I wish you could pick him up. As far as I know he's still at Ic Age Vista waiting for a lift. That's a beautiful cache hike, by the way. You'd really like it. (hint, hint) Unfortunately, next four weekends are booked, Caching with a virgin, Chicago area Geocaching picnic 7/14 (Isn't that nice how I worked in a plug ) Tennessee Caching after that. So, I won't make it up to Ice Age until well after 8/1/01. If Stinky stays around that far, I'll see if I can talk the wife into that long of a jaunt. My Scooby and Shaggy are doing so well that I think the Chicagoans are LOVING hitchhikers. Another in the fray wouldn't be bad...

Kev - Thank you for your post. I found that one, and took the can of Pepsi. While I appreciated the Pepsi, even warm, I shudder to think of the damage IT would have caused. On the other, much more pressing subject. If there is in fact a vandal with a GPS among us, he or she has easy pickings all over SLC. I have maintained and ever will do so, that there is no SURE way to prevent this. The game depends on the integrity of its players. In time, it is probable that we all will have a cache plundered, and the only thiung we can really hope for is that we will find out about it quickly and either archive or replace the cache. I have had only one experience with this. In May, I went to the First Cache County cache, and it was in total disarray. I found the container, and one of the contents. No log, and nothing else. I had come all that way, and was determined to get a find, so I filled the cache with some of my trading items, put in a new log, and signed that I found it. A few people have found it since then, but it has been awhile, so I wonder how it is doing. Anyway, my point in this story is not to beat my chest or anything, but to illustrate that for this game to remain viable and enjoyable, we have to be "good citizens." Again, not to brag, but more than once I have filled caches with stuff I had to trade, just because the cache contents were either pitiful or non-existent. Usually these were older caches which had been depleted by unequal trading, which is what this thread is all about. I am not wealthy by any definition; most of you probably earn more than I do in a year. It makes a little bit of a dent in my wallet, too, to try and place nice items in a cache. Because of this, I appreciate it even more when I see the generosity shown by the contents of some of your caches. I was at a cache a little while ago that was obviously placed there by a young girl. The penmanship in the log book was a giveaway - not sloppy, but you know how kids write - just looks like they are trying really hard. The contents were about as good as any I had seen in most caches, and it showed a lot of effort and thought went into it. It reminds me a little of the widow's mite parable in the Bible, and it actually touched me. I happened to have a pretty good (I thought) cache in my car ready to go, so I took most of the best stuff, what would fit, as the cache was pretty small. and put it in there. I did take an item, though. If any of you have tears in your eyes by now, you know now why I love this game the way I do. It really does have tremendous potential to bring people together. Families, friends, and complete strangers. Hunt4Elk just told me how a number of people have asked to join us on our Zeus's Roost hike, and I could not be more excited. We are so completely removed from other people in our lives. We travel in steel cages at a mile a minute, and never have to see a soul we don't want to see. With all our technology for communication, we never talk to anyone unless we have to. Most people talk to less than 20 people per day for more than a minute. Back to the point: This sport DEPENDS on all of us giving more than we get. If everyone took more from caches than they received, which would also mean no one ever placed a cache, because that is, by its very nature, a donation, how long would this game last? This also reduces the concern over plundered caches greatly, because even if the entire cache is taken, the next person who tries to find it will at least inform the owner, who can take action. At best, the person who finds the plundered/missing cache will have one ready to go, and will just replace it. (This is a lot to ask, but it happens all the time). There are enough of us that one clown looting caches is not going to loot us out of this game. The only way that will happen is if no one places any more. In Utah, we have over 200 caches. It took me over two months of ambitious caching to find half that many. Enough said? It is entirely reasonale to think there will be over 300 here by year end, assuming things REALLY slow down this fall/winter. It is truly a bummer when a cache is raided, but that's all it is. All you can do is dust for fingerprints, call the FBI for a match, "ask Jeeves" for the dirty @#$%'s address and place a flaming "cache" of dog ______ on the perpetrator's porch. Or you could forget about it and get on with your life. Not my place to tell you how to deal with anger. I'm an accountant, not a therapist. (that's my wife, lucky for me) Well, this has been long, but it's been fun...for me at least. With those thoughts, let's all have BIG group hug and sing "Kum-ba-yah." Amen. ------------------ David Wallentine dwallent34@yahoo.com

Kev - Thank you for your post. I found that one, and took the can of Pepsi. While I appreciated the Pepsi, even warm, I shudder to think of the damage IT would have caused. On the other, much more pressing subject. If there is in fact a vandal with a GPS among us, he or she has easy pickings all over SLC. I have maintained and ever will do so, that there is no SURE way to prevent this. The game depends on the integrity of its players. In time, it is probable that we all will have a cache plundered, and the only thiung we can really hope for is that we will find out about it quickly and either archive or replace the cache. I have had only one experience with this. In May, I went to the First Cache County cache, and it was in total disarray. I found the container, and one of the contents. No log, and nothing else. I had come all that way, and was determined to get a find, so I filled the cache with some of my trading items, put in a new log, and signed that I found it. A few people have found it since then, but it has been awhile, so I wonder how it is doing. Anyway, my point in this story is not to beat my chest or anything, but to illustrate that for this game to remain viable and enjoyable, we have to be "good citizens." Again, not to brag, but more than once I have filled caches with stuff I had to trade, just because the cache contents were either pitiful or non-existent. Usually these were older caches which had been depleted by unequal trading, which is what this thread is all about. I am not wealthy by any definition; most of you probably earn more than I do in a year. It makes a little bit of a dent in my wallet, too, to try and place nice items in a cache. Because of this, I appreciate it even more when I see the generosity shown by the contents of some of your caches. I was at a cache a little while ago that was obviously placed there by a young girl. The penmanship in the log book was a giveaway - not sloppy, but you know how kids write - just looks like they are trying really hard. The contents were about as good as any I had seen in most caches, and it showed a lot of effort and thought went into it. It reminds me a little of the widow's mite parable in the Bible, and it actually touched me. I happened to have a pretty good (I thought) cache in my car ready to go, so I took most of the best stuff, what would fit, as the cache was pretty small. and put it in there. I did take an item, though. If any of you have tears in your eyes by now, you know now why I love this game the way I do. It really does have tremendous potential to bring people together. Families, friends, and complete strangers. Hunt4Elk just told me how a number of people have asked to join us on our Zeus's Roost hike, and I could not be more excited. We are so completely removed from other people in our lives. We travel in steel cages at a mile a minute, and never have to see a soul we don't want to see. With all our technology for communication, we never talk to anyone unless we have to. Most people talk to less than 20 people per day for more than a minute. Back to the point: This sport DEPENDS on all of us giving more than we get. If everyone took more from caches than they received, which would also mean no one ever placed a cache, because that is, by its very nature, a donation, how long would this game last? This also reduces the concern over plundered caches greatly, because even if the entire cache is taken, the next person who tries to find it will at least inform the owner, who can take action. At best, the person who finds the plundered/missing cache will have one ready to go, and will just replace it. (This is a lot to ask, but it happens all the time). There are enough of us that one clown looting caches is not going to loot us out of this game. The only way that will happen is if no one places any more. In Utah, we have over 200 caches. It took me over two months of ambitious caching to find half that many. Enough said? It is entirely reasonale to think there will be over 300 here by year end, assuming things REALLY slow down this fall/winter. It is truly a bummer when a cache is raided, but that's all it is. All you can do is dust for fingerprints, call the FBI for a match, "ask Jeeves" for the dirty @#$%'s address and place a flaming "cache" of dog ______ on the perpetrator's porch. Or you could forget about it and get on with your life. Not my place to tell you how to deal with anger. I'm an accountant, not a therapist. (that's my wife, lucky for me) Well, this has been long, but it's been fun...for me at least. With those thoughts, let's all have BIG group hug and sing "Kum-ba-yah." Amen. ------------------ David Wallentine dwallent34@yahoo.com

I like the (H)idden and (F)ound idea, but think the ©ountries and (S)tates to be overkill. (X) Other Geocachers encountered is interesting. (At first I read Countries as Counties! Talk about silly!) Anyway, each category is optional, so each to his own! Kimbo 5H/13F

Ken - think you could move Stinky a little farther south? I'm headed up to Rockford today, and tried to talk my wife into the added miles... Sometime I'll tell you about my non-Geocaching hitch-hiker, Stinky the Skunk.

Ken - think you could move Stinky a little farther south? I'm headed up to Rockford today, and tried to talk my wife into the added miles... Sometime I'll tell you about my non-Geocaching hitch-hiker, Stinky the Skunk.

Clayjar: I agree for the most part with what you wrote. As I noted before I do think that a license is a Good Thing. I hope you and others believe that. I do not think that the restictive aspects of the license are required at all to disindemnify GROUNDED from any liability. As has been proved in court time and again, the extent of liability for the body operating a server that serves data for a public forum is the requirement to remove any data a party with legal rights to ask requests. Wow, did that make sense? Basically they are NOT liable for data copied off the site. And it's even debatable whether they are liable for data they continue to publish. It's just easier to remove the requested data and be done with that aspect. In fact. from a legal liability standpoint claiming copyright on the published data increases the legal liability. Entity foo can republish the data, and let GROUNDED be a front to any legal action. The only thing foo would liable for is a copyright violation. So from your example: Bob's Big Fat Open Spaces, Inc. can't sue foo, but CAN sue GROUNDED even after GROUNDED removes the data from geocaching.com. A nice legal position for foo to be in. ;-( Now I would like to see a license that allows Evil S. Aden and anyone else that wishes to grab and republish the data but makes it clear that any legal action taken against them cannot be redirected to GROUNDED. So, while I believe that Jeremy and GROUNDED have the right intentions (except for not allowing republication) I do not believe that the license has helped the indemnification, but rather hurt it. As Jeremy and I do not agree on the republishing issue and he does not seem to be willing to discuss it, I guess I will look for others that do share that belief and assist there. I am interested in discussing any issues related to this, but I am not interested in participating in a flame war. If you disagree with me, fine. You have that right. If you would be interested in working towards a better solution for those involved, then talk on! ;-) [This message has been edited by TimRiker (edited 02 July 2001).]

quote:Originally posted by bunkerdave:Is that where you and me find a cache at the same time and sit there and talk about caching for an hour? Mmm, now that's actually a good idea! With my Palm and Nokia I can run all my typical internet applications including IRC. 9600 bps mind you. But it works fine. So how about a Geocaching.com IRC server for "when you find it" chats! ------------------ Peter Scholtz www.biometrics.co.za

quote:Originally posted by bunkerdave:Is that where you and me find a cache at the same time and sit there and talk about caching for an hour? Mmm, now that's actually a good idea! With my Palm and Nokia I can run all my typical internet applications including IRC. 9600 bps mind you. But it works fine. So how about a Geocaching.com IRC server for "when you find it" chats! ------------------ Peter Scholtz www.biometrics.co.za

Is that where you and me find a cache at the same time and sit there and talk about caching for an hour?

Is that where you and me find a cache at the same time and sit there and talk about caching for an hour?

Darn good idea!!! I don't have much room to talk (being that I have just started today), but I've even talked a few friends into a geocaching day trip. I hope to find a card in my first find!! Anyone can say they got a trinket from a cache, but cards have bragging rights. If you're a serious outdoorsy-type...they'll catch on big!!! ------------------ Squeak

Thanks for the response, it does make me feel better knowing there hasn't been much of a problem getting permission. Still, I'd like to have a few more details. How did you find out who to contact? Did you mail a letter, or talk to them on the phone. Did you have to tell them exactly where the site was and what you were exactly going to place, or were you more general? Thanks for the help.

Rin, Red tape and talk aside ...lots of people place caches. I've placed 8. No one has ever had a problem with one of mine. The only group of folk who do have a persistant problem with it are the national forest people, and that is just with a smattering of caches. Bottom line... if you know of a nice place that has special meaning for you or is a "good place for a cache" ...put one there! It'd be one thing if we were advocating you dump a bag of trash or spray paint a swastika somewhere. Instead all we're really talking about is a self-contained tupperware or ammo box, some trinkets and 1 to 30 geocachers visiting the spot over the next 3 months. So no worries, ok?

quote:Originally posted by ClayJar:So, has anyone else used tactics like these to get geocaching mentioned on the radio? I've managed to get our local talk radio to do an interview but I don't think it made any difference unfortunately. So I started distributing pamphlets to outdoor shops last week. Distributed about 1200 so far, but there is place for another 2000 which I'll do this weekend. I think this will probably have the best response ... That radio interview is on the press page (http://www.geocaching.com/press.asp): "Interview between Cape Talk presenter Kieno Kammies and Prof Charles Merry of University of Cape Town on Cape Talk radio (567 AM) in South Africa, May 3 2001 at 1330 GMT+2. www.capetalk.co.za. Duration is 7 minutes 32 seconds. Listen now (mp3)." ------------------ Peter Scholtz www.biometrics.co.za