Search the Community

Words cannot sum up my response to this, so I guess emoticons will have to do. I will say though, in my defense, that I am a technical book editor, so this is just how I write, not speak. You're still missing the point. The point is my impression of you right now is probably WRONG because I haven't taken the time to talk to you. You have no real clue what is going on with camera guy because you haven't bothered to talk to him. You are just making assumptions based on what you think you know about him. I have archived the cache, so it really doesn't matter anymore. Why would I talk to him when I no longer have anything to gain? If he is a nut, then by talking to him now he will have a new target for his anger - me. You can use the advise you got for your next cache or for life in general. It seems like you are enjoying the thread, so it's all good.

Words cannot sum up my response to this, so I guess emoticons will have to do. I will say though, in my defense, that I am a technical book editor, so this is just how I write, not speak. You're still missing the point. The point is my impression of you right now is probably WRONG because I haven't taken the time to talk to you. You have no real clue what is going on with camera guy because you haven't bothered to talk to him. You are just making assumptions based on what you think you know about him. I have archived the cache, so it really doesn't matter anymore. Why would I talk to him when I no longer have anything to gain? If he is a nut, then by talking to him now he will have a new target for his anger - me.

I'd echo this advice. It's unfortunate that new cachers often feel uncertain and uncomfortable about attending events because they don't know anybody and worry people won't want to talk with them or help them out. It's been my experience that the truth is the absolute opposite of this. Cachers at events usually seem quite happy to talk with, advise, and cache with new folks. I'd second the above! Search for an event near you. Log a 'Will Attend' and say you are looking for advice. The regulars will be looking out for you, and will be happy to talk to you!

Depends on your unit. My beeps, but if you have a unit that can talk, City Navagator can talk. AFAIK all handhelds Just beep. The Quest, which is sort of a combo will talk if plugged into the charger/speaker. The car units talk. nRoute (which uses CN) talks. They all use the same CN maps.

Placing caches in residential areas is always tricky. You'd have to get permission first of all. I don't know how easy it would be to get permission to place a cache in/on a street light. Municipalities would probably frown on people tinkering with their street light. I'm guessing that 99-100% of lamp post hides do not have permission. Asking the owner of the Little Free Library would be easier in the long run - they're already wanting people to come and rifle through that bookshelf, so they're probably going to be OK with people coming and looking for a cache there. But besides the permission angle, you have the neighbor angle. Are there houses nearby where people might get jittery if people start hanging out in the area, looking suspicious? If people start frequenting a street light by their side yard, will they think there's a new drug drop or something? Personally, although it sounds harder, I'd get permission from the LFL owner. If you don't want to knock on their door, try leaving a note in the library itself with an explanation and your email address. However, you've got to talk to people eventually. Bite the bullet and knock on the door.

My events are simple: Meet at a local homemade ice cream shop Stand around the parking lot and talk about geocaching To a muggle that might sound boring, but my one hour (scheduled) events often last two hours or even more. And I've gotten to know some really nice people! Sometimes a kid will attend with their parent(s) and get to meet a cache owner whose caches they really liked, and for them it's like meeting a celebrity. "I found your cache! It was so cool!"

Yep. Most of the time, geocachers sit around a table and talk. There is often a log book for people to sign. Sometimes there are name tags. There is usually a table where trackables are placed so people can discover or retrieve them. Sometimes there are organized activities, like games or raffles. An easy and fun ice-breaker game is "Geocacher Bingo", where you get a bingo card filled with various geocacher characteristics, and you have to get people who match those characteristics to write their names in the corresponding spaces. Examples include "owns an EarthCache" or "has found fewer than 100 caches" or "does not own a smartphone". Often there is food. Many events are held in restaurants or coffeehouses, or at patio seating outside such places. Some have been potlucks. There is a 24-hour donut shop that is sometimes used for midnight events (events that run from 12:00 to 12:30 AM, usually to be the first event on a day where a special Souvenir is available).

Although there has been talk about replacing the PQ system (I can suggest a design for that) there still needs to be a way to encapsulate geocache data so that it can be transferred from the site, other applications such as waypoint managers (GSAK, EasyGPS, Basecamp), and the devices we use for finding and hiding caches (smartphones or handheld GPS devices) and for the most part, that's a GPX file.

The final decision on all publication issues is with Groundspeak. The reviewers' job is to publish caches which are obviously compliant with the guidelines; for those that don't appear to be compliant, the cache owner can be asked to make changes, or can be told to contact Groundspeak directly. Formally, a reviewer never "refuses" a cache; they either publish it, or indicate that they personally cannot publish it ("but maybe Groundspeak can; please contact the appeals address"). Of course, some caches are more salvageable than others. The exact amount of time which a reviewer will spend discussing the changes which might make a cache publishable depends on several factors. For example, if the entire purpose of a cache is to bring the seeker to the location of a movie, and the movie is sufficiently current to count as "potentially commercial" (see next paragraph), then the reviewer might decide, based on extensive experience, that it is unlikely that the cache description can be changed sufficiently to make it compatible with the guidelines. In such a case, suggesting that the cache owner appeal directly to Groundspeak is probably the quickest way to get a decision for everybody concerned. As to the exact point at which a film crosses from "current promotion" to "pop culture": as with many caching guidelines, there is no hard and fast rule, because real life is, fortunately, more complex than can be expressed in the cache listing guidelines. Generally, a film which is currently in cinemas, or whose merchandise is still widely on sale, would be considered commercial. For example, although there are some Disney-themed caches which have been published by special permission from Groundspeak, the reviewers would probably not consider an image of Mickey Mouse to be "pop culture", despite his age, because Mickey merchandise is actively promoted in many retail locations. While it's true that most films are available on DVD, Groundspeak has decided that that does not make all films commercial (but a cache which referred to the DVD product, rather than the movie itself, would probably not be published). Similarly, there are hundreds of caches devoted to people's favourite bands, many of whom have albums which are still available. You can talk about the band in a cache; you can refer to their classic 1972 album "Chocolate Meringue Narthex III"; you can even quote from a song (one verse and chorus maximum, please). But you can't talk about the brand new digital remastered edition which brings the sound to life like never before. Nor can you talk about their latest release. Give it a couple of years. (Note: I didn't say that all albums can be mentioned exactly 24 months after their release.) The "pop culture" versus "commercial" guideline in an example of how, like trying to determine the length of the coastline, the more you zoom in, the more complexity you find. Hence why there will never be a definitive answer. (Oh, and I realise that there are probably dozens of published caches out there which do not conform to some or all of what I've said above. Please don't list them here. Instead, get a magnifying class and examine your 1440x900 resolution LCD monitor. Every single pixel corresponds to a currently published cache. Come back when you've checked that every pixel is perfect.)

Maybe it's just here, but one of the reasons so many went to faceboook from local websites is because a bunch didn't want to really discuss things. New folks mostly, ask for the fifth time "If I only drive a nail in this one tree, would it be okay?" , then get pissed when they hear the same answer. They don't wanna hear no. One of the last threads on a local site to me, a member said, "you couldn't talk to me like that on faceboook..". I said what he was talking about never happened (I was there. He wasn't.), and that he just made that up. - But my reply was, "So how do you ever hold actual conversations if everyone's always agreeing with you?" . The few times I ask a friend to show me what's going on with the faceboook, it's someone says something (usually about themselves...), with a line of submissives agreeing afterwards. We've yet to see "discussions" on anything related to the hobby at events unless it's a rare Geocaching 101-type event. A further area, we used to see more talking about a competing site more than this one ... at an event from this site. - A "respected" cacher too no less... Another in the same area talked more about their stock options than the hobby. We left early on both. One of the reasons I rarely log events anymore. Guilt by association maybe... A few states now, I'm not gonna bs and say even most members give two figs about the guidelines. I ask questions, often from threads here, but usually just ignored unless a low showing. Stats, " how I got my numbers" (that "all about me" thing again...), stats, "give me a hint", "we're doing (pick a cache name) later, and anyone who'd like can tag along" and stats, seem the norm, along with games, prizes, sometimes a potluck. Did I mentions stats are discussed a lot?

Ham Radio for Geocachers\Hikers Several years ago I decided to get my amateur radio license so that I could have a more reliable method of communications while I was out hiking. As I began to enjoy the peacefulness of solo hikes, the radio became even more valuable. The radio has proven itself essential during group hikes as well, as I’m sure TotemLake would agree. I thought I’d put a few of my thoughts down here in case anyone was considering ham radio for hikes or pretty much anything else, and to try to dispel some of the common myths around amateur radio. I’m not going to get into too much detail since it’s easy enough to use a search engine and find the information. Also, I’ll only discuss the Technician Class License, since that is all you’ll ever need for hiking or geocaching. Getting the license is easy and inexpensive. You have to pass a 35 question multiple choice exam. The test questions are taken from a pool of 396 questions (current number of possible valid test questions). It’s really not terribly technical or difficult to pass this test! Just scroll down to the list and you’ll notice several chuckleheads (myself included) who have passed this exam on the first try. Trust me, you can do it. There are several websites that will randomly choose 35 questions and create a practice exam and automatically grade it for you, free of charge. You just keep practicing with the online tests until you’re confident that you can pass the real exam. There is no Morse code requirement anymore, so don’t sweat that. Taking the test will cost you around $20. The radios are not terribly large, heavy, or expensive. In fact, there are several small handheld ham radios that are just as small as those (often useless) FRS radios. (The Yaesu VX3R comes to mind) Obviously a bigger radio will have more features and often more transmit power, but neither is absolutely necessary, especially if your hike includes summits. Both TL and I spoke to a ten year old girl on Mercer Island while we were climbing around on Big Hump! That’s over 40 miles away and without the use of a repeater. I’ve made a radio contact from every summit I’ve been on (when I brought the radio) over the past few years. People are out there and willing to talk, provide directions, or call aid for you if something bad should happen. Don’t or cannot hike? If hiking doesn’t blow your kilt up, or you’ve suffered an injury/illness that has you sidelined, you can always keep tabs on the hikers from wherever you happen to be. We would welcome that! Just keep an eye on the forums and if you see a hike (or cache machine even) announced, just ask what the radio plan is. Then keep your radio with you during the day and listen for us calling. W7WT did that while we hiked Big Hump, and it was great to know he was there listening. Other benefits of ham radio. During national emergencies, being a licensed amateur radio operator means you can communicate or monitor communications while everyone else is scratching their heads. Hurricane Katrina was the latest emergency that left large pockets of people without any way of calling for help or getting emergency information. Your earthquake/volcano kit will be more complete with a small radio and spare batteries. Here’s a list of Washington geocachers (that I know of) that are licensed. If I’ve missed you please let me know! W7WT “W7WT” TotemLake “KE7MDT” Ironman114 “KF7AWY” LindaLu (She just sent me an email and I can’t find it!) K7-Wave "K7WV" JHolly "NK6L " Criminal “K7XFE” EDIT to add. EDIT to add.

I dunno about the rest of the crew, but I'm sitting here watching Twilight Zone (talk about your anachronisms) on my Waaay Back Machine and putting off writing up a few more Contributing Buildings. For just the third or fourth time in my life I'm doing a historic district in which I have all the contributing buildings. Keith

More durable, less phone bill. I can get buy on 35$ a month phone and get enough talk and unlimited txt. I don't want to pay more than that because my needs are already met. All I use my phone for it talk, text and sometimes pictures. I don't need a smartphone nor do I want one. The gadgety things on them are kinda cool but not for the cost.

Sadly, many are. Micros and nanos are small, and can easily be overlooked, espcecially if the camo is well done. Assuming it's missing because you couldn't find it seems a bit, well, arrogant may be too strong a word but that's what it amounts to, IMO. A string of DNF's may make it more likely it's missing, but I don't think I would ever presume to replace a container for another CO unless (in the case of a few of our son's hides) we have him on the phone and we are both convinced it's missing and he gives permission. Finding more than one container at GZ seems to be becoming a common occurrence for us - one an original, one an obvious replacement, either with or without permission. By reading previous logs, you can infer a throwdown - a few DNF's, then a few finds (with no owner maintenance or any hint of a replacement container), and a logsheet with the newest loggers' names on it, then another nearby container with an original log in it ... In other cases there is talk in the logs of a replacment with CO permission, or the CO himself comes out and replaces - and we find both the old and the new container, or sometimes just the original! With larger caches it's easy to tell if it's missing in most cases. nano's and micros are more elusive!

We're all free to write comments here. Why are you trying to silence and derail? This thread has been prone to labels -- disrespect, rudeness, cheating, shouting -- so that viewpoints tend to get lost. There are many people who have personal standards that are different than mine, and we all draw our individual boundaries in different ways. I won't put a label on you if you do not put a label on me. I have one multicache that specifically states that it is not a field puzzle, but it does require you to think a little outside the box and you might get distracted if you do not pay close attention to the cache description. The first finder found the final by brute force. Others have gotten it after hints, from either myself or with a PAF. A couple of people have actually found it "as intended." I have never thought that anyone who has found that - or any of my old puzzles - through any method has been disrespectful. The box is there to be found. Use whatever method you are comfortable in using. I have signed my name to the logbook of some tree climbing caches because I happened to be with the owner when they were doing maintenance or wanted to show off their skills. I have signed my name to some when I took a pole, brought my tree-climbing daughter, been with cachers who enjoy climbing trees, or made the climb myself. I do not think any of the methods indicates disrespect. One cache has only been found by only two of us who brought poles on separate occasions, if anything I see that as a sign of respect for the ability of the person who placed the cache there. I have the same feeling with regard to puzzles. I have brute forced some puzzles -- and some of the best logs I have seen have been from those of us who have done that from time to time. The owners I know think of that as being a sign that their puzzle was indeed puzzling. I have signed my name to question mark caches by solving puzzles, getting hints, being with people who actually enjoy puzzles, and by stumbling upon caches in the field. I don't think of any of these methods is "cheating." I draw my own boundaries. Trading coordinates when I am not with the solver seems pointless because I have no reason to be at the cache location. But as to other methods . . . perhaps I was influenced too much during the last math class I took at the university - required calculus for social science majors. It was pass/fail and the professor told us that since we attended class together and studied together, we should take the final together. I was grateful for that approach and I have not had to use calculus since then (except perhaps on a mystery cache or two). I am also grateful if we are planning a hike and someone volunteers to look up fifteen facts on wikipedia in a game where there are no professed winners, losers, or official leaderboards. In the end, rudeness might be a matter of perspective. Is it more rude to sign a name to a log when taking a group hike that includes a puzzle solver, or to be a puzzle maker and not give any help -- or to give help to some people and not others? Is it more disrespectful to solve a puzzle and use a TFTC or be with someone who solved the puzzle and write a longer log about your adventure in finding the cache? Some people might feel I cheated when we were kayaking and there was a stage of a cache at a sign, a typical "find certain letters on certain lines and use the resulting letter for the solution." My friends suggested that we take advantage of the tide and dispense with the busy work, since they had already found the cache. It did not lessen the adventure for me since there was no great mystery to the cache and I still had to stand up in my yak and somehow keep from tipping the boat when I came to the final, which was visible enough so that others had brute forced it. So if you draw your boundaries in a different way, that is fine. If you object that I did not go through all the hoops, then what is it about e=5 that really means that much to you? You don't have to look at my numbers or give them any special importance -- I hide my detailed stats as much as this site will let me. If if you look at what is posted, I probably will think you have way too much time on your hands and you should spend it doing other things. If you want to compare something, lets talk about yaks, cameras, hiking sticks, or bicycles. If you want to talk about respect, then lets make that mutual and respect each other for the things that matter.

It is a promotion designed to get people out finding geocaches, not a Geocaching event where people gather to talk about Geocaching. I've stopped most of my geocaching for the current time, waiting for the summer temps to go below 90F. Maybe September in my area.

The first rule of Platinum Membership is that you don't talk about Platinum Membership.

I have been out of the scene for a few years, ever since my son got old enough that it wasn't 'cool' to cache with dad anymore. :/ anyway, I have recently gotten back into it when my brothers have developed interest. I have the Garmin 60csx, and it wouldn't work with anything I did on my windows 10 machine. None of the browsers or add ons or anything would work. So, I drug back out my old desktop, opened up Firefox (which is version 19.0) and did a search for the garmin plug in. found the signed version, got it running, and it worked. I was able to send the cache to my GPS once it finally detected it. Now, since it's an older browser, the front page of Geocaching.com didn't load right. I couldn't click anything but the video, so I just adjusted the address bar and added /login at the end of the address. took me to the log in page, worked, opened the map, and yeehaw! I do have a problem with the diffrences between the phone app and the computer site. the phone app won't let me see anything above a 1.5 unless i'm a premium, and I can see ALL basic hides on the computer. I only have one account. I think it's bull to make you pay to use your phone. It takes all the fun out of a spur of the moment cache search. I saw a newer cache in a town that I was going to and wanted to grab if I had time. I logged into my phone, and it was listed as premium and I couldn't open it up!!! even when it wasn't on my computer. Talk about salty!!! anyway, the whole point was to say, the older firefox browser (and make sure you make it so it won't update) running on win 7 for me, will install the old plug in that will let you use your 60csx units!

There is no need for blandness. I am all in favor of discussion and would have no problem with finding a cache that might contain any number of items -- including Christian tracts or information about Sai Baba, Krishna, Buddha, Humanism, or Marxism. I am not threatened by ideas. I have traded for items from a Christian cache that I found interesting, and been awarded a Nixon political button for being an initial finder - I keep it in the same collection with my "unite and fight" union button. But I do draw some lines and there are certain things that I hope I would not ignore. I must admit I tend to be concerned when people appear to be threatened by ideas that don't match their own thinking. I often figure that if what I believe is wrong I'd rather know so I can get my own thoughts straight. If anything it's often more interesting to talk to someone with a different outlook, as long as the discussion can focus on the topic and not turn into personal insults. I remember talking to a guy on holiday who appeared horrified at the number of Muslims in my home town. This person asked me directly whether, if I had the chance, I'd wave a magic wand and get rid of them all (presumably by "sending them home" or some such, not harming them). He seemed stunned when I said I wouldn't, but like I said the Muslims I know in my area don't cause any trouble and just go about their daily lives much like I do. There are some obvious differences - my wife doesn't cover her head and I enjoy pork as much as any other meat, we don't pray five times daily at prescribed times and so on, but these aren't issues that threaten me. As it happens one day I'd locked myself out of my house and my Muslim neighbours offered me a chance to get out of the cold until my wife got home with the keys. There's always a sense of value judgements, although I often think that if people try and censor those with beliefs they find offensive all it does is adds fuel to the fire. The guy I mentioned who honestly expected me to wish the Muslims in my area would just leave would probably cry even louder if his viewpoints were restrictied or "shut down" in any way. It makes more sense to me to engage the people who hold viewpoints that appear extreme with a view to trying to figure out why they think the way they do. Can't argue with that. My own view is that if I thought a particular lifestyle/activity/whatever was inappropriate it makes more sense to discuss it directly with whoever is leading me to think it's inappropriate, rather than just putting random material "out there" with no indication of who, if anyone, will read it. For the sake of choosing something non-contentious, let's assume I believe it's the height of sinfulness to wear a blue hat on a Thursday. So if I see people wearing a blue hat on a Thursday I might talk to them to explain why I find their sartorial selections so offensive. I might convince them, I might not, but I can at least have the discussion in a place that's relevant. If I just post flyers in a box under a dead tree saying that people who wear blue hats on a Thursday spend eternity being poked in the eyes with sharp sticks, for all I know the next person to find the cache might just take the flyers and use them for kindling. I suppose that partly comes from a perspective that a finger-wagging approach of "... or you'll go to hell and then you'll be sorry" generally achieves very little except for annoying people and making sure they don't listen to anything else you have to say. That makes sense, I'd tend to say that it's worth avoiding deliberate offence unless someone is spectacularly prickly and the only way to avoid it is by walking on eggshells, or if there's a particular good reason and it can be done in an appropriate manner. So while I don't see a benefit in posting political or religious material in caches, I also can't understand why people get so upset about it. It's a flyer, either read it or ignore it. If it troubles you replace it with your own flyer.

I've seen two kinds of geocaching class work well. The short classes last about an hour. Depending on the age of the participants, the initial in-class or chalk-talk segment lasts about half an hour to 40 minutes. During this segment, it's good to have actual examples of cache containers, trackables, trade items, GPS receivers, etc. that you can pass around. The rest of the class is taken up by a demonstration using temporary containers hidden just for the event. There really isn't time to teach GPS use or geocaching app use. The long classes last a few hours. They start with a similar chalk-talk section, but then small groups of participants are paired up with experienced volunteers. Each group receives a loaner GPS receiver, and all the loaner GPS receivers are preprogrammed with the data for several local caches. The groups spend a few hours finding actual geocaches, using an actual GPS receiver, with an experienced geocacher to supervise and assist them. There really isn't time to teach more than the basics of operating a GPS receiver: list nearest caches, select, go, view description, that sort of thing. I definitely wouldn't hand out coordinates and leave it up to each individual to (correctly) enter the coordinates into whatever app they happen to have. When I've tried that for puzzle hunts, about half the groups used something that directed them to the nearest street address, instead of to the actual coordinates. If you're all staying in one group, then have a GPS receiver or two preprogrammed, and/or a phone with an app that is preprogrammed. Let people take turns holding the devices as the group moves from cache to cache. But don't expect them to programm coordinates into a device or an app at first.

My recommendation would be to do nothing at this point. You don't want to poke the bear and make the situation even worse. If it gets up to more than a week or two with no sign of activity or communication, I'd send a very contrite and apologetic follow-up message. Take this as a lesson learned: the reviewers have ears everywhere, so don't talk about them behind their back. Even if you think you're saying something about them on a seemingly-private platform, they may have friends that will forward your comments to them.

IMO, the best thing you could do is talk to whoever is in charge of the preserve and let them know that they can get a free Premium membership in geocaching. That way, they can keep track of whatever geocaches are on their property and deal with them as they see fit. If they then decide they want any of the caches gone, they should just remove it and ask to have it archived. In my experience, when such a property manager asks for an archive, it is done immediately.

Interesting stories y’all. :-) I had had been out of town and was just getting back. I needed to call a friend about dinner plans and since I don’t talk on the phone or text while driving, I pulled into a parking lot to make my call. Made my call and then thought “Well, let me just check and see if there are any nearby caches.” The closest one came up... about 6 feet away! It was an LPC and turns out of allllll the empty parking spaces in the lot, I’d parked right in front of a cache. All I had to do was step out of my car. From reading the listing to find was about 1 min. I have another one buuuut.....it’s kind of embarrassing. I’ll have to think on whether to tell that one or not....

I need help in downloading caches to my gps. I have a Garmin Montana 650T and Windows 10. I used to download through GSAK and/or another program, but I haven't done it in a couple years, have a different computer, without gsak. I had a stroke in March and am have problems doing certain things, but I really want to get a bunch in my Montana. I've been working on it all week. Solved the connection problem by switching to a different port. I've downloaded a Delorme thing, found the found to gps button on a cache description, but then a message comes up that says it doesn't talk to Firefox. I know that there is most likely this information already somewhere in the forum, but so far haven't found what I need. Any instructions that get me there will be so greatly appreciated!!

Ha! I honestly didn’t notice it was so old. They have not. I honestly don’t know who to talk to about that or if it’s even possible for that it to happen at all in the first place.