Search the Community

Hi BW, You wrote: << Do you think the USFS is going to pay for a membership. As I said it MAY HELP ALLEVIATE.>> Nope, I don't think the present USFS does anything remotely rational for geocaching. But, please stay on point: HOW MAY Pay-per-Play help ANY regulatory agency?? I know you're a bit emotional about the USFS, but try to stay on thread. <> Wow, questioning my geocaching creditials? OK--my "single" Dinosaur Ridge Colorado stash was the most popular geocache on the PLANET according to www.geocache.com during October-2001--(258 logged, televised on FoxTV, and each log-camera-photo-uploaded-to-my-website in the 365 days it existed). But you may be right, my Dino cache coulda been just a lucky location, and you must definately be a much more successful geocacher than I am based upon your finds/hides. But I find it hard to defer to your "superior geocaching skills" when you don't rationally repond to anyone questioning your logic or statements on these forums. Please enlighten us. If I remember right, BW--the last time other geocachers questioned your thinking or statements you just deleted the whole USFS-Forum thread you started. BTW, BW, it's not considered polite to call anyone a "WHINER" when your motives or statements are questioned. You may indeed be a "superior geocacher", but I think your forum manners need a bit more polish. Regards, T.

Hi BW, You wrote: << Do you think the USFS is going to pay for a membership. As I said it MAY HELP ALLEVIATE.>> Nope, I don't think the present USFS does anything remotely rational for geocaching. But, please stay on point: HOW MAY Pay-per-Play help ANY regulatory agency?? I know you're a bit emotional about the USFS, but try to stay on thread. <> Wow, questioning my geocaching creditials? OK--my "single" Dinosaur Ridge Colorado stash was the most popular geocache on the PLANET according to www.geocache.com during October-2001--(258 logged, televised on FoxTV, and each log-camera-photo-uploaded-to-my-website in the 365 days it existed). But you may be right, my Dino cache coulda been just a lucky location, and you must definately be a much more successful geocacher than I am based upon your finds/hides. But I find it hard to defer to your "superior geocaching skills" when you don't rationally repond to anyone questioning your logic or statements on these forums. Please enlighten us. If I remember right, BW--the last time other geocachers questioned your thinking or statements you just deleted the whole USFS-Forum thread you started. BTW, BW, it's not considered polite to call anyone a "WHINER" when your motives or statements are questioned. You may indeed be a "superior geocacher", but I think your forum manners need a bit more polish. Regards, T.

quote:Originally posted by Flarkey:Although I would love the idea of the Conference being in the UK, 11508 (or 80.1%) caches are in the USA, compared to 365 (or 2.5%) in the UK. Oh, so perhaps the Eastern Coast of the U.S. would be a good compromise? The Virginia area perhaps? Didn't Jeremy used to live around here in Virginia? I see the perfect tie in... -exConn ------------------ What is Project Virginia?

quote: It needs to be somwhere easily accessable from all parts of the globle. Looking on the map it would appear that the UK fits the bill nicely in that respect. Alex. Are you serious? Although I would love the idea of the Conference being in the UK, 11508 (or 80.1%) caches are in the USA, compared to 365 (or 2.5%) in the UK. I think we may have to admit defeat on this one. Flarkey (Statistics according to http://www.brillig.com/geocaching/statistics.shtml )

Hi all, sorry for the late post, but just found this discussion board. 1) What is the present status of the Boulder Open Space geocache "legalization" process? 2) I ran into similar geocache concerns in Jefferson County Open Space with my Dinosaur Ridge geocache--I reported my cache to the local ranger, and thought everything was OK. Only later after I had archived the stash did I learn that the ranger had no authorization/juristiction for the placing of stashes in Jefferson County Open Space lands. 3) Like it or not, geocachers can and do make an impact at our most popular cache sites. I shut down mine as it had 258 logged hits in 365 days. Mine was within about 15 meters of a trail, and had two new discernable "paths" which were becoming evident after twelve months. However, 4 weeks after I removed the stash, I doubt that anyone can see either "path" anymore. Conclusion, Mother Nature heals herself pretty quickly. This former geocache site already appears "pristine" to my eyes. 4) I put my cache in a see-thru plastic RubberMaid container so as to mitigate any potential "booby-trap" to be placed in the stash--(almost a year before 11-Sept, many of us were concerned about domestic terrorism, too.) I always visually check any cache before opening it--don't open anything that looks, smells, sounds, or feels suspicious. 5) Finally, here's another way to get our geocache message out. Become an Open Space Volunteer. Open Space Volunteers are needed for outdoor safety, security, museum, habitat, trail-maintenence, etc. Geocachers can volunteer for a few hours a month, and show Open Space authorities we are not the insensitive "ogres" that some may believe. I'm a volunteer for the Jeffco OS Raptor Watch program; volunteers with GPS experience can be very helpful to any outdoor organization. AND, OS people appear much more sympathetic to geocaching Volunteers when they hear we haul trash from designated trails and parking areas. 6) Focus on the positive traits of geocaching and geocachers--our detractors will always bring up our sport's impact on delicate habitat or ecosystems. Be flexible and try to compromise when discussing geocaching with Open Space officials. We are taxpayers too, and also "own" our Open Space lands too. Best Regards, Terry J. Crebs Lakewood, CO

quote:Originally posted by Watson:A long time ago--statutes of limitations being what they are... Watson, Thank you ever so much for sharing Oregon's posts. When he gets up to 365 cache logs I suggest he makes his own desk calendar with a log per day. He can call it the WAY FARSIDE CALENDAR as Gary Larsen is retiring. I'd buy one for a quarter. (inside joke) --- yrium ---

562,137,453.319 seconds old as the start of writing this. There is 365.2492 days in a year right? Wyatt W.

Let's see if I can get this right... Each degree of latitude covers 1/360th of the circumference of the planet. Each degree of longitude at the equator covers that same distance. However, at the poles, each degree of longitude covers no distance. If we assume that the earth is a perfect sphere with a radius of 3963 miles, that means that each degree of latitude is 69.17 miles (or 365,204 feet). So each minute covers 1/60 of that: 6,087 feet. 1/1000 of a minute of latitude therefore covers 6.087 feet. Longitude is more complicated. Here's the formula: D = (3963 * 5280 * cos(Lat) * 2 * pi) / (360 * 60 * 1000) Where D is the distance covered by 1/1000 of a degree of longitude (in feet) and "Lat" is the absolute value of the latitude. You can shorten this to "6.087 * cos(Lat)" (Where have I seen that number before?) That means, at 30° 18.400 (north or south), 1/1000 of a degree of longitude covers about 5.25 feet. Mengarelliott

Reading all the problems folks are having with caches being plundered, has anyone thought of designing one to be "in plain sight" yet still unseen? Like hiding your house key in what looks like a rock or putting your cash in a fake coke can? I would think a frosting bucket painted like a tree stump would hide nicely. Do all caches need to be outdoors? Could you talk the local law enforcement to store a cach - they are open 24/7/365 and no one would cheat! Even one of those 24 hour gas stops might help out. Get creative and let me know your ideas!

es. 1223 people have hidden 1 cache. Disclaimer: This data is based on the cacher's name on the Web page. Some cachers have used multiple names or variants of their name. This count does not include every last cache, but it's close enough for the level of analysis I was interested in. By my estimate, here's the breakdown on how many caches each person is finding: Two persons have found more than 90 caches. 7 people have found between 51 and 90 caches. 15 people have found between 31 and 50 caches. 36 people have found between 21 and 30 caches. 150 people have found between 11 and 20 caches. 365 people have found between 6 and 10 caches. 1297 people have found between 2 and 5 caches. 1300 people have found 1 cache. Disclaimer: This count does not include every last cache, but it's close enough for the level of analysis I was interested in. By my estimate, here's the breakdown on how many times each cache has been found: Two caches have been found more than 40 times. 7 caches have been found more than 30 times. 53 caches have been found more than 20 times. 236 caches have been found more than 10 times. 443 caches have been found 6-10 times. 190 caches have been found 5 times. 182 caches have been found 4 times. 236 caches have been found 3 times. 267 caches have been found 2 times. 300 caches have been found 1 time. Same disclaimer as above. The obvious next question is how many "virgin" caches are there? Unfortunately, the means I used doesn't reveal that. Sorry. Geocaching Data Copyright 2001 Grounded, Inc. :-) [This message has been edited by Scout (edited 28 May 2001).]

quote:Originally posted by Moun10Bike:Not a bad first year for geocaching, huh? I wonder how much increase we'll see in the future! At the current rate of expansion we should have 6,522 caches by 20 February 2002 calculated with the following formula: (365.25 / (dateserial(2001,5,16) - dateserial(2001,2,21))) * (2300 - 800) Assuming the rate stays the same, though it should increase. We might very well have 10,000 caches a year from now! ------------------ Peter Scholtz www.biometrics.co.za

quote:Originally posted by Moun10Bike:Not a bad first year for geocaching, huh? I wonder how much increase we'll see in the future! At the current rate of expansion we should have 6,522 caches by 20 February 2002 calculated with the following formula: (365.25 / (dateserial(2001,5,16) - dateserial(2001,2,21))) * (2300 - 800) Assuming the rate stays the same, though it should increase. We might very well have 10,000 caches a year from now! ------------------ Peter Scholtz www.biometrics.co.za

A couple points to ponder relating to a very similar sport, letterboxing: Our British cousins have 21,365 registered letterboxes within the 368 square miles of their Dartmoor National Park. That an average of 58 ammo boxes and tupperware containers per square mile. Actually it is higher; some of the land within the park boundary is privately held (31,000 people live there), some is a military firing range, some land is out of bounds for envrionmental or archaeological reasons. Approximately 11 million visitors enter Dartmoor each year and about 5% of them come primarily for letterboxing; 550,000+ letterboxers running around with maps, compasses and rubber stamps per year. The sport of letterboxing got its start in Dartmoor in 1854 and Dartmoor remains the central focus of this sport. Letterbox density in Dartmoor has not effected the 145 year growth of this 'treasure hunt' sport. Personal opinion: It seems to me that Britian's Dartmoor National Park is the DisneyWorld of letterboxing. I wish we had something similar on this side of the Atlantic for geocaching. In light of the above facts, why the concern with spreading things out? Sources: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/7370/dartinfo.html http://www.Dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/

Georgia gained two new caches this week: "Dukes Creek Falls" by Gene Garris and myself http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=365 "River Bluff" by Doug Adomatis http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=366 Dukes Creek is in north Georgia and is convenient to other attractions. River Bluff is in the metro Atlanta area so now some folks can hunt on their lunch break! Happy Hunting! tjb