What do you write on the log?

[+tweetiepy]

I've done a quick search but I haven't found what I'm supposed to put on the log sheet? I've found two caches so far, and I tried to put just my geocaching nickname on it but the pen was finicky on both and the very first log was overflowing and no room was available.

 

What's supposed to go on there?

[+kunarion]

I tried to put just my geocaching nickname on it but the pen was finicky on both and the very first log was overflowing and no room was available.

That's OK. Usually all people write is the date and their nickname ("initials" if the log sheet is very tiny).

 

If it's a large journal style book, a relaxing, scenic spot, and you have a lot to say, you may write more.

 

And get a better pen.

[+T.D.M.22]

Put your name. I put my initial, and you'll find it a good idea to bring you're own writing stick-lots of times there might not be a pen or it won't work. I always have a pen and marker on me. If it's a large logbook with lots of room I'll rite a bit more.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Usually just the date and your geocaching name.

 

If there's limited space on the log, such as with a micro, I just write my geocaching name.

 

If it's a nano, just my initials.

[+cerberus1]

If time and log space allow (those rarer hides with real log books), you can be a wordy as you choose.

Micros get the name/date only.

Nanos usually get initials (C1 would be mine). No room for anything else.

Often it's good to say on your online log how you signed if your cacher name doesn't break down well on tiny logs, as some COs will check logs for sigs, deleting those not matching.

[+eusty]

Just my name and date, even if the logbook is big.

 

I write more on the online log as people read that more than the paper log. On the online log I put TFTCTFTC.....

 

...only joking, as a CO it's on of my pet hates. I average 42 words according to GSAK

 

[+vaughnzie]

my question is. when you place your own geocache . Are you supposed to do something later with the log everybody writes on? im new to this. any responses would help thanks!

[+Bear and Ragged]

my question is. when you place your own geocache . Are you supposed to do something later with the log everybody writes on? im new to this. any responses would help thanks!

 

Well worth finding a few caches first.

Hiding your own cache involves A LOT of commitment to keep it maintained...

[+niraD]

I've done a quick search but I haven't found what I'm supposed to put on the log sheet?

At a bare minimum, you should write your geocaching handle. I always write the date and my geocaching handle.

 

Sometimes I write more, if there's room (a log book, rather than just a log sheet). I'm more inclined to write more at puzzle finals (where I want to mention something about the puzzle, but don't want to write it in my online log), at destination caches where I have time to relax at the cache location, and on trips with smaller groups (where there's less pressure to hurry up and get moving again).

 

I've found two caches so far, and I tried to put just my geocaching nickname on it but the pen was finicky on both and the very first log was overflowing and no room was available.

I always carry multiple pens that can sign just about anything: gel pens, Fisher Space Pens, and ultrafine Sharpie markers. I've also seen signatures improvised from natural materials (mud, blood, bug juice, leaf juice, whatever). I've never seen a log so full I couldn't squeeze in my signature (date & name) somewhere.

 

my question is. when you place your own geocache . Are you supposed to do something later with the log everybody writes on?

Some people save old logs as keepsakes. Others discard or recycle them. And I've seen a couple "log cabins" that were made from old log sheets and the pages of old log books, and then turned into travel bugs.

[+briansnat]

If it's a regular sized logbook I'll write a little blurb about my experience. Maybe something about the weather, who I was with, how hard it was to find the cache.

 

A typical log may say something like "out caching with my wife on this beautiful fall day. Nice hide, took us a while to find. Thanks for bringing us here, we loved the view"

 

If it's a micro log sheet then it's just name and date.

 

It is interesting how logging has changed over the years. I recently retired a cache that was placed in 2002 and had the original logbooks.

Logs in the early days often took up the eintire page and sometimes more of a 3" x 5" notebook, even the shortest logs were a few sentences long. By 2006 the logs got shorter. There were still full page logs, but most were no more than a few sentences. Starting about 2010 logs became rarely more than a name and a date.

[+tweetiepy]

I saw an inkless metal pen that might be good to write on the log, but I'm not sure how well it would write on a moist log though. It does write underwater too but on special paper.

 

This log was packed tight, I had to try to write sideways on the log and even then there was nor really any space for it

Edited December 30, 2012 by tweetiepy

[+L0ne.R]

If it's a regular sized logbook I'll write a little blurb about my experience. Maybe something about the weather, who I was with, how hard it was to find the cache.

 

A typical log may say something like "out caching with my wife on this beautiful fall day. Nice hide, took us a while to find. Thanks for bringing us here, we loved the view"

 

If it's a micro log sheet then it's just name and date.

 

It is interesting how logging has changed over the years. I recently retired a cache that was placed in 2002 and had the original logbooks.

Logs in the early days often took up the eintire page and sometimes more of a 3" x 5" notebook, even the shortest logs were a few sentences long. By 2006 the logs got shorter. There were still full page logs, but most were no more than a few sentences. Starting about 2010 logs became rarely more than a name and a date.

 

I'm like you Brian....write something in a logbook, only trailname and date on a logsheet. As a CO I keep all of our filled logbooks. I enjoy reading comments in the book. You're right about the old days, people would right something interesting in the physical log and online. Here's a page from one of our letterbox hybrids (jn an arboretum) back in 2003:

 

[+T.D.M.22]

I saw an inkless metal pen that might be good to write on the log, but I'm not sure how well it would write on a moist log though. It does write underwater too but on special paper.

 

This log was packed tight, I had to try to write sideways on the log and even then there was nor really any space for it

 

Wouldn't that be a pencil then? Unless you mean inka pen which is waterproof and pressured and does what you mentioned.

[+tweetiepy]

Nope it's an inkless pen - like a stick of metal that "writes" sold here: http://www.vat19.com/dvds/the-inkless-metal-pen.cfm

[+T.D.M.22]

Nope it's an inkless pen - like a stick of metal that "writes" sold here: http://www.vat19.com/dvds/the-inkless-metal-pen.cfm

It's a pencil-just doesn't use traditional pencil lead-Curious as to how it writes. I've had good luck with the Sharpie liquid pencil, until I sat on it.

[+AKStafford]

We cache here in Alaska... So either we are being devoured by mosquitoes or we are trying to get our gloves back on as soon as possible. So my written logs tend to be rather short.

I almost always carry my own writing implement. And for the caches that I have hidden is use the "Rite-in-the-Rain" notebooks. They hold up better than regular paper.

[+unabowler]

If it's a regular sized logbook I'll write a little blurb about my experience. Maybe something about the weather, who I was with, how hard it was to find the cache.

 

A typical log may say something like "out caching with my wife on this beautiful fall day. Nice hide, took us a while to find. Thanks for bringing us here, we loved the view"

 

If it's a micro log sheet then it's just name and date.

 

It is interesting how logging has changed over the years. I recently retired a cache that was placed in 2002 and had the original logbooks.

Logs in the early days often took up the eintire page and sometimes more of a 3" x 5" notebook, even the shortest logs were a few sentences long. By 2006 the logs got shorter. There were still full page logs, but most were no more than a few sentences. Starting about 2010 logs became rarely more than a name and a date.

 

I've only been at this for a year so I haven't seen the days of the longer logs and even the notebook-sized logbooks I've seen just have names. I try to write a longer log online, because I'm not sure the CO is ever going to see the logbook and because I can use my online log to recall which caches I really liked.

[+Straight-Cache-Homey]

There's a few older caches around here with large logbooks. The first few years you certainly see LONG entries and some stories. In the later years you definitely see (date, name). When there's larger log books the gf and I try to put two or three sentences in there.

[+hzoi]

These days most folks only write name and date, which is unfortunate.

 

For a small log sheet that only provides space for name and date, I write name and date.

 

If it's a bit larger, say, a note pad or actual log book, I'll usually write a short note on my experience: weather, how long it took me to find, how I'm enjoying the surrounds.

 

Regardless of log size, if I take or leave a trackable, I write it down (sometimes in tiny shorthand: in GC x 3, out TB x 2).

[+MountainWoods]

For some odd reason, the first few caches that I did, maybe 10, I wrote the date and my real name. (I hadn't been to the forums yet, and I figured that my handle was really solely a geocaching.com login name, with no other meaning.) After reading some of the logs as I retrieved them, I realized that everyone else was using their handle. So I switched to using my handle. Unfortunately, my handle is longer than my real name; but I haven't really considered going back to using my real name. Example:

1/4/2012 MountainWoods

 

(I use a red pen.)

Edited January 4, 2013 by MountainWoods