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SF Bay Area geocachers


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- Houdini's Hideaway Magic Exchange (GCKE7Y)

- Bigfoot Sighting (GCKHZX)

- Blair Witch'ing (GCKJBE) - just approved

Was STF for Houdini and out of town for the FTF frenzy on the others, but I can say that these should be good based on Houdini!

 

Leave town for a few days....... ;)

 

ND - congrats on the 1,000! I'll be in touch soon about the coins - things are back on track. I'm heading to Colorado on Thursday/Friday then back home for the w/e.

 

Talk to y'all soon - busy week coming up....

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GPX is an XML format, and if something interferes with it's parsing it's either a problem with the creator or the unparser, (duh), and they should both be informed somehow. Most likely GS isn't escaping something it should be.

Thanks Rat and WalruZ for chiming in...

 

I think my unparser is ok, because I have the same problems opening the GPX file using GSAK, GPSSpinner, EasyGPS, and even Internet Explorer (when I change the extension to .XML). When I look at the XML code, there are simply lots and lots of places where the text has been garbled, usually in an XML tag, so I have to fix it up. Well, that takes hours, which is way too much time. I'm wondering what is corrupting the text files in different little places. It's as if there is no error checking or CRC's being done between transmission and reception of these files.

 

I have tried receiving both the plain text GPX and also the Zipped version but that doesn't work either because the ZIP files says it's corrupted, so I can't even open it up to extract the GPX from inside the ZIP.

 

I suppose I will have to get an e-mail account on a different e-mail server and see if the attachments come through clean from that. Or, maybe my McAfee anti-virus software is messing it up, as GPX files are CLEARLY a virus that makes us go out and find geocaches before during, and after work, and twisting our social lives!! ;)

 

If anyone else has any ideas on this, I'd love to hear them! I'll try the Rat's idea of getting smaller pocket queries to see if there's some threshold that's causing the problems.

 

Thanks!

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Ouch!

 

I'm glad to hear that Ryjaz/Mythic Creation is doing well and feeling good enough to post. That description sounded like every cacher's nightmare. I had flashbacks to this post yesterday evening while reaching into spiderweb filled post holes looking for a micro. Best wishes on a fast recovery. /Lefty

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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Yeah, Santa Teresa County Park is snake HQ.

 

(I live about 2 blocks from BGJ Ranch.)

 

The BGJ ranch had been planning to have a "movie night" in the barn, but recently cancelled it due to snakes living in the barn.

 

Earlier this year we went after "Happy Halloween Hex" in the park, which we didn't find. On the walk out, however, we found a 6 foot long rattler that had been hit by a car on the road. Yikes!

 

On an earlier trip I almost stepped on a cute little 4 inch long rattler on a hike to the top of the hill. Cute, yes. Dangerous...yes. (Great view from up there, by the way....)

 

Santa Teresa is the only park where I've seen a rattler.

 

So - be VERY careful.

 

...SammyDee

Edited by sammydee
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I grew up in the Sierra foothill rattlesnake country where the common belief was that smaller snakes were more venoumous, harder to spot and probably more aggressive. I don't know if the "more venomous" belief was a myth or not but I will say that the bigger ones often let you know they were there well in advance. We followed a "live and let live" philosophy unless they ventured into our yard and no one I knew was ever struck. I did have a dog that was bitten but thankfully recovered completely. /Lefty

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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Heads up, a cacher got  bit by a rattlesnake at GCK4QK ("Once in a Blue Moon") in Santa Teresa Park.  :o  Be careful when poking around looking for those caches!

Yikes! :D I happened to meet Ryjaz earlier that day at "My Meridian". This makes the encounter seem a little more personal. My best wishes for a complete recovery to Ryjaz and Mythic Creation; it's good to see you're posting and caching again.

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Looking for recommendations:

 

My wife wants to go camping/caching for her bday the w/e of Oct 15th so I'm looking for ideas on places.

 

No more than a 2-3 hour drive from home (Santa Cruz area) and a good camping spot would be ideal.

 

Work's been hell this week so I haven't had time to do research yet, so I'm looking for suggestions.

 

Let's hear 'em!

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As many of you know I have now left the Bay Area, for probably - but hopefully not - a long time. I will miss all of you, and the Bay Area Geocaching scene in general. I'd like to thank in particular the 4 Geocachers who adopted my 13 caches: The Rat, WeBeDnD, Motorbug and trode. Geocaching will for sure remain my favorite sport. So if you're ever around in Belgium and need Geocaching advice, just let me know - but be prepared for long multi's and wet weather!

 

"Met vriendelijke groeten",

 

PhilippeGPS

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Hi all! This is the Roguishdevils. We are new to the sport (started 2 days ago) in the Fremont/Newark Area.

 

We're a married couple in our 30's and hope we get a chance to meet a few of you soon! We've been caching like crazy and can't wait to place our own. (I'm even working on a HydroCache in Monterey since I SCUBA there almost every w/e!)

 

Hope to chat soon!

 

Roguishdevils

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Glad to have you join us RD. I just checked out your profile and it sounds like you and DevilDux have a pretty full life that may get even fuller if you get the Geocache bug full force. Some of the folks on this forum can tell you about a "full force" case with multi-thousand find totals in a sport that's only 4 years old.

 

An underwater cache sounds fun - I'm already trying to guess at the difficulty level and the stunned eyes of geocachers when their GPS is pointing toward open water - and down. /Lefty

Edited by KennyHannahJacob
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FYI: For those looking for a FTF in the Santa Cruz area...my wife and I have two new caches that should hopefully be approved soon that will be awaiting the FTF and those to follow :mad: . "Black Box", a mystery cache, was submitted today and is awaiting approval. "The Fairy Harp", a regular cache, will be submitted online later this afternoon after work and will also need to go through the approval process.

 

Happy Caching,

Steve

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Looking for recommendations:

 

My wife wants to go camping/caching for her bday the w/e of Oct 15th so I'm looking for ideas on places.

 

No more than a 2-3 hour drive from home (Santa Cruz area) and a good camping spot would be ideal.

No ideas yet?????

One place that I like to go is Butano State Park :) . About half an hour or so north of Santa Cruz. There are a couple of caches there too. And if you want to find benchmarks there is one at the highest peak in the park Butano Benchmark It is quite peaceful in the park, even in the peak time during the summer. A lot of good hiking in the area. Big Basin probably has a few more caches though.

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Hi, My Hubby, Daughter and I just got into Geocaching and love it. We have been getting to a few in our area(Santa Cruz) and plan on hitting alot while camping. We just were down below Big Sur and got 3. My 4 yr old is now very into "treasure hunts" as I first called them but now has the lingo down :( .

 

We will try to make the picnic on the 3rd and meet some of our fellow cachers.

 

Also for the Camping Rec to Kealia - How about Plaskett Creek below Big Sur. We just got back from there and did 3 of the easier caches over the weekend. My 4 yr old was all over them! There were several more on the way down and back that we opted out of. The weather this time of year is great as long as its not raining. Great Sunsets!

 

Have fun Caching

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I really enjoy themed puzzle caches that carry their theme through the puzzle and into the hide or cache. Of course, there's no shortage of such caches in the South Bay but I thought I'd bring two newer ones by some of our own to folks attention. If you haven't tried "Boys of Summer" by Kablooey or "Assume Nothing 4" by Worker of Wood and like a good puzzle cache go ahead and give these two well conceived caches a try. Both have a unique angle that makes not only the puzzle but the actual cache a pleasure. /Lefty

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My sister-in-law's sister-in-law just sent me some information about a GPS/geocaching weekend event coming up (tentatively scheduled for mid-November) in the Sierra foothills near Sequoia National Park. You can see the info by going to:

 

http://www.river-ridge.net/

 

and clicking on "GPS & Geocaching Camp." I hadn't heard of this place before, but one of the owners is my SIL's SIL's sister. (Still with me? :-)) I just read the About Us part, and evidently it's a ranch that was saved from development and is now permanently a conservation area. I probably won't make it down for this event, but they seem to have a lot of interesting outdoor educational classes and events.

 

If any of you hang out in the discussion areas for central and southern California, feel free to forward this information to them.

 

Patty

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We wish we could have been at the picnic today but unfortunately Ricky is in the hospital and our minds and hearts are with him. He's going to be okay... He'll probably come home in a few days.

 

We wonder if the BADGES people think we hate them! We don't, really. One of these days we'll make our way to one of the events. :mad:

Edited by beckerbuns
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We wonder if the BADGES people think we hate them! We don't, really. One of these days we'll make our way to one of the events. :mad:

Oh, no. They hate me because I've missed several of the last gatherings. It's really not any statement other than I haven't been able to make it. Great to hear the picnic worked out well and sorry to read about two flat tires. [What's up with that? Is the Ranger keeping the park preserved by discouraging Geocachers again? LOL]

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No flat tire for us thankfully, especially as both of our vehicles use pricey tires! I wonder if there was some broken glass in one of the parking areas... Well, flats aside, it was a good event. I'm glad I finally made it to one of these BADGES things too so I didn't end up on the People We Think Might Hate BADGES list. :mad:

 

Sorry to hear about Ricky, but glad to hear he will be OK. I just did his Discovery kid's cache yesterday.

Edited by Team Nazgul
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Man, I completely forgot about the event this w/e ;) .

 

I did however spend Friday in the Seattle area with a group of 5 locals who took me on a beautiful 6 mile hike/cache adventure - great time!

 

They also told me about a Project Ape Cache up there that I think I'll hit on my next trip - I'm not against getting that icon <_< !

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They also told me about a Project Ape Cache up there that I think I'll hit on my next trip - I'm not against getting that icon  ;) !

I saw that Ape cache, just a short 1 hour away, on my last trip up to Washington. Just couldn't motivate the family for a 2 hour detour!

I have to drive back up there sometime between now and Christmas, might make it a long weekend and hit a few special caches... there's room for a couple of others in the car!

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I have to drive back up there sometime between now and Christmas, might make it a long weekend and hit a few special caches... there's room for a couple of others in the car!

20+ hours in the car? Thanks but I'll take the 2 hour flight :P .

 

BB & ND - Glad to hear RIcky is home and safe.

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Had a great time at today's BADGES picnic but came limping home with a flat tire.  :P  From the cache logs it looks like Team Alamo suffered the same fate.  Any others have the same experience?

My flat was in the bike tire when returning back from the grand tour of the new Baylands caches.

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20+ hours in the car? Thanks but I'll take the 2 hour flight  :P .

Actually... it will be more like 40 hours in total. You can't cache from 20,000 ft!

You mean Mt St Helens isn't an approved virtual yet?

 

Picture of GPS with smoking crater in the background?!?!?! - Man that WOW factor is getting harder and harder.....

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