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Old topic but I can't help myself


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Some people are in it for the stuff, but we do have a problem in this sport.

 

To wit: I went out to a cache last night. Beautiful night. clever hide. Lots of wildlife. Great so far, then opened the cache. Cache full of broken mctoys.Hard to get excited about trading.

 

The trading aspect needs some guidelines to firm it up. (signature items only or labeled items only?) There are too many down trades and geotrashcans.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebraskache/

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I remember that log! One could assume he was thinking the altiods tin had value as a micro container - I guess it depends also on the value of the phone card.

 

Another log I see every now and then is "Coords were good, but I couldn't find the cache". Unless the clue is very obvious, how does one know coods are good???????

 

Warning: Objects in GPS may be closer than they appear!

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bigredmed is soooo correct.

While doing a check-up on one of my own caches, I found a single gardening glove. I thought mayby Michael Jackson visited my cache.

It is a shame that over geocaching time, a cache degrades so much that all you have to look forward to is the hunt. Mind you, I love the hunt and adventure and the thrill of opening the box.

It could be that when some of the "flash-in-the-pan" cachers lose interest, the cache contents will stay a little healthier.

 

Lend me your ear while I call you a fool.

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quote:
While doing a check-up on one of my own caches, I found a single gardening glove. I thought mayby Michael Jackson visited my cache.

 

I found a pair of filthy work gloves with holes in them in one cache. They were wet too. Yuk!

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

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Recently I snagged a bad trade and took it to a an event cache to give to the onwer and ask what they were thinking. The item they traded was broken and the item they took relatively expensive.

 

When I arrived I told the host and they told me not to go there and told me why. So I stuck it in my pocket and watched and waited and the person was both friendly, and spent extra time to make a special treat for everyone at the event. Even though I'd met them before a I didn't know them well at all. A little extra time at this event and I realized that the host was correct and that my idea was completly off base. There is a little more to the story but the forums are not the place for more details than what little I gave.

 

Maybe it was a bad trade, but not for me. Their trade is now going into my mojo bag as a lesson learned and cheap at the price.

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quote:
Originally posted by bigredmed:

Some people are in it for the stuff, but we do have a problem in this sport.

 

To wit: I went out to a cache last night. Beautiful night. clever hide. Lots of wildlife. Great so far, then opened the cache. Cache full of broken mctoys.Hard to get excited about trading.

 

The trading aspect needs some guidelines to firm it up. (signature items only or labeled items only?) There are too many down trades and geotrashcans.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebraskache/

 

True, caches do degrade over time, but that’s what cache maintenance is for. To limit people to signature or labeled items only would be a mistake. The military patches I like to leave are not labeled, neither are the tourniquet/belt things.

 

I’ve said in one of the numerous other times this has come up that the coolest things I like to see in a cache are items unique in some way. Some extraneous trinket from work or something the average person couldn’t get. A bag of cheap plastic bugs from the dollar store is OK, but it’s something I would leave behind, label or not. But leave a pen or mug with a logo like “Black Cow Brand Cow Manure” and it’s going with me.

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

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Perhaps there was no time left on the phone card!

 

Last week at a cache event, my son and I were going cache to cache. Most of them were micros. He made a comment how he didn't like them, nnot because he didn't find them, but because there was nothing to trade or at least we had nothing small enough to trade. I explained to him it was more about the hunt than what is inside. He didn't go for it. He said he liked to find the stuff in them. Well yesterday, after he got out of school, I asked if he wanted to go caching. He said sure. So we headed out and hit five of them. Everyone we found did not have anything we desired to take out. We logged our find and posted a TNLN. A lot due to the mosquitos. When we got home, he now says that he likes micros, even though we didn't go after any yesterday. He says he had more fun going after them and finding them than to worry about what was in them. It made me proud to hear him say that. Now he is hoping that we will have a be caching weekend. I gotta start making plans. He wants to end the weekend with at least 100 finds. We are at 52 now, so it is doable. Hopefully the weather will hold up and we get the chance...

 

Brian

 

As long as you're going to think anyway, think big. -Donald Trump

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As logged by The Widget at my cache Johnson’s Gate: “The guards would not let me drive in, had to park outside and ride in. This was my first attempt a biking and caching, I pushed it most the way up but the ride down was quick and easy. Took the Moun10bike geocoin, left nothing.”

 

Wow, you can’t imagine how disappointed I was to here that one of the great Moun10bike geocoins had made it to Southern California, only to be snagged by someone who didn’t trade fair! I’m willing to bet The Widget keeps the coin.

 

Seems like I'm learning more about Geocachers and less about Geocaching.

 

When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!

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No one logged placing the card, so it was either placed there by the hider, a cacher who does not log online, or a logger who didn't mention it. So call time, if any, is undeterminable. Unless the card was in original packaging, the taker would have also have been making a gamble as to it's value.

 

Anyway, It's not worth dwelling over. The best we can do is set an example and educate the newer cachers.

 

Warning: Objects in GPS may be closer than they appear!

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quote:
Originally posted by Trogdor!:

As logged by The Widget at my cache Johnson’s Gate: “The guards would not let me drive in, had to park outside and ride in. This was my first attempt a biking and caching, I pushed it most the way up but the ride down was quick and easy. Took the Moun10bike geocoin, left nothing.”

 

Wow, you can’t imagine how disappointed I was to here that one of the great Moun10bike geocoins had made it to Southern California, only to be snagged by someone who didn’t trade fair! I’m willing to bet The Widget keeps the coin.


 

I was first to find Trogdor!'s cache. I had read in the forums how cache's degrade - but this cache was full of what I considered junk and I was first to find. I took the only things I thought were worth trading for - a Where's George Dollar and an LA Marathon pin - Then I realize I didn't have much to trade with me. I left a compass and the Moun10bike coin that I had. I had been holding on to the Moun10bike to put in a cache that I though was worthy - particularly one that would be good for mountain bikers to go to. In spite of my disappointment with how Trogdor! had stocked his cache, the hike to the cache, the location of the cache, and the method he used to hide the cache made it worthy of the Mount10bike coin. This cache made me realize that the trading part has very little influence as to whether or not I enjoy a particular cache hunt

 

東西南北

Why do I always find it in the last place I look?

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I think by the time I found my third or fourth cache I was over fantasizing what priceless goodies were waiting hidden for me. To me the thrill is in the hunt, and if there's something neat in the cache that appeals to me it's icing on the cake and I'll take it and leave something of equal or better value. But more times than not it's "SL/TN/LN".

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quote:
Originally posted by Criminal:

 

True, caches do degrade over time, but that’s what cache maintenance is for. To limit people to signature or labeled items only would be a mistake. The military patches I like to leave are not labeled, neither are the tourniquet/belt things.

 

I’ve said in one of the numerous other times this has come up that the coolest things I like to see in a cache are items unique in some way. Some extraneous trinket from work or something the average person couldn’t get. A bag of cheap plastic bugs from the dollar store is OK, but it’s something I would leave behind, label or not. But leave a pen or mug with a logo like “Black Cow Brand Cow Manure” and it’s going with me.

 


 

Agreed. These are often the coolest items in a cache. The thing is, if we are going to have trading as part of the game, we need to have some suggestions or guidelines for what to trade. We have "rules" for what NOT to put in a cache, but nothing to tell a new play what would be GOOD to put in caches. This is my suggestion. That we as a group come up with suggestions for what kind of items work as trade items.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebraskache/

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I had a titanium (axial flow) impeller from a fuel pump off a C-141B aircraft, about fist size. If I didn’t like the dadgum thing so much, I’d put it in a cache. I think it would be a cool find for someone. I agree though that there seems to be a lack of common sense by some players. I think we should add it to the list of things that J should add to the site; a primer on trading linked from the hide/find a cache page. I’ll sit here holding my breath until he responds... icon_rolleyes.gif

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

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quote:
Originally posted by Criminal:

I had a titanium (axial flow) impeller from a fuel pump off a C-141B aircraft, about fist size. If I didn’t like the dadgum thing so much, I’d put it in a cache. I think it would be a cool find for someone. I agree though that there seems to be a lack of common sense by some players. I think we should add it to the list of things that J should add to the site; a primer on trading linked from the hide/find a cache page. I’ll sit here holding my breath until he responds... icon_rolleyes.gif


 

That's another issue there. If you was to just throw that impeller in a cache, there are probably a large percentage of people that would think it's an old worthless muffler bearing. I see a lot of stuff in caches - rocks, coins, and other stuff - which without some identification could appear worthless and traded for junk.

 

I love the unique stuff like that, but it's be much better suited to be placed in a ziplock along with a description, worth even more if it included some history. I almost bought some cold war era pen style radiation detectors from a electronics surplus place for trade items because they were neat, but unfortunately, they were sold out before I had the chance to even get one. But, like your impeller, without some form of documentation, many would have no idea what it was.

 

Warning: Objects in GPS may be closer than they appear!

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quote:
Originally posted by Search1128:

An altoids tin costs $2.29 at the grocery store (full of mints). A phone card ( 13 cents per min for 20 min - you know the kind you get at Sam's club or Costco in bulk) rounds down to approx 2.50. The trade seems moderately fair.


 

I agree and would probably take the altoids tin.

 

Team Kender - "The Sun is coming up!" "No, the horizon is going down."

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quote:
Originally posted by Team Kender:

quote:
Originally posted by Search1128:

An altoids tin costs $2.29 at the grocery store (full of mints). A phone card ( 13 cents per min for 20 min - you know the kind you get at Sam's club or Costco in bulk) rounds down to approx 2.50. The trade seems moderately fair.


 

I agree and would probably take the altoids tin.

 

Team Kender - "The Sun is coming up!" "No, the horizon is going down."


Altoids tins (with mints inside) are only $1.50 at Wal-Mart. They don't sell empty ones.

 

texasgeocaching_sm.gif Took sun from sky, left world in eternal darkness bandbass.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Team GPSaxophone:

 

Altoids tins (with mints inside) are only $1.50 at Wal-Mart. They don't sell empty ones.


 

Yeah, the whole thing sounds like a rationalization to me. Even if the tin was full: 1) I wouldn't eat them and 2) they shouldn't be in a cache.

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quote:
Originally posted by tozainamboku:

 

Wow, you can’t imagine how disappointed I was to here that one of the great Moun10bike geocoins had made it to Southern California, only to be snagged by someone who didn’t trade fair! I’m willing to bet The Widget keeps the coin.


 

I left a compass and the Moun10bike coin that I had. I had been holding on to the Moun10bike to put in a cache that I though was worthy - particularly one that would be good for mountain bikers to go to.

 

I've only seen ONE geocoin in my (albeit limited) caching, in a travelbug hotel outside of Queens, NY while visitng inlaws. One. The Moun10Bike coins are HIGH on my list of things to find.

 

Joel (joefrog)

 

"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for ye are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!"

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If the kids are getting into your cache, you might consider a lock & key arrangement lik this one

 

An impellor from a water pump on my truck could pass for aerospace parts... unles the person knows what Titanium smells like.

 

Even an empty altoids tin will have a food scent to it.

 

"I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it"

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LOL! We visited the same cache this weekend and 10 y/o "G3" thought the mint tin was pretty lame as well. Our self-imposed rule is to leave something that we ourselves would like to find.

 

"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."--Sherlock Holmes

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Did anyone look inside the altoids tin? Maybe there was a micro cache note all prepared with a blank log and mini pencil!? If you figure an hour of effort might've gone into it, it's now worth about $51.50 instead of $1.50.

 

For me trading has become more of a hassle than pleasurable, trying to second guess if it'll be appreciated or not. Since I really don't care, I started leaving things but not taking anything. Then I realized how expensive that would become... Now TNLN unless there's something I really desire, however now I usually don't have good stuff on me, so end up leaving multiple $1.00 items. C'est la vie.

 

quote:
Originally posted by The "G" Team:

"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."--Sherlock Holmes


 

How apropo! '...excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the trash!'

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

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quote:
Originally posted by RJFerret:

Did anyone look _inside_ the altoids tin? Maybe there was a micro cache note all prepared with a blank log and mini pencil!? If you figure an hour of effort might've gone into it, it's now worth about $51.50 instead of $1.50.


 

$50 an hour for putting together cache boxes? email me an application, will ya?

 

Warning: Objects in GPS may be closer than they appear!

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