Magellan Thales / Geocaching Adventures - Prizes!

1.5k · July 10, 2003

Heh. If I'm back in AZ when/if Magellan places a cache there, I should create an impromptu event cache. It's likely there's going to be 50 of us there searching for the cache at the same time anyway....

Brian

Team A.I.

July 10, 2003

nevermind. wife is back with the car.

1.5k · July 10, 2003

My gut tells me it's in the wooded area I mentioned in my DNF/Note logs. That stupid scroll wheel....

The most recent clue speaks of a wooded area, near the golf course, and I have a strong feeling it's right in that area. Lots of places to look, but I'd venture a guess that it isn't under 'too' much cover as GPSr's would lose sat lock.

Brian

Team A.I.

5.3k · July 10, 2003

Cog Hill has a lot of Cook Co Forest Preserve around it...and as Jolly mentioned, we have some quick FTFer's around here.

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

July 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Stunod:
Cog Hill has a lot of Cook Co Forest Preserve around it...and as Jolly mentioned, we have some quick FTFer's around here.

http://208.55.63.109/images/homer.gif

__"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."__

I've still got my eye on "Isle a la Cache" nearby.

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

8.9k · July 10, 2003

Isle a la Cache? Sheesh that's pretty far.

Waterfall Glen, the Little Red Schoolhouse, the preserve where the infamous "Atomic Age" cache had been up until a few weeks ago. There's a TON of preserves in that area.

Just don't let your search for a vacation to Hawaii interfere with coming to the picnic.

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

July 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Markwell:
Isle a la Cache? Sheesh that's pretty far.

FIve or six miles I think. Not that far considering the original clue covered four states.

I agree there are a LOT of preserves in the area. I guess well soon see.

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

[This message was edited by Jolly B Good on July 10, 2003 at 03:03 PM.]

July 10, 2003

quote:
Just don't let your search for a vacation to Hawaii interfere with coming to the picnic.

http://www.markwell.us

http://www.chicagogeocaching.com

Oh yeah. That IS this weekend isn't it?

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

July 11, 2003

Bummer!!! They just posted the coordinates for the Chicago treasure. DURING RUSH HOUR!!!

It'd take me two hours to get through Chicago from the northwest sububurbs to the area. Don't think I'll bother. Bummer. Judging from the maps it looks like an easy IN AND OUT.

Good luck to whoever lives on that side of Chicago.

Okay so I was off about 12 miles on my guess. ;D

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

July 11, 2003

Woo Hoo! I was right on target with my guess for the Chicago hunt! Come on Arizona for the next treasure location! I did pretty well on the Calif. one too, guessed it to be right next to the actual site!

TOOT! TOOT!

(tooting my own horn!)

Dogs Have Owners....Cats Have Staff!!

5.3k · July 11, 2003

It's been hit already...and not by me!

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

2.5k · July 11, 2003

Nuts! I just battled rush hour to get home, no way I'd beat anybody to the cache now. Good luck to whoever gets it, maybe there will be another one placed in the civili...er north side of town.

July 11, 2003

Of course you COULD go for one of the GRAND PRIZE drawing coupons. (1 in 153 chance of winning?)

There seems to be some disagreement on how many on are in each treasure chest but I'm told there are four per. (not to mention the coupons for the free caps).

UPDATE: Nevermind. According to a poster on the Magellean site (5 cars and 8 people) were seen heading for the cache around 6:45. It should be cleaned out by nightfall I would think.

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

[This message was edited by Jolly B Good on July 11, 2003 at 05:18 PM.]

July 11, 2003

I was 4th there at 6:45, stopped to talk to Claypigeon so I was the 5th to sign log. Saw the post at 6:07, printed page while I changed clothes, jumped in the Jeep for the 21 mile drive, half way down the driveway I realized the GPSR was on the kitchen counter!. Back into the house and into stop and go traffic on I-94. Still made it in 38 minutes, but 30 minutes too late! Enjoyed talking to other cachers there.

Maps?!? I don't need no stinking maps! I got coordinates!

2.5k · July 11, 2003

Please give more details for those of us who can't access the site

July 11, 2003

Took 95th street to 45 South. Turned right at the next light, didn't get the name of the street. Pulled into a small parking area on the south side. Cache is straight ahead, across an open field. Not more than 30 feet into the woods. Grass is pretty well knocked down to the cache under a tree.

Maps?!? I don't need no stinking maps! I got coordinates!

2.5k · July 11, 2003

Er, I meant details like who was the first one there, what did you find in the box, how would you rate the hide, was the box home made etc.

July 11, 2003

Ok, first to find was Latimer Longfellow. sounds like they had the area staked out according to Mountain Man's post on the Magellan site. It seems LL is from Indianapolis and hasn't posted on the Magellan site. The box is a small wood chest, there are pictures of it on the Magellan site in one of the posts. Inside was a stack of coupons for the hats, some beads, plastic gold coins and other trinkets. It wasn't really hidden, just sitting under a tree. Forgot to take the camera...sorry.

Maps?!? I don't need no stinking maps! I got coordinates!

2.5k · July 11, 2003

Thanks Woodbutcher68. I won't be able to see the website until Monday from my work computer so thanks for the info!

4.8k · July 11, 2003

I doubt I'll be lucky enough to see one hidden near Nebraska. Not enough people for Magellan to be interested.

I'll keep watching though!

July 11, 2003

I just noticed that they've put 3 caches in California.

Maps?!? I don't need no stinking maps! I got coordinates!

7.2k · July 12, 2003

Boy, they hid the one in GA in a National Park Service Recreation Area. I was very surprised about that. All the coupons were soaked and stuck together. It is a wooden box and the coupons were not in a ziploc bag. Most of the water runs off of the box but the thick paper soaked up the rain and moisture. ~erik~ was first followed by andymand. andymand beat erik there but erik found it first. I got a hat coupon and got stopped by the cops on the way out. Oh well. Too bad it was not on my side of town.

Congrats ~erik~!

July 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by mtn-man:
Boy, they hid the one in GA in a National Park Service Recreation Area. I was very surprised about that. All the coupons were soaked and stuck together. It is a wooden box and the coupons were not in a ziploc bag. Most of the water runs off of the box but the thick paper soaked up the rain and moisture. ~erik~ was first followed by andymand. andymand beat erik there but erik found it first. I got a hat coupon and got stopped by the cops on the way out. Oh well. Too bad it was not on my side of town.

Congrats ~erik~!

I was number 5. Got there after andymand, erik, and leapgorf with companion.

I posted about the find on the magellan website.

I did want to comment about the hunt a little without them deleting my log or anything.

I am a little mixed about it.

I am glad that at least one vendor is showing interest in GPSrs being used for geocaching.

However, I don't think they have done a very good job of it. The cache in Atlanta is in a National Park. I can tell you there are alot of parks in the Atlanta area and to get it into a National Park....I'd like to know how they chose the spots.

Secondly, if you are gonna put a cache out, it needs to either be waterproof or the contents need to be so. Even if it is to be there for a few days, this is summertime in Atlanta. It rains hard daily (it hailed at my house yesterday).

Thirdly, if the hints aren't really helpful in finding the general area or park it is in, don't even use hints. Just tell people it is in the Atlanta area and we will post coords of where it is randomly within the next 48 hours to 5 days.

Oh well. Like I said at the start of my post, at least they are trying.

Now can they make a GPSr that will read GPX so you can do it all from one device? I can dream.

Congratulation to ~erik~. He is one great hider of caches, so he deserved to have a great find too!

Andymand, tough luck, ready for the next one? Maybe a road trip?

Kenneth

July 12, 2003

I agree in principle with much of what mtn-man and Ken said. Despite being the first to find the Atlanta one, I think I can honestly say there were pros and cons to the way this is being done.

First - I think it's great that Magellan is doing this. Not since the APE caches of two years ago has there been anything quite like this. Thanks Magellan!

However, I think events for geocachers should be done under the supervision of geocachers. Things like coordinates in the wrong format (for the first caches), coupons not in water proof containers, and caches placed in an area under NPS jurisdiction are newbie mistakes. I would respectfully suggest that future competitions like this be done in conjunction with geocaching.com to prevent such problems.

I have to agree with Ken that the "clues" should have had more content. I spent hours trying various keywords in different substitution ciphers before concluding that all the clues did was narrow down the general geograpic area from region, to state, to city.

My hat's off to those who found their cache before the coords were posted, but I would have liked for the clues if deciphered correctly to lead to the cache.

With regard to this cache being on NPS property, well... the map on the Magellan site doesn't show it as such, and if the cache placer is not a geocacher it's an easy mistake. Locals have been placing caches in this area for several years before we (and the NPS) realized it was a no-no. That is why geocaching.com now has local cache approvers, which takes me back to the earlier point that geocaching.com should be involved in competitions like this. (not that I'd want to be faced with having to approve a cache that I'd have to excuse myself from hunting)

My final comment relates to the whole idea of racing to a cache with the first finder taking the prize. I would rather see the finders of the 25 hat coupons all be in a drawing for a grand prize. The APE cache was also a race (I was 6th to that one here); and the first geocaching competition, the Foxhall Challenge with it's $5000 grand prize, was also like that. I don't feel that it should be a race, whether on foot or by car.

All in all a lot of fun though. Thanks Magellan!

~erik~

July 12, 2003

yeah I was a little bummed they posted the coordinates for the Chicago cash right during RUSH HOUR. That killed any chance of most of us here getting to it first.

I would prefer more helpful clues as well. Clues that could be deciphered that slowly allow you to piece together the coordinates. If you're clever and figure out the riddle you might be able to get to the treasure before the coordinates are posted.

As it is the hints simply narrow down the search area to a large area and then the coordinates are posted resulting in one grand race.

Nothing wrong with that approach I suppose but I think figuring out clues/riddles would make it more exciting than simply camping out with a laptop and cellphone and waiting for the coordinates to be posted so you can move on it.

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

July 12, 2003

I've been glued to the computer ever since this thing started, and enjoyed watching the Atlanta one most as it was the closest to me....

I'd love to see the behind-the-scenes on this. Wonder who the cache-hiders are??

Hope we get one closer to the Smokies!

2.3k · July 12, 2003

It's all luck. Whoever is closest to the coords when they are posted will get first find. Hints don't seem to be any help. This is akin to "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world"!

9.4k · July 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Brian - Team A.I.:
Heh. If I'm back in AZ when/if Magellan places a cache there, I should create an impromptu event cache. It's likely there's going to be 50 of us there searching for the cache at the same time anyway....

Brian

Team A.I.

Since there is a better chance of one being placed in Arizona (as opposed to New Mexico) I'll be at that event cache!

Took sun from sky, left world in eternal darkness

1.7k · July 12, 2003

Is anyone else having problem logging into the Magellan website. I keep getting an error message telling me it can't get a secure connection. Didn't have this problem last week.

1.7k · July 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by mtn-man:
Boy, they hid the one in GA in a National Park Service Recreation Area.

They hid it in a National Park Service Recreation Area. As in the same National Park Service that does not allow Geocaching??!!

July 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by TEAM 360:
It's all luck. Whoever is closest to the coords when they are posted will get first find. Hints don't seem to be any help. This is akin to "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world"!

It's not all luck. The person who found the cache in Chicago drove in from Indianapolis and waited in the area indicated by the last clue until the coordinates were posted. (apparently he had a laptop or had someone call in the coordinates when they were posted).

I'm willing to bet he was prepared to stay there all night until Saturday mornning if need be.

Luck is a huge part of of it but apparently dedication and a willingness to do what it takes is part of the game too. A friend and I were planning on donig the same thing Friday night/early Saturday but they posted the coordinates about 10 hours before we expected them to.

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

July 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by magellan315:

quote:
Originally posted by mtn-man:
Boy, they hid the one in GA in a National Park Service Recreation Area.

They hid it in a National Park Service Recreation Area. As in the same National Park Service that does not allow Geocaching??!!

The same.

If you haven't seen what a treasure looked like, then here's a peek: getLogPhoto.asp?id=754

If the image doesn't work for you, you can check the Tierra del Fuego Treasure logs for the shots.

Kenneth

7.2k · July 12, 2003

Yeah magellan315, in an NPS area. You have to drive right past a large NPS sign that identifies the park to access the parking area. It was only 350 feet from the parking area but pretty well hidden. Especially in the dark.

quote:
Originally posted by TEAM 360:
It's all luck. Whoever is closest to the coords when they are posted will get first find. Hints don't seem to be any help. This is akin to "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world"!

You are so right! I just didn't rush to it because I knew I was too far away, but the lure of the cache still got me there in the pitch black of night mixed with the fog off of the river. I was waiting to step on a snake!

2.3k · July 13, 2003

For those interested but unable to get on the Magellan site...heres a picture of me and my younger son with the cache box:

getLogPhoto.asp?id=720

It's the Sunken Santiago box from outside Chicago. Thanks to Nash79 for taking the picture.

Paul.

Remember, wherever you go- there you are!

July 13, 2003

It seems that Magellan did make another mistake on the one for Atlanta. They posted hint 4 as hint 3 (the wording mentioned the coords and they weren't posted yet), then just duplicated the hint again (3 and 4 were the same).

Now they have modified hint 3 to what it should have been. Still no help other than narrowing it to a 30 mile radius of Atlanta (most people consider that the Atlanta area anyhow).

Kenneth

July 19, 2003

First to find in Detroit! Trippy and I represented KKF2A to earn this reward. We narrowly beat out TiminOhio to ensure the locals won out. Thanks Magellan!

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

5.3k · July 19, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Dekaner of Team KKF2A:
First to find in Detroit! Trippy and I represented KKF2A to earn this reward. We narrowly beat out TiminOhio to ensure the locals won out. Thanks Magellan!

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

Cool! Congrats on hitting it first!

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

July 19, 2003

Anyone want to share how to have the coordinates sent to your phone?

Cacheola Mom

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geocaching-HamptonRoadsVA/join

"You have brains in your head; You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...."

Dr. Seuss

4.8k · July 19, 2003

quote:
Please give more details for those of us who can't access the site

quote:
anyone else having problem logging into the Magellan website. I keep getting an error message telling me it can't get a secure connection. Didn't have this problem last week

I posted in another thread on this. Are either of you using a Mac? Try Safari for OSX or Netscape. Apparently that has been working for people. I intend to try Safari tomorrow and will also try Mozilla and then post results in the other thread.

Oh! and the other thread here .

1.7k · July 20, 2003

Carleen, Yes, using a Mac. The funny thing is I could log into the Magellan website until the contest started. Safari allows me to log in, but I can't post.

5.3k · July 20, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Cacheola Crew:
Anyone want to share how to have the coordinates sent to your phone?

You need a friend at a computer watching for the updates...that's how the first finder in Illinois did it.

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

4.8k · July 20, 2003

I just tried out Mozilla and posted about it in this thread.

quote:
Carleen, Yes, using a Mac. The funny thing is I could log into the Magellan website until the contest started. Safari allows me to log in, but I can't post.

I was unable to try Safari (see the other thread). I didn't try posting in Mozilla. I'll go try that now and report back!

4.8k · July 20, 2003

I just checked it. Mozilla allows me to post.

1.4k · July 21, 2003

I can say (with some level of dissapointment) that there was only one grand prize coupon in the Detroit cache.

Dekaner and I put in a lot of work to be first to find on that one. It's not all luck. We planned, lost sleep, scouted areas for a long time and then after initial pre-coords searches came up with nothing, we still decided we were right about the location and staked it out.

It paid off because as the coords went live we were only 400 or so feet from the cache and it was in the field we had searched the night before.

Dekaner got the draw on this one though He checked the tree to the right, I checked the one to the left... his was the winner Ah well! It was a team victory for me, even if there was only one grand prize coupon. (sigh) I can't wait to get my hat though!

It was a VERY thrilling cache and was actually located in a pretty well thought out area. A bit sketchy in the surroundings, but at least they posted it after sunrise so we didn't have to wander around that area in the dark

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time.

1.7k · July 22, 2003

Having sincere doubts any of these will be placed in a backwater like Arizona. They seem to be targeting a demographic, and we desert dwellers are not it.

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898

July 22, 2003

I've heard that some people have gotten their hats from the second place coupons. But, has anyone gotten their grand prize yet? I mailed in my ticket, certified mail, but haven't heard back yet. I'm wondering if they will wait to get them all and then do the drawing, or if they just pick a prize as the tickets come in.

Also, one side note, after the contest got off to a rocky start with the coordinate confusion in California. I spoke with Karen Carbonnet from Magellan and she was really helpful. A follow up story is, that when I got home this weekend, I got a 'care package' from her. She sent me a t-shirt and a first aid kit as a thank you for alerting her to the web site problems. She also included her business card and a nice letter. I'll say this... If more companies would take their customer relations this seriously, they would be a lot better off. So far, I have been a Garmin user just by chance. I have not really had a preference. But, from now on, I certainly have a reason to seriously consider purchasing Magellan products. I figure if they care enough to sponsor a contest for our group, and care enough to make sure that any problems get ironed out, I can care enough to shop for their products.

Ever notice how anyone that caches more than you do is a maniac, while anyone that caches less than you do is an idiot? -Dru Morgan

2.3k · July 23, 2003

Got our hat prize today!

Heres a picture:

getLogPhoto.asp?id=1476

Remember, wherever you go- there you are!

July 24, 2003

Portland, Massachusets and central Florida are the locations for the latest three caches in case anyone wants to know.

Mickey

Max Entropy

More than just a name, a lifestyle.

July 24, 2003

The one in Boston was found about two hours ago. However, the finder realized that he grabbed a hat coupon and not the Grand Prize coupon, so he is most likely breaking all traffic laws as I write this to get back to the cache.

July 24, 2003

I hope they hide one in NY! Long Island doesn't really count as NY...it's kind of like the 3rd cousin. 'I wonder how many Long Islanders are gonna flame me for this'.

When is Garmin going to do something like this? We all know that Garmin eTrex is the best GPSr.

Team Smoke

Magellan Thales / Geocaching Adventures - Prizes!

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