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What Deters You From Looking?


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If any of the previous posts to a geocache that i'm considering going to say "GPS started getting wacky" or "Coordinates unclear due to tree coverage", thats enough for me not to ever go to that cache. I want to be able to use my GPS to find the cache...lol is that too much to ask? I feel like hiding one deep inside some dense forest and invite only the geocachers who's caches I have attempted to find while losing my sattelite connection and getting ripped to shreds by thorns, etc... What would posess you to put a cache somewhere that you can't even get coordinates for due to tree coverage and is it necessary to put them near thorn vines? LOL. :blink:

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Well, call me cheap, but I don't usually go into places that require an entrance fee. Tried to do one yesterday in Frankenmuth, MI, but it required an entrance fee of $16 a head to get in. It's not always this way, just from time to time when there are events going on in this park. Can't even sneak in, it's all fenced with 6 foot high chain link.

 

The school grounds that many others have mentioned are usually no-doers too. Depends on the situation.

 

I love cemetery caches though....... :blink::blink:

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I'd probably stay away from any that had log entries of suspicions of high criminal activity in the area, such as a possible drop zone for "el narcotraficantes", a known area of heavy gay cruising, places with known meth labs, pot being grown (due to boobytraps), or where a bunch of homeless have moved in.

 

Now recruiting a few police officers to caching, who would be willing to periodically go out there in uniform and driving a cruiser - that would maybe let a cache help clean up an area. :blink:

 

Elementary school grounds (or in close proximity) would be another one because of the extreme paranoia in this day and age concerning schools and middle-aged males near the grounds, as someone else posted so eloquently earlier.

 

As an aside on the school issue, I wonder what subjecting children to 12 years of indoctrination with the prison lockdown type environment of today's schools will manifest itself as tomorrows' dysfunctional and damaged young adults when those kids grow up? Stockholm Syndrome, PTSD, phobia and paranoia epidemics, anyone? It does not bode well for the future of our society.

 

Now some place with known physical hazards like terrain, - that would just be a higher difficulty rating challenge and I'd just get the proper equipment and training and go for that kind of cache. In our billiard table flat terrain of the Permian Basin, there aren't any technical climbing type places, and not much more woods than the mesquites - with some exceptions (I hid a series of 5 caches recently in some jungle).

 

A "home-proud" upscale area would probably just take an extra trip or two to do role camouflage, to kind of look the part, and appear like maybe one of the hired help or something, like drive up with "Geo's Lawn Service" on a truck with a big mower in the back.

 

High muggle density around micros in parks is a fact of life in Texas, since such a tiny portion of the land is not privately owned - and until someone reigns in the trial lawyer blight and deluge of frivolous lawsuits most ranchers and farmers can't open up their land to geocaching even if they are geocachers themselves due to liability risk.

 

Heck, I have access to several excellent cache locations - some real "at one with nature" kind of spots - own some of them - and the insurance and defense attorney types blanch at the thought. It's just a sign of the times we live in.

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If any of the previous posts to a geocache that i'm considering going to say "GPS started getting wacky" or "Coordinates unclear due to tree coverage", thats enough for me not to ever go to that cache. I want to be able to use my GPS to find the cache...lol is that too much to ask? I feel like hiding one deep inside some dense forest and invite only the geocachers who's caches I have attempted to find while losing my sattelite connection and getting ripped to shreds by thorns, etc... What would posess you to put a cache somewhere that you can't even get coordinates for due to tree coverage and is it necessary to put them near thorn vines? LOL.  <_<

As far as GPS started acting wacky or to much tree cover, this will not stop me, A GPS can go wacky due to week batteries, this happend to me yesterday, my GPS had cache in an area that made no sense at all, once I replaced the batteries it pointed out the cache, as far as tree cover, when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.

Edited by JohnnyVegas
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About your post:

As far as GPS started acting wacky or to much tree cover, this will not stop me, A GPS can go wacky due to week batteries, this happend to me yesterday, my GPS had cache in an area that made no sense at all, once I replaced the batteries it pointed out the cache, as far as tree cover, when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.

My GPS hasn't had that happen (yet..lol), it's batteries are still new from when they were put in and it's only "gotten confused" every single time I am in woods or even a park that has big trees close together. It of course can't get a signal or keep the signal to the sattelites. However what did you mean by:

when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.
What's a patch antenna and how do I know if my GPS has one? I have the "GARMIN e-Trex Legend" GPS unit (translucent blue one), are you familiar with that one? It seems to be the most commonly used one on the geocaching.com website because whenever I see someone holding their GPS up in a photo, it's usually this exact one or the slightly cheaper model (yellow one) that doesn't have streets and few other options as mine does. Do you know if it has that antenna you speak of? I see so many posts that people lose their signal under tree coverage and can't get it back until you find an open space which sometimes is so far from the cache that you have to estimate how far to walk and in what direction. You never lose your signal like that under trees or anything else blocking you from the sky? I myself never had what you said happened to you where due to your batteries, your GPS led you to where the cache was not located and there wasn't any interference of signal besides weak batteries. Just wondering about that antenna you mentioned. Thanks. <_<
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Which caches do we hunt?

 

Depends on the day and place. Anything that pops up close to home will be attempted eventually, no matter how lame. There is only one unfound (by us) in our 40m radius. It is a multi in a neighborhood we are very familiar with , so it has not been a pressing matter.

 

We try not to be FTF on the local ones anymore, just to give others the opportunity. The exception is any new cache that seems hard.

 

I hate and detest puzzle caches. Unfortunately, I am also pretty good at them. I will rack my brain to be a FTF on a local puzzle cache, but avoid them like the plague when travelling.

 

I hate and detest micros of all sorts. Part of the fun for me is raiding Big Lots and finding cool stuff at other stores. I also look at everything in a cache just like a little kid while CR stands around bored. CR loves micros, especially if you have to be devious to avoid detection to retrieve it. So we have our share of those.

 

Cemetaries? Poison plants? Mud? Risk? Bring it on! When we go out of town to a place with a lot of caches, I have started to check with the locals for advice on which caches fall in the 'ones I want to attempt' list. This past week-end in Raleigh, we were directed to several fun adventures. I have the scratches and bruises to prove it. CR actually has more bruises than me this time <_<

 

All that being said, I would never try to persuade/dissuade anyone from hiding any type of cache. As can be seen from this thread and many others, what is a turn-on for me isn't going to trip everyone's trigger.

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Heavy traffic area

 

We don't need more rules but...

 

Why do many cachers (not only new people) place caches very close to "the action"? <_<

 

Do you think it is because they don't consider how difficult it is to stethly acquire it or do they think that hard core cachers will wait and wait or come at 4:30 AM etc. to reteive them?

 

I will no longer be pursuing those that say "heavy traffic area beware of muggles" etc.

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I think on many of these the hider isnt thoroughly familiar with the traffic pattern of the area. There might not have been much traffic when they placed it, or every time they've been there if they always go at the same time.

 

Opposite might be true also... hider is VERY familiar and knows when it can be had without muggles... and that is for YOU to figure out. <_<

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About your post:
As far as GPS started acting wacky or to much tree cover, this will not stop me, A GPS can go wacky due to week batteries, this happend to me yesterday, my GPS had cache in an area that made no sense at all, once I replaced the batteries it pointed out the cache, as far as tree cover, when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.

My GPS hasn't had that happen (yet..lol), it's batteries are still new from when they were put in and it's only "gotten confused" every single time I am in woods or even a park that has big trees close together. It of course can't get a signal or keep the signal to the sattelites. However what did you mean by:

when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.
What's a patch antenna and how do I know if my GPS has one? I have the "GARMIN e-Trex Legend" GPS unit (translucent blue one), are you familiar with that one? It seems to be the most commonly used one on the geocaching.com website because whenever I see someone holding their GPS up in a photo, it's usually this exact one or the slightly cheaper model (yellow one) that doesn't have streets and few other options as mine does. Do you know if it has that antenna you speak of? I see so many posts that people lose their signal under tree coverage and can't get it back until you find an open space which sometimes is so far from the cache that you have to estimate how far to walk and in what direction. You never lose your signal like that under trees or anything else blocking you from the sky? I myself never had what you said happened to you where due to your batteries, your GPS led you to where the cache was not located and there wasn't any interference of signal besides weak batteries. Just wondering about that antenna you mentioned. Thanks. <_<

The Magellan / Garmin debate will rage forever. All I can say is I have an older Garmin and it can't find a satellite in a paper bag without a remote active antenna. Even then it gets lost in wooded areas (which if we are honest is where we would REALLY like it to work most)

 

I have had almost no signal problems with my Magellan (Meridian Platinum). I can even lay it in the floorboard of my Explorer and it stays synced. The only times I have problems is when the batteries are weak- it DOES make a difference.

 

Still it takes a little time for the readings to "settle down". Almost every time i will walk past the cache about 100' and have to turn around. By the time it settles, it is usually within 25' or so.

 

With experience, you will be able to find MOST caches even with an "error" of 150' or so. Look for "sign".

 

Rated accuracy, with WAAS active, is 15M (approx 45 feet) thus if you get within 100' you can't complain. (hiders unit has similar tolerance)

 

Magellan - Garmin

Big price difference. Big performance difference. I'm glad I spent the money. (Garmin makes higher end units also but I haven't tried them. Satisfied with the Magellan)

 

You will probably hear the opposite story also. That's the way it is.

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About your post:
As far as GPS started acting wacky or to much tree cover, this will not stop me, A GPS can go wacky due to week batteries, this happend to me yesterday, my GPS had cache in an area that made no sense at all, once I replaced the batteries it pointed out the cache, as far as tree cover, when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.

My GPS hasn't had that happen (yet..lol), it's batteries are still new from when they were put in and it's only "gotten confused" every single time I am in woods or even a park that has big trees close together. It of course can't get a signal or keep the signal to the sattelites. However what did you mean by:

when I read this my guess is the GPS being used has a patch antenna, it does make a differance.
What's a patch antenna and how do I know if my GPS has one? I have the "GARMIN e-Trex Legend" GPS unit (translucent blue one), are you familiar with that one? It seems to be the most commonly used one on the geocaching.com website because whenever I see someone holding their GPS up in a photo, it's usually this exact one or the slightly cheaper model (yellow one) that doesn't have streets and few other options as mine does. Do you know if it has that antenna you speak of? I see so many posts that people lose their signal under tree coverage and can't get it back until you find an open space which sometimes is so far from the cache that you have to estimate how far to walk and in what direction. You never lose your signal like that under trees or anything else blocking you from the sky? I myself never had what you said happened to you where due to your batteries, your GPS led you to where the cache was not located and there wasn't any interference of signal besides weak batteries. Just wondering about that antenna you mentioned. Thanks. :lol:

That is why I always carry a compass.

Just find somewhere that you can get a fix and use your compass and pace count to get you where you need to go.

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In general, I don't do virtuals, and I don't do micros, although there are exceptions, depending on who hid the micros. Caches hidden by kids, with bad coordinates, tend to turn me off. There is one near me that I have just ignored until better coordinates are posted, because everyone has said they are off by 60' or more, and it just doesn't seem worth my time. Some theme caches I ignore. One I know of is set up as a DVD trading post, and I don't even have a DVD player, much less DVDs I don't want. I don't do puzzle caches that require me to sit at my computer and solve them. I cache to get away from the computer, not to use it more. In general, I like caches that require a walk in the woods, and give me an excuse to get some exercise. Park and grabs in crowded parks don't do that, and I don't do many of those.

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So far I've been amazed at what I've gone through to get to a cache... stuff I never would have done if not for this hobby.

 

I've hiked up the side of a canyon wall, I've shimmied into a cave, I've tromped into places I KNEW were full of poison ivy, I've fought off spiders and misquitos. Something about knowing it's just around the bend seems to be highly motivational for me.

 

My biggest block would seem to be caches that involvessticking your hands or fingers into holes where you can't see whats in there. I mean if you KNOW the cache is in there, thats sorta okay.. but if you get there and the obvious hiding spot is a hole but you aren't SURE you are right, you may get a completely different surprise then you expected.

 

 

edit: Various typos

Edited by switchdoc
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OP wrote:

What Deters You From Looking?

Nothing. Nada. Nil. Zilch.

Bugs-use bugspray with lotsa DEET.

Poison Ivy- Use a machete or Tecnu.

Playground-Put my clown suit on.

Dangerous Neighborhood-Cache with my LEO buds while they are still in uniform.

They can't all be great, but I wish they were. :lol:

Still won't keep me from looking. :o

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Many micros deter me. Also, I am not too eager to look for ones hidden on the sides of busy highways and in the medians of Interstates.

Snakes, bugs, skunks, and poison oak/ivy do not deter me at all. I like those kind of caches. Throw some hunters in the mix too.

Edited by cacheKidds
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In reply to Shooter206's post in which he/she/them (lol) replied to my post about my GPS getting "wacky" and losing it's bearings in the woods, under tree coverage or under anything really. You said:

That is why I always carry a compass.

Just find somewhere that you can get a fix and use your compass and pace count to get you where you need to go.

 

That's the best and simplest idea I've heard. Can't believe I never thought of that until you said it. I have 2 regular old compasses and we will be taking one with us from now on, thanks so much for mentioning that to me. I will just go back to wherever I had my signals last on the GPS, get the signal back again. Then take out the compass and count my steps in the correct direction until I am where the cache should be and start looking. Now I can finally do all the caches that are in the woods or parks that have a few trees even. I really was getting upset and staying away from those because geocaching is supposed to be fun for me and I found myself getting really upset, coming home empty handed basically after going to 2-5 caches and not being able to get the GPS to keep a signal. There aren't too many caches that are out in the open so I was limited to where I could go. I feel so much better now thinking this compass idea will work, I will try it out soon. Thanks again. :lol:

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The only thing that deters me from looking is any possibility that the coordinates are not correct. Thus, I have to be pretty sure a puzzle solution is correct, and if it's one of those multis where I have to gather the numbers, it had better be pretty unambiguous. I don't appreciate wild goose chases. I went on one recently, and it really peed me off.

 

Other than that, nothing. Playground caches are easy at night with a flashlight. If a cache has DNFs on it and the hider is unfamiliar (or infamous), I'll probably shorten my search time, but I'll still look.

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However, I wholeheartedly agree with Auntie Weasel (who caches the same area) about the schoolyard ones - in this day and age, strange adults do not belong on school property.

I have to comment on this that I've seen over and over in this thread.

I live near a elementary school that has a huge field with a cinder path around it. No caches there, but I always walk my dog and jog there after school hours (and after the kids have gone home), and I'm not the only one.

I won't apologize for it. I pay for the place, I'm going to use the field. Call me strange if you must.

I'd love to place a cache there, but I wouldn't trust other cachers to show enough sense to only go during non-school hours. I hope that's what most people are getting at.

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I'd love to place a cache there, but I wouldn't trust other cachers to show enough sense to only go during non-school hours. I hope that's what most people are getting at.

Oh, no, if you live near a school with a path that people are accustomed to use after hours, I certainly wouldn't feel uncomfortable with that.

 

The sort of ones I'm thinking are often placed by the schoolkids themselves as part of a geography class or something. The teachers who help them obviously haven't thought through what it will look like early on Saturday morning when a scruffy woman is spotted covering up a package at the foundation of the gym. Many of them haven't really cached much, so it doesn't occur to them that I won't walk right up to it but, might instead stumble around in the begonias for a while and smack the topiary, fifty feet away from the spot.

 

Let alone what it would look like for a young man to do any of that. Or during school hours.

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That is a really creepy story drat19!

 

I think it is important to realize that not only are there good times and bad times to visit certain caches, but we should also be aware when a good time becomes a bad time and it is best to split.

 

Last I checked, there were about 116538 caches that I have not found. No single one is important enough to have an unnecessary unpleasant experience.

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That is a really creepy story drat19!

 

I think it is important to realize that not only are there good times and bad times to visit certain caches, but we should also be aware when a good time becomes a bad time and it is best to split.

 

Last I checked, there were about 116538 caches that I have not found. No single one is important enough to have an unnecessary unpleasant experience.

Yeah, and it ceratinly wouldn't have seemed to be creepy when I walked into this nice park. The "creepiness" just, uh, developed as I was going about my business...and I was right in the middle of it.

 

-Dave R.

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Besides illegal caches... I avoid caches near busy roads. I ususally cache with my small children... I have a thing against getting them run over while we look for rubbermaid containers... on the other hand they're great for taking along on all those caches near playgrounds that make so many of you uncomfortable. I also avoid micros in bad parts of town unless I can take my L.E.O. husband with me and leave the kids with a babysitter.... Oh I guess that hasn't happened yet.

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I discovered one more type of cache I will not look for. Today we went off for a brief cache run and came across a fake rock in the rockpile cache. The hint was "under a rock." I stood there looking at the rock field, considered my instability in my hip, the likelihood of losing my balance and falling because of that hip, and how little fun I would have uncovering every rock to find it. Apparently I am a wimp. We did not stay more than a couple of minutes.

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I do not understand why people put a fake rock in a rockpile, or a fake pinecone in amongst thousands of pinecones, or why hiding the thing so cleverly becomes so important. That's why I don't do micros very often - why on God's green earth would I spend hours looking for a roll of paper in something like that? Needles in haystacks just don't do much for me. Maybe some people like them, and are perfectly free to hide and hunt them to their hearts' content, but I just don't have time for that.

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I'm surprised I haven't seen many mentions of caches with active bee hives. Today we ran into our third in a little over a month with a lot of active bees or wasps, and we aren't hard core cachers. Recently my 6 yr developed an anaphylactic reaction after being stung at one cache. Today two of my other kids were stung and I had two bees crawling all over me. One ended up in our van. Four hysterical kids crying and one pretty shook up mother. It's just not worth a trip to the ER.

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I'm surprised I haven't seen many mentions of caches with active bee hives. Today we ran into our third in a little over a month with a lot of active bees or wasps, and we aren't hard core cachers. Recently my 6 yr developed an anaphylactic reaction after being stung at one cache. Today two of my other kids were stung and I had two bees crawling all over me. One ended up in our van. Four hysterical kids crying and one pretty shook up mother. It's just not worth a trip to the ER.

Seems to me those bee hives were either not active, or were overlooked (innocently) by the original hiders at the time of the hide. I'd like to think that no hider would intentionally put a cache in an active bee zone.

 

Future finders need to politely make note of this situation when they log their search/find, so that future searchers can decided whether or not to attempt the cache subsequently, and so that the hider can maintain/move/disable the cache accordingly.

 

-Dave R.

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I discovered one more type of cache I will not look for. Today we went off for a brief cache run and came across a fake rock in the rockpile cache. The hint was "under a rock." I stood there looking at the rock field, considered my instability in my hip, the likelihood of losing my balance and falling because of that hip, and how little fun I would have uncovering every rock to find it. Apparently I am a wimp. We did not stay more than a couple of minutes.

No, you are not a wimp.

 

Read the cache description for one of my caches where I reference that situation specifically (4th paragraph down): http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...7c-0f1e9d4c2e86

 

-Dave R.

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I'd like to think that no hider would intentionally put a cache in an active bee zone.

 

I'd like to think so too, but I've been to some places in my area you wouldnt think someone would put a cache either-

 

Areas frequented by homeless people(hobo camps), riverbanks known for the "trolling", etc....

 

I avoid many just by the general area of the hide- I grew up around here, and just plain know better than to be in some places, especially after dark, etc.....

But, many people search and find these caches, with little or no mention of anything

bad in the area..

 

Just my personal preference I guess....

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I've never seen one, but I wouldn't go to a cache that brought me to a schoolyard.  Some other public places are a deterrent too. 

I felt very uncomfortable looking for a cache that was a stones throw from

a playground. The cache was in a small, thick stand of trees and bushes.

 

Man, I was so scared that someone would see me lurking in the bushes and

think that I was stalking the kids. I got out of there fast.

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I like to use the "Should Be Archived" feature when I find an inappropriate cache (location, safety factors etc) .

 

I think the problem with bees at cache locations is not discovered until cachers starting stomping around bushes disturbing areas near the actual cache.

 

The cache placer never noticed the bees when he went directly to the spot where he wanted to place his cache.

 

I dislike caches in the "Ghetto", caches in residential areas (next to houses) nor do I like caches hidden in trash dumps, unless the requirement is to pick up trash to get credit for finding the cache: Fight the Dumping Dummies

 

Bill,

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Never have we done a garbage cache, never do I hope to do one. I tend to stay away for residental caches, I believe the hiders don't have any imagination for setting up good caches.

How many people remember the caches that are located in a suburb? I don't, the caches I remember are the ones that show me what nature has to offer, not what developers offer in there communities.

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I like to use the "Should Be Archived" feature when I find an inappropriate cache (location, safety factors etc) .

 

I think the problem with bees at cache locations is not discovered until cachers starting stomping around bushes disturbing areas near the actual cache.

 

The cache placer never noticed the bees when he went directly to the spot where he wanted to place his cache.

I agree, I didn't mean to imply that they were aware of the bees. I meant I was surprised others on this forum hadn't mentioned the bee problem with caches. And I did nicely write a warning note for the cache owner and other potential hiders. Unfortunately the nest is quite close to the cache and didn't require much walking around at all to get them worked up. I think I'm starting to hate bees more than snakes! No snakes have attacked us while caching. :huh:

 

The last cache with bees the owner was very good about dealing with the problem. Another one where we saw active wasp nests hasn't been dealt with.

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If anyone would like to recommend a perfect or near-perfect cache I'd love to hear about it.

Oh, goodness. A really high proportion of the ones I've done have been...at least a near-perfect experience.

 

A state park with well-marked parking, an obvious trailhead, a wonderful walk in the wilderness (more than .5 but less than 1 mile each way) and a well-maintained and -handled cache. Add to that the early morning of a crisp, sunny day. My, but it's been a lovely Summer in New England for a mustelid.

 

Ummm...I assume you know your avatar is a big black square?

 

You know.

 

Just saying.

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mainly puzzle caches, i hate having to solve some problem someone with way toooooo much time on there hands created..

 

and snakes!! if the last 10 logs has any mention of snakes being seen near them, or pictures of said seen snake. i wont go anywhere near that sucker!!

 

luckily, so far i have not seen any while out caching, and no i dont always wait untill there several finders, just seems to happen that way alot, some people ahve no freakin life!!! :huh:

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