[Ashen15]

@Thraxman wrote:

141 finds and you consider yourself a rookie? 🙂

I look forward to seeing your series when it is ready. Local landmarks are, in my opinion, great things to base a cache on.

Haha I guess I don’t know where the line is out of noobness.

And thanks. We have some work to do tracking down coords of the full creek and watershed from the map and seeing if we need to submit paperwork but we’re looking forward to the process. It won’t be too phenomenal. 😳

[Ashen15]

@RSplash40 wrote:

One of the observations I’ve made is that a few people who have stopped caching were in part (or whole) upset about something said on these forums.

The forums are great but with all the personalities, tone and non-verbal cues behind their statements taken out of the posts it can lead to a lot of misunderstanding.
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@Thraxman wrote:

Over nearly 10 years of caching (I think my first find 10th anniversary will be on the 25th of this month), I have found just 310 caches. I hit 300 a little over a week ago. I never really burned out, and if you look at my number of finds, you will see why. I cache only when I think it will be fun.

I imagine that if I would start playing the “Numbers Game”, I’d burn out pretty quick, and would really start to regret the sport. I could easily hit 30 or 50 caches in a day, but I know from experience that I would quickly tire of chasing down micros in small city parks. .

This is kind of OT but since both of these replies are posted here I’m going to combine them and comment.

As a member of the “MTV generation”, a prior online gamer, and a member of an over a decade old wife support site for my husband’s profession, and a member of forums for various hobbies I’ve seen what the internet can do to destroy relationships across all types of online and “real life” socialization. I’ve lurked mostly on these forums and I’ve observed some “spats”. Oftentimes on other forums I know those occur between a few strong personalities and/or people that get along with one another and can be viewed differently from a newbie or outsider than the core group. If something hurts your feelings online, get over imo.

At the same time, I see people constantly comment that they don’t play the numbers game yet as soon as a problem cacher or CO is encountered that doesn’t have a large number of finds, it is one of the first criticisms thrown out. What motivation does that give a person to keep going or do maintenance? It was nice to see Thraxman’s post. I’m only a year into caching and we have a 141 finds but we’ve enjoyed every single one and incorporate it into camping trips, drives to see family, etc. I understand I’m still a rookie. I plan to do a series soon based off an interest in a local landmark but wonder if I’ll be torn apart here at some point just for placing caches (I don’t intend them to be PNGs or w/o a purpose). I can see new players avoiding the forums (and events) and the game due to “divas”.

I’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful, helpful people from these forums help me get started, find equipment, etc. I’ve been fortunate not to encounter any issues personally. No one likes to hand hold in anything but maybe less burnout would occur at the veteran level if more tolerance was shown towards newbies and maybe more people would stick caching out with some mentoring of sorts. If you pay for a premium membership you have the ability to sort out things you don’t like on PQ. It isn’t a fail safe to avoid caches not to your taste but for people who do enjoy numbers, people with small kids, people without a lot of time, etc. PNGs and quick caches can make the game for them.

[Ashen15]

We were still using pen and paper. Can’t wait to do this paperless this year!

[Ashen15]

@Mister Greenthumb wrote:

@Buy_The_Tie wrote:

@Mister Greenthumb wrote:

We did some bike trail caches yesterday…

Where?

At the west end of the Wild Goose Trail in Clyman. The caches were the Happy Trails Series.

Eek! Good to know as my 4 year old niece is tackling that trail. Feel better soon!

[Ashen15]

@Lostby7 wrote:

@Ashen15 wrote:

I was told by my dermatologist to use peroxide to make them back out when embedded.

Glad I don’t use your Dr. But if you cannot get them out by traditional means I guess the alternative is that or the Drs office. My guess is that if they are imbedded that far the damage has already been done…then you need to decide if you want to follow up with shots…Lymes is no party.

The peroxide makes the tick back out on its own. The tweezers is to get it off my skin. It beats “traditional means” of yanking it out.

As for shots, there is debate in the medical world about how long it takes for Lyme to transmit, which is why you keep an eye on the spot.

[Ashen15]

I’ve had a heck of a year and a half with ticks starting last summer! I was told by my dermatologist to use peroxide to make them back out when embedded. I keep peroxide and a tweezers handy for all camping, airsoft, and caching adventures.

I’ve definitely found them on gear and in the car days later. We now leave everything in the garage, including clothes before “detox.” Make sure to use bug spray, especially at the openings of your clothes.

Keep an eye on any areas where they embed and watch for a red ring and/or irritation at that spot. If that occurs head to the doctor.

I also learned the hard way to wash my hands thoroughly before doing a tick check as its one heck of a way to spread poison ivy. 🙁

I had one latch onto my earlobe like an earring last summer. 😯

[Ashen15]

They have to pick up the Smart Phone market somehow. A lot of people I know that fish, golf, cache, etc. use their phone and would never consider picking up even a low end GPS.

[Ashen15]

@Todd300 wrote:

I hate you guys for living in a cache rich area…lol..maybe I should move to West Bend someday – lol.

My mom and inlaws live there and we just turned on the c:geo app. yesterday when we were in town. I just can’t believe how the map explodes! Driving through, I know a cache is there, there, and there and we never get a chance to just have a cache day in WB. I shouldn’t complain. Janesville has plenty to keep us busy. 😀

[Ashen15]

We have had quite a few logs we haven’t been able to sign due to not having a pen, wet logs, etc but we always have a camera and I wouldn’t log something if we don’t have a picture of someone holding the container.

[Ashen15]

Oh another comment I caught on the Facebook post was when people cache in large groups and then a cache gets 5+ entries by each individual of “Went caching today with, a, b, c, x, y, z…” and then the next person reposts “Went caching today with, “a, b, c, x, y, z,” etc. That seemed to get a lot of feedback. I only have one PNG micro so honestly I’m just happy when its found. I wish more people would elaborate on the exploits of my TBs.

[Ashen15]

I’m just north of Janesville and would be interested in at least a meet and greet! 🙂

[Ashen15]

I browsed the pages on this topic but didn’t read every single reply, so my opinion might be redundant.

The geocaching Facebook had a status update with this as the subject not all that long ago and one of the comments that struck me the most was something like, “People are actually complaining about someone saying thank you these days, in any way, shape, or form?”

[Ashen15]

My better half is a LEO and its been a horrible, horrible year for those behind the badge and their families. Guns, radios, and backup haven’t saved over 50 officers from dying (a number not far behind the number of military deaths in Afghanistan) and an even greater number from getting hurt. The attitude was certainly not necessary, professional, or appropriate but everyone has bad days. Both of us will agree that there are plenty of jerk cops. My husband opted for a physical search by TSA on every leg of our flights this past week and even knowing exactly what they were doing and why he said he felt like a criminal afterwards. I get jumpy every time a squad is behind me. I think its part of human nature.

Departments get faxes and e-mails from Homeland Security, the FBI, etc. almost daily with things going on and who knows what “intel” he’d been passed that day or recently.

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Most officers I know hand out their business card after any interaction (unless the department isn’t paying for them which is common) but you can always ask for one and contact a superior. Just use judgement and compare it to any bad experience you have with a bank teller, grocery store bagger, or customer service rep. before you make the decision to make a complaint.

[Ashen15]

@sandman4182 wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to calibrate the compass for either the C:geo or the Groundspeak caching app please..

I checked how accurate both apps were and they were both off I place cache down the road from my house and I pulled that cache up on both apps and the groundspeak app sait it was .58 miles from my house with a accuracy of 2.33 miles theres no thats right my oregon 550 says its 250ft from my house. and the c:geo app says its .60 miles. well I guess that kinda god that there close but yeah. Even when I walked to the cache the distance didnt even moveit stayed the same on both apps. HELP.

Im glad I dont have this problem with my blackberry trimble app I love that app

All 3 GPS units I have (I think), phone included whether I’m in an app or not, prompt me to wave it in a figure 8 pattern for a few passes with my arm extended. This has worked every time and if I’m having accuracy issues I give it a quick wave as well and let it settle back down.

[Ashen15]

Besides having issues when surrounded by a giant rock waterfall in Puerto Rico, my 62s hasn’t lost a signal in some extremely isolated hiking areas (used for a MOB when we haven’t been caching). I asked questions at quite a few stores and on several forums before deciding between the two and in the end the recommendation about the antennae made the decision for me.

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