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We have 49 travel bugs and geocoins out in the wild; only 9 have been logged since the beginning of summer. It doesn’t bother us, we expect them to eventually disappear. For us it’s almost like “How far and how long can this one last before it goes missing?” Of those remaining nine, one each are from 2010, 2011, 2012, & 2014, and five are from 2013.

My advice to those putting out trackables is that if they expect them to last a long time, get ready for disappointment. You have to “let it go.” If they do happen to last a long time, it’s an unexpected blessing. However, if one places a trackable with the mindset that it is eventually going to disappear, you can have fun with each one while they last, plus it enriches the game for others when they find your trackable in a cache.

We always give the trackables a mission, always post a picture of them, 😉 and always check the box that they are NOT collectable. The mission for many of them concludes with “…and return to SW Wisconsin by 2016” or something like that. Many of ours have traveled in Europe, and some have made it to Africa & South America.

We release several every year and will continue to do so. Every once in a while, one that we considered “lost” will reappear after a year or two of being off the grid. It’s especially fun to receive those notices!

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Congrats on #5,000 Mr. & Mrs. Froggerz! We didn’t even know about this cache but it is certainly on our radar now.

And to think we’ve known you since before you even found #4,900… time flies!

8)

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Ostermi welcome to the WGA! As you’ve already discovered this is a happening place to share ideas and get info. Mention my name and your first year’s dues will be free! 8)

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@Mister Greenthumb wrote:

@hack1of2 wrote:

@Mister Greenthumb wrote:

Just to let everyone know, this was my idea. The only secret is where the cache that Sunshine and I hid is. No one else knows. I’m not sharing the location with anyone, but for enough money it probably could be yours. I offered to make this happen as a new fun event for those who attend. I assumed that because it was announced that it was happening so that those without smart phones could possibly team up with someone who did. The coordinates will be posted shortly after publication for everyone else at the event.

Bill I have something better than money. If you tell me the coordinates ahead of time I’ll do a professional photo shoot of you at GC57FMW. I’ll give you until tomorrow to decide. 😉

I like your offer John and would take you up on it, but I don’t think you have a camera with a big enough lens.

Oh very nice!

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@Braid Beards Gang wrote:

Devil’s Advocate hat is now on:

There have been rumblings that people avoid the WGA and its events because they have the feeling of a high school cafeteria where all that matters is the ‘cool kids’. There are some that feel that the WGA and its membership are not very welcoming. This idea of a group FTF may be really fun and exciting idea for the picnic to the “cool kids”. Those who do not visit these forums/facebook or have notifications sent to their phones may just feel more like an outsider.

A couple of thoughts. First, I don’t know if this will be a “group FTF.” That was talked about as a possibility, a la cache bash evening event where a new cache is announced for all to find that night at the same time. Group FTF for 50 or more (or group argument). Instead, the cache is being published at an unannounced time, at an undisclosed location, and possibly one or only a few may be near when it “goes live.” Granted, the newbies probably don’t get text notifications of new caches. As well as many seasoned cachers who don’t chase FTF’s. But its something new that will appeal to some and not to others. Point taken though.

As for the clique thing, Kim and I haven’t really noticed it as much, but then we’re generally more outgoing than some, and are seemingly drawn to the beginner or the “wallflower.” Still, if I am oblivious to the level of the clique thing and there are those who feel left out, then I would say their perception is probably more accurate. Nobody likes being shunned or not valued. Truth be told I don’t see it much at WGA outings, if anything more at Wild Bunch gatherings, because they occur much more frequently. But even Wild Bunchers are generally fun loving people persons that I think intend to welcome everyone, but they have their limitations like we all do when it comes to group dynamics. I think it’s heartwarming when I see a Wild Bunch post almost weekly with an open invitation for ANYONE to join up on some type of outing. Their gatherings or outings don’t seem like secrets to me.

All we can do, collectively and individually, is to try to reach out to those who are new or unfamiliar to us, or new to geocaching. Human nature being what it is, there’s always probably going to be some of that clique thing going on. I would imagine people want to see their friends (but hopefully not at the expense of encouraging others). Certainly not a reason to not schedule events, but something those with social awareness should be aware of. Thanks BBG for bring up the tough subject and making us think.

Chris any suggestions for improvement?

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@Mister Greenthumb wrote:

Just to let everyone know, this was my idea. The only secret is where the cache that Sunshine and I hid is. No one else knows. I’m not sharing the location with anyone, but for enough money it probably could be yours. I offered to make this happen as a new fun event for those who attend. I assumed that because it was announced that it was happening so that those without smart phones could possibly team up with someone who did. The coordinates will be posted shortly after publication for everyone else at the event.

Bill I have something better than money. If you tell me the coordinates ahead of time I’ll do a professional photo shoot of you at GC57FMW. I’ll give you until tomorrow to decide. 😉

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@beccaday wrote:

Hey John, could I cut and paste your post for the newsletter? Looks like a nice, thorough story.

As for how I organize my photos, I have folders for every month of the year. I dump photos on to the computer often so they just go into a folder named for the event into the monthly folder.

That’s essentially how I organize my photos too.

And sure, you can copy/paste away.

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@Trekkin and Birdin wrote:

Are there more efficient approaches? I don’t want to just dump a whole SD card onto a site, either.

Like BBG said, it’s a great way to combine the two hobbies of photography & geocaching. I take a picture of almost every cache, even the lame ones. And like Sandlanders mentioned, I don’t post spoilers.

Why take/post pictures with my logs? 1. It’s a journal, going on 5 years now, of many, many adventures. 2. Pictures are my field notes. I’ve noticed some people I cache with write notes in the field in a small notebook on the caches they found so when logging them they won’t miss any and can presumably recall essential details. I essentially do the same with pictures. Every cache (usually) and every waypoint. It helps me to recall the cache, and more importantly the adventure, both when writing the log online, and years later. It only takes a few seconds to take a picture; it doesn’t have to take up a bunch of time to digitally capture that memory. BTW I also use the field notes feature on my GPSr to keep cache finds in order. 3. Very handy for when I get those PAF calls. 4. It’s a thank you to the cache owners so they are able to see pictures of the adventure that they helped create. Sometimes I’ll email the CO a fun spoiler picture of their cache that I cannot post with my log.

As far as organization goes, here’s what I do. I upload the pictures to a folder on my computer. I have a general geocaching pictures folder for each year. They go in there unless it was many pictures from an outing. If many pictures (let’s say 25 or more) then I create a subfolder (e.g. “Geopicnic 2014”). By organizing them by year and sometimes by topic they’re easy to locate at a later date. After placing them in a folder I use photo software (see below) to delete some, possibly rename all, and possibly resize a copy of those that are to be uploaded online (to 600 pixels wide for optimal fast uploading). While logging my experiences online I’ll switch back and forth to seeing the pictures and upload the pictures immediately after sending the log.

The software I primarily use:
1. Faststone Image Viewer: My main “workhorse” default photo program. It’s free, it’s awesome, and I’d buy it if I could. My top recommendation to others. Quickly see thumbnails of all pictures, double click to see single fullscreen image, batch rename (Highcliff_001, 002, etc.), batch timestamp adjust, simple interface, numerous editing tools. The only minor drawback is that it won’t batch resize (only does one at a time). For resizing multiple images with one click they have the Faststone image resizer (also free). Why not combine them into one program?
2. Photoshop Elements: When I’m serious about editing with precise or creative controls. $79-$99. I use it often. But it’s not for everyone. A bit of a learning curve but not too bad. You can do almost anything with it.
3. ACDsee: It does everything great. Sort of a combination of the other two, it’s a photo organizer, it has more editing tools than Faststone and almost as many as Photoshop. It batch converts size, exposure, format, etc. But does cost $29-$129 depending on the version.

I often try to take a non-spoiler pic for posting and a spoiler pic that I won’t post; again those are my field notes. It should also be noted that we’re more into adventurous caches. If we were more numbers driven and looking for mainly park & grabs and powertrails (not that there’s anything wrong with those), then taking pictures at each wouldn’t be happening.

Kind of a bottom line summary after all of these ramblings: Take some pics on the trail, maybe quickly resize or rename if you want to (with Faststone Image Viewer?) when putting them in a folder in your computer, and upload if deemed appropriate. If you make your routine too complicated however, you may never get around to it.

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We’re headed there in 4 weeks.

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This one is from the final for the Meet the WGA series GC4NBQC:

Mrs. Hermit’s aunt came into town this weekend. She had heard some about geocaching from friends back home and wanted to find out more about what it was about. The WGA hides seemed to be a pretty good representation of what geocaching is about, so we decided to take her and Grandmother Hermit out to Wirth park to explore. Last stop for the day. We couldn’t just leave this one hanging out there unfound. Mrs. Hermit and I were able to make a quick spot of it, so we gave the hint to the newbies and set them off to find it on their own. One of them was literally within 3 inches of it at one time and didn’t realize it. (gotta give it a favorite just for that experience alone. Nice work!) Eventually we gave them another nudge and they figured it out. Very fun to watch! They enjoyed the series immensely and it sounds like the aunt is going to join her friends back east on some caching adventures of her own. We may have a convert here! Great set of caches! Thanks for the efforts to set them up. Well done!

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That’s such good news to hear that she was able to stand up! I had this vision that she was in a coma on a breathing machine and didn’t know how she was doing. Kim and I pray for a full recovery and are glad to hear you’re able to be transferred!

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Last year we had the pleasure of pursuing with WisJanine one of Goldiedigger’s very fun multicaches that required us to drive from waypoint to waypoint since the stages were often miles apart, road rally style. Most of the waypoints had plastic dolphin containers with the next set of coordinates.

At one stop on a rural road alongside a field, we had a friendly visit from a nice sheriff who offered his help when he saw us pulled over on the side of the road. [Historical note: WisJanine’s first geocaching encounter with an officer, our 8th or 9th – welcome to the club!] We told him we were on a scavenger hunt looking for a plastic dolphin and he said “OK good, you found it,” and off he went. 🙂

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All gone. 8)

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Here’s the GSAK version using Google Maps:

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Sweet!

Thanks, that’s exactly what I was looking for!

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