[Jeremy]

@greyhounder wrote:

That Fright Hike sounds cool! And I might be able to go on Saturday night. Anyone want to maybe come with me?

If you are too frightened to do this alone Bec, ThePharmGirl and I should be there Saturday night… probably early like 6 or 7. We can hold your hand and tell you to close your eyes when the scary parts of the hike are encountered. 😀

[Jeremy]

@Lostby7 wrote:

If you have time and desire afterwards, the Fright Hike is going on at Lapham Peak from 6-9 p.m. both Friday and Saturday night…

Thanks for the heads up Gary… I wasn’t even aware that an event like that took place at Lapham. Here is a link to a FAQ about the event:

Fright Hike FAQ

Might be nice to do a little night hiking in addition to night caching and see if any ghosts (like the would-be geocacher or Elvis!) are out…

[Jeremy]

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

You sold me on the imitation hard enamel.

Jim, we will also be offering a limited edition that arrives in a leatherette pouch, is encrusted with cubic zirconia, plated with fools gold, and comes complete with a certificate of authenticity from the Franklin (Guangzhou, China) Mint. (NOT! :))

[Jeremy]

There are all kinds of state statutes describing how a cemetery must be run. Even one saying you can’t drive a snowmobile across a cemetery without permission. 🙂 But I don’t see any statutes requiring that you not be in them after dark either.

So I think it would be up to the individual cemeteries to make such a rule. I worked in a municipal cemetery (summer job) that had many rules about placement and size of markers, types of plantings, care of grave sites by individuals, etc. but I don’t remember anything stating people could not visit after dark. There were no “visiting hours” posted either.

[Jeremy]

Sometimes (especially if you plug the adapter into a different USB port or reinstall the drivers) a different COM port is assigned to the USB to serial adapter. If you have other choices (COM2, COM3, etc.), try them. If you go to Control Panel -> Device Manager -> Ports, you should be able to see whether the USB to serial adapter was found and the COM port number assigned to it by Windows.

Also, a program can grab access to the COM port and not release it, which prevents GSAK from using it to download. One program that does this is the Palm HotSync manager when the “Local” sync type is selected. I’ve also seen other programs do it, so if you have anything else running that could possibly use the serial port, shut them down.

Finally, you could have accidentally changed the serial port communication settings on the eTrex itself, but they are so buried in the menus that I highly doubt it. If you want to check this, the interface type should be set to “Garmin”.

[Jeremy]

The grammar police strike again… the name of this forum has been changed to EarthCache to fit the guidelines. All old posts with Earthcache, earthcache, and earth cache will be grandfathered in. All new posts should use the new EarthCache spelling / capitalization or you run the risk of being arrested, interrogated using “cruel” techniques (waterboarding, tickle torture, etc.), and thrown in jail for life by the grammar police. 🙂

[Jeremy]

I saw that article too Laurell and it looks like a great spot to visit (though I hope the area does not become too popular now and is not inundated with visitors that destroy things).

Here is a link to a trail map:

http://www.thebutterflystore.net/MonarchMap%5B1%5D.pdf

This page shows the historical arrival and departure dates of the butterflies… usually they take off in the middle of September so you’d have to act fast.

http://www.thebutterflystore.net/county%20grounds.html

The parking lot starting coords would be:

N43 02.773 W88 01.978

There are actually no caches along the butterfly trail, but there are some in Hansen Park to the north.

[Jeremy]

Now that you mentioned inclement weather it IS going to rain. Thanks a lot. 🙁 😡

The shelter capacity is 100, so not everyone will fit. However, it does provide a nice dry place for the registration and the food.

Most likely the enclosed Evergreen Shelter will be open (definitely the bathrooms will be, but I’m not 100% sure about the side with the tables… we will ask the rangers to do this), so that would provide a second place to hang out.

We could allow folks to hunt the temp caches longer on Sunday morning before picking them up. We’ll “play it by ear” as to weather (oops whether) this is necessary.

[Jeremy]

I would not let the fact that you don’t have a newer GPS keep you from hiding caches. The Garmin 12s are plenty accurate, and I used one to hide my first half dozen caches (plus find maybe my first 200). When I went back later to with new equipment, my original coordinates taken with the 12 were almost dead on (10 – 20 feet).

Now if you are going to hide a nano is heavy tree cover maybe it won’t give accurate enough coordinates for some folks. But if you hide a nano in the middle of the woods you’ll probably hear complaints about other things other than the coordinates as well. 🙂 A container along the lines of your GC17H0R doesn’t need very accurate coordinates so you might want to hide something like that. 😉

[Jeremy]

For those too lazy to seek it out their own, here is the direct link to the Cache Ba$h photo album:

Cache Ba$h Photo Album

Also, the album should be set up to accept additional photos from any user, so please share any photos you may have of the event. If you run into problems uploading photos, let me know.

[Jeremy]

Gary, is it OK to get phone a friend help during the race, or is it technically cheating? 🙂

Cob Wall, Willy Street Co-op
1221 Williamson St, Madison, WI
N43 05.012 W89 21.835
http://www.willystreet.coop/cob_wall

[Jeremy]

I have disabled the auto spelling check feature via SpellingCow.com until they resolve their problems. The cow appears to be sick and is choking on words it thinks are misspelled. So post away Gary…

[Jeremy]

@zuma wrote:

I think it is obvious that the Chamber folks did a lot of grunt work on this as well, and were at the same time smart enough to listen to the advice of the expert cachers in their community, and worked cooperatively to pull off a first class event.

The efforts of the West Bend Chamber of Commerce cannot be understated. The amount of time and money they invested in this event was incredible. They also truly wanted to understand what geocaching was all about, and were serious about building an event that would be “first class”. The fact that the final count will likely show that this event was nearly twice as large (based on attendance) as any other Wisconsin / WGA geocaching event held to date is evidence of their incredible work.

Also be sure to check out the photo slide show in the news article… 🙂

@zuma wrote:

And congratulations to all the teams that found all 51 caches. Our team found “only” 45, but I know that there were quite a few folks who found em all. So congrats to the teams that found em all.

Ralph, I’m sure you would have found them all if you would have gotten your Nuvi loaded properly at the start of the event. I know I promised we’d be able to handle this, so I apologize to all the Nuvi owners who spent way more time than they should have in line rather than out finding caches. Our download crew has learned from this experience and will do better with them next time.

[Jeremy]

@geocharger wrote:

I know this was answered a little indirectly already, but I have a few questions as a new cacher to an event like this.
1. How do we get the coords specifically downloaded into our GPS’s? I have a Magellan…
2. Will there be any way of knowing generally where we are going initially or the level of difficulty for the caches? I know that the GPS will give you some information but will we just need to rely on that?
3. How will we be able to keep all these permanent caches a secret if there are 400 caching teams seeking them at the same time?
4. Will there be a long line for downloading caches initially?
5. How does coin trading, etc. work?
Thank you for any responses you can give!

1. I believe we can handle all Magellans that can be downloaded to. If you have concerns about a particular type of unit, send me a Private Message or email.

2. You will receive a booklet with complete information on all the caches, including difficulty / terrain ratings. For those without autorouting GPS units, a paper map with the caches plotted out will be available (I admit that it is not the greatest but it should get you close). Your goody bag will also contain a very large street map of West Bend and road map of Washington County, so you shouldn’t get lost.

3. Be very stealthy! 🙂 There is a chance that some curious muggles may notice the activity and take a cache or two, but that could happen even if an event were not taking place. West Bend city officials, police, etc. are well aware of the event and the fact that geocachers will be out and about, so there is no need to be stealthy to avoid having to explain yourself to the law. (Though you still need to obey the laws when it comes to parking and such!)

4. I sure hope not. If there is, I will probably be shot. 😀

5. There will be no official coin or trackable items trading table at the event. I’m sure some ad hoc trades will take place during the Friday night social event (GC1CDJ6 Drink and Think and Coin Clink) and following cache hunting on Saturday.

[Jeremy]

Gary is right, it is duh-lore-um (silent e).

Which is actually true to the original French pronunciation and spelling:

de L’Orme

If you want to hear it pronounced, there is an audio clip in this online dictionary entry:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/de%20l’orme

Que veut-dire “l’orme”? 🙂

[Author]

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