[jim1830]

Well, I think this might have already been brought up, and I just posted something about it on another thread – but someone posted a find on geocaching.com, and wrote something like “I was there, but there were kids there, so I’ll sign the log in the future.” When I posted my find, I wrote – you can’t count it as a find until you sign the log, and they sent me an angry e-mail telling me to stop “bashing” them. Wow. I still am having a hard time with that one. And I’ve seen a few others like that. If someone does that on one of my caches, that gets deleted.

[jim1830]

How about not signing the log at all? I found a cache the other day, and when I got home and logged it, I noticed the previous log said something like “I was there, but didn’t sign the log, and will sign it in the future.” I made a comment about how that probably shouldn’t be counted as a find – hell, I’m going to find all kinds of caches in the future, should I just go log them all now? – and today got a nasty e-mail saying I shouldn’t be “bashing” people. I thought actually signing the log was kind of a basic requirement for counting it as a find?

[jim1830]

I’ve always gone by if you don’t sign the log, you can’t count it as a find. It’s one of the most basic rules there is to this game/sport/hobby/obsession. I’ve had a few times where I couldn’t get the log out – because the container was stuck, or frozen, or something like that, and I log it as a note – and don’t log it as a find until I actually come back and physically sign it.

[jim1830]

Personally, I try to write something unique on each and every cache I log. If I take the time to load up my GPSr, go out and search for the cache, I can certainly take the time to write something interesting. But what will really kill this game, and for once I’m not gonna mention micros, is GC.com constantly crashing, taking 5 minutes to display a page, shutting down all together, etc. I was just getting ready to head out, and the site’s down again and all I get is a “Geocaching.com is down for temporary maintenance” message. I remember seeing something recently that they were going to be down sometime soon for maintenance, but on a Friday afternoon?

[jim1830]

Congratulations Ralph! You continue to inspire me!

[jim1830]

Glad to hear it worked out in the end. I’ve been stopped several times and each time the officer knew all about geocaching and was very friendly. One even offered to help me, as he knew where it was. But I agree – on a trestle is not a good place for a cache, and I’m not sure I would even bother trying it. But then, I’m getting picky in my old age. Couple years ago I would have gone for it 🙂

[jim1830]

I have always liked putting out coins for others to enjoy, and to see where they go, but it seems like lately they move to a cache or 2, and then go MIA. I’ve cut down quite a bit on the number of coins I buy, and haven’t gotten any new ones for months, for that reason. I still have quite a few floating around, and I will almost always pick up coins when I see them in caches to move along. I will still get new coins and keep putting them out there for others to enjoy, but sadly I feel like I’ve been forced to cut back…

[jim1830]

I was in Denver a couple weeks ago, and did the cache the beadelake crew did – that is a good one. One other one I enjoyed, a nice quick one near Cheyenne is Wyoming Wind, GC502A, a virtual. I spent most of my time just to the east of Denver, so most of the ones I planned to do around Cheyenne I ran out of time. I second the notion that the people are really, really friendly – I think 99% of the people I would see on the road waved to me. At one stop a sheriff stopped where I was pulled over and asked if I needed any help – when I said I was geocaching, his whole face lit up in a smile and he wished me luck and said he runs into more and more cachers every day. Enjoy your trip!

[jim1830]

That was an awesome story! I really enjoyed it! And from now on, my Garmin 60CSx is a tricorder!

[jim1830]

Wow, that’s incredible. Congrats!

[jim1830]

I geocache mainly to get out and see new places, and go places I never would have if not for geocaching. I was excited about the numbers at first – I think we all are to start with – but it’s not now, or was it really ever, the reason I cache. Every now and then it’s fun to go out and do a ton in a day, but it’s exhausting (not to mention expensive for gas!) so mostly I don’t worry about the numbers. I’ve taken a number of geocaching only trips lately, where I plan a route, and then cache along the way. I pick caches that sound interesting and are close to my route. Whether I do a ton or a few doesn’t really matter – I just like the trip. I’ve had to take a couple of forced breaks, for several months at a time, due to health issues, so maybe that’s helped keep me from burning out.

[jim1830]

I always log DNF’s. How else is the owner going to know if there’s a problem? For my own caches, I tend to check on them fairly quickly if there’s a DNF. I may have to wait a day, or week, but I will check on it. If no one tells me it’s missing, I won’t check on it, and that might kinda ruin it for the next person. And besides, half my adventures that end in DNF’s turn out to be interesting for some reason or another.

[jim1830]

Congrats! Glad all is going well!

[jim1830]

It depends on the situation – if there’s a group of people near by, watching my every move, if I just walk over to where the cache is hidden, chances are pretty high it’s going to disappear soon after, so I either try to be “stealthy” or more often than not, I’ll just come back later. If they seem more interested than suspicious, I’m happy to tell them what I’m doing – I think I’ve gotten a few people started that way. That said, whenever I’m trying to be sneaky, I have more trouble finding the cache, and if I just act normal and go do it, I don’t have any trouble!

[jim1830]

I will try to place my caches in places that can be approved by gc.com as well, but as I’ve been given some locations that are already pretty saturated, there may be some caches that can’t get approved. We know everyone wants to get their smileys, but last year we didn’t have a lot that were regular caches, and very few people seemed to mind. On the other hand, since a bunch of mine will be near existing caches, for those who haven’t done them yet, it presents an opportunity. And for those who have already done them, like bobcat says, it’s about the place, so enjoy the area!

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