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Boy, is trying to do that ducks puzzle sideways ever weird! And my research has come up inconclusive. I made two portrait puzzles, one normal and one close to the website’s limits in size. I did not make them the same, but the larger one took much longer to load… but it still ended up the right way. So I don’t know what happened to the ducks.
And I don’t know how Labrat got that photo from the top of the mound at Roche-A-Cri. It is a well-known fact that it always rains (or snows) when he visits Sandland! 😉
Here’s one more puzzle… a photo taken on the Juneau County forest trails south of Highway 21 on County M west of Necedah. We were doing the Bucky Badger series placed by slbens:
This puzzle needs no explanation:
http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=329139837b91
It is also a vertical (portrait) puzzle, and it is showing up as that. I didn’t do anything special to get it that way. I did not use a huge file size of the photo, though. More experimenting to come…
BigJim had that problem, too. I must not have submitted any that were portrait. I do see some on that site, though. Maybe they need to be submitted smaller than landscape ones or square ones do.
Something to play with tomorrow when the craphas is falling. Right now… :sleep2:
Debby, do not feel pressured into signing up for Facebook. The world does not end for people who are not on FB. I am on FB, but you can see that I am still very active on the WGA site. 😉
This site is for ALL of Wisconsin. While we may participate in regional activities, events, and get-togethers, and chat with each other in our local FB geo-groups, this is the site where all of us from around the state can come together to experience geocaching in Wisconsin. Some other states are officially split into regions (Illinois being the one I am most aware of), but if that had been the case here, I might never have gotten to know all of you from the far reaches of Wisconsin… and it was through the WGA website and chatting with everyone that we expanded our geocaching to other parts of the state. When you know other people, even just online at first, it’s fun to do their caches and go to their events.
Just think, if Wisconsin was divided into regions without any WGA… depending on how the state was split, it could be me, jar42, geolivestrong, and Labrat only. Not a bad group to be a part of, but I’m so glad we know cachers from north and south and east and west… and even from north of Highway 64… and all of this is thanks to the WGA website, not Facebook groups.
Here are some scenic ones to try:
LOST FALLS (108 pieces) – near Cornucopia
http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=2ab650b1c474MOUND IN AUTUMN (110 pieces) – Roche-A-Cri SP
http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=2991321ce572RAWLEY POINT (100 pieces) – Point Beach SF
http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=121247255bb1GARDEN PEONIES (117 pieces) – Rosendale
http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=263074290839SNOWY ROAD (204 pieces) – rural Adams County a few years ago
Here’s the newest link from today… in honor of National Puzzle Day and the Thread Stealers:
THREAD STEALERS (130 pieces) can be found at:
@Trekkin and Birdin wrote:
Beat you to it, Pat. At least you got to see the general idea. Now it’s pretty much a pile of shredded duct tape, though the container is still intact. But no fun at all.
Much better than my photo. 8)
Birdin’, I have a photo of the “fiercest” one that you made, but by the time I had found the container, it was a bit mangled. Can’t really tell the shape of it, but the color shows up well. Want me to post the pic here?
One more thing…
Please take into account that many cachers have already found many of the WGA SP caches, so it would not be wise to have something like a stamp/passport program or getting numbers from certain caches as a means to complete a challenge. Those who have already been finding the caches should not have to return to any locations just to complete a challenge put in place after all of the cache publications.
As for some of my input on prizes/awards…
When I saw the original SP series come out in Minnesota, I was really tempted to head on over there to pick up a coin or two. As you can see by our whopping five finds in that state, we never made that trip, but the lure of a geocoin was there.
I like coins and pathtags… such nice “pretties”. I don’t mind T-shirts and hats, but I wouldn’t wear them much, and they would not be everlasting. If geocoins can be sold routinely for around $10, they must cost less to produce, and if the WGA has the funds, as zuma has mentioned, they could be made up and given away at cost to those who completed whatever is decided upon. Most cachers, new and veteran, like geocoins and pathtags.
I do not know what has been discussed with the DNR or any property managers, but in the links that zuma provided to state park caching programs in other states, it appears that their DNRs or DNR-equivalents took part ownership in the programs, promoting them through flyers and on their websites. There would need to be some kind of information readily available to those who check out any websites or who stop in at any park offices or information boards as to what the WGA SP geocaching program is. Many people, even existing cachers, are used to visiting state parks for other reasons, and if they see some attractive information when they are checking things out, this could get them interested.
An information board could also be a location to have the listed coordinates for the state park cache that is in that park, as Birdin’ mentioned in her original post here many, many comments ago.
May I suggest a WGA SP 101 cache? The cache page could be the repository of all the information on the State Park series and any challenges/prizes/awards, etc., information/requirements. It could be the place where the names of completers of any and all levels could be written, and it could contain a PDF check-off list of all the state parks (with or without the cache numbers and coords) for people to run off for their own use. All of the other WGA SP cache pages could have a link to this cache page where any updated information would need to be added only once instead of several times to hit all the various SP cache pages.
Findable as a regular cache at any time during one’s pursuit of the WGA state park caches, perhaps this could be placed close to the entry station/office at Mirror Lake State Park. It is my understanding that the folks there would welcome more geocaches in their park, and with the 2014 campout being held there in May, it might be a starting point for many cachers to discover the WGA and the SP series. Being located in the center of the state and visited frequently by people from all over (it’s near the Dells), it could be a way to reach many of the newer cachers.
A cache close to the year-round staffed building might last longer, and the workers could keep the container filled with the Wisconsin SP pamphlets they have for giveaway in the office already, and maybe some hard copies of the SP lists also, if we would provide them. There is currently no cache anywhere near the entry station at Mirror Lake SP, so if this would be something the WGA would like to pursue, it could be placed fairly quickly.
Just throwing out more ideas to keep Birdin’s original thread hijacked… 😉
Everyone seem seems to enjoy electronic art (like the souvenirs), so maybe the WGA could issue links that cachers can put on their profile pages when they complete a level of SP finds, like the EarthCache medals or the WGA blue ribbons for COTM. No pick-ups or mailings or sizes to worry about, and even those who are less than honorable in their logging would not be getting anything of physical value for their non-efforts.
If there ended up being one overall final challenge cache for those who found a significant number of WGA SP caches, the names of those “achievers” could be listed on the cache page for that. They can be added easily as they complete the challenge.
An idea for a central location for a challenge would be Mirror Lake SP, and getting it out in time for the campout in May. One reservation I would have for that location, however, would be that caches often go missing in the Dells area due to the high volume of visitors, and caches of value are especially vulnerable. It might be wise to involve a long hike with higher terrain for that hide. You would have to really want it to go for it.
Well, one forum gets pretty chatty! 😉
Welcome, and enjoy the fun, todsam!We’ve never done this EarthCache, but we hear that “Valley of the Ice Grotto” (GC1A5D0) is pretty spectacular in the winter.
Many cachers enjoy doing the T5 caches in the winter when there is ice on the lakes (“hard water”), especially if they don’t have canoes or kayaks to access those places in the warm months. Just make sure the ice is thick and take the proper precautions out there.
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