[Team Deejay]

I believe Cheezehead signed up for the “North of Highway 8” discount. Membership fee is 90% off, but all the information is saved in invisible ink.

[Team Deejay]

There is a reason why the location is listed on the cache rescue list. I could throw together a map, but it wouldn’t be dynamic, that is, it wouldn’t indicate additions or deletions until the next version was run.

[Team Deejay]

Wow, I missed it. There is a Firefox version for the Mac (and Linux). You can get the Mac version here.

[Team Deejay]

I would guess “no”. That said, let’s just say they are aware of the issue.

[Team Deejay]

While I certainly appreciate people trying to accurately set the difficulty on their puzzles/caches, I think we will all agree that the vast majority out there do not put much thought into it when creating the cache. And this is understandable. What is easy for one person will be next to impossible for something else (especially regarding puzzles). Some puzzles require local knowledge to discern the solution METHOD, which makes those out of reach for non-locals. There was a puzzle here in my area involving a cartoon that was trivial for those whose kids watched that program (again, and again, and again…) while everyone else had to grit our teeth through mind numbing research on a cartoon show. The bottom line is that a difficulty rating is only as good as those applying it, and the subjectivity of this rating would make it pretty loose and thus not very useful. (I’ve always thought that there were only 2 Hide difficulty ratings needed: One star = I can find it, Five Star = I can’t find it. )

I have heard some rumblings that GS is planning to add attributes for the solve at home/solve in the field differences on puzzle caches. In my opinion, this would add a lot of utility to those who are visiting from outside the area.

[Team Deejay]

That cache is Water’s Edge (GC5235). Unfortunately, several of the virtual stops no longer exist, so are only accessible by internet or library research. The owner is unwilling to adopt the virtual to someone who would maintain it, so I fear this one will eventually go extinct.

[Team Deejay]

I would recommend The Amazing GeoRace series (GC1NF6X). This one (4 4 stage multis with a mystery final) will take most of the day and tour you around the area. As you find each stage, be sure to stop at all the caches you are driving by/stopped near. You will get most of the good ones that way.

Others that are nice are Ceylon Lagoon (GC12Z4E), Captain and Mate’s First Tide (GCVTD1), Not Quite Yerkes (GC1EGPP), and To Grandmother’s House We Go (GCXKJW).

[Team Deejay]

I will note that Alex is only in second place with regard to number of caches on the list. I will leave it as a puzzle to figure out who is in first.

[Team Deejay]

I happen to really enjoy puzzle caches. I like multi caches even more. That said, there are some issues which are not obvious when you don’t see what is happening on the inside. I have seen many new hiders (and even a few experienced hiders) struggle with placing new caches in crowded areas. Certain parks (Telulah Park in Appleton is probably the worst case) do not appear to be saturated, even though they are completely full. This causes new hiders to attempt to place caches in these locations, which obviously get kicked back to them with the instruction to either “find the cache/solve the puzzle or contact the owner to get the coordinates”. As reviewers, we are not allowed to give out the hidden coordinates to other cachers. We try to direct them to a less saturated areas, but it doesn’t always work. I have seen many people who try multiple times to place a cache, eventually giving up and walking away from the game. Who knows how many of these people would have become active players, given the chance to get started with their first hide?

This post got a lot longer than I intended. The main point I wanted to make is that if one of these new people writes you to ask for the coordinates of your puzzle or multi cache, please consider giving it to them. I have done this myself several times with my own mystery caches, even though they are easy field puzzles. Helping these guys get started is good for the longterm health of the game.

[Team Deejay]

Unless people specifically request it, we hunt and find as a team, which means letting others know when the find was made. For me, the goal is visiting and experiencing the area. Spending additional time fighting through a thicket or crawling through a juniper bush after the cache has been located doesn’t enhance the experience for me.

[Team Deejay]

I think that for signal acquisition under cover, the 60CSX/76CSX series are pretty much the gold standard. I can get a strong signal in park shelters, quonset huts, my basement, etc. I pretty much only lose signal in a large metal building. I would think the Oregon/Colorado would be roughly equivalent.

I think the Delorme units standout on the quality of the maps. They allow you to have satellite photos, real topo maps, and other nice images for their maps. If this is meaningful to you, maybe you can try one out in the woods to see if it meets your needs.

I can definitely appreciate why you would want the nice maps. I was playing with the GPS on my Iphone (talk about lousy signal quality under cover) and was tracking on the Google satellite photos. Pretty neat and a very nice way to scope out parking coordinates, road changes, and the like. But I would never use it to find or place a cache. The signal is just too unreliable.

[Team Deejay]

@sandlanders wrote:

@jerrys dad wrote:

I’m wondering how this series made it on to the COTM Honorable Mention bookmark list and its not the end of the month!

(I noticed it a few days ago)

If a cache is nominated (win or lose), it makes it to the COTM Honorable Mention list. After the end of the month, if the series wins, I would imagine that the HM will be replaced with the COTM notation. “Battleship” was nominated; therefore, the least it could be is HM.

Woohoo! Someone is actually looking at my bookmark list!

[Team Deejay]

I don’t expect the owner to be watching that close to immediately disable the cache. This has nothing to do with the owner at all (other than inconveniencing them).

It has to do with people stating “I took your cache container because…” in their log. This causes many more problems than it solves. Just restore and rehide the cache as best you can. This way, the owner can just take a new logbook to the container and adjust it as necessary, rather than needing to hunt down the other cacher to get his container back. The only exception would be if the container was destroyed to the point of being unusable (burned in a forest fire, cut by chainsaw or lawnmower, etc.) as a trash removal. Even then, it would be courteous to take the removed container to the owner’s home, as there may be parts of the logbook that are recoverable.

You will also notice that I didn’t mention any cache or cachers by name.

[Team Deejay]

I carry the same knife as the Balks. Julie found it on the ground while we were hiking the John Muir trail in the KM.

[Team Deejay]

I will always add logs or bags when needed and POSSIBLE. When finding a wet log, it is often very difficult to fit a new log in without it becoming wet as well. What I have done once in a while is to place the wet log in a new bag and hide it somewhere nearby, emailing the owner. In all the cases where I have done this except one, the cache has then gone missing eventually, with people claiming a find for finding the bag with the wet log, so I’m not sure this is such a good idea.

I think the real answer is that you should only place the number of caches that you are able to maintain well.

[Author]

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