[Team Deejay]

For those interested, we had 65 attendees, including the volunteers. It was really too many people for the number of GPSrs and volunteers we had available (about 10-11 people per volunteer) and most of the volunteers only brought a single GPS. (The DNR provided 1, and it was apparently last used somewhere far away, as we had found 2 caches before the unit recalibrated and the satellites locked in.) But even so, everyone seemed to have a good time.

And yes, Decdogg, all the caches were there when I picked them up. Apparently someone camouflaged the fake rock with a leaf, which made it a bit more difficult. If I were to do this again, I would change that cache anyway (just too frustrating for beginners), and probably add 3 or 4 more caches to prevent groups from running into each other so much.

Finally, thanks to all the volunteers who showed up. I know that nobody expected to be herding that many beginners around the woods, but you all did a great job. Thanks again!

[Team Deejay]

Actually, Groundspeak is rather notorious for getting the activation codes mixed up. Just contact them and get the code.

[Team Deejay]

Anyone who wants to load the temporaries can get a loc or gpx file at

Link

Also, if anyone has Magellan cables, please bring them. I only have Garmin cables.

[Team Deejay]

I have an Auntie Ock who lives in Indiana, does that count?

[Team Deejay]

Not sure who is putting this on, but its not me. I’m doing the Kettle Moraine one on the same day.

[Team Deejay]

@North Star Seekers wrote:

Sorry to be an idiot, but I can’t find that link. Can you give me another hint as to where it is? Thanks

I think you are referring to the old Buxley’s Site, which can be found at

http://www.brillig.com/geocaching

This site depended on regular scavenging of the geocaching.com site, which is against their terms of service. In January of 2006, the Buxley’s site was cut off from the geocaching.com website. I suspect that the “new” maps are the result of people complaining loudly about the loss of the Buxley’s site. This has happened to most other sites which depend on grabbing lots of data from the website.

[Team Deejay]

@steveherrick wrote:

How much is a starter kit? Maybe I need some GPS coordinates, but I don’t see a price anywhere.

$99 plus shipping. You get the setup fee, 50 tags, 4 clips, and a pouch. Additional tags are between $0.85 and $0.99 each, depending on how many you buy.

[Team Deejay]

Jay left out one important point. If you want to download GPX files, you need to be a premium member. If you don’t want to pay to be a premium member, you can still download a LOC file. This also contains the cache name and coordinates, but that is about it. You would still need to print the cache sheets out (or have a good memory.) Both GPX and LOC files work with Easy GPS and GSAK.

[Team Deejay]

@EnergySaver wrote:

A QUESTION … Do you think these things have enough “collect-ability” that I worked with my local state park for them to have one made representing that specific park, and they then sold them in the gift shop as an individual item … would people (such as geocachers) potentially buy one? I suspect the main point of these items is to get a set made and give them away … so I’m not sure how this idea would fly.

I’m trying to work with the local state park on promoting geocaching and attracting people to going into the office / gift shop. The idea of these occurred to me, but maybe it’s a dumb idea.

I think it might be a bit early to get a non-geocaching group (such as a park manager) involved in this. This does have the look of something people would like, but I would suggest that you want to get a bit more market penetration before you have someone commit the cost to commission having tags made. You don’t saddle them with a lot of inventory that no one wants.

That said, assuming this takes off, it could be a great money maker for the parks departments.

[Team Deejay]

I would recommend that you contact Milwaukee County Parks at (414) 257-PARK. They will take it from there. You DID shoot some coordinates of the dumpsite, didn’t you? Anyway, if not, just describe where is it in “muggle terms”, that is 200 feet south of the railroad, and 100 feet east of the trail. This appears to be private property, but the line is very close, so I assume MCP would at least be interested.

[Team Deejay]

OK, the event cache listing is GC14AEP See you there!

[Team Deejay]

Only the cache owner can request that a cache be “unarchived”. In this case, the cache would still need to meet all the new requirements for listing, as outlined above. Rather than unarchive this virtual, why not just place a new offset cache in the area? The SNA is a rather small area, and Devil’s Lake State Park is right there for hiding locations (and surprisingly not all that crowded (with caches).

[Team Deejay]

My rules on geocoin placement is to only place them in 3+ stage multis, puzzle caches with 3 or higher difficulty, and traditionals with terrain 3 or higher. Placing coins in TB Hotels and easy traditionals is just asking for them to be stolen by these leaches. (Note that drilled coins are the exception to this rule, but most people don’t want to drill their coins.)

[Team Deejay]

@Trudy & the beast wrote:

effective when?

Let’s just say that communication has been “challenging”….

For what it is worth, they are not being argumentative or suggesting that we shouldn’t place caches in their parks. There is no talk of fees or other sorts of obnoxious rules, other than possibly a maximum placement period of 3 years (we are talking about this). My guess is that they will get back with me in the next couple weeks to discuss the “approval” process. Currently, I send them a weekly update of caches added and archived from their park system, along with a current spreadsheet of all the caches and an interactive HTML map showing the cache locations. At last count, there are 233 caches in Milwaukee County Parks. I’m pretty sure they are NOT going to want forms for all of these caches, but the small number of caches with absentee/nonresponsive owners are probably going to either be adopted or archived.

In the short term, if you are planning a cache in MCP, I would suggest you use the current permit form and take the time to contact the land manager (Paul Kortebein) to get permission. If you can reach him, he is easy to work with and understands the basics of geocaching.

[Team Deejay]

As far as I know, this policy is still under development. The materials were posted to the internet to allow comment. (I know, I wouldn’t have done it that way either.)

[Author]

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