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Wisconsin now has a Dinosaur Train cache. I need to go back out with a bit better arrangement for the hide, but it’s working for now.
GC2K3Q0
It was fun to develop. Anyone else? Are there any more huge public dinosaurs outdoors around the state for a virtual first stage? Isn’t there a Sinclair station in the Dells that still has the dinosaur? They don’t have to have that element, but it makes it fun for kids, who are the target audience for this thing.
This is an interesting topic. I see two different perspectives on it (must be the Libra in me, I dunno).
While they surely have made many “guidelines” that seem to have limited some of the more interesting and creative options, they also seem to have allowed many things that just didn’t happen in our early days, which date back to mid-2006.
Challenges can still be tough, but the whole notion of “allowing choice” has made it harder to create one like that. I have seen one in Minnesota by Boreal Walker that still manages to be pretty tough. It’s Black Belt of Geocaching, which is based on the whole badge thing available as a macro for GSAK. In general, though, it’s tougher to make a challenge really challenging. There are some things we’ve observed as the owners of a couple of challenges that have made us go “hmm” and kind of changed our own motivation to place any more.
I understand the thought process behind the elimination of ALRs, but there were some that truly did relate to the cache in question and made for a richer experience. Marc’s 900 series is a great example of that. We really started to look around in cemeteries in order to log those caches. We still have a few to find because we have photos for them. The ALR change could maybe have been on a case by case basis, not an overall “no.” I realize that could make for some different issues, but I trust that the reviewers can see a geocaching ALR that’s worthwhile, versus “my favorite movie is” types.
So we have some kinds of caches that have vanished from the game unless they’re still around from before. But another kind of cache has become omnipresent….the power trail. Not every power trail caching experience is redundant and uninspired. We’ve done some memorable ones on the various bike trails in the state, and biking while caching is a fun way to spend a day. But the change in attitude about these kinds of caches seems to have allowed a proliferation of tons and tons of caches. Some applaud this change of pace. It has certainly put a different slant on the hobby as a whole. When we started, the closest 50 miles gave us just about 26 pages. I looked the other day and it’s now 86. We all enjoy numbers, but it seems like sheer volume is often the driving force for many out there now. I guess it kind of comes down to zuma’s comment about the amazing business plan. If you have lots of numbers, you’ll have lots of players, and an increase in content to maintain and build your customer base.
Tell him to come look for Trash Talk This Cache in West Salem tomorrow night if he has time. He can even meet Poohs Pal! LOL
Glad to hear there’s a way to help keep all that work alive.
To clarify….that was not CavScout’s EC that was problematic for us…the line was “not the same CO as the one who was banned.” We have done a couple of CavScout’s ECs and had no problems with those. I was sharing a first hand example of how *some* CO’s can be overzealous in these matters.
Reading the posts Ralph shared sheds some light on some of the story. CavScout sounds like he has a grip on the fact that there really is more to life than geocaching, a perspective his efforts in Iraq no doubt help to crystallize. When you’re worrying about the possibility of encountering a roadside bomb, whether or not someone posts photos is kind of a small thing, right? Probably neither “side” really knows what’s up. It’s a shame that all that hard work just got tossed into cyberspace, though.
As an EarthCache owner myself, I understand the need to make sure people actually visited your location, but sometimes there are some folks who get pretty antsy. We did a big trip out of state a couple years ago, which included a large number of EarthCaches, most of which required a photo. I emailed all my answers before logging, logged all my caches (probably over 100 for the trip), and planned to do my photo stuff and get those loaded. I usually like to work on my photos in photoshop to crop and such before loading them, which takes a little more time. I’d done a couple logs and checked email, to discover one from an EC owner who said “it’s been an hour since you logged your find, yet no photo yet.” I emailed him and said I’d get the photos by evening’s end. I received two more emails that threatened to hit the delete.
I ignored the first, but after the next, simply invited the owner to do what he felt was necessary. I did get my photos uploaded eventually, but felt it was almost to the point of harrassment. He had it down to the number of hours and minutes (less than three since my first email response).
As I say….people are funny. Not the same CO as the one who was banned.
It is too bad so many got mass archived here. That’s a lot of work. I haven’t looked to see just which ones, but I know he had a ton in Kentucky and we’d hoped to make a trip down there sometime (which of course we still can, duh).
Yeah, well these same bogs are where the Irish ran when pursued by any number of folks wanting to try and conquer them. Perfectly preserved pursuers have been found in them, too! 😯 Having been pushed into the thing one time unprepared (which means I went in feet first like a bullet), I can understand how this might happen.
I love the old sod, I tell you! No wonder it’s the land of seanachies. Such great raw material for the plots.
Some get swallowed up in the muck of Lonely Caches out in the middle of swamps and quicksand and other stuff like that! 🙄
Point of fact….when I had the opportunity to jump into a peat bog in Ireland (which I did, who knows when you might get that chance again, right?) we were told that butter aged to be over 100 years old had been found in those things, completely edible.
How they knew this…..I don’t want to know.
Ya, if we do dis, make sure you got some of dem dere snowshoes to pank down da snow, eh?
This is what happens after thirty years of marriage to a Yooper!
I was in International Falls over Labor Day and I think there are some easy ones in Fort Frances. I was traveling with others and that wasn’t in their plan.
When Trekkin’ and I were at Grand Portage last summer, it was really tempting to cross there too, but the two closest ones looked to be big hikes, and Trekkin’ doesn’t have a passport. (Tends to be the case for those who won’t fly) I think you can cross at Grand Portage, International Falls or Warroad. That’s a lot of wild open country, having been near all three areas in the past few months.This one in Fort Frances appears to be the closest..
GC1H5GX
49.9 miles by the GPSr straight line method.
Yes, it’s a long way. If we did this, we’d probably decamp in Duluth, which is about 1.5 hours drive then. I have done the trip from our place to Ely (just a bit to the east) in the winter for a storytelling retreat…all in one day. By myself. It can be done.
I’ve cross listed most of my letterbox hybrids on the letterboxing site, and I’m still here.
I agree….I know when our boys were younger, we did certain activities with them a lot, but once they hit school age, other interests began to take precedence, and we went where they went for the most part. That time, though it seemed like forever when we thought we wanted to do other things, is really so short and you don’t get it back. Those enthusiastic newbies, if they are indeed following the “family plan,” will never regret it. Caches will still be around when the kids grow up.
I like that one. Wish it would happen.
I don’t usually do this self promoting stuff, but this seems kind of on topic….I did an article on this topic for the geocaching examiner.
http://www.examiner.com/geocaching-in-la-crosse/holiday-baskets-for-the-cacher-on-your-list
Feel free to pass it along and share your wish lists there, too! 😉
I bought a Bending Branches paddle that allows me to switch from feathered to straight. They are lightweight and not too pricey. When I discover the optimal for me, I’ll move up. I’m getting myself a Whiskey Jack wooden canoe paddle for Christmas, because I know what I need for that mode of river travel.
Other equipment…some kind of dry bag, a spray skirt probably (I got a half skirt, so I still get wet) and depending on your vehicle, a a rack system. I need to get something for my Fiesta. One consideration for the new car was something small enough that I could hoist the kayak myself onto the rooftop. There are roller systems out there, but I should be able to get it on top of the lime on wheels without one of those.
Trekkin’ marks fishing spots, and we mark bed and breakfasts we see in our travels. They aren’t always listed in the main B and B sites, so it helps us later on if we’re trying to find one.
I like Jim’s creative usage!
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