Calaveras Trail Mapping August 24, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching, Recreation.Tags: Calaveras, Carlsbad, Geocaching, Overhead, Photo, planning, Trail Map, Vista
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While out on a pass through Calaveras park this weekend I ran across some hikers who had no GPS and were relying on their innate sense of direction to get out. The problem as I saw it was that they had been hiking for over 5 hours with inadequate water and they were at least 3 miles from where they parked. It was now 1:30pm, in August. Not good.
I pulled out a handy trail map picture I had built myself and showed them the path lines they wanted, including a few nice rabbit trails that cut big yardage off the hike back. They had never seen anything like that for Calaveras, though I naturally thought everyone had one of those in their back pocket.
Since you don’t have one, I’ve decided to create it for you from the available imagery. My first pass is of the greater Calaveras area, something with which you can get a high resolution view of the general area. As you may know, Calaveras is BIG for a small piece of land, so it naturally encompasses a few areas that are only peripherally “Calaveras”. This is what the first image is trying to do: show you the big picture. For the record, Calaveras is primarily on the right half of the image and yes I am aware I could just get pretty color shots from Google Earth. The color photos don’t bring out the trail map in as much contrast, though, which is really the point.
Over time I will create some crops of the original the show a single 8.5″*11″ Calaveras only trail map, a little more detail with a double-sided version, and some more explanation of just what’s on the left side of the big image already here. Print, laminate, go hike. Sweet.
You can track it down on my Resources Tab (at the top) or you can click this link directly for the big file:
Happy Caching, Hiking or whatever it is you do on the trail!
Another Frustrated Newcomer August 20, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Forums, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, Strategy and Tactics.Tags: advice, DNF, Forums, geocaching.com
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Newcomer? New player? I can’t say N00b because they sorta-kinda stopped playing and then started again. But on the forums I ran across this thread, which I would direct the newer cachers to view and take home some good advice from the commentators. The player and a muggle audience went 0-for-6 on a hunt and the experience is just turning him/her off to the game. Here’s some of the good highlights in the comments (Advice for the new player):
- Pick easy ones at first, nothing more than 1-2 stars of difficulty
- Read the last 5 logs to see if it has been found recently or if others have had trouble finding it
- If you’re using the iPhone, TomTom or Garmin Roadmate (a “car-focused” GPS) to cache, do some reading and make sure your GPS is “talking the same language” as Groundspeak. A note in the forums asking for a quick FAQ link or spot of advice will do nicely.
- Remember, the GPS doesn’t get you right to the cache. It gets you pretty darned close, which could be 30′ away.
- Employ patience. You have no idea what you’re looking for yet. After you find a few it will be easier.
- Enjoy yourself. If an outing with the family isn’t enough fun and the smiley is the only reason you’re playing, do a rethink.
- Read that last one again.
- Corollary to enjoying yourself: Log the DNF! Truly, this is your best source of a.) information to make the find and b.) finding a friend who can help (and who you might help)
It’s a good thread. I love lurking in the forums.
Geocaching Videos on YouTube August 19, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, In the News/Blogosphere.Tags: Geocaching, Headhardhat, videos, YouTube
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Somebody on one of the Geocaching.com forums clued me into the most video-riffic channel by cacher Headhardhat. You need to be logged in to Groundspeak for that link to work. You can find his YouTube channel and I am told it is an excellent set of videos by Headhardhat, so get cracking.
No warranties, I haven’t reviewed them yet, but since there was talk about setting up a little “how to hide” and “how to find” video shoot here in North County I figured it was worth a look-see.
Poll: Geocaching Education Topics for Meet and Greet July 3, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Events, Geocaching.Tags: Geocaching education, poll, presentations
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North County Cachers Summer Meet-N-Greet July 3, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Events, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Recreation.Tags: meet and greet, NCC, North County Cachers
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There’s been a little conversation brewing for a while on the NCC Yahoo! group regarding a summer meet and greet at our usual hangout. You can read all about it, here.
The call for a proper “breakout” session or two around route planning, hiding techniques and so forth is out there. Depending on interest level, I’d be willing to step up and deliver a talk or two. Why don’t you head on over to the Yahoo! group and register your interest so Peg can give me a shout out to prepare for a nice presentation?
I will toss up a poll and see if I can’t get some real interest going. We’d love to have a whack of people up for a midweek gathering. C’mon, you know you wanna!
Buzzbo’s First Hunt June 28, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, Somebody Else's Stuff.Tags: buzzbo, first Geocache, first hunt
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I’ve still got a few muggle friends who haven’t played the game yet. One of whom is an old old friend of my wife, known to me for about 10 years now. Scratch that- he HAS played the game and I can no longer refer to him as “my muggle friend”.
He is now buzzbo. (remember, these profile links don’t work unless you have a free Geocaching.com account)
Buzzbo pinged me a half dozen times before his first hunt, looking for some pointers.
- What kind of caches should I look for? Big ones. Regular, Large; but definitely NOT micro sized.
- Where should I look? Locally, something in the Terrain 1-2 range.
- Anything I should pay attention to? Read the last 5 logs. If there’s trouble ahead, it will be in the logs.
- What other inside advice will help make this fun? Bring the kids. If they aren’t having fun, neither are you. And they WILL have fun.
Buzzbo fired off a video of the first hunt. Let’s see how he did…
Three for three; not too shabby! The kids had fun, which is a key performance indicator- find or no find. We have an ammo can for #1, which appears to have been some trouble for the kids (I don’t blame them, wearing a cast during summer is NOT fun). I’m not a big fan of front yard hides but buzzbo tells me permission to pass was well documented. The trouble opening the pill bottle for #2 was a little surprising, given that none of my “childproof” medicine bottles are anything of the sort. All that goodness aside, #3 was the kicker.
The third cache was a hide I wouldn’t have touched because the last few logs are chock full of frustration and DNFs. Buzzbo went after it anyway and came up with the smiley. The best part: the last 3 DNFs were from >2000 find cachers. That right there is a cup full of win!
As if this wasn’t enough, buzzbo managed his first three smileys using a Garmin roadmate or TomTom. These aren’t the easiest devices to use for an offroad hunt (fragile, hard to find the pointer) and still the clan managed to avoid the dreaded DNF.
Nice work, buzzbo. Thanks for the shout out and the great pics. I’ll have to get a little crush event planned for your neighborhood.
More Stuff Added to the Resources Tab May 11, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching, Resources.Tags: cache description, HTML, log
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I hear tell the HTML business in cache descriptions and logs is everyone’s big thorn-in-side. I put the consolidated notes into a Word document and put the link on the resources tab. (look up)
I’m sure you’ll find it. Happy Monday!
More Geocaching Bomb Scare Nonsense April 27, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, In the News/Blogosphere.Tags: Bomb Scare, Education, Forums, Geocaching, Learning
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A thread got started in January on the Geocaching forums, Caches to Ashes and Ammo Cans to Dust, one that is right up my alley because things get asploded!
Sadly, it’s a Geocache that gets blown up in this picture. This is a fairly complete discussion as it features logs by the cache owner, the fire department and local eyewitnesses. It’s actually a great backgrounder for anyone thinking of laying down a cache in a sensitive urban area. Sure, it’s two months old but I don’t read the forums as much as I’d like.
All that, and it keeps with the theme of my last post! Enjoy
-edit
After I posted, I found a whole bevy of them up there
- This one features a chapstick tube bomb scare
- What if your brother heard on the scanner the highway patrol were gonna blow the thing up and tried to stop them?
- I think I sense a trend with the chapstick tubes. This may be a duplicate/parallel thread.
- This thread illustrates just how the onus is on the hider to make sure it is safe and obvious. They blow it up even when it is a police department Geocache.
- I just like it when forum posters use the term “tater heads“
A search for “Bomb Scare” on the forums nets 7 pages of threads. That’s quite the tally…
Follow-Up to a Questionable Hide April 27, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Cache Construction, Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Philosophy.Tags: Education, Geocaching, Getting Started, Learning, Newbies, No Trespassing, philosophy, Private Property
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About a month or two ago a new hide popped up in the area. It was in a clearly marked “off limits” area but because other caches had been placed in the vicinity I believe the owner was under the impression a new placement would be just fine. This is unfortunate as in my area we have seen “no trespassing” signs sprout up all around Geocaches. No matter how off road a cache looks, development tends to encroach. Such is life in Southern California.
A few folks piped up about this problem location and I was one of them, receiving a memo of irritation from the owner. I responded rather verbosely and I thought the note important enough to share with you here. I don’t plan on sharing the original memo from the hider unless that becomes necessary. Let’s just say the owner was mildly upset with my position, which was “archive this cache”, and he/she was inclined to stop playing. I respect his/her anger but don’t want the hider to give up on things.
My response, in 4 parts, was intended to help future hides and was a direct response to a comment by the owner concerning the “I am your worst nightmare” section of my Geocaching profile. All that, below the fold. If you find it useful, please copy and use it in your own “counseling sessions”: (more…)
Map This Trail April 25, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Events, Geocaching, In the News/Blogosphere, Recreation.Tags: CITO, Education, Geocaching, GPS, Mapping, Rails to Trails, San Diego Sea to Sea Trail
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If you load up Geocaching.com this morning you’ll see their new project with the Rails to Trails Conservancy. If you missed the Groundspeak blurb on it, you can see it, here.
If you read up a little bit, you will see Groundspeak and Rails to Trails are seeking volunteers with a GPS to help map these trails. I support this little “cause” for a multitude of reasons, not least of which is that the process involves you, a GPS, and walking around. That’s three simple things I can almost understand together.
Seriously, though, the volunteer work is as simple as turning on the breadcrumbs feature for your GPS to record a track, then walk around on the trail and hit the “Mark” button when you see something interesting like a bathroom. What’s more, there is a trail in San Diego County that needs help. It is the San Diego Sea to Sea trail, stretching 140 miles from the coast to the Salton Sea. But don’t let me monopolize the airwaves; from their site:
Our first area of focus is San Diego. This branch is called the San Diego Trans County Trail. It is also known as the San Diego Sea To Sea Trail. The latter name is largely coincidental. The two seas it connects are the Pacific Ocean in Del Mar, California and The Salton Sea, 140 miles inland. This Trail crosses the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends from Mexico to Canada.
Our Current Focus: Crossing San Diego County on the San Diego Sea To Sea Trail
This San Diego trail will pass gorgeous scenery that includes beach, coastal wetlands, mountains, lakes, streams, desert and an inland sea. Such diversity within 140 miles makes it an exceptionally beautiful part of the national trail network.
Go to the site, take a look at the existing trail map, then note it still needs some handy folks with a GPS out there to map it for the rest of the world to use. The cool bit here is the next phase, once the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail is done:
After completing the Sea To Sea Trail (Trans County Trail), the goal of the Sea To Sea Trail Foundation will be to create a network of interconnected trails crisscrossing the lower 48 states of the United States. A person will be able to ride a bicycle, ride a horse or walk to every large or medium size town in the country.
Now I love my frequent flyer miles and freeway machines just as much as the next guy (ok, probably a lot more than the next guy) but this is just plain cool. Hiking and biking trails to every densely populated town in the country? I am freakin’ in! Talk about a killer road trip, on foot!
If you’re planning a mapping or Geocaching hike on the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail, let me know.
Interview With Marko Ramius: The Reviewer (part 2) March 31, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, Philosophy, Reviews.Tags: Education, Geocaching, Getting Started, Learning, Newbies
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The Setup
In the first article on Re-Introducing the 3rd Player: The Reviewer I just covered a few basics. This time around I have a bona-fide Reviewer who was kind enough to indulge me a few questions on your behalf. So here you have it, 20 questions with your local reviewer, Marko Ramius.
Well, local if you’re in San Diego/Orange County.
The Questions
Marko, thanks for agreeing to participate here, the folks should get a kick out of it. The general populace only sees your name at the top/bottom of a cache log under “Marko Ramius, Published”. The first question on their mind is “Who is Marko Ramius?”
Planning for a “Crush” Event – Part 3 March 27, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Events, Geocaching, Software, Strategy and Tactics, Uncategorized.Tags: 100 cache, 100 cache day, cache and dash, crush, dash, Education, event, GPS, GPX, planning, pocket query, PQ, query, Routes, team, Watcher
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Part 3: All About the Pocket Query
In Part 0 we established the Crush event as something you should not treat lightly. In Part 1 you have established your basic organization and planning structure, while in Part 2 you made official decisions on “Da Rules”. Now it is time to get cooking on a Pocket Query and mapping out the actual waypoints you will seek.
This is where the fun really gets going, if you’re a geek like me.
Run a Pocket Query
You’ve already decided what types of hides you are going to seek in Part 2. With that, go run yourself a Pocket Query on Geocaching.com. Some thoughts, though, on building effective PQs are are in order:
- Make sure the details from Part 2 (terrain, difficulty, types, etc) are all plugged in (DUH)
- Consider running a separate query for each cache type and merging the GPX files later, this will make it easy for you to slice off the Mystery caches
- Always choose “not ignored” as a filter criteria. This will become important in a second.
- Choose an appropriate waypoint to center the search on and fiddle with the search radius until the “preview” results come back with just under 500 results (475-499 is good). This insures you have ALL of the caches in a given radius listed.
- Use Watcher to further filter your results when the PQ GPX file comes over.
Some Visitors March 26, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching.Tags: Blogging, Cache Owner, Education, Newbies, templates
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It looks like I have a little more than the usual traffic, so welcome all! If you have specific topics or how-tos you want me to cover please feel free to contact me through my Geocaching.com profile (handy link to the right). Remember, I mind meld with your gear. You may not know how to operate it but I love figuring it out for you.
Failing that, you can always try peterkraatz at cox dot net. End of quarter has been evil, so stand by- I promise to finish my series on the reviewer with a few questions answered by Marko Ramius himself.
And remember, my resources pages have lots of handy templates for logs, stash notes and other goodies for your hiding/building pleasure. It’s all free.
Some Good Background for the Newbies March 24, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Blogroll, Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, In the News/Blogosphere, Philosophy, Somebody Else's Stuff, Strategy and Tactics.Tags: Drat19, Learning, Newbies, planning
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And the oldies, too. Drat19 has some handy thoughts on cache hiding, some of which are just plain good advice no matter how long you’ve been at it. Try these two for some good reading:
I’m here for you…
Re-Introducing the Third Player: The Reviewer (part 1) March 23, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Geocaching.com.Tags: Education, Geocaching, Getting Started, Learning, Newbies, Reviewer
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Deep in the bowels of Groundspeak headquarters, somewhere in the vicinity of N47 37.000 and W122 21.000 lies an ancient and terrible cult with enormous power and influence. Some call them the Tripartite Commission. Some know them as the “new world order” or the Illuminati. We know them only as
The Reviewers
They are a shadowy bunch, traversing the space between the Geocaching Hider and Seeker with no apparent finds of their own, but thousands of Geocaches reviewed, approved, denied or just plain ignored. They are the third player in this game and it does not go on without them; their power is legend.
Hider
Seeker
Reviewer
It has a very western 1-2-3 feel to it, and you probably know nothing about what number 3 does, why they’re here and how they can help. It’s time we fixed that in a two parter. In this first chapter let’s just cover the reviewer’s role, shall we? It’s essential and neither the Hider nor the Seeker can do their thing without the Reviewer.
Geocaching Around the Blogosphere March 20, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Blogroll, Education, Geocaching, In the News/Blogosphere, Recreation, Somebody Else's Stuff.Tags: Blogging, Education
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This one has more pictures per cache find than I have ever taken in my entire history with the game. They appear to be in the process of getting hooked.
http://dancinglight.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/geocaching-in-gainesville/
And this right here is the story of just exactly how one person got hooked (a retrospective). http://clandelaney.wordpress.com/2007/01/17/geonesis/
And don’t ever tell me I don’t have an international flavor to this drivel I peddle here on the blog. Geocaching is good for your health, or at least this blogger’s. http://healthskills.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/pictures-and-geocaching-not-really-a-painful-topic/
None of them have ever launched telephone poles to the moon, however, so I still have that going for me.
Why You Should Wait Before Placing Your First Hide March 18, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Philosophy.Tags: Education, Geocaching, Getting Started, Learning, Newbies, philosophy
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I read in one of the forums and how-to guides on Geocaching way back when that you should wait until you have at least 20 finds before placing your first hide. This was to give the new player time to experience good and bad techniques, camouflage, locations and terrain. The thought was (or so I infer) the community will see higher quality caches as a result.
Sadly, that advice is not easy to track down anymore, nor is it widely followed. At least in the North San Diego County area we have recently seen a rash of new cachers placing their first hides after just a handful of finds, sometimes as little as 1 or none! They all generally suffer from some of the same problems with location, detail and longevity. Those are the reasons you should wait a bit before placing your first hide. Details on that, below the fold.
To log check or not to log check March 15, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching, Philosophy.Tags: Cache Owner, Education
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I do, log check that is. This is the practice of checking the signatures on paper with the online logs, deleting those that don’t have a signature to match. It’s not popular and most people would rather be like the local granddaddy of Geocaching Kawikaturn and say “I’m not the rules keeper, it’s their karma if they want to log a find they really didn’t find.” I absolutely respect that since it is a LOT of work to police your logs, particularly if you have a lot of cache hides.
I see a problem though, at least for my hides: maintenance.
How’d You Do That: Printed Routes Episode March 6, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Mobile Caching, Software, Strategy and Tactics, Uncategorized.Tags: Education, Getting Started, GPS, GPX, Learning, Mobile, planning, pocket query, PQ, Routes, Software
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Now I did provide it on regular paper and it was nicely carved up into “phases” for the day, but you get the idea. If anyone got lost they could catch up real quick. How 6 people with multiple GPSr units PER PERSON could possibly get lost is beyond me, and beside the point (but it is why we left Calipers at home).
Want to create something like this for your next hunt? All that, and more, below the fold.
Wherein I Learn A Lesson About Geocaching February 2, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Cache Construction, Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Snark.Tags: Description, Geocaching, Getting Started, Hint, Newbies
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I love reading the logs. One out of 100 logs is just a side splitter. Today I found one.
I called Calipers to ask him about one of my caches and the moment he answers I know he’s already read the log. The bastard reads my logs before I read them. Dammit, I’m never FTF any damned thing in the Geocaching world!
This one was a doozy:
“January 31 by ANONYMOUS (16 found)
After a diligent search, no cache. And if you are going to give a hint, then give a hint. Do not give a hint telling there is no hint. That is just rude and annoying.”
Now anonymous has a name but I’m just snarky and not a complete ass; close, though. The irony is that this is one of a series of good examples caches, perfect for newbies like this one. It was a 1/1.5 ammo can under a bush. Easy pie, good view, super kid friendly. My hint was essentially garbage since this is really a 1. Really. I just started laughing when I saw he had 16 finds.
Who makes a comment like that after 16 finds? My reaction, below the fold.
Geo-Trash January 19, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Cache Construction, Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, Recreation.Tags: CITO, Geo-Trash, Geocaching
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I’ve had some junk clogging up my computer over the past few days, preventing me from doing any writing at all. I lost a complete post in all the muck yesterday, which was very nearly the same experience I had while Geocaching.
I was roughly 35′ from GZ when I spotted a plastic baggie with an obvious log, pencil and cheap scrunchy ball someone got from their doctor’s office inside. This was definitely NOT the ammo can I was promised. Then again, some folks think a sandwich bag IS pretty big, so who am I to complain over a good bike ride and a smiley? Never. But something wasn’t quite right.
Planning for a “Crush” Event – Part 2 January 19, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Events, For the Newbies, Geocaching, Strategy and Tactics.Tags: 100 cache, 100 cache day, cache and dash, Geocaching, pocket query, PQ, query
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Part 2: T-Minus 3 Months, What Are We Looking For?
So you’ve been Geocaching for a while and you think you are just insane enough to try for “100 caches in 24 hours!”, “As many as we can get before we pass out” or “300 finds or abandoning my car mates in a ditch, whichever comes first”. Caching can be stressful. So can a crush event, where you and your (optional) team race to collect as many smilies as possible.
In Part 0 we established the Crush event as something you should not treat lightly. In Part 1 you have established your:
-
Estimated Attendance
-
Final Location
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“Leader” of the Pack (uh, that’s you)
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Happy Place, where you will calm down and relax (you’ll be visiting that place shortly)
Now let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the day. We might as well dive right in since Part 2 is where you get to decide “Da Rules”, as one of my favorite cartoons calls them…
Adopting a Geocache is Easy…Really January 15, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching, Geocaching.com.Tags: Adopt, Cache Owner, Geocaching, Newbies
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It is. The problem is you have to search the knowledgebase every time you want to adopt a geocache because they don’t link to the process from anywhere you might think, intuitively, this would be a good idea. So before I paste in my handy 3 step guide I’m imploring any Groundspeak folks who by accident stumble here to throw me a bone and-
- Put a link on the Cache owner maintenance page, or
- Put a link on the “Hide and Seek a Cache” page, or
- Put an “invite the owner to give up for adoption” link on the cache description page or
- ANYTHING that makes it easier to find the adoption form!
The reasons for this I will explain below the fold. In the mean time, putting a geocache up for adoption is as simple as visiting http://www.geocaching.com/adopt/
Sharing the Love With GSAK January 14, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching, Mobile Caching, Software.Tags: Geocaching, GPS, GSAK, pocket query, Software, Watcher
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I’m not a big GSAK user (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife). That probably makes me a GSAK bigot, but I am here to change all that.
Many people who use GSAK are familiar with its ability to rapidly review cache lists, assign nicknames to cache entries and it is not a bad filtering tool, either. In another post I mentioned a key feature of “Watcher”, its ability to rapidly and automatically filter out undesirable (or desirable) cache entries from your GPX Pocket Query. Now it’s time to take a look at one feature from GSAK that makes it second to none among utilities: its file export capabilities.
GSAK offers excellent file sharing tools for the Geocacher. In the latest version of GSAK (7.2.3.35), the number of file formats supported is staggering. What possible use could this be? If you and your cache mates don’t use the same GPS or have differing preferences/needs for map view or printouts, the best way to make sure you are operating from the same cache list is to start from the same GPX and use a software tool like GSAK to “translate” for you.
Abbreviations 101 January 14, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, For the Newbies, Geocaching.Tags: Abbreviations, Education, Geocaching, Getting Started, Learning, Newbies
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[Update 1/19/09: added GZ]
[Update: for all you folks arriving from Google, this is Geocaching Abbreviations 101]
I actually got surprised yesterday. Somebody asked me what “LPC” meant and I actually started laughing. Thank goodness I was reading an e-mail, but then I thought to look up the questioner and discovered this was a 5-Find cacher.
Then I felt like a douche. If you’re out there- I was in the same boat, too. Because really, most of the jargon you take for granted was brand new to you too on day one. Heck, I didn’t know what TOTT meant until mid 2007, but I had a good guess and it really just didn’t affect my caching experience. So when I was told it was more of an “eh, that’s neat”.
But I know some of you are dying to get the definitive Geocaching language handbook, so here goes. What I will do is start the post off and keep it alive with your comments and feedback- refreshing as we go, adding and removing as we need. If I need to upgrade this to its own page, I will, but I will catalog the notes here and see what is the interest level.
- ALR: Additional Logging Requirement. Previously used to enforce “special” find logging rules, such as “must show picture of self with cache container in hand to log as found”. These are no longer allowed.
- FTF: First to Find. Something dougandsuzy have their own log stamp for
- GZ: Ground Zero. The “Spot” where the Geocache is located, or where you think it is located.
- LPC: Light Post Cache. A hide technique that is clever the first 30 times you see it, up under the skirt of a utility lamp post.
- POI: Point(s) of Interest. Your GPS probably calls all waypoints “points of interest”, like the one in my car does. Usually this is a waypoint with a user flag on it, like “hotel” or “school”.
- SL: Signed Log
- TNLN: Took Nothing, Left Nothing
- TOTT: Tool(s) of the Trade. All the junk you bring with you to cache successfully. Usually refers to something specific needed for a cache retrieval.
It’s a short start, but something tells me it will grow.

