Geocaching Manners and Good Taste: Get Some! January 27, 2010
Posted by kinzuakid in Cache Construction, Education, Geocaching, Philosophy.Tags: Cache Owner, CITO, Don't Do This, Education, Geocaching, geocaching.com, guidelines, litter, philosophy, spam, SWAG, trash
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Folks, there has been a disturbing trend in North San Diego County Geocaches of late: the repeated leave-behinds of inappropriate swag. It isn’t genocide or anything but it’s still a big problem. The reasons are several.
- If new Geocachers run across this kind of swag and assume it is just an accepted part of the game it may turn them off to playing entirely.
- Experienced Geocachers and reviewers are likely to complain and flag the caches for archival as a rules violation. This is already a risk to some of our most treasured local hides. Caches with hundreds of finds and on every “must do” bookmark list in the county are starting to see tasteless swag, advertising, vandalized log books and religious tracts deposited.
- Cache owners may reconsider the amount of work it takes to maintain a decent hide. To the hours invested creating a good puzzle or creative hide, additional hours in replacement and checkups, now we add additional hours of “rules policing”.
In all of these cases the number and quality of Geocachers and hides are likely to decline. We as a community then become marked as just another (well organized) group of professional litterers. (more…)
Dave “drat19” Has Good Ideas, Too January 18, 2010
Posted by kinzuakid in Cache Construction, Cache Spotlight, Cool Caches, Education, Geocaching, Philosophy.add a comment
If you know me well you know I value the opion of the folks on the ground, out there doing as opposed to postulating. To that end some thoughts from a fellow cacher with experience almost always carries more weight than a few notes from Groundspeak. There is a surprising volume of cachers with good ideas online.
drat19 is one of them.
I like his open letter and basic philosophy on placing hides. They have access to a whole lot more offroad forest than we do here in the north county, but the problems are the same. As we come into a period of wet and wooly January weather I wonder how many recent hides are going to last the week, let alone the month. Pay heed and do the area a favor…
Before you hide, do your homework and plan out something that will last. A crappy hide is neat for about 10 minutes, or until it is destroyed/muggled/caught up in a bomb scare. A good one keeps on giving for years, and we need more like that.
As I hop on a plane today I leave you with this fine example: Hill Of The Skull, GC1D5. 328 finds and counting, with only 6 DNFs!
Another Bomb Scare – Update January 8, 2010
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Geocaching, In the News/Blogosphere.Tags: Bomb Scare, Bomb Threat, CBS 7, Don't Do This, LPC, Midland, PermianBasin360
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Not moments after publishing the last one did I find other mentions of the story. I’m sure the WPT ID will be all over the forums so you’ll have to go there to gawk and leer.
The cache in question is Archived and it lasted a whole month. It apparently is not the first time the area has seen a Geocache as a bomb threat. That’s too bad. Here’s the other stories:
- CBS 7 News – the cacher “may face charges”.
- PermianBasin360 – they at least get a slightly better description of Geocaching and sound advice at the end
Folks, I don’t enjoy calling attention to these things but they are instructive. If you’re going to place and hide Geocaches some common sense has to be in order. A little muggle strewn action with my cloak of invisibility is fun sometimes but think about the muggles for just a minute. They’re not blind and we all (muggles and players) act stupid. This kind of thing is going to happen. It will never go away but we need to do a better job minimizing it.
Do we need to rehash “the incident” in 2008, the Don’t Do This! series or any of 10 other bomb scares?
No? Good. On with ye.
And Happy, Safe Caching!
Follow-Up and Welcome December 31, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Education, Events, For the Newbies, Geocaching.Tags: Dougandsuzy, FTF, NCC, North County Cachers, Waterlassie
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The North County Cachers had one of our “regular” events last night, if you can call “whenever the hell we feel like it” regular. As usual, the pizza was edible, the beer cold and the company outstanding. Thanks everyone for coming. Waterlassie did a great job working everyone up into a lather with the white elephant gift exchange and the predictions contest was a big hit. I do have one vote for a best prediction that I feel got short shrift:
This is a paraphrase as I don’t have the paper in hand:
“I resolve to improve my emerging clairvoyant FTF abilities to the point where I am actually at GZ while caches are being hidden by the owner”
-dougandsuzy
I think it didn’t win because it is more of a resolution, but doesn’t he already do this?
To the folks coming here for help with PQs, software, how-tos and resources like log templates for the first time: welcome! Shoot me a note if you have questions and I will write them up if I can.
Happy Caching!
Shout Out to Trick Shop Magic December 26, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Blogroll, Education, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, Recreation, Resources, Somebody Else's Stuff.Tags: 12 Days of Caching, 52 Pick Up, Magic, NCC, North County Cachers, Trick Shop Magic
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If you’re one of the regular North County Cachers you already know I enjoy entertaining with a little close-up magic. I call it preparation for my retirement career, post-geek. It is hard to imagine a hobby more geeky than the crap I already do for a living but I guarantee you I have found it.
You can see me in blurry action, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhq5ocUOMQY
or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8iObbMqVa0
Both of these tricks were performed for the launch of the “52 Pick Up: Throwing Down the Deck” mass Geocache launch during the summer of 2008. I did another 4 or 5, too for the kids and over 150 adults in attendance. If you haven’t gone after this prize, there are 52 Geocaches hidden around North San Diego County, each named after a card and containing a clue to the location of The Joker. 13 of us teamed up to create this awesome puzzle, modeled after a similar bunch in Northern California. The card tricks just seemed to fit the event.
More below the fold… (more…)
Found GC1HV6R “DDT#7 You Down With LPC?”? No? Read on… December 5, 2009
Posted by kinzuakid in Cache Construction, Cool Caches, Education, Geocaching, Strategy and Tactics.Tags: Caches, Don't Do This, GC1HV6R, My Hides, You Down With LPC?
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I’ve hidden a series of caches called “Don’t Do This!”, highlighting some of the foibles we’ve all seen and are guilty of while Geocaching. Included are a front yard cache, a rock in a pile of rocks, etc. You get the gist. The idea is to have safe and kid friendly caches out there showing off how hides can be both annoying and a lot of fun at the same time. In addition, I provide links to some really neat area caches that deserve a little showing off for their uniqueness, challenge or just the view.
I’m a sarcastic jerk about it, but who can turn down the Frown-O-Meter(tm)?
The Least Painful of the Frowns
The most important bit is where you are supposed to actually FIND these caches. One of them hasn’t been so easy to track down.
GC1HV6R is called “Don’t Do This! #7, You Down With LPC?” Take a guess what’s being lambasted with this one. Where your average LPC is a 15 second find, this one hasn’t logged a hit since June 15, 2009, when I replaced it after its hiding place was removed. Now I really tried hard to make this camouflage impenetrable but I think the letters L-P-C are throwing some folks off. In case you came here for a hint…
…It’s in the palm. 3 feet up. Look with your hands, not your eyes and stay in the quadrant closest to the lamp post that gives this cache its name. It will take you a minute or two, but when you find it you will understand why it has generated so many DNFs.
And when you log the smiley ask yourself when was the last time you logged a 4.5 star LPC. Never.
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:
Greater Calaveras Overhead Hi-Res
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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Let’s assume you are inclined to come to our infrequent Geocaching meet and greet events in North San Diego County. What kind of educational topics might you be interested in seeing presented?
Weigh in, you might obligate one of us to do some homework!
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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Palm Springs Route, Leg 1, From Mapsource: Click to Embiggen
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.
Telephone Poles on the Moon 