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Thank you. How interesting, particularly with regard to the control of gorse and braken. As to eating horse… well they are vegetarian and I only eat animals that eat vegetables! GH.
I don’t know, Dave. I have just gleaned this from our local rag and thought it may be of interest. For more detailed information one could contact the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. GH.
Groundspeak could always move to a digital logging system as do Munzees. No wet smelly log sheets to replace. GH.
It’s all about the numbers – No
Is there something I don’t know
Do CO’s care and use their feet
Fingers hovering o’er Delete?It’s all about the numbers – Yes
I search your hides and leave a mess
I never have a pen you see
So cannot sign the log for ye.Don’t have to go that extra mile
Just to get another smile
So please excuse my Cut & Paste
It’s all because I’m in such hasteGH.
1. Garmin GPSmap 76CSx, now 4yrs old and having found 2000+ caches.
2. My rating 8/10. Excellent, easy to use and accurate GPSr with a clear screen and good battery life. Waterproof to 1 meter for about 5 mins.
3. Again 8/10. I have OSM loaded which is adequate and clear on screen. I have been unable to load Ordnance Survey maps but always carry them with a couple of compasses.
4. No.
5. I have windows on my PC and for the best results use EasyGPS to load caches to the GPSr. Loading caches from GSAK always seems to upset my prefered GPSr settings.
GH.Hang on a minute Dave, it’s not exactly a war between setters and finders. If someone gets the enjoyment of a smiley by spending two+ hours to solve a puzzle I’m not particularly bothered how they do it. Maybe, as you say, leave it until after the first find or two. I think the Geocheck is useful for me as I usually travel many miles for puzzles, there being few placed in North Devon. From the setter’s point of view, surely caches are put out to be found. I drove to the Cheddar area for GC40PJF. Geocheck – 6 correct, 49 wrong. Would I have gone without some confirmation of it’s whereabouts? The CO obviously wants it found. GH.
Of course Dave, you are absolutely right that the ‘Get Yer Rocks Off (TV7)’ cache would not be passed by today’s reviewers. But that is what I like about these old caches. In particular WillDeBeast came up with some very quirky caches. There are several of his that although only one cache page they have more than one physical location and log sheets, for example GCNJEF. I note that Dartymoor has replaced a log sheet in one of the two canisters which will help to maintain that old cache from the past. Another old and different cache is GCH836. Listed as traditional but would not be classified as such today. I hope it doesn’t get archived just because it doesn’t comply with today’s rules. Rules are for the guidance of … etc.
I have just completed logging 100 of Devon’s Live caches placed before June 2005. An interesting exercise taking me all over Devon (several on Dartmoor) and comprising many great caches. But I’m just an old softy, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be! GH.It would appear that the reviewers are unaware as to the ownership of roadside hedges and footpaths in Devon. Maybe they are too busy trying to get caches taken off the Dartmoor ranges! GH.
Getting somewhat off topic, but with respect to farmland and Devon roads, as far as I am aware a landowner’s land begins at the foot of his hedge. The tarmac and any grass verge/bank out from the foot of the hedge belongs to the road authority with the appropriate blanket permission to place caches. Footpaths and many green lanes with public rights of way are the property of the landowner/farmer. Thus I have informed the reviewer of my ownership where I have placed caches in my roadside hedges. I just wonder how many cachers are polite enough to ask landowners when placing a cache in a roadside hedge. Any appearing without my knowledge in my hedges would be removed. GH.
Not having a fancy modern interweb phone gadget I am often unable to log a tracker into a cache for several hours, sometimes even a day. Frequently they get grabbed by a following cacher before I have chance to log on. This is not necessarily bad practice as it shows exactly where the tracker actually is. However, the problem becomes that unless the grabber ‘visits’ the tracker into that cache, the mileage total and travel map for that tracker becomes incorrect. I have been known, in instances when trackers I have placed are never actually logged into or visit the cache, to grab it back and ‘replace it’, so to speak, in that cache and then e-mail the person who grabbed the tracker inviting them to re-retrieve it, thus correcting it’s mileage. Bad practice, maybe? GH.
Hi Vodkashots. On my Garmin 76CSx (which was doing the same as yours when acquired) go to:- Menu – Main Menu– Setup – Units – Map Datum and then select WGS 84. Not sure if yours has the same menu system as mine. Good luck. GH.
Well I enjoy a challenge. One can go out and find any old box any old day, that just adds to the numbers. It’s great to go out and find a specified set of boxes or other conditions that require varying amounts of effort and travelling which then allows me the privilege of signing a log to indicate that I have made that effort. GH.
Hi Vodkashots. Is your GPS mapping set to WGS84? This is the latest reference coordinate system used by the Global Positioning System. That could be the reason you are some 100+ meters out when you enter coordinates into your GPSr. GH.
Dave. Check out her profile.
She is not only an anagram but also a very useful cacher. If you remember she retrieved one of your SOD trackers from somewhere it shouldn’t have been!! GH.Using the method above, I have found that last August someone logged one of my caches twice. The first log read
‘Found it watch the nettles, ouch.’
The second reads
‘found my first find off to find the other locals now, taking travel bug to the next one, goodies left. watch out for the evil nettles, ouch.’
How do I inform the cacher that one log needs to be deleted when they have only two finds in total to their credit? Yes, they’ve only two finds on one cache on their profile! Do you think they are still looking for the other locals?
And what happened to the TB? Their log on the trackable page dated the same as the cache logs reads
‘HORNY THE TRICERATOPS IS ON A TRIP IN THE TRUCK CAB TO A NEW HOME,,,MAYBE AROUND THE ILFRACOMBE AREA THIS AFTERNOON…HE IS LOOKING WELL AND STILL WANTING TO TRAVEL’
Please excuse their capital letters.
Clearly a one day wonder. GH.I was introduced to and found my first cache whilst still a muggle. I’m not quite sure of the date but it must have been sometime in the early to mid-noughties. I was walking above Saunton Sands with a friend whom I used to fly a microlight with. He had moved on to paragliding and being keen on the latest gadgets had a fancy GPSr which was accurate for altitude and rates of ascent/descent. Somewhat important when it comes to flying!! I had never seen a hand held GPSr before. He set the GPSr and invited me to find GCJ7DP Not a ruined view! ( North Devon).
In 2010 I had my left hip replaced and the surgeon suggested that walking would be the best physiotherapy. Always up for a challenge and remembering the cache at Saunton, I signed up for what turned out to be a marvelous hobby. It has taken me far and wide (for a Devonshire country boy!!) to all sorts of places, excersing both mind and body.
My first cache as a groundspeak member was GC1JCGZ Milling around Beaford No.1 which I found on 29/5/2010. My log read “First Find! TNLN”. Well, I was only a beginner!! I used to fish there with my father in the sixties. For those of you still young at heart it is a very romantic place, especially on a sunny summer’s afternoon.
One of my first Dartmoor caches was Alphabet Challenge L found whilst staying at Lydford. The challenge took me all over and around the moor; thank you Windrush. Dartmoor is a fascinating place and I do enjoy the challenge. GH.Careful……. I’m Mr Grumpy this morning.
The Heltor cache was on my list of Devon’s Oldest and Virtual caches were still allowed when it was set.
In my opinion the CO is far from stupid. He has layed out several fine, interesting and clever caches. Please do not degrade him.
I DNF’d it a few months ago as I had left all the spoiler and virtual information on the kitchen table and so couldn’t complete it.
Maybe we should all calm down a bit and get off our high horses to prevent some of these fine old caches being lost forever. GH.So, would some of you eminent cachers with multiple active cache placements care to tell us how long it takes to check all the paper logs against the webpage logs and delete as necessary.
I have only a few active caches but could visit and check them all in about half a day. GH.You are right again Dave, you can’t expect an original log book in a cache 10 years old nor the same cache container. It’s a bit like Trigger’s broom (Only Fools and Horses) which he had cherished for many years, it was the same broom even though it had had seven new heads and four new handles. However, I still disagree that a container can be moved moved 0.1 miles and be the same cache. A few oddities still remain such as The Cuckoo Cache but whilst I will enjoy finding your moved cache, in my mind it can not be the original. GH.
Yes, you are right. A groundspeak cache is defined by it’s GC code number.
However, I like the dictionary definition. (Each to his own definition of course). Maybe I’m just being awkward.Cache [kash] noun, verb, cached, cach·ing.
Noun 1. a hiding place, especially one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.
2. anything so hidden.
Verb (used with object) 3. to put in a cache; conceal; hide.By the way. I’m just about to drive down to the moor so, please don’t move it again until I’ve logged it!! GH.
Oh what a shame. Now you’ve moved the old cache how can it be the original cache any longer?? Surely the way forward should have been to negotiate with the nearby newer cache owner to get his required information, if you see what I’m alluding to, placed in the oldest cache and then either move or archive the newer cache. This would leave the space free to either unarchive the old cache or lay a multicache to lead cachers to it so they could log it even if it’s archived and collect the information they are looking for. GH.
Thanks Dave for bringing the Oldest Cache on the moor to my attention. I will hopefully find and log it soon. I’m still on my current challenge of trying to log 100 of Devon’s Oldest caches before they are archived. So far I have found 1 placed in 2001, 13 in 2002, 14 in 2003, 26 in 2004 and 23 in 2005 totalling 77 caches placed in Devon before the end of June 2005.
Regarding your “very old archived cache”, I can see your problem in getting it back up and running. Good luck with your negotiations. GH.I agree with Reb10. Creating and executing one’s own trail is a challenge that I also enjoy, it gives me an independence.
On a pre-arranged lowland trail my GPSr may say ‘next cache at 198 meters’. You know it will be a well trodden, dog mess littered footpath or a race track country lane. On the moor it could easily say ‘next unfound cache at 1.27 kilometers’ and you’re not exactly sure if you will encounter bogs, rocks, streams or a driving hail storm in the open.
Now that’s a challenge. GH.Thank you Dartymoor for pointing out the Talkie Toaster website. I was quite unaware that any map other than those provided by the American manufacturer could be loaded into my GPSr. I gave the loaded OSM maps a successful trial run last weekend around the lanes and footpaths of North Devon. So I look forward to using them when I can be back on the Dartmoor trails. GH.
When I find (or even DNF) a cache I rarely look at the D/T rating but always ask myself “Why is it there?” and often have no answer. Thus, I put forward an argument that maybe there are simply too many caches out there. Cachers then become indifferent about reporting a DNF as there is always another cache just around the proverbial English corner. GH.
I suspect the human behaviour trait of not wanting to admit defeat comes into play.
Anon — ( I own up! ) — GH.No offence taken at all and it is I who should apologise to you having given you the impression that I was offended.
I was first to find a cache last summer in order to fill a gap in my D/T ratings chart. The following day the CO changed the rating!!!
All’s fair in love and war!
Before submiting a proposed puzzle cache for review I showed it to an eminent puzzler for her opinion. She replied that the rating was too low. However, this was intentional as I was going to add a couple of hints to the cache page once it had been first found.
Such is the maze of D/T ratings. GH.
I hesitate to rate another person’s cache but GC28Q1K was well up there and is one of my all time favourite caches. The one “Found it” smiley was worth more than the 105 I earned on my highest find day.
It’s all down to one’s individual ability. GC28Q1K took a fair time to solve all the seperate puzzle mathmatics and then several trips to the far apart stages all needing special equipment which needed transporting to the stages over not too easy a terrain and I’m on my own.
May I therefore, respectfully ask the Plymbridge Runner how many of the “easy” puzzles they solved and why they didn’t find the final cache.
GH.
Yes, thanks for the reply and explanation.
I have previously wondered why one can alter your own cache pages so easily without referral to the reviewer after they have been published.
I imagine that if the reviewers locked the page once published they would be overloaded with requests for minor alterations. GH.
It was me Dave, I needed 100 in a day.
But it wasn’t particularly the number 100 or even the quality of the caches making up that 100. It was the challenge to prove to myself that I could actually do it. GH.
Had me worried for a moment thinking I’d found a wrong’un. But all’s well, it turns out the Hound Tor I logged in June 2011 was the virtual cache several miles north – so no litter associated with caching there then! Long live the virtuals. GH.
I was surprised to find two caches in walls in National Trust properties.
At Dunsland there is a cache in a brick wall. Once found it is obvious, but if your GPSr first takes you further along the wall one could be tempted to start pulling random bricks. Not a good idea.
The other, one of Devon’s Oldest Caches, is at Killerton in some old but important stone ditching. For the urban cachers, a stone ditch is a dry stone retaining wall. Clearly, removal of stones half way up the wall leads to considerable damage. I see the log following mine recorded a DNF as they refused to search in the wall. In hindsight I should have done the same.
I am disappointed the National Trust has not asked for them to be moved. Any reviewer reading this thread may also note my dislike of the NT using geocaching as an advertising platform. By encouraging people to trample over their property just to get feet through the gate shows the mindset of the NT hierarchy. I mailed the reviewer regarding this when he published caches in a North Devon property obviously set by the NT but I did not receive a reply. However, that would be a different thread. GH.
