A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

geocaches

Notes from my noodle: May 20

A couple of years ago, I did a blog post about Zander Hollander.

Earlier this year, I got a comment on the post from his nephew, who also gave me the e-mail address of his wife Phyllis. I had planned to e-mail, but didn’t really know how to approach it as Zander’s nephew had noted his uncles wasn’t in great health.

Autographed book.

Recently, a freelance writer happened upon my blog, hoping to find some info about Zander. He is working on a piece about Zander, so he’s looking for all he can get.

That made me remember the e-mail to Phyllis.

I wrote to Phyllis to see if I should forward her e-mail address and such to the writer. I also mentioned meeting them when they came to my town as part of the local book fair. She remembered, which was quite cool.

I’m going to be, in the next week or so, calling Phyllis. I’ll write a little more on the blog after that, to update my post from 2011.

With all of this, however, I went digging for some books by Zander in hopes of finding a signed one. Turns out, I have two signed books. These are very cool to have.

I love signed books and they are ones I really like to keep. So having these two is a bit of a thrill.

Check out the post linked above for the full story.

****

As much as I hate to say it, I guess I have to start working.

I’ve pointed this out on the blog before, but I’m a dreamer. So I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dream big when I purchased my Powerball ticket for the $600 million jackpot.

No winner for me.

Though there was a slight disappointment when I heard the ticket was sold in Florida, it’s also reality. Think about how many tickets were sold for that lotto. Imagine the odds of winning. I only buy one ticket, so my odds are even greater.

It still would have been cool though.

Have you ever read the stories about people who win a massive lotto and are broke in a couple of years? I can assure you that wouldn’t have been me. Many of those stories repeat themselves — the person gives away money, is silly with his spending etc.

No chance for me.

I’m not going to lie — if I won $600 million, I would have tried to spend a million in a week or so. House/land, cars, some other things. All frivolous  Why? Because I could.

After that? Back to being smart with it. Invest it. Pay off bills for myself, family and close friends. Set up some college funds for certain youngsters. Set up a charitable foundation.

Then, have it set up so I get paid weekly. A certain amount. That way, I don’t just go spending money for the sake of spending it.

Alas, that won’t happen.

So when this new summer job of mine starts in a few weeks, I’ll be heading there. And I’m OK with that.

Though $600 million would have been sweet.

****

For the past week or so, I’ve been out finding spots to place geocaches in my area. I am hosting an event this upcoming Sunday and I wanted to have some new caches available.

You can find some interesting things while doing this.

Old ball caught in a bush.

Whether it’s piles of trash, makeshift memorials, the beauty of nature, or whatever else, you never know what you’ll find.

When inspecting at a local field, an old baseball was found.

This isn’t rare. I’ve come across old baseballs many times. And they often make for good photos.

But this one was different. It wasn’t just a ball in the middle of an old field or something. It was stuck. In a bush. We didn’t remove it as we thought it seemed cool an had its place.

It also looked like it had been there for a while.

Just another interesting find while out and about with geocaching.

****

That will do it for this edition of Notes from my noodle. I’ll be back with another edition of this shortly has I have a few more things to randomly share!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Placing geocaches can be just as fun as finding them

I know I wrote a little about geocaching the other day in my Notes from my noodle post, but I’ve been on a bit of a binge lately.

I also have two other posts in the works about geocaching — one which will follow this weekend’s trip and another that deals with — yes — cheating in the game. Seriously, people cheat. In a game where numbers don’t matter. Hopefully regular readers, as well we geocachers, will enjoy reading that wacky story.

Anyway, on with this one.

I’ve been on a bit of a hiding spree lately.

If you’ll recall, I’m a bit of a believer that caches have a lifespan. Basically, if a cache is basic, doesn’t have a heap of favorite points and isn’t historic of sorts, it’s not a bad thing to archive them every few years. You can place a new one in the same area — just change it a bit — and make it a place for people to discover again.

I’ve been working on placing some caches recently…

My area is quite rural. To get here, you have to go through some winding/hilly roads. Some people don’t like that, which is a shame because this area is really nice. Alas, to each their own.

Recently, I looked at many of my geocaches and some of them go a lot of time without getting hits. So, despite being attached to some of them, I decided I would archive a few to open up space for some others to be placed.

Not too long ago, I purchased a box of lock-n-lock type containers at BJ’s when they were on sale. I let them sit for a while. This seemed like the perfect time. I dug out some camo duck tape I had got a while back and started to get some containers ready to place.

See, I was all about getting things done.

I went out one night and started scouting spots. I hiked some trails. I looked at small parks. I checked places where caches used to be and I came up with a bunch of spots that I thought would make for some good caches.

I found a few of my caches and archived them. It was hard on a couple of them because they were from when I first started caching, so they had a bit of a sentimental value. Alas, for the good of the game, it was time for them to go and I hope those who found them over the years enjoyed them.

In their place went several new caches. Not in the same spots, mind you, but in the area or park. Over the course of a few days, I placed seven new caches in the area. Of those, one was a regular, three were smalls and three were micros. A nice little mix.

I firmly believe it can be just as fun placing these caches as it is finding them, especially if people seem to like them when they look for ’em.

As expected, however, the caches haven’t been hit as much as I’d hope — especially for new caches. But, they are there and there are still many days of good weather ahead, so I hope these caches will be hit up soon enough.

I also plan on placing a couple more. Possibly tonight. One is a cache I’ve wanted to do for a long time — a letterbox hybrid. It’s going to be straight forward, but it will have a stamp for people to use and stamp their books. I hope finders enjoy it! I tried to place it last night, but there were people at the spot I wanted to put it… so I’ll try again tonight!

In the end, this has helped me enjoy caching again. Ever since I posted about the game passing me by, I’ve come out of that funk and have had a good time with it. I’ve especially found fun in placing caches again, so hopefully I can come up with some new places to hide ’em and have some fun with these, too!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Geocaching 101: Logging in

Darren signs the log at a cache we found in 2010.

There’s a lot that can be learned from the logs in geocaching — whether online or the physical logs in the cache. More so, in recent years, with the online logs.

You can learn about the finders, the hiders and everything in between.

There might be subtle hints or interesting photos. All sorts of goodies can be found in the logs. But beware of reading too many before you go finding a cache — you might get an unwanted spoiler. Most people are good about warning you if a spoiler is in a log, however.

Though I don't always post long logs in the book, I always try to put more than my name and date.

There’s the flip side, too. The negative logs. They seem to be appearing more and more.

So, this 101 series blog post is about the log. And, maybe what you may or may not see. I’ll also offer what kind of things I personally do and things I’ve seen that I might not really agree with.

Remember, this game is very open to interpretation, so to each their own.

Importance of the online log

The online log is where most people will get to see your story about the geocache.

The log is so much more important than just getting the find credited to your account. It can work as a tool to the cache owner or future finders. And, it can also be a place where you show your appreciation to the owner and placer of the cache.

First — as a tool. If something is wrong with the cache, the main place where the owner will find out is from fellow cachers. Usually, that will come in the form of something in the log. It could be anything from something small (a full log) to something bigger (a broken or missing cache). But if the owner sees these logs, he or she can then make the decision on how to fix things. Maybe it’s a quick fix. Or, maybe they’ll have to do something even bigger with it. But by letting the cache owner know, you’re giving them a tool on knowing everything isn’t perfect.

This also helps future finders. If the owner hasn’t been out there, there’s a possibility a fellow geocacher will see the log and help fix things when they go find the cache.

It also can help people by maybe pointing out things that have changed since the geocache was placed. Maybe the trails have changed. Maybe a few other things are different. People can help people in these situations.

The logs also serve as history of the cache. It keeps a record of what people thought of the cache. The odds are if the online log is filled with short responses, it might not be the most scenic or challenging. If it’s filled with stories and descriptions, one can usually realize they’ll be finding a decent cache. You can’t bet the same on all log entries, but you can usually get an idea of what you might be walking into.

And, it’s a way for people to express their feelings to the owner. Maybe there’s a great story with the cache or something else. By posting it online, you’ve given the owner some satisfaction to the hide. Even a DNF (did not find) can make for a great online log.

Telling your adventure

Where do you want to tell your story?

Online or in the book?

In the early days of geocaching — and you can tell the difference when you look at older caches and original logs — a lot of the stories were told in the books left in the caches. When we went to The Spot — the fifth oldest active geocache in the world — for my 1,000th find, I sat and read the original log book. It was amazingly cool. People told stories. Or made catchy poems. It was creative.

Sometimes you can tell a story in a small space -- like this one where two of us got a first to find four months to the day where we DNFd it!

Now, as the game gains in popularity and things are based on speed, a lot of people don’t do that anymore. I am guilty of that often, too. BUT, when I come across really good caches, I try and take more time with things. I’m trying to do that more now as I think that’s a cool thing. I always hate going to do maintenance on my caches, only to find pages of “TFTC” or something quick or just the person’s name and date. Worse yet is a lot of people don’t even sign the log anymore — they use a stamp made at Office Max or something like that. Not even a hand-carved stamp, like in letterboxing.

So where’s the best place to tell your adventure. That’s up to you. If the cache is good enough, I do it in the log and online. Much of my stuff comes online because most people don’t take time to read the log. I still try and go through the log to see who has been there and if I know people.

This is personal preference, however, so do it as you see fit.

The in-person log

Though I touched upon this above, I just wanted to tackle it a little more.

In the early days of geocaching, there were often stories, poems or something creative written in the logbooks.

The in-person log can be a wonderful thing. But remember some things about it. What you write in there might be seen by many eyes. People might take photos of the page. They might post things. They might do other things. Once you write things in there, it’s basically in the public domain. So don’t give away personal things that you may not want out there. I know most people will give me the “no duh” comment here, but it’s better to say it than have people not realize it!

The reality is, once the log is being used two or three pages past where you wrote, it might not be seen at all. And if the cache eventually goes bad, it might go into the world as something never seen.

But don’t let that stop you.

There are still many cache owners who check the logs quite often.

One thing is for sure with the in-person log — have fun with it!

Try and read some of the past logs, too. They can be very fun to read. It’s even better when you read a log from a non-geocacher who stumbled upon the cache and wrote a log based on what he or she found!

Negativity

One thing I’ve noticed more and more lately is negativity. I don’t get it, either. Don’t get me wrong — I realize that some bad things need to be pointed out. But it can be subtle. Enough for the cache owner to realize that something might be wrong or unwanted, but not enough to basically call them out.

That latter part is happening more and more lately.

It can be a wide range of things, too. Anything from coordinates to attributes to cache container to location are open game for complainers to lay into the cache owner as to why the seeker doesn’t particularly care for a cache (or, just to question things). This is something I’m seeing more and more of and it’s kind of disheartening. I’ve seen it in my area and I’ve seen it in my travels.

And it stinks.

If you go back and read the bulk of my logs, I try and keep things upbeat and positive. There are times when I believe things need to be called out, maybe more as a reason to warn future finders. Maybe the cache is in awful shape (which I will usually post with a maintenance log). Or there have been so many “did not find” logs and the cache owner doesn’t seem to care or go look, maybe it needs a “needs archived” log.

But outside of that, I try and remain upbeat and find something good. I’m not the guy who just writes “TFTC” (thanks for the cache), but I also won’t write a novel unless it was a cache that really blew me away with its amazement or gave me a great story to tell.

When I do post something a little on the negative side, I try and remain subtle.

For example, when finding a newer local cache, it put me in a situation where I felt a little nervous. So, in the log, I said: “I have to be honest that this one made me feel uneasy.”

I figured, if the cache owner was interested, they would e-mail me. They did and I explained in further detail my issues. Simple. No issues. No wonders. No worries.

But, when people are negative, it’s usually not that subtle. It’s blatant and can be perceived as being quite nasty. And a lot of times, it can feel a bit confrontational. Worse is that many logs seem to be going that way at times. Almost like some people have to find something negative about a cache and point it out. It can be anything, too. As I mentioned above, the topics to be negative about are quite a range.

I’ve been lucky to find geocaches in many places and it seems there are always a few people who do this. It’s not just one or two people in one area. It’s all over.

And it’s a shame.

This game is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to take you to interesting places, or, at worst, give you something to do. To go and make such a blatant rip on someone is uncalled for an unnecessary. E-mail the cache owner.

My favorite?

Complaining over coordinates. I love that. People get all up in wads if coordinates are off by 30 feet or so. But see, here’s the thing. Thirty feet could be the difference in the day, weather, time that it was placed, GPS unit used or anything like that. And who says the coordinates the finder took are the right ones?

The problem is that when this happens, a lot cachers will up and change their coordinates, instead of heading back out and checking it for themselves. Again, if someone found something after dark, the odds are the coordinates are going to be different than those of someone who placed a cache at noon on a clear day.

Now, if you have a difference of 100 feet or something, by all means post what you got. But if we are talking 20-40 feet, it could be anything from the weather to the GPS, so keep that in mind before hammering somebody in your log about coordinates.

After all, who says you are right.

I don’t want to beat the negativity subject, but one more. Look at the attributes and respect them. I’ve seen far too many people who either A) put in their log how they blatantly ignored one of the attributes or B) question them. If you have issues, e-mail the cache owner. There’s probably a reason these things are there. I don’t always agree with them, either. Believe me, I’ve scratched my head many times when I’ve seen the handicap-accessible attribute and then have to hike a quarter of a mile down an uneven trail and reach into a tree to grab the cache. But I usually will just drop a note to the cache owner stating that they might want to re-consider that attribute. OR, if I mention it in the log, I won’t try and bash — I’ll do it as a quick note and leave my reason why.

The attributes are there for a reason and the owner’s use them for different things. Just because you don’t agree with them doesn’t mean you are right. So bashing someone for these things maybe isn’t the way to go, ya know?

Final thoughts 

In the end, how you log is fully up to you.

Sometimes reading past logs can show you things you'll never see in the online logs.

Whether you are more happy with logging deeper in the books or online is something only you can decide. You are also the one that has to decide how you post online — easy, calm, harsh, too truthful, long-winded, short or whatever else.

The reality is this, though. Many people will only know you through your online logs. It still irks me when I go to an event and people call me by my geocaching name, despite them knowing my real name.

But that’s how you are perceived.

So do what you feel is the best for you and how you feel to do it. But in the end, try and have as much fun with the logs as you can as it’s a part of the game that can be extremely enjoyable for you and for others when reading.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Looking back at GeoWoodstock

The GeoWoodstock road sign -- with next year's location on top!

It’s been a little more than a week since GeoWoodstock ended and I think I finally have my thoughts all together from that whirlwind weekend to do a post about the overall weekend.

And what a weekend it was.

Every person in life has events they will remember. There are vivid memories of births, deaths, accomplishments, goals attained, first cars and everything else. But those memories stick with those people forever. I have a lot of those memories, too. Now, I can add GeoWoodstock to that memory base.

Though some might find geocaching silly or something along those lines, for those of us who participate in the game, it’s a fun hobby. I’ve always thought it was a bit heartless the way some non-geocachers talk about the game. Everyone has hobbies. Some have silly ones. Some have serious ones. It’s what makes this world so fun. Not everyone is the same.

But I digress.

Last weekend was my first GeoWoodstock. I plan on attending more in the future, but I’m quite sure they won’t compare to this one, if not just because it was my first trip to one. The event, which was in its ninth year, was originally created by a small group of cachers who hosted the original event with 75 people in Louisville. Since then, the event has continued to grow and grow. This year, more than 5,000 people ascended on Pittsfield, Pennsylvania to the Warren County Fairgrounds for GeoWoodstock 9.

Coming in to the weekend, I knew it wasn’t an ordinary geocaching event. What was in store, I couldn’t have expected.

For those of you who are geocachers and have attended events, you know that the social aspect is quite a draw for most. You get to hang and chat with fellow cachers, placing faces to names you have seen online or in logbooks. But this event was so much more.

Vendors. Food. Games. Workshops. Presentations.

It was basically a fair, for geocachers.

GeoWoodtock had a fair atmosphere.

There was even fair food (and yes, the funnel cake was outstanding!)

There were event shirts (trackable!) and so many people discovering one another’s shirts or their other trackables.

This was a caching event unlike any I had ever been to.

Arriving late Thursday night, a few hours of sleep was in order before beginning Friday. We went on a caching run for the day, hitting three events (a breakfast, in a park for a train ride, and the official pre-event meet-and-greet, where we got to pick up registration materials early). For the day, we earned a coin for the Allegheny GeoTrail (Forest County).

The day was a success overall as I had the chance to meet a bunch of new people — and the event hadn’t even started yet. There were four of us for much of the day (me, Brent and Heather and Jim of the Ferreteers) going after a bunch of caches. We had a late dinner where we ran into Gary (JonesPosse) and Wes (AThrillofthehunt). A lengthy chat ensued about Pathtags and caching. I had traded Pathtags, several times, with Gary, so it was really cool to put a face to the name.

The thing about chance meetups like this at a geocaching event?

You make friends you’ll have for a long time. We ended up meeting up with Gary and Wes several times over the course of the weekend, including at a couple of the events Saturday, a few caches after and for dinner. There we also met up with Steve and his girlfriend Kathie (we3jeepers). Steve would be part of our massive group Sunday in hunting down many caches and it was a good time having a local involved!

Anyway, back to the weekend.

After a short night’s sleep Friday, the reason we made the trip came to fruition. GeoWoodstock! I had to arrive early as I was volunteering for the bird banding exhibition. It took a while for me to find the spot, but eventually I did. However, the bird banding people (who were geocachers) didn’t know that the GW committee had sent them a volunteer, so for a few moments, there was nothing to do. Then, I had the idea of photos — and they seemed happy to have photos taken of the event!

I learned a bit at this spot. It was pretty cool overall.

One of the live podcasts.

With volunteering out of the way, it was time to check things out. And there was a lot to check out! I couldn’t believe how many vendors were there. From major companies such as Garmin and DeLorme, to the many geocoin companies, Pathtags, geocaching clothing and more. It was something else to take the time to look through all the wares that people offered.

GeoWoodstock was an all-day affair with some of the items. They had a roundtable with geocaching reviewers, live podcasts

all day and so much more. I tool part in one of the podcasts, Cache-A-Maniacs. As a former guest of the

show, Darryl and Drie were looking to catch up with a few former guests and I was one of the ones brought on stage. Pretty cool to visit with them again, but definitely a different feeling getting up on the stage and doing it live!

I didn’t check out many of the workshops because the buildings they were being held in were roasting hot. It was already hot enough, but I found that standing

outside in the shade was the coolest way to go. I ever spent a few minutes back at my car in the AC to try and cool down!

The event was, by far, the most fun I’ve ever had at a geocaching event. For those cachers in the Northeast who didn’t get the chance to go, I feel for you as it was worth the car ride. Who knows when it will be back in the Northeast again, but if you get the chance to go — I’d highly encourage it.

Find Sparticus! (He's not the green guy!)

Also, a fun part of the day included hanging with Chuck — a cacher who goes by the name of Sparticus06. For those of you who read FTF Geocacher Magazine, you already likely know Sparticus. For those that don’t read the magazine, well, Chuck had the idea of finding his way into each edition of the magazine. So the magazine puts his head in a photo somewhere each month. People find it, submit their names and have a chance to win a special pathtag. I’ve known Chuck for several years through caching and events, so it’s always fun to hang with him. But with this whole thing, he’s a celebrity. Put him in an area with a lot of people who know about this and it’s a constant yell of “I found Sparticus.” Too funny.

The following day, there were two more events and a lot of caching in the plans.

This also included a 5/5 geocache — my second 5/5.

I wasn’t originally going to do this one. Alas, we met up with Gary, Wes and Steve, who were going to do it. See, this cache required a canoe or kayak. However, the water wasn’t high.

You probably see where I am going with this.

Anyway, I ended up switching shorts and wearing my sandals and with the aid of Gary’s walking stick, I went with those three, Brent and Jim of the Ferreteers in crossing this river. The water actually felt awesome (it was so hot that day) and it wasn’t a bad walk over. The cache was eventually in hand and we had the 5/5. It was the first 5/5 for Gary and Brent. I think it might have been for the Ferreteers and Wes as well.

The funniest part of it was when Wes took a dive the way back and got soaked. Good times. Brent and Jim, who had waded across with bare feet, each flagged a canoe to bring them back across the river to avoid the rocks.

We ended the day with a cool series near Jamestown, had a fantastic dinner and parted ways.

The final tally?

Sixty-four caches, eight events, countless memories, several new friends and an experience that I’ll never forget. Though I don’t know where I’ll be job-wise next year, I’ve made my hotel reservations for next year’s GeoWoodstock, which is in southern Indiana over Memorial Day weekend. I can’t wait and hope it all works out so I can go. I traded for more than 40 Pathtags, walked away with about a dozen new geocoins. I also finally got to meet many people I’ve known through the game, whether it be caching logs, pathtags, coins, twitter or something else. Way too cool.

This was one for the memory bank, that’s for sure. And one I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend.

I can’t wait until next year!

For more photos from the GW weekend, visit my Flickr set here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Geocaching: Do you re-visit caches?

Not including your own geocaches, do you re-visit caches?

And I don’t mean just because you are with someone who hasn’t found the cache and you are out and about and hit a few you’ve already been to. Rather, do you go check out a cache you’ve found for whatever reason?

Maybe it’s a good spot for a travel bug hotel?

How about to pick up a trackable?

Or, the location might be really wild.

How about for swag?

I ask this as I still ponder my thoughts on archiving some of my caches. I like when caches are found, as I’m sure most geocache owners would agree. Alas, it seems like when the bulk of the local cachers clear them out, they just sit there and get hit once or twice or maybe three times a year.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I’m not in favor of a cache being archived after a few months, but if they are sitting around for a year or two and only get a few hits… well, it might be time to move on with ’em.

So back to the question at hand — going back to a cache.

I’ve done it before. Usually it’s to drop off some travel bugs or pick some up or something along those lines. When I do that, I’ll leave a note, too, to say that I’ve been there.

But a lot of caches, why go back?

So I come to you — the geocaching community — and ask: Do you re-visit caches? Why? When? How often?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.