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I'm just curious...

  • #21
I just found out that Geowoodstock 5 is going to be in Raleigh NC in May. I know I'm going to be there anybody else wanna go?

Geowoodstock is about the same as the ICPS Conference.
 
  • #22
This is pretty neat. I was just curious if there were any cache's nearby and there are quite a few. So I registered and I might go out and look for a couple sometime soon; however, I do not have a GPS unit so I'll probably do a little bit of searching on the internet and then a lot of walking around! Thanks for mentioning this, because this will be a great way to get out and about.

xvart.
 
  • #23
Wow! Didn't expect this, but there are like 4 within 5 miles of my zip code.. and I live in the middle of no where!
 
  • #24
Yeah!  I just checked the UPS site and found my new GPS was loaded on a truck in Lauderhill at 4:15 this morning and is "out for delivery".
 
  • #25
What kind of gps did you get?
 
  • #26
I got a Garmin Venture CS yesterday.  Supposed to be very good for geocaching.  B--- S---.  I thought it would be simple to use.   It is impossibly complicated.  I just wanted something to direct me from A to B.  If I wanted something that was sophisticated enough to map a fire zone for a battery of 105's...it would do the job.  Directions are crap.  Screen is very small and hard to read in sunlight.  Amazon did not send $50 rebate papers.  
mad.gif


So much for geochaching...
 
  • #27
Noooooooooooooooooo...don't give up!!!  I experienced the same thing!  It takes a little getting used to but the more you use it...the easier it is.

Hmmmm...Geowoodstock...sounds awsome.
smile.gif


I found two caches this weekend and had a blast!
 
  • #28
Man, I swear I posted this earlier... Oh well, here it goes again.

For you geocachers, can you post a story about the most difficult cache that you've found? Have you ever had to climb trees? Rock climb? Go underwater? Oh my!

Is it okay to talk about caches? I'm not sure if it is bad form to talk about particular caches since you probably don't want to ruin the surprise.... Anyway, any juicy details would be awesome!

xvart.
 
  • #29
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I want to find BURIED TREASURE, GOLD, DIAMONDS, EMERALDS AND RUBIES.

What about opals?
cry.gif
That's my birth stone
 
  • #30
I LOVE opals!  I have opal rough, a few polished...and lovely Mexican opal, fire opals and boulder opal.  I love it all!

Well...being a newbie and having only found 5 caches so far...lol...I don't have any amazing tales, although I have read awsome stories on Groundspeak.com.  I wouldn't mention it if I thought anybody here would be looking for it, but since it doesn't appear to be any forum geocachers here in Richmond, I'll tell it.

Its not any exciting story.  But the first cache I ever looked for was a micro (really small) in a nearby baseball park.  The online log had many DNFs (Did Not Find) and comments about how clever the hide was and how many times people had attempted to find it without success so I knew it was a tricky one.

First two times I looked I was very new with my GPSr so I blame it on that...heehee.  I didn't find it.  Second time, I knew I was within 10-15 feet of it, but still couldn't find it.  It was driving me crazy!!  I HAD to find it.  This past weekend I went back with a lot of determination and a little more experience.  This time I found it within 10 minutes.  It WAS an awsome hide.

There is a typical chain link fence that runs around the baseball diamond which is very tall.  In the middle was a horizontal support pole.  I was standing just looking around when I saw a place where the horizontal pole joined the vertical pole.  There was an opening at the end of the hollow horizontal pole where they joined that was about 1/2" wide (where it didn't quite line up with the vertical pole).  I was wondering if it could be in there when I noticed a stiff wire loop inside.  Sooo...I'm thinking...why would there be a wire inside this pipe??  I reach in with two fingers and grab the wire loop and start pulling.  Sure 'nuff...the wire is coming out...and coming out...and coming out...and THEN...I see its pulling out a soft, clear plastic tube that has been sliced open.  I see PAPER!  And I know that's the micro!  The log book was neatly rolled up and inserted into the slit-open flexible tube, connected to the long, stiff wire.  I laughed all the way back to the car...thinking how easy it is to miss that barely showing wire loop inside the pole!  No wonder it was so hard to find.  I loved that one!

My second find that day was a multi-stage.  Second stage had coordinates written on a rock stuck inside a cavity in an old cement bridge support in the woods...third stage coordinates were written on a plastic lizard wired inside a hollow in a tree...fourth stage was the regular cache hidden in the woods under some old trashed cement slabs.

There are of course much more physically challenging caches.  Some are underwater, some involve rock climbing, swimming, canoeing, etc.  But...I'm not ready for that yet.  Or ever.  lol   Underwater would be cool if I didn't have to swim to get it.

BTW...I do plan to leave various crystals and mineral specimens in some caches in hopes of inspiring people to get into rockhounding or mineral collecting. I also plan to leave homemade coins promoting NASC and conservation.
 
  • #31
That's a neat story. Are there any recommendations on really cheap GPS units that would suffice for a beginner?

xvart.
 
  • #32
Oh god the stories I could tell. The most dangerous cache I ever went for was called Lockwood Folly cache.
Here is the details of the cache.




[b said:
Quote[/b] ]This cache accessible by Kayak or Canoe ONLY. Round trip from put in can be done in about 2 hours.Summer: Bug spray!

This cache is located along the Lockwood Folly River.From Wilmington take HWY 17 (toward Myrtle Beach. At mile post 24 take a left on Old Ocean HWY-follow (.8) miles then take right on Gilbert Road and go 1.1 Miles to bridge. Park on right side just beyond bridge. There is a short road to the landing-Advise carrying your kayak from car-could get stuck on this very short road. Great paddling for those that enjoy ADVENTURE. Good thing we are using GPS, you will need it to locate cache AND return to the landing. There is a downed tree that looks like the end of your trip, but remember: if you can't go over it, can't go under it, try Around it.
Downed tree coordinates: N 34'01.733 W 078'12.839
Items in cache:
$
Lapel Pin
Logbook/pen
carabiner
Gift certificate
Camera

Please sign log book. If you take something, please leave something. Also please take a picture of you and/or your group and leave the camera in the cache.

Additional Hints ( Decrypt )

Cache is above ground on land. Easy exit from your Kayak/canoe It is at this point along the river you will start seeing a few pine trees. Once on land hint:If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it-did it make a sound?

Here's the post I made after I found it.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ] October 6 by Voodoodancer (188 found)
What a trip. I wish I could find the words to truly describe this trip. Another cache I had to risk my life to get. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it back alive, then somehow things got worse.
I'll start at the beginning. I have a friend that has been asking me for a long time to go canoeing with him. So we made plans to go for this cache. It called for rain today so we waited until this morning to decide if we were still going through with our plans. It turned out to be sunny so we loaded the canoe and headed for the river. We put in at the bridge, and headed for the cache. We didn't see much wildlife, but we saw plenty of trees across the river. Most of the trees we found our way around, but some we had to take the canoe out of the river and walk around. Every tree we came to I said this must be the one that is described in the cache info.
Soon the river was more like a ditch. We decided to abandon the canoe and see if we had any luck on foot.

I could see on the gps that we had made a big loop and we were not far from the road again. Not far from the river we found a deer stand and a trail through the woods. We followed the trail because it seemed to be heading towards the cache. It brought us right to the cache area.

Before we got to the cache area I remembered that I had forgotten to bring my pen. I told my buddy and he asked what would we do if the cache didn't have a pen in it. I told him that nothing is going to stop me from signing that log even if I had to sign it in blood, and I didn't care if it was his or mine.
While looking around for it, I walked right up onto a yellow rat snake. He wasn't moving, So I started to take out my camera real slow to get a pic of him before grabbing him. I was to slow because he crawled under a fallen tree. We dug around to try and find him but he probably had a hole under the tree and was safe underground.

It was about this time I started regretting my decision of not using bugspray. As time went on the more I regretted it. A few hundred mosquitoes have never stopped me before and it wasn't going to stop me now.
With all the tree cover the gps was a little jumpy and I walked around in circles for a while. I read the hint and there was many places that cache could be. My shoes came untied so I sat on a log to retie them. As soon as I stood up I saw the cache. I was so relieved to see that the cache had a pen. I signed the log, and took a pic of my buddy and then myself with the camera inside the cache. I returned the cache and we headed back to the canoe. As soon as we started back I heard thunder but it was far away. I knew we had to hurry, but I thought we had time to make it back to the bridge before it started raining. About half way back, it started raining, and the lighting was getting closer and closer. We got to an area where the river went 3 ways. We went both ways but the gps showed that both was the wrong way. By now it was really pouring. Somehow we entered an area of the river that we couldn't pass with the canoe either way we went. So we pulled the canoe up on the bank and decided to get out of the water and think about which way was the best way to go. The lighting was very close to us now. We would see the flash and hear the boom about a second later. It was way too close for comfort. We had two options. Stay on the little piece of land that we were on or to put the metal canoe back in the water. Both choices were very risky but we decided to wait the storm out on land.

We were both completely soaked by this point. Lighting was hitting all around us and we weren't sure which way we should go. I was thinking that things couldn't get much worse, but I was wrong.


If you have ever been to a very wet area that has a lot of trees then you should have noticed wooden spikes sticking up out of the ground. These are roots that trees send up out of the ground so the roots can breathe.

Like I said I was soaked to the bone waiting to see if I was going to be struck by lighting. I leaned against a fallen tree. It snapped and as I was falling towards the ground backwards, I heard my buddy say "WATCH OUT FOR TH" but it was to late.

I don't know if what happened next is suitable for younger cachers, so take precautions if they are nearby.

As I fell backwards I landed on one of those root spikes I was telling you about. I was extremely lucky that the one that I landed on was not one of the sharper ones and I'm glad I was wearing jeans. I think if the spike was any sharper or if I was wearing pants that was made of any thinner material, I would have been "stuck" there.

Well, the rain stopped, and the lightning kept getting farther away so we put the canoe back in the river and around the first turn we spotted the bridge. This was one trip I was glad that it was over.

Over all it was a good trip. I was hoping to see some Alligator mississippiensis or maybe even the very rare Humanus fray-puella or Feline niger. But I spotted neither. Maybe next trip.

I have also been chased off by a drunk driving a golf cart, but that's another funny story.
 
  • #33
Ozzy - nice story. I love the part about signing in blood! That was hilarious.

xvart.
 
  • #34
Apparently this happens about once a month somewhere...BOMB SQUAD!

http://cbs5.com/localwi....cn_html

Somebody's poor cache blown to smithereens. Always good not to make your cache hide look like a bomb...
 
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