Why Sometimes it's Good to Geocache in the Off Season

Here's what this beach looked like when we found a geocache here in early May:
 

 

  

Here's what it looked like in early July!

  

 

  

Geocaching in touristy areas in the off season makes things a lot easier as there aren't so many muggles around!  Another good tip is that some parks (esp state parks) only charge admission during the summer months, so planning to geocache there in the spring or the fall can save you a few bucks.  

  

This is also another great example of one of the best things about geocaching - it brings you to places you would probably never find on your own.  We were brought to this little, out of the way beach on Lake George to find a geocache back in May - then when we were in that area just recently and were looking for a place to eat our picnic lunch, we knew of this great little spot!

  

See you in the log books...

 

Gotta Love Geocaching in Vacationland!

 

  There's DH over to the left looking for the geocache

   

Can't beat geocaching in beautiful places like this, huh?  That lake is Lake George.  We were up in the Lake George area over the weekend (if you read my other blog (Carole's Thoughtful Spot) you know we recently bought some property in the Adirondacks) and we were sure to fit some geocaching in along with our other activities.  This geocache brought us to a little beach down a non-descript little side road.  This is the kind of place you would never even discover if not for a geocache hiding down there.  Which is one of the very best things about geocaching when you're travelling or on vacation - you are taken to wonderful, off the beaten path sort of places you would never have found on your own!

  

We're going to Chincouteague, VA for our summer vacation and DH has already scoped it out and told me there's a geocache just a few blocks away from where we'll be staying.  As you're planning your own summer vacation this year be sure to plug in the town you're visiting into Geocaching.com and see what geocaches are around!

 

See you in the log books! :-D

 

Why Placing a Geocache at a Playground May Not Be a Good Idea

  

Inevitably new geocaches pop up that are in parks with playgrounds.  We always approach these with trepidation - especially DH.  While it seems like a good spot for a geocache, think about how suspicious it looks for a guy with a backpack to be lurking around, looking under this and that.  As a mom with a child, I know how alert *I* am to anyone that looks out of place or suspicious when I'm out with DD at a park.  We moms can give a real mean "evil eye" ya know.  Not to mention that if you get a paranoid mom, you may suddenly be having to explain geocaching to the police.  

   

Now luckily for us, we ARE a family with a young-ish child, so if we all go to the playground, it's not quite as suspicious - I hang out with DD and let her play while DH hunts for the geocache.  But DH will rarely attempt a geocache at a park like this alone and I don't blame him.  

  

So, if you ever are thinking of placing a geocache at a park with a playground, at least try to place it away from the playground equipment.  In the case of the photo above, we ended up DNFing (DNF - Did Not Find) the geocache.  We believe it was under the gazebo.  You can only try for so long to poke around reaching under a gazebo that is smack dab in the middle of a playground when there are people around.  It was impossible to look without anyone seeing you.  DH tried for a short while, but it wasn't worth the evil stares of the other families, and when one of them pulled out their cell phone, we decided to bag it.

  

It's ok to place a geocache where "stealth" is required, but try to make sure it's even POSSIBLE to BE stealthy!  And let's be sensible and not put it in an area where parents are going to view you as a threat.  Like a mama bear with her cubs, you do not want to make a mom suspicious.  Trust me on that one.

  

See ya on the trails....

 

"Available In Winter"

Have you ever seen this icon on a geocache page on the right under "Attributes"?  This icon signifies that this geocache is "available in winter".  A lot of geocachers would call a geocache with this attirbute "winter friendly".  This is to me one of the most helpful attributes for a couple of reasons.

First of all, the obvious - this icon indicates if the geocache can be found easily even if there is snow on the ground.  If you live in a climate where you have snowy winters (like here in NY), a geocache that, for example, is hidden at the base of a tree might be very difficult, if not near impossible to find if there's a foot of snow on the ground.  On the other hand, a small geocache that is hanging from a tree branch would still be easily findable even in deep snow or ice.  Cold and snowy weather does not stop serious geocachers, so this icon is incredibly helpful for planning winter jaunts.

There's another really handy thing about this icon though that is helpful all year round.  You see, it gives you a big hint - if a geocache has the snowflake icon, then you automatically KNOW the geocache is NOT hidden on the ground - it's got to be at least a couple of feet off the ground in order to have this attribute!  Cool, eh?

Sometimes if we're having trouble finding a geocache first I'll read through the logs to see if anyone gives away any hints as to where it might be. Then I look at the attributes and see if I see that snowflake.  Sometimes all you need is just one little hint for the lightbulb to go off in your head and score a find.

Of course you can always resort to decoding the hint, but sometimes even with the hint that find is elusive.  Gotta use every clue you can get! :-)

Speaking of that, we're heading out today to try again for a geocache that DH DNF'd last week.  Despite all his tricks to extract hints from the geocache page, he still couldn't find it.  He was out by himself (well, the dog was with him) and he called me from the trail to look at the page on Geocaching.com to see if I could come up with any ideas - we call that "phone a friend".  We'll see if we can find it as a team today...

Holiday Use for Your GPS

 

   

If you like to go chop down your Christmas tree each year like we do, you probably know how difficult in a field of Christmas trees it can be to find just the right tree.  Especially if you go as a family, one person might find one good tree over here that he/she wants everyone to look at, and someone else might find a tree over there for everyone to consider...but then how in the world will you find that first tree again, after you go look at the second tree and you decide you want the first tree after all?  I mean, after 5 minutes at the Christmas tree farm, all the trees start to look the same.

  

In years past we've tried a few different methods - we've used the "find-a-stick-and-stick-it-in-the-top-of-the-tree" to mark it way, we've also used the "you-stand-here-and-wait-while-I-go-look-at-the-other-tree" method as well.  But THIS year, I think you can guess from the photo what we did!

   

DH had the brilliant idea to waymark the trees we liked using his GPS.  (Waymarking is basically just using the GPS to "mark" and save the coordinates of a location.)  I believe in this photo he is marking "Tree 2".  We eventually ended up getting "Tree 1".  (In case you're wondering, we only ended up waymarking two trees - don't be thinking I dragged DH all over the farm making him waymark every other tree - I didn't!)

  

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

  

(If you're interested in reading more about getting our tree at the Christmas Tree Farm, I blogged about it in way more detail with more pics at my other blog: Carole's Thoughtful Spot.)

  

Huckle Buckle Beanstalk!

That's a game we play while geocaching.

You see, a lot of the fun of geocaching is trying to find the geocache.  In our family there are three of us, so when someone finds the geocache, basically the fun is ruined for the other two who now don't get to find the geocache.  So to avoid this, we play Huckle Buckle Beanstalk.  Here's what you do:  when you find the geocache, you don't say anything.  You continue looking around nonchalontly and move away from where the geocache is.  After a moment or two you say, "Huckle buckle beanstalk!"  This lets the others know you've found it.  This way they get to keep trying to find it.  If one of them find it, they do the same thing and call out "Huckle buckle beanstalk!" and the last person can still have the fun of trying to find it.  Or they can just give up and ask where it is.  :-)  But it keeps it fun if you're in a group.

By the way, thanks to MSTzilla for a very fun geocaching event last week!

Why It's Important To Log Your DNFs (Did Not Finds)

Some people are very reluctant to log a DNF (Did Not Find) when they don't find a geocache.  For some people it's an ego thing - they just don't want any of those "sad faces" in their account - they don't want to suffer the embarrassment of admitting they couldn't find a geocache.  For others, it may be that they tell themselves they'll go again another day and try to find it, and they never get around to finding it and never log the DNF. 
 
Well, embarrassing or not, or whether you plan to try to find the geocache again another day, you should still log your DNF because this is the only way the geocache owner will find out there may be a problem with their geocache!  Sometimes you can't find a geocache because it's not there - sometimes geocaches mysteriously disappear, or sometimes they get "muggled" (non-geocachers find it and trash it or take it).  And other geocachers will continue to waste their time and energy trying to find caches that are not there unless people log their DNFs so that the geocache owner will realize there is a problem and go out and check on their geocache and either come back to the cache page and note that the geocache IS still there and it's just a tough hide, or they can disable the listing if the geocache is missing until they have a chance to replace it.

So please, don't be embarrassed if you don't find a geocache - it's happened to the best of us, believe me (in fact right now there's a geocache we've been to TWICE and still haven't found it - we did confirm though that it IS still there - we just can't seem to find it!).  And hey, it might not even be there to be found, in which case the geocache owner will appreciate knowing there may be a problem and if they see another DNF or two come in, they'll know they need to go out and check on it. 

I hope you never have any DNFs, but if you do, please log it.  As a geocache owner, I thank you!