When driving directions go wrong...

Sometimes even the Google gets confused. Let's just hope they weren't going to a geocache...

Update: The Google fixed their directions. Here's a bigger screen grab for posterity.

Doh!

After a few logs like these on one of our caches:

January 14 by CCCooperAgency (18517 found)
Was able to jot down "CCCA" and "V+S" but the log is more like a wet sponge at this point and there was mud in the cache. Maybe utilize one of those little plastic containers like seen around town INSIDE of the MHK?

January 14 by Vinny & Sue Team (1277 found)
Nice little spot. Log soaked AND muddy though. Container needs to be waterproof in this spot! I think CCCA made some indents on the log but it couldn't be signed properly. Thanks!

January 14 by F'burg Don (115 found)
Found it this afternoon. The container was wet as was the log sheet. There were no plastic bags.
F'burg Don and crew

We realized we had left the old cache in place when we put a new one in. So we went out and retrieved the old, soggy cache container:

January 16 by 2diggers (207 found)
Note to self: It would help to remove the old container when replacing it with a new one.

Removed old container which everyone is finding. New container still in place and dry.

Oops.

At least they didn't blow it up

Actually they do have some good advice in the article.

Treasure Hunt in Park Causes Bomb Scare

Jan 8, 2007 08:21 AM

A treasure hunting game in a North Fond du Lac park caused some tense moments Sunday morning.

Police called in the Brown/Outagamie County Bomb Squad when someone reported seeing a man put a suspicious object on the ground at Yellowstone Trail Park. Police found it was a PVC pipe and a small plastic container.

They eventually learned from others in the area that it was part of geocaching, a hide-and-seek game using different navigational techniques.

All the container had inside was paper and a pencil, so the bomb squad was called off.

Officers suggest that geocachers clearly mark their caches, and be ready to show that they are harmless.

At least one Brown County sheriff's deputy says he recalls this kind of incident happening before. He recommends calling your local parks department before geocaching to get permission and find out what the local regulations are.

Don't forget your pen!

So today we were caching and went to grab a micro by the girls and I. We found it with no problem, but where did we put the pen? Not here, not there, so what to do? Camera phone! Take a picture!

Number 200

Our goal for 2006 was to hit 200 finds before the end of the year. We made it with over 11 1/2 hours to spare. And what else but a Bozo cache would it be?

Slackers

Wow. It's been a year since we last posted here. Ummm... We've been busy?

Actually, no excuse. Just slack. But we have news to post so get ready for it.

Incoming!

Let's be REALLY careful out there

These items are becoming more frequent:

BOISE, Idaho – Scot Tintsman says he never had any troubles with the law until his girlfriend introduced him to what became his all-consuming passion: the satellite-navigated treasure hunt called geocaching.

"She got me hooked," said the 33-year-old Idaho man, who faces criminal charges for hanging a green bucket beneath a concrete bridge on a major state highway last September.

His "cache" was placed for other players to find using handheld Global Positioning System units. But before he could even finish adding the requisite trinkets and log books to the cache and posting its GPS coordinates on the Internet, it was indeed discovered – by a state bridge inspection crew.

That triggered a seven-hour road closure and emergency response from officials who feared a bomb had been rigged to the bridge.

Unaware of the alarm, Tintsman was returning to finish rigging his cache when he rounded a corner on his motorcycle and was confronted by a barricade of police cars and a bomb squad. He struggled to explain that it was all a misunderstanding.

"I got off my bike and three officers approached me very cautiously, hands on their holsters," he said. "I was trying to turn off my MP3 player and I think they were worried I was going for a detonator."

Follow the link for the full story.

Oh, and in case the attitude of the officers as the geocacher approached seems familiar, it is.

Police Blow Up Geocache

A geocache in Ohio was blown up by police. This isn't the first time it's happened, but this was micro cache with a geocaching label on it.

Let's be careful out there.

FTF Follies

One of the brass rings of geocaching is being FTF (first to find) on a new cache. In our area, two cachers are most notable for FTFs, Bigbunch and Bisanabi (we'd like to to be FTF on caches, but you'll soon see why that happens so seldom).

Well the typical FTF log around here is from Bisanabi and it goes something like this:

FTF! Checked the site just before bed and saw this cache. Decided to get dressed again and do a midnight run. Headlamp, backup flashlight, boots -- total overkill for this easy cache. At least I remembered a pen! TFTC

Bigbunch thinks Bisanabi has an inside source:

I'm convinced Bisanabi gets new cache notification before me. TFTC 2diggers.

Well we can't say for sure, but our most recent FTFs might give one pause to think:

FTF! Found it at 8:56 am. Bigbunch and Bisanabi must be out of town this weekend, otherwise we'd be 3rd to find!

and

FTF (at 6:55 am )! And our first find of the New Year! GPSr bounced a little but we still went right to it. Other notable area FTF-ers must still be sleeping off last year's festivities. SL TFTC!

So the only time we can get FTF is when the other FTF-ers in the area are otherwise occupied.

Number 100!

Our 100th find! Our goal was to make it to 100 finds before the end of 2005 and we made it!

Adventures in Geocaching

Our cache Day Surgery is intended to be a challenge. It is hidden in a woody area adjacent to a professional office park (a plastic surgeon's office is closest, and inspired the cache name). The container is, well, unusual, and hidden in what we hope is an unexpected location. So cachers must exercise stealth to avoid being observed when hunting (in fact, it is best to search on the weekend), plust the cache itself is very difficult to find. It is made all the more difficult when police are present, as the following log by nosaj explains:

Well, started out a boring Sunday morning. Decided to snag this one prior to the Canal Path Series. When visiting Fredericksburg family, we typically go by this location multiple times. Today, we pulled in to the professional park to find the cache. Sunday 9 AM, should have the place to our selves. Well, there was a police officer in the upper parking. We decided to follow the GPSr and went to the lower parking. As we pulled in, Mrs. nosaj noticed that we definitely got the officer's attention. He moved his car and was checking out our activities. We learned later that he was calling in our vehicle with out of state tags. He proceeded to come to the lower parking to join us. Mr. Nosaj walked back to officer's car with GPSr in one hand and other hand in pocket. (This upset the officer.) He politely demanded that Mr. Nosaj remove hand from coat pocket, while unclipping his fire arm. Mr. Nosaj quickly cooperated.

We then proceeded to explain exactly what we were doing. He never heard of geocaching. Then another officer arrived at the scene. Before we could explain to him, another officer arrived at the lower parking lot. We showed them the print out that we had of one of the local puzzle caches. No one had heard of geocaching; however, the first officer on the scene (K-9 unit) thought it was interesting. He couldn't wait for us to find it! We don't think they were buying our story at all. Officer 2 was really sceptical. Finally, a fourth officer arrived. Then the 3rd and 4th left! Amazing that we were the biggest excitement in Fredericksburg!

So, we began our search with the 2 officers remaining in parking lot, we went down the hill in search of the cache with permission! Of course, we had a bit of stage fright! Couldn't seem to find it. Mrs. nosaj mentioned oh yeah by the way the last team had a DNF. Not what Mr. Nosaj wanted to hear. So we went on to the rocks and we searched and searched, and searched. Ut oh, what are we going to do if we really can't find this one? Pressure was on. We heard the officers laugh and shout "Oh, here comes another one!". We thought they meant yet another officer! Oh, brother! Please please come out come out where ever you are little cache! Finally, we got lucky! We found it. Well, we think. Oh, boy look at that container. We've never seen one like this. Keep in mind we've been explaining they are usually rubbermaid container. So, this became interesting. Was this the cache, Mrs. Nosaj didn't want to open it. Mr. Nosaj took it up the hill to show the police and "Hunt and Peck" (who was the most recent arrival, not another police officer like we thought). He was kindly trying to help us out of this one!. The 1st officer looked at the log book. We signed the log and let Hunt and Peck put it back.

The officers were discussing this treasurer hunting. Officer 1 is ready to get a GPSr and join us on the weekends! Whew! Officer 2, well we don't think that he was that interested! He told us that we were treaspassing and to put our hands on our backs. Which, Mrs. Nosaj did. Then he smiled.

They are amazed that geocaches are all over the area. So, on to the next cache. This was our first of trying to explain geocaching to the police!

Thanks to "Hunt and Peck" for bringing credibility to our story. I think that really helped.

Let's be careful out there

Ever since 9/11 geocachers have been concerned about security awareness, mainly because hunting for the cache can look suspicious. After all, we dress funny, carry funny looking devices, act furtively. Who wouldn't wonder what we're up to? But it's not just cachers who can attract attention, sometimes the cache itself will be cause for alarm.

Been awhile

It's been awhile since we updated the blog; here's a little bit about what's been going on with us.

We put out three more geocaches, one of which was just published today.

It's Problematic is a traditional cache, but you have to solve three word problems to get the final coordinates.

Jumbo Shrimp is not your normal parking lot micro cache. First off, you have to figure out what "jumbo shrimp" means to get the actual cache coordinates. Second, it's not hidden where most micros in parking lots are hidden: in the base of a light pole. Third, it's camouflage is, well, unusual.

High Water, just published, is a traditional cache in an ammo can. But it's camouflage is also rather uncommon. Not that that stopped Bigbunch from finding within two hours of its approval. We'll have to do better next time.

Speaking of Bigbunch, his latest has frustrated us. We spent two hours looking for it yesterday and didn't find it. Our GPSr was bouncing all over the place so we never could get a decent fix. We'll try again soon...

A Picture Share!

A still life with two dogs.

That's Pepe (left) and Bailey (right).

Terrorist threat to geocaching

Just when you think it can't get any worse, there's this:

President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.

But at least there' s this bit of good news:

President Clinton abandoned the practice in May 2000 of deliberately degrading the accuracy of civilian navigation signals, a technique known as "selective availability.''

The White House said it will not reinstate that practice, but said the president could decide to disable parts of the network for national security purposes.

On the other hand, if there's a major terrorist attack in your area geocaching may not be at the top of your list of things to do.

More on the sad news

The cacher's handle was Smokey Stover. You can see his finds here. From his log entries it sounds like he was really enjoying himself. His final log entry is eerie:

It was getting late afternoon and I didn't want to fight rush hour traffic and the low sun so I'll wait until later to chase after #3. This is fun.

The cache he was attempting (#3) was a bonus cache, the third in a series. He found the first two to get the coordinates of the third.

This is sad

A geocacher in San Antonio died while seeking his fourth find. News article here. A discussion about the accident is going on in the Groundspeak Forums.

Initial news reports said he died from a fall in a ravine near the cache:

A man out on a scavenger hunt ends up dying while searching for the treasure. Police say it looks like 64-year-old James Max Chamberlain fell off a small cliff at Eisenhauer Park, off Northwest Military Highway.

Chamberlain went on the scavenger hunt Saturday morning using a hi-tech GPS system he had just bought. His wife called police Saturday night after he didn't come home.

"From the evidence, just leads us to believe right now, that he was walking along the trails, got to his destination, and he either slipped and fell down the ravine, or was trying to walk back up the little incline and slipped back," said Lieutenant Rosie Vasquez.

Chamberlain's death appears to be an accident.

Folks in the Groundspeak Forum provided this update:

The local radio news reported this hour that prelimary reports are pointing to a heart attack as the cause of death. It will probably be awhile before that shows up on the web and for a link to be posted.

All this highlights the need to observe common sense safety guidelines when caching.

• If you cache alone, be sure someone knows where you're going and when you're expected to return.
• Always have a partner when you attempt physically challenging caches. This will vary based on your personal condition. A cache which might be easy for one person might be impossible for you.

Rocketeers, Runners, and Re-enactors

We found this one at 9:25 am... again! We actually found it back in April but neglected to log it then. So we came back today to find it and log it, and to drop of the Jeep TB that's been burning a hole in our pocket. So it was deja vu all over again.

T: USMC swizzle stick
L: Jeep TB

Our first hide! Sawmill Run

Our first hide is near our home coordinates. We had fun researching the history of the area for the cache. It's a shame that all the development is destroying what little remains.

Penderwyn

We found this one at 1:57 pm. Very nice area. We drove past the cache, turned around and parked right in front of it. Easy find, the hint really nailed it. Someone drove past while we were signing the log, but we didn't see anyone else.

T: Balloon pin
L: Turtle magnifying glass