I do spend a lot of my time geocaching and reviewing, but some days I just need a break. 

Here is my typical day...

12-7am My phone is shut off at night. I don't need it buzzing all night because some goober is waiting for their cache to be listed, or happens to be up complaining.

7-9am  I am getting kids ready for school. I usually read the news, check emails, etc.  I do it from the comfort of my bed.  Usually yelling at my girls telling them to get in the shower (I don't want to get up yet). I read emails, and see if there is anything urgent.

9-5:00 Work.  Yes I do work.  I do check my emails during this time from my phone.  Do not expect a response.

Breaks and lunch.  I am on my computer at work seeing what is up.  Providing that i do not need food.  If I am hungry then you are all screwed for new caches.  I really want to eat.

5-7pm  I usually review a number of caches. Usually the ones without issues.  If I have to type a discourse on how you need to add waypoints, remove commercial aspects, and that you are 4 feet from another cache I might put it off to get the fast ones done.   I might also wait if your caches has something that I want to think about, ask other reviewers opinions, or it makes me feel dirty. 

7-9 Scouts/Family/Movies/Yardwork  who knows what great adventure I may be involved in.

9-12 review, archive, and play with gsak.  I take the time to review in here if there is any.  I usually go through those painful ones that I have put off.  I will archive caches that are horrible, or just need stones thrown at them.  I also play with my GSAK.

Then bed...

Earthcaches

In the middle of those, some nights I do Earthcaches as Geoawareusa2.  This is the most time consuming part of my reviewing list.  Very few people actually read the guidelines on Earthcaches. Where 70-80% of my caches are publishable at first glance, Earthcaches are about 10%.  Most just have simple issues that can be reworked. 

• Remove photo requirement
• Add educational material
• Wrong topics

A few caches can take the evening.

Wrap up

I know sometimes that caches is the most important thing in some peoples lives. However it is not always the case in mine.  When I get ten emails for me to publish their cache when I pointed out a problem at 5pm, and now it is 8pm, I just ignore them. 

If your cache has issues then you fall to the end of my list. I check new caches, then go through my email from oldest to newest. Emailing me ten times will not speed it up.  It is no fair that I delay those that are waiting for review.  Or that I just jump to you now, when there are five people that have fixed their caches also waiting.

Most understand.  A few do not. I have been known to ignore my review queue for a day.  I may want a little vacation, read a book, or just watch a movie.  Please don't freak out.  I plan to be back to it sometime.

Raising some funds to help run geocaching at a camp for kids with cancer and their siblings. 

http://fundrazr.com/campaigns/eJ3N7?psid=b79f22c3fdfa41a58aa85ef36a4a17ae

From Ho'okele

Camp Hobe' is a special summer camp designed for children with cancer and their siblings, who are often forgotten in the cancer experience. Camp Hobe' gives kids the opportunity to participate in camp activities just like healthy children whose families are not affected by cancer.

Throughout their time at camp, Camp Hobe' kids grow in spirit, strength, and understanding. They are allowed to play outside with other children, to discover the joy and freedom of being away from the confines of the hospital, and to temporarily displace the fears that the future holds. This is their chance -- sometimes their only chance -- to "just be kids" and to escape the grown-up realities they face everyday.

Camp Hobe' Geocaching Fund is asking for your donations to help out with our annual Geocaching event at the camp. Each year, during both the children's week and the teen week, awesome Geocachers come together to hold an event for the kids. Geocaches filled with goodies are placed throughout the camp for the young campers to find. It is a hit with the kids every year!

No donation is too small. Every little bit helps!

This year, Jan & Ken Morales will be hosting the event.

Thank you to all the angels who have made this event possible!

If you can support this great cause with a few dollars.  More money means better swag for the caches and the kids.

Here is a link to last years.

http://firennice.squarespace.com/journal/2011/5/26/camp-hobe-and-geocaching.html#

and info on the year before that (2010)

http://camphobegeocachers.chipin.com/mypages/view/id/eebd843b697d6b76

Cache Submission Process

Well, we have a new process to submit caches. As of now this is in Beta and people can try it out as an option. 

As a reviewer we see a lot of dumb submissions.  Some that are simple errors and some that repeat over and over. So the new process is a step to help clear up some issues that seem to repeat on a regular basis.  There has been a lot of internal testing to get this going, and to get the Beta out to everyone.

There are a few things that it can help clear up.  When you enter your coords you have to "see it on a map" before continuing. Many people place caches and are off by a few hundred feet to thousands of miles. I get a handful in the middle of the ocean a few times a year.

It also will also help with additional waypoints, and getting it submitted.  If you are listing a new cache.. try it out.

Guidelines Update

There are a number of new updates, to the guidelines.  Nothing huge, but wording corrected, and things to help us solve problems.   Here is an overview of a few of the changes that may effect people.

Logging of All Physical Geocaches

Other than documenting a Challenge Cache, physical caches cannot require geocachers to contact anyone.

Listing guidelines that apply to all geocaches

Cache pages cannot require, and should not strongly encourage, the placement of new caches.

and about vacation or distant caches.

Document your maintenance plan in a Note to Reviewer on your cache listing. This should include contact information of the maintainer.

Additional Listing Guidelines that Apply to Specific Geocache Types:

A traditional cache consists of at least a container and logbook and is located at the posted coordinates. For all caches types that have multiple stages, physical elements (tags, containers, or any physical additional to the location) must be added to the listing as Additional Waypoints.

Enjoy all.

The older (I mean pre-2004) cachers sit down and start yearning for the old days.  Back in the days when all the containers were clean ammo cans or five gallon buckets.  The geocoins and trackables were lovingly cared for, followed, tracked, and hunted for.  And they were all filled with golden magical items, $20 bills, at the end of rainbows.

The Golden Age of Geocaching 2000-2004 (the first five years)

I was not around, but have talked to enough people, and followed enough threads to put a few things together.  Remember that GPS units in the first few years of geocaching were expensive.  The crappy ones that we take for granted now were expensive.  Few people had them, and maps were another expensive addition to the models sold.  Also, why did you have them?  Avid hunters, backwoods explorers, would get them to help them out.

So caching was in the hands of the well off, well to do (for the most part).  Few caches were out.  When they were placed they were planned out, well stocked and people traveled to them on purpose. When you arrived you brought something to trade, you knew how many caches you wanted to go to.  Each cache had to be put in by hand, usually off of a printout that you carried with you.  Downloading a Pocket Query into a GPS was unheard of. 

Trackables were carefully monitored.  There were not many caches at that point so it was rather simple.

Caches themselves were placed with care.  I want to take someone to a cool out of the way location. In fact I have heard from caches that tried to place micros, or caches in cities that were mocked and ridiculed by other cachers saying "that is not geocaching"

The Silver Age of Geocaching 2005-2009

you started to see a huge shift.  Low priced gps units started to appear.  And the flow of caches started to migrate to the cities.  Cachers could start to load multiple caches into their GPS units.  Paperless caching became the buzzword.  GPS units that could carry all of a cache page were being pushed by retailers, and others carried old Palm Pilots, or other handheld devices where they could load the Pocket Queries into.

It is during this period that caching really exploded.  The lower cost units started to bring in many cachers that before could not afford a GPS.  Better/cheap/free maps began to appear to allow people to track and follow their movements.  Groundspeak significantly improved its site and offerings. 

What happened?  Well micros boomed.  they were scattered hither and yon as times went on.  You could now find a cache during your lunch break, family visits, at a church or shopping mall near you.  More people were interested, and things literally exploded.

Trackables were starting to be carried to every horrible cache by people.   People would find a cache under a park bush and drop a trackable.  A cache that kids would easily find and steal.  So many travel bugs ended up in some kids dresser on in the trash.   Some coins were stolen, there are a number of cachers out there that started to hoard coins.  Stolen coins that were traveling that found their way into a collection.

The swag quality dropped.  Rather than trading nice things, you began to see the average cacher carry less, or cheap toys. People would take, and never replace.  So older caches began to be filled with poorer and poorer quality stuff. Basically if they were unmaintained, they were trash heaps.

Modern Age 2010-

Where are we now? Cell phones and free programs mean that just about everyone can cache.  Everyone that wants to try out this new thing can find a few.  That also means that people that have no idea what is going on, or what is considered polite, are out there finding caches. 

I have seen parents take kids to a cache and drain it of everything.  Take the trackables off chains and drop the chains back in the cache. Carry off coins not knowing what to do.  Things have changed.

Power trails have appeared in the last few years.  ET highway is the most notable.  People have started to travel great distances to accomplish challenges, trails, etc.  Geotourism is popular in some ares.  I see (in Utah) a large number that travel to accomplish their caching goals.  I have met a number of people coming to visit to grab all the caches they can.

Final Thoughts

Is it better? worse? In many ways both.  There are problems.  Some detest caching for what it has become.  Yet there is always something around.  I have found and walked away from others that were in trash heaps. 

Ther is no way to fix what is there.  Too many caches that will go a few times and never again.  Families, boy/girl scouts, people on vacation, people on business trips.  Inconsiderate people will always be out there.

I would ask to please take the time to think.  I still love it, and enjoy it.  There are problems, but I enjoy what is out there.  Some are challenges, others are not. Some can be grabbed as I drive by, and others with a ton of work.   I have been thinking about it more as I approach #3000.  I am looking for something special.  I don't know where/when but I will find something that I want to do.  I am guessing this month, so I do not have much time to hunt.

There was a group of us that formed a group that bounced around publishing caches in other areas.  I only published a few in Utah.  Last night right before midnight I posted "I Give UP" on facebook.  Then avoided listing until today.

I got an email from england saying my account was hacked and I published a cache there (I did but I was not hacked).  Another lady asked me about a bunch of hacked accounts.  Some reviewers said they had been fired, others that they gave up.  And others told people that due to a dispute with groundspeak that others were publishing in their area.

Not all reviewers were involved.  Some did not have time time to plan and prepare for it.  It was worked on for a number of months.  How we would do it, how to keep errors from creeping in, and what we might say.  I know two reviewers were asked if they were replacing me.

In all it was fun.  I got two thank you notes for listing their cachers from Europe.  I lived in France at a number of places in the 80's and It was exiting to be able to publish a cache a few miles from where I lived.

I know of other jokes as well.   Some poor fellow had one of their caches published, retracted, and reviewers from around the world posted notes for and against the cache before it was finally left alone.  Still other reviewers published obviosly fake caches, or outlandish caches to get a chuckle from others.

Hope you had fun. Hope you noticed the fun. In all I think there were 18 reviewers that published in Utah from around the world.  Ogden, Weber, Salt Lake, Utah, and Central Utah all had a number of caches listed by different reviewers.   Too bad things were slow int he St. George area.  I wish the joke had carried on a bit better for them.

PeanutsParents in an underground cache.

Well the month is almost over and I thought I better write about my trip earlier this month. I am falling behind in my blogging so I better get at it.

Earlier this month I decided to head to southern utah for a breakfast event with PeanutsParents.   It was all a maybe trip, and we were never really sure of who was going, or when until about two days before. 

Well we headed down friday afternoon and really did not not do much on the way down.  We were trying to get to southern utah before it was too late.

We drove for three to four hours with only a few stops.  That surprised both of us.  Normally a three to four hour trip would have taken us most of the day.  However I got out of work pretty late, so our trip was rushed to get there with good time.

CITO pile of crap

The drive to St. George was great, faster than either of us shot.  When we arrived in town we got in touch with DrJay and family, and went to say hi.  Then got asked if we wanted to go work on some puzzles.  So PeanutsParents, Momthecook, cachinhubby, Jac0b, and I headed out in the evening to grab some caches that were around.

The next morning we got up early, really early.  Apparently there was a CITO over the border in Arizona.  Woo hoo one more state. So off we went.

It was really early and we were cleaning up an area that is a truck stop.  An unofficial truck stop. Apparently many of them just threw trash out of their cabs and made a mess.  So there we were to save the day. Much of it was in a pile, but without bags, so we spent a lot of time just bagging stuff.

After that we headed north. We grabbed a few caches on route. It was a good morning and normally I would not be out of bed at this time.  However this was for caches, breakfast, and bacon.  The event was the Spring Breakfast event.  Every year it gets bigger.  I counted 130 cachers (about).  It is hard to count with everyone mulling about.

It was a great event.  I do not know how many years it has been going on, but it seems to grow every year.

There were a number of people that traveled hours south to the event.  Chasing the sun, and others that headed up from St. George. 

I brought one of my limited edition coins to give away.  And who won it?  The guy that I drove all the way down with.  I thought that was really funny.  Out of 130 people, he was the one to win it.

It is funny how some events are just the right place at the right time.  Sunshine, while the rest of the state is usually still int he cold of late winer.

Last year my wife and I came down and we spent our time doing every virtual and earthcache that we could find.  That was a great trip.  I had nopes of going with my wife (no offence to peanutsparents) but with kids activites and stuff like that,  of course Peanutsparents had planned on going with his wife as well.  So it all worked out.

Well later that morning we decided to head out into the desert. It was time to start looking for caches. We grabbed a few caches. In fact I pulled my old trick.  There is a road on the map,so we followed that.  Unfortunatly the map on the road was a rough road, we did eventually make it to the location, but man it was a nasty ride.

We headed to billionj's mom heart int he desert. There were a lot of caches that made up the heart.  So we were actaully planning something rather long. There were about sixty caches in the outside of the heart that we were planning on doing. 

Actually we thought about doing the O in mom as well.  But more on that later.

We headed out into the desert and we had a number of us. About a dozen running from small 7 year olds to mid 40's all going for a nice stroll.  A stroll in the cactus and sand for 7-8 miles.

The group tended to stretch out as time went on.  What started out as all of us together slowly started to string out into a longer and longer line. By the time we got to the bottom of the heart (about 20 caches into it), we all knew that some were not going to make it.  Unfortunatly for those that gave up it was a two mile hike back to the cars.

As we crossed the road on the SE edge of the heart all of the kids gave up.  Jac0b started back at that point. He started with the rag tag band to head back ot the cars.

A bit later A few others felt like they had enough as well. So they headed back as well.  So with 35 caches and 4.5 miles of sand dunes and sagebrush ahead of us DrJay, Peanuts Parents, and myself continued to the quest.  It was a long long hike.

I had forgotten how much I hated hiking in the sand.  I grew up in southern Utah and we avoided sand.  You have to work twice as hard. It gets in your shoes.  In fact when I was done I had a lot inside my socks. It made for rough hikeing.  However even had we decided to give up we were going to be hiking past many of the caches that we were looking for heading back to the car.

I never did actually measure the length.  Five barbed wire fences were crossed, and many miles.  It was fun to go with the people that I went with.  They are a blast and I would not have enjoyed myself had I been caching on my own like I normally do.

The scenery was awesome.  Given it was mostly sand, and hills.  However it was really a nice break from what I see up north.  Like I said I grew up seeing sights like these.  Now as I get older I start to appreciate what I grew up with, and what people travel thousands of miles from around the world to see.

Needless to say the rest of the day was spent trying to pretend that we were alive.  Nearly sunburned, and wanting sleep we headed back to the hotel to sleep and get cleaned up.  I went to dinner later, but was pretty burned and just exhausted. So I did not eat a lot.

The next day was the drive back.  I actually found another fifty caches on the way home.  I really need to log them.  I have tried to make each log part of the experience this year.  So I put off logging (like blogging).  However I will get back to it.

In all it was a great trip.  Thanks for everyone that made it so enjoyable.  We saw many great sights.  Thanks for everyone in making it fun.

I will add other european countries as I have the chance.

View Notable Caches in a larger map

View Notable Caches in a larger map

The first I traded for.  It is a nielsenc Thanksgiving coin  2005.  I watch for 2005 coins, and earlier.  They are high on my list.  The pre-2006 coins are far less common.

The other is one that I saw on Facebook.  It is sold by the Space Coast Geoaching Store.  I have been a fan of space and space related stuff since I was a kid.  I remember being in elementary school and talking about the moon landings, Apollo-Soyuz, and Space-Lab.  So when I saw it I had to grab it.  There are a lot of memories about the geek (me) watching the launches of the space shuttle.