Anyone into Geocaching?

Anyone?  I have done some finds, but this is the first cache that I'm placing.  I have a trackable travel bug in it and I can't figure out how to log it INTO the cache so people know there is a bug there.

A few years ago, I downloaded an app and discovered that the large county park near home has many little ones planted around.  I ran my daughter, probably then 6 yrs old, through the finding of them all.  She loved it.  We did some at another local park.  We have not done it in years but she really liked it.  

Vauge memory but I think you had to spring for the paid app to be able to place cashes

A new battery leaked in my mapping Garmin and destroyed it. So no.

And I'm not fishing enough to justify $350 to replace it. 

I have done a dozen or so of them, they are always fun. I have never hidden my own though so I can't help with your question. If people haven't heard of it I would give it a go!

I started GC in 2009.  I have 3260 finds (latest was 4 today) and 230 hides albeit several have been stolen, lost, misplaced what ever and several are no longer active.  Some years I have done alot and some years not so much.  My highest find year was 574 finds and my lowest was 67.  Some times life gets in the way.

I have one TB in memory of my dog that I keep with me that has logged 97,599 miles.  It is a way of tracking how many miles I have gone caching.

How far along in the process have you gotten? 

MY Geonick is that same as my user name here.

I will try to walk you through it if you need help.  It is pretty easy to do put a TB in a cache.

You do NOT have to be a Premium member to put caches out.

In reply to 68TR250 :

Cache has been submitted for publishing - awaiting approval.  TB has been purchased, activated, and it has a listing with a picture.

When I go to the TB page, I can click on "add a log entry" but my only option is to leave a note for the owner.  I understand why I can't log it into my cache since the cache isn't published yet, but the TB has been active since Dec 25th and I should be able to log it into any cache that is out there, yes?  Like if I decided to navigate to a random cache and drop it in, I should be able to "assign" the bug to that cache.

I thought that maybe I had to add a log to my own cache when it becomes active, but the help section for that says I can't add a log to my own cache other than "owner maintenance."

In truth, I find the website and app to be seriously lacking in user-friendliness

68TR250 said:

I started GC in 2009.  I have 3260 finds (latest was 4 today) and 230 hides albeit several have been stolen, lost, misplaced what ever and several are no longer active.  Some years I have done alot and some years not so much.  My highest find year was 574 finds and my lowest was 67.  Some times life gets in the way.

I have one TB in memory of my dog that I keep with me that has logged 97,599 miles.  It is a way of tracking how many miles I have gone caching.

How far along in the process have you gotten? 

MY Geonick is that same as my user name here.

I will try to walk you through it if you need help.  It is pretty easy to do put a TB in a cache.

You do NOT have to be a Premium member to put caches out.

I don't have the premium yet.  Long story short, I used to geocache with my ex wife, but I didn't have an account.  The two caches I placed (way back in about 2010) were attributed to her account.  I might contact her and adopt those caches, simply because I still live near them but she has moved away.  I'm getting back into it, mostly because I'm getting back into more hiking and it's a fun distraction when I need to pause to catch my breath.  I'm going to wait to see if it "sticks" as a hobby before I pay for premium.

My geonick is the same as here as well.

Another question... it seems like the app is incredibly limited.  Is that because I'm not premium?

When I was out today placing (for the third time... long story), I noticed I couldn't do much about it.  All I could do was view the unpublished submission.  I would think that the app should let me drop a pin or record the location.  Instead I had to go to Maps, drop a pin, copy the decimal location, go home, convert to DDM coordinates, simplify to three decimal places, and manually type in where the cache was placed.

Is that just because I don't pay?  Or is the app really that poopy?

Are you caching with a phone?  Looking for caches with a phone usually works well as long as the CO verifies the coords.  Putting them out with a phone - Can't help you at all with that.  I don't use a phone for getting coords.  I use an eTREX.  Some spend hundreds $$$ on a hand held.  My just over $100 eTREX works fine for what I need it to do and I get great coords.  I also use a NUVI for the route between the caches.

Are you wanting the TB to get picked up and moved, you retain ownership and have it dropped off in another cache or letting it go for the finder to activate them selves?

Give your TB a purpose...Want it to travel the world - visit historical sites - go from Valley Forge PA to Zebulon, GA - that is what my sister and I have done with some. 

If you are willing to let it go - put a note in your description 'TB for the FTF' but don't activate it.  If you want it to travel but you still own it, you can drop the TB in the cache.  On the TB page they ask what you want it to do.

Please note though - I have lost some TBs that were important to me.  They get stolen or a cacher picks them up with good intents and stuffs it way in a drawer.  I have found a few that the TB owner marked it as lost. Then the cacher who had been holding onto realizes he has it for a few years or feels guilty and drops it off somewhere.  That is why the two that are most important to me 'travel' with me and I never drop them off.  I only let them visit.

There are some restrictions when being a regular member vs a Premium member but that are not that significant.

When I am putting one out, I put that coords into Google Earth to make sure it is where I want it to be.  I also look at Google earth when mapping out a route to get caches.  I have been working on getting a cache in every county in GA - 159 of them - I have six more to go - and it helps to set a route when getting multiple caches in multiple counties. It gets tough when there is only ance on a county and it is down a logging road...usually muddy and rutted.

Feel free to ask if you have other questions and I will try to explain it.

Are you caching with a phone?  Looking for caches with a phone usually works well as long as the CO verifies the coords.  Putting them out with a phone - Can't help you at all with that.  I don't use a phone for getting coords.  I use an eTREX.  Some spend hundreds $$$ on a hand held.  My just over $100 eTREX works fine for what I need it to do and I get great coords.  I also use a NUVI for the route between the caches.

Yes, phone.  Before the advent of more accurate phones, I used a Garmin, but I find that my phone gets within a couple feet.  I plugged the coords into maps on my laptop and it pinpoints it nicely.  I never had a problem finding caches either. 

Are you wanting the TB to get picked up and moved, you retain ownership and have it dropped off in another cache or letting it go for the finder to activate them selves?

I don't want to retain ownership.  It's just a keychain. 

Give your TB a purpose...Want it to travel the world - visit historical sites - go from Valley Forge PA to Zebulon, GA - that is what my sister and I have done with some. 

If you are willing to let it go - put a note in your description 'TB for the FTF' but don't activate it.  If you want it to travel but you still own it, you can drop the TB in the cache.  On the TB page they ask what you want it to do.

I put in the description that I want it to go to Portugal and then everywhere else in the world.  Did you happen to click the link for the TB?  Feel free to critique it.

What does FTF stand for?  Why wouldn't I activate it? 

It's already in the cache.  What I'm trying to do is log it into the cache, but I don't see how.  My troubles are with the website/app.  Right now it's just showing "in the hands of the owner." 

There are some restrictions when being a regular member vs a Premium member but that are not that significant.

When I am putting one out, I put that coords into Google Earth to make sure it is where I want it to be.  I also look at Google earth when mapping out a route to get caches.  I have been working on getting a cache in every county in GA - 159 of them - I have six more to go - and it helps to set a route when getting multiple caches in multiple counties. It gets tough when there is only ance on a county and it is down a logging road...usually muddy and rutted.

Feel free to ask if you have other questions and I will try to explain it.

Coords are spot on in both the phone and maps/earth on the laptop.

Thank you SO much for the help.

FTF First to find - you always remember your first car.

It is still considered in the hands of the owner until someone else takes ownership.  Just because some one discovers it is still yours.  

Is your cache published?  Send me the GC code.

Easiest thing to do now - once your cache is published.

Log it.   Say your are checking on it - updating it  - whatever.  When you are in the log page at the bottom is the trackable inventory.  Drop it in the cache.  OR if you want to hold onto you choose No action  or visit.  Once you drop it - you still own it but it ia out there for anyone to pick up and move along.

So I don't need to log it into the cache?  It starts its journey once someone discovers it?

I was thinking that having a TB showing as being in a cache might entice people to discover it.

The point of the TB is for it to go be free and travel so I can vicariously go to strange foreign lands.  I don't want it to come home or get to a certain destination.

Cache is still in review, but the code is GCAHBPK

TB is TB9X7DG and is published.

Just put it in the container.  When Joe Cacher picks it up to move it they will put it into their inventory and have it visit different cache until they drop it somewhere.  It will still be yours and you will get notifications of it's travels.

Possibly but probably not an enticement for there to be an activated TB in a cache AND sometimes even if it activated it may bring folks in.  I would like to say the thing that pulls me in is if it has an interesting story.  But at this point I have to travel 20 +/- miles to get to a cache / area I haven't found and take what I can get.  BUT if there is one there already it may be an enticement for there to be one or more dropped off.

I was able to look at your TB.

It can take up to 7 days for the reviewer to publish your cache.  Do you know who your reviewer is?  I am curious if it is the same as the one who does my sisters' caches.

Visited a Navy friend in 2009 in NM and he got me into it.  I was REALLY into it during the divorce in 2009 and 2010, but let it drop off when I started dating my ex-gf.  Used a hand-held Garmin, wonder if the batteries leaked yet?

Someone else told me about C:Geo app and it makes it much easier for casual 'caches.  I look once in awhile if I'm out with friends and they talk about Pokemon Go.  ;)

I should get back into it, made for some good exercise without knowing you're exercising.  (I had two placed near my old house in KY but they both got muggled too often.)  Geocache name is PurpleHazeNKY or something like that.

68TR250 said:

Just put it in the container.  When Joe Cacher picks it up to move it they will put it into their inventory and have it visit different cache until they drop it somewhere.  It will still be yours and you will get notifications of it's travels.

Possibly but probably not an enticement for there to be an activated TB in a cache AND sometimes even if it activated it may bring folks in.  I would like to say the thing that pulls me in is if it has an interesting story.  But at this point I have to travel 20 +/- miles to get to a cache / area I haven't found and take what I can get.  BUT if there is one there already it may be an enticement for there to be one or more dropped off.

I was able to look at your TB.

It can take up to 7 days for the reviewer to publish your cache.  Do you know who your reviewer is?  I am curious if it is the same as the one who does my sisters' caches.

Thanks for the clarification.  I love TBs, so personally, if I'm looking at a bunch of caches on a trail, I would pick one with a TB over one without.  Maybe I'm weird :)

Kind of a long story on the reviewer.  I'm not entirely sure, but it originally was OReviewer.  I wanted to place it in a state forest which requires a [free] permit from the person/people who are in charge of that forest.  I made the cache for review and told the reviewer to hold for a permit.  OReviewer replied within 10 minutes to confirm.  I then got an email from the forest people (that sounds weird, like they're faeries or something) saying that they weren't meeting until Feb when they would approve it.  Since this cache was intended as a Christmas present for a cacher friend, I found a new location in a city green belt and re-submitted.... copied the DD coords from maps, went home, converted to DDM... only to find out that it was too close to another cache which I couldn't view because I'm not premium.  Back out to the woods again to re-re-re stash it, and now I'm here.  Waiting.

Good news is that I've gotten a lot of exercise in the last week.

Oreviewer reviews my sisters also.

Got it published !  Good deal.

Woooot!

Thanks for the help!

WOW!  If it was down here there wold be a couple folks racing to ge the FTF.  Put it out and they will come.  

I placed it before publishing, so sending out FTF vibes.

Had my first find today!

They reached out to me with a question, and they drove 2+ hours to get it.... just because it had a TB in it.  Don't know if that was a fluke or if people really like TBs, but my TB has been snatched and another put in it.