New here

[Momandbanchee]

Brand new to Geocaching and already love it. I go with my 6 year old son who loves looking for treasure. We found two close to where we live last night. Any other single moms of boys out there?

[+cerberus1]

Welcome to this odd hobby.

 

Tried to find a local caching group near you, but the ones I had listed aren't active anymore.

Maybe like many these days, they all went to facebook too.

A nearby Event would be a good way to find others with similar interests too.

[+TucsonJR]

I am really enjoying this geocaching society, I have met some awesome people who have attempted to find my "A penny for your thoughts" cache. Go ahead, try it! I dare ya. So in closing: I thought this would be an opportunity to meet new people and also promote my small business, but due to the 528' iron clad rule, I can not. The business owner next to mine has a geocache inside their business, it does bring in business. But I can not put one in or around my business because of this 528' rule. There needs to be some kind of exception. Can I purchase a business membership.

Have a nice day.

JR

[+mlk3454]

I did some caching several years ago. I am looking to get my boys into it now as they are of age and interested. I know when I was more active with looking for the caches I would try to be the first to find on some new ones and I always would run into other people on the hunt. As far as running into families there are some child/kid caches in some areas that can get a lot of attention on weekends during nice weather.

[+TucsonJR]

I am really enjoying this geocaching society, I have met some awesome people who have attempted to find my "A penny for your thoughts" cache. Go ahead, try it! I dare ya. So in closing: I thought this would be an opportunity to meet new people and also promote my small business, but due to the 528' iron clad rule, I can not. The business owner next to mine has a geocache inside their business, it does bring in business. But I can not put one in or around my business because of this 528' rule. There needs to be some kind of exception. Can I purchase a business membership.

Have a nice day.

JR

Diregard, I received clarification.

Thank you.

JR

[+TucsonJR]

I was enjoying this site, but after trying to find the traditional caches (some muggled) and trying to solve Mystery caches (Puzzle Caches) and not finding any helpful info on the cache pages and not getting ANY help from cache owners, I am beginning to think I wasted my time and money.

2 thumbs down on Geocaching.com & Groundspeak, Inc.

[+NanCycle]

I was enjoying this site, but after trying to find the traditional caches (some muggled) and trying to solve Mystery caches (Puzzle Caches) and not finding any helpful info on the cache pages and not getting ANY help from cache owners, I am beginning to think I wasted my time and money.

2 thumbs down on Geocaching.com & Groundspeak, Inc.

 

You are blamingGeocaching.com & Groundspeak, Inc. for the actions of individual cachers and cache owners, who are just ordinary people like you and me. Anyone who asks me for help on any of my Mystery (Puzzle) caches gets help--all they need. Not necessarily the same day though, because well life gets busy sometimes.

[+cerberus1]

I was enjoying this site, but after trying to find the traditional caches (some muggled) and trying to solve Mystery caches (Puzzle Caches) and not finding any helpful info on the cache pages and not getting ANY help from cache owners, I am beginning to think I wasted my time and money.

2 thumbs down on Geocaching.com & Groundspeak, Inc.

Few, other than to gain helpful info/insight, will go onto your profile, noticing a copy of what's posted here too...

 

If you read Geocaching 101 and the Help Center for helpful info, maybe you just have issues finding things as a beginner (many do...).

Many folks feel awkward looking for who-knows-what, especially in urban environments (where we don't play).

 

We always helped folks needing it, even when we felt they were rude in their communication.

Everyone has had a bad day sometime, and figure today's theirs.

 

We rarely had any issues from COs, with most helpful, but as in most sport/hobbies, anyone can play.

 

- But issues now, after just a few days of a post asking to promote a business, seems there's more to this story (to me)...

Edited April 22, 2017 by cerberus1

[+niraD]

I was enjoying this site, but after trying to find the traditional caches (some muggled)

A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small size, regular size, and large size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars . Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches or mystery/puzzle caches or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10ft). That applies both to your device, and to the cache owner’s device, so you may find the container 5-6m (16-20ft) from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate. Once you get within that distance of ground zero, put your device away and look around for places where a container could be hidden.

 

Where would you hide something? Do you notice anything unusual? Is anything too new, too old, too organized (e.g., UPS: an Unnatural Pile of Sticks/Stones), too symmetrical, not quite the right color or shape, etc.? Don’t look only on the ground; the cache may be knee-level, waist-level, eye-level, or overhead. How might the container be secured in place? With magnets? With a hook? With string? With fishing line? With something else? Does anything move when you touch it? (Be careful when touching things though.)

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums, and check out some geocaching videos on YouTube.

 

and trying to solve Mystery caches (Puzzle Caches) and not finding any helpful info on the cache pages and not getting ANY help from cache owners,

Here are some general puzzle tips (based in part on a puzzle-solving class event presented by The Rat a while ago):

 

Identify the theme. Check the cache title, the hint, the HTML source, the graphics (including names/URLs), any links (including URLs), whatever is at the posted coordinates, etc. If you can figure out the theme, then you should look for numbering systems that are associated with that theme (zip codes, athletes’ jersey numbers, episode numbers, product codes, etc.).

 

Around here, coordinates will have 15 digits, and will look like "N 37° xx.xxx W 122° xx.xxx". So when I'm solving a nearby puzzle, I look for a group of 15 things, and then I look for ways to get the digits 37xxxxx122xxxxx from them. In general, I look for ways to get the number 37 (or the digits 3 and 7) from something near the beginning of the puzzle, and the number 122 (or the digits 1, 2, and 2) from something near the middle of the puzzle. (Of course, you'll need to adjust this for the coordinates near you.)

 

Other useful resources include:

Puzzle Solving 101 Series (bookmark list)

Calgary Puzzle Solving 101 (bookmark list)

Puzzle Shortcuts Series (bookmark list)

Solving Puzzle Caches (online article)

How Do I Solve All These $@! Puzzle Caches? (tutorial-style puzzle cache)

Geocaching Toolbox ("All geocaching tools a geocacher needs in one box.")

Puzzle FUNdamentals (archived event cache) and the Puzzle FUNdamentals resources on the GeocacheAlaska! education page

The GBA's Puzzle Cache FAQ (for puzzle designers, but useful for understanding how puzzle caches work)

LANAKI's Classical Cryptography Course

How to Puzzle Cache (book)

[+TucsonJR]

I was enjoying this site, but after trying to find the traditional caches (some muggled) and trying to solve Mystery caches (Puzzle Caches) and not finding any helpful info on the cache pages and not getting ANY help from cache owners, I am beginning to think I wasted my time and money.

2 thumbs down on Geocaching.com & Groundspeak, Inc.

I feel better now.

Found 3 GCs this AM.

WOOHOO!!

TY/JR

Edited April 23, 2017 by TucsonJR

[+cerberus1]

Cool.