Geoaching March 8th Update

This week showed a few changes to Geocaching.  A great quote in the forums from OpinioNate

After several feature-heavy releases it was time to circle back and fix some bugs. With the help of geocachers providing feedback on User Voice we identified some high-visibility issues and did a little house cleaning. This also gave us time to monitor site performance and plan for future feature enhancements.

The Beta Maps introduced before the winter holidays continue to perform well under load. Soon we'll begin more closely integrating them into the rest of the site, as well as add a few more tools to make them even more useful. Thank you for all the feedback so far!

You will notice a new video page.  This has some great vidoes about geocaching and how to do different things: How to cache, cache containers, instructional videos etc.

You may not see the benchmark list from the side of the page.  It has been banished.  I am not fond of the change, but it was moved to the bottom right hand side of the pages with all the odd links.

If you are into powerpoint try the new presentation on Geocaching.  It is really cool and I have tried to find a great place to use it with no luck yet.  Perhaps I need to sign up as an instructor at a community class,  just to use it once.  To download you have to agree to the copyright terms.  But check it out if you have powerpoint.

There is a lifting of the number of pocket queries to 1000.  You can run more per week, but you can create a number of them for trips, and vacations that you wish to repeat in the future.

Then a lot of bug fixes.

Update on 2011-03-09 18:06 by firennice

My Geocaching Getaway

This weekend was a fun one for my wife, we elected to take Friday off and head to Southern Utah.  Down to St. George to the event was the goal on Saturday, but I had no other plans. 

Great group of geocaching jeeps.. sorry about that chevy thing that made it in the picture.

I did have a few that I will throw lists on tomorrow night.  I made a list of all the virtuals and earthcaches on the way down and back, we made a trip down to Richfield to stay Thursday night, then over to Cove Fort, and south to St George on Friday.  Then Saturday was the event, and through Zions, and north up highway 89 until we hit Richfield to see family.  Then we came back on Sunday.

The even in St. George was great.  It had a ton of people in attendance at there breakfast.  I counted about eighty people in the photos.  It was a big crowd and I am sure the Golden Corral was happy for all the money that geocachers brought in for them.

I actually took some of the UNPC coins down to sell.  We had to scramble to get up and get over there.  So I forgot about them completely. 

There were so many that I wanted to visit with that I missed most of them. 

I should have grabbed a t-shirt that Tico Jeffrey had made and sold to many of the people that were attending.  I did not think of it until it was too late, maybe another time.

I want to give thanks to everyone that was involved.  It was one of the best events that I have ever been to.

There are a few events that are larger, one or two of the UTAG events have been near this size, and the Potters Ponds event calls out a group of people that is larger.  Some of the events up north in Logan tend to be near this size as well. 

However after a long winter and people dying to get outside and actually do something, the timing of this event, the nice weather, hosts, and people who attend make this the best getaway in Utah. 

I recomend it to all, and hope that schedules allow me to come down every year.

In the next few days I will post some of my other experiences on the trip south, It was more than I could list in one big pile, so if you want to see what else happened, stay tuned.

Update on 2011-03-09 17:03 by firennice

Heading South

Well tonight I am heading on a road trip.  Officially it is time away with my wife. We don't know when we are stopping or where, but we are heading south.  The only know stop is the event in St George Saturday morning.  I do have my big list of Virtuals and Earthcaches to grab, and explore.

I hope to see many of you there. I will post a follow up with pictures when I get a chance.

Goodbye Geocaching ET Highway

Well after a long time the ET highway was archived today.

The statement placed on caches...

This cache is being archived after a request from The Nevada Department of Transportation. The Cache Owner, Clay4&whtwolfden, has received additional information and is responsible for physically removing the container from the location. The same applies for all other caches in this series. Drive safely.

Several Reviewers and Lackeys have teamed up to take all the necessary steps to archive the series and so you will see different usernames taking action on this series of many caches.

Groundspeak thanks everyone for their cooperation.

Sorry for anyone that had plans to go down for the cache run. I have heard a number of people state they had tickets this spring/summer to fly into the are to actual search for the caches.  I saw the note earlier today when reviewers from around the world were asked to help archive the huge series.

I have heard a number of reasons in the forums.   No shoulders on roads, people driving through the brush on the sides of the road and not on the road, and people stopping on the road to run for the caches.  Apparently there have been a number of close calls and accidents, and others just foolishly ignoring the world around them when placing the caches.

Some thoughts if you decide to do something to avoid issues.

• Make sure you have permission.  One cache may not be an issue, event fifty.  But once you place 400, 500, 1000 caches there will be an impact.  some looking for numbers in a one hour period will completely ignore the environment to do it in a hurry.
• Place them where people can park, and not on blind turns, where there is no shoulder, etc.  If you have to go to 800 feet or 1000 feet instead of 550' please do so.
• From a reviewer perspective, remember that your GPS may say 530' from the last one, but the GPS error at the start and at the end may mean you are 470'.  Ask the many that place power trails on walking/driving trails, I will ask them to move it if you are closer than 528'. 
• Avoid High Voltage power lines.  Those were an issue somewhere else.  The power corridor is no places for people driving around.  Makes the tower owners nervous.

I have heard of plans here in Utah, and in other places.  Contact your reviewers up front.  Let them know what you are planning.  They can help you get it going and point out possible issues beforehand.

I have done a few here in Utah (200ish), and I am cured.  Of course with the right friends a drive is always fun, and the long runs are more that I am interested in now. Of course I say that every year.

Other trails are out there.

Here in Utah the Mcguiver/Shakespear/Sienfield road is around by Utah Lake (300 caches I think)

Musical highway down by Cedar City (200 caches about)

Kokepelli southwest of St. George a hiking pattern in the desert 100+ caches

Heart of the Desert north of I-70 west of Salina

Scout Series just south of Payson Utah 60-70 caches (hiking)

And a number of smaller runs. 

Update on 2011-03-03 20:32 by firennice

From the forums... second hand from the cache owner.

If you haven't heard...we had to archive all 1021 ET caches as of today (1 March). I am afraid it is WAY our of our hands. Groundspeak pulled the plug on the caches due to Nevada Department Of Transportation filed a law suit through the Nevada General Attorney's office. There is nothing we can do.... So sorry for the bad news...it happened fast! A close call with a snow plow was what finally pushed NDOT over the edge

We are both disappointed, but understand the seriousness of a law suit, something NO ONE wanted.

Oldest & Favorite Caches in Idaho

I received an email request to add an Oldest cache in Idaho list, and favorites.

I do not plan on adding all the links (because of the time it takes) like I did with the oldest 100. 

So here you go.

The oldest caches?

1	17-Jun-00	24	Traditional Cache Camels Prairie Stash by Moun10Bike, Cindy, Laura and Jasmine (GC25)
2	21-Jun-00	1	Traditional Cache Eggcellent by Ry Jones (GC27)
3	21-Jun-00	2	Traditional Cache Two roads by Ry Jones (GC26)

and the favorites?

24	Traditional Cache Camels Prairie Stash by Moun10Bike, Cindy, Laura and Jasmine (GC25)
15	Earthcache Shoshone Falls Earthcache by DzzyOnes (GC16YNE)
12	Traditional Cache Priest Lake Underwater Adventure by dblply2 (GC1452W)
12	Earthcache Crater Rings of Idaho by maverick_65g (GC10EBR)
10	Unknown Cache Davy Jones Locker by Da_Muggle & The_Thief (GC230JX)
10	Earthcache Craters of the Moon National Monument by The Wandering Stars (GC10F0Y)
10	Multi-cache SPYDER CAVES by Team Spyder Balls (GCM0GX)

Update on 2011-03-01 17:28 by firennice

Similar Pages

Oldest Active Geocaches Worldwide

Favorite Caches in Utah

Oldest Caches in Utah

Update on 2011-03-01 23:51 by firennice