So here's my little trooper, who walked up several semi-mountains, through sticker bushes, and up a moss slope, just so we could say it was "kid friendly". Hell, if you can wear a Hello Kitty candy necklace to the geocache it must be kid friendly.
Here's the cache. Do you see it? Of course you don't. Even though it's almot the size of a Kemp's ice cream gallon. That's how well it's hidden. It's is f-ing stealthed, even though thousands of people will nearly expire from exertion climbing up the biking hill and half to rest on the nearby bench.
See...a bench. This was within 15' or so. You can see the cache in this picture. That's how sweet our situating was. Bosshardt will never be the FTF because we'll never get to place it. My only option now is to move it further from his house. And there was $3 in it for the FTF. Now he's going to have to buy his coffee with his own money.
After we placed the cache, we went to Thomas Lake Elementary to play at the playground. Not cache related, but while we were there and Eryn was swinging on this swing, a little girl told her she shouldn't be on it, it was only for children with broken arms and legs. What? I pictured some kid with parapalegic breakage getting pushed on this thing, strapped in with no way to escape. "No mommy! NO! I don't want to be on the swing. I want to go home and eat the vico-den. The vico-den. Please mommy. Quit pushing. Ow! Ow! It hurts. I'll wash the dishes and the floor when my arms are healed! You're right. You're right. Jesus hates children who don't do their chores." It certainly looks like a torture device given the right angle.
3 comments:
Keep trying. I know it's tough -- especially when you're trying to hide with the little ones. The spots are out there, I promise.
I'm about to pull 5 of my caches south of Northfield, in a huge park there, this weekend. If the weather holds we'll be able to camp for the evening too -- free!
Happy cachin'!
Based on this and a previous cache, you're telling me there's a governing body that dictates where geocaches can and cannot be placed? I never would have thought of that. It just seems much more structured/managerial than I would ever have imagined....
On an unrelated note, I just don't think your food label goes far enough in tagging posts eh. You need to have a bacon label as well. I was trying to describe Dan'l's giant bacon sandwich to someone, and a link to all things bacon would have helped immensely in illustrating the description. Besides, it's BACON, it just plain deserves its own label, dammit :)
Based on this and a previous cache, you're telling me there's a governing body that dictates where geocaches can and cannot be placed?
There are numerous rules and regulations which geocachers have to abide by (like local, state and federal law as well as specific geocaching regulations).
In most instances, you cannot hide a cache less than .10 miles (528 feet) from another and that includes portions of multi-stage caches, puzzle caches which might not be apparent to the naked eye, etc. There are variances for severe elevation changes, chasms requiring long hikes to get to the other side, etc but they are few and far between and up to the discretion of the reviewer.
In 2002, the Minnesota DNR banned all geocaching on all of their lands, especially State Parks. I worked with the DNR in 2005 and 2006 to get that ban lifted and in 2006 it was in State Parks and State Forests. It is still banned, aside from grandfathered caches, in WMAs, in their other areas such as SNAs, AMAs, etc (see below for information on how to locate those areas in Google Earth).
In addition to DNR regulations, you also have local and county regulations (i.e. Three Rivers Parks which allow a good number after I worked with them to increase their very stringent rules and Anoka County which has a complete ban to this day).
So, there is a team of geocaching.com "reviewers" that check maps and other available data (like the boundary files I have provided the Minnesota cache reviewer (Surfer Joe) which I have made here in KMZ format to be viewed in Google Earth)
Once they determine that the cache is permissible by all of what's available to them, then they list it on geocaching.com. Obviously, if you're just hiding any old geocache and aren't looking to have it listed on geocaching.com (which is the single largest listing service by a universe and a half) then you don't have to abide by any rules other than those which you could be prosecuted under (i.e. the DNR's abandoned property policy).
It's unfortunate and the Minnesota Geocaching Association (which I am a member and former President) does attempt to go in and ask that park districts use common sense and their already available rules and regulations to keep an eye on caches but sometimes they just refuse. That's when you end up with policies that require paperwork which is a hassle for both geocachers and park district personnel.
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