Be careful when you bushwhack in the dark!

Too bad the reporter couldn’t be bothered to properly research what geocaching is.

The other day I posted my Ontario Counties map. Now, you can get GSAK to generate county maps for all of Canada. Check out this forum post for more details.

This is the second somewhat-tricky cache I’ve put out in recent weeks, and I have to say that I take a great deal of pleasure in hearing about people’s attempts to find them.

Spotted this interesting article while I was reading through recent geocaching and GPS news items.

Another piece I came across today mentions geocaching while examining the relationship between technology and obesity.

With the Binthair Challenge behind me, I am looking for new geocaching goals to set for myself. First up is my 1200 milestone – just 30 finds away from that one. I’m also trying to get to 100 puzzle finds. And here’s another set of statistics for me to obsess over:

Ontario geocachers can find out how to get GSAK to create this map for you by visiting this forum thread. There are similar GSAK macros for some other regions.

I’m going on a quick trip across southern Ontario in a few weeks – looking forward to filling in a few of those white spaces!

Today, Taoiseach and I found our last Binthair geocache – MAXIMUM SURPRISE.

I’ve done five Binthair caches in five days and every part of me from my brain to my toes is thoroughly exhausted, so I’ll post more when I’ve had time to process the experience.

For now, what I will says is this: Wow. What next?

She drinks Moet & Chandon...

Ontario geocachers should be aware that GPS devices do not fall under the new hand-held device ban as long as they are mounted to the dashboard or another accessible spot. If you are caught fiddling with a GPS device that isn’t mounted, you could face a fine.

Now might be a good time to look into a dashboard mount for your GPS. I recommend checking eBay.

CTV News has more information about the new law.

It turns out that the cache in question was promptly removed by its owner long before the story hit the news. I am so tired of mediocre small-town reporters portraying geocachers as irresponsible trespassers. It would have taken this reporter very little time and effort to contact a local geocacher and get the other side of the story.

Here’s the cache owner’s side of things:

OMG! I disabled that cache as soon as I realized they didn’t want it there. There hasn’t been anyone there for weeks, nor will any cacher ever go there again.

The Lorain Visitor’s Bureau, the Lorain Historical Society, the Lorain Port Authority, and so many other wonderful groups have opened their arms to caching.

I placed that cache there before an event, and was given wrong info about being able to place it there.
I am sorry for any problem it caused, and am totally embarrassed that this has made the paper. How sad all the good we do goes unnoticed, yet something like this, which had already been taken care of, is what gets published.

Every year geocachers totally clean the park at Black River Landing as thanks for them allowing us to geocache there. Geocachers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

As for the cache I placed near the historical society, it was a plastic container at the base of a tree.
Geocaching is for families. I would never place a cache that would ever harm a child!

I do apologize for not coming back again and trying to get written permission for the cache. There was never anyone around when I was there.

How sad that a historical society isn’t open to the public!

There were NO “No Trespassing: or “Private Property” signs. Just a sign stating it was the historical society, and a parking lot. Go figure.

I’ve written a strongly-worded letter to the irresponsible, lazy reporter who published the story. I encourage other geocachers to do the same. Her email address is mhebert@chroniclet.com. Here’s what I had to say to her:

I was very disappointed to see your recent article about geocachers trespassing on a historical society’s property.

The owner of the geocache had promptly removed the problem geocache long before the story was published, and it was a matter of miscommunication, not disrespect. The historical society’s property is near and adjacent to other public property that does allow geocaching, and the owner of the cache mistakenly assumed that the historical society’s property was part of the same parcel of land.

Publishing your article without talking to local geocachers is irresponsible and biased. Geocaching is a family-friendly activity that has great potential to attract new visitors to historical sites. Painting us as irresponsible, disrespectful trespassers is either vastly ignorant, or intentionally malicious.

Bad reporting makes me so mad!

I wanted to try out a possible theory for solving Maximum Surprise (one of my three remaining Binthair caches), and before resorting to pencil, protractor, compass, and paper, I figured there must be a neat little application out there that I could use instead.

And indeed, there is! It’s called Cinderella, and they offer an older version for free. It’s essentially a computer version of that geometry kit you had in your pencil case in high school, and you don’t need to squint to read the protractor.

I was amused to read this scathing commentary about a new GPS tracker for parents, offered by Best Buy.

I love GPS technology, but I think our society has some adjusting to do as all these products hit the market. Horror stories of psycho exes and stalkers using these devices for nefarious purposes are soon to become common-place – our privacy and anti-stalking laws need to catch up.

Also interesting is this story about how “smart phone” GPS isn’t going to kill standalone GPS.

I sure wouldn’t want to do the Binthair Challenge with an iPhone – my eXplorist may not be cute and glamorous, but it can handle a lot of abuse.