An adventure

Earlier this week I decided that I was going on a drive. I wanted to get away and get up into the mountains. It had been some time since I had gotten out. I had studied maps and decided where I wanted to go, my planned route, and how long it would take.

I took off up the left fork of Hobble Creek with the idea to circle back to Diamond fork, or down through the right fork of Hobble Creek. It was a good plan. I would turn around at any point that I needed to.

So off and up. I found a few caches on the way up. I had not been up here for some time and It was time for me to grab them. The road that I was planning on taking appeared to be closed. No matter up I went. The road at the base was rought but not bad. You could take it if you were careful in a car. Once you have to cross the creek then you could be in trouble.

From there on it got rough. I reached a point just past the scout camp and the road was a shale slide. My tires sank like I was in soft sand and I gunned it. I had images of me digging my way back. I promised myself that I would not return that way. (big mistake).

I worked my way up a road that was narrow, and steep. There were some very pretty views on the way up. It reminded me a lot of home down in Richfield. It seems like most roads up here are crawling with people. Not this one all is quiet.

I did make it to a cache called Lazy and placed a few out. There were not many up here, and I am not sure how many will actually make it up here in the long run.

Past that point I tried to go up a road to make it to the top. That road would let me drop into strawberry if I needed to. Well I got within about .2 miles of the top and it was too steep. I could have made it in 4 wheel drive but I need to fix that. That ended in me backing up down a road with rocks as big as a basketball, for about 1/4 of a mile.

So I decided I would take the longer way out. Driving up that road I began to have problems. The engine died, and I could not get it running quite right. I began to realize as the sun was going down that I was facing the prospect of spending the night on the mountain. I was not too worried. A truck, and I would have built a fire in the road. I had not seen anyone for 6 miles,

It was all down hill so I figured it was time to coast. I actually figured I would get down to some meadows. If I wanted to spend the night I could there. But coasting down there were no rises at all. None. So I coasted for about 2 miles, no power steering and no power brakes. Like the old trucks.

After a while I tried to start the engine and up it went. Apparently it had got hot and vapor locked. So all was well. I placed a few caches on the way down. I wished I had placed them higher where I backed down and where I turned around, but that's life.

The things we do for fun and geocaches.

View Todays trip in a larger map

User Voice

Get Satisfaction

For those of you who didn't know, the feedback site changed this last week.  Groundspeak had chosen a site called Get Satisfaction to handle feedback and ideas from the community.  Unfortunately it proved to be a moderating disaster. 

Someone asked me why the change, and start over with a new site

After an attack by a person on the website groundspeak realized that they did not have moderating power over the users. 

They responded with "there's a bit of a grey area here: this customer's definitely being abrasive, but so far, they're not violating either our Company-Customer Pact. Let's try it this way - I'll contact this person and give them a warning. If they continue to keep going further down the Path of Trolling, I'll talk with the team about banning them. Deal?"

The response  "If this is Deal or No Deal, I take No Deal"

The attack continued, multiple accounts, porn links and pics all over a weekend.  Bumping every thread and groundspeak had no control.  The moderating powers are with Get Satisfaction, and they were closed and did not offer support over the weekend.  We discussed what was going on, and those of us as reviewers just hid our heads.  I received a few emails pointing it out, but even the big guns had no ability to stop it.  Get Satisfaction was taking the holiday (and every weekend off).

So in the period of a few weeks the experiment was over.

User Voice

So now we move onto User Voice the newer system.

If you participated in Get Satisfaction there are few differences.  You get 10 votes..and you can give each item from 0-3 votes.  When your votes are gone, they are gone.  You can call them back by changing your votes in other things, or when Geocaching marks that they are taking action on things.

Here are a few of the newest items that geocaching has marked.

Create a cache rating feedback system.

Under Review - This is definitely a hot topic for Groundspeak. We'll provide updates once we get into the planning stages of a feedback system. - Jeremy

Make a nano cache-size option

Planned - We do plan to implement this new size, though I don't have a firm time line. Although adding the size is straightforward we don't want to break approved 3rd party applications. - Jeremy

An official Stats Page

Planned - We are investigating better ways to provide stats.

More than 500 cache on map

Planned - We're working on a map system that will show you all the caches on Google maps instead of limiting you to 500. This will also work for displaying Pocket Query results. - Jeremy

This one is really cool.. it is one of the most impressive features I have seen in a while. I am sure everyone will love it.

New Avatar

I got a new avatar this week.  it was time.  the old one was wearing thin.  So it is a day to celebrate.  He is a handsome devil.. forks and all.  For those of you who missed the movie mystery men.. go enjoy a mindless evening.

Geocoins and Scouting

About a year ago I started work with the UNPC on some projects for the 100th anniversary of Scouting.  I spent a number of weeks convincing them to place the original order. We waffled from 100 to 300 coins.  Never really deciding what to do for months.  Quotes went out to six different companies, and weeded down to two.  For the next three months I played with the design, and I worked on trying to get the best prices for the order that by the time we hit December we were at 200-300 coins in size.  We thought of the risk and really had a hard time deciding. 

Each company kept modifiying their bids, wanting another shot.  We tried to stick with a local company that was near the low bidder, and wanted the business, but had no experience in geocoins.  Finally when the numbers came in we made our choice for Coins and Pins for 300 coins.  Th number was chosen because of thats what the looser wanted as a price point. 

So sometime in Febuary I finalized the design, I was really happy with it and could not wait until the time came.  By March the order was placed.  Then one day in May this massivly heavy box was on my doorstep.  Do you have any idea how much 300 coins weigh?  Lots.

I was so exited, and we had what I had hoped for, but never expected.  70 for a contest, 100 copper and 130 brass for sale.  Up for sale they went, and poof they were gone.  So we ordered more of a slightly different color scheme.  300 to be exact.  then recenly I was told they were gone.  So I changed the color scheme again and we ordered 100 more, two orders for 50 each  made us decide to jump the order to 200.  Now another person from back east is asking for another 130 or so.

So what was orginally an order for 300 that I hoped we would sell, has now turned into 800 with a possibily of 1000 coins with 3-4 different color schemes.  All from the original little hope that we would sell them. 

I am in the process now of finalizing the orders, and getting a design ready for 2011.  It was so sucessful, we are rolling with the next batch.  Thanks for everyone that bought some.  Hopefully you enjoy them.  I have seen 3-4 around, and have bought a number myself.

The contest

The contest is still going on.  If you want one. 120 or so were reserved for the UNPC get in the game contest.  This entailed finding a cache and getting your photo taken and emailing your entry. 

1. Log the cache and upload a photo of yourself/group at the cache site.
2. Email the following info to unpcbsa@gmail.com, Name,cacher ID, Address, Phone #, email, and the name and GC # of the found cache.
3. Please include a story of your cache hunt.
4. Missing or incorrect information may invalidate the entry.
5. Each UNPC Scouts cache will count as one entry (multiple finds on the same cache will not count).
6. A monthly drawing will be performed to determine the coin winners.
7. The contest may be ended, and/or rules modified to fit changing situations, and limited number of coins.
8. Limit one coin per household

We have awarded 50 coins out so far.. with 50-80 more to go.  If you are interested, you and/or your scouts. Please feel free to enter

The coins for the contest are the Antique Silver ones. Except for a few gifts, that is the only way to get one.  So enjoy, and we hope to see your entry soon.

Update 9/27/10

Go here /journal/2010/9/27/scouting-geocoins.html

for a picture of the new coins that arrived today.

Utah oldest 100 ... I mean 99

I put together a list of Utah's oldest 100 caches.

Actually there were 99.  I realized after I was done so oh well.

Guess what ... Potters Ponds is still the oldest cache.  Hopefully you have found many of the caches that are on the list.

Busy Busy

I have had so much to do in the last few week that I have not had a chance to do anything.  Despite having the plan to sit down and pound out a few notes, thoughts, and ideas, I never had (took) the time to sit down.

I have had a few really good caching trips this last week.  It includes a run through the new Sienfield road about 200 caches that run from Payson to Mona and back up over the mountain to link with the Shakespeare/McGyver road caches.  I think that makes a string of nearly 400 caches in length.  Peanuts Parents is the cacher that spent a lot of time getting it all put together.  It took me about a week to get them all done, working them in with others so as not to delay them all.

I went with family and was going to place a few caches in the Richfield area, but never got around to it.  But never really had time.  I wanted to place one on the peak, but did not make it.

I came back from a break to find well over 100 caches for me to go through.  Lots of new people with problems.  So I do not know how many will actually be listed.

If you sent me an email I have not really gotten to it, likewise if you had problems with your cache it may be a little bit before I get back to it.  I will work throught the new ones before I stop and really go through my email much until that point.  So hold on and I should get through it today or tomorrow, and start dealing with my emails.  I know if you have an issue that can be annoying, but bear with me.