But that's the point. I don't know any geocachers and don't know how to meet one.

Brief synopsis? My!

Sign up for a free account, look at the map of geocaches in your area and pick someone with a lot of caches planted. They'll likely be friendly, and they certainly won't bite. If that doesn't work, try another one. You'll probably want to start with one that has planted a letterbox hybrid as one of their caches.

Good luck.

So far... In northern Minnesota there isn't good coverage. Once you leave any larger area.... Dead zone.

I have heard Verizon is my only chance for spotty texting but not complete coverage.

I would never in a billion years set up an auto pay with anyone again... So 1 gig for 50 a month and so so coverage.

Interesting info... Thanks for the breakdown.

interesting idea. I wonder if there is anyone who does hybrids. I don't know the first thing about them, myself.

interesting idea. I wonder if there is anyone who does hybrids. I don't know the first thing about them, myself.

Maybe start a new thread asking for help with this? Some people might have given up on this thread by now, so you might get more responses that way.

When I lived back in Az there was a guy who did a ton of hybrids. He made most of them exclusive to the premium geocaching paying customers. That is if he had 100 Geo/LB hybrids he only listed about 30 of those on LBNA only. His name was OP Jim.

I don't think this will help though. I just know that back in Az you just knew who actively physically boxed daily vs just visited the boards daily. The people who were physically out finding the stamps were obvious as logbook evidence will show you.

On a side note.. caches make it a long time. I planted a geocache once like 10 years ago to see how it all worked. I have never gone back to maintain it. It is still there.

It gets a visitor every week now... since I placed it... to me... that is very low maintenance... not one check up in all that time and it still lives on. weird huh.

You can meet geocachers by going to geocaching events. Sign up for a free geocaching membership. Find events in 2 ways:

Look for newest (most recent) caches in your area. Events are listed by a cache type of "event". Sign up and go to the event. Find the host (usually tue most social of the sometimes very non-social event goers) and chat.

The other way to find out about events is to look on the geocaching site for your state or area geocaching group. They will have a message board.

not one check up in all that time and it still lives on. weird huh.

Maybe that's because as long as the container stays in one piece there's not a single part of the cache that is vital to its continued existence, unlike a letterbox where once the stamp is gone so is the letterbox. A cache can even be soaking wet and it doesn't matter since you don't have to stamp in.

A cache can even be soaking wet and it doesn't matter since you don't have to stamp in.

A log is required, but if it is missing them someone can just sign a piece of paper and leave it there.

Yeah, I tend to get carried away. Sorry.

I would never in a billion years set up an auto pay with anyone again...

I autopay everything. If SWMBO and I die in our sleep, nobody will know for years because all our bills will be paid up.

I wonder if there is anyone who does hybrids. I don't know the first thing about them, myself.

You probably know more about hybrids than geocachers who plant hybrids know about letterboxes. Usually, to a geocacher, hybrid is synonymous with letterbox. It'd be a shock to learn there are other letterboxes out there that aren't geocaches and aren't listed on geocaching.com.

On a side note.. caches make it a long time. I planted a geocache once like 10 years ago to see how it all worked. I have never gone back to maintain it. It is still there.

I planted a micro about 10 years ago, and I'm pretty sure finders have replaced it a couple of times! Whether or not they found the original, I dunno. It was planted in an island of shrubbery in a Walmart parking lot, and I think the original parking lot and island got dug up and reconstructed. I think the new island is a few yards away from the original island, so the coords are a bit off. Still active.

I think there are boxers who do not cache, but they may join just to see where the local caches are.

So I guess I was trying to suggest that if you plant a geocache about 250 feet away from your letterbox.... no other geocache will be planted close to your letterbox. (in theory)

The hybrid thing might work but... I have found about 80 hybrids... the stamps were missing in every third one. THERE ARE probably 100 + geocachers to every single letterboxer. Most of them never go to the website since you dont need to in order to do it. The problem will never get solved. Just check there website before you plant to avoid future disappointment. Plant no where near it or plant your own cache to keep them away from your real hiding spot.

Found a series of 6 stamps.... all creating a huge portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The stamps were all amazing and together . . . just wow.

Unfortunately, I found a geocache where box #1 should have been. No sign of the box.... just the cache. So, my beautiful portrait of Lincoln was assassinated by cachers.

That's just one of many such stories I have.

hx6

That's awful! Just reading your post raises my blood pressure. Reading some of the previous posts about Caching I get the impression that there seems to be many young, wild and crazy cachers rampaging through the forests. In this area letterboxers are often cautioned (in many clues) to take some care with the ancient stonewalls. Maybe it's really the cachers who are being careless.

The kicker for me is that cachers want US to look for caches in the area BEFORE we plant our boxes . . . when they go right ahead and plant their caches right on top of our boxes without a second thought.

I've got to many stories of that happening.

hx6

The kicker for me is that cachers want US to look for caches in the area BEFORE we plant our boxes . . . when they go right ahead and plant their caches right on top of our boxes without a second thought.

With a geocache the coordinates are known. Even final coordinates of puzzle and multi-caches have coordinates known to the reviewer. Each stage of a multi-cache is likewise known. The reviewers are supposed to enforce the distance restrictions. You as l letterboxes can know where at least regular caches are without even leaving your house.

Since letterboxes aren't usually planted with a GPSr you don't have coordinates to tell anyone about. Even if a geocacher looked at the clue, most of time someone would have to go and follow them to know where the box is located. Even if every geocacher were (somehow) required to know about our letterboxes in their area (which many people here would vociferously object to) then they'd have to go find it to make sure that they weren't planting near a letterbox.

Another option would be to do as someone suggested, have some central database for every box/cache hidden. How many people here would buy a GPSr to get their box in this database?

I would like a solution. Until then we have to live with what we have.

I've had at least four boxes (off the top of my head) that have had caches planted RIGHT on top of, under the same rock, in the same tree, in the trunk of the same car (American Pickers) . . . plus the one I started this conversation with makes 5 boxes.

I would like to think that cachers would see something else there and then move to a new location. As it is, they just toss the cache on top of or next to an already existing box and call it good. Then surprise surprise when the box is the one that gets raped and pillaged while the cache continues to sit high and mighty over its fallen foe.

hx6

Well, the cachers in your area aren't very observant and/or just don't care. That is very unfortunate.

I don't know of any in my area that it has happened to.

Oh dear, I guess that is because there are more of them than us.

cachers want US to look for caches in the area BEFORE we plant our boxes . . . when they go right ahead and plant their caches right on top of our boxes without a second thought.

Yeah, but that's for pragmatic reasons. It's really easy to make a quick check to see if there are any geocaches in the vicinity before planting a letterbox. It's not a simple matter to figure out if there are any letterboxes in an area before planting a geocache. You'd basically have to solve all the cyphers and track down all the clues for all the boxes in town as well as all the mysteries in the state and the country.

How many people here would buy a GPSr to get their box in this database?

Anyone who has a smartphone already has a GPSr. Considering friends and boxing buddies, most of us could come up with one without spending any $$$.

But I wouldn't be willing to post coords of my boxes. That'd allow finders to just hunt them down like geocaches rather than following the clues. What I would like to see is the "location" field in the box listing replaced with a set of coordinates which can either be picked off a map or marked using a GPSr while in the field -- but the coordinates to be provided are for the starting location for finding the box, usually the parking lot or trailhead or whatnot. Sometimes it'd just be a general vicinity indicator. It'd never be the precise location of the box itself. And, of course, this location would be of zero help in preventing geocache/letterbox conflicts.

The one thing it might accomplish is to get more geocachers interested in letterboxing. They could view each letterbox as an offset geocache: use the GPSr to get to the parking area and then follow the clues to find the box. That's right up their alley for some of them -- although admittedly most of them are just in it for the numbers; if the box isn't where the coords say it is, they get peeved.

Then surprise surprise when the box is the one that gets raped and pillaged while the cache continues to sit high and mighty over its fallen foe.

When a geocache and a letterbox conflict, the letterbox always loses. That's an inherent result of the difference in the games. You can't really hurt a geocache, and even if you could there's nothing a letterboxer would do to hurt one if he accidentally found it. But the swag-trading that is fundamental to geocaching spells disaster for any letterbox found by accident. Sooner or later somebody's gonna trade some useless garbage for your hand-carved stamp.

This is so true... a geo cant be damaged...

So sad that a letterbox can.

This is so true... a geo cant be damaged...

Yes they can. I've had many geocaches muggled, including ones that were very well hidden. I've had one practically buried that went missing. It was in a natural hole under a tree root. It was a large hole. I put a rock in front of it.

Muggles seem to find things. It's not always a geocacher, but sometimes it obviously is. If geocaches couldn't be damaged them there would be so many archived (retired).

So sad that a letterbox can.

So, so true. You need to do what you can to keep it from happening. "Do or do not. There is no rant." ;-)

Yeah, but all a cacher has to do is drop a canister with a scroll of paper at a location and get the GPS location. That's it. No effort.

We can hide boxes in a cache desert and in a few months/years time have caches everywhere around the box that was once safe.

hx6

We can hide boxes in a cache desert and in a few months/years time have caches everywhere around the box that was once safe.

A reason to make friends with a geocacher so that they can place a protective geocache. Or you could stoop to place your own protective cache. You don't have to actually find any caches to do that.