Folks,
I was reading their boards. I searched for the word "letterbox."
The geocachers seem a tad confused about the difference between
letterboxing and geocaching. This of course is obvious since the
Catalina Fox stamp was taken by a geocacher. Some folks up there
think that a letterbox is simply a geocache without good GPS
coordinates.
To my amazement, they also report that within about a yard of most
geocaches there is a letterbox. "Only so many good places to hide
something," they report.
So, of course, I did a search by my zipcode. Sure enough, there are
over 300 geocaches within 50 miles of my house. I was horrified, to
say the least. That means that locations I have boxes, geocachers are
walking around in.
When I saw that Princess Lea had written on her letterboxes "This is
NOT a geocache!" I thought it was in fun. Not anymore. I am now
writing that on every one of my plants in big, bold letters. I spend
too long designing, carving, placing, and writing clues for someone
to swap my stamp for a Walmart teddybear. I urge you to clearly label
your letterboxes similarly.
I know that some of you indulge in both activities. If you do, please
take some time to explain to your geocaching compatriots that
letterboxes are different. Yes, I know they complain that we do not
put our clues up easily (some had problems getting on this board and
others had trouble in the old days with the letterboxing dot org
site), and that we do not necessarily want everyone to find our
boxes. Right now in (area name removed) the park folks are kicking
geocachers and letterboxers out of public land. It is for all our
best interests that we are kind to each other, cooperative, and
discreet about our hobbies.
Another thought, and it was supported on an earlier poll, keep
letterboxing separate from geocaching. Do not list our boxes over on
their site even if you do know the GPS location for it. There are
many more of the geocachers than there are of us. There seem to be
many more geocaches than there are letterboxes. Like it or not, we
have to cope with geocachers in the environment.
Sincerely,
Sir Balthazar
*No Flames Necessary* I Just Was Up at Geocaching Site
3 messages in this thread |
Started on 2003-09-19
*No Flames Necessary* I Just Was Up at Geocaching Site
From: Sir Balthazar (neovolatile@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2003-09-19 21:42:56 UTC
Re: [LbNA] *No Flames Necessary* I Just Was Up at Geocaching Site
From: Steve S. (kerjin@myndworx.com) |
Date: 2003-09-19 19:14:03 UTC-07:00
*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
Interesting timing there Sir Balthazar!
I was just over there this AM and wrote a bit about it on the PNW Forum.
For those that care to take a look, it's at:
http://www.myndworx.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=16#16
But I agree..... I am going to make sure that all of my boxes are clearly
labeled as to what they are NOT. I do worry though, that it will not be
enough. One shall never know.
Steve of Rayvenhaus
The PNWLb Website - http://www.myndworx.com
(Whose sig can be seen at http://www.myndworx.com/rayvenhaus )
Interesting timing there Sir Balthazar!
I was just over there this AM and wrote a bit about it on the PNW Forum.
For those that care to take a look, it's at:
http://www.myndworx.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=16#16
But I agree..... I am going to make sure that all of my boxes are clearly
labeled as to what they are NOT. I do worry though, that it will not be
enough. One shall never know.
Steve of Rayvenhaus
The PNWLb Website - http://www.myndworx.com
(Whose sig can be seen at http://www.myndworx.com/rayvenhaus )
Re: *No Flames Necessary* I Just Was Up at Geocaching Site
From: Sissy n CR (cr@sc.rr.com) |
Date: 2003-09-21 12:13:08 UTC
As a couple, we like both letterboxing AND geocaching. Therefore,
not ony do we find both, we hide both. Most of our boxes are both as
only two beginner's caches have stamps, therefore theoretically, you
find the cache and stamp in you can claim it as a box.
Yes, there is a problem with stamps being traded out and we've have
had one traded for a State quarter! I'm a new-age carver, instead of
chisels and redrubber--which I do have and know how to use--I use a
laser engraver. My stamps are one-off, detailed stamps which I can
duplicate if needed. Also, a trademark of ours is a custom acrylic
keyfob with the same image as the stamp for the First Finder.
How we've pretty much solved the problem of trading out of stamps is
to put a note in the logbook which reads, in part, "Please use the
stamp to stamp YOUR logbook (Not this one) if you would like.
The stamp and inkpad are not trade items. They are for people who
collect ink impressions." Probably should put a letterboxing sheet
in there, as well. :(
Anyway, we also mark the stamp and stamp pad with "THIS IS NOT A
TRADE ITEM!" It's worked well so far.
Anyway, I don't care for this war between geocaching and
letterboxing. I'm a techie, therefore I like gadgets. I also bore
easily with walk-right-up-the-cache type of caches. I like
challenging without having to feel like you're taking a Mensa test.
While some people want to keep letterboxing and geocaching seperate,
if you read the FAQ at http://www.letterboxing.org/faq/faq.html -
"Get the container itself and the logbook, and any other goodies you
want to put in the box," at least I get the sense that geocaching is
actually a sub-set of letterboxing.
Another thing, and this is not a dig at geocachers, if you want to
hide a box near a cache, just make the hide very hard. The vast
majority of cachers like easy. The ones that like hard are either
already boxers or will soon be one. ;)
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Sir Balthazar"
wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I was reading their boards. I searched for the word "letterbox."
>
> The geocachers seem a tad confused about the difference between
not ony do we find both, we hide both. Most of our boxes are both as
only two beginner's caches have stamps, therefore theoretically, you
find the cache and stamp in you can claim it as a box.
Yes, there is a problem with stamps being traded out and we've have
had one traded for a State quarter! I'm a new-age carver, instead of
chisels and redrubber--which I do have and know how to use--I use a
laser engraver. My stamps are one-off, detailed stamps which I can
duplicate if needed. Also, a trademark of ours is a custom acrylic
keyfob with the same image as the stamp for the First Finder.
How we've pretty much solved the problem of trading out of stamps is
to put a note in the logbook which reads, in part, "Please use the
stamp to stamp YOUR logbook (Not this one) if you would like.
The stamp and inkpad are not trade items. They are for people who
collect ink impressions." Probably should put a letterboxing sheet
in there, as well. :(
Anyway, we also mark the stamp and stamp pad with "THIS IS NOT A
TRADE ITEM!" It's worked well so far.
Anyway, I don't care for this war between geocaching and
letterboxing. I'm a techie, therefore I like gadgets. I also bore
easily with walk-right-up-the-cache type of caches. I like
challenging without having to feel like you're taking a Mensa test.
While some people want to keep letterboxing and geocaching seperate,
if you read the FAQ at http://www.letterboxing.org/faq/faq.html -
"Get the container itself and the logbook, and any other goodies you
want to put in the box," at least I get the sense that geocaching is
actually a sub-set of letterboxing.
Another thing, and this is not a dig at geocachers, if you want to
hide a box near a cache, just make the hide very hard. The vast
majority of cachers like easy. The ones that like hard are either
already boxers or will soon be one. ;)
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Sir Balthazar"
> Folks,
>
> I was reading their boards. I searched for the word "letterbox."
>
> The geocachers seem a tad confused about the difference between