How is it...?

Printable View

10-15-2005, 02:21 PM
Hiram357

How is it...?

How is it that people get FTF's so quickly?? do you force your kids to sit in front of the computer refreshing the query page every 5 minutes to look for new caches? I went to bed last night around 12am and see no new caches... i wake up this morning around 9am and no new caches... 12pm A NEW CACHE ONLY 1.8 MILES AWAY!! I grab the cache bag and rain gear, throw the wife in the jeep and I'm standing over top of the cache no more than 17 minutes after I saw the posting of the cache. So slowly I open the cache anticipating a first FTF, my pulse racing, my eyes swelling up with tears of joy....
Haffy got it first, along with about 4 other people... :confused: Is there a secret society of geocaching I do not know about?? Where coords of yet to be hidden caches are discussed? (I thought this would make an interesting rainy day forum topic :) )
10-15-2005, 02:29 PM
Beach Comber

I learned from the King of FTF's, YOP, that if one wants to increase their numbers in this arena, that you must check frequently. I check, but that is the depth of my effort - LOL - I can't get out there fast enough to focus on that. I have bookmarked this page in my favorites - perhaps it will help you.............. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?state_id=20
10-15-2005, 02:51 PM
WhereRWe?

Haffy's the king of FTF's in central Maine - you have to get up REAL early to beat him.

I once got a "heads up" email from a cache owner 2 hours after a
his new cache had been approved. The first point of the multi was less than 2 miles from my house, so we departed immediately. Upon getting the final coordinates, I knew exactly where the cache was (a further 6 miles north), and the best route to get there. We were FTF, but on the way back out to the car, who should we meet but Haffy6 (nearly 40 miles from and obviously unfamiliar with the area!) LOL!

We don't even bother trying to get FTF's! LOL! :D :D

(And I note that the owner of that new cache in Waterville has NEVEr found a cache, and has placed one. Begs the queastion, how was the cache? LOL!)
10-15-2005, 03:07 PM
Haffy

A good rainy day question Hiram? As a premium member I get notification immediately upon GPSfun approving the cache page. When I got up this morning, just before exiting the house around 8:30, I saw the notice had just come up, so I went over to the cache site. I live here in Fairfield so it took me about 10 minutes to get there. I figured I wasn't going to be the FTF cause lately there have been a lot of others who seem to like to get up at the crack of dawn for the FTF's but today I wasn't disappointed. And also for almost a year I was not employed so that gave me the ability to get around during the work week too. Now I am on the workforce and work 4 -10 hour days, so Friday and the weekends will be available for me now. So that's the rest of the story!!!!:D And oh yeah, the cache coordinates were right on and the cache itself was filled to the brim with some nice cache swag. A very good cache and hide from some newbies who have yet to find a single cache themselves as of yet. Great job!!!
10-15-2005, 04:08 PM
Hiram357

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haffy6

A good rainy day question Hiram? As a premium member I get notification immediately upon GPSfun approving the cache page. When I got up this morning, just before exiting the house around 8:30, I saw the notice had just come up, so I went over to the cache site. I live here in Fairfield so it took me about 10 minutes to get there. I figured I wasn't going to be the FTF cause lately there have been a lot of others who seem to like to get up at the crack of dawn for the FTF's but today I wasn't disappointed. And also for almost a year I was not employed so that gave me the ability to get around during the work week too. Now I am on the workforce and work 4 -10 hour days, so Friday and the weekends will be available for me now. So that's the rest of the story!!!!:D And oh yeah, the cache coordinates were right on and the cache itself was filled to the brim with some nice cache swag. A very good cache and hide from some newbies who have yet to find a single cache themselves as of yet. Great job!!!

Yeah, I've been a premium member for a while and I just figured out how to get the instant notification (after many disapointments for FTFs I figured there had to be a way) That Teepee cache was a very nice swag cache, I didn't go through it all because it was pouring rain and I didn't wan't to soak the cache, (maybe I'll go back another time) but it did remind me of a very good joke....

Did you hear about the indian that drank 50 gallons of tea!?!?!

they later found him dead in his tea pee!!!!! :D
10-15-2005, 04:51 PM
tat

9 am? If you sleep all day, you'll never be ftf! :)

Seriously, being ftf is litterally a mater of being in the right place at the right time. There are several in the county, if you leave now, you just might be at least stf!

This past summer, a bunch of us went to a very remote cache that had not been found when we left home. When we got there, we were all sure it was a race between the three of us. Sure enough, someone beat us by a day.

Good luck!
10-15-2005, 05:31 PM
WhereRWe?

We got a FTF on a cache that had been placed 1 1/2 years before (it IS remote!) And I just see that someone has just got STF - 2 1/2 years after it was placed! LOL! (And hey - this is a VIRTUAL!) :D :D
10-15-2005, 05:52 PM
Beach Comber

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haffy6

As a premium member I get notification immediately upon GPSfun approving the cache page.

How do you set this up? I have looked and didn't see where, how, etc.
10-15-2005, 06:19 PM
Haffy

Hey Beachie, on your account page at the top it has member features,click on that and then scroll down til you see a heading for instant notification and that will bring you to the page to set it up.
10-15-2005, 06:32 PM
Hiram357

Yeah, the instant notify is probably a usefull tool in getting FTFs, but my question is, who is this GPSfun guy.... and does he take bribes? ;)
10-15-2005, 06:35 PM
tat

Too bad you missed the bbq in Augusta this summer. GPSfun stopped by! He lives down south, but has lived up here in the past. I'm sure he'd take a bribe :)
10-15-2005, 06:38 PM
Haffy

Maybe you could bribe him with one of our new Maine geocoins or trade for one of his from Georgia.;)
10-15-2005, 06:45 PM
d’76

Quoting Tat:
This past summer, a bunch of us went to a very remote cache that had not been found when we left home. When we got there, we were all sure it was a race between the three of us. Sure enough, someone beat us by a day.

Ahh yes, The Tramway..... I remember it well, the paranoia, the guy coming out with the gps was a dead give away so we thought. And you blew out a sandle on the way out.

Thanks for the memories
10-15-2005, 07:31 PM
Hiram357

so in order for him to publish a new cache, does he actually go and visit every one before he does?
10-15-2005, 07:40 PM
Beach Comber

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haffy6

Hey Beachie, on your account page at the top it has member features,click on that and then scroll down til you see a heading for instant notification and that will bring you to the page to set it up.

Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't see "new caches" or anything similar in thist of choices.
10-15-2005, 07:58 PM
becket

new caches

beachie, when you go into "my account" on geocaching.com, at the top of the page will be "quick view" and "member features" will be in this list. click on this and then on the new page (my membership details), scroll down to "instant log notification feature" and click on "visit insta-notify page". down at the bottom of this page will be "create a new notification" and you will have to set a notification up for each kind of cache you want to be notified about. i get some, but not all the notifications i've requested. i'm not sure what happens to the rest of them - they are floating out in space, i guess. i usually just go to geocaching.com home page several times a day and do the "choose a state" option and it brings up all the new caches - especially the ones that don't make it to my email - lol. good luck!
10-15-2005, 08:07 PM
tat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiram357

so in order for him to publish a new cache, does he actually go and visit every one before he does?

No, caches are not visited by approvers. They do thier homework. And, are quite adept at weeding out caches that do not meet the rules. But they cannot posibly visit all the caches. There are way too many.
10-15-2005, 08:27 PM
Beach Comber

Thanks Becket - I have done that for a couple of types of caches, but don't recall ever getting any e-mails so thought perhaps I needed to do something different. I am going to delete them and the re-establish to see if that makes a difference. In the meantime, I will continue to check the list regularly as well.
10-16-2005, 07:29 AM
WhereRWe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiram357

so in order for him to publish a new cache, does he actually go and visit every one before he does?

No - it's as Tat said.

And keep in mind that our approver - GPSFUN - lives in Georgia and approves caches in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, RI and New York. Haven't heard much about any other approver, but having met him, and having had several discussions with him before that, I know we've got a good one.

:D :D :D
10-16-2005, 10:17 PM
Beach Comber

I made the changes and voila! I am now receiving e-mails for new caches - awesome! Of course, that is the extent of the energy I will likely expel on getting FTF's - LOL - unless they are in my backyard or on the way to work, it is unlikely I will get them. Have fun!
10-17-2005, 10:05 AM
Team2hunt

FTF's

The old adage "stop trying so hard". We got our first and only FTF when we stopped trying. Monster Cache hadn't been found in almost 2 weeks. Haffy had told me about it. Took a kayak to get there. Got up at 5am out on the water by 6am and the cache area by 6:30am. WHAT! a DNF. Coords put me in the water. Searched for almost an hour. No luck. Next day the cache owner, who had been notified earlier of the coords issue. Changed them and the the hint. I went out about 10am slept late, had breakfast, leisurely paddled to the site. And lo and behold our first FTF. I won't get up at 4am to be FTF. I'd much rather enjoy my sleep and the morning coffee. STF's are ok with the Team. We have 12 of them.:cool:
10-18-2005, 08:43 PM
Hiram357

but I want a FTF, I tried waiting, I tried rushing, it's just not working for me.... $20 to anyone who hides a cache a block away from my house and tells me when they place it :rolleyes: just kidding..... (seriously though $20 think about it)
10-18-2005, 09:06 PM
d’76

You should join GC.com under a different alias and hide many caches as you can and then be the first to find on all of them. I'll take that 20 dollars in cache not a check.:D
10-18-2005, 09:15 PM
Hiram357

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave1976

You should join GC.com under a different alias and hide many caches as you can and then be the first to find on all of them. I'll take that 20 dollars in cache not a check.:D

HEY THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!!! I CAN HAVE ALL I WANT!!! I'll start making payments to you after the first of the year... I make each payment .0001% of the total amount owed to you, and I'll even tack on an extra .000000001% yearly interest to the total owed at the end of each year as an added bonus to you for your great idea... You might want to invest in a soldering iron to put the pennies back together :p
10-18-2005, 09:23 PM
d’76

I know, I know I'm a genious:D
10-19-2005, 06:05 AM
WhereRWe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave1976

I know, I know I'm a genious:D

Genius :p :p :p
10-19-2005, 08:03 AM
firefighterjake

I've pretty much given up on trying to get a FTF . . . too many FTF "addicts" in my neck of the woods. That said, I have had two . . . guess it was just me being a bit lucky.