New Cacher in Little Rock

[cnwilks]

After a few years of talk, I finally went on my first hunt about two weeks ago, and can already tell that I'll be hooked for life. I'm up to 44 (Mostly skirt lifters and magnets attached to stuff), and I'm looking forward the day when I'm a regular ol' cache coon dog. I do have a couple of quick questions:


When is the next meet and greet in the area? I checked the calendar on the site, and it doesn't look like there's anything scheduled for November or December.
Are there some experienced people in the area who would be willing to let me tag along for a hunt? I've come up short for at least as many caches as I've found, and would love to ride along with someone who really knows what he or she is doing. I'm willing to chip in for gas, and buy the first round afterward.
Any other tips? I know the general advice is to look for something out of place, but I feel hopelessly outmatched with some of these hides. I've got skirt lifting down pat, and I know to look for magnets and bison tubes, but that's about as far as I've gotten.


I would also like to cordially invite anyone passing through the west Little Rock area and pay my first cache a visit: GC5FRHC. It's an easy PNG that I placed in honor of our beloved cat, who we found nearby a couple of years ago. I'm scoping out quite a few more spots for future caches in west Little Rock and midtown, so keep your eyes peeled.

[Flyfishingcachers]

Welcome to our hobby!!! We are located in Hot Springs & usually have monthly S.W.A.G.. Meet n Greets. We have an event coming up December 6th.

If you go to geocaching.com the GAGE meetings will show there. I believe here is one on November 20th. GC5G0PF at Whole Hog Cafe on Warden Rd.

Hope you can attend that one & meet some LR folks. We would welcome you to come on over to Hot Springs sometime also.

[cnwilks]

Thanks for the info! I'm involved with the film festival, and am in Hot Springs pretty frequently, so I'll definitely make it a point to come join you guys in the future.

[floaten]

Welcome to the Forum and the hobby. I live in Cabot so if you venture out that way you can message me in advance and I could meet you somewhere in town. My user on geocaching.com is floaten.

Any other tips? Without trying to offend anyone I'll make this comment. Don't let yourself get focused on one spot. Your phone or GPSr might say you are with 6' of the cache but don't allow yourself to fixate on just that spot. Some geocachers use iPhone (I guess I shouldn't limit that to only iPhones) gathered coordinates as their listing coordinates and many times they are not accurate. Use your geosense (where would I hide it) and search outward in some sort of pattern to make the find.

Don't limit your idea of what a container could be. There are some very creative containers out there. I can't speak for West LR but Jacksonville has some sneaky ones. Specifically, caches by Woodwalker, Fab5, and LostBoys2007. There are plenty of good caches all over this area but the people I just listed are especially sneaky. Doublenickle88 which is a little closer to you has upped the bar too and StealYourCache caches can be tough.

If you are interested in the puzzle/unknown caches there are several of us in the area that live for them. Don't hesitate to ask for advice.

The last thing I would recommend it taking notes on all of your finds. The only time I do not take notes on a find is a power trail unless there was something specific about one of the finds. Why take notes? Eventually someone will contact you to ask for help and you'll want to provide help if you can. Unless you have a permanent photographic memory your not going to be able to remember every find. My notes have been invaluable on several occasions. BTW, you can't use the notes feature on the listing pages unless you have a premium account.

Again, Welcome. Glad your enjoying the sport.

[cnwilks]

It looks like there are a bunch to be found in the Jax/Cabot Area, so I'll definitely take you up on the offer. I also find the puzzle caches intriguing, but a little intimidating. I solved one out in WLR, and am going to go find it this afternoon. Many of them, I don't even know where to start. I figure that I'll make some contacts along the way that will help me crack the codes.

I use an iPhone, and have learned that staring at it at GZ is pretty fruitless sometimes. It really makes you overthink. I'm putting a GPS on the Christmas list, and will hopefully make a good decision. It sounds like everyone has an opinion on which is best, and they don't all seem to line up. I'm ready to start downloading caches into a device, because using paper is pretty tedious.

I live in WLR, and work in midtown, but I have already discovered that DoubleNickel's "dirty dozen" seem to not be easy lunchtime grabs. I intend to introduce myself and ask for help after I've looked for the rest of them....hopefully I'll come up with a few on my own, but based on the feedback people are logging, you seem to really have to work for it.

[floaten]

I had to chuckle at you last comment. There are many caches in the area that require "a lot of work". I listed a few of the devious CO (cache owners). We have a meet and greet being held at Whole Hog Cafe, 5107 Warden Rd, N Little Rock, AR from 6:30 until 8:30 pm on Thursday, November 20, 2014.

If you want to get antiquated with several of the serious cachers in the area this is a good place to introduce yourself. It is a very relax atmosphere and a good time. I moved here just under two years ago and on a whim went to my first meeting. A lot of great people attend these greets and I highly recommend showing up. You won't feel out of place long. I'd be willing to bet you'll be approached by someone with 5 minutes and you'll feel at home.

Hope to see you there. The listing for the greet is below. If your married bring the family.

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5G0PF_november-c-a-g-e-meet-and-greet

[cnwilks]

I'll be there for the meet and greet. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!

[jclaudii]

Welcome to the hobby and to ArkGeo! I'm putting a quick one together in Russellville on 12/13/14, look for it to pop up any day. have you started the LOTR Series in LR yet? I want to do those pretty bad!

[cnwilks]

It may be challenging to get to Russellville in the middle of the holiday season, but I'll keep the date in mind. I need to cross Mt. Nebo and Bona Dea trails off in my Tim Ernst book. I'm sure there are a ton of caches to be found there.

I haven't done the LOTR yet, but there are a bunch. I've solved the first couple of The Riddler Files puzzles, and need to go claim them. I'm almost done with #3, but I can't figure out how the fence post cipher works. I was able to solve all of the other ciphers on my own, but the fence post cipher seems to be a different animal.

[floaten]

It may be challenging to get to Russellville in the middle of the holiday season, but I'll keep the date in mind. I need to cross Mt. Nebo and Bona Dea trails off in my Tim Ernst book. I'm sure there are a ton of caches to be found there.

I haven't done the LOTR yet, but there are a bunch. I've solved the first couple of The Riddler Files puzzles, and need to go claim them. I'm almost done with #3, but I can't figure out how the fence post cipher works. I was able to solve all of the other ciphers on my own, but the fence post cipher seems to be a different animal.

Mt. Nebo has about 20 caches and one of them is an EarthCache. I have completed all the LOTR puzzles. Save LOTR 52 & 60 for last. There are a couple others that are tough but those two are a nightmare. I maintained some very good notes on all of the LOTR puzzles so if you need some advice let me know. I'm not offering the answers but I will offer some puzzle solving advice if you'd like it. You may not need help but thought I might throw out the offer.

[cnwilks]

I have managed to finish up all of the Riddler files, and will hunt for them this weekend. The fence post cipher was a problem, because I think that there were some extra spaces, but I did some shifting and shuffling, and finally managed to get there. I definitely appreciated the intro to some of the codes that people use, but for some of the puzzle caches, I don't even see where the puzzle is (as a matter of fact, one of the more recent ones was your "what three words?" cache). I can tell that I'm going to enjoy the puzzle caches a lot, once I get my sea legs under me.

I've had a look at the first couple of LOTR puzzles, and some of the mini-riddles have punchlines that make sense, but I'm stumped on the others. And Google was no help, either. Do I need to refer to the books to get the answers? I'll definitely take you up on any advice you can offer to help accomplish that journey as I get further into it.

I'm looking forward to the meet and greet tonight...I already have a couple of people that I intend to pump for some info on caches that they have found :-)

[MathSeeker]

Welcome to a great hobby/sport cnwilks!

I am from the Jacksonville area. Look forward to meeting you.

Happy Caching!