"Geocaching" on the playa?

[HughMungus]

Just saw a thing on CNN about geocaching (using your GPS to hide and to find stuff and giving GPS coordinates to the "treasures"). I've known about it for a while but just thought it would be fun to do some geocaching on the playa.

Also, how viable would it be to position and locate camps based on GPS data? e.g., A list of camps at info camp with GPS data listed (since even road intersections are often not enough).

Thoughts?

[geekster]

This has already been mentioned in a couple of threads here and the ones that have responded have been enthusiastic. Might want to put the coordinates of caches on a bulletin board at Center Camp or something. I worry a tiny bit about DPW raiding them for their contents or people leaving something illegal in them. Other than that, I think it is a great way to trade special trinkets / gifts and to get people into the camp to interact with.

[theCryptofishist]

What about MOOP?

As for the GPS camping--I don't know that it would work for participants, that presupposes everyone can afford GPS and GPS with downloadable coordinates. HOwever, there is a download map with intersections and other important sites.

Somewhere.

[geekster]

dunno what you mean about moop. I would make a cache out of an ammo can with a pen, logbook, and neat stuff in it. People find the cache, write something in the log, maybe take their own pic with a disposable camera in it, take a trinket, leave a trinket, close up the box and go.

In the end, we put the pics up on the net someplace.

[theCryptofishist]

Well, if you dig it up at the end of the event and take it home, then it's not moop. What I've heard about geocaching maybe wasn't even geocaching. It was buried things that people would dig up, add onto and re-bury. Sort of like our ritual for stashing rex's corpse.

[geekster]

While I have heard of one or two caches being buried, most are just hidden. Like under an RV or tarp or of to the edge of a chill dome or something.

[lapeer20m]

I misread the heading and at first glance thought it read "geo-coaching" I assumed that meant coaching people how to take care of the planet. Perhaps it was my own expierence that led me to read that word incorrectly.

Here's my story about "geo-coaching" for anyone who's interested:

it was the nite if the burn, I was at an afterparty watching mutator drinking some coke i got from the bartender. A girl comes up to me and went mental because i was drinking from a disposable cup instead of an ALGE(sp?) bottle. It's not as if she kindly shared her views with me, but she came across very hostil. This was the most negative person i ran into during my 10 day stay at block rock city. IF she had the opportunity, i think she would have tard, featherd, and strung me up. There was a lot of anger built up inside this girl.

that's all..........not too exciting, just thought i would share.

[manowar]

You should have asked about this before the event. There were apparently severl caches out there, although I don't know how the coordinates were distributed to people. The small white house out in the middle of the playa had one in its mail box. Saw one guy with a GPS ride up and look around til he found it. Other burners then noticed the stuff, but just assumed it was a gift exchange so left stuff or took stuff. Over all looked like more things got added. I passed two other small groups on bikes later that were hunting other caches in other areas of the deep playa. So it seemed to work well with the overall burner attatude of gift given or exchange. Not sure how well it would work in the actual city. If you set one up in your camp your near neibors might find people looking through their stuff. After all its kind of hard to tell what is a cache and what's just a pile of random burner things. Well except for the log book and pen that say "THIS IS A GEO CACHE" like the one which was buried under all the stuff in the mail box.

[theCryptofishist]

it was the nite if the burn, I was at an afterparty watching mutator drinking some coke i got from the bartender. A girl comes up to me and went mental because i was drinking from a disposable cup instead of an ALGE(sp?) bottle. It's not as if she kindly shared her views with me, but she came across very hostil. This was the most negative person i ran into during my 10 day stay at block rock city. IF she had the opportunity, i think she would have tard, featherd, and strung me up. There was a lot of anger built up inside this girl.

I still remember the melt down some young lady had when she was on my doorstep trying to get me to sign the "Big Green" ballot petition when I told her I didn't sign petitions. "Don't you want to help save the planet?"

Wit of the staircase. "I'm sure the planet's alright, all we can do is hope to keep a place for ourselves on it."

[geekster]

I would have told her if comes back in a few million years, you would probably never know any of us had ever been here.

But anyway, fuck saving the planet. The sun is pretty much in its last billion years of being able to support habitation on earth anyway. From here on out it just gets hotter and bigger. Earth is DOOMED anyway. Anyone trying to "save" it is pissing in the wind.

They don't like hearing that. Also, remind them that all the greenhouse gasses dumped into the atmosphere amount to only 1% of the total load and that in the past the entire planet was much warmer than it was now, and that burning fossil fuel is just putting BACK CO2 that was taken out a long time ago ... and we are RETURNING the atmosphere to its "pristine" state ... or you can go on and on.

Water vapor is the #1 green house gas and you release more every time you exhale. So if we all stop breathing, we wont have any more problems.

I can be SUCH a curmudgeon sometimes.

[theCryptofishist]

Well the damn thing got on the ballot and didn't pass anyway. I may even have voted for it--it was like '86, I can't remember. I just hate all those stupid California propositions and wouldn't sign a darn thing. (I was partly under the influence of Luis Bun~uel at that time too.) I think what I resented most was the feeling of not being allowed to direct my own energies.

[HughMungus]

I misread the heading and at first glance thought it read "geo-coaching" I assumed that meant coaching people how to take care of the planet. Perhaps it was my own expierence that led me to read that word incorrectly.

Here's my story about "geo-coaching" for anyone who's interested:

it was the nite if the burn, I was at an afterparty watching mutator drinking some coke i got from the bartender. A girl comes up to me and went mental because i was drinking from a disposable cup instead of an ALGE(sp?) bottle. It's not as if she kindly shared her views with me, but she came across very hostil. This was the most negative person i ran into during my 10 day stay at block rock city. IF she had the opportunity, i think she would have tard, featherd, and strung me up. There was a lot of anger built up inside this girl.

that's all..........not too exciting, just thought i would share.

haha. Burning Man continues to affect me (6 years on). I felt stupid with a disposable water bottle out on the playa and then the little lightbulb came on and I realized how despicable they are (even though I re-use water bottles over and over, I need to move to using reusable water bottles instead of disposable ones). Now I cringe every time I see someone at work with a styrofoam cup.

[Kristines]

OK. I'm hooked on geocaching. I love the idea that something about it would go on @ Burning Man. Here's what I think:

1) We could not leave a cache there. Rules say you can't leave a "vacation" cache because you won't be able to maintain it. I also don't know if the area is accessible to other geocachers after BM.

2) We could not simply have a normal cache at Burning Man, but we could probably get an "event cache" approved. This is a cache you can log only if you find it and sign the log book, but once the event is over, you can no longer "find" it.

3) There could definitely be BM caches aroud your area -- maybe it has pictures of BM in it or just a description, or something you found/made/got there. Or think is cool. Then hide it around your home base and other (non BM) cachers would find it, but also BM cachers in your area would LOVE LOVE to find it.

4) There is a BM cache from last year: Burning Man Survival Kit on the road to BM, and one from 2001 about six miles south of BRC. But (maybe even since then) It's not polite to leave a cache where you can never get to it in case of breakin, loss of log book, to refill it with goodies, etc. Maybe there is a local cacher we could recruit to maintain one near the playa site.

5) I'm going to start a travel bug about Burning Man, probably in the next two weeks. If you'd like to be a "destination/goal" for the bug just let me know and I'll put that on the tag. (i.e. Would like to travel to Seattle to meet XYZ, to North Carolina to visit ABC, etc.) Of course the hope would be that it could also come to BM in the summer.

6) If there are enough of us, we could get together for a BM/Geocache event. I'm in Silly Valley.

Would love to hear from you.

Kristine

[Martiansky]

I love Geocaching, too!

Are you planning on just posting the coordinates on the Burningman site or on the Geocaching site?

[dragonfly Jafe]

And I thought it was "Geo-Catching", as in trying to stop people in Geo's from driving fast across the Playa.....

[Martiansky]

And I thought it was "Geo-Catching", as in trying to stop people in Geo's from driving fast across the Playa.....

ROTFLMAO!!

[Kristines]

I love Geocaching, too!

Are you planning on just posting the coordinates on the Burningman site or on the Geocaching site?

Most people like to keep track of their caching on the geocaching.com site because it creates a list of all visits, etc.

There's no reason not to post both, I guess, though it kind of makes more sense to point people to the caching site so they can sign up and get hooked, too. :)

Where do ya'all cache? I'm in Silly Valley.

Kristine

[RingO'Fire]

I would have told her if comes back in a few million years, you would probably never know any of us had ever been here.

But anyway, fuck saving the planet. The sun is pretty much in its last billion years of being able to support habitation on earth anyway. From here on out it just gets hotter and bigger. Earth is DOOMED anyway. Anyone trying to "save" it is pissing in the wind.

They don't like hearing that. Also, remind them that all the greenhouse gasses dumped into the atmosphere amount to only 1% of the total load and that in the past the entire planet was much warmer than it was now, and that burning fossil fuel is just putting BACK CO2 that was taken out a long time ago ... and we are RETURNING the atmosphere to its "pristine" state ... or you can go on and on.

Water vapor is the #1 green house gas and you release more every time you exhale. So if we all stop breathing, we wont have any more problems.

I can be SUCH a curmudgeon sometimes.

The sun is pretty much in its last billion years of being able to support habitation on earth anyway.

This is not true at all. The sun is roughly in the middle of its approximately 10 billion-year life span. So, we got about 5 billion years, give or take, before the Earth is engulfed by the expanding red giant sun. Now, whether any of us will still be here or not is another matter entirely...

Here's the citation from the SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) web site: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/explore/sun101.html

Here's some cool stuff - actual recent images (as recent as yesterday) of the sun at various wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum (UV light, X-rays, etc.). It's pretty fuckin' cool: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/rea ... mages.html

Earth is DOOMED anyway. Anyone trying to "save" it is pissing in the wind.

This much is true, but 5 billion years left to go is a really, really long time, especially when you consider that our ("us" = the "geologic/scientific community") best estimate of the Earth's current age is approximately 4.8 billion years. So, the Earth is about in the middle of its life span as well.

Oh well, I guess we'll ("us" = "the human race") figure out a solution somehow. I am a scientist, not a "treehugger", but it still just seems a shame that it will probably take major environmental crises on a global scale before we actually stop "shitting in our own dinner plate", so to speak.

[theCryptofishist]

Thanks, Ring. That 1 billion till the end sounded off, but it's been so long since I had those #s memorized that I couldn't pull them.

[Dork]

I felt stupid with a disposable water bottle out on the playa and then the little lightbulb came on and I realized how despicable they are (even though I re-use water bottles over and over, I need to move to using reusable water bottles instead of disposable ones). Now I cringe every time I see someone at work with a styrofoam cup.

I'm with you on the styrofoam cups, and I'll also add those tall cardboard coffee cups with the extra insulation ring around the middle. The amount of gas, time and money people spend getting those things amazes me.

I'm not so sure about reusable plastic water bottles though. How many uses can you really get out of one of those things before it breaks, develops a taste, or is lost? I'll stick to pulling "disposable" bottles out of the recycling bin at work and getting a dozen more uses out of them instead of plunking $8 for some fancy thing I'll lose in a month.

As for Geocaching, I still think about geoducks (pronounced gooey-ducks) when I see that word for some reason. Not that I have ever actually seen a geoduck in person, but it's a funny word.

Geocaches shouldn't be BURIED in the playa. That's clearly against the rules. There are plenty of places to hide them though, and as long as the person who placed it removes it before leaving at the end of the week moop is not an issue. Sounds like fun, if I ever find an excuse to buy a GPS

[geekster]

This is not true at all. The sun is roughly in the middle of its approximately 10 billion-year life span. So, we got about 5 billion years, give or take, before the Earth is engulfed by the expanding red giant sun. Now, whether any of us will still be here or not is another matter entirely...

Yes, it is true. The sun won't just bloat up huge on its 10-billionth birthday and swallow the earth, it will be a slow, evolving process that takes billions of years itself. Earth currently receives about 25% more radiation from the sun than it did when live first evolved. This radiation is slowly, relentlessly increasing. Most estimates give MAYBE 2 billion more years of possibile habitation before the oceans have outgassed into space. That will happen long before the sun's outer surface reaches Earth's orbit. Within a billion or so years we will be a Mars-like landscape. Greenhouse gasses notwithstanding since I believe a ton of water vapor is about like a thousand tons of CO2 in greenhouse effect. Also note that we are probably due a couple more glaciation events before that time too. It is quite likely that in 100 million years, Chicago will be under a mile of ice. Try growing trees in that. Point is, climate is always changing. We are always experiancing global warming and global cooling. Earth has been globally tropical at times too.

In any case, earth will die billions of years before the sun will.

[Martiansky]

I love Geocaching, too!

Are you planning on just posting the coordinates on the Burningman site or on the Geocaching site?

Most people like to keep track of their caching on the geocaching.com site because it creates a list of all visits, etc.

There's no reason not to post both, I guess, though it kind of makes more sense to point people to the caching site so they can sign up and get hooked, too.

Where do ya'all cache? I'm in Silly Valley.

Kristine

Is that Silicon Valley?
I usually geocache in Minnesota or Wisconsin. I did find one in Oxnard, CA when I was out there one summer. I kept thinking...."Please don't let there be snakes, please don't let there be snakes". I lucked out, no snakes. Gets you worried, especially if you're from somewhere that they aren't!
If you post on the geocaching site you can set time constraints for the period the cache will be there, I believe. Then note that if it's within the BM area you'll be buying a ticket!

[PlumBob]

2) We could not simply have a normal cache at Burning Man, but we could probably get an "event cache" approved. This is a cache you can log only if you find it and sign the log book, but once the event is over, you can no longer "find" it.

Somebody organized one last year (2004). Coordinates were printed in the program with instructions to meet Wednesday at 1:00 PM. I'd say about 30 people showed up, hung out, compared GPS units and traded snacks. It was out about midway between the man and the temple.

With a bunch of geeks standing around holding GPS receivers, a few people stopped to inquire whether we had found a freak cell phone hot-spot.

[dragonfly Jafe]

With a bunch of geeks standing around holding GPS receivers, a few people stopped to inquire whether we had found a freak cell phone hot-spot.

I would have said "Yes, ain't it great?" and walked off....

[dragonfly Jafe]

Geocaches shouldn't be BURIED in the playa. That's clearly against the rules. There are plenty of places to hide them though, and as long as the person who placed it removes it before leaving at the end of the week moop is not an issue. Sounds like fun, if I ever find an excuse to buy a GPS

I would think that the real challenge would be burying the cache one year then trying to find it the next. How far down would something sink from year-to-year (assuming it was heavier than water)? Would it keep going to the bottom of the graben? Or would it stay near the surface?

We have fantasized about camping in the same spot every year, and "burying" our camp so we wouldn't have to transport it back and forth (we would go out several months before the first time and bury a 40' container within the BRC boundries....) Taken to absurd extremes one could build up quite a camp over time! The trick would be digging down to it each year (and making sure someone from your camp got there first every year...) I guess this would be the "ultimate" geo-cache for burningman..."A complete theme camp has been buried at the following location;"

[geekster]

Hmmm, GeoCamp ... interesting idea but the water table is very high there. Any container will likely be soaked by groundwater for most of the year and the water would be very corrosive. A watertight plastic container of some sort might work.

[theCryptofishist]

As I understand it, it would also violate the conditions of the use permit.

[dragonfly Jafe]

As I understand it, it would also violate the conditions of the use permit.

Again, just a wishful fanatsy (there are so many technical issues that it really is not feasible to do).

And yes, digging "mineshafts" in the Playa would not be a good thing...