Extreme Geo Pen Swap (Geocaching Pens)

KDM · Sep 6, 2010

This thread asks if there are any geocachers in our number. I'm one of those who, with nothing to do on a rainy Saturday afternoon (when the PR has run out) will swamp about looking for little tiny hidden objects on my GPSr.

There's an interesting idea posted by jthompson1995, which they call "extreme pen swap" alluding to the idea that handmade pens could be stashed at locations around the world, their GPS coordinates published and perhaps be swapped out by holidaymaking pen turners.

I'm not sure if I would necessarily want to make this part of www.geocaching.com's game: I've seen a lot of trackable objects go missing and, quite frankly, I don't think the geocachers would quite appreciate the work which goes into some of our pens.

Other folk have tried sucessfully, swapping books, for example just by stashing them and waiting for other folks to collect them. Can anyone se this working with pens or other small turnings? Anyone got any ideas how it might work?

While we're at it, are any more of us geocachers these days?

Oh, and I may as well plug my geocaching coloured pen.

biednick · Sep 6, 2010

Im liking the idea, i do a little geocaching myself. We could put turned pens in a waterproof hard tube(screw capped PVC?) and post coordinates here rather than geocaching.com, and if someone finds it they just swap out the pen, and whoever placed the "cache" could return to collect it later.

jskeen · Sep 6, 2010

I could see the idea working, but I suspect the density of penturners who also are interested might be a little low. Would probably be a long trip for some of them. But, that being said, I would probably be interested in playing, as I have a few good spots filed away I've never gotten around to using.

I would think you would want to try to make them One Shot Caches, rather than permenant, but that might just be me. I'd go along either way if it flies.

Sylvanite · Sep 6, 2010

My brother is an avid geocacher, and I made him a bunch of laser-engraved wood geocoins (with his own logo and geocache handle) to leave behind. I hadn't thought of leaving a pen.

Regards,
Eric

LEAP · Sep 6, 2010

Sounds Like fun, The family has been out in the woods looking for hidden tupperware for years. The logistics might be a little tough. I could see this as a regional thing but might be hard to do on a large scale.

TXPhi67 · Sep 6, 2010

How about a turned Travel Bug Race? Basically, have a sign up for participation and assign a GeoCache near to the pen maker. A different GeoCache per pen maker. All pen makers would have until a set time to make their pen and get their Travel Bug tags. Set a date to start the race and everyone drops their pen/Travel Bug on the same date and the tracking begins. After a set time, publish the results on which bug/pen traveled the farthest. Oh yeah - post a pic of the pen prior to the placement date.

Just an idea to incorporate your idea of combining GeoCaching with Pen making. Which by the way was a stroke of sheer genius on your part.

Take care,

KDM · Sep 7, 2010

LEAP said:
Sounds Like fun, The family has been out in the woods looking for hidden tupperware for years. The logistics might be a little tough. I could see this as a regional thing but might be hard to do on a large scale.

Maybe, but imagine you were on holiday in England, or whatever. Surely you'd go out of your way to take in a geo-tagged location if you knew there was a pen at the end of the rainbow?

I think this is a winning idea. I imagine each pen would have a history of the different penturners who had "owned" it.

"Ah, yes. I remember pen number forty seven. I specially liked the way it balanced in the hand. And the CA finish was specatular."

Rangertrek · Sep 7, 2010

I have been a geocacher for many years. I was the 1st or 2nd in Louisiana and there were no actual caches in the state at that time.
I like the idea of having some type of pen cache or travel bug pen.
It might be good to check with both IAP and Geocache sites (moderators) about the idea and to not infringe on any rules of these sites.

I dont have as much time to cache as I had years ago but I would make some time for this one if it gets developed.

KDM · Sep 7, 2010

TXPhi67 said:
How about a turned Travel Bug Race?

Actually, I really like that idea. This is well within the rules of geocaching.com. In the description of the trackable, the cacher would state that its purpose it to amass as many miles as possible before a certain date, for example.

All trackables can have a photo associated with them on the geocachig website.

glycerine · Sep 7, 2010

I've yet to do it (geocache), but have heard about it and would like to try. I wouldn't mind hiding a pen or two while I was at it.

Steve Busey · Sep 7, 2010

Been caching for several years, but lately only when we're traveling. Enjoy the more creative caches, but have my share of LPs in my find list.

Having said that, not sure how far I'd go to find a pen/turned hide.

HSTurning · Sep 7, 2010

The better half and I have been thinking about getting into geocashing. I dont know if I would get involved or not but I know I dont mind driving. I travel 120 miles for the bi-monthly local chapter meetings and I took a 420 mile drive just to get out a few weeks ago. My only concern would be the pens getting damaged while waiting around. Any pen with a brass tube has a greater chance of cracking. Being in the north east with freezing days and +95 degree days I can see damaged pens happening.

Scott · Sep 7, 2010

We spent a lot of this past weekend geocaching. We use a Garmin Colorado 400T. We found lots of interesting caches, and rescued four travel bugs. I say "rescued" because the snow will be here soon, and those travel bugs would have been buried until next spring if we hadn't picked them up!

I like the idea of a turned travel bug race! That would be a lot of fun!

Scott.

bgibb42 · Sep 8, 2010

I haven't been geocaching in a few years, but it sure was fun and this sounds like just the idea to get back into it. If folks are worried about pens getting damaged along the way, leaking pens, or under-appreciated pens perhaps we could turn keychains or pendants.

Come to think of it, a pendant made with the geocaching colors would look great!

Edit: Or a pendant key ring. Perfect for travel bugs!

holmqer · Sep 8, 2010

I think some sort of turned travel bug would be a good idea. The bug wants to visit lathes perhaps.

juteck · Sep 8, 2010

We dabble at it and have a blast. I've also thought about making a "First to Find" pen when we finally set up a cache of our own, but I'm sure it won't be appreciated that way we would want it to be. I'm probably going to try the toothpick holder keychain instead, made out of acrylic instead of wood. It always seems that no matter how well sealed the cache is, humidity will at least get into it. Humidity and wood don't always agree. It might even be a cool idea to try decals and casting, and make you own logo as a keepsake -- many people make their own coins. As a keychain, you could always attach it to a travel bug to make it trackable, and have a separate log inside the compartment for people to sign as they do the geocache logs.

Rjones · Sep 8, 2010

I just bought a gps for geocaching yesterday. The family is looking for new things to do while camping. I would be interested in any idea since I havent really started yet.

rjones

KDM · Sep 9, 2010

holmqer said:
I think some sort of turned travel bug would be a good idea. The bug wants to visit lathes perhaps.

Ooooohhhh. I'm thinking a big blank and it goes from place to place with folk turning a little bit at a time. Maybe everyone takes 1/1000th of it, photographs it and passes it on?

Too boring?

KDM · Sep 9, 2010

Rjones said:
I just bought a gps for geocaching yesterday. The family is looking for new things to do while camping. I would be interested in any idea since I havent really started yet.
rjones

Well, if you discover a cache, and find there's somethin in it you fancy, you'll need to have something "of equivalent value" to put back into it. I suggest you turn up a lot of key fobs out of small pieces of wood or PR.

KDM · Sep 9, 2010

juteck said:
many people make their own coins. As a keychain, you could always attach it to a travel bug to make it trackable, and have a separate log inside the compartment for people to sign as they do the geocache logs.

The pain about making trackables is that it's $1.50 per trackable number, and you have aminimum order of 1000 numbers! The most viable way of doing it is to buy TB dogtags.

Scott · Sep 9, 2010

Rjones said:
I just bought a gps for geocaching yesterday. The family is looking for new things to do while camping. I would be interested in any idea since I havent really started yet.

rjones

Hi Robby!

One of the best things we did was to buy a cheap canvas bag from Harbor Freight to use as a Geocaching bag. We keep everything in it, so we can just grab it and go. I keep extra pens and pencils in there, tradable items, travel bugs, gloves, hand sanitizer, pliars and a small pry bar. I think paying for the premium membership at geocaching.com is worth it. Which GPS did you get? If it is one of the high-end ones you can load the cache information as GPX right on the GPS. Otherwise you might want to incorporate like a cheap used palm-pilot or something to keep track. Your kids are going to love this!

Scott.

Scott · Sep 9, 2010

KDM said:
The most viable way of doing it is to buy TB dogtags.

That's what I was thinking, a turned item like a keychain, with the TB dogtags attached.

Scott.

Rjones · Sep 9, 2010

Scott said:
Rjones said:

I just bought a gps for geocaching yesterday. The family is looking for new things to do while camping. I would be interested in any idea since I havent really started yet.

rjones

Click to expand...

Hi Robby!

One of the best things we did was to buy a cheap canvas bag from Harbor Freight to use as a Geocaching bag. We keep everything in it, so we can just grab it and go. I keep extra pens and pencils in there, tradable items, travel bugs, gloves, hand sanitizer, pliars and a small pry bar. I think paying for the premium membership at geocaching.com is worth it. Which GPS did you get? If it is one of the high-end ones you can load the cache information as GPX right on the GPS. Otherwise you might want to incorporate like a cheap used palm-pilot or something to keep track. Your kids are going to love this!

Scott.

We got the magellan explorist gc. I can't load as a gpx file, but I can download the file to it may be the same thing I am not sure yet. It also came with a free 30 day premium membership to geocaching.com.
I am converting one of my hunting backpacks to caching now. Thanks for the hints on what to put in the bag.

Robby

LEAP · Sep 9, 2010

Scott did not mention bug spray in his cache bag. I don't know about Idaho but you can't go caching in Maine without lots and lots of bug spray.
I like the idea of turning travel bugs. Ill have to order a couple of tags and see where they end up. My daughter has a bug that has made it to germany after crossing from maine to california via florida and colorado and a few other states in between.

KDM · Sep 10, 2010

Scott said:
KDM said:

The most viable way of doing it is to buy TB dogtags.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, a turned item like a keychain, with the TB dogtags attached.
Scott.

Alternatively, there's http://www.geokrety.org/. Free trackable numbers, but I have doubts about whether geocachers would bother going to an external site. My experience is that many don't even log the trackables they collect. About 10% of the caches I've encountered are supposed to have trackables in them and only about 1% actually does.

juteck · Sep 11, 2010

My thoughts exactly. The trabel bugs (TBs) already have this set up.

KDM said:
juteck said:

many people make their own coins. As a keychain, you could always attach it to a travel bug to make it trackable, and have a separate log inside the compartment for people to sign as they do the geocache logs.

Click to expand...

The pain about making trackables is that it's $1.50 per trackable number, and you have aminimum order of 1000 numbers! The most viable way of doing it is to buy TB dogtags.

Glenn McCullough · Sep 11, 2010

I just logged an and signed up, sounds like fun. Count me in.

biednick · Sep 11, 2010

I agree most people would under appreciate pens. We could try to get a new forum started just for this, and use 1 up to whatever we need to go to, assigning a number to each pen. My idea is a "dead mailbox" where one person take the pen and leaves another. The pens would have the tracking number printed in it. You use the pen for a while, and then re-hide it. We could then see if a pen could make it from here in Ohio to, say, California. Just me .02.

KDM · Sep 12, 2010

biednick said:
We could try to get a new forum started just for this

I'd do it informally here for a little while and see if it takes off, but yeah, on principle taht's a good one.

biednick said:
The pens would have the tracking number printed in it.

Now, that opens up a lot of possibilities. I'm looking forward to seeing the number of novel ways folk can put writing permanently on the pens. Labels cast in PR is the obvious one. Perhaps burning them in with a pyro pen is another. I quite fancy making extruded PR letters and numbers and bedding them through the pens!! Anyone got any other ideas?

LarryDNJR · Sep 12, 2010

This sounds cool, I would like to learn more about it and maybe participate.

angboy · Sep 12, 2010

Wow, what a suprise to visit my pen site and see my other favorite hobby, geocaching mentioned! In fact, it's guilty of taking me away from some turning the last two years or so...

But here are my thoughts. I don't know that I'm crazy about the trackables idea, because as people mentioned, so many go missing. Someone posted an informal survey on the geocoin forum recently and basically asked people how many of their trackables were still around. This is only my impression, but I seem to remember that at BEST, maybe people would have 50% still wandering around out there, but more likely was something like 25%. I just checked my profile and out of 19 that I sent out into the world, 13 are currently marked missing, and of the ones that aren't definitely known to be missing and marked as such, some others are ones that I seriously doubt are around anymore- so pretty bad odds and pretty high likelihood of things going "missing".

I have given pens as FTF prizes, as other people have mentioned. I don't think it's a good idea to put them in the actual cache though, because as people pointed out, weather may harm them, or what if the cache does get found by the gardener before anyone has a chance to find it? So what I've done is to put a piece of paper in the cache, with a secret word on it, and instructed that the FTF person takes that piece of paper so that it won't be there for anyone else to find and they email me the word and then I've mailed them the pen. Takes a small amount of money for postage, but I'd rather handle it that way. yes, some people may not appreciate the pens, but I think the people who've gotten them have. One person even emailed me later and told me that he'd been given a pen that someone had turned before and that he wasn't expecting much from my pen since apparently that one wasn't very good, and so he was raving about how much he liked mine. And the truth is, if you give a pen to your brother or priest or mailman or physician or anyone else, who knows if they're really going to "appreciate" it?

KDM · Sep 13, 2010

angboy said:
Wow, what a suprise to visit my pen site and see my other favorite hobby, geocaching mentioned!

We aim to please.

angboy said:
In fact, it's guilty of taking me away from some turning the last two years or so...

Moan, moan, moan.

angboy said:
...as people mentioned, so many go missing.

So, I was looking at my stats. Of my massive (!) 67 cache finds, 9 were supposed to have trackers. One was supposed to have THREE!! ONly one actually did. I was irritated. Then, I found a TB in a cahce which wasn't supposed to have any trackables in it. That's when I hit upon it.

It's a problem of education. A lot of folk don't know what a trackable is. Others know they're supposed to move them on but don't know they're supposed to log the "grab".

I started questioning all the folk who visited caches after TBs were placed. (Really difficult to do, without soundin accusatory, by the way. "Erm.. Sorry to bother you, but you didn't happen to take a TB from ... and forget to log it?")

I got two responses from folk who told me they'd moved TBs from one cache to another without logging it. The vast majority didn't respond, so it may be that they' given up the hobby.

angboy said:
I don't think it's a good idea to put them in the actual cache though...

I agree (in the case of pens) they freeze, dry out, etc. For most locations, though, it should be OKay to place a PR pencil or something?

angboy said:
what if the cache does get found by the gardener before anyone has a chance to find it?

Well, you'll have sought permission, so the gardner should know about it. The cache will have an "idiot's guide to geocaching" card in, too.

angboy said:
...then I've mailed them the pen.

Quite funky idea. I like that you get get them chatting and interested in penmaking that way, too. I think there's more of a chance they'll "appreciate" if they are engaged properly.

Extreme Geo Pen Swap (Geocaching Pens)

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