I stumbled across a cache that hasn’t been found in 31 months and only found once. Does anyone know how to make a pocket quarry to find the “top 10 loneliest caches”?

I have no idea ... which cache?

GCNXR9

Hmmmm....
Maybe a GSAK Filter?

Do you use GSAK Mr. LZ?

quote:

Originally posted by LZ33:
GCNXR9

I've got a canoe ...

I remember there was/is a bookmark list of the longest unfound caches in Georgia, I do not remember who was maintaining that list.

While you are out getting that cache...swing by Milledgeville and get the $20 FTF prize on this cache that is waiting for a first find for 2 months. We have not tried it yet....we might just have to make a pilgrimage.

I think that you remember the lists by Allen Lacy.

Just click on the bookmarks tab and viola!

LZ, You find the way and I will go! YESSSS!!!!!!!

But now, due to fact that GA has a lot more geocaches, it became too much of pain to keep up.

quote:

Originally posted by AllenLacy:
But now, due to fact that GA has a lot more geocaches, it became too much of pain to keep up.

Must be tough keeping up with the proliferation of new micros ...

Hmmm, according to my GSAK:

Thompson Creek GCJ5ZM by BTarver is the loneliest cache presently - last found on 9/7/2005 by luciusdl

#2 - Islands in the Stream GCNXR9 9/18/2005
#3 - 200 Easy Steps GC20D2 12/18/2005
#4 - Dr Evil GCGK5F 1/10/2006
#5 - Britt David GCMP59 1/29/2006
#6 - Down Under, With Cold Feet GC3A1C 1/31/2006
#7 - water,water, everywhere GCGKM7 5/22/3006
#8 - Enota GCHA2G 5/29/2006
#9 - Egyptian Hieroglyphics GCM1V9 6/17/2006
#10 - Event Horizon GC85CE 6/25/2006

There are 18 more active caches on my list that have not been found since 2006 for a grand total of 28 active caches that haven't been found for at least a year.

T1

I stand corrected - Islands in the Stream wasn't technically found on 9/18/2005 - LZ is correct 1 finder back on 5/19/2005 and the cache has a new unsigned log to boot. But after smacking GSAK on it's head and checking some other caches there is one other cache that hasn't had a finder in almost 36 months - Forest Rescue GCK5H7 - which will make it the loneliest cache. Also Egyptian Hieroglyphics was found on 12/29/07 by FlygURL so the list of 10 loneliest active caches in Georgia looks like this:

#1 - Forest Rescue GCK5H7 1/15/2005
#2 - Islands in the Stream GCNXR9 5/19/2005
#3 - Thompson Creek GCJ5ZM - 9/7/2005
#4 - 200 Easy Steps GC20D2 12/18/2005
#5 - Dr Evil GCGK5F 1/10/2006
#6 - Down Under, With Cold Feet GC3A1C 4/2/2006
#7 - reENTERing The Chase GCHKW8 2/18/2006
#8 - Road To Nowhere GCT8RB 4/2/2006
#9 - water,water, everywhere GCGKM7 5/22/3006
#10 - Enota GCHA2G 5/29/2006

T1

There are some real oldies and goodies on that list. I remember finding #1,4,5,6, and 7. I guess that makes me a half old fart. Gotta get to work at finding the other five now.

~erik~

quote:

Originally posted by phat.bak:
Must be tough keeping up with the proliferation of new micros ...

The real reason was that I decided I have no reason to keep track of all GA geocaches some of which can be 280 miles from me. I now keep track of geocaches in a 75 mile circle around me which include GA, SC, NC, and TN. I could tell you the loneliest geocache in this circle.

Great job T1. I love a challenge. Now can you share how you did it?

The way I did was:

Set up pocket queries to get all the active geocaches in an area of interest. If the area is big (like an entire state) it will take more than one. The easiest way I found is separate pocket queries by date. Since the first geocache was hidden in 2000, my first pocket query has a start date of 1/1/2000. You increase the end date until you get just under 500. You use preview to find the end date. You need stay a few under 500 in case inactive geocaches become active later. Then you create a second pocket query with the start date, one day after the end date of the first one, again use the preview feature to get about 500. Repeat until you have gotten up to today. Then once you have them all set up you set up to get them. Of course you can only get 5 pocket queries a day and so an entire state will require more than one day. Now I used GSAK, there might be other programs that can load them. But with GSAK once they are loaded you have them sorted by last found date, and can see the top ten, twenty or however many you want. Each week clear your database and load the latest pocket queries, the clearing will make sure that geocaches that were archived since the last run don’t stay in the database. Note there are other ways, but clearing the database is the simplest. Of course sooner or later the last pocket query will go over 500 and you have to create a new one.

As I said, I quit because I decided I didn’t care about the geocaches in the far SW corner of GA.

I revisited Forest Rescue in January, so it has been "found" this year.

LZ and anyone else interested. Allen already explained the query process better then I could have so here is the rest. I also don't clear the caches each week in GSAK because I like having the history available to me. What I do is set up two different databases: one with everything and then one for just the active caches. I began running these when the Georgia DeLorme Challenge started to keep up with what was available throughout Georgia. Here are the parameters I use - I go through about every 3 or 4 months to tweak them as caches are archived, etc... I try to keep the output no more then 460 or so for when caches are re-enabled.

500 caches
active
Georgia
N32 00.000 W083 00.000
500 miles radius
placed between dates


Georgia A: Jan 1, 2000 to Aug 31, 2003
Georgia B: Sep 1, 2003 to Oct 20, 2004
Georgia C: Oct 21, 2004 to May 25, 2005
Georgia D: May 26, 2005 to Jan 10, 2006
Georgia E: Jan 11, 2006 to Apr 20, 2006
Georgia F: Apr 21, 2006 to July 31, 2006
Georgia G: Aug 1, 2006 to Dec 15, 2006
Georgia H: Dec 16, 2006 to Apr 15, 2007
Georgia I: Apr 16, 2007 to Aug 31, 2007
Georgia J: Sep 1, 2007 to Dec 15, 2007
Georgia K: Dec 16, 2007 to Dec 31, 2008

Then I run one query for Unavailable caches -
no dates
not active caches
500 miles
Georgia
same coords

We have been averaging about 350 to 375 unavailable caches so one query handles that nicely.

Any other questions give me a holler!

T1

quote:

Originally posted by Thorny1:
N32 00.000 W083 00.000
500 miles radius

This makes it appear that you not only ask for GA geocaches, but you also enter a "From Origin". When I want all geocaches in GA, I set the "From Origin" to "None Selected", then set the state to "GA".

How do you spot archived geocaches? I ask because the "Is Not Active" setting returns geocaches marked "temporarily unavailable", it does not return archived geocaches. The only pocket query that returns archived geocaches is the "My Finds" pocket query. This is why I said clear the database as it is the simplest way. Note it isn't the way I get rid of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Thorny1:
Here are the parameters I use - I go through about every 3 or 4 months to tweak them as caches are archived, etc... I try to keep the output no more then 460 or so for when caches are re-enabled.

500 caches
active
Georgia
N32 00.000 W083 00.000
500 miles radius
placed between dates


Georgia A: Jan 1, 2000 to Aug 31, 2003
....
Georgia K: Dec 16, 2007 to Dec 31, 2008

We have been averaging about 350 to 375 unavailable caches so one query handles that nicely.

Any other questions give me a holler!

T1

I do something similar to keep a database refreshed of all active, unfound caches with a 100 mile radius of my house. I do it in 7 pocket queries. There is a GSAK macro that helps me tweak the dates to get the most out of each PQ. It's called PlacedPQ.gsk. It's been handy. I get 485-490 waypoints out of each PQ.