jaysonC

My #1 goal is to go on a proper caching excursion once a month. At the moment I've mostly been caching as conventient, when I get the chance, but I want to intentionally plan to go out and about!

I have a cache that centres on a little library, but since the library is not my own, I set it up as a multi. Finders go to the library, answer a question about it, and the coords bring them up the road to our local public library, and nearby the cache is located. It would be cool to have it in the little library itself, but this is a viable option!

I may be misunderstanding, but is there a reason why a change in rating changes the stats? If the point is to update to be accurate to the current state of the cache, is the changing of the stats not ignoring that when you found the cache, it was a T5 (or whatever the rating was)? I'm absolutely in the camp that the rating should be accurate to the current reality so it's clear for current finders, but I don't get why the stats have to change if the site KNOWS you found it when it was a certain rating.

What bag do you use for caching? My previous outdoorsy bag has worn out so I'm looking for suggestions of a new backpack for caching with!

I wish we had this one! Not even just for hiding, just for knowing where the cache is - I recall better what the cache was when looking back when it's at the final location cos that's the spot I remember.

I've had minimal injuries so far but some near misses. Most notably, while heading up to GC43 - the oldest cache in Europe - I took a bit of a scenic (read: dodgy) route up to GZ, and fell several times with the rocks, leapt a wall and slipped, scratched up my hands and legs in the process, and then got stung by nettles as I got back down to the track. I'm lucky I didn't fall farther or hurt myself worse as the hill face was quite steep.

I'd really like to finish Dublin Top Twenty Challenge Mystery Cache GC4CC6J and Master of Mystery #32 – DUBLIN Mystery Cache GC64H6X. I need to finish the master of mystery to finish the top twenty challenge, so they'll really go hand in hand.

I've had a few instances of coming across T1s that aren't accessible, and to be honest I likely only notice because I'm so short that if a wheelchair user can't reach it, I might not be able to either.

Got my first caches in another country this past weekend! I was in London with friends and took a few hours out of my day to get a few geocaches, six in all, including a webcam cache which we have none of in Ireland. I'd love to go for a bigger cache romp around Europe, especially because of the open borders.

Is there a regional element at play? There is at least one cache near me where it definitely needs a boat to access - it's on an island that no one lives on, so by default you would need a boat to get to the island, but it is not marked as a T5, instead a T1.5 as is likely more appropriate for the immediate cache location. I agree that there is some inconsistency within the D/T ratings, but at the end of the day I think their purpose is primarily to communicate approximate information quickly and easily. T5, whether it means boat, scuba, climbing, etc quickly tells me that the cache will require a level of prep and investment that is not easily done.

My mistake! I'm not in the US so I'm unfamiliar, I misunderstood from the other comments that scouts were hiding for the badge.

I do think there's some merit to finding a way to enable participation through groups like scouts, but I would agree that it would be better if the badge didn't require hiding a cache - it's only going to incentivise hides that won't be well taken care of. That being said, I would be of the view that the most ideal way for a group like a scout troop to participate would be an account for the troop itself. One premium membership. Controlled by the leaders so the kids are supervised and supported. If the kids get into it independently as they grow up or with their families, they can make their own account. I do think it's good for kids to participate and to encourage them, it just needs to be supervised and supported adequately as kids will - understandably - make mistakes or do things more focused on fun than consideration.

I think that in those cases, this would likely prevent people from logging real finds more often than catching cheats. For example - if someone's logging an archived cache, there's a high chance they found it quite a while ago (thinking of folks who've made new individual accounts having had group accounts previously), and therefore they wouldn't have taken a photo necessarily at the time. With the recent DNF trends, I think something everyone could stand to do a bit more often is log a needs maintenance. If several people in a row (making an exception for brand new cachers) are struggling to find a cache with a low difficulty, at that point the "maintenance" needed is the CO checking to see if the cache is still there. Having placed 2 caches myself, if someone didn't find either of them, knowing how simple the hides are, I'd be checking on those caches pretty fast.

I've favorited my first find, as well as really unique/challenging finds. My first tree climb cache for example, or really novel hides.

Hello folks, I'm looking forward to trying some ALs as part of the upcoming event, but obviously I have COVID restrictions to keep in mind. I know they differ from place to place, but basically I wanted to know if there was an easy way to determine if ALs were doable entirely outside or if they require entering, beyond the cache owner stating it explicitly. I don't want to go barking up the wrong tree looking for a cache when I won't be able to access it in the end.

I was not a cacher when ALs were introduced, and I haven't done any yet, but I think it's interesting to see a promotion specifically trying to incentivise the ALs. I know they can be a controversial feature, so I think the choice to push them via a promotional event is intriguing. Are they hoping some people will try them if they haven't before and get on board? That the anti-ALs will give them a second chance? I would have thought that providing the improvements that people want from the ALs would be the best way to promote them, but I could see this working too. I'm certainly going to try some ALs since I haven't done any yet - it's just a matter of figuring out which ones around me I can do with our current local restrictions.

I'm a phone cacher - like many younger people, I already owned a good phone that I could use and I didn't have the money for a GPS, so I'm firmly a phone cacher. I definitely read the description and cache page and home thoroughly before I go out to look for caches, even if it's a lower D/T rating that I'd be pretty confident I could manage. No one likes going out and getting no finds, so I do my digging first. A lot of people have already mentioned the stuff that comes to mind for me - I don't think it's necessarily a phone/GPS issue, I would have said the app makes me more likely to check the description again in the field because it's so easy to access that way. I've also seen a lot of descriptions which, while super interesting and providing a lot of info about the history of a location, don't help with finding the cache, hence I read at home to avoid standing around reading in the field like a fool. As a proper answer to the question regarding getting people to read descriptions, I would say the descriptions I like reading the most have the history/culture/backstory information distinctly separated from the caching info. For example, they have a paragraph about the history and then after a bold heading that says "the Cache", indicating that cache info is there. I would also say attributes make a difference - if I see attributes I'm not familiar with or that indicate certain risks or obstacles, I'll be giving a more thorough read of the cache page and the previous logs. I think the unfortunate thing at the end of the day is that much like how many students never learn to take their time and read the question, many cachers can't be conditioned into reading the description. All anyone can do is make their best effort and hope people follow along.

Surely the presence of a global pandemic would have been a bigger impact? I know for periods of time I haven't be able to travel further than 2km from my house, which would really limit caching opportunities. Granted, I did get more than four - but I'm sure this would have been a big factor in the amount of caches. I'd be more curious about the comparison between 2020 and 2019

My apologies RE power trails, I don't think any of the trails locally are particularly drivable and there isn't many to begin with, so I can see how it might pose a bigger challenge elsewhere. But with the urban/rural caches, I still don't think I'm following. The urban caches don't take away audience from the rural caches necessarily - if like you said some cachers don't like a hike then they wouldn't be looking for a rural hide anyway, if those cachers are anything like me they can't drive so they're restricted to caches that are accessible by public transport, ruling out a lot of particularly remote caches. If the audience for urban and rural cachers is that fundamentally different, then I don't see how they could be competing, as the people looking for urban caches wouldn't be interested in rural caching. I can agree that the first impression matters, and there certainly are caches that are less impactful or impressive, and there are of course caches that aren't being well cared for. However, at the end of the day not all geocachers like all caches. We can't control for that. I'm probably not going to get the local cache that requires sea kayaking next to dangerous cliffs, because it's not my type of activity, but the people who have found that cache love it. I think the best thing we can do as cachers in shaping the game is just providing positive feedback to the caches we really like, skipping out on the ones we don't, and putting out the kinds of caches we'd enjoy finding.

I see this thought process a lot on the forums, and I'm genuinely curious - why are these problems? If you're an outdoorsy type, you like a good hike, you're interested in those kinds of caches, then the urban caches aren't exactly in the way. They're not taking up space that could be for caches with long hikes. As for power trails, as much as I am growing to like longer hikes and more outdoorsy cache adventures, a power trail would certainly make the exercise of a walk more engaging or exciting with several caches along the way. What's wrong with people wanting to cache differently from the way you do? As for the topic of lonely caches or not-very-favourited caches, I think it would be a loss to archive caches for that reason. Turnover I do think would be a benefit (coming from a newer cacher) but I think there's better ways to encourage it. Maybe save the adoption of caches for exceptional circumstances, such as an extremely popular or significant cache. Maybe incentivize the voluntary archiving of caches in some way for cache owners. Not claiming to have all the answers, they're only suggestions, but those caches shouldn't just be archived because they're less popular.

I'm curious if anyone knows of any gadget caches in Ireland. Search by field puzzle attribute turned up a few, but I know that not everyone is exceptionally diligent on their attributes and I'm sure many caches were placed before their introduction, and they do seem to be mostly visual puzzles rather than the more physical gadget caches I've seen discussed elsewhere. I see a lot of US cachers talk about these types of caches, and I do think they look very intriguing and engaging - are there any around? Or do I need to start planning some post-pandemic trips abroad?

I visited the Colosseum more than once over the course of my childhood - living in Ireland means my parents were extremely fond or Italy and France holidays, so we were in Rome two or three times, the last time I think I was 12 or 13. Couldn't find any photos unfortunately!

I've been looking into placing my first cache, and I love the idea of a library cache - not outside the library, but inside. I've seen that there are caches like this in other countries, but I was unable to find any in Ireland. I think it would be valuable to be able to show an example of a library cache when getting in contact with my local library to ask for their permission. Does anyone know of a good example, preferably in Ireland, but elsewhere too? Thanks so much!

I handmade some stickers to leave - I'm no artist, but I made some simple cache-themed stickers using what drawing supplies I have, paper name tags, and tape to at least make them a little bit more resistant to weather. I have a coin collection though, with a lot of spare world and out of circulation coinage in jars, so I might start leaving some of them behind. Less custom than the stickers, but certainly more "signature" to me since that's another hobby I enjoy.

Title says it all - do I need to do adventure lab caches in a specific order? Does it vary from adventure to adventure?