Dame Deco

I read all cache pages before going for a cache, so it's on you, really.

One way of seeing if it is attainable is by requiring that the person putting out the challenge has completed it!

I agree that challenge caches should be a different icon. Challenges and unknown caches are actually very different. And Challenge caches are nothing like the "challenges" that GS tried a couple years ago--they kind of stole the name from the challenge caches geocachers were putting out. I also think it should be a requirement that to put out a challenge cache, you've completed the challenge yourself. I finished my Jasmer Challenge more than a year ago. Then I decided to try to complete it with only physical caches--caches with a log to sign. It took me over a year to do that (I had a dozen months with virtual finds only). Then, and only then, did I put out a Physical Jasmer Challenge.

No kidding! Citation needed, indeed!

I've only done a couple while with friends because it's not really my thing--that said, I found the names of the caches on a PT in WV to be pretty cute, they looked kind of cool in a long list of my finds, so I enjoyed the experience in spite of myself! Do something playful--that's what I recommend-- Here's one of the caches so you can look at the list under the owner's name-- http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC38PMZ_mellow?guid=93ec598e-ab2a-4de5-94cf-2808c79f1b19#

If we save all good caches, there'll be no space for new ones eventually. Caches aren't meant to last forever.

No, no it wouldn't. Post NA, get them archived, and put out good caches.

I'd really rather see caches archived and new ones take their place.

Stuff ends. Caches are archived. Life goes on. Move on to other things, other achievements, other icons in the geocaching world.

We'd love to see the photo of the 25 throwdowns! That would be a classic. Also, let's say that getting on and off a bike burns 10 extra calories. 10 x 150 = 1,500 calories. I'm going to that trail immediately! Again, different strokes. Getting on and off a bicycle every 160 metres is not fun for me. All I want is a better way to filter out these power trails so I can see the caches that are worthwhile for me. As it is, they generally get lost in the rest of the trail unless I spend a lot of time with third-party software. Actually, just do a PQ of the area or look at a map of the bike trail, then look at the names of the caches--the Power Trail names are usually all similar or identical instead of numbers. Just the check the caches with different names to see if you want them. No software needed.

Yeah, why do people do that? Maybe the CO will delete that log.

Wow, that's awesome! Way to go!

9 of my 10 have been found this month! The 10th is on a really out of the way highway in Oklahoma. I don't think I've had 9 of them found in a month before.

It's funny, but $30 is the cheapest thing about geocaching! Unless you bike and never use any gas...

One good way to start planning a route is to go from county seat to county seat--you are guaranteed to be in the right county. Then you can take a closer look for some shortcuts along the way, etc. to make the trip more efficient. There are usually fairly major roads between county seats, even in the wilds of the northern tier of Pennsylvania.

You know, one thing that worked great for me one time is that I drove from Ohio to Colorado to see family and just grabbed caches when they were nearby and I felt like it. Then I checked what counties I missed so that on the way home I could pick them up. That worked pretty well, I'd gotten most of them without any plan, so I only had to do a little planning for on the way home to complete my neat red line across the country. Of course, I drove home the weekend of that polar vortex last January and ended up driving straight through without stopping for the poor counties I missed to avoid the storm...true story! lol!

Yes--I think they like you to have been to the place within 2 months. That's it!

This summer I completed a PHYSICAL Jasmer--I have a physical cache for every month, no virtuals, etc. No multis that are now virtuals (there a surprising amount of those around!). I need to get my challenge made and hid--that's a true challenge, completing a physical Jasmer. 2000 isn't the problem, and 2001 wasn't bad--but 2002 is just clogged with virtual caches. This was the last one I needed, my Physical Jasmer booklist is listed there-- GC3AC5

We stopped attending quite a few events over that. I have no problem passing caches on my way to the one that interested me. Apparently some think you're a snob if you do so, like it's a pot-shot at them personally. Mentioned at events made my other 2/3rds a bit uncomfortable. Wow, I never imagined anyone would interpret it that way. So I'm a snob? Who knew? I see it purely as a matter of time--how much time do I have? If 3 caches I want are going to take the whole three hours I have free for the day, I'm not stopping for anything else along the way.

I'm thinking people are just a little too thin-skinned...

The funny thing is, all those parking lot and guardrail caches aren't blocking anything, are they? Why can't people just ignore them and go off into the woods if that's what they like? The game is evolving, better in some ways, maybe not as good in others, but change is just part of life. My very first cache was placed in a terrible place--I'd never hide a cache there now. The reason I don't archive it is because it is kind of a fun puzzle, I like the title, it's my first cache, and there is nowhere--and I mean NOWHERE--to put a better cache within more than .1 or more miles of it. It blocks nothing of interest, so I leave it up.

All I said was that someone should quit if they were seriously unhappy, not that they should quit if they don't have a high count. Who said that? You posted about a long multi though a park--how many of those could possibly be within 10 miles of you? Once you find them all, what will you find? The idea of "interesting caches with hikes only" seems like a self-defeating proposition. Once all the spots are taken for those, you'll still be left with no place to go. But thanks to all different kinds of caches--there are lots of different kinds of finds out there.

+1...well, +10, really...

So you really think that quantity is what is essential? Geocaching as it has been back in the early years was definitely the right activity for me, but the way it is changing makes me doubt whether this is still the case. Of course, there are still caches out there that I do enjoy though the majority is not in my home area and that's part of the problem I experience. There are cachers for whom geocaching is their major concern and they are able and willing to travel very large distances. For me geocaching is secondary and my primary concern is getting out, being physically active and spending as much of my time with physical activity (implying that long travels are not what I'm eager for except if I'm on travel anyway like in my vacation). It has worked very well for years to use geocaching for my purposes, but in the last years that has become more and more difficult. There are certainly cachers who are interested into many facets of geocaching and who are eager and able (note that not everyone is able to climb trees, to kajak, to master via ferratas etc) to experience as many different facets as possible. My personal focus is much narrower and it is simply a fact that the (absolute) number of new caches in my area that I enjoy goes down considerably. When I started almost every cache was about the walk/hike and/or the location and one easily could use geocaching as a guide book/hiking guide something which does not work nowadays at all. A 2 minutes walk from the car to spend 30 minutes to retrieve/open a container using all sorts of equipment and creativity is not what I enjoy. Likewise a cache trail with 50 caches along a route where in previous years there have been only 1-2 caches is not what I enjoy. Sure I can visit only 1-2 caches along the trail per trip, but this does not change the fact that almost all others visit all caches in one go and write the same insignificant log for all caches (even caches that have been there muich earlier than the cache trails). I cannot any longer extract any useful information from the logs and mass cache descriptions (not with respect to finding the cache, but whether D/T-ratings are ok, whether the cache is ok, suitable for me etc). I realized that for lonely caches the experience in 2014 is close to what it has been 10 years ago, but I have the chance to find such caches only at very few occasions. During most of the year I have to live with the effects of mass caching and my unhappyness will not go away if I visit more caches, rather the contrary. Cezanne I truly mean this in the kindest possible way--move on to something else. Being so unhappy with a hobby isn't good for your health or mental well-being. I'm not saying this in a "don't let the door hit you on the way out" kind of way--I mean that. But if something makes you unhappy--life's too short, do something else instead.

Somebody posted something wise a long time back in a similar thread: in the beginning, any cache was few and far between. Today, an ammo can at the end of a hike is kind of rare. So really...what you want is still out there in roughly the same numbers. Just ignore the urban stuff and go hike. The kinds of caches you want do exist--go find them.