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TahoeJoe
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Posts posted by TahoeJoe
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I found one years back that was in a fake sprinkler control box mounted on a pole Scripps Cottage. Sometime between when I found it back in 2003 and now it has a geocaching sticker on the outside of it, which kind of takes the fun out of it.
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On 10/15/2017 at 5:35 AM, TriciaG said:
Note that this thread is originally from 2010. Perhaps it was crazy to buy hundreds of micros back then.
Yes, it did seem crazy back then but we can observe how well it has worked out today.
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Having started geocaching back in 2002, a detailed log was the norm and not the exception. Reading the physical logbook is a part of geocaching that I will always enjoy but I don't see much of anymore with the over saturation of micros with the focus on numbers and not the human experience. I have always made sure my traditional caches have a large logbook and several pencils to encourage geocachers to share their journey and read what others have to say about the cache. It makes me cringe when I see threads like this pop up on the forums.
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Great thread, traditional size caches with logbooks and swag is what geocaching is all about! My kids love to find caches with swag. My youngest likes McDonalds happy meal toys. I try to leave something for adults and kids alike. Matchbox cars are popular for the kids and can be bought for a little over a dollar at Walmart.
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On 10/5/2017 at 1:20 PM, RuideAlmeida said:
Sure you can... just save them as waypoints (manually, of course).
Just like we did in the early days of geocaching.
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50 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:
Yep - and I feel the same as you. I simply consider them a marketing thing.
The other 2/3rds is so picky though about them, that we didn't cache an entire month some time ago (these days nothing new...), because we would have been "awarded" souvenirs for each day, whether we were caching for them or not. Those didn't fit into whatever she's interested in...
I'm sure many have seen that CITOs get more showing up when it's "that" weekend than the one a week before/after ... Sometimes I'm the only one there with the CO, and then it's actual work. A plus.
How many threads are started over "why didn't I get my souvenir"?
A fun event is going on tomorrow, yet few are attending. It just happens that it's Intl. Earthcache day tomorrow and Sunday.
- Though I was in a mood, referring to "rewards" in a general sense too, sorta like local volunteer fire companies looking for tax incentives to get new members interested, to something as simple as getting the kid to clean their room. Having to be rewarded...
I agree with you that rewards are a marketing tool. My reward is getting outside and finding the types of caches I enjoy or reading the logs when people enjoy the caches I have placed. All these rewards and badges seem alien to what geocaching has always represented to me. I guess it's no longer about the journey anymore.
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Cool looking container but if your local climate is like ours with extreme hot and cold temperatures, it would break down after a couple of years.
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1 hour ago, arisoft said:
I remember also those days, but what has happened? Has someone archived those ammo can caches or are they no longer interesting? Maybe they just wait for the finder?
Many things has happened but I am sure that no ammo box has been archived with the changes on the website. Go searching them and enjoy the way you are used to. Do not base your own actions on what others are doing.
I see that you joined in 2010 so you only have a frame of reference from that point on. The game was very different before you started when power trails didn't exist and micros and throw downs weren't the norm. Many of the traditional size caches in my area are relics from geocachers no longer in the game with very few traditional size caches being placed anywhere interesting anymore. Geocaching today is very different than it was back when I started. The rules in 2002 were:
1. Take something from the cache
2. Leave something in the cache
3. Write about it in the logbook
I still enjoy the occasional interesting cache that pops up now and then when I'm out hiking or riding my mountain bike, but the reality of the game in my area is that the actions of others over the years with no interest of placing quality caches and even less interest in maintaining them has led to nothing more than geotrash littering the landscape. There are some responsible caches in the area but they are more the exception than the norm. I believe that virtual rewards was an attempt to get geocachers to place better caches with the hope of getting a reward. If it works, it's great for the community but I miss the days when caches were placed for the enjoyment of others and not in the hope of getting a reward.
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I’m not a fan of giving out rewards. In the case of virtual caches, either bring them back or don’t. I miss the days when geocaching was about the journey and finding that ammo can and sitting back and reading the logbook and leaving your comments about the cache. Geocaching had a vibe to it that I rarely feel anymore. The website feels more like a social media site with rewards and the encouraged trend to compete against each other for points. I think you take away from geocaching when you try to target as many people as possible instead of sticking to the original concept. I applaud little tweaks now and then to improve the experience, but somewhere along the way I think geocaching took a wrong turn. I love to golf, but if all golf courses became miniature golf courses I would find a new sport. Change doesn’t always equate to better.
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31 minutes ago, Rebore said:
I hope you know that I was being sarcastic, when I first heard about virtual rewards I thought hell froze over. I wouldn't have thought so many people have a problem with this and/or their ego. But thanks for the link, I had to implement that quite a few times.
I agree that people's egos were hurt when they were not one of the rewarded group. Human nature tends to kick in for some when they are not part of a selected group. I never considered myself in the running as I don't geocache that much anymore but I can understand being frustrated if you feel you give quality maintained caches to the community and you felt you were left out. Personally I would have just given everyone a virtual to place out there to add new life to the game .
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My best day was 13 back in 2003. I'm pretty selective on the caches I look for.
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I would love to cache in Scotland, have fun with your new hobby!
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I imagine poison oak and ivy are really bad this year in the west with all the rain we had. Fortunately I live at an altitude where both don't grow. I wish I could say the same about yellow jackets.
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Finding a cache that takes me to an amazing place I never knew existed.
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I try to stick with larger caches and if I decide to look for a smaller cache I usually look at the logs to get a feel for the difficulty.
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5 minutes ago, mimaef said:
I would actually really like to see more caches with lengthy log books. I'm extremely new to geocaching and all of the caches in my area have small logs in them (or just a piece of paper for the micros) that aren't really viable for writing little notes on. I've stopped by a few on my trips back and forth that were easy park/grabs just to get a good idea of what to expect and learn the game, but what I really have loved are the ones that take me on a hike through some beautiful forest or to an interesting historical area that I wouldn't have gone to otherwise (with a nice view is a bonus!). I made a day of it with my dad who was visiting and even he had a blast going through the areas, reading the history, and finding the caches to see who had last visited them. It would have been even more fun to see something extra creative inside of them which would have kept us in the area a little longer before hiking out. I should go back in my logs and write down more thoughts online for the particularly lengthy visits in retrospect, since I tend to log them right there on my phone so I don't forget.
Some of the park and grabs are pretty cleverly hidden, though, which I find impressive enough. If they take me to a nice park or area I'd like to visit again, or are cleverly hidden where I have to actually look a little and am impressed by after I don't mind that at all. I guess the experience of seeing beautiful places in an area I've lived my entire life for the first time is what feels nice to me, on top of the "treasure" hunt.
With the rise of video games, many people are into things for the points and achievements collections solely. I wouldn't say that's negative unless they cheat of course, because then you can't even be proud of your own achievement. As for competition, I think some people like to see the high numbers and be seen on leader boards, even if there is no specific competition going on with anyone else. I don't see that as a problem at all, as long as they aren't bothering anyone else with that goal.
I think your right that video games have influenced the need for points and achievements and it's great hear about new players enjoying reading the logs.
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23 minutes ago, hukilaulau said:
I don't think this will hurt geocaching. During the Jeep promotion (over four years) the TB's disappeared pretty fast but it didn't really affect the game.
I managed to find a few each year and moved them along. I remember stories of people at events proudly displaying dozens of Jeep TB's they had
stolencollectedand people logging them saying "thanks for sharing." I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing with these. I think geocachers might be the only ones who DO move them along. Certainly people involved in "Magic" will just keep them.
I remember seeing a few yellow jeep TB's back then. One of my first reverse geocaches was logging a photo of a yellow jeep.
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1 hour ago, Gill & Tony said:
Surely a competition requires at least two competitors, all of whom realise that there is a competition and who have agreed to take part in the competition.
Geocaching, in general, doesn't meet these criteria.
If someone decides to try and get more caches than I do this coming weekend, it isn't a competition unless I realise what they are doing and unless I agree to take part. Somebody's find count (or DNF count or find rate or average D/T rating) may be higher than someone else's. They may be proud of their achievements, but it isn't a competition unless the other guy is competing.
Perhaps we should call it bragging rights and the competition is in their own minds. Personally I think it's a male thing where evolution hasn't caught up yet.
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1 hour ago, RufusClupea said:
Wow. I was tempted to say there is a possibility that monkeys... but I won't.
If it's non-competitive, then why are there so many ways of keeping score, why are there logs, why is there swag, why are so many people making it about numbers, etc?
And perhaps most importantly, what's wrong/the problem with it being competitive? Is that somehow threatening?
I never had a problem with competition until I noticed it started driving the types and sheer numbers of caches being placed as geocaching became more about the numbers than about the hunt. I'm surprised that Power Trails haven't gone the way of virtuals. As virtuals took off, stricter requirements were put in place to attempt to discourage poor quality caches. Even though I enjoyed virtual caches, I can understand that the argument that they weren't true geocaches as they were lacking a container and logbook. I'm really surprised that power trails have been allowed to drive geocaching in the opposite direction of the original spirit of the hobby.
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18 minutes ago, RufusClupea said:
What you are describing are "zero-sum" competitions/games, Not all competitions are zero sum; some/many are "non-zero-sum" competitions, nevertheless it is still competition. Prisoner's Dilemma is one example.
Geocaching can be either/both, depending on players' objectives and other factors.
I'll reiterate; there is nothing wrong with competition, or that geocaching is competitive. Competition is not a dirty word.
I don't see anything wrong with competition but competition (or perhaps obsession) is primarily responsible for Power Trails and throw downs which encourage poorly maintained and unimaginative caches.
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9 hours ago, dprovan said:
Maybe we should clarify our terms. My area is blessed with many parks that have many trails, and on those trails are geocaches requiring hikes of 2, 5, or even 10 miles. Those trails aren't littered with geocaches, but I still claim there are plenty. Some are old, but many were planted in the last few years. I wasn't around in the early days, but I'd be so bold as to guess there a significantly more such caches now that there were back before geocaching got popular.
Are those the kind of hiking caches you're thinking of? I can't speak about caches that require longer hikes, like overnight excursions.
That's so sad. While I do run into leaky pill bottles from time to time, most of the new caches in my area are of reasonable construction, and many are placed with a great deal of thought. I'm sorry that's not the story in your area.
I think part of the problem in my area is the cachers that place way too many caches. There is one person in particular that has placed over 800 caches. Cache maintenance on these type of caches is when a reviewer disables the cache due to DNF's. There still are some nice hiking caches in my area I haven't hit yet but most were placed years ago.
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35 minutes ago, dprovan said:
Agreed. The way I put this is that geocaching started out as something additional that people did when they were hiking, but it grew into its own game and developed its own non-hiking characteristics.
From what I've seen, this hasn't diminished the hike based geocaching, it's just that most of the expansion of the game has been in non-hikng geocaches. People that started with the hiking only environment might be disappointed that the kind of caching they like best hasn't gotten more popular, but they should also appreciate that those hiking caches often encourage people to discover hiking. In my area, I think a lot of people that started out enjoying the park&grab style caches eventually noticed the other caches on the map and, through that, discovered the wonderful park system that they otherwise wouldn't have noticed.
I don't see many new hiking caches in my area anymore and I live in an area know for it's trails and outdoor activities. I took a break from geocaching for a number of years and when I returned I was surprised at the direction the game took. At first looking at the map of all the caches I thought I had enough caches to keep me busy for months but soon realized the majority were park and grab and poor excuses for what I thought a geocache should represent. 2 1/2 years ago I placed a new hiking cache out there that involved a moderate hike to an interesting local location stocked with goodies for the kids and I thought it would get plenty of visits. It was two months till the first visit and one visit after that. The game is what it is but I'm amused how geocaching is marketed as a treasure hunt when the majority of caches I see are leaky pill bottle with camo tape placed along side the road with little or no thought involved with the creation or placement of the cache. By no stretch of the imagination do I see this as modern day treasure hunting. When I think of geocaching treasure hunting, I think of the treasure as being the journey to the cache as well as where the cache is located and my overall experience from the cache. I'm one who likes a logbook in the cache that I read about others experiences and that I can record my own thoughts. I'm probably a relic from the early days but I don't see playing for the sake of numbers of finds as geocaching.
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Different group of folks geocaching today. In the early days we had a lot more in common with each other than today. Back then most geocachers I knew were outdoor enthusiasts who were early adopters of the GPS technology. I think this group of geocachers were more interested in the process of programming the coordinates of the cache along with a printout of the hints and the adventure of searching for the cache. Back then it seemed more like a treasure hunt. It was about the journey and not the numbers. Most new geocaches I see today are geared towards a quick find to boost your numbers. Caches that require a hike have much fewer hits anymore. Find a cache that has been around for 15 years and read the early logs and observe the difference to today's logs.
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In the early days of geocaching when the majority of geocaches tended to be ammo cans or similar size containers with large log books, a writing implement and plenty of room for swag, virtuals really were a 180 from the norm. The caches I see today have very little in common with the caches I use to look for in the early days. I get tired of hearing that virtuals aren't true geocaches when I see what's being placed out there today.
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Augmented Reality Caches
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Great, let's encourage even more excuses for having our smartphones out while exploring the outdoors. Big sigh...