nonaeroterraqueous
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Posts posted by nonaeroterraqueous
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When we started I thought the mid-300s was a moderate number. Then we got the GPSr maps in the mail and we started hitting the better part of a hundred each month. Here in the Los Angeles/ Orange County area 1,000 seems like a standard minimum number for anyone who takes the game seriously. That's because we probably have one of the highest cache densities in the world, and that's a consistent density over a very large area. I haven't done the research to prove it, but I figure since the highest-rated finders in the world are located in this metropolitan area it's probably a safe bet that we've got something of an advantage here. Location is everything when it comes to the numbers, which is another reason why the numbers don't say anything about a person's finding abilities. Around here the numbers-hungry cachers won't go after caches that take too long to get to, and they don't waste time on anything they can't find right away. At least, that's what my limited experience seems to indicate.
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Oh boy, what's next? The "How Would Jesus Cache" post?
I dunno, but if he even uses a GPS I might have my doubts. -
The ISS is still out there?
Aren't we supposed to remove all remaining parts of the cache after it is archived? Incidentally, if you do actually get to the cache, will the astronauts let you trade swag? I was thinking of trading a McToy for a space suit or a robotic arm or something. Oh, and, by the way, don't even think of taking this post seriously. -
Nevermind
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You may want to count a find that the puritans wouldn't allow.
Just for the record, I believe the correct word is "purist." A Puritan was a New England settler. I just wanted to clarify this before it catches on.
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I don't generally post "Needs Maintenance" because of a DNF, but I will say as much in my log if the cache starts with a perfect history of no DNFs and suddenly goes to nothing but DNFs for about five logs or so. There was only one case where I posted an NM for a cache that I never even looked for (GCTG44), because it had a perfect record for less than three months after publication before ceasing to be found; the owner had one hide and no finds. The NM, in this case, was just a test to see if the cache had been abandoned. I didn't want to waste my time. Still no word on the fate of the cache's owner. I don't think asking someone to drive out and just take a look at their own hide is too much to ask, so long as it isn't asked too often.
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I love this thread.
We did a backpacking trip through the snow once, where I discovered that my orienteering abilities were not as good on the side of a steep mountain as on an open plain. It was a painfully tedious experience, and we traveled the last quarter mile in four hours. We almost didn't make camp before sunset, which scared me. We never found our way through the snow to our intended destination and had to turn back early. The next year we tried again and succeeded, but I footed the bill for a GPSr to make things go smoothly and not have to come so close to getting lost again. On the GPSr itself was a special function for geocaches, which sparked my interest. We've always been avid walkers and often walk for miles in a day just for the fun of it. Geocaching just made it more fun. We walk more often now, because of geocaching, but we walk far shorter distances, because so many of them are park'n grabs. Overall, I'd say we actually get less exercise now.
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- pick a spot with a good cluster of caches.
- use a mapping program to find the best order to seek the caches.
- take minimal notes on some old note card recycled from my school years, and verify that the cache is still active.
- drive to the general area and tell my wife to use the GPSr to lead us to the first one.
- wife says, "I can't find it on here."
- realize I forgot to load the coordinates from that area onto the GPSr.
- curse loudly
(not really). - go home and try again.
Unfortunately, I'm not just kidding.
- pick a spot with a good cluster of caches.
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If I'm bored enough to notice how long I've been caching....
You know, they say time flies when you're having fun.
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I put a whole batch of sharpened pencils in my cache, outside of the log baggie. If someone uses one as a trade it's okay, because there are plenty more. No one has so far put one in the bag with the log, I think because it doesn't make sense to only have one in there while all the others are lying at the bottom.
Found a cache once that had more accidental finds than intentional ones. The owner would never have known this if the cache had not contained a writing implement.
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Seems like most of the flame wars boil down to two things: competitiveness and vandalism. As for vandalism, that's simple enough; don't ruin anybody's caching experience (or cache), and don't ruin anybody's property with your cache. The other, competitiveness, is a little more tricky. Some of us are competing with each other, due to a somewhat unfortunate number that appears next to our names by each post. There are no control measures for that. None of us start out on the same footing, and the game can never be fair enough for that. Some of us are not playing for competition and don't care how anybody else plays it. People like this drive the competitve people crazy by playing the game however they feel like playing it.
Let's boil it down to the original motivation: we always wanted to find a hidden treasure. Realistically, no one's going to hide a real treasure for us to find, so we hide play-treasures for each other to find. Not competitive so far. After having found one, we think that was great and want to do it again. Eventually, each treasure loses the significance it would have had if it had been the only one. Then each treasure becomes nothing more than a number. Numbers don't have value without context, so we have to compare our numbers with other peoples' numbers. See where I'm going with this? The comparison drives competition, and then people start griping about rules and fairness. Nevermind that you just found a very nice cache that I put my heart and soul into making, it's just another number to the competitive folks. Nevermind that I had a very nice time searching for a hidden treasure, because someone I've never met is worried that I'm throwing off the value of his numbers. Does anyone understand what I'm getting at?
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Restrictions are great! I'd hate to accidentally show up and try to socialize with people who wouldn't want me there
. If you don't want me there, then I don't want to be there. -
So who wants to volunteer to place the first cache in the actual 'Mecca'?
Hmmm...always wondered what was in that big black box. XXX-large cache with an extremely high muggle rating. Stealth required, to say the least. -
All I've got to say is there had better be some flippin' excellent swag at the end, that's all.
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Call me crazy, but I like to spend a bit of time revisiting the web pages of caches I've found to read logs that have been posted since mine... and, there are always the forums, but that's a relatively new passtime for me.
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I can imagine my dad, with his failing vision using max-strength reading glasses and squinting just to see the cache, much less write on the log. With his temper, I'm glad none of the ones I've found with him were like that. I have a problem just fitting my name on logs that small (just call me "Non"). Can you imagine hiding an S-chip and including a "bring your own electronic device" message on the web page? You could shove that sucker into any old sidewalk crevice (just for the record: don't even think of doing it)... and a month later someone logs that they got a virus from it.
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When we first started caching, I liked micros and my wife hated them. She figured that if there wasn't anything to trade then there was no point. Lately, though, I have to admit I'm starting to get sick of them, and I've seen some very clever ones, too. Some micros have even gotten me to places I never knew about. Even so, if there's nothing hidden in the cache, then I felt like I haven't really found anything. It takes more effort to find a micro and more effort to hide a large. Somewhere in the middle there's a balance. These days I find that the smaller the cache is, the less time I'm willing to spend looking for it, but because smaller caches are usually harder to find that means I frequently fail to turn up the micros successfully. Micros are never very exciting to me, but they are something to find, which is still better than nothing.
muggles
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Don't care if I'm FTF, so long as I'm not LTF.
But.. but...
We're always LTF!
If I'm the last person to find a cache just before it disappears, then I take it personally. I figure I must have done something wrong.
muggles
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Don't care if I'm FTF, so long as I'm not LTF. Personally, I like looking through a long list of names written before mine and seeing the familiar signatures. I also don't like trying to get a cache at the same time as a half-dozen others most certainly are. Geocaching is only an indirectly social event for me.
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Like I always say, there's no comparing counts anyway. Your two hundred finds is not the same as my two hundred. With different difficulty, density and membership times there's no comparison, so any cheating you do only prevents you from knowing how many you really found. As for spoilers, I don't really get it, myself. I know everyone enjoys caching for different aspects, but I would only hide a cache well to keep it from muggles, not cachers. To me, the ideal cache is immediately found by the cacher and never found by the muggle. I like getting to the bush; I don't like digging through it. I guess I would only delete a log if it contained obscenity unfit for the general public, or if the cacher repeatedly posted angry comments, like some kind of hate-spammer. I haven't deleted one yet, thankfully. I have deleted one of my own postings after the cache owner emailed me that I said too much: I didn't know how I could have said too much, when I only posted a DNF. I figure, if I never found the thing, then how could I possibly give it away? I deleted the post anyway (didn't have a clue how to edit it to make it less "revealing"
), just to keep the cacher happy. -
- learn to recognize the difference between "swag" and "trash," (does it have any monetary value at all?).
- lists are fun.
- as clever as any hide may be, there's usually some way to make it even more innovative.
muggles
- learn to recognize the difference between "swag" and "trash," (does it have any monetary value at all?).
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Very interesting idea. Here in Southern California many footpaths, while killing plantlife, actually seem to promote plantlife on either edge of the path, when people are careful to follow in each others paths. It doesn't always happen like this, but there was a study by Hardy W. Campbell in Nebraska in the 1880s, whereby he attempted to improve farming in a dry climate by packing down the soil. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but I think it tends to concentrate rainwater at the edge of the path, promoting plant life there, while creating an impermeable cap on the path itself, which prevents excessive evaporation from the soil beneath. Campbell's study ultimately failed to make farms work in dry weather, but the principle might still be true to some extent. It might rely on the climate and, in this case, the behavior of the cachers for that particular cache. We'll see how this one turns out.
(not really).
. If you don't want me there, then I don't want to be there.
Hmmm...always wondered what was in that big black box. XXX-large cache with an extremely high muggle rating. Stealth required, to say the least.
), just to keep the cacher happy.
I'm dissapointed.
in General geocaching topics
Posted
True, I don't think the caches behind supermarkets, next to the dumpster, surrounded by trash and grafitti are very good, granted, but after reading through this thread it occurs to me that if it weren't for the "see, I have a cache" caches, I'd have completely cached out my area already. As it is, things are already getting sparse. When a smoker can't have a cigarette he chews gum. When I can't get to a good cache, I go for an inferior one. It's not about the numbers. It's about staying active as a cacher and never having to run out. If I stop, then I feel like I'll lose interest. Having said that, I've gotten pretty burned-out on parkinglot micros. I guess it goes both ways for me.