BigLinc16
-
Posts
38 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by BigLinc16
-
-
If I'm going to be honest, In my area Geocaching has some major issues. This is from my perspective as a CO and a finder. When I go caching I pretty much always do it by bike. This has always prevented me from racking up a massive find count over the last 4 years and I'm totally ok with that. Typically when I go caching I like to just hop on my bike and go target a few caches in the area wether they be micros, or regular size caches. Im just going to highlight what my experience has been and what I think may be driving this.
Back when I began in 2014 I was lucky enough to have a pretty good variety in terms of what caches there were to find around my house. A typical day of caching would consist of 2 or 3 regular caches in a nice little wooded area in a local park or open space along with 2 or 3 micros in between the parks. The caching community was fairly active and a good amount of the local cachers were fairly active. Me thinking things were so great totally could have been a result of me being so excited about discovering geocaching, but in all honesty, I feel like the general quality of caches when I started was better than it is now. At the very least most caches, even lamp post micros had a clean log for the most part. Fast forward to present day.
At this point a lot of those older caches I used to find have been archived by COs that have lost interest in the game or have just gotten sick of having to maintain their caches after having them either destroyed or slowly degraded by new cachers who just don't get it or simply by old cachers that don't care to help keep their local caches nice. A few of the well placed older caches have survived, but they are a dying breed. Now most of what I find in the areas within 30 minutes of my house are placed by COs that join, find 1 cache, place 30 sub par caches, and disappear shortly after. These caches survive for about 25 finds over the course of 6 months and then turn into empty came duct tape covered prescription pill bottles that bear no resemblance to a geocache that are shortly archived by reviewers. For the last year or two, I can go caching, find 5 or 6 caches in areas that should be able to support half way decent caches (i.e. open space, small forest, quiet park, etc) and not find 1 cache that I would consider more than a 3 out of 10 in overall quality. Every now and then I'll stumble upon a gem (meaning a clean container of any kind with a clean log in a half way decent location. You'd be shocked how rare this is getting), but those are few and far between.
If I'm going to be honest with you, I blame a lot of this decline on the more active local cachers that have been at it for a long time. Often times, they set a poor example for new COs. They use a brittle tupperware that they definitely know won't hold water out after 1 good rainstorm and plop in down in a bush in an area where there were much better location opportunities. When new Geocachers see this they get the idea that this is an acceptable normal that they eventually go on to emulate in their own garbage hides.
Here is a big part of the issue in my opinion: Much of the more experienced crowd sets a very poor example in how to hide caches. For many of the more experienced geocachers in my area (a couple hundred finds or more), their container of choice is an old clorox wipe bottle with a folded up piece of lined paper on the inside thrown in a scrub. In my opinion, this is unacceptable behavior from people who very well know that these containers are neither fun to find, or capable of surviving 1 Colorado winter.
How I think it can be remedied: I believe that the more experienced crowd of geocachers can help propagate more high quality hides by placing their own high quality hides! Honestly, a newbie finding a maintained ammo can that is properly labeled and stocked rather than the typical crappy, cracked brown water filled tupperware could change the course of their Geocaching careers. I try and practice what I preach. I take pride in my hides and only put out caches that I would want to find myself. Take a look at my hides and some of the logs and you'll notice that people still have great appreciation for a quality cache. Will I get a "TFTC" or "." log every now and then? Oh yeah I do. Does it prevent me from continuing to put out a great cache every now and then? No way. My hope is that if I can create a small movement toward quality in my area, I can help spark a larger change in the way COs place hides in my home radius. I don't believe that deciding to retire from cache owning since quality is on decline is the solution. I believe that the hobby needs experienced geocachers to place good, long-lasting, responsible hides now more than ever.
Take my opinion for what it is. An opinion. However, I encourage you to think about what you've tried to do to help the game to regain its form. I encourage everyone to go out and hide a good geocache. In my experience, a good hide goes a long way.
-
1
-
-
Thanks guys, Ill have to take a look at those. Cant wait to get out and find some caches in San Francisco. Ill get on the search and look at some others as well. Thanks guys.
-
Hi all, I'm going to be in San Francisco in a week and I want to find a few cool caches while I am there. Can anyone give me a few awesome listings that really are a must find while I am in the area? Preferably located in the city or just outside. Thanks for the help.
-BigLinc16
-
Wow, Im glad that you got away from that situation un-harmed... Ive had waders fill up before in a fast river and it is VERY scary to say the least. If the rock had hit you in the head you could have been in serious trouble if you blacked out. Did they end up being geocachers? Have you checked the logs on the cache to see if they were?
-
Ive really enjoyed caching in the exuma islands hopping from island to island and getting the few caches here!
-
I actually own a night cache. It has been received pretty well. It is under my profile in my cache hides as Octoderfest: The treasure of the spirit of halloween.
-
HI guys! Because of a foot injury I wasn't able to make the hike to beaver lake so I hid the cache in another manner. It takes people all over the beaver creek village to glean cords and eventually has the cacher travel to the floods ponds where the cache is about 300 yards from in the woods where the cache is tethered to an aspen. The GC code is GC5YR9D if you want to check it out.
-
I saw that this topic hasn't been responded to in a few days but what really makes me more angry than an inexperienced hider hiding a bad cache and abandoning it are the experienced COs that have been caching for years that hide garbage. Im pretty new to the game and got my start in the app and my first hide (which I hid within a month of starting geocaching) is better than 80% of the caches in my immediate vicinity. I really don't think that we can blame the proliferation of bad caches on intro app hit and runs only but also on the cachers who have thousands of finds and years of experience but hide 30 prescription pill bottles in parking lot bushes and leave then till a reviewer archives it. In my area we have no one hiding new, inventive hides so I put a few original Ideas out as well as some solid ammo can hides in the woods. so thats the sentiment around here at least.
-
Holy crap. That place is something else. I love out of the way places and being outdoors. Can you send me the cache page link when you've got it published? If I'm ever out that way, I want to find it!
Haha, no problem. I love the outdoors as well. Its the whole reason I play the game!
-
The trail that you are referring to is to floods ponds. It is a little trail that leads to two little fishing ponds. Beaver Lake trail head is right next to floods ponds. There is no way that a person could carry a four year old for the last half of the hike, far to steep.
-
Here is a Pic of the Lake. Beautiful place. If your fairly lucky you'll see a Bear here and catch some nice brown, speckled, or Rainbow trout.
-
Ok, Im going to try to figure out how to do this multi. Im wanting to kind of copy the format and design of this one in Yosemite: GCKNBG. So after reading the cache page and stuff he did a Virtual multi. Im going to want to modify this a little and have a final container that is outside of the park. The Idea is to have people stet from the trail head at floods ponds and have them take down their starting coordinates. They are then going to hike the 5 miles to the top and get to beaver lake. There there will be some numbers gleaning from the surroundings to complete the coordinates for the final which will be just outside the wilderness area down the trail so they can pick it up on the way back. Do you guys see a problem with this setup?
That would be an excellent use of a multi, but you need to mention in the description the approximate length of the hike, and that the final will be near the starting point. It may be difficult to find something natural that is unambiguous and will not change over time as a number source. You don't want someone to make the trek and then be confused by what should be counted. All you really need is one number which can be manipulated for use in the coordinates.
As to your original question, from All Trails:
"Beaver Lake is a 5 mile out and back trail located near Avon, Colorado and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is accessible from May until October."
In reading the reviews, it seems that the only issues are the altitude and a few steep segments so maybe a 3.5? Being a ski area the hike itself gets mixed reviews but that is from hikers not geocachers.
Ok, thanks. I wouldn't want to overrate it. The only reason I would give it a 4 for terrain is a steep cliff that goes for about a quarter mile near the end of the hike. It is a fall that has claimed several lives over the years and I want people to know what they are getting themselves into. Thanks for your help and I'll probably have some more questions I need answered!
Thanks for everyones help and I'll report back when it is placed!Edit: It just struck me that there are large wooden poles set in the ground at the top at the lake for horses to tie off on. I can use these for my numbers!
-
Ok, Im going to try to figure out how to do this multi. Im wanting to kind of copy the format and design of this one in Yosemite: GCKNBG. So after reading the cache page and stuff he did a Virtual multi. Im going to want to modify this a little and have a final container that is outside of the park. The Idea is to have people stet from the trail head at floods ponds and have them take down their starting coordinates. They are then going to hike the 5 miles to the top and get to beaver lake. There there will be some numbers gleaning from the surroundings to complete the coordinates for the final which will be just outside the wilderness area down the trail so they can pick it up on the way back. Do you guys see a problem with this setup?
-
4 or 4.5
Agreed. You apparently don't need climbing ropes, so it's not T 5.0.
+2
Not to be a party pooper, but just make sure the location you place the cache is not inside a designated Wilderness Area. I'm not terribly familiar with CO, but the first reference to a Beaver Lake I found was inside the Holy Cross Wilderness area.
Good luck with the cache! Sounds like a great hike.
Ok, I just took a look and beaver lake is about 1/2 mile into the wilderness area...
No big deal though, I can hide it on the trail coming up right before it crosses over into the wilderness area. Huh. Thats too bad, it really is a picturesque location. However I will not violate the guidelines. People placing caches in designated No-Geo zones just cause the rangers to crack down even harder. -
Well, Heres my dilemma. I am hiding a cache up in the mountains over fourth of July weekend that requires a steep 5.5 mile hike 1 way. Also at one point goes along a steep cliff with about a 60-70 foot drop that several people have actually died falling down before. The cache is hidden near a pretty remote lake in the Rockies called Beaver Lake. It is a beautiful body of water completely unpolluted that has great trout fishing. My question is what would you call the terrain based on the description of the hike there? I used the terrain rating system already and it said 4 but just wanted to double check that rating here so the finders don't get "cheated" out of their T5 or are upset about it being overrated. Thanks for your time. BigLinc16
-
Why do Newbies seem to be so critical of caches? I have a well received Geo-Art series, "Big Brother, Little Brother...", a tribute to the brave aviators of WWII and another simple series of a limerick. It seems cachers with less than 100 finds delight in posting that the log is wet (It's adventure paper= waterproof) or the cache must be gone because "I can't find it". These two series alone involve 27 cache containers and I can't afford to buy Lock'n'Locks for those, much less the replacements.
My thinking is that these are Millennials with their penchant for instant gratification and an obsession with perfection from others (but not them).
I see nothing wrong with saying that the log is wet and I for one would appreciate it. Its a good thing to know if your container is leaking and honestly if you can't afford to put out a nice leak proof container I would not recommend putting a cache out at all. Putting out a container knowing it will flood and be nasty is not very responsible in my opinion, regardless of the "Water proof" paper. Maybe instead of a huge 27 cache series with junky containers maybe put out 3 or 4 nice caches with once containers that will last for years in nice locations. Don't get too bent out of shape about someone saying that "maybe its not here" when they post a DNF. I think that is a fair thing to say if there has been a long string of finds on a low difficulty cache and you can't find it. Just be happy those cachers are actually posting DNFs! Thats all I have to say about that.
-
Ok, sorry about the link. Heres what the log said typed out. "Visited the Fowler- Hilliard Hut this last weekend...lots of snow! (see photo) I spent a great deal of time digging around the cache site(all the way down the the dirt) while my friends were out skiing. Really feel that the cache is no longer there, especially when it's last discovery was back in 2009.
Im putting down this effort as a Smiley because of the effort to get up to the hut and all the digging in the middle of the winter. We back country skied and snowshoed up McAllister Gulch from the Pando Trailhead (5.1 miles with a 2500 ft. elevation gain) Would have loved to sign the log... TFTC anyway as, even though it was not physically found, I had a lot of fun looking 
"End log
The cache has been found since multiple times and it is clearly still there.
-
This July I'm planning a cache at the end of a 5 mile hike at a Lake called Beaver Lake in Beaver Creek, Co. I was looking at the pages of the few other caches in the mountains near it and I saw this log on a Geocache that was a terrain 5 difficulty. I'm really dumbfounded that someone would so shamelessly claim a false find on a cache and completely admit it in the log. Is this really chatting and is this the way that the game is going? I'm new to the game only having started in April of 2014 and love it but am really starting to see what the old timers complain about. I see more and more logs that go something like this: "Found where the cache would be. TFTC and my favorite and probably the most controversial: "Found the Lid of the cache, claiming a find. TFTC". Heres the exact log I found, Thanks for looking.
-
I get it now. Makes more sense after I considered that car loads of geocachers would be romping around al day and night. That many caches and finders is obnoxious. In my area existing caches don't get many finders, maybe 1-3 a month so they really aren't much of a disturbance to the neighbors. GS did the right thing here.
-
Wow, not often I agree with swineflew, but yeah, that's nuts.
Satellite view shows houses here and there. But overall the place looks mighty empty. Defunct or exclusive?
B.
Exactly, very few houses in the area and it looks like the caches aren't where they would really be a nuisance. Hm, this is really a crazy case.
-
I really don't get the issue here... what is wrong? I am personally not a fan of power trails but why would people be that disgruntled about it?
-
I honestly think it is a pretty cool idea. These types of caches would have to be exempt from the saturation rules for them to work however. I would argue that this type of cache would be permanent in its own way as it would be attached permanently to its vehicle. Its a cool idea that would most likely never be allowed by Groundspeak.
-
Ok, didn't expect the hostility but ok.
I thought you guys would be a little more friendly but just some salty geocachers. 
I get it now, just wanted to see what was the acceptable action for this. I have emailed the cacher and explained the situation and my action, we have worked it out and his finds are back. And in response to pup patrol this wasn't a lame excuse those were lame logs and I didn't know the conduct, grow up and act like an adult. Arthur and Trillian, your comment makes little no sense. I was disappointed by a series of lame logs on highly favorited caches. I would actually like to question your ability to be a CO with the amount of archived hides you have that never even managed to garner a single favorite point in years, not saying favorites are the only way to measure a cache but come on now. Thanks everyone for your responses. -
Hey everybody. I recently received a series of logs that consisted of just TFTC on some of my caches. These caches are well maintained nice containers (Ammo cans, lock and locks, etc.) with log book, swag and a nice location. I deleted these logs without hesitating and received an email from the cacher asking why I deleted his finds. I responded by saying TFTC is not an acceptable log alone of unique well maintained caches in nice locations. I just wanted to see what is everyone else's point of view on this and if this is grounds for deleting a log. Thanks!
Thanks for everyones help and I'll report back when it is placed!
No big deal though, I can hide it on the trail coming up right before it crosses over into the wilderness area. Huh. Thats too bad, it really is a picturesque location. However I will not violate the guidelines. People placing caches in designated No-Geo zones just cause the rangers to crack down even harder.
"
I thought you guys would be a little more friendly but just some salty geocachers. 
I get it now, just wanted to see what was the acceptable action for this. I have emailed the cacher and explained the situation and my action, we have worked it out and his finds are back. And in response to pup patrol this wasn't a lame excuse those were lame logs and I didn't know the conduct, grow up and act like an adult. Arthur and Trillian, your comment makes little no sense. I was disappointed by a series of lame logs on highly favorited caches. I would actually like to question your ability to be a CO with the amount of archived hides you have that never even managed to garner a single favorite point in years, not saying favorites are the only way to measure a cache but come on now. Thanks everyone for your responses.
Number of new caches decreasing?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
The army surplus is about 25 minutes from my location and not to mention there are plenty of places to buy ammo cans, pelican cases, or Lock and Locks for around $10-15. If everyone thinks $10 is way too much to put into making a cache, maybe they should bother hiding one in the first place. Regardless, I would still like to see experienced members of the caching community continue putting out great examples of a good hide for new cachers to find. One of my first finds was an ammo can cache in a local open space officially labeled with a big log book, trackables, and cool trading items on the inside. That cache right there was super exciting to find and honestly it inspired me to hide a similarly awesome cache.