Micro Caches

[+woodsters]

95% of your 98 caches were crappy? And you're still here? Why?

I have a 117 cache finds. And yes I would say about only 5% were what I would say were good or better than average.

I liked this quote. I think by definition, at least 50% of your finds would be as good or better than average. Are you really saying that you only enjoyed 5% of your finds? I found 30 or so caches this weekend. Looking back, I can't really think of any that I didn't enjoy. I wasn't hand picking them either, I was away from home, just going to the nearest cache on my GPS. Good times.

 

--Marky

I didn't say that I didn't enjoy them. I enjoyed finding them. The caches themselves were crappy. My term of saying they were "average" was to say that those "average" ones are the ones that are the same thing over and over again. Green ammo can hidden in a rock wall or tree stump (or similar type of situation). They didn't offer anything any different. The caches were normally close to empty or had a few items that consisted of the items of which many people complain about here. There were a handful that the caches were excellently placed, thought out, different, etc....

[Dinoprophet]

If you have 117 finds then 58 of them are better than average.

I think by definition, at least 50% of your finds would be as good or better than average.

Pardon me, but I must address this. Suppose, for example, on a scale of 1 to 10, seventeen of his finds rated a 10 and the other one hundred were 1's. The average in that case would be just over 2, and only the top seventeen would be above average. On the other hand, seventeen 10's, fifty 5's, and fifty 1's average to just over 4, so all but the bottom fifty would be above average.

[+AB4N]

I personally think the only proper way to convince geocachers to hide caches in the style you prefer is to hide caches of that style. I really enjoy micros, even tough micros hidden in the woods where a full sized cache could have been. It is the diversity of cache types that keeps me going. I bet if there were only full sized caches, I may have tired of this pastime a long time ago. They generally make boring hunts (unless the terrain or navigation is a challenge.) Regular sized caches are a big challenge to place in a manner that makes them difficult to find, especially if you rule out "ivy" style hides.

 

Please don't tell me what I should be hiding (size, type, etc.), that will just limit my creativity. Show me by example what you like. If I like it, I will probably follow suit.

 

(This is not to imply that the OP, or any other person who has posted in this thread doesn't already lead by example. It is also just my personal opinion.)

 

--Marky

I wish there were more like you. In my experience this hasn't been the case. When I started geocaching in Aug'03 there were less than 100 caches within 50 miles of my house, less than 5% of these were micro caches - and all of them were in good locations. In less than a year I hid fifty caches, only five of which were micro caches. I thought as you do, but since then the number of caches has now grown to almost 900 within 50 miles of my house, and over 50% of them are micros. If all 500 or so of those micros held to the three most important rules of cache hiding I would have no complaint. But many of them are lame in the worst way.

[+Joypa]

If you have 117 finds then 58 of them are better than average.

I think by definition, at least 50% of your finds would be as good or better than average.

Pardon me, but I must address this. Suppose, for example, on a scale of 1 to 10, seventeen of his finds rated a 10 and the other one hundred were 1's. The average in that case would be just over 2, and only the top seventeen would be above average. On the other hand, seventeen 10's, fifty 5's, and fifty 1's average to just over 4, so all but the bottom fifty would be above average.

I'm assuming a normal bell curve. In the absence of any real facts, this seems reasonable.

[+briansnat]

Behind all this debate about micros vs this or that type of cache or this or that location lies the fundamental truth that nobody much cares what you like to find - each geocacher is gonna hide what he or she likes!

 

Once folks realize and deal with that there will be no further need for endless debate on this topic!

 

Ed

Actually, people who are members of a community do pay attention to what others think. Its called caring.

[+rusty_tlc]

I personally think the only proper way to convince geocachers to hide caches in the style you prefer is to hide caches of that style.  I really enjoy micros, even tough micros hidden in the woods where a full sized cache could have been.  It is the diversity of cache types that keeps me going.  I bet if there were only full sized caches, I may have tired of this pastime a long time ago.  They generally make boring hunts (unless the terrain or navigation is a challenge.)  Regular sized caches are a big challenge to place in a manner that makes them difficult to find, especially if you rule out "ivy" style hides.

 

Please don't tell me what I should be hiding (size, type, etc.), that will just limit my creativity.  Show me by example what you like.  If I like it, I will probably follow suit.

 

(This is not to imply that the OP, or any other person who has posted in this thread doesn't already lead by example. It is also just my personal opinion.)

 

--Marky

I agree!

Lead by example.

 

I'm trying that one, the jury is still out on how well it will work.

[+Dealhound]

Most of my finds have been micros, simply because there are many more of them in the area that I live. And diversity is a good thing. However, I would prefer a cache that was in a difficult to get to place, but easy to find when you get there. Nothing worse than a mile hike in to only find an impossibly hidden micro at the end. And I also believe in more detail on the cache page as to what exactly you are looking for when you get there. If you are investing a large amount of time getting to the cache, you should be able to find it when you get there. If it is a drive by, and it takes a few trips, maybe that is all right.

 

Dealhound

[The Junkyard Dogs]

I personally like all caches. There have been micros I have places in an area that I could have put a traditional but choose a micro instead because of the muggle factor. I have found that kids still like to play in the woods and tend to run into cache containers. They are picked apart and thrown everywhere. We hike on in and end up cleaning up the mess. I know that a few of ours have been muggled. The micros tend to be safer. I try to make the unique so at least the hunter will think some thought and time was put into it.

Would love to come up with a larger container that the local kids and bumbs will not notice, my kids do love the trade

 

Nahtee

[+Cache Viking]

As for the OP I'm not sure what ED's asking or getting at.

I'm asking that if you can place a traditional, do so.

 

I understand the cost involved. I've hidden a dozen traditional caches at a cost of about $20.00 each just to see the contents degrade to less than $1.00 in a month. However that is another topic.

 

just hate to see micros where traditional will fit.ros have their place, but I believe that where a traditional could be placed, it should.

 

I don't mean to cause angst, just some thought as how and what type caches we place.

 

El Diablo

... like Micros in the Woods I recently found a few of these and looked around at all the places a large could have been placed.

[+Ambrosia]

The first micros in my town came in as an oddity, for something new. A local cacher had done some caches in other areas, and wanted to suprise the other locals. We had never seen anything like it, and were quite amused. Then that winter, everyone got bored cause most of our caches were hiking caches in the hills. So we had an explosion of micros in town. Now, I think that they are a habit. But most of the ones around here are put in places that only a micro can be, or are meant to be evil hides.

[Team Kryptos]

Ok, so I am guilty. What can I do to change it?

 

When I first started caching I was pretty excited to place a hide. The spot I chose is a nice hike, not too long (.5 m), flat and scenic. The cache is a micro but not your standard altoid. And it is a fairly easy find (hide in plain site). The park area is good sized and can easily handle 3-4 more caches without overlap. But on a maint. run I happened upon a group of cachers, 1 adult and 2-3 little ones. The little ones were so happy with the loot they had found in another nearby decon. I felt sorta bad sending this group out to find my little log-only micro.

 

So my question is what can I do to fix this? Should I archive mine and replace it? Swap out containers? Just add a few more regular caches elsewhere in the same park. What does it take to change a cache listing? What works best for the approvers?

 

I am not worried about the grownups that think micros are beneath them. I am more concerned with giving the youngsters an enjoyable caching experience.

[+Renegade Knight]

...So my question is what can I do to fix this? Should I archive mine and replace it? Swap out containers? Just add a few more regular caches elsewhere in the same park. What does it take to change a cache listing? What works best for the approvers? ...

I'd swap out the container for a larger one. When you are looking at your cache page you will see an "Edit This Listing" bar you can press on the upper right. Once in you just change the container size and then check that you understand the TOS etc. and you are done.

 

Then go hide more caches.

[+GRANPA ALEX]

I've been so tempted to write and offer to replace some of these with proper containers, but I wasn't sure how to approach it without getting his back up.

I just went out & serviced my caches in Charleston SC . . . somone had replaced one of my micro containers with a magnetic keybox - they did not ask permission or anything.

 

My opinion, it is wonderful that other cachers see the need for a container change or a new log as their shared responsibility and just do it. I am so pleased and said so on the cache page (which they may not ever see).

 

I say, go for it . . if it is needed as mine was, it benefits everyone AND we all do it to help one another out. I think most of us carry extra logs & small containers just for this purpose and it is a great idea.

[+sbell111]

I've been so tempted to write and offer to replace some of these with proper containers, but I wasn't sure how to approach it without getting his back up. 

...My opinion, it is wonderful that other cachers see the need for a container change or a new log as their shared responsibility and just do it. ...

I agree with you. As long as they are not changing the cache when they change the container. A person has no more right to arbitrarily exchange someone's micro with an ammo can as they do to change someone's ammo can with a film canister.

[+Fergus]

In my experance 90% to 95% of all micro caches suck. That is why I have not bothered looking for most of the 100+ micro caches withen 10 miles of my house.

[+sbell111]

For someone professing to skip the micros near him, you sure do find a bunch of them. Personally, I don't care if you hunt for micros or not, but you're kinda saying one thing and doing another.

[+NevaP]

I was going to follow CarleenP's lead (Really, sometimes I do!) and not respond to this topic (and I admit I have only skimmed through it) BUT I have to get my say in.

 

A couple days ago I was caching with CarleenP's dad (KP) who always groans and says "I hate Micros" when I say that's what we are looking for. We were in the middle of Anchorage, Alaska at the time but we were bushwacking through bogs on moose trails which is how things are there. Plenty of places to hide ammo can and larger caches which most of them were that day. But the next two caches on the route were Micros. KP immediately found the first one (suspended down inside a metal post - I didn't know he knew about that trick - and gloated as he always does when he finds it first. The site of the next Micro was a fairly thick spruce forest with thousands of places to put something small and even though the hint said it was five and a half feet above the ground we couldn't find it. After about an hour I was wanting to give up but KP who hates micros wouldn't quit looking. I finally spotted the bison tube hung in plain sight. KP was annoyed that He hadn't found it.

 

I tend to say I don't like Micros too and I tend to avoid them. I have concluded that both KP and I have this attitude just because the durn things can be so hard to find. Most of my DNF posts are for micros.

 

NevaP, planning to hide a couple Micros soon

[+teamjack&birdie]

more on this

 

[+Lean Wolf]

[+TeamAO]

Alot of the best places are taken. But my opinion would be that if you're in the woods. Don't hide a micro for a traditional cache unless you absolutely HAVE to place it due to traffiking. Even if trafficking is a problem move the coordinates 50 feet off the trail behind a tree and cover it up. Micros can be nice, but don't overuse them because they are easy for upkeep and to replace. Finding a 50cal ammo box in the woods is easier than finding a "certain leaf". Micros are a needle in the haystack out there. If you revert to micros, do it in the cities, but out here, keep it regular.

[+sept1c_tank]

Hand me some more of that pocorn.

[+sbell111]

Hand me some more of that pocorn.

Its getting rather stale.

[+halffast]

I like micros but my wife doesnt.I like the hunt and the find.I am after the joy of the adventure not just some trinket that I can put in a drawer and forget about.I just like the filling of knowing I found it or at least tried to find it.

[+Sue Gremlin]

I think it's great that there are all kinds of caches. It's fun to find little prizes, but it's the hunt that hooked me, and I daresay, the other half of Team Gremlin. I love searching for micros. One of my favoite caches was one that involved both, a teenytiny micro as one stage and a little pressie at the end.

 

I find it amusing that people actually get emotional about this subject.

[+Joypa]

Let's kill this topic and go geocaching. It's getting brighter over there. I think the rain is going to stop.