Longest Time Searching For A Cache?

[+MorningWhisper]

I was just wondering............what's the longest time you've spent searching out any one particular cache. Did you leave defeated? Or never surrender? Also, how many times have you re-visited a site refusing to quit? How soon should I be getting a clue that perhaps the cache disappeared but has not yet been wiped off the site? That's only happened to us once, and after a few e-mails to the "hider" it was determined that the cache had been removed. Sigh. I hate to give up, but don't want to become too obsessive either........

[+Robespierre]

3 of us for an hour an a half - in the deep woods on a steep hillside, but we might not have been very close, and the hint didn't help. dnf

[+Jamie Z]

I logged two DNFs on a cache where I hunted more than an hour each time. The second trip out, I ran into two other cachers who'd just arrived to the site and none of the three of us could find it in more than an hour of searching.

 

My third trip out there, I found the cache about a minute after I arrived. I don't know for sure, but the previous two times, I may have actually set my things down on top of the cache.

 

Hey, doesn't this belong in the "Hunt/Unusual" forum? It is about the hunt, you know.

 

Jamie

[+reveritt]

I found at least one cache on the third attempt, and have failed to find another one in four attempts (even though other people find it).

[+cache_test_dummies]

I once searched for a cache on three different occassions without success (I logged DNFs the first two times, by the third time it just seemed kind of redundant so I didn't bother). During this time, other cachers who had found it before confirmed that it was not where it had been, and the cache owner believed it was gone. But then somebody found it. Then a few others found it, and then a few others logged DNFs.

 

This was a regular size cache in a fairly small (but highly visible) area, so I began to suspect something odd was going on. I went back on a fourth visit, and there was the cache, sitting in a spot where I had previously searched - I remember actually putting my hand in the spot on eariler visits. I am certain that the cache had not been in there on my prior visits. My conclusion was that somebody in a nearby office building was periodically removing the cache and then putting it back.

 

There was another cache that I found on my third visit. There had been other DNFs on the cache, so I just figured it was a particularly well hidden cache. Before I went back the third time, I sat down and read all the logs. I found consistent reports of the coordinates being way off, so on the third visit, I expanded my search area and found the cache 170 feet away from the posted coordinates.

 

There is also an urban micro that I have searched for three times now without success. Plenty of others have found it, so I have no doubt that it is there. The cache has what appears to be a good hint, but I just can't seem to find it. This one I'll keep searching for, but it might take me a few more visits.

[+Kit Fox]

Aww, @* It!!! Took me five tries.

 

This is the only cache that I couldn't find on one return trip.

The owner went with me, and the cache was buried when he showed me where to look. it was grounded to begin with, and the hillside had slid down and covered it. When your not accustomed to buried caches, it can be hard to find the cache.

[+Ed Rad]

I had a real difficult time with Putt Putt Geocaching.

 

To make matters worse... it's rated a 1/1. How embarassing is that?

 

Attempt #1:

 

December 25, 2002 by Special Ed (2043 found)

Ok....I think this is probably way more difficult with the snow on the ground. I spent 45 mins. walking around and uncovering what appeared to be slabs of concrete with holes. I'll be back when the snow is gone. On to Ms Weiglands.....

 

Attempt #2:

 

For some reason I didn't log another DNF.

 

Attempt#3:

 

March 29, 2003 by Special Ed (2043 found)

OK....I must be blind or real stupid. This was my third trip to this cache and I still could not find the darn thing. I had two of my kids plus Geddy The Caching Canine along to help. We poked, prodded, turned over thingsand used a flashlight to peek into crevices. HELP!!!!! I will not sleep right until I find this one.

 

Attempt #4:

 

May 28, 2003 by Special Ed (2043 found)

FINALLY!!!! This was 4th attempt at this god forsaken cache. For some reason I was not able to find it my previous times out here. I can now sleep better knowing that this cache has not gotten the best of me!! HAHA!!

The container was really wet inside so I cleaned and dried it out. logged my visit in the logbook and left a Geogeek65 token and two magnets. TFTC!!

[+Melrose Plant]

My longest and most frustrating search was this one. It actually counts as five caches (four micros and a final), but I took many visits to each one over the course of three months before I found them all. Now, it's not llike I was looking every day or anything, but I did stick with it.

 

The micros were about the size of a .45 caliber bullet--just the ball, not the cartridge. As I've said before elsewhere, I don't really like the searching and searching part, but I stuck with this one for some reason.

 

Meanwhile, other people were finding this whole set in an afternoon. The first finders found the whole set in under two hours--at night. Aarrrgh!

[+WizCreations]

Santee Stroll by Disney Gang - GCHXW9 - http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...log=y&decrypt=y

 

I've attempted this cache 3 times spending at least 30 minutes at each visit. From what I've heard and read, this is the smallest cache in my area.

[+WizCreations]

why did you create another topic exactly the same as this one?

[+horsegeeks]

The eighth stage of http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...df-360aaf720ebe was visited by me seven times. It was a doozer. I did very well on the first six stages had a bit of trouble on the seventh and whizzed right through the final. it was a doozer.

[+Renegade Knight]

When I was but a grasshopper there was one cache I went back too 9 times. It would of been more but somebody didn't put it back where it belonged.

 

At that time no skunk would not be avenged. Since then I am still a grasshoper but if it's not gonig to be fun to go back then I won't. I now have quite a few unavenged skunks

[Keystone]

I merged together two identical topics.

[+edscott]

Lots of trips to a rock filled woods. Don't use a GPS and there were no attack points within a couple hundred meters... Seems like I spent time there in at least three different seasons.. Battled sweat and bugs, swept away falling leaves, and finally dug it out of the snow. Can nearly see it from where I sit now at work so it was especially frustrating. Go to

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...83-e24327f5c0ba

 

to see my log.

[+briansnat]

I made six failed attempts at this one. Some found it easily and others had a hard time. I was one of the others.

Edited June 14, 2005 by briansnat

[+fishfam]

Wow, alot of you are more tenacious than I ever hope of being!

We've gone back and then found one. We plan on going back to another. DH spent 45 minutes looking for one that I gave up on after 10 minutes. It was hot, and I didn't feel good. If I don't find something withing 10-15 minutes, I'm done.

[+Team Wildebeest]

Our first cache find took almost a year. It was only 2 trips but we were very new, and had no idea what to look for. Turns out it was a multi and the first part was in a plastic bottle. It looked like any other piece of trash laying in the woods.

 

Later, we searched for another that took forever. That one was hidden in a tree way above my reaching ability. I'm not super short either(5'10) Good thing my caching partner is 6'5!. We looked for about an hour before finding that one.

[+brodiebunch]

Was in Las Vegas in April. There was a cache in Chinatown west of the strip that I searched for four times (once a day) while there but couldnt find it. It was ultimately archived as it had been muggled.

[+Stump]

I DNFd this one four times (though I only logged it 3). Once with 6 people, twice after a former finder told me where it was, and once with a former finder!

[+reveritt]

Gee--I feel better now.

[+Jamie Z]

This cache was unfound when a group of seven cachers showed up to find it. It took us somewhere around an hour before one of the seven, me, finally found it. My log below:

 

March 15, 2003 by Jamie Z (340 found)

I'm logging this cache nine months late. That's a shame too because I was first finder!

If you've read the other logs, you can understand that this one is really hard to find. I was there with six other. We searched for somewhere near an hour, with the owner of the cache sitting about thirty feet away.

 

She wouldn't say a word about where the cache was hidden, instead letting us all kill ourselves.

 

Frankly, I'd about given up. I'd looked everywhere I could think. I was hoping we could just find this thing and get the heck out of there.

 

I figured I'd give it one last attempt, or at least give the impression I was trying. I found myself stumbling on the same 100 square feet of land as the other six hunters.

 

Suddenly, I saw the container. In my feverish excitement, I snatched the container, threw it high in the air, and let out a crazed-man whoop, thus denying all in attendence the satisfaction of finding it on their own.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie

[Team Kryptos]

When caching out of town one trip is it. But when doing local caches I want to get them all. I made my 5th trip to one this past weekend. Now Ihave to do a 6th But it is a nice place for a walk, and its close to home. But every time I log in that one listing just GLARES at me. I will continue searching till I get it.

[+CoastieGeorge]

I searched for one on several occasions, with a buddy, and couldn't find it. I logged 3 dnf's I think. I searched with my dad, and then finally found it a few weeks later. Then I went back with my buddy to help him, and couldn't find it again. We emailed the cache owner, he went out and cleaned the area so it wasn't "buried" in the grass, and we finally found it again. crazy.

[+Deneye]

I've been to a remote area twice looking for a cache and still haven't found it. It's a 200km round trip. And of course i've spent more than 5 minutes looking....I'm due for my third trip in another week or so.

[Clan Riffster]

There's an evil genius in Central Florida who has apparently passed on his geogene to his daughter. She hid one called "Under The Overpass", http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...9c-2cd30a95af9c which took me 3 trips to find.

 

My first trip was a solo, late night FTF attempt that took 2 me hours. I would've stayed longer but the batteries in both my flashlight and GPSr died. I returned with my wife Vivian and daughter Munchkin, and we spent another hour searching in vain. Our third trip out succeeded thanx to a hint. Had the log signed 30 minutes after getting there.

 

Typically, time isn't the issue for us. Fatigue generally determines when we DNF. Being old farts, we usually give up after about an hour of searching.

 

The cache "Lapanocia Butterfly Tree" http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...18-75d6aec5ca49 took two hours to walk the 500' to the cache, but that was only due to its difficult terrain.

 

Another memorable cache, "Olives are good" http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...90-e1788d262c82 took us just about 8 hours combined searching time, but that was because we were too dense to solve the puzzle involved and had to do a detailed area search of several acres.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Not sure that this is what you meant, but it sure fills the bill!

Five Star New York

Fourteen clues to search for (or as many as you need to solve the puzzle). GPS reception in the city can be non-existant.

We get into the city a couple of times a month, but not with a lot of time to cache.

At one point, despite hints from the owner, we had solved most of the clues, but not the puzzle. And we almost gave up. My brother looked at it, and gave us a good solution. The wrong one, but for the right reason. Then, it still took two tries to find the cache.

Ten months after our start, we finally logged our find! Congratulations to avroair for a very difficult, well thought out, and basically evil and malicious cache! And we are proud, finally, to have logged it!

[+MorningWhisper]

why did you create another topic exactly the same as this one?

Rookie move - couldn't figure out how to delete one of them

[+MorningWhisper]

I merged together two identical topics.

Thank you very much. I tried to delete one, but couldn't figure it out. Darn hands....just washed 'em and I can't do a thing with them!

[+cudlecub]

This one is took me 5 tries to get. I looked on average 30 mintues each trip. Blue Turquoise Stinger It's a short multi with only 1 stage (with a color code) and then the final. On my 4th trip to the site I thought I saw the container that housed the color code. I drove my hand into the leaves to grab what I thought was a 35mm film canister, only to find that it was a broken bottle of Jack Daniels that sliced me open. It was off to the emergency room. A few weeks later I made the 5th attempt at it. I finally found the first stage and after about 45 minutes of total confusion I figured out the color code. It was off to finally sting the stinger.

 

I hold the hider of that one in high regards. He makes you think outside the box and you never know what to expect next.

[+treasure_hunter]

I think that we searched for a cache in Daytona over a 4 day period around 45 min each day. And thank God we finally found it because we would have just come back the next day if we didnt.

[Swordmaster7022]

This one time I spent over two hours looking for a cache. I went uphill and right back down. Sore feet by the end of it. Fun though.

[+StarBrand]

Spent 3 visits with at least 45 - hour each time on one and I still haven't found it. Owner emailed me a hint but it is 280 miles away so be a while before I can get back.

[+Team Cotati]

Three days, 14min.

[djhobby]

I looked for this one at least 8 times at about 1hr each time:

 

Phoney Cache

 

Here is my log:

 

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!! I have spent hours upon hours upon hours looking for this cache. I have been obsessed with this cache. I have had sleepless nights thinking about this cache. The nights I could sleep I dreamed about it. I probably have spent 8 hours of my life standing on that corner looking for this cache. The locals probably know me by name now. "Oh look there's that guy with the funny cell phone again staring at that phone booth." I didn't post all of my no finds because it would have filled up the logs on this site. I finally broke down and had to email the owner for some clues. 3 DIFFERENT TIMES! But I finally found it. You've got to love Geocaching! Hides like this are some of my favorites. Thanks Prariepartners.

[+One of the Texas Vikings]

I once went back 5 times before I found one,

I emailed the owner and asked him to

go over and paint it flash orange and put

a blinking red light on top...

of course he wouldn't

darn....

 

But, at least I found it.

 

A week ago, two of the Texas Vikings and I spent over an hour looking

for a cache and finally gave up. Later found out it was muggled...

 

Then, same day, did a multiple of six, got all of the five; then on to the final ..

Spent 2 hours bushwacking in 95 degree heat, and still didn't find it...

 

Tough day...

[+PlasteredDragon]

Took me five tries. 

 

This is the only cache that I couldn't find on one return trip.

The owner went with me, and the cache was buried when he showed me where to look. it was grounded to begin with, and the hillside had slid down and covered it. When your not accustomed to buried caches, it can be hard to find the cache.

 

--------------------

 

I AM ASHAMED OF THOSE AMERICANS WHO WOULD RATHER SEE TERRORISM SUCCEED THAN A

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT.

Most number of retries for me is 3. Longest amount of time searching is 120 minutes in a single visit. For some caches I've probably devoted 3-4 hours over multiple visits. Usually that eventually pays off, but not always!

 

Usually the problem is the result of an inexperienced hide (didn't average readings or whatever), or poor cache maintenance (cache muggled or whatever), or just me being thick. My worst cache was my very first. I had never gone cache hunting before (GPS Drift? What's that?) and the cache was hidden in a densely wooded area. The clue was not helpful and the coordinates were way off.

 

I ended up going back 3 times, and on my last trip I just put the GPS away and combed the woods from end to end. The cache was something like 120 feet away from where I expected it to be. But at least I found it!

 

BTW, for the record, your signature is incredibly offensive. I have contacted you about it privately.

[Swordmaster7022]

One time I was searching for the cache "Continuing Story" in West Allis, WI and I had 3 attempts totaling around 5 hours that day. One of them I brought my dad along to help cover more area, fat load of good that did for me. I'll try later in the summer.

[markandlynn]

2 attempts so far at the same cache "along long mynd"

First time the ground was covered in snow so we couldn't find a thing

Yesterday got caught in a massive rain storm when looking for the final cache.

we reckon next time it will be either fog, lightning, hail, tornadoes or something else !

[+geodarts]

I have been to caches three or four times to caches before I found them, and spent quite some time looking for them. I have also given up after a few minutes -- most recently, when the cache was on top of a tree that was far too high for my sense of self-preservation.

 

How long I will spend looking -- or how many trips I will make -- depends on a number of factors -- how much time I had for that particular day; if the dog is whining; if my wife or daughter is waiting for me; if I am likely to return to the area; if the area is interesting enough to warrant a second visit; if a geocaching friend inspires me to try it again; how confident I am that the cache is still there; if the way the cache is hidden appears to be unique; if I get home and realize I misread the cache description.

 

I have hiked miles up a mountain to return to caches that I could not find the first time; I have moved caches to my ignore list when I could not find any reason why I would ever want to return after the first visit.

[darwinmay]

6 times

 

Finally found with a hint from the owner.

[leafdolfan]

I have tried four times to find one cache and I still am looking for it today!

[+Kit Fox]

BTW, for the record, your signature is incredibly offensive. I have contacted you about it privately.

 

Hopefully you like my new one better

[bogleman]

Eight (8) visits for this cache, but I was on a mission BBTT Shortcut cache, each visit was conducted from 2330 hours to 0015 hours (average search time was 20 minutes). Yea and someone will eventually whine and say did you log your DNF for each visit.

[+PlasteredDragon]

BTW, for the record, your signature is incredibly offensive. I have contacted you about it privately.

 

Hopefully you like my new one better

LOL! At least the new one is funny!

 

I hope my e-mail didn't upset you btw, I simply wasn't sure if you were aware how offensive that statement was. Didn't want to see you get banned.

 

By the way, you can count me among the numerous Democrats who were staunchly for the war in Afghanistan. Blowing up terrorists sounds like a great idea to me.

[+halffast]

2 hours the first attempt.2 hours the secont attempt.3 hours the third attempt.1 hour the fourt then I emailed the owner and he checked and replaced it.Got a first to find caoster the fifth time there and it took about 2 minutes to find it .It is one of my favorite finds.Each trip was about 80 miles from home but I finally got to log it.

Edited June 21, 2005 by halffast

[+samiaminca]

Our most amount of visits and time before a find was 2 visits burning up 5 hours. It was the final on a multi that had been extremely covered by the previous finders. On our first visit there we killed three hours searching. It took another week before we could get back out there, and it took us two hours to find the darn thing, even after a hint from the previous finders.

 

On another one we visited the coords at least 6 times at around an hour each visit, utilized descriptive hints from the owner on the last few visits, and after about two months it was finally archived.

 

We tend to get overly obsessed with a DNF, so we'll keep going back till we get it. But we're no obsessed with this hobby.... really we're not!

[+ZillahBillies]

In the rainforest on the Olympic Penisula, 9 hours! We were way off in our cords, no trail in site, sinking into mud bogs up to our hips, crawling over black berry vines, all the while carrying our kids on our shoulders. We kept thinking, we'll hit the trail soon, it's just around the next corner, past the next bog, over that little hill, etc. But as it turned out, the cache was on the OPPESITE side of a narrow, sheer cliff gorge (next investment, toppo-maps!). We have since noticed that the owner has now logged in parking cords (great! NOW he does that!).

 

We look back on it an laugh now, heck we were laughing by that evening. But man alive...I'm sometimes stunned we ever continued geocaching after that day!

[+OzGuff]

With a cache containing your name you want to give it your all! My "all" on OzGuff This one's for you included 7 attempts, searching anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. The final attempt ended in a phone call to the cache owner.

 

In my defense the cache page contains misleading statements; not flat out lies but definitely truth-stretching.