Cheating? Poor Taste?

[+gas4cache]

I know where 2 chaches are near my home. One that I think I spotted today. Didn't have time to get out and check it out. What I'm wondering is, if I physically go to them, sign the log, maybe trade some swag.. whatever, would it be poor taste/cheating to log that as a find, even though I don't even own a Gps yet?

 

Thanks

Ron

[+BlueDeuce]

Considering I'd use a machine to find them? You tell me.

[+clearpath]

Absolutely not ... there are Geocachers that don't use GPSr to find caches. If you found it, log it.

[+briansnat]

If you find it log it. Hey there are many geocachers who don't find a cache and log a find so you're ahead of the game in the integrity category

[+Airmapper]

There are many cachers that don't use GPS's to find caches. Go for it!

[+Harry Dolphin]

Find the cache, sign the log, get a smiley. (With certain exceptions, as described by the cache owner.) There are some GPS-less geocachers.

I'm contemplating hunting a cache without the coordinates, or GPS (duh). If I find it, I'll be more than happy to grab the smiley!

[+tands]

That's not called cheating, it's called being a stud! If it has to be called something bad, then call it showing off!!

 

- T of TandS

[+gas4cache]

OK, I'll go sign the log this weekend, then post the find.. That's assuming I can actually find it..

 

Thanks

Ron

[+Team Red Oak]

There's a cache hidden in the city where I grew up. As soon as I read the cache page I knew where the cache was. I haven't been there yet to check it out, but when I visit my mom I plan to try and grab it without my GPSr, if I have problems then I'll turn the thing on and find it.

 

If I sign the log I get the smiley with or with out a GPSr.

[+Titansfan]

GPS or not, go sign the log and tell the story on the cache page how you found the cache and didn't use a GPSr.

[+tozainamboku]

From the guidelines for placing a cache (bolding added)

You as the owner of the cache must visit the site and obtain the coordinates with a GPS. If time allows take several reading at different times over a few days and average the results. This will help you achieve greater accuracy on your coordinates. GPS usage is an essential element of geocaching. Therefore, although it is possible to find a cache without a GPS, the option of using accurate GPS coordinates as an integral part of the cache hunt must be demonstrated for all physical cache submissions.

 

Sounds like you don't need to use a GPSr to claim a find but you do need to use one to hide a cache

[+kb7sei]

I found my first without a GPSr. After that, I was hooked and ordered one. My second attempt without a GPSr failed, but that was because I didn't know that the coords in Google Earth shift around because of something they do here. If you use GE to look, download LOC or GPX files and use those instead of the online thing they have here. It's nice, but inacurate if you can't correct in the field with a GPSr.

[+4leafclover]

I found my first 8 or so without a GPSr.

 

definately...it is not "cheating" if you found it.

[+Markwell]

This past April, I was really having a great day - the weather was just WONDERFUL. The sun was out, sky was blue and the temps were up in the low 60s.

 

I looked up the new cache closest to my office, and saw this:

(click to enlarge the picture)

 

Closer examination of the map shows this:

(click to enlarge)

 

I'm no rocket scientist, but I should be able to tell from walking when a path turns that much to the south, and that there's a little clump of trees to the west of the path in an area that looks like open prairie.

 

So when I got the parking, I made the decision to not use the GPS. I left it in the car. It was one of my most exhilarating finds, in that I was concentrating more on the nature and my surroundings than I was on the direction and distance to the target.

 

Sometimes, low tech is fun.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Markwell

[+AuntieWeasel]

Sometimes, low tech is fun.

Google Earth is definitely getting to be That Good. I bought into the option that lets me upload my tracks, and I often look at where I've been at the end of the day. It's striking how easy it is to see just where the cache should be from the overhead shot and the GC waypoint.

 

Not that I'm thinking of giving up my dingus. Auntie love her magic compass.

 

 

As for the Original Poster: you bet it counts! I wonder how many people found geocaching by first finding a cache by accident?

[+gas4cache]

I guess I didn't mean necissarily finding it without the GPS so much as a combination of that and the fact that I know the area so well. Kind of takes the fun out of it I think, but we'll see.

 

Thanks

Ron

[+Bill & Tammy]

Personally I would love to see the sport (hobby, game etc..) of geocaching become less centered on the use of a GPSr. Presently it seems by popular definition a geocacher is one that uses a GPSr to seek hidden stashes. But with access to resources like GoogleEarth and LostOutdoors.com etc. it is clear a GPSr isn't always necessary. And no it isn't necessary for hiding a cache either; my first caches were hidden without a GPSr and visitors have reported my coords were right on. I am sure many would love to become involved but the lack of a navigational instrument may be a stumbling block as the thread author points out.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Bill & Tammy

[+ZingerHead]

But with access to resources like GoogleEarth and LostOutdoors.com etc. it is clear a GPSr isn't always necessary.

Multi caches might be tricky without a wireless link to your laptop .

 

I'm not so sure using Google Earth is any less hardware intensive than GPS. After all, you are still using billions of dollars of military hardware to figure out where the little box is hiding. For a different challenge you could give orienteering or letterboxing a go.

[+BlueDeuce]

I guess I didn't mean necissarily finding it without the GPS so much as a combination of that and the fact that I know the area so well.  Kind of takes the fun out of it I think, but we'll see.

 

Thanks

Ron

I hear ya.

 

There have been times that I have walked up to a cache site and said, 'Well, it's right there.' and so would you.

 

Sometimes easy is part of the game., but you know the difference between easy and cheating, otherwise you wouldn't have asked.

 

If I'm caching with a buddy and he says, there it is, well...that's it.

 

I've asked people if they want me to tell them when I find it. And like me, most want me to tell them.

Edited December 9, 2005 by BlueDeuce

[+maggieszoo]

I guess I didn't mean necissarily finding it without the GPS so much as a combination of that and the fact that I know the area so well.  Kind of takes the fun out of it I think, but we'll see.

Just because you know where it is, doesn't mean you know where it is. I found my first cache without a GPS and spent quite a bit of time wandering around feeling stupid before I finally "got" the clue. I knew exactly where it was, but had a booger of a time finding it.Birds Eye View

[snowfoxrox]

Hey! Welcome!! I dont have a GPS yet (Christmas) and have found 14 in my area! Its kinda fun developing your "cache-sense" without the aid. I cant wait to get my GPS though so I can find some harder ones!! Good luck and have fun!!

~SFR!

[4wheelin_fool]

I know where 2 chaches are near my home. One that I think I spotted today. Didn't have time to get out and check it out. What I'm wondering is, if I physically go to them, sign the log, maybe trade some swag.. whatever, would it be poor taste/cheating to log that as a find, even though I don't even own a Gps yet?

 

Thanks

Ron

I hid this cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...&log=y&decrypt=

with instructions so that it could be found without a GPS(using a compass), figuring that someone interested, or curious in geocaching could try out the game if they didnt have a GPS. New geocachers will usually attempt a find without a GPS anyway.

[+Anonymous']

Of course you can log them! Plus it's very cool you found the caches without a GPS.

[+Crystal Sound]

Personally I would love to see the sport (hobby, game etc..) of geocaching become less centered on the use of a GPSr.

 

Sounds more like letterboxing, to me.

 

 

There's been a number of caches I've found, that the coordinates were way off. Times like those, the GPS was useless anyways. But there have been several that I've hunted, that I didnt bother with the GPS - just reading the cache page, I knew the approx. location of the hide. Upon arrival, it merely look a little looking around, before finding. Some areas, I've walked right to the cache w/o the help of a GPS.

Edited December 12, 2005 by Crystal Sound

[+Ed & Julie]

I know a gal in Tenessee (I'm in California) who has never caches before. I looked up caches near her home, and found one just a block from her apartment near a church on a walking path.

 

Using clues gleened from the logs, she went out and found it without a gps. She traded swag, signed the log, and had a blast.

 

Welcome to Seymour

 

Ed

[+Zzyzx Road]

Our town is so small (+/- 10000) that I know where the one benchmark and two caches are. I have yet to take the time to find them exactly though - I know the police chief kinda' (his kid is at school with mine, they're buds) and I would hate to meet him under suspicious circumstances! The clues are great. I was actually surprised to see the map show a road behind some businesses that I never knew were there! (We have lived here 3 years )

 

I personally think that getting close or finding without a gadget is great!

Edited December 14, 2005 by Zzyzx Road

[+mizdeeds]

My first find was a virtual cache that I recognized just from the brief description. It's something very unusual in the small town (pop. 2,000) I grew up in, and I knew the creator of the unusual object we had to log. Seems to me using your head instead of a machine is still okay in this game! (I did go back there after I'd purchased my GPS, just to play with my new toy)

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

Go for it, I've found two caches (one accidentally andone on purpose) without a GPSr, and logged 'em both.

[+Renegade Knight]

Nothing I can add except, HECK YES IT COUNTS. Log those suckers!

[+RykoalaTeam]

I think its cool to find a cache without a GPS. Yesterday my wife and I were out caching and we knew the general location of a cache but forgot to print it to bring with us, and it wasn't programmed as a waypoint yet. So we scouted the cache area. There were too many people around to check where I thought it was so I went back late at night and went to the place where I thought the cache was, and sure enough I found it. Some are impossible without a GPSr, others are quite do-able.

[+Team_LPD]

Is it cheating if say...........there is a multi-cache which involves going to two historic signs near roads. I think you know the ones I'm talking about, "Anytown USA founded in XXXX, settled by xxxxxx, etc". You are supposed to obtain clues from these signs in order to finish the cache.

 

However, I know where the first sign is and the significance surrounding it. Using the internet I was able to pull up both signs and decipher the clues needed for the finale. So, instead of having to drive to the two signs I am able to go right to the final spot.

[+TEAM RETRIEVER]

Found a cache without a GPS?!!? Nuthin' left to do but strut!

[+dkwolf]

Is it cheating if say...........there is a multi-cache which involves going to two historic signs near roads. I think you know the ones I'm talking about, "Anytown USA founded in XXXX, settled by xxxxxx, etc". You are supposed to obtain clues from these signs in order to finish the cache.

 

However, I know where the first sign is and the significance surrounding it. Using the internet I was able to pull up both signs and decipher the clues needed for the finale. So, instead of having to drive to the two signs I am able to go right to the final spot.

For 99.9% of cachers, that would be okay. They put out a cache intending it to be found a certain way. You demonstrated enough knowledge of the area and situations to be able to find the required information in a different manner. Some hiders would maybe be slightly disapointed that you didn't go about it the way the intended, but they would congratulate you on the ingenuity and the find.

 

For a very small group of hiders, if you don't follow their rules exactly and go about their cache JUST how they intended you to, they'll delete your find log. (as we found out in a recent thread...)

 

You find the cache, you sign the log, you can log it online.

[+Goldfinch593]

Found a cache without a GPS?!!?  Nuthin' left to do but strut!

My very first cache was also found without a GPSr. I'm strutting!

[+Bill & Tammy]

Found a cache without a GPS?!!?  Nuthin' left to do but strut!

My very first cache was also found without a GPSr. I'm strutting!

I placed my first cache without a GPSr. Do I get to strut a little?

Edited December 23, 2005 by Bill & Tammy

[+shorbird]

If you find a cache without a GPS, that's great! By all means, log it. For myself, I have trouble finding them WITH the GPS!!