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First Geocaching Experience Report


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Had the day all planned - use cache hunting as a way of exploring the area around where i live. Two caches (GCJTN5 and GCT2B7). 8 mile round trip from where I live, so ifigure nice hike, good weather for it....

 

Then couldnt find either. First cache in woods where conservationists are busy renovating, so might have been moved. Second, had no luck with at all (apart from mis-calculating the bearings and finding some kid's stash of girly mags (!) - not what i was expecting!!). :ph34r::o

 

Back home tired , happy, but a little frustrated. Will have to try again, undeterred. Maybe i was expecting it too easy on my first attempt. Also, not sure how to go about cache hunting once your GPSr finds the rough area. Anyone have suggestions or tips?

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Yep, chin up. We started with high hopes for our first Geocaching expedition last Sunday and were disappointed to log a DNF. Like your first attempt though, the evidence is there to suggest that the cache has been muggled - we just await confirmation. However, we have found a couple of caches this weekend and now feel confident in our ability so to do. So much so that we may be attempting 3 more tomorrow. So we know how you feel and sympathise, but keep on keeping on, your first find will be well worth it.

Edited by Eco-sheep
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It 'is' frustrating, but we have too many DNFs to count. It's just part and parcel of the game. A lot of people don't bother to log them, which is another bugbear for owners.

 

I suspect most of our DNFs are at micros, which is probably why we love them so much! :huh: If we go back, we sometimes find them so easily that we wonder what the problem was the first time, but that's the way it works.

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It 'is' frustrating, but we have too many DNFs to count.

Even more so when it's your first attempt at Geocaching though. The stoicism of experience isn't present when you leave for your first hunt, just optimism and excitement, which makes a DNF far more disappointing.

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I tried looking before I had a GPS, I was too excited. I tried one seven or eight times by map reading skills alone. When I got the GPS I found my map reading skills were OK, but not OK enough.

 

To build up some confidence look for large or medium caches, so you know you are looking for a decent sized bit of tupperware or an ammo box. Their size limits the number of hiding places. Maybe check the previous logs to establish how challenging they are, you may also get extra clues from the logs.

 

Good luck

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One of my early caches took a couple of visits,the owner checked it and confirmed it was still there,turned out I was right beside it but it was hidden so far in a tree hole that I ended up right up to my elbow before finding it,a great hide from the Beds Clanger!

As annoying as dnf's are it can get boring walking up to a pile of aligned sticks and picking up a cache all the time,stick at it and you'll be well and truly hooked.

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We planned a couple of caches for today but ended up in the pub instead,does that warrant a dnf? :D

 

No, there's fine print somewhere on ther internet that exludes pubs as counting as DNF's in Geocaching. So your safe.

 

TattooedDancer:

I'm just starting out as well in SE lower Michigan. Terribly muddy. -3 till 10:00, then no higher than 5 the rest of the day with a stong wind. Just enough to make things to cold in the morning and muddy in the afternoon. Ask yourself this. Would you have ever just "walked" to that location otherwise? So nothings a waste.

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