What Is Up With Jacksonville?

March 28, 2006

Citty and I decided to go to Jacksonville, FL recently. We were anxious to visit the city that hosted Geowoodstock and wanted to have a memorable caching vacation. I was shocked to find that the caches we encountered mostly, um how can I say it......SUCKED!!!

The great thing about Geocaching is that you can see the hidden gems of a city. The caches we did took us to such memorable places as a sex toy shop, a McDonalds drive in, several BBQ joints, Taco Bell, Auto Zone, CVS and my personal favorite a strip club. Is this the best that Jax has to offer?

I understand that Geowoodstocks slogan was "It's all about the numbers.". I have also done a ton of complaining to the people in Charleston (where I currently reside) that there are not any new caches to be found here. After doing Jax though, I'm happy that there aren't that many here because the ones that are here are all quality caches in my opinion. I respect the cachers in SC with smaller numbers than the ones in Jax with higher numbers due to the fact that the caches in Jax are crap with no originality or skill whats so ever.

I thought that there were some known rules to follow. Such as: You should only place a micro if there is no possible way to place a regular size cache. I would say that 90% of the caches we did were micros. And I'll say that 90% of those could have been regular size caches. Also I thought there was no advertising in Geocaching. You can forget about that in Jax. If someone likes the place they get their oil changed at, you can bet there is a cache nearby. Oh and one more thing. I thought when hiding a cache you needed to respect businesses and make sure that the cache is in a conspicuous spot. Hahaha. One of the caches we did took us to a building that must have been 5 stories tall with nothing but glass windows. The cache was hidden right in front of it. There was absolutely no way to not be seen. Another was at a McDonalds drive through lane. I don't think this respects businesses, I believe that it makes geocaching a nuisance to the corporations that are nice enough to let us place a cache on their property. That will make it hard in the long run to get approval to hide caches in my opinion.

Now of course there were a few quality hides. But that's just it.....a few. To anyone who hid a cache in a park, or with an ammo can, or a place with some interesting history, this is not meant for you. This isn't for all of FL either. We were planning on staying just in Jax but after finding out how disappointing it was Citty and I were ready to leave. We decided to go to St. Augustine. That was a very pleasant experience. Nice caches with good history and nice parks. The good caches definately outweighed the bad there. The same could not be said for Jax.

So if this is what you get when you have a major Geocaching event, I hope it stays out of SC. Or better yet, SC should have a Geowoodstock. It's slogan should be, "It's not about the numbers, it's about the quality".

March 28, 2006

Wish I could say I haven't heard stories such as this before.

It is alot more common today more than when I started caching.

I'll just recommend you check out all the listing services, as another one may be more to your liking. If you want more details then P.M. me.

reepicheep

March 28, 2006

Citty and I decided to go to Jacksonville, FL recently. We were anxious to visit the city that hosted Geowoodstock and wanted to have a memorable caching vacation. I was shocked to find that the caches we encountered mostly, um how can I say it......SUCKED!!!

The great thing about Geocaching is that you can see the hidden gems of a city. The caches we did took us to such memorable places as a sex toy shop, a McDonalds drive in, several BBQ joints, Taco Bell, Auto Zone, CVS and my personal favorite a strip club. Is this the best that Jax has to offer?

I understand that Geowoodstocks slogan was "It's all about the numbers.". I have also done a ton of complaining to the people in Charleston (where I currently reside) that there are not any new caches to be found here. After doing Jax though, I'm happy that there aren't that many here because the ones that are here are all quality caches in my opinion. I respect the cachers in SC with smaller numbers than the ones in Jax with higher numbers due to the fact that the caches in Jax are crap with no originality or skill whats so ever.

I thought that there were some known rules to follow. Such as: You should only place a micro if there is no possible way to place a regular size cache. I would say that 90% of the caches we did were micros. And I'll say that 90% of those could have been regular size caches. Also I thought there was no advertising in Geocaching. You can forget about that in Jax. If someone likes the place they get their oil changed at, you can bet there is a cache nearby. Oh and one more thing. I thought when hiding a cache you needed to respect businesses and make sure that the cache is in a conspicuous spot. Hahaha. One of the caches we did took us to a building that must have been 5 stories tall with nothing but glass windows. The cache was hidden right in front of it. There was absolutely no way to not be seen. Another was at a McDonalds drive through lane. I don't think this respects businesses, I believe that it makes geocaching a nuisance to the corporations that are nice enough to let us place a cache on their property. That will make it hard in the long run to get approval to hide caches in my opinion.

Now of course there were a few quality hides. But that's just it.....a few. To anyone who hid a cache in a park, or with an ammo can, or a place with some interesting history, this is not meant for you. This isn't for all of FL either. We were planning on staying just in Jax but after finding out how disappointing it was Citty and I were ready to leave. We decided to go to St. Augustine. That was a very pleasant experience. Nice caches with good history and nice parks. The good caches definately outweighed the bad there. The same could not be said for Jax.

So if this is what you get when you have a major Geocaching event, I hope it stays out of SC. Or better yet, SC should have a Geowoodstock. It's slogan should be, "It's not about the numbers, it's about the quality".

March 28, 2006

rhelt100,

Maybe it was just me, but all I got was a quote of Brett&Citty's post.

reepicheep

1.5k · March 28, 2006

Being a first timer at Geowoodstock I do not care who you are but everyone missed some of the point when they moan and groan about the "its all about the numbers" I spent 3 days in JX Fl for GW3 and really did not actually cache but one day, cause the other days it was about the numbers, the number of new people I met, the number of TBs that were passed around, yes numbers were apart of it, but it is NOT just about the caches in the area, but I've made some great contacts from the event and I really enjoyed the number of people I got to meet. Sadly this is an event you can not really understand unless you have been. People I know will read this and may take offense to it, and I am sorry, this is not a personal attack toward anyone, just stating I've been there and it was not just about the caches.

Now for the caches itself, I did a run that included 66 caches, not I do not know what caches you hit but I do not think you did some of the ones I did. Stressmaster is famous for hiding well stocked ammo cans in the area and I saw ways to hide an ammo can that I did not think were possible. Monkey puzzle cache, AWESOME cache. I am sorry you had a very bad experience there cause the caches I did I could only wish I could do here in South Carolina....wait...I do have one.....point is, what you saw and went through was bad, but there was a lot more to it then what you it seemed like you saw. Next time your in town contact the likes of "Stressmaster" and "The Federation"...I promise you, you will have a much better time if you look for some of their caches.

March 28, 2006

I did do some stressmaster caches and i thought they were all right. I brought three tb's down with me and out of the 20 or 30 caches we did, we never had the chance to swap them out. Only on a rest stop off of I 95 did we finally find a TB to swap. When it comes to meeting people at a geowoodstock event thats great. But you can also do that at a greet and meet in your hometown (just like how I met you Geoholic). It isn't the main point though when your wanting to up your numbers. You might not have cared about the numbers but I bet you most of the people who attended did.

1.5k · March 28, 2006

I did do some stressmaster caches and i thought they were all right. I brought three tb's down with me and out of the 20 or 30 caches we did, we never had the chance to swap them out. Only on a rest stop off of I 95 did we finally find a TB to swap. When it comes to meeting people at a geowoodstock event thats great. But you can also do that at a greet and meet in your hometown (just like how I met you Geoholic). It isn't the main point though when your wanting to up your numbers. You might not have cared about the numbers but I bet you most of the people who attended did.

I am not going to lie and say not everyone there was about the numbers, but show me a local meet-n-greet where you get to meet some of the top cachers in the world, almost all the staff of Groundspeak, and almost all the major mods. Yes, I agree local meet-n-greets are great, but a national event is also great cause I now talk to cachers in texas, maine, and other areas across the USA because of this event. I also had the great experience of returning a TB to an owner that the TB had been lost for a very long time and just had returned right be I was to go down there and I was able to return it to them, that was a great moment for me at the event.

As for the caches, once again I am deeply sorry you did not have a great experience, cause I know there are some highly decent caches, and some are VERY well done in turns of camo. Being JX is huge it might just be a situation where I was in a different part then you guys were.

March 28, 2006

Well we stuck with downtown and ones that were somewhat near the river thinking that it might be a nice area, and I'm sure there is some nice areas but we sure didn't see many of them.

1.5k · March 28, 2006

Well sadly geocaching takes us some places we have to stop and think "why am I here?" and we have all had those times, just sorry it was so many caches in such a small area.

March 28, 2006

And by the way the whole point of what I'm saying is that you could get rid of over half the caches in Jax and you would have a great geocaching city. Unfortunately it's not that way (which I believe is because of Geowoodstock) and your stuck with a city that has a ton of crappy caches in crappy areas.

1.5k · March 28, 2006

And by the way the whole point of what I'm saying is that you could get rid of over half the caches in Jax and you would have a great geocaching city. Unfortunately it's not that way (which I believe is because of Geowoodstock) and your stuck with a city that has a ton of crappy caches in crappy areas.

From what I understood the only caches actually placed for the event were those ammo cans in the park itself. There could have been more outside the park, but I was never aware of them.

March 28, 2006

It all depends on what area you were in... Yes there are a lot of park and grabs in Jacksonville. But then again most every large city I have cached in has them... Raleigh has them, Charlotte has them, Fayetteville, and so on and so on. But there are creative caches there. What did you set you Pocket query as? All caches or those below a certain D/T rating. While I was in Jacksonville, I encountered several creative caches, some of which I have reproduced in my area... one of which has roughly a 75% DNF rate. As geoholic mentioned in his post, the caches by Stressmaster, Paintfiction, and the Federation stick out in my head as creative. The Federation MUST PAY! ranks as one of my favorites anywhere. During the GW3 event, there were a lot of cache runs for numbers only, but there were cache runs that were all hikes, caches requiring 4x4's, handicapped accessible, and historic/scenic areas.

IMO, lots of park and grabs, but overall the caches in Jax do not suck!

March 28, 2006

It all depends on what area you were in... Yes there are a lot of park and grabs in Jacksonville. But then again most every large city I have cached in has them... Raleigh has them, Charlotte has them, Fayetteville, and so on and so on. But there are creative caches there. What did you set you Pocket query as? All caches or those below a certain D/T rating. While I was in Jacksonville, I encountered several creative caches, some of which I have reproduced in my area... one of which has roughly a 75% DNF rate. As geoholic mentioned in his post, the caches by Stressmaster, Paintfiction, and the Federation stick out in my head as creative. The Federation MUST PAY! ranks as one of my favorites anywhere. During the GW3 event, there were a lot of cache runs for numbers only, but there were cache runs that were all hikes, caches requiring 4x4's, handicapped accessible, and historic/scenic areas.

IMO, lots of park and grabs, but overall the caches in Jax do not suck!

Like Medic says there is everything you want in Jacksonville. You just didn't do your homework. You must have cached blind (ie no planning). We have cached in the Jacksonville area 4 times and we had everything we wanted. Ms horsegeeks likes the scenery so at least one or two days out of each trip we went sightseeing/caching and she had a blast. We saw the best of what JAX had to offer and there is indeed something for everyone.

March 28, 2006

You just didn't do your homework. You must have cached blind (ie no planning).

Homework?

Sad that you have to work at weeding through alot of caches to find the good ones.

Of course you do have to do some planning for a trip, but weeding through the caches in a large metropolitan is way more work that should be required for a trip to stay fun.

Still the best way to go would be the 'r' word, but we won't even bring up that word and start the arguments.

reepicheep

March 28, 2006

You just didn't do your homework. You must have cached blind (ie no planning).

Homework?

Sad that you have to work at weeding through alot of caches to find the good ones.

Of course you do have to do some planning for a trip, but weeding through the caches in a large metropolitan is way more work that should be required for a trip to stay fun.

Still the best way to go would be the 'r' word, but we won't even bring up that word and start the arguments.

reepicheep

But you did bring up the "r" word... it's just as easy to have crappy regular hides as it is to have crappy micros or vice versa.

March 28, 2006

You just didn't do your homework. You must have cached blind (ie no planning).

Homework?

Sad that you have to work at weeding through alot of caches to find the good ones.

Of course you do have to do some planning for a trip, but weeding through the caches in a large metropolitan is way more work that should be required for a trip to stay fun.

Still the best way to go would be the 'r' word, but we won't even bring up that word and start the arguments.

reepicheep

But you did bring up the "r" word... it's just as easy to have crappy regular hides as it is to have crappy micros or vice versa.

No matter what you do you have to do some planning. If you want to do anything blind you don't always get what you want. We decide ahead of time what kind of caching we want to do, pull a PQ and then decide which we want to do. That is done by all of the people I cache with and we cache with all types of folks with different preferences. Cache blind and you get what you get.

March 28, 2006

Hey how about this: cachers from Charleston suck.

That's probably about as accurate, well-researched, and objective as "Caches in Jacksonville suck". However, from my experience, cachers from Charleston do suck. If you want beautiful scenery and ammo cans in ANY city, why would you stick to the downtown area????? Probably not the best plan.

1.5k · March 28, 2006

Hey how about this: cachers from Charleston suck.
That's probably about as accurate, well-researched, and objective as "Caches in Jacksonville suck". However, from my experience, cachers from Charleston do suck. If you want beautiful scenery and ammo cans in ANY city, why would you stick to the downtown area????? Probably not the best plan.

I am not sure if you understood the meaning behind the OP post, he stated that they ended up in a not so good cache area of JX and did not like it. Now, I am not sure exactly your position as a cacher since your a non-validated member at this point, but no where in the posts was the OP stating that actual cachers suck in JX. Also once again, I would like to know what experiences you had since it seems your either starting over a a new cacher or just getting started.

The post was to point out some bad caches they came across, and never once pointed a finger at a cacher and said you suck, plus that would be a no no and we like to keep the mods happy :lol:

March 28, 2006

The post was to point out some bad caches they came across, and never once pointed a finger at a cacher and said you suck, plus that would be a no no and we like to keep the mods happy

Indeed. I seem to have lost a Hanes crew sock, white with red stitching. Anybody seen it? Today's laundry day.

1.5k · March 28, 2006

The post was to point out some bad caches they came across, and never once pointed a finger at a cacher and said you suck, plus that would be a no no and we like to keep the mods happy

Indeed. I seem to have lost a Hanes crew sock, white with red stitching. Anybody seen it? Today's laundry day.

Are you trying to say I'm a sock puppet??? I'm confused

March 28, 2006

The post was to point out some bad caches they came across, and never once pointed a finger at a cacher and said you suck, plus that would be a no no and we like to keep the mods happy

Indeed. I seem to have lost a Hanes crew sock, white with red stitching. Anybody seen it? Today's laundry day.

Are you trying to say I'm a sock puppet??? I'm confused

Doubtful, but I do smell a sock around here

1.5k · March 28, 2006

Yeah I see where the Capt. was coming from now...just caught me off guard...been a long day

March 28, 2006

Yeah I see where the Capt. was coming from now...just caught me off guard...been a long day

:lol:

March 28, 2006

The great thing about Geocaching is that you can see the hidden gems of a city. The caches we did took us to such memorable places as a sex toy shop, a McDonalds drive in, several BBQ joints, Taco Bell, Auto Zone, CVS and my personal favorite a strip club. Is this the best that Jax has to offer?

As a 25+ year resident of Jax I gotta say "Ya, sorry that's all we got to offer" :lol: Seriously though, ya should have done more caching at the beaches and less near the downtown area. Next time you're in the area PM me or any of the local cachers (or post something at www.nefga.com) and we'll be glad to point ya in the right direction. You might want to check out 'The Federation Must Pay' and 'Guana Quest' when you're in town

Edited March 28, 2006 by clan_Barron

1.5k · March 28, 2006

What is up with Jacksonville? nothing much, sunny and nice I assume :lol:

**hint hint** back to the topic at hand we goooooooo

March 28, 2006

This thread has been closed, it is going nowhere fast

Max Cacher

Geocaching.com Volunteer Cache Reviewer // Moderator

What Is Up With Jacksonville?

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment