Ever Gotten Completely Frustrated By A Cache?

[+dkwolf]

Tried my first multi-cache today. First stage was under a beautiful stone bridge in a county park. Container was listed on the website as gladware. I wish I could say when it was changed, it was upgraded. Instead, when I found it, it is an empty chewing tobacco container, still reeking of the mint chew it used to hold. The sheet inside with the coords for the second stage, despite being laminated, had gotten wet and the ink had bled so the coordinates were just barely readable. Despite all of that, I was still in a good mood as I started off towards the final. After walking all the way through the beautiful park the first stage was in, my mood started to decline quickly as the GPS pointed me across the road to a much less attractive park. After spending the next 45 minutes searching within 100' of the best-guess area I could find for ground zero, I realized I was getting waay too frustrated. I'm not sure if it was the fact that the multi went from a beautiful park to just another cache hidden under a log somewhere (never did find it), the weather, or the fact that this is my first DNF in almost a year, but I walked back to the truck with a very sour taste in my mouth. To top it all off, I wasn't even halfway back to the truck when it started raining. Once I was home, I posted a needs maintenance log for the cache, and if the owner confirms the final is still in place, I'll go back and try it someday, but as it was I was getting ready to hurl my GPS into the river.

 

Anyway, just needed to rant....anyone else had caches like this?

[+Ambrosia]

YES!!!

 

I'm still traumitized.

[+scavok]

Ooo yea. I know I'm still considered a newby but even in the hundred+ caches found, I have still had my share of crappy ones.

 

Just because it is difficult doens't make it frustrating. But you said it best, a lot of work for a very un-special hide is just not fun.

[4wheelin_fool]

... The sheet inside with the coords for the second stage, despite being laminated, had gotten wet and the ink had bled so the coordinates were just barely readable...

Are you sure you had the correct #s?

[+Kryten]

Yup, this one got under my skin

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...70-e31aec0c5bba

 

First stage is a 5 mile walk into a forest, only to discover that the poles holding up a telephone line have been removed. Cache owner non responsive.

 

Second visit with data from another cacher more successful, final stage involves crawling around in a stone

tunnel in the foundations of an aquaduct, dark, damp, creepy, claustrophobic. Couldn't find the final location.

 

Got it on the third visit.

[+lacey38655]

Frustrating is when you cannot let a cache go. I have been out to this one cache location (here you go) 12 times. I have brought friends, hubby and daughter, the family dog, and yet I still cannot find this cache. I emailed the owner for a 2nd clue, recieved it is 100 feet off the coordinates. OK THAT REALLY HELPED. Yeah right. Ok I have reread all the posts for this cache, everyone has experienced wrong coordinates. This is a magnetic key holder at a business. Alot of tree cover, landscaping, etc... I really like this guys other cache's but this one is rediculous. I know it is there, I just cannot believe after 12 times, I have not stumbled on it. Thanks for letting me vent. My question. When would you have given up? 2 DNF, 5, 10?

[+Nels_Anderson]

Yes, it happens. I guess the problem is that by time you reach that frustration level you've already got a lot invested in the cache...starting from first finding the listing, reading the details, doing the hike and then of course a lot of searching. After all that it's hard to let it go.

 

But you know what? At least around my area there are a LOT of caches. If one of them is a hassle it's pretty easy to just drop it and go on to another one.

[+dkwolf]

Yes, it happens. I guess the problem is that by time you reach that frustration level you've already got a lot invested in the cache...starting from first finding the listing, reading the details, doing the hike and then of course a lot of searching. After all that it's hard to let it go.

 

But you know what? At least around my area there are a LOT of caches. If one of them is a hassle it's pretty easy to just drop it and go on to another one.

 

You're exactly right, by the time you reach frustration you've got a lot of time wrapped up in it. And I seriously looked at just going after another cache after that, but the next nearest unfound cache would have been another 20 miles--straight line, not following roads, so closer to 30 miles, at which time I would have been within 30 miles of my parents house, granted, not a bad thing, but it was already 7:00 PM, they live two hours from my house, and they weren't even home At every major intersection on the drive home, I checked for 'nearest caches'. There wasn't a single one that would have involved less than 20 road miles out of my way to get to, and I put 115 miles on going after the 4 I hunted in the first place.

 

On the plus side, after I posted the 'needs maintenance' log last night, the owner emailed me and said he'd go check on it asap, so we'll see what happens.

[+chstress53]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...33-ed33ad9cbae0 This one will get you frustrated before you finish

[+brodiebunch]

When it stops being fun, its time to move on to the next one

[+Team JSAM]

I found it, it is an empty chewing tobacco container, still reeking of the mint chew it used to hold.

 

Thats nasty

 

When it stops being fun, its time to move on to the next one

 

I agree 100%

 

This one sucked

[blocko1000]

Yes, then I discovered that the owner didnt actually hide the cache yet. They got it approved and then decided to go hide it.

[+horsegeeks]

When it stops being fun, its time to move on to the next one

 

Go to the next one and then come back to the one you couldn't find another time. Frustration takes away from the fun

[+Miragee]

This cache was very frustrating.

 

I was passing through the area and looked way too long for it. Turns out the coordinates were off by .1.

 

Nothing worse than being on a trip and trying to find a 1.5/1.5 cache that is, according to the coordinates, going to be a quick, roadside cache, and not being able to find it . . .

 

The cache page, and the hint, have now been updated . . . Not sure if the coordinates have been updated yet.

[+Team Cotati]

This cache was very frustrating.

 

I was passing through the area and looked way too long for it. Turns out the coordinates were off by .1.

 

Nothing worse than being on a trip and trying to find a 1.5/1.5 cache that is, according to the coordinates, going to be a quick, roadside cache, and not being able to find it . . .

 

The cache page, and the hint, have now been updated . . . Not sure if the coordinates have been updated yet.

 

Gotcha beat there. Having the cargo area of a Ford stationwagon crammed to the gills with "vacation" gear and being in the middle of nowhere on the shoulder of I-5 with Mrs. Team Cotati and the two kids. Flat tire. You get ONE guess as to where the spare tire (NOT Mrs. Team Cotati) is located. Ya, nothing can be worse than the 'surprises' that you might encounter while on a 'trip'. Really sucks don't it?

Edited May 20, 2006 by Team Cotati

[+Mystery Ink]

Me frustrated Never. Ok so I am lying I have a few on my list I finally found all but 1 because I don't want to hike 37 miles for it.

 

This was a tricky little devil but finally found this one.

Secret walkway #7 - The Ivy Cache

 

And here is the darn one that I was not able to find along with the story behind why I was so frustrated.

Kids Camp Cache 2004

 

Well we headed up to the Henry Coe back country weekend and arrived at 9 am. We headed as far as we could drive and was passed up by a kamikaze driver doing over 50 mph through the dirt roads that turned out to be a volunteer . So we pretty much had a windshield of dust and rocks. We finally made it to the end and noticed bullits truck parked so since my other half had a wedding to go to we put some of our supplies in the back of his truck and ran into cer we setup camp right next to his and my other half went to the wedding. Cer & I got ready to go caching, I put some sunscreen on my arms and didn't remember to put it on my neck BIG MISTAKE. We jumped on our bikes and headed out for Orestimba Creek.

It was a beautiful ride which was mainly up hill. We hit alot of watercrossings on the way and didn't realise that I wasn't wearing waterproof sunscreen so that all washed off. So not only are my arms sunburned my hands are too. But what is messed up about it is the sunburn on my hands is they match the patern on my bicycle gloves and also looks like I have been practicing giving myself hickies. The rest of me looks like I came out of the show King of the hill. So not only is my neck sunburned, But so is my arms, my hands, and even my eyelids discovering that when I woke up the next day when I went to open my eyes LOL. Anyways on our way back from Orestimba cer had a flat so we stopped to take a break so he could change his tire after he poured out half a gallon of water pretty much from his tire while I took some pictures of wildflowers they were amazing.Once we got back I decided to search for Nazgul and Bullit. Tents were all over the place so I walked down the road after about a mile or so of walking and listening to some little 7 year old mouthy little girl walking with her dad calling me a stupid gps nerd I noticed Kids Camp Cache 2004 was showing up 3/4's of a mile away so I hiked to it noticing my palm is back at the tent.I figured the cords were on so I continued I hike and hike noticing I have hiked almost 4 miles now what if the cache isn't there then I start getting second thoughts as the distance to the cache went up over a mile. All of the sudden I saw a black cloud comming towards me turns out it was a swarm of bee's they chase me down the hill. I start running down the hill screaming like a little schoolgirl at a mall and finding a dress on sale and waving my arms and hands in the air, they chased me about 1/4 of a mile then they were gone. By then I turn back my arms were even more sunburned by then I tuck my arms in my shirt so they don't get worse people start looking at me goofy wondering why some kid is walking with his arms in his shirt holding a gps out of it. So I start to walk back unsuccessful. Once I hit the main road again after hiking over 4 miles to the darn cache I saw some people walking to the corals turns out a volunteer knew them and offered them a shuttle ride to the corals but she didn't offer me they got in and the shuttle was going to take off so I stood in the middle of the road till he picked me up I was too hot and too tired the shuttlebus driver laughed about it. Once I arrived back to camp I finally ran into Nazgul and Bullit and that was just the start of my fun and clumsy weekend I can continue this story but nah too long.

 

What sucks about that one is they open the gate to the back of the park once a year after that you have to hike 37 miles to it.

Edited May 20, 2006 by Mystery Ink

[+woody_k]

Once I DNf a cache I very, very seldom go back to it for a few reasons.

 

In particlular there is this one hider in my area whose coords are always off. The best I have even seen from him was 20 feet. The average is at least 30 feet and all he hides are micros in ivy type bushes. So no sense attampting a second time.

 

I once went back 5 times to a cache before I found it...I was way to obessed.

 

Caching is suppose to be fun. The fun is in the finding. I like people to find my caches. That is how I play the game and if anyones who doesn't play by them rules I set for myself I ignore their caches. I know that is tough to do. It was for me too because we want to find them all. But I learned how to not worry about finding them all and only find the ones I want to find.

 

So to answer your question yes I do find caches that frustrate me....but then I ignore it after that.

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

There was one cache that so frustrated us, that we will not look for that cacher's caches any more. This was in the middle of the Arizona summer, when it was hot and miserable. The cache owner kept moving the container. Maybe even several times a day. All of us cachers got frustrated. Finally someone found it and emailed the rest of us with the location. When I went there, it was gone. The finder went back and discovered it had been moved and changed. We finally found it, and let others know where it was. Once again the container was moved.

 

That cache stopped being fun when we figured out the owner was playing mind games on us. I will not do his caches any more. It is one thing to have a cache that is devious and hard to find. It is quite another to deliberately change container and location just to play with us. Two or 3 years later and Im still grumpy about it.

 

Someone I know once posted on a cache that he looked until it stopped being fun. That is how we approach caching. We dont have to find every cache in our area. We just look for them until looking for it stops being fun. "Fun" is defined differently for each cache and cache owner. We may take months of looking before we find a cache. Other times, we may not look for more than a few minutes before we give up for good.

[+sillygirl & jrr]

THave been wanting to vent about this one: GCROR2 for a while. We were in town visiting old friends, and one was so fascinated by our hobby she ditched a work meeting when we told her there were several caches very close to her office. We found the first 2 really quickly and she said time for 1 more. Wish we'd picked a different one. Now, is it too much to ask that the owner temporarily disable a cache when s/he takes it home for maintenance?????

Edited May 20, 2006 by sillygirl & jrr

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

Oh yea, that would irritate me. Especially for someone who has that many finds. They should know better.

[+Skillet68]

Had one yesterday. Spent 45 minutes walking through knee high briars. The cords had the cache hidden between 2 rows of power lines. Stopped and stood on top of a medium sized hill to see around me, only to find out seconds later that it was a fire ant hill! 1 tube of neosporin later, I'm still considering going back...

[+dkwolf]

Ouch. That's GOT to suck...

[bogleman]

Tried my first multi-cache today. First stage was under a beautiful stone bridge in a county park. Container was listed on the website as gladware. I wish I could say when it was changed, it was upgraded. Instead, when I found it, it is an empty chewing tobacco container, still reeking of the mint chew it used to hold. The sheet inside with the coords for the second stage, despite being laminated, had gotten wet and the ink had bled so the coordinates were just barely readable. Despite all of that, I was still in a good mood as I started off towards the final. After walking all the way through the beautiful park the first stage was in, my mood started to decline quickly as the GPS pointed me across the road to a much less attractive park. After spending the next 45 minutes searching within 100' of the best-guess area I could find for ground zero, I realized I was getting waay too frustrated. I'm not sure if it was the fact that the multi went from a beautiful park to just another cache hidden under a log somewhere (never did find it), the weather, or the fact that this is my first DNF in almost a year, but I walked back to the truck with a very sour taste in my mouth. To top it all off, I wasn't even halfway back to the truck when it started raining. Once I was home, I posted a needs maintenance log for the cache, and if the owner confirms the final is still in place, I'll go back and try it someday, but as it was I was getting ready to hurl my GPS into the river.

 

Anyway, just needed to rant....anyone else had caches like this?

And did you finally finish the Skoal adventure????????

[+KKTH3]

Yes, then I discovered that the owner didnt actually hide the cache yet. They got it approved and then decided to go hide it.

 

Had that happen before. It also was a cache with special logging requirements which I came prepared with according to the cache page. When it was eventually placed, the logging requirements changed (though still the same on the cache page) - had to go back home and return a third time to finally log the cache.

[+dkwolf]

And did you finally finish the Skoal adventure????????

 

Not yet, I emailed the cache owner that night voicing several concerns about the cache (first stage condition, and possible muggling of second stage) and he immediately disabled it until he could get there to check on everything. Last I checked, it hasn't been enabled again yet.

Edited June 8, 2006 by dkwolf

[+A,J&BG]

Yep! There is the cache in CA called One Tough Cookie... It is archived now! But I think it took us 6 times to finally find it! But after finding it we felt such relief!!!!

[+bumblingbs]

Life is funny, isn't it?

 

I've been FTF on a couple of caches where the owner taunted seekers about their ability to find it.

 

I've also DNF'd 1/1 caches that everyone and their 18 month old and their dog have found.

Go figure.

[+smilingsteeles]

Life is funny, isn't it?

I've also DNF'd 1/1 caches that everyone and their 18 month old and their dog have found.

Go figure.

It can be so humiliating, can't it? Been there, done that.

[+RichardMoore]

I have never been frustrated by a cache.

I have, however, been frustrated by the cache owner.

You've all said it while out there searching for that 1/1 that you've tried to find three times so far. "That dirty little *%^&$@, couldn't hide a cache right if his worthless life depended on it."

[+Tharagleb]

See the logs from March 18th for Just off the Ash Trail #4

 

A bunch of us were thoroughly humiliated by this evil camo'ed micro.

Edited June 8, 2006 by Tharagleb

[+dkwolf]

I have never been frustrated by a cache.

I have, however, been frustrated by the cache owner.

You've all said it while out there searching for that 1/1 that you've tried to find three times so far. "That dirty little *%^&$@, couldn't hide a cache right if his worthless life depended on it."

 

Exactly! On this particular cache hunt, it was after I had passed that stage and started wishing bad things upon the hider that I decided I was letting it get me WAAAAY too worked up and it was time to call it a day.