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Where Has The Creativity Gone?


Dep&Uno&Co

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Hey all

 

We just recently moved to Indianapolis, but this was becoming a problem back in Northern VA as well and from what I see, it is almost everywhere.

 

When we got here to Indy, we immediately put in our home coords and what did we get in search results? Pages and pages and pages of micros. Now, we have nothing against a well thought out micro. But, it seems as though micros are now the norm instead of the exception. They are popping up on every street corner in our area, and there is no creativity, no thought, no anything to them. They aren't even fun to go out and hunt. We do them because they are all that's out there. There are a few people who get creative with containers or with the spot they are placed in, but these are rare. Most are just placed on a street corner, just so that they can say they have one placed.

 

What happened to people actually placing (gasp??!??!?!?) ammo boxes where you could trade items and not just find a wet log. What happened to people creating caches that were big enough to trade items in, and that you could put an item in without fear of it being muggled? What happened to caches that were actually more than 1 star and where you had to walk more than 500 feet from where you parked?

 

Now, before anyone goes off, I will say that we currently only have one adopted cache that is ours. We had another that was stolen, and another that we gave away when we moved. We don't believe in just placing 35mm film canisters everywhere so we can say we have caches placed.

 

When caches are just placed willy nilly, it really starts to ruin the sport. We have seen a few caches where the description tells you where to park, and exactly where the container is. You don't even need a GPS. We constantly see a cache that was placed, soon get crossed off because it was muggled....hmmm, maybe because it was outside the local Starbucks? There is a cache in our area that log after log tells how the employees at a local repair shop literally TELL people exactly where the cache is located, so all you really have to do is stand on the corner and they will tell you where to go. What is the point? Yes you get another cache find, but is it rewarding?

 

We have lost 7 travel bugs now before they even reached 1000 miles, all because of them being placed in caches that were too public.

 

Now, we are currently working on two, possibly three 4 - 5 star caches that will not be for the faint of heart

but, these take time and planning. We got the idea from a really awesome cache in Virginia called "Blood & Guts in Virginia". We started that when it first was published and it was a doozy. Unfortunately, we never got to finish it, but many people have now. Even just working on the first 2 stages was so rewarding. I can tell you that what was required for stage one of that cache made us think we were crazy, requiured 3 trips to complete (our fault) and was extremely messy. And we weren't even sure we were in the right place, but the pics we took once we found what we were looking for really made our day. We hope to finish it someday.

 

All we are saying is that people really should try to put some thought in and make the game more challenging instead of continually dumbing it down. There is definately a place for a few micros and a few quick P&G's here and there. Every neighborhood needs a few. But, can't there be a few challenges that make you think? that make people have to work together? That actually have a really nice payoff that makes you glad that you spent the time and solved the puzzle.

 

Sigh. I will stop ranting now. I am just really frustrated with the whole thing. Hopefully, others will jump on and really put some thought into some new caches for the 2nd half of 2006.

 

If anyone in the Indy area is interested in helping us create ours, let us know.

 

Dep&Uno

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Welcome to Indiana!

In my experience, when you get into a large metropolitan area, the number of micros increases as opposed to a suburban or rural area. Up here near Chicago, there are many county Forest Preserves that will support and do contain regular size caches, but some Preserves don't allow or restrict caching.

Yesterday, I did 6 caches in South Bend, 4 were regular size on the Notre Dame campus, one was a micro at St Mary's College and one was a virtual in a park near the downtown area. The micro could have been a virtual, except for the log and the virtual could become a regular cache by adding a micro. There are interesting things to see everywhere, so a micro changes a virtual into a regular cache.

Try going outside Indy for more regular sized caches. I haven't done the area around Rockville yet, (West of Indy), but plan to, just not during the Covered Bridge Festival.

Happy Hunting and Good Luck!

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Welcome to GEOCACHING IN INDIANA , Dep! :huh: Sorry you don't seem to like the caches around Indy. :(

 

I can't say we agree with you about caches in Indiana in general tho. There are TONS of creative caches here--Lot's of puzzles, and long walks in the woods in the State Forests and Reservoirs , waterfalls, cemeteries--This state is a virtual HAVEN for Geocachers, you have REALLY lucked out. There are many, many dedicated cachers here that put out all kinds of really neat caches, events, and treks. Join Indigo. Search for some Deermark, Daggy, Prairie Partners, Mountain Climber and a host of others' geocaches. :(

 

Don't get me wrong, I welcome your viewpoint, but come on, give us Hoosiers a break--I don't think you've looked hard enuff to find your kinds of caches--and they aren't that far from Indy either. :(

 

You've admitted that you only own one active adopted cache. :laughing: Instead of just thinking about it why don't you go out tomorrow or next weekend and HIDE some caches of the type you'd like to see? :) Be an example. Lead the way. Put your money where your mouth is! :( We need as many cachers like you, willing to put out quality caches as we can get, instead of all these guys putting out lame cemetery micros, and plastic peanut butter jars tossed into the woods!!

 

--Lead Dog :)

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Hiya and welcome to Indy.

 

Not sure what you consider to be a bad ratio but if you're just searching the Indy metropolitan area you WILL get a lot of small and micro-caches... just as occurs in any urban area.

 

Many of the local parks have full-sized caches [southeastway, Rucker, Southwestway, etc.] as well as a lot of surprising ones scattered throughout the area. A bit more research will show a history of many more that have been muggled and/or retired.

 

There is not a lot of open, wooded and publicly-owned/accessible land in Marion county but what we have has now or has had a cache placed there.

 

Another factor is that the local reviewers have not allowed areas to be cache-saturated. Several parks have many regular-sized caches but you won't find one every 529 feet along the path.

 

Yes, there are a lot of "cemetery film cans" - Many are part of the "Indiana Spirit Quest" series that is trying to get as many cemeteries back on the map and get folks out to visit some surprising locations and sites. You are more than welcome to ignore the micros but some of the cemeteries are quite fascinating and a significant part of Hoosier history.

 

You won't find a huge amount of lightpole micros as some past reviewers have worked hard to discourage those.

 

You may have noticed that central Indiana tends to lack terrain that could possibly be considered much more difficult than an easy hike up some rolling hills. Those mountain thingies have been gone a long time and replaced with cow pastures and Steak 'n' Shakes. Don't expect a TERRAIN-5 hide in an area where the biggest hill is the dirt pile over by the new stadium.

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Yes, welcome to Indianapolis. I've looked at the caches you've done here so far and you have only scratched the surface of the kind of caches that I suspect you like. Try a filter leaving out micros and anything less than a 2/2 and I bet you'll still have over 100 fine full-size caches with a nice walk within 15 miles of Broad Ripple. Of course within that area you are in an urban area, so the really long unbroken walks of miles may not be possible. Try doing all of the caches at FT. Ben State Park in one trip maybe.

 

By the way, your log for my Bacon's Swamp was probably the best log anyone has posted for any of my caches.

 

Muirwoody

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Hey again

 

Thanks to all for the replies and for the advice. I was just in a really bad mood when I wrote that post early this morning. We had had a bad day of caching, and I was tired and cranky and just needed to vent. I actually did do some searching this morn and found there are plenty of larger caches and many that are downright evil once you get a bit further out of the city. Not to mention "Shelter III). That may be just what I need to make me go back to loving the ole micros on street corners heheheeh.

 

Just ignore me on this one. I hope I didn't ruffle anyones feather. We really are nice guys, I just get a bit bitchy sometimes :laughing:

 

Hope to meet some of you on the trails

 

Dave

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Welcome to the area. This bookmark list of Deermark's Toughest Hides by the renowned 6K cacher Deermark may assist you, especially for south central Indiana. That is, if you don't mind a hike or two. :laughing: Check out his other lists as well.

 

Geode Hunters' "Holy Grail" series receives rave reviews: Holy Grail (Final): GCMWWH.

 

You'll also find a lot of creativity if you ever come to Louisville just two hours south. Although we have our share of urban micros, we also have the local expertise of Show Me the Cache, Lumberjack Tom, and Jeepstaff. L/j Tom's latest hide, his Song of the Sing (GCW707) series with a 4/4 rating rivals his best, a physical and mental challenge. I just finished it. For me, it took about 6.8 miles of up and down hiking in close to 90-degree heat yesterday and today, but it was a lot of fun even if I should have been able to complete it in one day and only four to five miles.

 

A little further south in Elizabethtown, Turtle3863 provides some regional history and some tough Turtle Treks, including Turtle Trek 2: Tortoise and the Hare (GCE9BB). KY Hiker does his part with EggZactly (GCTPJV) and the unique Making the Connection (GCHNF5).

 

Of course, don't forget about the infamous Journal cache in neighboring Illinois, a 5/5 adventure, or the APE cache for its historical significance.

 

Inky-Geo, one of the local caching organizations, may help you find even more in addition to the good advice in this forum.

 

Editing to add Bean Blossom Gang's Bookmark Lists of Indiana trail hikes with caches and scenic views.

Edited by Teach2Learn
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Hi. I can understand the "rant" in that it seems to be monotonous if you see just one kind of cache. Actually, I find it possible to get burned out on regular-sized caches! (I'm not too much into hauling swag for great distances.) As a few others have pointed out, adding your contribution is the best way to rectify the situation. Up in Lafayette, there weren't any puzzle caches (what I like to hunt), so I put out some, much to the chagrin of the local geocaching community. :);)

 

Glad to see that it was just a bad-day rant, but your point is well-taken. However, in defence of 1-star terrain caches near the car park, those are about the only kind of caches that I can get my wife to hunt, and I do actually like cache-hunting with her. :)

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As with what others have said, it's hard to have tough terrain when the highest place in the state has a road 50 feet from it! See the highest point in indiana cache. Also, as others have pointed out, theres not alot of woodsy areas in marion county. Before the city was so big, it was mostly farmground.

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I noticed from looking at your finds that you haven't found any of Bad Majec's caches yet!?!?!?! lol

 

If you want ammo cans and good hiking terrain, come down to Morgan Monroe State Forest it is an easy drive from Indy down SR37 to just past Martinsville. Start with the MMSF Rock Shelter Trail #1 (GCQZTX) there is a bookmark list on that page for all the other caches.

 

19/20 ammo cans and over 10 miles of hiking on about three different trails.

 

Definitely check out Deermarks Toughest Hides list, and mark your calender for the 2006 Indiana Fall Picnic at Brown County State Park in September (no easy lampposts there).

 

There also the event July 15th at Plainfield Library - Take a Newbie to Lunch and Geocaching sponsored by sept1c_tank (GCV611) there should be some good "geocaching WAR stories" at this event. ;)

 

Happy Caching!!!

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it doesnt know us.... no.... it hasnt found usss..... it doesnt know my presiousss....

 

semeagol shows them the way.... we takes them down the ssecrect paths that no one else knowss......

 

hobbitses allways complaining..... itsss too hard.... we cants follow.... we cantss find it.... help ussss..... gives usss hintes......

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