Placed my first cache, now I have a few questions:

[+jacobsen1]

How long do most people take to log their finds online? My cache was published on 10/2/2006. The FTF was on 10/4/2006 and she logged it that night. I did my weekly check on the cache check (I wanted to read the log) on Saturday, 10/7/2006 and was surprised to see 2 other logs there in the book, both from 10/6/2006. I didn't think too much of it, because maybe these people don't log THAT NIGHT (like I do) so I figured they would show up. Well it's 3 full days later and nothing. I'm just curious if this is normal, and how long on average you take to log your finds? I always log mine that night, because I'm anal like that I guess...

 

Also, the other question is why would you not put one of the micros (it's a multi) back the way you found it? When we cache, we tend to find a lot of the caches with some out of place objects on top of the cache. IE rocks or logs that look placed, not natural. I went out of my way to find some slightly more hidden locations that have provided cover, IE no need to cover it with sticks, rocks or anything like that. One of the stages is in a location with a ton of long grass. The way I've hidden it, it's under a pile of that long grass, but in a location where the hint make it findable, and the grass that covers it is very easy to replace. You basically lift it and find the cache, do what you need to do and just place it back under the grass... When I checked my cache this weekend, this stage was sitting out in the open with a few stick "over" it, but it was very obvious where the cache was as soon as you were within 50', where with my original location it was very hard to hind without looking/poking around a bit??? I don't want my cache to be too hard, but not too easy either... Why wouldn't you put the cache back the way it was? Why ruin it for the next cacher(s)???

 

I walk my dog in this area as much as I can, but I sorta figured I'd only have to check on the final cache, not the micros every week... Fist time checking and one of the 3 micros was out in the open, and very obvious... I guess I'll just have to be sure to go check on it every weekend (at least).

 

So yeah, how long until you guys log finds, and why do people not replace the cache as found?

 

Thanks,

Ben

[+Maingray]

How long? Well, some people never log their finds online. The important thing is the cache logbook. Others may take their own sweet time, say, if they are on vacation..or have no access to a computer. Or they just take a very easy relaxed attitude to online logging, and will catch up over time.

 

As to replacing them, well yeh we should replace 'em as we found 'em, but being human we all screw up. Make a note in cache listing in bold, to "always replace as you found" which will may help a little. But the best solution in your case is to do what you did...physical checking up. Any way you can secure the cache so that it won't wander too much?

Edited October 9, 2006 by Maingray

[+jacobsen1]

How long? Well, some people never log their finds online. The important thing is the cache logbook. Others may take their own sweet time, say, if they are on vacation..or have no access to a computer. Or they just take a very easy relaxed attitude to online logging, and will catch up over time.

 

As to replacing them, well yeh we should replace 'em as we found 'em, but being human we all screw up. Make a note in cache listing in bold, to "always replace as you found" which will may help a little. But the best solution in your case is to do what you did...physical checking up. Any way you can secure the cache so that it won't wander too much?

 

Yeah, I sorta figured on the log part. I'm asking what everyone else does on that part just to get a feeling of what others do because I know I "rush home" and log mine, but I'm sure others take a while. I just wanted to try to get an average so I could guestimate it...

 

As for the stage in the multi. If I secured it it would be obvious. I'm trying to make a magnetic micro for that location, but with not much luck because the surface it very rusted... It ends in a bed of grass so that's what I'm doing for now. I was just surprise that someone went to the effort to find the sticks to put over it to make it much less obvious....

 

Thanks,

Ben

[Mr.Yuck]

 

So yeah, how long until you guys log finds, and why do people not replace the cache as found?

 

Thanks,

Ben

 

Many, many people never log their finds on the website. Some are old-timers who have grown tired of the "numbers game", but most of the ones I see in logbooks are just people whose names have never been heard of in the local online geocaching community. As far as why they do this, who knows. About a year ago, geocaching.com made it so you had to have an account and be logged in to even view cache coordinates. I figured that would cut way down on the non-online logging cache finds, but it doesn't seem to have one bit. That wasn't geocaching.com's intent with that new feature anyways.

 

Or you could just have some real slow loggers here in your case.

 

Hmm. Why do people not replace the cache as found? I have no idea. But you can count on it, as sure as death and taxes.

[+GEO.JOE]

When do we log? Remember by posting on the forum you are asking a segment of the geocaching population that spends more time in front of their computers and we enjoy the reading and writing part of the geocaching experience. Therefore, the results will likely be skewed toward "writing the log very soon." However, I do not see that a being the norm in the logs that I receive.

 

I will log caches as soon as I get the chance. If I am back at my computer that day, then I log them that day, If I am camping/traveling they are logged the night I get back or at latest the next day.

As a cache owner I really look forward to receiving notifications of when my caches were found, so I do my best to log quickly as a courtesy to the cache owner.

 

Why do people not hide caches back the way they found them? That could be a number of things:

 

They're lazy.

 

The excitement is in the finding not replacing the cache.

 

They were so excited when they found the cache that they did not take the time to remember how it was hidden so they can not replace it correctly. (happens a lot when the kids find it first)

 

One person found it and another person replaced it. ( I have had the last two happen when My nieces find and I replace, I do the best I can with the information they provide)

 

They felt it was too hard and they should not have spend so much time on a 3/3. They think if they take more than 15 minutes it is too hard so they make it easier for the next person because "You made it too difficult". What they don't understand is that a 3 difficulty should take you "the better part of an afternoon to find". If they can't find it in 15 minutes then they need to spend the rest of the 3 hours that they should have scheduled for this 3/3.

 

The dramatic change in the cache location could be a cumulative effect of the past several finders moving it or changing the camo a little bit each time it was found, so after the 3rd finder the cache looks nothing like you hid it.

I just checked on my 3/3 ammo can in the woods. I hide it with all natural leaf litter and one fist sized rounded rock. I found it with a pile of sticks the size of my arm and the largest rock in the woods on top of it and it was visible from 60 ft. Last year it had rocks piled about 1 foot high on top of it and the ammo can visible between them???

 

One thing I have forced myself to accept is that no one cares as much about my caches as I do, and very rarely does someone come along and take the time to do the right thing and fix problems created by previous finders and/or notify me of the problems so I can get back out and take care of the cache hide. If you walk by there often, check on it often. I said last year that when I found my 3/3 cache hidden like a 1 again I was going to archive it but my Voice or Reason (Wife) said that it is still a great location and it has not been found by very many people. The ones that have found it in it's well hidden glory (like Airmapper) are proud of their find.

 

Therefore, We need to continue to maintain these challenging caches for those that will have the chance to find these caches the way we wanted them to find them.

Keep your chin up and have fun with it. When the cache becomes more frustrating than fun then it may be time to change it.

GEO.JOE

[+fox-and-the-hound]

I'll second what the others said about logging online. As to the hiding it like you found it... that one is a little tougher. Two things seem to happen almost every time. Someone is looking and looking and looking and suddenly there it is and grab it as fast as they can. They're so excited about finding it, they've forgotten exactly how it looked when they found it. It ends up going back very close to where it was, but not at all the way you put it. The second thing we've seen a lot is cachers finding it in a muggle-rich environment and being stealthy they'll pick it up and move on to sign the log in a less noticeable area. After doing the deed they'll bring it back and due to either muggles or oversight, they've forgotten exactly where it was or what it looked like. Happens all the time unfortunately.

 

So we've made a point of taking the time to look around closely before we pick up a cache anymore. Sometimes it even saves you from the ill-timed muggle encounter. Take a look for a moment to memorize how and where it's hidden. If it looks out of place or poorly hidden, bring it to the attention of the cache setter. If it's completely exposed, go with your best gut feeling. Sometimes a cacher will "hide it better" and turn a 1 star into a 4 star inadvertantly Even worse, sometimes a 1 star was actually a 4 star to start with and now it's off the charts!

 

Sometimes a cacher wants the find to be easy. A rock out of place looks obvious to Fox, semi-obvious to me, completely invisible to Moun10Girl. At the same time, in an urban environment Fox and I are blind and Moun10Girl can spy a 50% Geocaches sign from a thousand yards away.

[+Bad_CRC]

I was suprised how many people had visited my first cache without logging online. Most people seem to never log online at all. I have no idea how many people don't sign the log book or online... maybe none, maybe a lot.

[+Kacky]

...

 

As to replacing them, well yeh we should replace 'em as we found 'em, but being human we all screw up. Make a note in cache listing in bold, to "always replace as you found" which will may help a little. But the best solution in your case is to do what you did...physical checking up. Any way you can secure the cache so that it won't wander too much?

 

I have one that people were messing up even though it says in the description to replace as found. Since it has a one-page log, I wrote detailed replacement instructions at the top of the page and haven't had a problem since. If it's in a container, why not write it on the lid? It's just human nature, you don't always remember exactly how it was when you found it.

[+DaveA]

If it's in a container, why not write it on the lid? It's just human nature, you don't always remember exactly how it was when you found it.

 

This strikes me as a very good idea. It would have to be prominent though as I never read the cache pages nearly everyone includes in their caches. If you have read one you have, literally, read them all.

 

Perhaps taking a photo of the cache in it's hiding location with a short note would work well. Just tape the pic/note in the lid as you suggest. I have never seen anything like that in a cache so it would stand out for me. It would also be really helpful for me in replacing it how the placer wants it rather than as the last finder put it, which may not be the same.

[+Kacky]

If it's in a container, why not write it on the lid? It's just human nature, you don't always remember exactly how it was when you found it.

 

This strikes me as a very good idea. It would have to be prominent though as I never read the cache pages nearly everyone includes in their caches. If you have read one you have, literally, read them all.

 

Perhaps taking a photo of the cache in it's hiding location with a short note would work well. Just tape the pic/note in the lid as you suggest. I have never seen anything like that in a cache so it would stand out for me. It would also be really helpful for me in replacing it how the placer wants it rather than as the last finder put it, which may not be the same.

 

On mine, it's just a one-page cache log, not folded or rolled, so they can't miss the instructions. On the OP's cache, maybe a line drawing of a hand with the grass, being put down on top of the container?

Edited October 10, 2006 by Kacky

[+DaveA]

 

On mine, it's just a one-page cache log, not folded or rolled, so they can't miss the instructions. On the OP's cache, maybe a line drawing of a hand with the grass, being put down on top of the container?

 

Years ago I was a grunt in the Marine Corps. I and all the rest of us got a chuckle when we saw our first claymore antipersonel mine. I kid you not when I say they are labeled with which direction to place toward the enemy.

 

In the civilian world blowdryers still have instructions not to use them in the bathtub, don't they? (Haven't used one in a long time so I don't know).

 

The point is these 'instructions for idiots' are there for a reason. Sometimes otherwise smart people get afflicted with a case of the dum dums and I think bold lettered instructions and pictures really do help. Never assume the cacher will be intelligent at that moment.

 

That you managed to include a note that isn't folded or rolled is terrific. If it was rolled or folded it would probably never be noticed by the person who needed that note.

[+briansnat]

Why wouldn't you put the cache back the way it was? Why ruin it for the next cacher(s)???

 

That's a great question. I have one stage of a multi that constantly stumps people. When I placed it I made sure it was clearly visible from a certain angle because I don't want it to be too difficult. I've had to go back quite a few times to put it back the way I originally did. On a few visits it was so well hidden that I had a hard time finding it even though I knew where it was.

 

Another cache of mine was placed underneath a boulder. Every time I've visited it for maintenance (4 so far) it was no longer under the boulder, but next to it covered by rocks.

 

I discovered the same thing Saturday with a cache of mine. Instead of being under the overhang where I originally hid it, it was about 10 feet away and covered with rocks. Go figure.