Bad Caches

[+denali7]

<Emily Litella voice>

 

Well, never mind!"

 

</Emily>

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

The best thing about geocaching is that it attracts folks of every nature. The worst thing about geocaching is... that it attracts folks of every nature!

 

The "Play it your way" concept means that each of us can pretty much define our playing style, and few define it exactly the same.

 

To enjoy such a game where every aspect is unpredictable requires a pretty open and laid-back attitude.

 

I really enjoy liar's caches, have found several; in fact when asked about my favorite cache I tell folks it has to be one in Nashville that Lep alluded to earlier.

 

I have proven to myself that I can find most any cache, few present a challenge except for difficult terrain (I cache on crutches and rarely find climbing a mountain 'interesting'!), and a liar's cache at least challenges me to write something imaginative, to stretch my mind around the hider's game. I enjoy that.

 

In fact my friends and I have been known to make up horrendous stories about the most mundane caches... especially an FTF!

 

Try it! Be the FTF on the next lightpole micro in your area. Instead of "TFTC TNLN - LAME!" write about the climbing gear required, your near-death experience when a rope failed, describe waiting on the SAR team and your helicopter ride to the trauma center. I think you will be surprised to find that most people will love that log when they get there and drive right up to it!

 

To me, great caches deliver some sort of 'surprise', yet I am aware that not everyone will like surprises.

 

Me, I beg folks to surprise me and find it delightful when they do! After a few thousand finds 'interesting', 'exciting' and 'funny' caches are hard to come by, so bring 'em on!

 

I was on a cache run with six others in a rented Suburban hundreds of miles from home when we did the one in Nashville, at night, in a cold rain, with the real expectation that it would be a challenge (admittedly it wasn't the focus of the trip), and it was a total surprise that turned out to be the highlight, the most fun, most memorable cache of that trip, and two years later I still love watching and reading the logs from it.

 

As to the dissapointment regarding a special trip to get this particular cache, would you have been as angry and dissappointed if it was a DNF? If it was there, but in fact difficult as advertised, and you had to leave without it?

 

If your focus is on the trip and the experience then a DNF is just as much fun as a find!

 

I do agree with part of your issue here, however, in that you contacted the owner and let him know that you were coming specifically to get that cache. In those specific circumstances he, and apparantly he agrees in hind-sight, should have clued you in that it was a spoof. If I thought you were local and would see the humor I wouldn't, but if I knew you were after a physical challenge and were coming a distance for that purpose I would. Still, trying to put myself in your shoes, under any circumstances I can imagine we would have found it to be a fun and worthwhile trip.

 

Sounds to me like you had a road trip with friends, found a few caches... I don't know, to me it's like a fishing or hunting trip; if I come home empty-handed I still had a ball!

 

I have paid professional fishing guides to take me into unknown waters, trips costing thousands of dollars, and on two occassions have come home skunked, not the first fish caught. Should I be mad at the guide because the trip was a 'failure'? Frustrated that I spent a lot of money and didn't catch a fish? Of course not. It was a great trip regardless.

 

I hope that helps readers get the message that enjoyment (of this game or in fact anything in life!) is all in the attitude!

 

Ed

[+The red-haired witch]

While I believe some "liar's caches" can be harmless fun (like a supposedly very long multi that is actually a traditional, or a ridiculously tiny micro that is actually a large), I think it shouldn't go as far as saying that specialised equipment is needed, or a multi-day expedition. That is when cachers might start actually spending a lot of money and time planning for something that doesn't exist. Then the fun is no longer harmless.

 

Another problem situation that I have seen with one such cache :

 

For this one cache you are instructed to exaggerate the dangers and adventure in your log, saying you had to avoid patrol of armed men and all kinds of security systems. Well, one cacher actually ran into armed men that told him to leave : hunters who had rented the area (which happens to be private land). He posted something to that effect, but he didn't want to "out" the cache (though most people realise it is a liar's cache), so he didn't say "contrary to everything else in those logs, this is true!". So, of course, cachers didn't take it seriously at first, because of the nature of the cache. I took only a few days for the hider to disable the cache, but anyone deciding to hunt it in the meantime could have been in real trouble.

 

Nothing happened, but there is potential for very bad situations to occur when warnings are not taken seriously because a cache is known to be full of lies... and if people believe a cache is a liar's cache, when it's not, they might overlook important warnings too.

 

Not too likely too occur as long as those caches are few and far between, at least.