I need advice on my behavior as a cacher?

[+Cyclosarin]

My boyfriend (Who lives in Rochester - I live in Southern California =/) introduced me to the hobby of geocaching when I was up visiting him during my winter college break.

 

Since I've been back - I've been rather hooked. I spend much of my time between full time work and classes riding my road bike at night hunting for caches. I'd like some advice though - from the more seasoned vets - as I want to make sure I'm not doing anything offensive.

 

The caches in and around the SFV (San Fernando Valley - not far from Los Angeles) tend to be either micro or small in size. Small tend to be altoids tins or a decon container or something in that general area.

 

Most of the time I do not take anything from caches. I have taken one geocoin(Replica?) because it was my first find of one of those - though I don't know if the 'take a coin leave a coin' rule applies when the little bag that it was in stated it was a replica of a coin, and I was free to take it.

 

I don't plan on taking real geocoins unless I have one to trade, when the time comes and I have my own - though I'd have to put some serious thought into something of that sort of significance.

 

The things I have left in caches range from hot wheels metal cars of the classic variety (56 chevy, etc), brand new lanyards(I figure people can use those. Hey..at events you could wear it with your geo team name or geo name on it). Quite often I like to leave polished stones such as goldstone or apricot agate.

(See http://www.jewellery-art.co.uk/images/goldstone-red.jpg for a goldstone picture and http://www.crystalcaravan.com/ts-aapricot.JPG for apricot agate stone picture)

 

I plan on getting all kinds of stones to place in caches as time goes on and my money situation allows (Being a college student is not cheap) - but as of right now it's been those 2 types. I'll often leave one of each even if I don't take anything, just to try and help a cache get a bit of a boost.

 

Often I see as takeables - those little rubber material bracelets, or a real cheapie plastic bead necklace or maybe mardi gras coins - but the cheapie ones as well. Not to berate those - I'm sure some people probably love to collect those, and I have nothing against them. But I mean..would leaving various polished stones Like Tigereye, various agates, amethyst crystals etc - be frowned upon? I read a forum post where a cache owner considered polished stones as sort of junk stuff leftover.

 

I personally have a hard time considering these pretty stones as junky - compared to some of the stuff I've seen - really old rubber keychains that I could tell had been in use for a long time before being put in the cache. I've actually purchased all these stones off of ebay just to put in caches, so I can leave something nice. I just don't want to be leaving these things in caches if it will upset owners or other cache finders.

 

In the relatively short time I've started doing this (26 found so far) - I've had the opportunity to repair three caches. The first one's owner moved to the opposite end of the country and asked for people to watch out for it. The log sheet was full - so I poked around (Still new at this) until I found a log sheet I could print out and replace into the cache. I brought the original log back home with me and notified the owner to get in touch with me if they want it - but I have not heard back.

 

Another cache was an altoids tin taped over and it had a ton of water damage. It was a rubber bracelets only cache and there was a lot of brown goop inside from water and corrosion. I took all the bands out - cleaned them off with soap and water - put them in a mini bag that is sealable so they are better protected - replaced the mini bag for the log sheet - and put it all in a new altoids tin, complete with new tape. I found another one after that which needed some repairs - and the owner seemed really happy that I was watching out for it.

 

So am I doing everything ok? Being really new to this I am worried I might step on someone's toes - but I am doing the best I can to be a good cacher. When I start making my own caches - I will probably leave a FTF gift of two all season movie tickets ($20 value).

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

-Cyclosarin the rivethead kangaroo

[+RugerPilot345]

WOW you are doing great......what you are doing is exactly what the sport/hobby was designed to be.....do what you feel comfortable with and leave a cache as good or better than you found it.....no one will ever berate you for anything you are doing that is described in your email.

 

And if you ever want to move to Arkansas......please feel free to work on our caches too, ha ha!!

 

Have fun and enjoy the outdoors!!

 

 

Cool!!

[+briansnat]

I don't plan on taking real geocoins unless I have one to trade, when the time comes and I have my own - though I'd have to put some serious thought into something of that sort of significance.

 

There is no take a coin, leave a coin ethic. Many coins are travellers and their point is to move from cache to cache. If you leave it in a cache, you aren't helping it towards its goal. Of course if you aren't going to search for more caches anytime soon then you shouldn't take it, but if you can move it along, you should. That is what the coin owners want.

 

If the coins are not travellers (for instance unregistered coins, or coins that are not trackable), they are just trade items. You should feel free to take one if you like. It's perfectly fine if you don't leave another coin in its place, just leave something nice.

 

You don't have to sit there with a calculator and figure out the relative value of the items you are taking and leaving. As long as you are leaving something decent and useful when you take a decent and useful item you're fine.

 

In fact many people who leave really nice stuff don't expect a perfectly even trade. I'll sometimes leave something worth $10-$30 in a cache because I want people to take it. I don't expect them to run out to the store to pick up something just as expensive so they can trade evenly. Just leave something decent. As long as they aren't taking that new Princeton Tec flashlight and leaving an expired Sanka coupon I'm good with it.

 

I know someone who left a new Garmin Geko 201 in one of my caches and it sat there for months because nobody carried a $100 trade item for an even trade. Finally I had to write on the page asking for someone to please take it. Someone finally did and left a nice calculator in turn, but not close to the value of the the Geko. That was fine with me and the person who left the GPS.

 

BTW, I think polished stones are nice trade items and much better than some of the absolute garbage I see in caches

Edited March 7, 2007 by briansnat

[+JoesBar]

Kudos to you! Your cache ethics are great. I think you are off to a great beginning in geocaching. As stated above, geocoins and travel bugs are different than 'trade items.' You can grab them at will. Some TBs come with a goal sheet. It's good to read those. Your idea to leave polished stones sounds great to me. This is a game of trading small items. I don't expect to find a new GPSr in a cache, but it sure would be great.

 

Also, there is alot of good information in these forums. But sometimes folks can get testy. Try to ignore the whinning, and you can learn much. Cachers are just people. Like at college, some students have a better attitude than others, cachers are the same.

 

Finally, as someone old enough to be your father, remember, you are at college to get a degree first, you can geocache around your schoolwork.

Welcome aboard!

[+buddyluv4]

Personally, my 9 year old daugher would love to hit a cache after you've been there. She loves pretty rocks. Do you tumble them yourself or purchase them? That's one of our many to-do's this summer. Get a rock tumbler and go out hunting.

 

I follow a general rule of only taking one travel item per cache. If I have 2 to replace with I will take 2. I'm fairly new myself, but it seems generally accepted if you take one trackable to move along and leave the others for someone else.

 

As far as taking a coin. If they are non-trackable they run $5ish. If they are trackable they run $7-10ish. I got these prices off of cointracking.com. So that gives you a rough idea of a reasonable trade. I live near Seattle so it's easy for me to carry around a Starbucks card incase I am ever lucky enough to run across a coin for keeping. Of course this is for coins that are unactivated and intended to be traded not moved along.

 

If you do pick up a travel bug or coin and don't get out caching for awhile, it's ok to stop by a previous cache and drop it off. Just log in as a note and what you dropped. I've had to do this more than once. We always have the best intentions, but sometimes life gets in the way. Have fun!

[+"fish"]

hey move to michigan and take care of some of the caches up here WELCOME to the SPORT and cache on and like someone else said homework first cache second

[+Rockhound24]

I'm glad people have answered the polished rock question, I was going to ask it myself. I'm headed out next week to collect geodes and nodules, I was thinking about polishing some up and leaving them in caches.

[+team5150]

This sport could use more people like you!! The kids and I are rockhounds, also, and we love to find nice stones in caches. In fact, we have a shelf in our living room that is full of cool rocks that we have collected in our travels. Keep up the good work and happy caching!!!

[+nameless301]

Leaving polished stones is a great idea, I love the way they look and use to collect them, if I come across any I will probably grab that over most items in a cache.

[+wlloyd31]

Bravo.....you are doing exactly what you shoud be doing as a respectable cacher. I have repaired many caches myself and the owners are very thankful...saves them a trip. As for your leaving polished stones go for it. There is nothing wrong with that. It's not like you are just picking up a rock from the ground and leaving it...You put time and thought into what you should leave and I think they would be a fine cache prize. Some of the junk I find in some caches makes me just want to sign the log and not trade.Broken cars with missing wheels, rusty bottlecaps, used hair ties and other junk. Sometimes I just leave something so the next person has a nice prize to take but I only sign the log. You keep up the good work and happy caching to all!!!!!

[Luckless]

Forget about what others want, you are not going to please everybody (people are always arguing about what is best to leave) so leave things you like and would like to find in a cache. It sounds like you're doing a very good job. (I've been considering leaving some rock quartz chrystals as swag, myself. They used to be a fad.)

I feel you should always try to leave the cache the way you would like to find it. For me that would be clean, dry, notebook and pen intact and a few neat/cool swag items. I like thinking about how surprised the next cacher will be to find it. I don't often put very expensive items in my caches, but they are still a step up from what I often find.

There were some caches around here that the person had some trouble maintaining because he didn't live near here and I wrote and asked if I could adopt them. You can always do that, but it can be time consuming if it is in a high traffic area- maybe not something a college student can do.

[+Renegade Knight]

I don't plan on taking real geocoins unless I have one to trade, when the time comes and I have my own - though I'd have to put some serious thought into something of that sort of significance.

 

There is no take a coin, leave a coin ethic. Many coins are travellers and their point is to move from cache to cache. If you leave it in a cache, you aren't helping it towards its goal. Of course if you aren't going to search for more caches anytime soon then you shouldn't take it, but if you can move it along, you should. That is what the coin owners want.

 

If the coins are not travellers (for instance unregistered coins, or coins that are not trackable), they are just trade items. You should feel free to take one if you like. It's perfectly fine if you don't leave another coin in its place, just leave something nice.

 

You don't have to sit there with a calculator and figure out the relative value of the items you are taking and leaving. As long as you are leaving something decent and useful when you take a decent and useful item you're fine.

 

In fact many people who leave really nice stuff don't expect a perfectly even trade. I'll sometimes leave something worth $10-$30 in a cache because I want people to take it. I don't expect them to run out to the store to pick up something just as expensive so they can trade evenly. Just leave something decent. As long as they aren't taking that new Princeton Tec flashlight and leaving an expired Sanka coupon I'm good with it.

 

I know someone who left a new Garmin Geko 201 in one of my caches and it sat there for months because nobody carried a $100 trade item for an even trade. Finally I had to write on the page asking for someone to please take it. Someone finally did and left a nice calculator in turn, but not close to the value of the the Geko. That was fine with me and the person who left the GPS.

 

BTW, I think polished stones are nice trade items and much better than some of the absolute garbage I see in caches

 

Good post.

 

To answer the OP on polished stones. Briansnat once published a list of the things he felt were crap trades. Most were just that, crap, but a few of those items were things that I enjoy trading for. One mans trash...

 

Polished stones are fine. I leave foreign coins. They are probably not worth much but people like them, and I like trading for them on the rare occasion I find them.

 

A parting thought. I once left a Gameboy Color (back when they were not old tech...) I did not expect someone to trade fair. Just to enjoy the Gameboy if they took it. Once a trade item passes the value of a geo-coin you really can't expect a fair trade and most people don't. They left the item because they were being nice.

[+wimseyguy]

You are off to a great start. I always thought trade fairly was the best way to phrase that aspect of the sport. Feel free to take some classes in NC if it fits your schedule.

 

Just don't get all jaded and cynical like some of us are. Oh wait-that's why I cache-to leave that part of me behind at work and in the reading room.

[ol'dad]

Leaving polished stones is a great idea, I love the way they look and use to collect them, if I come across any I will probably grab that over most items in a cache.

I agree!! They are a nice collectible to remember the find with. I didn't realize they were quite this popular. What other small items do people like to find?

[+Buckazznkdntx]

I think the stones are a great idea, yet again you are talking to a southern boy who's prize find he took was a rubber crawfish. But then again what do you expect for a redneck from Texas. The thing is to me it's not the cost of the item, I find some of the cheap items are the one that bring me happiness. For example I find a hot wheel I loved as a child it brings great joy.

[+icetoad]

Reading your post has convinced me. I've wanted to repair caches a couple of times, but thought perhaps the owners would see it as meddling.

 

I'm going to start carrying spare parts around in my backpack and when I come upon one that needs work, I'm gonna fix it.

 

Thanks for teaching this 51 year old a lesson.

 

[+SGT red jeep]

I'm going to start carrying spare parts around in my backpack and when I come upon one that needs work, I'm gonna fix it.

 

I once went to an event where everyone was given a plastic bag with a few items for fixing caches; spare pencil, notebook, plastic baggies, even a sponge. That sponge has been very useful for fixing the water logged caches. Add one to your tool kit.

[+LeonW]

Last Sunday I found the cache "TG-Treasure Chest" by "Team Gecko" in South Africa. It had a lot of polished stones including Tigereye, Rose quartz filling the whole bottom af their real treasure chest. What a pleasure to discover - the stones were more interesting than the swag.

 

LeonW

 

edit for grammar

Edited March 8, 2007 by LeonW

[+PlantAKiss]

Ahhhhhhh...more rockhound types! I'm relatively new to caching but I too have left mineral specimens in caches hoping to inspire some interest in rockhounding or mineral collecting. I dropped one specimen, spirit quartz from Madagascar, and it was picked up in just an hour or so above all the other swag in the ammo can. I'd love to find rocks or minerals in caches. Especially fluorite.

 

Sounds to me like you are being very conscientious. So far, I've only replaced a full logbook and posted some notices on damp/wet caches.

[+pirate_erik]

I didn't know where to ask this question, but I thought since geocaching "ethics" are being discussed here, this is as good of a place as any. This afternoon I had a situation where I ran into a fellow cacher looking for the same one. Normally, I would walk up and introduce myself, and look together, but this one was a little different. This was a FTF. If this were to happen, which is the proper etiquette?

 

1. Wait until the others are finished, then go look.

2. Search with them, but they get the FTF because they were there first,

3. Search with them, but whoever finds it first is the FTF?

 

I wasn't sure which was proper.... any thoughts.

[+mr_candyman]

I didn't know where to ask this question, but I thought since geocaching "ethics" are being discussed here, this is as good of a place as any. This afternoon I had a situation where I ran into a fellow cacher looking for the same one. Normally, I would walk up and introduce myself, and look together, but this one was a little different. This was a FTF. If this were to happen, which is the proper etiquette?

 

1. Wait until the others are finished, then go look.

2. Search with them, but they get the FTF because they were there first,

3. Search with them, but whoever finds it first is the FTF?

 

I wasn't sure which was proper.... any thoughts.

personally, I would look with them and whoever actually FINDS the cache first gets the FTF

[+briansnat]

I didn't know where to ask this question, but I thought since geocaching "ethics" are being discussed here, this is as good of a place as any. This afternoon I had a situation where I ran into a fellow cacher looking for the same one. Normally, I would walk up and introduce myself, and look together, but this one was a little different. This was a FTF. If this were to happen, which is the proper etiquette?

 

1. Wait until the others are finished, then go look.

2. Search with them, but they get the FTF because they were there first,

3. Search with them, but whoever finds it first is the FTF?

 

I wasn't sure which was proper.... any thoughts.

 

I would probably introduce myself and ask if he minds if I join in the search. If the answer is yes and he finds it first, I would congratulate him on the FTF. If I find it first, I would celebrate our co-FTF.

[+Cyclosarin]

Gosh..all these responses.

 

Well..I'm glad to know consensus is that I'm doing a good job so far.

 

Cyclosarin the rivethead kangaroo - soon to be visiting a state near you! (Or 'I'm in ur State, fixin' ur caches!)

 

Thanks everyone!

[+VO2WW]

Congratulations to you! Your cache ethics are good, excellent in my opinion. I think you are off to a wonderfull beginning in Geocaching. As mentioned before, Geocoins and Travel Bugs are different than regular trade items. You can take or leave them at will. Some TBs come with a goal sheet. It's good to read those if you take them. Your idea to leave polished stones sounds like a good one, I have left and traded for a few. This is a game of logging and trading small items, you are on the right track.

[+Gary and Mary Adventurers]

Polished rocks are a great trading item.

 

The only suggestion I would have is for you to put them in one of the small snack baggies with a sheet telling what type of rock or mineral it is. A lot of folks would appreciate it more if they knew the significance. IMHO

 

But your other activities are great too, I wish more of us had your attitude.

 

Enjoy the Adventures

[+PlantAKiss]

The only suggestion I would have is for you to put them in one of the small snack baggies with a sheet telling what type of rock or mineral it is.

 

That's what I do with mine. I put a mineral tag with the specimen in a baggie. I feel like it makes it more interesting to the person to know what it is and where it came from.

 

I try to think of something different than the typical swag to leave in caches, although some items are always nice to find even if fairly common.