Scratch, scratch, scratch

[top con]

i just had to vent, and it's not really a vent, just hoping i can get some sympathy!!

 

how many of you have had that one cache that just makes you absolutely crazy?!! becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad. not only can i not find it, but i can't even find a place where it could go. i don't have super extensive micor experience, but man! that cache isn't even rated that hard. i am confident it is still there, just juding from the logs and the hider and what-not, and that just makes me even more crazy.

 

so, if you are / have experienced such a problem, let me hear about it, so i am not the only one who blood pressure has gone up over nothing more than a tiny piece of paper. oh, and if you can, include a link to the cache, just cause that would be nice i would if i knew how! anyways...thanks for letting me vent.

[+Mr. 0]

i just had to vent, and it's not really a vent, just hoping i can get some sympathy!!

 

how many of you have had that one cache that just makes you absolutely crazy?!! becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad. not only can i not find it, but i can't even find a place where it could go. i don't have super extensive micor experience, but man! that cache isn't even rated that hard. i am confident it is still there, just juding from the logs and the hider and what-not, and that just makes me even more crazy.

 

so, if you are / have experienced such a problem, let me hear about it, so i am not the only one who blood pressure has gone up over nothing more than a tiny piece of paper. oh, and if you can, include a link to the cache, just cause that would be nice i would if i knew how! anyways...thanks for letting me vent.

 

Yup, I've done this. Most recently was Haunted Urbana - Stoney Creek Road, which is a little less than an hour from home. We went out there last summer, looked for a while, and couldn't get it. Came back the very next day, and still nada. Finally we were able to get back out there in Feb and had the logbook in hand about 30 seconds after getting out of the car. The GPS was right on everytime we were out there, but we just didn't notice the hiding spot the first two times. I'm still kicking myself over that one.

[top con]

oohh, that looks like a good one, plus i'm a sucker for haunted crap.

but it sounds like the guy next door ain't too happy bout it!! hehehe, someone should give him a gps and about an hour.

[+Mr. 0]

I saw that when I was looking back at it a few days ago. We didn't see anyone out there any of the times we were there. I figure the property owner may have problems with kids going out there and going on to his land to get a scare. The cache itself isn't on private property, although it's close, and there are explicit instructions on the cache page to not cross the fence that's there. Who knows? At least he was nice enough to give those folks a chance to look for it for a few minutes.

 

Edit: Oh and since it's not terribly far from you there in Indy, there are several caches in the general area that relate to various "haunted" areas there. The caches themselves aren't epic hikes or anything, but serve to point out the urban legends and the stories that go with them. You might consider making a trip out there sometime.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Mr. 0

[crtrue]

I can support you on this...I'm revisiting a micro this morning that is hidden in one of the most obnoxious plants to search in I know...the palm tree...

[+Miragee]

i just had to vent, and it's not really a vent, just hoping i can get some sympathy!!

 

how many of you have had that one cache that just makes you absolutely crazy?!! becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad. not only can i not find it, but i can't even find a place where it could go. i don't have super extensive micor experience, but man! that cache isn't even rated that hard. i am confident it is still there, just juding from the logs and the hider and what-not, and that just makes me even more crazy.

 

so, if you are / have experienced such a problem, let me hear about it, so i am not the only one who blood pressure has gone up over nothing more than a tiny piece of paper. oh, and if you can, include a link to the cache, just cause that would be nice i would if i knew how! anyways...thanks for letting me vent.

I don't need to "clean up" my DNFs under normal circumstances, but there was one cache I tried to find on three separate trips to Colorado. It was right down the street from my mother's apartment. I looked for it several times, spending a lot of time during two of the searches. I finally got an explicit hint from the cache owner.

 

Turns out, the coordinates were off and I was looking behind the wrong building on the other side of a fence . . .

 

Once I got in the right place, it was easy to find that ammo can . . .

[+Belfrypotters]

There is an evil hide that we drive past at least once a week. We've tried three times to find it, and as soon as the snow melts we'll be back again (and again...) until we finally get lucky. The worst part is it's not even a micro; it's a peanut butter jar with excellent camo. I suspect it's buried in the gravel, with gravel glued to the lid, but until we actually find the darn thing it will continue to haunt me every time we drive by.

[+Hotlanta]

Did this one cache,Spiderman Guards Peachtree City now archived that just drove me nuts. I must have returned at least three or four times before finally finding it. Crazy! Since it is archived I’ll tell ya how it was hidden. This was an urban micro on the outer edge of a department store parking lot. Along this side of the lot was a wooden guard rail, just behind that a six foot chain link fence and about an eighteen inch strip of grass before a twenty foot drop off to rail road tracks below. Anyway, the name of the cache kept me looking at the guard rail…. Wrong! The container was camo wrapped, attached to a ten foot fishing line that was tied to the bottom of the fence and tossed over the ledge of the drop off. The grass hid the fishing line and you could not see over the edge of the drop off. But after I got my smiley, I had fun driving by and seeing other cachers suffering the same fate as me looking for this evil micro.

[top con]

man, that sounds dasterdly!! i'm glad i'm not the only one that gets stumped! keep em coming, this is great!

[+Totem Clan]

Here's a very aptly named one that has been living up to its name with me.

 

I went back last weekend an could find it again. I was hoping the thaw we were having would help out, but we just received 8 more inches of snow yesterday. Oh well, it should be all gone by next week and I can try again.

[Suscrofa]

Frankly I think caches should be hidden in "special" spots or the container itself be "special", something unusual by its nature, size, shape.

For example if in the wood, a stump of special shape, a larger tree or of a unusual nature.

You must have to exercise your sense and logic.

Otherwise you end up scanning each square centimeter of a 10 by 10 meter area because of GPS inaccuracy. It is a brute force attack that takes time and I consider frustrating as it does not bring you anything.

 

It is why I also prefer multi cache with puzzle.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Suscrofa

[+fox-and-the-hound]

I can completely relate Not only did we not find after hours of search after 2 trips and with help from 3 other cachers, but I went back later in the day and my wife promptly found it in under two minutes! I was in complete shock and to make matters worse, she was even the FTF!!! Oh, the agony of seeing that smug grin for days whenever I brought up caching.

 

edit to add link: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...=y&decrypt=

Edited March 16, 2007 by fox-and-the-hound

[top con]

i agree to some extent with the last post.

 

even though this cache is drivin me crazy...i kinda like it that way. call me sadistic, but that kind of hardship actually is fun. cause when i left that cache again, all i could think about was going back. and maybe i missed it somehow, or maybe i didn't check that one spot well enough. then 5 minutes later my head is spinning trying to recall each square inch of the hide locale.

 

so i guess i don't HATE these tough ones, almost exactly the opposite i guess. i love to hate them...

[+Thrak]

It took me 5 or 6 tries to find one cache that I swear is probably the easiest cache I've ever done. I even had my wife with me one time for extra help. The cache was extremely easy to find and the hint was a dead giveaway freebie type of hint. For some reason I made it really hard when it was a total "duh......" cache. It happens.

[top con]

sorry, i have to go for the weekend. but keep posting, this is interesting. i'll be back monday morning, so have a good weekend all!!! happy caching

[+ePeterso2]

I've got a Thorns in My Side list in my profile of such caches that are currently giving me fits.

 

Chillin' at Frost Park is one that has driven many, many local cachers insane. I got very lucky and spotted it on my second visit. The DNF-to-F ratio is running better than 2:1 right now, and that's just for the folks that bothered to log DNFs. I suspect the true ratio is something more like 5:1 or higher. There just doesn't seem to be anywhere for it to be.

 

C.O.M.S.C. is currently driving me insane. I've been there half a dozen times already and still haven't found it. Apparently, someone criticized this hide in a rude and snotty way, so the owner responded by changing it to make it near impossible to find.

[+SGT red jeep]

I think I tried to find this cache about 10 times.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...28-951996b6ed97

It was right off a busy highway not far from where I was temporarily living and working. If you ever hear me complain about a rock in a rock pile, this is what set it off. I even went to it with someone who found it before but still no luck.

 

Here is my last log but I went back more times after I wrote it.

 

"I think this was my 5th try at this cache. Didn't find it again but I met a couple of geocachers. Recray and Trove Rover also search abit. When Recray and I left, Trove Rover was still searching, claiming this was going to be her #100th find. When I come back again, I will be driving a front-end loader and maybe I'll just dump everything in the river and then I won't have to worry about this cache anymore."

 

I was going to search one last time, only with the owner holding my hand, but there was too much snow and I left the area before it melted.

I've since returned home and don't think I will ever make it by that cache again but it still haunts me.

[+Jhwk]

Wicked and Evil was just,... well, wicked and evil. I officially DNF'd it twice, but actually stopped by about 4 or 5 times over a series of months. Much whining to the owner, and groveling finally secured a few clues. Even though I knew where it was, it still took a 45 minutes intensive search by 4 experienced individuals to actually find it.

 

I refuse to ignore a cache. If you put it near me, I will come find it. That's how I got scuba certified!

[Luckless]

I've got one that I'm still looking for. Been out twice searching for it. The worst part is that the owner calls it an easy find less than 500 ft. from the road. The logs all talk about how easy it is and I can't seem to find it. I thought I was in the right place because the clues all matched, but my GPS read that I was still one mile away. Finally I checked a close up of the cache on a map (I like to just use the coordinates as much as possible when caching) and I saw it was located on another road. I had previously driven up and down that road and only found what looked like private property. I did notice when I came around from the other side of the hill there was some county land near there so that's where I'm checking next...I'm gonna get that cache...it's personal now.

[kajamelu4]

Boy do I know how you feel. There is one near us, in a tree, in a mall parking lot. Everyone else drives up, signs the log book and away they go. I go look for it, and return again, and again, and again. Everytime I am at the mall, I look for it on the way out of the parking lot. One afternoon, my husband is with me when I pull up to the tree again, and he says "There it is." Without even getting out of the car! I wanted to smack him! Right after I signed the log book of course!

[+StarBrand]

I've had 2 in the past year or som - one took 4 vists and a BIG hint from the owner. Spent a lot of time with my wife looking over that old bridge. Was almost disappointed when we finally found it. Was 300 miles from home but had occasion to drive by every few months.

 

The other was more local, a 14" by 4" cylinder at eye level in a tree. Sounds big and easy enough but had clever camo. Finally got it after 45 minutes into visit number 5. My wife had vowed we would stay until we found it or cut the tree down.

[+Fuzzywhip]

I sure can relate to this problem!

 

I have a cache that I hunt for every time I'm in the Puget Sound area.

 

Loci

 

I have been to this site (can't miss it as it's right in Granite Falls, WA). I have searched this train several times and have poked and peeked into every possible spot a 'small' container can fit.

 

I just can't find it!

 

It's now a matter of pride for me to find this cache and mark it off my list!

Edited March 17, 2007 by Fuzzywhip

[+JATurtle]

If I understand the gist of this thread, I currently have three caches I have been back to several time without a successful find.

 

Puzzle Number 5A

 

Rich's Ridiculous Roadside Michro

 

One other to be un-named.

 

What’s a person to do? It happens. For the first two, I have been back several times. It gets difficult seeing others come up with the finds all the time.

 

I just keep on caching.

[PutnamEco]

I absolutely hate underrated caches I just started out caching and was looking for easy local ones to get a feeling for the game, And to find out if geocaching would be something I might enjoy, Went out, looked for an hour DNF.

 

The HINT

 

"You will see three palm trees in a row. The cache is next to the middle palm tree."

 

This was in the middle of a patch of just about nothing but palm trees. and the coordinates placed me in front of what I thought where the correct three in a row. Not.

 

So, I wait a few days thinking maybe it was "muggled" and I found out not. waited a bit more to let a trail build around it. (I'm familiar with tracking) thinking I'll find it by following others tracks, I get out there and the whole area is covered in tracks and scrapes and things turned over. Spent about two hours searching, totally expecting a smacked head "doh" there it is, experience, It is an 1 1/2 star rated cache after all. NO joy. The hint was very ambiguous considering that the coordinates where not entirely correct.

 

The TIP

 

Luckily for me some one took pity on my plight and emailed me a little more of a hint, about that it was in a depression covered with leaf litter.

So Now I'm possessed, I'm going to find this cache. Part of my job description involves finding plants and animals by GPS coords. So there is no way I'm letting an ammo can get the best of me! I go out there and mark my coordinates with a piece of survey tape and work a six inch grid pattern with my poking stick. Three hours later. bingo.

 

The Aftermath

A long and drawn out debate on Groundspeak.

[+gravechaser]

Oh, brother! We know the family that put this one out. Others were logging finding the thing in less that 10 minutes. The wife provided hints after we'd invested over 4-5 hours over 4 months trying to "bag" this one but try finding a small magnetic keyholder on a very old large non-working bulldozer!!! I will try to add the link for it: Doze or No Doze If the link didn't work (my first time trying to insert one) the name of it is Doze or No Doze, GCXFWF.

 

The bulldozer is out in the country away from prying eyes. The kids and I swarmed that thing. We simply couldn't find it. I don't like spiders at all but I stuck my hand in places that I NEVER thought I'd stick it...all to find a lousy little keyholder! The kids literally cried over this one. They wanted to find it so badly!

 

I finally had to beg a veteran who had found it very quickly for help. After he got done laughing at me for not being able to find it he simply told me where it was. Even then.....I still had trouble finding it. That last attempt took quite some time. I must be a slow study. But when we did find it I danced a jig!

[+Trucker Lee]

Wife and I looked all over the face of a brick wall several times. Checked all the mortar chinks, probed the holes in mortar, probed the expansion joint between sidewalk and building. All wrong, cache was a step behind us as we searched. Won't tell the name, as I have my city on my profile, but to get this one out of the hidey-hole you had to pull a string.

[+QuesterMark]

i just had to vent, and it's not really a vent, just hoping i can get some sympathy!!

 

how many of you have had that one cache that just makes you absolutely crazy?!! becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad. not only can i not find it, but i can't even find a place where it could go. i don't have super extensive micor experience, but man! that cache isn't even rated that hard. i am confident it is still there, just juding from the logs and the hider and what-not, and that just makes me even more crazy.

 

so, if you are / have experienced such a problem, let me hear about it, so i am not the only one who blood pressure has gone up over nothing more than a tiny piece of paper. oh, and if you can, include a link to the cache, just cause that would be nice i would if i knew how! anyways...thanks for letting me vent.

 

In my small circle of 'cachers, we call that a "nemesis cache".

 

I have -at least- one...

[X-isle]

I had one like that. But my lack of experience was the cause of my DNFs', as others were finding it just fine. And, on my third attempt, I found it as well. Endeavor to persevere.

[top con]

NOW, i'm determined....

 

tried to find my little friend again this weekend. again, camp up empty. i posted another DNF today for it, just because i startee this trhread, and becuase this was attempt #5 with no luck. i think i'm gonna let someone else find it first.....

 

Anyone in the indy area that needs a challenge, try First Hand. i know it's not my cache, but if someone finds it soon and ensures it's still there, maybe i'll give you a dollar!! hehehee...i hate it when i stink at something!!

[manuscaco]

It's there -- I just checked

[top con]

how could you post a smiley manu? you know i'm not smiling.

 

seriously, i don't think i'm that bad at this game. and we've found a couple tricky ones. i swear it's like looking at a blank piece of paper and saying, "find the black dot".

 

i've had a couple hides that took a couple tries to find. but at least on those caches there seemed to be possible hiding spots, and places we hadn't checked yet. ok, to be open, i tried again last night, making 6 attempts. we spent at least 40 minutes looking while we ate our Dairy Queen. and this time i brouhgt my fiancee with me, and i'm not ashamed to say that she is the one who thinks "outside the box". even she was stumped and didn't want to give up. she was my ace-in-the-hole, but now she's failed me, and i'm left with the cache owner posting smileys, almost laughing at my fate!!! hehehe...i don't know what else to do. maybe i'll quit now.

[+Iron_Giant]

i just had to vent, and it's not really a vent, just hoping i can get some sympathy!!

 

how many of you have had that one cache that just makes you absolutely crazy?!! becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad. not only can i not find it, but i can't even find a place where it could go. i don't have super extensive micor experience, but man! that cache isn't even rated that hard. i am confident it is still there, just juding from the logs and the hider and what-not, and that just makes me even more crazy.

 

so, if you are / have experienced such a problem, let me hear about it, so i am not the only one who blood pressure has gone up over nothing more than a tiny piece of paper. oh, and if you can, include a link to the cache, just cause that would be nice i would if i knew how! anyways...thanks for letting me vent.

 

Oh yah. Been there a couple of times. I visited one placed 6 times before I found it - 3 times even AFTER a generous hint from the owner.

I kept blaming my merigold. It ended up being a narrow mind. :>

Here's the cache.

[+ODragon]

becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad.

 

I hate it when people don't log all their DNF also!

[top con]

sorry, if i dnf one of your caches, i'll be sure to log it!

 

th only reason i didn't log them all we because 4 attempts were split into 2 days, back to back, so i logged 1 DNF for my first 4 attempts. since then i have logged my attempts....wait, except for last night. but the owner knew about that one, as now we have kinda been in contact about this cache.

 

truthfully though, i have logged every single DNF on every other cache. i too am one who logs every DNF (usually), as i see the benefit of it. but this was a special case.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

The best caches are often the ones that don't seem to be in a place that could possibly hide a cache, because that's when you've got to think outside the box.

 

But, then, there are always the nanos stuck in sidewalk cracks.

[+Shadowjackal]

My nemesis cache is called BRIDGE by TeamGusinger in southern Ohio. I am so frustrated! I do not even know what to attempt to find it next...

[top con]

sorry to put an end to this thread, but I have found it.

 

and it only took 7 tries!! i did do it without a hint from the owner, but to be honest, i didn't really need one. what i needed was a better brain, and a box to think outside of. oh well, it's kind of sad that we found it...no wait, no it ain't!!! sweet, now i have to find another one that gets me riled up!!!

[+halffast]

Me and a freind just got into caching.We went to a great place to find an ammo can.Spent a couple hours with no luck.We made the 90 mile drive back the next weekend and searched a couple more hours and gve up.The following weekend I went back and searched again with no luck.The next day I took my wife to show her this place.We searched for about 4 more hours without finding it.Do you think I learned my lesson.Nope I emailed the owner and a few days later he had checked and the cache was gone.He replaced it and the next day I final;ly got to sign the logbook.

[top con]

hehehe....oops. guess you learned that one, eh?

[+Griswalds - #1]

i just had to vent, and it's not really a vent, just hoping i can get some sympathy!!

 

how many of you have had that one cache that just makes you absolutely crazy?!! becasue there is one cache, which i have only logged 1 dnf, but searched for a good few times, that is just driving me mad. not only can i not find it, but i can't even find a place where it could go. i don't have super extensive micor experience, but man! that cache isn't even rated that hard. i am confident it is still there, just juding from the logs and the hider and what-not, and that just makes me even more crazy.

 

so, if you are / have experienced such a problem, let me hear about it, so i am not the only one who blood pressure has gone up over nothing more than a tiny piece of paper. oh, and if you can, include a link to the cache, just cause that would be nice i would if i knew how! anyways...thanks for letting me vent.

 

I'm totally hearing you. I've had the same problem with a micro. I've been back 3 times and I have yet to find it. It's totally frustrating because I know it's there. The problem with it is that it's a micro hidden among a lot of fallen trees, old logs, branches and stuff like that. When I get close my GPS starts bouncing around like mad and even after setting it down for a while, it still won't give me a good location. I'm always about 20-25ft off no matter where I put it. So, that's a lot of wood to search. I'm going back for a 4th time and this time I'm taking some buddy cachers with me.

[+DrAwKwArD]

 

I'm totally hearing you. I've had the same problem with a micro. I've been back 3 times and I have yet to find it. It's totally frustrating because I know it's there. The problem with it is that it's a micro hidden among a lot of fallen trees, old logs, branches and stuff like that. When I get close my GPS starts bouncing around like mad and even after setting it down for a while, it still won't give me a good location. I'm always about 20-25ft off no matter where I put it. So, that's a lot of wood to search. I'm going back for a 4th time and this time I'm taking some buddy cachers with me.

If you post a DNF every time you look for it, perhaps the owner will replace it with an ammo box. There's no need for a micro in this kind of area.

[+Miragee]

I agree . . .hiding a micro "among a lot of fallen trees, old logs, branches and stuff like that. When I get close my GPS starts bouncing around like mad and even after setting it down for a while, it still won't give me a good location." is just wrong . . .

 

On a road trip, I was looking for a "small" container in an area like you describe. I wasn't going to be back to the area, so I really wanted to find it . . . but I didn't have all afternoon to look, so after about 20 minutes I was ready to call it a DNF.

 

Walking out, about 30 feet from GZ, a stump caught my eye. I don't even know why it looked different, but it did . . .

 

The small container was hidden in a hollowed-out area in the bottom of the stump.

[top con]

I haven't found any woodland micros yet...i'm working up to them! i'm on the fence on that point. it does seem unfair to have a micro in the woods, but people still find em, right? and i guess when i have 10,000 finds like the ecorangers, i'll be looking for a challenge like that. caching can make you mad though, can't it!!