Found a cache not on the geocaching site.

[jlsantiago]

I just started hunting this past weekend and I couldn't find the cache at my first site. I did find the next one though so I felt it was a good day. I went back to the first site today looking for a "decon can". I did not find a decon can, but I found a plastic container in a ziplock bag. The container contained a log book and a big rubber stamp with a dancing devil picture. The log book contained ink stamps from others and dates. This was clearly a cache someone hid.

 

Being new to this, I assumed the container had been changed without the description being updated so I signed the log and felt great that I finally found the cache. When I returned home to log my find, I noticed that the cache was found be 3 other people yesterday and they noted in their log the description as a decon can with travel bugs and hand sanitizer.

 

After reading the log, I know the cache I found was not the one I was looking for, but it was at the same GPS location.

 

What do I do about the mystery cache I found? Are there other cache hunts that use rubber stamps with their log books?

[+StarBrand]

Sounds like you found a letterbox.

 

www.letterboxing.org.

[Luckless]

Sounds like you found a letterbox. Letterboxing is like geocaching. They exchange/collect stamp marks. The way I think it works is you stamp your book with their stamp and their book with your stamp.

 

I think geoching.com lists some hybrid geocaches that have both trade items for geocaching and also letterbox stamps. Could be that is what you found? There should be a listing though for the cache.

You can try googling letterboxing.

[jlsantiago]

Thanks for the info about letterboxes. I looked at the link provided by StarBrand and the description sure sounds like the box I found. It is interesting to learn there are many ways to have fun with this adventure.

 

Looks like I will be returning to the same location again tomorrow to find the cache I was originally looking for. I am determined to find it now that I know several others have found it in the past few days.

[+Miragee]

Those DeCon containers can be hard to find . . . I think I DNF'd four of them along one trail when I was a new cacher, and before I realized they could be hung in small bushes where they simply disappear in the foliage.

 

Good luck.

[+briansnat]

Letterboxers and geocachers tend to like the same kinds of places to hide their boxes. So you will sometimes find a letterbox while looking for a geocache. I've found several this way, as well as some while looking for a place to hide a cache.

 

If you find a letterbox just make sure you leave the stamp. Letterboxers get all worked up when geocachers find their box accidently and take the stamp thinking its a trade item. Because most of the stamps are hand carved and take a lot of work, this is understandable.

[+Redthorne]

Hmm, this letterboxing sounds interesting, I will have to look into this.

[+Aiden's Cachers]

I accidentaly stumbled upon a letterbox the other day while scouting out hiding places, unfortunatly I didn't have my stamp with me..

[Neos2]

I accidentaly stumbled upon a letterbox the other day while scouting out hiding places, unfortunatly I didn't have my stamp with me..

When I find a letterbox unexpectedly and don't have my stamp I use the old trick of inking my usual stamp logo onto my thumb and stamping the page that way.

[+Moore9KSUcats]

Letterboxing is a lot of fun, but I just don't get the same satisfaction that I do with geocaching. We really enjoy reading the online logs and comments, and that isn't what is done on the lbNA website. Occasionally, someone will send us an e-mail comment about the cache, but that seems to be rare.

 

We'll continue to letterbox when we are in an area... at this point, we've just about cleaned up our town... there are less than 12 in Georgetown, and less than 20 in our county, I think. (As a comparison, there are over 2000 geocaches that we haven't found within 50 miles of our home coordinates!)

[Luckless]

I always figured I'd try letterboxing once I found all the nearby caches so I'd have something else around here to look for. With the price of gas that may be sooner than later.

[+trainlove]

Could be a letterbox as others have mentioned.

 

Could be an archived cache that'snot been removed. Archived for some other reason than needing maintenance. Does it have a name in the logbook or on the container? Does it show up in the maps when looking at archived caches only? If you can see geocachier names in the logbook make a note of all the names and then view their profiles for the dates that they logged the cache, you might see the cache name if it had been a cache back then.

 

Could be a yet to be approved cache. I know of one that had been planted 3 years ago and is not going to ever get published, intentionally, not due to some rule infraction. Are there instructions in the log book as to what cache to visit and how to word that log so as to cryptically signify that you found this one?

Edited May 23, 2007 by trainlove