Frustrating Day

[triehl27]

First off I'll probablly be flamed as I have seen on here with other low count posters, cause I have only 2 finds and here I am making suggestions and noting my frustrations. So be it.

 

First off i started Geocaching in 2003. But where I lived then had no geocaches and I had a 40 mile drive to the closest. So I started looking in Seattle when I visited. I found one, and the other I looked for ran me over 1.5mi back and forth in apark for a 5 part puzzle that made great promises in the description and turned outto be a micro. I got annoyed and frustrated and stopped playing. That cache is no longer listed I saw. I am now back as I have moved to the city.

 

So I have just gotten mystuff together and started looking locally over the last couple of days. I have tried for about 45 caches in the last 2 days and have formed some thoughts on the game

 

Observation 1:

Hide it well enough so a muggle doesn't find it but not so hard that a person who is looking for can't find it. Such as burying a film canister. The goal isn't to make it so hard that no one can find it. There are hides that seem to be done to keep it hidden from the cachers on purpose. Hides that have a bunch of DNF's but the hider assures me it is there he just hid it REALLY well.

 

Observation and suggestion 2:

I wish and perfer the hides that tell you what the container is so you at least know what you are looking for.

 

Observation 3.

 

The just vague coords in a populated area make it overly tough and unfun. I don't like to have to search 100' of Holly covered rockery for a film container on a busy street with no shoulder. Or the middle of a 30' diameter juniper bush for a film container. Or a nettle infest swamp that has be come so overgrown as to require hacking into it with a machete.

 

There is a point where fun ends.

 

Although this time around i am in the city and invested in the game so i shall carry on.

 

What are some other's ideas and observations

Edited July 28, 2007 by triehl27

[+bccruiser]

As for observation 2, right under the place on the cache page where it says, A cache by in the top upper left hand corner there is a scale that tells you the size of the container you are looking for. Although it doesn't tell you exactly what your looking for at least you know the size.

 

As for observations 1 and 3 be patient. With experience, finding caches will become easier. Stick to larger caches for a while as they are easier to find and for me are funner. Then move to micros. Also, check the difficulty of the cache before heading out so you know what to expect.

 

Most importantly, Have fun. If a hide is frustrating you leave and come back some other time. No use torturing yourself.

 

Bccruiser

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

What are some other's ideas and observations

That the game is not for everyone? Seriously, if you aren't open-minded and flexible this game may be too frustrating.

 

If you want to play but only want to find stuff within certain narrow constraints of what you like then doing the homework of reading each cache listing carefully before you go will help, though as you have discovered you will still find caches you don't like.

 

I've found thousands of caches of every description in 28 states and enjoyed every one, though I liked some more or less than others.

 

Enjoying this game is all in your attitude!

[+bccruiser]

Wanted to comment about observation 3. Don't expect the GPSr to take you directly to the cache. Depending on the day the accuracy can range from 5ft to 50 ft. Plus the person who hid the cache also has this same error. It's not rare to have the cache be 30ft from where the GPSr says it is. So what I do is use the GPSr to get me as close as it can and then just put it away as start looking in places that I would hide the cache.

[+BlueDeuce]

here I am making suggestions and noting my frustrations.

 

<snip>

 

I hear ya.

[+Team_CSG]

I would take a frustrating day of geocaching over a great day at the office.

[+Ambrosia]

Perhaps some of it has to do with where you let yourself be taken, and how much planning you put into it. I've taken quite a few caching trips to Seattle, and have enjoyed every one of them. None of the things that you have described have happened to me there. I guess I'm not really sure why. I regard the Seattle area to be this wonderful place that I look forward to going and I wish that someday I could spend a long three day weekend just caching, caching caching.

 

Perhaps it would be good to go to the NW Forums and take a look at the pinned thread for bookmarks. Also, there are some recent threads in there about good caches in Seattle. Go to an event and meet some people and maybe they'll give you some cache hints or go caching with you!

[+Mudfrog]

One of the GOOD things about geocaching is that there is so much VARIETY in the way people play. Some hiders want their cache to be extremely hard to find. Some hiders want their cache to be easy and good for numbers hounds. Some are very creative in their hides and others pretty lame. (this is subject to interpretation). The list of variances goes on and on.

 

You yourself have choices that you need to make, as it is apparent that you very picky about what you want out of geocaching. Three options come to my mind:

 

1. Realize that geocaching is played by many, in many different ways. Don't get upset when you run across a cache you don't like. Simply leave and go for another if the one you're on isn't enjoyable to you.

 

2. Do your homework, read cache descriptions, filter by cache size and difficulty ratings, then try for only those caches that interest you. (not 100% affective but it does help)

 

3. What TAR said above,,, Geocaching is not for everyone. You might want to think about finding another hobby/game/sport to enjoy if these little things cause you too much grief,.

[+StarBrand]

Observations # 1 and #2 - very valid - I share your beliefs and thoughts.

 

BTW - if you found something that was clearly buried in the ground soley to be a cache - that is a violation of the guidelines - please report it.

 

#3 - 100 foot off is too far but don't expect them to all be within 15 foot of Ground Zero either.

 

Have fun and cache on.

[+rdaines]

I agree with you, it's supposed to be fun and, yes, a challenge but not impossible. Knowing the container is always are great help but sometimes I get my "ah ha" for seeing the container without fore knowledge. Hiding a "fake rock in a quarry" to me is just as lame as a LPC.

[+Miragee]

For me, the fun stops, when the fun stops. Sometimes that is after 45 minutes of fruitless searching. Other times, it is after I have pulled over, taken a look around, and decided I don't need to find a Geocache in that location.

 

Since I have never been a "radius slave" or any variant of that sort, I can leave a Geocache behind without having to search for it until it has been captured and put on my "trophy wall."

[+scott9282]

One thing you can try and do is to get "inside" the mind of the cache hider. If you've searched one of their caches before, try and think what they did, and how. Most people are creatures of habit, and you just have to figure them out.

 

As an example, there was one cache that I kept referring to as my personal Moby Dick. I must've made five trips out there to try and find this thing. One of the problems was it was close to a day camp, with tennis courts, playgrounds and so on all there on the other side of a chain link fence.

 

I used a regular compass, and a bow hunting range finder, in addition to my GPSr. I was shooting bearings, I was measuring off distances, pacing, whatever I could think of. I always ended up in the same spot, sitting under the same tree. Now of course that tree got extra attention, but I just wasn't finding it.

 

Finally I admitted that I needed a bit more help, and PM'd the cache owner. I told him what I had done, and how. I even went so far as to explain that the cache just wasn't in a comfortable area, since there were a lot of tennis balls that had been hit over the fence from the day camp (I guess 8 year olds are not the best tennis players). I even mentioned that there were some tennis balls where I liked to sit under the tree.

 

Basically he told me to pay a bit more attention, sort of spread out my senses. "Use the force" if you will.

 

Well, I went back for one last time. Tried everything. And ended up at the same tree. (By now, the other veteran cachers are smiling, they probably figured it out already)

 

And sat down, and moved the same tennis ball that I had moved four or five times before, since it was in a very uncomfortable spot, in a little hollow where you'd lean against the tree. But this time, I sort of had a little bit of the "Jedi" with me. Took a closer look at that stupid tennis ball, and noticed that there was a small slit in it.

 

Now you'd think that I would've recalled that this was a sort of puzzle cache. But of course I didn't. Well, I gave that tennis ball a little squeeze, the slit opened up, and inside was another set of co-ordinates in a very small container. Followed those to the location, and lo and behold, there it was.

 

Now when I do one of this person's caches, I try to remember that he has an evil mind, but with a little thought, and getting inside his head a bit, I can do it.

[continental drifter]

Sounds like you're only going after micros,they can be the hardest.Go for a walk in the woods and go after something larger.Even if you don't find it you still had a nice walk in the woods. Edited July 30, 2007 by continental drifter

[Skylerdragon]

First off I'll probablly be flamed as I have seen on here with other low count posters, cause I have only 2 finds and here I am making suggestions and noting my frustrations. So be it.

 

First off i started Geocaching in 2003. But where I lived then had no geocaches and I had a 40 mile drive to the closest. So I started looking in Seattle when I visited. I found one, and the other I looked for ran me over 1.5mi back and forth in apark for a 5 part puzzle that made great promises in the description and turned outto be a micro. I got annoyed and frustrated and stopped playing. That cache is no longer listed I saw. I am now back as I have moved to the city.

 

So I have just gotten mystuff together and started looking locally over the last couple of days. I have tried for about 45 caches in the last 2 days and have formed some thoughts on the game

 

Observation 1:

Hide it well enough so a muggle doesn't find it but not so hard that a person who is looking for can't find it. Such as burying a film canister. The goal isn't to make it so hard that no one can find it. There are hides that seem to be done to keep it hidden from the cachers on purpose. Hides that have a bunch of DNF's but the hider assures me it is there he just hid it REALLY well.

 

Observation and suggestion 2:

I wish and perfer the hides that tell you what the container is so you at least know what you are looking for.

 

Observation 3.

 

The just vague coords in a populated area make it overly tough and unfun. I don't like to have to search 100' of Holly covered rockery for a film container on a busy street with no shoulder. Or the middle of a 30' diameter juniper bush for a film container. Or a nettle infest swamp that has be come so overgrown as to require hacking into it with a machete.

 

There is a point where fun ends.

 

Although this time around i am in the city and invested in the game so i shall carry on.

 

What are some other's ideas and observations

 

Oh i completely agree with you! I am a beginning cacher and still annoyed by these experienced cachers. The problem is that they are experienced and I am not. Its like being a new teacher or a new student. You can complain all you want about the way things are done, but the locals will just ignore you because they have been doing it that way or they are so experienced that they don't have the same problems newbies do.

 

The only way to alleviate this is to have a cacher who can mento the newbies. That cacher would have to be one who has done most or all in a particular area. They can steer newbies away from pesky worthless caches, and annoying puzzlers. That's the only way to fight it, because all the experienced cachers will gang together and say we are just newbies who don't get it.

 

I hate DNFs but cachers all over the place tell me thats part of the game.

 

I agree completely with you though and have been burned by my complaints and negative journal entries. I still will post my negative journal entries because that's my perogative, just like their annoying hide or unhelpful hosting is their perrogative.

[+Thrak]

So I have just gotten mystuff together and started looking locally over the last couple of days. I have tried for about 45 caches in the last 2 days and have formed some thoughts on the game

 

You tried for 45 caches in a couple of days and you only have 6 finds listed. I think there is something more than difficult hides going on here. You may have your GPS settings wrong or something. I can't imagine not being able to find at least a few more of the caches you searched for simply due to the hides being difficult.

[+Machuco]

Yea, Thrak is right. There has got to be something wrong with your GPSr. If I had that low of a find percentage I would definitely seek out someone who could help me.

[+Dr. Jackal]

I agree with you, it's supposed to be fun and, yes, a challenge but not impossible. Knowing the container is always are great help but sometimes I get my "ah ha" for seeing the container without fore knowledge. Hiding a "fake rock in a quarry" to me is just as lame as a LPC.

 

this made me laugh so hard, i think i'd lose my mind if i ever found something like that.

[+TrailGators]

Sounds like you're only going after micros,they can be the hardest.Go for a walk in the woods and go after something larger.Even if you don't find it you still had a nice walk in the woods.

I agree with this. You could also find out which local hiders you enjoy more and concentrate on those caches. When you travel start a thread asking for the must-do caches in the area.

[+Driver Carries Cache]

I agree with you, it's supposed to be fun and, yes, a challenge but not impossible. Knowing the container is always are great help but sometimes I get my "ah ha" for seeing the container without fore knowledge. Hiding a "fake rock in a quarry" to me is just as lame as a LPC.

 

this made me laugh so hard, i think i'd lose my mind if i ever found something like that.

 

We were in a regional park one weekend during our first month of caching. We zeroed in on a cache that the hint said was "a black magnetic key holder". We found the only piece of metal for about a hundred yard radius and being that it was a long abandoned stake for a barbed wire fence... it didn't take a lot of searching to decide the cache wasn't there. We hiked out, went home and logged a DNF along with... if i remember correctly two previous DNF's from other cachers. The hider responded saying with three consecutive DNF's he'd go out and check on the hide. He posted a few days later that it was still there, right where he hid it. We told him we were stumped... we had checked all the metal a magnet could stick to for about as far as we could see. His response... just because it's a magnetic container doesn't mean it's actually stuck to something metal. Turns out the stupid thing was under some rock or something!

 

I can laugh about it now

 

To the OP...

 

You should find a caching buddy. Sometimes I think a pair has a much higher chance of finding something. I've found probably 90% of my first 300 caches with my lifelong friend and caching buddy. This makes any cache more fun, finds or DNF's. Check your local area for event caches and go meet some local folks who would be glad to help you out. I would also recommend paying attention to the difficulty on the cache page, and the size of the container. There are some absolutely evil micros out there! It's a bit harder to place an evil ammo can (I'm sure it can be done, just not as easy). And trust me, there's no find as great as one you've had to search for on many occasions. I actually keep stats (see my profile) on my DNF's, how many times I've gone back to them, and how many of them have been "converted" to finds!

 

They are definitely the special ones.

 

Driver Carries Cache

[+Miragee]

We were in a regional park one weekend during our first month of caching. We zeroed in on a cache that the hint said was "a black magnetic key holder". We found the only piece of metal for about a hundred yard radius and being that it was a long abandoned stake for a barbed wire fence... it didn't take a lot of searching to decide the cache wasn't there. We hiked out, went home and logged a DNF along with... if i remember correctly two previous DNF's from other cachers. The hider responded saying with three consecutive DNF's he'd go out and check on the hide. He posted a few days later that it was still there, right where he hid it. We told him we were stumped... we had checked all the metal a magnet could stick to for about as far as we could see. His response... just because it's a magnetic container doesn't mean it's actually stuck to something metal. Turns out the stupid thing was under some rock or something!

 

<snip>

Sounds like the one we found. The hint was "Not Magnetic" so we discounted the nearby lamp post skirt.

 

Only after we had looked at all the bushes and the nearby sprinklers did we look under the skirt to find a cache velcroed in place . . .

[+Team Cotati]

First off I'll probablly be flamed as I have seen on here with other low count posters, cause I have only 2 finds and here I am making suggestions and noting my frustrations. So be it.

 

First off i started Geocaching in 2003. But where I lived then had no geocaches and I had a 40 mile drive to the closest. So I started looking in Seattle when I visited. I found one, and the other I looked for ran me over 1.5mi back and forth in apark for a 5 part puzzle that made great promises in the description and turned outto be a micro. I got annoyed and frustrated and stopped playing. That cache is no longer listed I saw. I am now back as I have moved to the city.

 

So I have just gotten mystuff together and started looking locally over the last couple of days. I have tried for about 45 caches in the last 2 days and have formed some thoughts on the game

 

Observation 1:

Hide it well enough so a muggle doesn't find it but not so hard that a person who is looking for can't find it. Such as burying a film canister. The goal isn't to make it so hard that no one can find it. There are hides that seem to be done to keep it hidden from the cachers on purpose. Hides that have a bunch of DNF's but the hider assures me it is there he just hid it REALLY well.

 

Observation and suggestion 2:

I wish and perfer the hides that tell you what the container is so you at least know what you are looking for.

 

Observation 3.

 

The just vague coords in a populated area make it overly tough and unfun. I don't like to have to search 100' of Holly covered rockery for a film container on a busy street with no shoulder. Or the middle of a 30' diameter juniper bush for a film container. Or a nettle infest swamp that has be come so overgrown as to require hacking into it with a machete.

 

There is a point where fun ends.

 

Although this time around i am in the city and invested in the game so i shall carry on.

 

What are some other's ideas and observations

 

Filter out micros and your caching life will improve immensely, trust me.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Sounds like the one we found. The hint was "Not Magnetic" so we discounted the nearby lamp post skirt.

 

Only after we had looked at all the bushes and the nearby sprinklers did we look under the skirt to find a cache velcroed in place . . .

 

Ah. Then you would probably not like my fake rock in a woodpecker hole in a tree.

[+Dr. Jackal]

We were in a regional park one weekend during our first month of caching. We zeroed in on a cache that the hint said was "a black magnetic key holder". We found the only piece of metal for about a hundred yard radius and being that it was a long abandoned stake for a barbed wire fence... it didn't take a lot of searching to decide the cache wasn't there. We hiked out, went home and logged a DNF along with... if i remember correctly two previous DNF's from other cachers. The hider responded saying with three consecutive DNF's he'd go out and check on the hide. He posted a few days later that it was still there, right where he hid it. We told him we were stumped... we had checked all the metal a magnet could stick to for about as far as we could see. His response... just because it's a magnetic container doesn't mean it's actually stuck to something metal. Turns out the stupid thing was under some rock or something!

 

I can laugh about it now

 

 

 

a magnetic key holder thats not stuck to something metal and buried (isn't that against the rules?) i think i would've sealed the deal and bashed my skull against the rocks.

 

theirs challenges, then theirs that lol.

Edited July 31, 2007 by Dr. Jackal

[+Dr. Jackal]

Sounds like the one we found. The hint was "Not Magnetic" so we discounted the nearby lamp post skirt.

 

Only after we had looked at all the bushes and the nearby sprinklers did we look under the skirt to find a cache velcroed in place . . .

 

Ah. Then you would probably not like my fake rock in a woodpecker hole in a tree.

 

to me that sounds evil , but i'd have to see what kind of hints you would give.

[+Driver Carries Cache]

... I can laugh about it now

 

a magnetic key holder thats not stuck to something metal and buried (isn't that against the rules?) i think i would've sealed the deal and bashed my skull against the rocks.

 

theirs challenges, then theirs that lol.

 

I don't want to "overly" malign that magnetic cache... I never went back to find it, but was told it was hidden in the rocks. I wouldn't say it was buried, or that it was breaking any rules, but it was an evil hide... by definition.

 

There's a time and a place for a challenging hide, but the difficulty rating should be accurate. I don't expect a 1 or a 2 difficulty to take hours of searching. 3's frequently take me half an hour or so (and sometimes multiple visits!)

 

DCC