Unexpected FTF's

[+Kabuthunk]

I was just poking around the message board when a completely unrelated topic somehow reminded me of a strange occurance that happened a few months ago.

 

I was caching in a provincial park a while back, and happened to wander over to a geocache that had previously been found by five other people, and after several minutes located the cache. As described in my log, I was rather perplexed when I came across a FTF certificate, and a logbook with no entries in it.

 

Snagging the FTF, the mystery continued onwards as another six cachers all found a cache... whereas the seventh after myself stated that they had found MY log to be the only entry in the cache, making him STF... 13 caches into the geocache's lifespan.

 

Shortly thereafter, one of the previous cachers went back and discovered that a mystery, not-named, not-signed, not-published cache was sitting somewhere nearby. Three months after I had found the cache, the mystery had finally been solved. So yes... FTF by pure accident.

 

Anyone else come across this type of situation, where they thought the cache had already been found and turned out to be FTF?

[+Lotho]

I got an ftf on a cache without expecting it because i was on holiday and thought it would ahve been found..but it wasnt really too unexpected.

[+Camper17]

Back in 2004 when we first started caching my son and I were FTF on a cache in Florida. If I recall correctly it was our second or third cache that we had ever found. At that time we didn't even know what FTF was and we were just happy to find it

 

slightly off subject - We have also found 2 Letterboxes that we didn't know what they were. We've joked about it saying that we were going to log it with "traded keychain for rubber stamp"

[+StarBrand]

About 5 years ago I printed off a list of possible caches for a trip. Turned out we had to postpone for a couple of weeks. One of the caches I found on that trip I was FTF - about 6 weeks after it was planted. Certainly wasn't trying for a FTF and was using very old printouts.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Sounds like there were two caches put at the same location, and one was approved. The other was not approved due to proximity to the previously published cache. Any cache owner name in the one you found? I've run across this twice. Maybe you FTFed an unaapproved cache. Or the other finders found the unapproved cache?

Camper17, I've found three or four letterboxes whilst searching for the nearby caches. That's why I contend that caches are hidden better than letterboxes! You never see logs on gc from letterboxers saying that they found the geocach whilst searching for the letterbox!

[+Thrak]

In Sept. 2005 I was visiting my daughter in Montana and, naturally, decided to find some local caches. I got a FTF on a cache that had been out for 3 days. Where I live it's common for a cache to be found within the first 30 - 60 minutes. I was shocked to find one that was still unfound after 3 days. I guess that's Montana though. Not so many cachers. The next finder didn't get to the cache until Oct. 6!

 

It was my first FTF so I was pretty stoked.

Edited September 27, 2007 by Thrak

[+H2OBob]

I was surprised to get FTF on GC15K0M. I'd read about it being published over a week before, so I figured it would have been found at least a few times. What a shock to find a clean log! Just blind luck!

[+MtnGoat50]

In Sept. 2005 I was visiting my daughter in Montana and, naturally, decided to find some local caches. I got a FTF on a cache that had been out for 3 days. Where I live it's common for a cache to be found within the first 30 - 60 minutes. I was shocked to find one that was still unfound after 3 days. I guess that's Montana though. Not so many cachers. The next finder didn't get to the cache until Oct. 6!

 

It was my first FTF so I was pretty stoked.

I had a similar experience in Montana this Memorial Day. We live in Spokane, my wife's brother lives in Whitefish and we decided to visit them over the long weekend. When I did a list of caches, I noticed this one GC12Z1W had just published and hadn't been found. We were doing a loop and this was on the way home so I didn't give it much thought. Three days later, on our way home, we were FTF, a nice surprise. Much like you, our local caches in Spokane, are usually found within an hour or two.

 

This cache (GCR41Q) in NE Washington was even more of a surprize. I was working in Omak and got an early start home. I took the long way hoping to get some Washington Delorme Challenge pages. It was winter and the other caches on this page seemed likely to be snowed in. As I headed north to the Canadian border (quite a ways out of my way), I wasn't sure if I'd find more snow or less. It turned out to be less. I found the cache on January 13, and it was placed on October 23, almost three months earlier, and I had no idea. One of those FTF caches you really remember.

 

Going off topic. I love the "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." in your sig line. I bought my first computer in 1980 and I think the first game I purchased was Zork. Those were some of the happiest times I've spent in front of a computer screen. Everytime I see it, it makes me smile....

[Mr.Yuck]

Sounds like there were two caches put at the same location, and one was approved. The other was not approved due to proximity to the previously published cache. Any cache owner name in the one you found? I've run across this twice. Maybe you FTFed an unaapproved cache. Or the other finders found the unapproved cache?

Camper17, I've found three or four letterboxes whilst searching for the nearby caches. That's why I contend that caches are hidden better than letterboxes! You never see logs on gc from letterboxers saying that they found the geocach whilst searching for the letterbox!

 

That's because they (letterboxers) hate us. I lost count, but I think I'm up to almost 10 letterboxes found while looking for caches. True though how I always seem to find them before the geocache, they must not be hidden very well. It also seems in my area that letterboxers are prone to that horrifically bad idea of wrapping their tupperware in plastic garbage bags, which is like my biggest pet peeve in the whole world.

 

So did anyone find out who placed the unpublished mystery cache here? Is it possible it's a letterbox?

[+Kabuthunk]

Sounds like there were two caches put at the same location, and one was approved. The other was not approved due to proximity to the previously published cache. Any cache owner name in the one you found? I've run across this twice. Maybe you FTFed an unaapproved cache. Or the other finders found the unapproved cache?

Camper17, I've found three or four letterboxes whilst searching for the nearby caches. That's why I contend that caches are hidden better than letterboxes! You never see logs on gc from letterboxers saying that they found the geocach whilst searching for the letterbox!

No, I found the real cache, everyone else found the unapproved cache. The one I had contained a FTF certificate with the cache-placer's name, and he confirmed that I had found the correct one

[+paulandstacey]

While in Newfoundland last fall, we got a FTF on a cache that had coordinates off by about 400 m. Talk about an unexpected find!

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...8d-b9036ba87f44

Edited October 3, 2007 by paulandstacey

[+QuesterMark]

 

Going off topic. I love the "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." in your sig line. I bought my first computer in 1980 and I think the first game I purchased was Zork. Those were some of the happiest times I've spent in front of a computer screen. Everytime I see it, it makes me smile....

 

Hah! I was thinking of posting almost the same thing because it has the same effect on me!

[+benh57]

 

Going off topic. I love the "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." in your sig line. I bought my first computer in 1980 and I think the first game I purchased was Zork. Those were some of the happiest times I've spent in front of a computer screen. Everytime I see it, it makes me smile....

 

Hah! I was thinking of posting almost the same thing because it has the same effect on me!

 

If you like interactive fiction (zork games), check out my bookmark list:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.a...ac-ce44490a2c55

[Tarheel Hunters]

I stumbled onto one today while searching for another. I made a note of the name of the cache and the owner and there was no listing for it. I signed the blank log and added "FTF??" Sent him an email to let him know it was less than 100 ft from the one I was originally looking for, and found, and wondered if it was a new cache not yet reviewed He has several caches in town.

Edited October 27, 2007 by leshelley

[+homer-dog]

I was hiking the Cozy Dell Trail when I rounded a corner and saw an ammo can sitting by the side of the trail. Turned out to be a cache that had been found by a muggle and not re-hid properly. I re-hid it and claimed the FTF - My second FTF. Total Surprise

[+Team Black-Cat]

True though how I always seem to find them before the geocache, they must not be hidden very well.

 

Could it be that you find them before the cache instead of after because you stop looking? Just a thought.

[+joranda]

I down loaded waypoints to a area almost two hours away. One of the caches that I found was a FTF. It still took two weeks for a local to find it and it was after They email me on where it was. I just couldn't believe that one else had found it. It had a couple of DNFs even before I got there. You got to love a out of the area FTF!

[+bugsmasher69]

I had a FTF this weekend in Texas. The cache I found was in a busy interstate rest area and had been published two weeks earlier. It took me awhile to find it. The gpsr was showing 90' from were I found it. A lot of thinking about the clue and name of the cache made it a successful find.