The worst caches ever

[JN 1013]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

[+Too Tall John]

Sounds like an adventure to me...

[+GrateBear]

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't understand why that upset you so much. Everyone has DNFs, and I trust you knew the distance before you set out on the hike. Like the prior post, it does sound like an adventure.

[+Lydford Locators]

We can definately top that worse cache experience ...

 

On 3 September we went to GC10T8K and whilst in the middle of the woods in a very inaccessible place, the 72 year old member of our team broke their leg in 6 places. It took paramedics quite some time to find us and then over 2 hours to extracate her. She needed a 4 hour operation to repair the multiple breaks and insert a load of metal into her leg. 5 weeks on and she's still in hospital!

 

It was a lovely little cache that could have been so easy, however we do wish we'd just stayed at home that day.

Edited October 5, 2007 by Lydford Locators

[+psychoraven102]

We can definately top that worse cache experience ...

 

On 3 September we went to GC10T8K and whilst in the middle of the woods in a very inaccessible place, the 72 year old member of our team broke their leg in 6 places. It took paramedics quite some time to find us and then over 2 hours to extracate her. She needed a 4 hour operation to repair the multiple breaks and insert a load of metal into her leg. 5 weeks on and she's still in hospital!

 

It was a lovely little cache that could have been so easy, however we do wish we'd just stayed at home that day.

 

Wow, That does sound bad

[+edscott]

You took a trip to the mountains and found that some of the paths go up hill. Shocking

[+Mudfrog]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

If that's a bad experience to you then i'd hate to see what you have to say about a generic wallyworld LPC!

[+Harry Dolphin]

Yeah! That sounds like a great adventure!!!! Worst cache I've found was a Chinese food container hidden under a twenty pound rock. I call it the Smashed Cache.

[+Kit Fox]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains.There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway.

 

If this isn't an "entitlement mentality," I don't know what is.

 

So you were unprepared to go up in the mountains, and you had to hike 1.5 miles. Did you ever bother to stop and admire the view, listen to the sounds, and see all the sights, or were you too pissed that you DNFed?

 

Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

How about grabbing your 3yr old moments before she touched human feces, because the local "rocket scientist" placed a cache behind a park and ride, used by homeless vagrants as a restroom?

Edited October 6, 2007 by Kit Fox

[+TrailGators]

How about grabbing your 3yr old moments before she touched human feces, because the local "rocket scientist" placed a cache behind a park and ride, used by homeless vagrants as a restroom?

That one is 1000 times worse than the OPs cache. I would actually loved doing the OP's hike. To me the cache is just a cherry on the banana split. If it is missing it's no biggie because I really enjoyed the banana split!

[theblackspot]

i wouldn't be complaining about going for a walk in the rockies.

i don't mind getting a DNF if the search takes me to some place of interest i wouldn't have otherwise visited. that being said i have no interest in the parking lot micros that seem so popular here, although they are easy enough to spot and avoid with a quick look at google maps (nothing against them existing for those who like nosing around parking lots. i just think it's a waste of time)

the caches i hate most are the ones in obvious cruising parks. looking for a cache amongst empty bottles of ky jelly and spent contraceptives (although preventing pregnancy is generally not their purpose) to have a couple fat, middle aged naked guys come running out of the bushes as you approach ground zero can be a low point of a caching trip.

[+cheech gang]

Not the Worst Cache ever:

 

GC12XYN

[+TrailGators]

The caches i hate most are the ones in obvious cruising parks. looking for a cache amongst empty bottles of ky jelly and spent contraceptives (although preventing pregnancy is generally not their purpose) to have a couple fat, middle aged naked guys come running out of the bushes as you approach ground zero can be a low point of a caching trip.

That is one nasty cache. I feel very fortunate to have never run into one that freaking awful.

[+Moore9KSUcats]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

Sooo.......

 

you are there for the smiley, and if you don't get the smiley, it is a failed trip?

 

We are there for the adventure, the scenery, and the family time together.

 

If we were there for the smiley, our numbers for 5+ years of geocaching would be probably in 4 digits, or at least a lot higher than we are. Instead, we are just over 400. We look for the adventures, nice hikes, and more adventures!

[Mr.Yuck]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

Oh, just several (too many to count) caches hidden in garbage strewn areas, using a piece of discarded garbage as cover. None of these caches ever seem to suggest geocachers doing any CITO, they just bring you to an area full of garbage, and put said garbage to use.

[+DavidMac]

Oh, just several (too many to count) caches hidden in garbage strewn areas, using a piece of discarded garbage as cover. None of these caches ever seem to suggest geocachers doing any CITO, they just bring you to an area full of garbage, and put said garbage to use.

 

Yep, I've seen numerous caches like that. On one recent find, the hint mentioned something about being hidden under a "black object", and I was disappointed to discover what the object was: a tire tread that was half buried among a field full of old bottles, car parts, and construction debris that had been sloppily plowed over. I'm glad there were no young kids along for the hunt.

 

This type of cache has to be my least favorite of all.

Edited October 6, 2007 by DavidMac

[+Too Tall John]

It's all a matter of perspective. Here's some actual logs of my adventures, followed by an interpretation from another perspective.

Hipointer and Capiti found Bald Mtn on Chocorua (03/24/07 a cache a day) (Traditional Cache)

 

FTF with Too Tall John! This was a very strenuous hike following nemsmedic's route. Snowshoes were needed in deep snow on the upper half of the Weetamoo trail and on the Hammond trail to the cache site. It took 2 1/2 hours to get there and another 20 minutes to find the cache. We came back down a little quicker for a 5 hour roundtrip hike. There was also one stream crossing that proved a little difficult with the rushing water and icy rocks. This could be a very nice hike in the summer as there are some views and the woods are very pleasant. Weetamoo rock is also interesting. Thanks for the challenge and workout!

 

Too Tall John found Bald Mtn on Chocorua (03/24/07 a cache a day) (Traditional Cache)

 

FOund today with Hipointer. After a challenging hike, we were rewarded by views through the thinning clouds of the surrounding area. After we wandered around looking for the cache, I finally spotted it, but couldn't get to it without going around an obstacle. Hipointer plucked the cache from its location. On the way back Hipointer took a little walk in the Chocorua River, and I rode down the banks on a big slab of snow! Exciting!

 

Too Tall John found Piper Trail (03/04 a cache a day) (Traditional Cache)

 

Caching today with Hipointer. After Bald Mt cache, he headed for home, so it was just me & the birds. Found the cache on the ground, sans TB.

 

Too Tall John found Nickerson Ledge (03/03 a cache a day) (Traditional Cache)

 

After finding Bald Mt & Piper Trail caches, I was pretty tired going up the ledge. Crampons are still necessary for one small section, but the snow is melting fast with the sun shining on it. Beautiful views! I'll be remembering this cache for longer than my muscles hurt.

Cache owner tried to kill us by sending us on a 5 hour snowshoe trek, which took us over a freezing cold river that we fell in. Then my caching partner quit on me and left me to do the other 2 caches out there. One cache's hiding place was apparently the middle of the ground, because that is where I found it. (Why can't people hide things right?!?) The thing that made these caches most memorable was the weeks worth of pain!

Hipointer and Capiti couldn't find Giant Falls (Unknown Cache)

 

After yesterday's success at Dream Lake, Hipointer and Too Tall John teamed up again today to see if we could also find this difficulty 5 cache. We got off to a bad start as we branched left a short ways up the Peabody Brook Trail on the wrong trail. The right trail has blue blazes at all junctions. We walked quite awhile before we realized we were on the wrong side of Peabody Brook. We wound up bushwhacking steeply down to the Brook, crossing it, and then bushwhacking steeply up to the correct trail. The trail to the Falls (unmarked) leaves on the left about 0.2 miles from the Falls. We found the large, flat rock and projected the coordinates to the cache. The route to the cache area is very steep, rocky terrain which we thought deserved a 4 or 4.5 difficulty rating. The terrain is the same at the cache coordinates and it was difficult to manuever around. GPS reception is also difficult here under the dense tree cover. We searched the area for over 1 1/2 hours and couldn't come up with the cache. This terrain is much more difficult to search than the terrain at Dream Lake and there are more hiding places. We think the time to look for this cache is late Fall when all the leaves are off the trees and GPS reception is better. This cache may now be the most difficult to find cache in New Hampshire!! We continue to marvel at how LandRocket found this cache at night! Maybe he got a glint from his headlamp. Anyhow, his find just adds to his legendary status among NH geocachers. It is a shame he is no longer with us.

 

Too Tall John couldn't find Giant Falls (Unknown Cache)

 

Well...

 

This was one we'll remember for a while. Hipointer detailed the hunt pretty well, so I'll let his log speak for both of us. He didn't mention that when we returned to the car, he realized his keys were missing. Realizing that finding them on that slippery slope when we couldn't even find the cache was near to impossible, we gave a call out to Capiti, who lucky for us had remained behind for this one. Wait... did I say we called? That would have required cell service! Of which there wasn't any! We hiked to the nearby dam before we had a reliable signal. With help on the way, we got back to the car, but not before... well, we might have placed a cache... Anyways, it was a beautiful hike, a wonderful day, and good company, so a worthwhile time! Oh... and when we got back to the car? After Capiti yelled at Hipointer, he found a note on his windshield... The neighbors had found his keys on the trail we started up on! All's well that ends well!

 

One bad note: I JUST found a tick on me...

An hour and a half hike in, on a trail system that we took a wrong turn on due to the lack of clear directions. Then, an hour hunt on a truly evil hillside, was the cache owner trying to break our necks? Then, on the way out, my caching buddy finds his keys are missing! We had to hike to where I had cell service so we could call for help. We had nothing better to do as we waited, so we placed a lame roadside micro. Bah!

Too Tall John couldn't find Ace of Diamonds (Traditional Cache)

 

After finding "Queen of Spades" MollyGSP & Me and I continued on the trail for about 15 feet when we came face to face with a bear. Both parties decided the best course of action was to return the way we came. We shall return, as this is a pretty spot. 'Twas an experience we won't soon forget, thanks!

 

Too Tall John couldn't find Ace of Diamonds (Traditional Cache)

 

Well, I came back. Bumped into my little (or not so little) friend again. This time I was about 200 feet from the cache, not from the car. The bear came charging out of the woods at me this time! It stopped about 10 yards from me & waited for me to make my move. As soon as I heard it coming through the trees I started shouting & waving my hiking stick, letting it know I was there. Once it went a few yards into the woods, I talked to it a bit, then started backing slowly away. I was followed for a while, but he kept about 50 yards distance. Needless to say, I didn't find the cache.

 

Too Tall John found Ace of Diamonds (Traditional Cache)

 

FTF! 3rd time's a charm! I hung my keys from my trekking pole & sang camp songs all the way to the cache, didn't encounter any bear this trip. I also went in the morning rather than the afternoon like I did the past 2 tries. Got close to GZ and found a likely hiding spot that had been torn apart by something big, obviously a bear looking for grubs. Was about to give up, assuming the bear had gotten the last word on my finding the cache when I noticed something that wasn't as it should be. A very nice hide! This spot is beautiful, I recommend it, but also think people should be bear aware when they come. From what I've read, the bear that charged me yesterday may have been protecting food, or thought that I had some. If the former, you may be able to avoid a similar experience with this knowledge:

 

Turns out I was off the trail when this happened. When your GPS is reading about 500 feet, there'll be a cleared section to the left of the trail, and the GPSr will point straight down it. My encounter was right in the middle of it. Turns out, the trail continues and loops back to the other side of this clearing. Stay with the trail. The clearing could be used as a shortcut, but the trail is only slightly longer, not to mention the footing is pretty rough in the clearing if you're trying to back away from a bear.

 

Thanks for the cache, this is a series of experiences I will not soon forget!

Just one question for ya: Who the heck hides a geocache in bear territory?!? I could have been killed, or worse!

 

In each case, it's all a matter of choices. I chose to participate in these adventures, I could have turned around at any time I wasn't having fun. (Wait, I did turn around at the bear encounter, and I couldn't once Hipointer lost his keys...) I chose to look at these situations as adventures and stories that would be fun to tell later. I didn't always find the cache, and even on the ones I found, I don't think the story would have been diminished any if I hadn't.

 

It's your choice:

 

Have fun

 

or

Don't have fun.

 

Just to clarify: These are some of my favorite caching experiences, but at the time they were happening, I was having no fun at all. Especially when the bear came running at me.

Edited October 6, 2007 by Too Tall John

[+BlueDeuce]

Oh, just several (too many to count) caches hidden in garbage strewn areas, using a piece of discarded garbage as cover. None of these caches ever seem to suggest geocachers doing any CITO, they just bring you to an area full of garbage, and put said garbage to use.

 

Yep, I've seen numerous caches like that. On one recent find, the hint mentioned something about being hidden under a "black object", and I was disappointed to discover what the object was: a tire tread that was half buried among a field full of old bottles, car parts, and construction debris that had been sloppily plowed over. I'm glad there were no young kids along for the hunt.

 

This type of cache has to be my least favorite of all.

 

Yep.

[+briansnat]

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

That sounds like it could be the best cache ever to me. To each his own I guess.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Sounds like an adventure to me...

Well said! Exactly! For me, that would have been a great cache outing! A note to the OP: perhaps you need to pick more carefully the caches which you choose to seek in the future; you may wish to stick to urban caches with a D/T rating of 1.5/1.5 or lower. That will solve your problem in a hurry.

[+Team GeoBlast]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

I'm not sure if this isn't troll bait but since others have bitten, I'll go.

 

No. I've never had an experience worse than this one. Of course, my expectations are probably slightly different than yours.

[tmike2552]

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

Which cache was it? I'd like to see if I can find it.

[+Sommers]

Can i just play advocate for the original poster? Perhaps he is MAD (or disappointed) at his inability AT THAT TIME to find the cache...especially if it was a special trip and the chances of getting back there are little. I too have been to places that were spectacular though unable to find the cache. Am I glad i went, yes, am i disappointed in not finding cache, yes. I think it may be a case of somebody overstateing their feelings much as some folks "HATE" anchovies or "LOVE" their morning coffee.

Just something to think about before we jump all over them for "not appreciateing the Rockies."

[+Bad_CRC]

we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!!

 

I live in minnesota, and I'd have the exact opposite reaction to that situation. I'd give a week's pay for a DNF at the top of a mountain in Colorado. I geocache for the trip, not for the find. So an excuse to hike up a mountain would be a great thing to me. I honestly could care less if I found the cache or not.

 

My favorite cache experience so far was in Winona, and I didn't find the cache on that trip. It was up a cliff, and we had to climb the rocks to get up the cliff to look for it. Very scary, but a thrilling experience overall.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...2d-c6b64b15d302

 

 

my worst cache experiences are consistently the ones with cheap containers, bad urban locations, or micros hidden in the woods.

Edited October 6, 2007 by Bad_CRC

[+Kabuthunk]

Man, the OP's DNF sounds like it would have been pretty fun, actually.

 

The worst cache I've done was hiding in a bush immediately behind several dumpsters for a restaurant... so it reeked of grease and old food right there. Good choice of spots, guys.

[+Snoogans]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains.There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway.

 

If this isn't an "entitlement mentality," I don't know what is.

 

So you were unprepared to go up in the mountains, and you had to hike 1.5 miles. Did you ever bother to stop and admire the view, listen to the sounds, and see all the sights, or were you too pissed that you DNFed?

 

LOL I've had people get mad after a DNF as well. They of course blamed ME for it even though every other team that had attempted the cache before them had found it. They never even took into account the poor atmospheric conditions that could have affected their reception in a valley between mountain peaks above 10,000 feet on the day they hunted it.

 

These pictures were taken in the same area 3 years later, but at EXACTLY the same time of year. Makes ya wonder what it takes to get folks to stop and smell the roses....

 

 

This was my response to the folks that got mad about their DNF:

Some of my favorite hunts have been DNFs. The final location was the prize in my opinion. The cache was just a means to get you there. I'm sorry you didn't get it.

 

And by "get it," I didn't mean the cache.

Edited October 7, 2007 by Snoogans

[+R.O.B]

The worst caches are the one I never found because while I was looking for them I said "This sucks", stopped looking and put it on my ever increasing ignore list.

[+DavidMac]

Sometimes it's about the journey, not the find, and getting a chance to enjoy the location is enough of a reward to offset the disappointment of not being able to find the cache. Given the right cache, a DNF for me can be just as much fun as a find- just look at the title that I've had under my avatar for over a year now . I even started putting together a bookmark list of my favorite DNFs, but never got around to finishing it. Maybe I'll do that sometime today. I consider them to be some of my favorite/most memorable logs.

 

edit: whoops, had javascript turned off, and the link didn't post.

Edited October 7, 2007 by DavidMac

[+new_dharma]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

ok...so my GF and I went on this week-long camping trip (car camping) to the Governor Dodge State Park (south-central Wisconsin). so i loaded the 3 caches that are in the park into my GPSr (one is a three stage multi & stage 2 of that has 3 options....that's like 7 or something!) and off we went.

I decided to do The Artful Dodger GC585B

last...what a horrible time! it's like 100 degrees out, but the trail to the first stage is in this valley that's like 20 degrees cooler...walking along the base of the rock cliffs with water seeping out, reading the signs along the trail describing the geological & archaeological significance of the area (The park is in The Driftless Area)...I FINALLY get to Stage 1 AND I HAVE TO WRITE THE CORDS BY HAND...WITH A PENCIL I HAD TO BRING! Come on!

Two of the options for the second stage are close, so I decide to tackle them...more hiking...just put them in the parking area near the trailhead!!!

so i'm walking on this forest path and suddenly i'm in a PINE FOREST...huh. I read the interpretive sign about this (too many signs...just let me wander and wonder!) and continue on my way. I come to a fork and decide to follow the path that is in the direction my GPSr is pointing (and ending up at the top of a 40 foot cliff with a nice view)...backtracking to the OTHER trail so I can get to the base of the cliff (I'm doing too much walking on this hiking trail!), I follow the path AROUND the cliff and make the find.

I ended up finding 2 of 3 Second Stages (I looked for all 3)...all the stages involved hiking, good views, different parts of the park (imagine going to a State Park and actually SEEING most of it...terrible!)...I found the Final Stage after MORE hiking...(stupid forest...stupid wildflower meadow...stupid view if the lake...stupid forest again)...

 

 

oh wait...i liked that...even if I didn't find one of the second stage caches I still got to see a great view of the lake (again, took wrong path to top of cliff).

[+ventura_kids]

I agree with the OP.

 

Why do hiders make a difficult hide at the end of a long effort to arrive near the cache site?

Usually there are small kids along, that love the actual find.

 

I try to make the final hiding spot "findable".

It really sucks to hike in a mile or two, only to rummage around in a pile of leaves...or worse yet, trash.

If you have the entire forest to hide one cache in, make it somewhere findable.

 

I love the fake treestumps, and the 'ammo can hanging in a tree, type hides.

Out here in the desert areas, we use a 4 foot tall pile of rocks.

 

However... I also am careful to check the Difficulty level before heading out for a long hike.

If the cache is rated 3 or above, then I would expect a tough search.

 

note: this log doesn't represent the opinion of the writer. It is written with the sole purpose of joining the discussion. Ventura Kids have never gone on a long hike without their jeep.

[+Trucker Lee]

Post #17 (too lengthy to quote) above perfectly illustrates how different folks may have different views on a cache. Thank you, Too Tall John, for that most excellent posting.

 

It seems the OP was just disappointed that they didn't get a "gimme" because they were on vacation. News flash, you chose to hunt that thing, you could have blown off the hunt at any time. You apparently were having such a bad day that you couldn't see the beauty around you, and appreciate being outdoors in the fresh air instead of a stuffy office.

 

If all you want to find are adventure lacking, walk-up and sign type, done in 30 second caches, please be patient. Next time I come through your area, I'll stuff every lamp post in the nearby shopping center JUST FOR YOU!!

[+Glenn]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!! You think youve had a worse cache experince then me???

I guess well see

 

I can't believe that you are complaining about taking a short walk in nature! It must have been torture to have to put up with all that fresh air and beautiful scenery. A day out with the family enjoying nature sounds like a fun time to me!

 

This isn't pokeman and you don't "gotta catch em all". You could have turned around at anytime. A good place would have been where the road ended and your GPSr showed you have 1.25mi more to go to the cache.

 

Since we are sharing...

I would have a worse cache experience but since I don't have to find them all I will abort a cache find that I think it is too dangerous or I just don't like where I am going. I remember this one cahce. I looked at the online maps and it looked as if the cache was in an urban park. I got there and GPSr was pointing me to an alley behind some shops. I started down the alley and it reeked of rotten garbage, alcohol, and some other things I couldn't and probably don't want to identify. I was outta there really quick. I went back and read the logs. The cache itself from what I gathered from the logs was attached to or under one of the dumpsters, the log was constantly too wet to be signed, and the area had drug paraphernalia strewn about. I had not taken the time to read the logs of past cachers but now I do. It isn't hard because I'm no where near the level of a power cacher. But even if I was a power a cacher I'd still use common sense in determining if I really want to find a certain cache or not.

[+TrailGators]

Have you ever come back from a cache hunt and decided it was the worst geocache ever?

Ever feel like this smily or worse???

Share your adventures of these kinds of caches.

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains.There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway.

 

If this isn't an "entitlement mentality," I don't know what is.

 

So you were unprepared to go up in the mountains, and you had to hike 1.5 miles. Did you ever bother to stop and admire the view, listen to the sounds, and see all the sights, or were you too pissed that you DNFed?

 

LOL I've had people get mad after a DNF as well. They of course blamed ME for it even though every other team that had attempted the cache before them had found it. They never even took into account the poor atmospheric conditions that could have affected their reception in a valley between mountain peaks above 10,000 feet on the day they hunted it.

 

These pictures were taken in the same area 3 years later, but at EXACTLY the same time of year. Makes ya wonder what it takes to get folks to stop and smell the roses....

 

 

This was my response to the folks that got mad about their DNF:

Some of my favorite hunts have been DNFs. The final location was the prize in my opinion. The cache was just a means to get you there. I'm sorry you didn't get it.

 

And by "get it," I didn't mean the cache.

Awesome photos Snoogans! Those are my favorite kinds of caches just because they got me there!

[Guyute1210]

Yeah, don't you hate it when you climb 1000ft up a mountain to get a cache, only to DNF it after traveling half way across the country and on our Honeymoon to boot!!!

 

 

On a bright side, we got to get some great pictures, and spend time with each other, doing what we love...enjoying nature

[+Snoogans]

Awesome photos Snoogans! Those are my favorite kinds of caches just because they got me there!

 

Just jump in your car and drive about 6 hours North and you can get there yourself.

Edited October 9, 2007 by Snoogans

[+TrailGators]

Awesome photos Snoogans! Those are my favorite kinds of caches just because they got me there!

Just jump in your car and drive about 6 hours North and you can get there yourself.

I wish. I'm not going anywhere until after I recover from my knee surgery. But I really do want to get up to Yosemite! Maybe next summer!

[Decoski]

The worst geocaches are the ones that lazy owners put along roads. The best ones are the ones where you actually have to walk through the woods a bit to find them. Like the multicache I set up, for example: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...9b-6328587e0fbd

[+Rockin Roddy]

Yep, that sounds much like a cache I tried in the Vegas area. I went after "Holey Wall", a cache which is in the mountains and described as a toughie! I walked a looong ways over two foothills, down through deep valleys filled with scraping scratching brush (everything in the deserts near Vegas is sharp an prickly), back up a larger mountainside only to end up at a cliff.

 

The cache was within 500' of me, but the cliff was also 500' straight up, I guess we all know where the container was. I was alone and not in nearly as good of shape as I should have been (definitely not in my climbing shpe), so I was pretty tired and a bit nervous about climbing the last 500' (no gear). I sat on the very slanted landscape and tried to pick a route up...couldn't find any. My legs, ankles and feet were screaming at me since the steepness of the slope I was standing was putting a strain on them.

 

I finally got up and searched for another way up, but the time was against me, the air was cold (as was the snow under my feet) and I was losing interest fast. I knew I had almost a mile of hard trekking to get back to my Jeep, and I knew I wasn't going to make the top. I had to give up and head back down. Yes, this did discourage me a bit, but the views and the experience really made the whole day much more fun than finding several urban micros near trash bins and homeless camps.

 

I logged my DNF and wrote the owner asking where I went wrong only to find I was soooo close to the way up it wasn't funny! I had so much fun trying for the cache though that it didn't matter I couldn't find it.

 

My thought of a bad cache would be the electric box type hides, but that's a different topic!

[+Sioneva]

I had to DNF a cache once because a goat ate it.

[+cowpill]

A bad day caching is better than a good day of anything, (with the exception of time spent with the better half)

[sanders3]

The worst cache we found was full of crap! Literally full of human feces.

[+Snyder Bear]

The worst cache we found was full of crap! Literally full of human feces.

 

I actually have one (cept I'm sure someone will probably denounce me as a liteweight because of it, but thats cool...) even though I'm quite new at geoin' (59 caches found to date - yeah ! ! ! )

But any who, I travel some, so this new life long hobby is right up the family and I's alley... I recently attended a work conference in Cali (and I being from Wisconsin - better known as "God's Country") so I called ahead to some of the wife's relatives in San Diego, and told them to be ready to try something new if I get the time to swing by...

Well, I did find an evening to drop by and visit, so I began to tell them about this new hobby we were doing, and if they wanted, we'd go out and locate a close cache, just to show them what it was all about...

Well, to make a long story short, there were three daughters who was quite excited, cause it was something out of the norm, that they could do, other the the normal friday night rituals that all the local city girls were accustomed to from that area... What I did was let them pick a cache off the website, in their area that was bigger than a micro, so we could exchange something, so they'd have a momento of our first cache together...

Once they all got ready (one teen ager and two in there twenties? Yeah, about an hour to prepare for a half hour venture), it was dark, so we took some flashlights and high hopes and headed out the door. 15 minutes with the car GPS and my hand held, put us within feet of our very first cache together... So as the veteran of the small group (which now included their interested mother as well), I allowed them all to go in first, to find the ammo box full of geo surpises...

Well, to make a long story even shorter, some really cool dude took it apon himself to relieve his bladder in the ammo box and close it for the next person to be unpleasantly surpised...

Needless to say, I think we've lost four potential future Geo cachers...

It may not have been my worst, but I can guarentee it was the worst that four potential newcomers had experienced in their short time enjoying something new...

Some day we'll possibly laugh about it, but I highly doubt it...

[+ScouterMark]

I have two "worst caches ever".

 

The first was hiking through the woods which seemed like forever, then searching for the cache which was forever, only to come up with a micro film canister with a soggy unloggable piece of paper in it. Never once did I walk past something interesting or notable either to the cache or on the way back. No birds, no wildlife, no, nada.

 

The second was arriving at a cache hide location only to find an enormous pile of cobblestones. All EXACTLY the same size and shape. Then rereading the cache description only to find the report that the "Coords may be a little off, the sats were jumpy on the day I placed it". I eventually found the container...you guessed it...a "hide-a-key". I carefully placed it under a cairn so as to give the next searchers a fighting chance to locate it in a shorter amount of time than I did.

 

Thanks to my therapist I am no longer able to remember exactly where they're located.

 

I know these pale in comparison to the tale of the old broad with the busted hip...but I just had to post my experience.

[knowschad]

Yeah, don't you hate it when you climb 1000ft up a mountain to get a cache, only to DNF it after traveling half way across the country and on our Honeymoon to boot!!!

 

 

On a bright side, we got to get some great pictures, and spend time with each other, doing what we love...enjoying nature

 

That really was a shame that you didn't spot the ammo box after all that work!!

[GPS-Hermit]

Worst one I had was close to home and it was a briar fest and I went back to the car a little pissed that such judgement prevailed. Guess I am a cry baby around poison ivy as well. But I do enjoy the hike and nature and a beautiful day doing it all.

[+squatch]

Hiya Folks, my first post on these forums but I feel a need to vent. I'm on the west side of Cleveland, and my local caching fun has been seriously dampened. There is a family that started placing stashes out there that are plain trashy. The woman and her kids have placed hundreds of them, and from what I've found, they are all very, very lame. Along side a highway, behind a pizza parlor's dumpster, in the prickers of a plain, empty cemetary. If it is not a micro, it is full of broken toys and unsaleable garage sale crap. Anyway, I used to tell other folks to try it out, but now I'm ashamed. I know I could block or ignore all of her hides, but she has 3 kids near teenage and they all hide them too. My neighborhood is clogged thick with Geotrashes. I won't go to the gatherings anymore because I know I'll tell the others what I think, and I'd rather not cause a big stink. When I first got into this game, all the hides were in neat, rewarding locations. FWIW, I've found well over 100 in 6 states and 2 countries, and hid a couple of VERY tough ones. I liked this sport when there was some sort of reward involved. SuzyJazz, you have nearly ruined Geocaching for me and my family. Thanks alot. I still hunt, but only after I am far, far away or do an in depth research to determine I'm not Geotrashing. Thanks for listening, I feel better now.

[Guyute1210]

Yeah, don't you hate it when you climb 1000ft up a mountain to get a cache, only to DNF it after traveling half way across the country and on our Honeymoon to boot!!!

 

 

On a bright side, we got to get some great pictures, and spend time with each other, doing what we love...enjoying nature

 

That really was a shame that you didn't spot the ammo box after all that work!!

LMAO...too bad it was supposed to be a small, and we found the spot, just no cache...

[+OKH]

Yay for the search feature!

 

Did a puzzle cache today, resolved the coordinates and got to the location. The location was a dead end street and GZ was dumpsters with a homeless encampment behind it. It was just a disgusting, dangerous, thoughtless place to place a cache. When I e-mailed the CO to inquire if maybe I got the numbers wrong, they responded that the location was their intention.

 

I didn't even bother looking because I was actually furious that someone would send me here. Thanks for letting me rant

[+peajay84]

 

Once when I was geocaching with my family and we were vacationing in Colorado. I live in Minnesota and not quite used to the mountains. There was a geocache we went to find that was basicly on top of the mountian but the road only went halfway up. So we had to hike a mile and a quarter to get there but couldnt find it anyway. Stuff like that makes me really MAD!!!!!!!!!

 

We are flatlanders from Nebraska that recently went caching in Estes Park, CO. Never having needed to consider altitude as well as lat. and long. there were several searches that ended in DNF's. Were we frustrated, yes. But certainly not at the CO. Frustrated with ourselves for not thinking that a cache that was .2 miles away meant it was actually further away than that and UP the mountain.

 

Live and learn and go back better educated next time.

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Snoogans photo's snipped.

 

I've seen those photos many times here always wondered just where it was although I had a general idea based on the terrain.

 

This time I took a closer look at the GPS and was able to find the location from the waypoint name that was displayed.

 

I'm not sure it would be possible to place a bad cache in that area. I've done several vacations just a bit north along the June Lake Loop and have done several hikes up the very steep trails above June Lake. If I lived in that area I'd surely want to place a cache in the 20 Lakes Basin area (up behind Saddlebag Lake though I suspect that it may be a protected area. Great fishing for brook trout fishing in that area though.