How long do you search for?

[+elora_c]

I'm getting ready to hide my first cache and was looking at ClayJar's rating system. It gave me a 2-star for cache difficulty, defining this as "most cachers would find within 30 minutes of looking." That surprised me a lot. My average difficulty is just under 2, but I don't think I've ever spent more than about 10 minutes looking. I do have some DNFs where I gave up after 10 minutes. If I haven't found it in that time, then I'm either looking in the wrong area, or I'm looking incorrectly, and I'm probably not going to find it. I've gone back to some DNFs on a later date and then found. Fresh eyes and fresh perspective.

 

So how long do you generally spend looking for a cache and when do you give up? This is only time spent at GZ, not the hour hike it might take to get there.

[me_chris]

I generally search until I find the cache. I have spent up to an hour at a cache site before.

 

Granted, sometimes I do give up if the weather is bad or if I think the cache might be missing...

 

I guess I don't really have a set time that I search - it sort of depends on my mood that day

 

I will also spend more time searching for an ammo box than I will for a micro.

 

Hope this helps!

[+briansnat]

After about 30 minutes the the fun element starts dropping for me. I've searched as long as an hour, but I usually give up at about 30 minutes.

[+Y2KOTA]

Depends on how far I went to get to the site. mostly about up to 30 min's.

[+Knight2000]

As long as circumstances allow (kids, weather, etc.) we look for at least 30 minutes. The only time we dont is when the fun level drops. We cache for fun. If it isnt fun, we keep on keepin' on.

[+Snake & Rooster]

After about 30 minutes the the fun element starts dropping for me. I've searched as long as an hour, but I usually give up at about 30 minutes.

 

This would fit me as well. When it is no longer fun, I quit and log the DNF. I may go back though, since I am a bit stubborn. I once went back to a cache 3 or four times before I found it, and had over 2 hours invested in it. Eventually found it within 10 feet of my zero.

[+JohnnyVegas]

If I am looking for a cache that is rated a "2", I will spend at most 30 minutes, if the cache is hidden in a bad area or in an area full of trash, I may not spend 5 minutes.

[+infiniteMPG]

Totally depends on what you're looking for, how long you spent getting there, and the circumstances (in other words each cache is different). We have been swarmed by muggles looking for an urban cache and canned it after 5 minutes. Then again we spent around an hour looking for an ammo can that was towards the middle of an all day hike that had several DNF's and hadn't been found in about half a year. Yeah, we found it, too.... we like those and it was worth every second!

[+Robespierre]

Try a BiT cache.

[+Renegade Knight]

I look until it stops being fun.

[+StarBrand]

Depends on weather and how much time I have to spend but generally for a 2 or 2.5 I'll spend up to 30 minutes. Fun factor drops off fast for me after that long. I've spent as long as 1.5 hours in a visit looking for a cache but I think it was rated a 4. I find most 2 to 3 star caches within 20 minutes or so. Spent as much as 45 minutes looking for a 1 star (found it).

[+The Fej]

It depends on how bad I want the cache and how much I am enjoying myself. The longest I have spent is 1 hour and 45 minutes total. It was a new cache and I wanted the FTF on it. I searched for it by myself for 45 minutes, gave up and was walking to another new cache nearby where I ran into another cacher. Went back and searched for another 45 minutes with him and still could not find it. Logged the DNF. Went back a week later and found it within minutes of getting there in the one area I did not look (coords were off).

 

I've noticed my general time frame before giving up is 20 to 30 minutes. I generally check the place where the GPS is banging at for several minutes. If that turns up nothing, I generally try scanning around a 30 to 40' radious for several minutes as well. Coords are usually never perfect, so I like to be sure I have given the entire area a good look-over before giving up. But like someone said earlier, if its a bad area, weather is bad, I'm in a rush, the search is in a dangerous place, or in a high visibility area, I may not search more than 5 minutes.

[+redtech]

the longest I've ever looked is probably 15 or 20 minutes. There are a few caches that I made a second trip to though.

 

There is one that I've probably spent 30 minutes at combined between 2 trips. Its a difficulty 1. I think the cache is gone. Its a magnetic keybox on a bridge out in the country and I've searched every inch of the metal parts... TWICE. The owner swears its on one of the rails... I think I'll give it one more time before I put my DNF.

[+elora_c]

I do find that I'm willing to spend longer for caches in the woods than urban ones. If I'm going to be wandering around looking lost, I'd rather not have an audience I also cache with a 6.5yr old who gets antsy and wanders off after a few minutes. Lately, though, he's been taking pride in finding the cache before I get there with the GPS.

[+Stargazer22]

Each search for me has a different 'time out' factor.

If it's an ammo can and a 2 difficulty, probably not more than around 15 minutes.

 

We were once searching for a particularly difficult micro which was the last for us in a series of difficult and tricky micros in the woods. There are about 20 of them in the series and at the time, this was the last one for us.

Our initial search was about 4 hours.

 

Another group of 4 cachers came by while we were searching and you should have seen the look on their faces when we told them we had already been there for an hour! At the time we were taking a break sitting in some lawn chairs having a coke and some peanuts. They searched with us for about 30 to 40 minutes, then went on down the trail when none of the 6 of us had found it yet. About an hour and a half later, they came back out and waved to the loonies still searching (us!) on their way home.

 

We DNFed that one that day. Came back a week later after thinking up a different way to search for it.

We were successful in about 25 minutes the second time around.

That was a very unusual search AND find, though.

 

So I think it depends on how far away from home it is, if it's in the middle of a trail with a long hike, or on a 4X4 road that may experience seasonal floodings (common here in FL). Some areas that we can drive a Jeep to during the dry season may require a long hike through swampy territory during the wet time of the year (see below, that's us fording the stream).

 

[+ArcherDragoon]

<---OCD

 

Thus, I will usually search until I find the darn thing...

[+PyrateWench]

Around here, I tend to find mostly urban caches. So the only time I leave is when there's too many muggles around. But I'm determined to find- so I'll come back or wait around to find it Haven't had any DNF's yet - but I guess I'd stay until I found it or the ADD kicks in and I got bored... would go on to another cache to renew the fun and then come back for another try.

[+QC 49ers]

The longest I've searched was an hour and forty five minutes. I wont normally search that long but it was a puzzle cache of my brothers that had been published the night before that I stayed up late working on. Knowing him I knew it would be a hard find so I wanted to get the FTF and tease him about how easy it was. I couldn't consider an almost two hour search easy tough so the plan backfired.

[+The Pathman]

It's still winter time here so depending on the temp, up to 30 min. or so. Once the weather warms up it will most likely be until I find it.

The last two I've found took only 30 seconds and 5 min. Thats not counting the time it took to ski in to them

[+Harry Dolphin]

I've looked over an hour. There's one I'm looking for that I've looked over an hour, and I'm going back...

But, the answer is: Until I stop having fun, and have run out of what I consider plausible locations. And/or, my caching partner sits on a rock and stares at me. Well, there was the one we roked on for seven months....

Okay: A half hour, or until I stop having fun.

[vagabond]

I usually follow the VK rule

[+TrailGators]

It all depends how much time and effort I have already invested in it. It also depends on the muggle factor.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

I spend a lot less time on each cache than the last time I posted in a thread asking this question. There are a lot of caches in the world. I don't need to find all of them. I have no goal to meet. Whether I find more or less is immaterial.

 

When I arrive on the scene I follow my instincts. If my instincts are wrong, then I move on. If I can't even get a sense of where it might be, then oftentimes I won't even search.

[+DeRock & The Psychic Cacher]

So how long do you generally spend looking for a cache and when do you give up? This is only time spent at GZ, not the hour hike it might take to get there.

 

Till it's not fun anymore. This varies considerablely, depending on the individual cache. A micro in the woods typically has the shortest fuse.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

[+Mocadeki]

We'll search until it stops being fun. Depending on our moods, the weather, the location and how much free time we have that could be anywhere from 5 minutes to a couple of hours.

[+mdplayers]

This time of the year, we quit before we are frozen! I guess we'd search until it wasn't fun anymore or we ran out of time/daylight (done the out-of-daylight bit once on a warm day in Feb) in warmer weather. We just started caching in October so we don't have much to go on about warmer weather.

[+edscott]

I look until it stops being fun.

 

I agree and feel this is really everyones answer. All the extra details being provided are people defining when the fun stops. I've bailed on a cache in 5 minutes for most of the reasons cited above and for one memorable one I spent hours.. 10 + over a series of at least 5 trips. It was in a really tough area with somewhat suspect coordinates, but close to my workplace and a great spot to hang out after work and unwind.

Edited February 29, 2008 by edscott

[+oldsoldier]

I spent 2 hrs on my first FTF. I was DETERMINED! It ceased being fun after about 20 mins. The rain didnt help at all. I even tried approaching it from different angles. Ultimately, I gave up, and started walking out. Lo & behold...there it was.

[+poohstickz]

I search until it stops being fun or I've expended as much time and effort as did the person who hid the cache. The latter case often being the same as the former. For some caches, that's been as short as getting to the location, looking for 30 seconds, then moving on to something interesting.

[+Dryphter]

I go by the 'fun level' as well. I could care less how many finds I have. I like getting out and getting a bit of exercise and generally just enjoying the hobby - plus in the summer it gives me a great excuse to put some miles on my motorcycle.

 

I have come across caches that are nanos hidden in a large pine tree - I give those 5 minutes and move on. Some caches are seriously not worth the time and effort.

 

Others I have spent 40+ minutes searching an area as it was in a wooded area (spotty GPS coverage), was quite a distance from home, a great day to be out, and the fun level was still there for me.

 

So it really varies.

[southpawaz]

I give myself 5 minutes beyond the point where I find myself asking, "If I were an ammo can, where would I hide?"

[+nikcap]

I would say I average 10 minutes. But, I reality, If I don't find the cache within 2 or 3 minutes, I usually don't find it.

I might distract myself with other things or visit other nearby places and return to the area that my GPS indicates is where the cache should be. So, I might spent up to an hour in the general area, but a good portion of that might not be actually searching for the cache.

I might be an odd case, finding that cache is usually not my primary objective and I rarely go back to find a DNF. I lack discipline!

Edited March 1, 2008 by ekitt10

[+Mufflon]

I usually don´t spend more than 15 minutes looking for a cache. If there are mugglers around I may add some time to wait them out, but the search itself is often short. I get bored if I don´t find what I´m looking for and go on to find the next instead. Caching should be fun. It does happen though, that I come back at a later date and search some more. This is often when you find that hidden box in 1 minute or so.

[+skeezicks]

If it is easy to get to,I will usually look at least 30 minutes.If I had to hike a long ways or it was hard to get to, I will give it at least an hour.I will go back as many times as it takes to find it.I had one cache that was about a 30 minute walk to get to that I had to go there 4 times before I finally found it.I had about 4 hours total time invested in finding it,and was just getting ready to leave the area again when I found it.It might get frustrating,but when you finally do find it,you are just that much more excited about it.

[cowcreekgeeks]

Call me stupid, I spent 6 weeks of lunch breaks looking for the same stupid cache. I emailed the owner and he said he didn't even know where it is. I finally gave up (and only logged 1 DNF). I quit having fun after the first lunch break but I was obsessed with finding that cache.

[+JonInNH1]

The location usually dictates how long I look. If the cache is in a high muggle or trashy area my limit is 5 minutes. If it is in the woods I will look up to 20 minutes or so.

[+jpwrangler]

I usually search until I find it, I'm too hard-headed, and heck, I'm already there. Having said that, I had a DNF Saturday. The cache took me to a nice hiking trail, to a bluff area. I know it's under the bluff, but when you get under the bluff, the gps goes haywire, going up to 100 ft from cache. Go back to trail and you get your bearings again. So after 5 or 6 times of this I start crawling around looking for the container. Knew it was there just couldn't find it. I finally lost interest, I had gotten what I really wanted from the cache, and was done. Really could have done the same thing without the gps'r, so, what was the point, beyond finding a new hiking trail.

[+Team LaLonde]

I've spent as much as three hours at ground zero during one visit. Some other folks showed up and helped for about an hour.

 

The most time we've invested in finding one cache is 16 hours. That only includes hiking and searching - not driving to the area.