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How to maximize # of caches


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:) I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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:) I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have been caching for about a year and a half, and my best day of caching has been 12. I don't think this is something to fret about, some people in my area get 40 a day on average, as long as the speed you are moving at is comfortable, then that is the right speed. I personally only get 2-6 on a good day of caching. Maybe for you that is to slow, but I don't think there are many tips for "speeding" things up. As long as you having fun and at least finding something then I would be happy.

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My first step is using pocket queries to get GPS files of caches that I'm interested in finding and weeding out as many caches that I'm not interested in as possible. I load these files into GSAK and weed out the caches with multiple DNFs.

 

The second step in getting lots of finds in one day is targeting an area that you want to cache in. I do this in two ways. First, I export my GSAK database to a .CSV file and input this file into MS Streets & Trips. This lets me visualize the cache dense areas. I also export the caches from GSAK to .html so I can input them to the Plucker application in my pda. As part of this export, GSAK identifies the most cache dense areas.

 

The third step is choosing specific caches. Using MS S&T, I look at the targeted area and build a route for the caches that I want to go after. This is as simple as drawing a block around the target caches and hitting 'add to route'.

 

I add my home as the first and last stop and then optimize the route. I then review the route to make sure that it is truly optimal (and reorder the caches as needed). This is necessary because S&T tries to approach each cache by the closest road. Therefore, caches in parks (or strip malls) give it fits. It will try to route you to three caches in a park using the three surrounding roads.

 

Once that is done, I print out strip maps of the targeted caches, dump the caches into my GPSr, and cache pages into the Plucker app on my PDA. I pretty much only use the printed maps as a way to keep the targeted caches in order. I haven't come up with an easy way to do it better.

 

I record all the information about each cache hunt on my pda in an application called Cache Log Book. It's quick and easy.

 

Using my method, I have easily found thirty or so urban caches in four or five hours on several occasions.

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I say to heck with the numbers! Go out and have fun. If that means finding one cache that is at the end of a long hike that's fine. If it means finding a hundred lamp post hides that's fine too (I don't understand it, but hey I can still go find the ones I want.) The fastest way to suck the fun right out of this pastime is to give a rats backside how your caching compares to someone else's.

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?

 

Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?

Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?

 

No one said it was wrong. He just offered his point of view. What is wrong with that?

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?
Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?
Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?
No one said it was wrong. He just offered his point of view. What is wrong with that?
What was wrong with that is that a newbie came into the forums, asked a simple question, and the first three responders decided to turn the thread into their personal soapbox rather than answering the question.
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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?
Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?
Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?
No one said it was wrong. He just offered his point of view. What is wrong with that?
What was wrong with that is that a newbie came into the forums, asked a simple question, and the first three responders decided to turn the thread into their personal soapbox rather than answering the question.

 

Sorry, but the answer I gave is the way I feel about the subject. Just don't worry about the numbers. I'm sorry you don't like that answer, but it isn't any less valid. No soap box but the one you are standing on.

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?
Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?
Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?
No one said it was wrong. He just offered his point of view. What is wrong with that?
What was wrong with that is that a newbie came into the forums, asked a simple question, and the first three responders decided to turn the thread into their personal soapbox rather than answering the question.
Sorry, but the answer I gave is the way I feel about the subject. Just don't worry about the numbers. I'm sorry you don't like that answer, but it isn't any less valid. No soap box but the one you are standing on.
The only reason that one would determine that your answer was less valid is that it made no attempt to answer the question that was asked.

 

Guy 1: How do I get to the museum?

Guy 2: You should go to the ballpark.

 

That response wouldn't be on topic. It wouldn't be helpful. It wouldn't be valid in the context of the discussion.

Edited by sbell111
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:) I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Some people will look for 5-10 minutes for an urban/suburban cache. If they can't find it, it's off to the next one. Their line of thought is "Why should I spend 30-120 minutes looking when I can go grab several others instead?"

 

We've been at it for 1 1/2 years and have around 780 finds. Our best day is 38 when we went with a group to hit a dirt road in the mountains with several caches along it. It was a highly orchestrated day. Otherwise, when we go caching we keep looking until we run out of time or stop having fun!

Edited by crawil
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What was wrong with that is that a newbie came into the forums, asked a simple question, and the first three responders decided to turn the thread into their personal soapbox rather than answering the question.

 

That happened recently in a thread about cache notebooks. A simple question about organizing paperwork (before going paperless) turned into a platform for Palm/PPC/Colorado...

 

I don't mind the suggestion that there is a (potentially) better idea. But, first respond to the original question and THEN provide an alternative.

 

For example:

 

Plan a route into a cache-rich area where you can hit several quickly. Alternatively, I would say, don't worry about the numbers, since it's about the joy of the hunt anyway. Good luck to you!

 

~Ariel

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?
Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?
Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?
No one said it was wrong. He just offered his point of view. What is wrong with that?
What was wrong with that is that a newbie came into the forums, asked a simple question, and the first three responders decided to turn the thread into their personal soapbox rather than answering the question.

 

Uh..................one of the first three here, and i said nothing about what i would do. I was just trying to give him some advice on how to keep this GAME fun

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:huh: I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed.

 

The best cache I ever found took me 3 days of hiking and canoeing. I only got one smiley for my efforts, but it was far more memorable then the thousands of dingwall caches out there.

 

Now, with that out of the way, on to your question! :)

 

Its not about speed, its about stamina, longevity, and planning. Plan a cache-packed area,map out a route, get on a bike and clear it out. Do not stop for food or sleep until you are just about to pass out at the wheel, then pull over, do your last cache, and pass out on top of it.

 

Sooner or later another cacher will pass by to get the find, and wake you up - at which point you should hop on your bike and go do more!!

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Well, the numbers don't mean jack to me, personally. But if you do want to maximize your number of finds per day:

 

I don't know if you do paperless caching or not, or if you have a laptop or not. These details actually come in to play a bit for speed.. In any case:

 

Start off on the geocaching google map. Find yourself a dense area.

Run a PQ in the area, with a limited radius.

 

Load that PQ in to GSAK and your GPSr. And your PDA if you use one.

It can also help to have a map (other than your GPSr) of the area with the caches on it. You can take a screenshot of the google map and kinda plot yourself out a course.

 

While you're in the field, if you're really worried about numbers, limit yourself to 15 minutes per cache, tops. If you've reached the end of your list and still have time, you can return and try to rectify the DNFs.

 

Of course, this style of caching, is going to usually take you to lots of LPCs, guard rails, dumpsters, etc. And very little larger than small. If you enjoy these, great.

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WOW, the majority of these replies show why so many consider these forums to be so toxic.

 

Finding a lot of caches is mostly a matter of selecting easy caches. Then it's all about moving quickly!

 

When I go out with a group (two or more) we discuss our mission for the day... do we want a numbers run, do we want to find caches in interesting places, do we want a pleasant hike and maybe get a cache along the way, or do we want to take the next closest, whatever it is?

 

When we decide we want to do a numbers run we select 1/1 rated caches, read cache descriptions, read hints, read past logs, anything to be prepared for a fast find. If we're serious about a numbers run, and we sometimes are, we implement a 2-minute rule... if we haven't found it in 2 minutes everybody back in the truck and we move on.

 

Geocachers as a group love to talk - we hunt the cache and when it's found we gather around it, look through the cache, trade stuff, talk about everything under the sun... unless we're hunting for numbers - then when someone calls "found it" everyone else heads for the truck while the finder signs a team name for all of us.

 

Even on numbers runs the team decides how serious we are about it - if we set a goal of 100 a day we run from the truck to the cache, we don't stop for meals, we hunt caches! Or we will agree to get as many caches as we can without beating our brains out, on which runs we do take more time, spend an hour or so at lunch, just have a fun relaxed day while still finding 25+ caches.

 

It's all about how you define fun and how everyone in the group agrees to spend the day.

 

Obviously, finding more while caching alone follows those same basic practices... determine how you want to spend the day and hunt caches that are appropriate for that mission.

 

As far as how to find a particular cache faster... good luck with that!

 

Look at the scene and ask yourself where you would hide something.

 

Learn paperless caching and carry a PDA with the cache pages and read the descriptions - no use looking on a fence post if the cache in an ammo can!

 

Hang in there, experience will show you that most cachers are lazy - after a while you learn patterns to look for!

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To find lots of caches in one day (if you dont mind too much about the "quality" aspect) here are a few basic tips:

 

1. Find an area that has a lot of caches.

 

2. Within that area, pick out caches that have a low level of difficulty and a low terrain rating. Ingore caches that have lots of recent DNFs.

 

3. Plan a rough driving route so that you dont spend a lot of time back-tracking.

 

4. Print out the cache pages (or a summary of the important info) with hints decrypted - or better yet, go paperless.

 

5. Ideally, use a GPSr that is preloaded with all the waypoints and use auto-routing to get you from one cache to the next.

 

6. Dont spend long looking for each cache. If you can't find one, move on.

 

7. Take a couple of friends :- the more eyes, the quicker you'll find each one (and the easier it is to navigate).

 

Have fun and stop when it's not fun any more.

 

There are lots of other ways to increase your find count but these will get you started.

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:) I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Were these all event caches everyone was hunting, or were you let loose to find caches in the area? I'm fairly new also and I've never been to an event, so I was wondering how it was set up. If you were given a list of caches in a 50 mile radius or were all the caches were near/on the event site. The organizing tips previously mentioned would play a bigger part if the caches are all over the place.

 

Some people just seem to be able to find things faster. My friend has a "gift". I don't know how she does it. She's the least interested in caching of our little group, but we can search for 20 minutes while she's walking around with the baby, and then she'll walk right up and spot it.

 

I have days when I can find everything I'm looking for, and days when I don't find a thing. I would imagine experience has a LOT to do with it. I bet this time next year new cachers will wonder how you got so many finds at the event and they didn't. :huh:

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Well, it always helps too if NDSK doesn't put the waypoint right in the middle of Tecumseh Road :)

 

Speaking of which, did you ever find it?

 

(BTW, I'm the cacher you met going for the FTF at Kennedy's Cache)

 

I haven't been back to find it, but heard that there were many people who couldn't find it. So the owners moved over a bit. It has since been found several times.

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:) I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Were these all event caches everyone was hunting, or were you let loose to find caches in the area? I'm fairly new also and I've never been to an event, so I was wondering how it was set up. If you were given a list of caches in a 50 mile radius or were all the caches were near/on the event site. The organizing tips previously mentioned would play a bigger part if the caches are all over the place.

 

Some people just seem to be able to find things faster. My friend has a "gift". I don't know how she does it. She's the least interested in caching of our little group, but we can search for 20 minutes while she's walking around with the baby, and then she'll walk right up and spot it.

 

I have days when I can find everything I'm looking for, and days when I don't find a thing. I would imagine experience has a LOT to do with it. I bet this time next year new cachers will wonder how you got so many finds at the event and they didn't. :huh:

 

yes these were caches especially for an event. They were all on a small island, with about 60, so they were packed like sardines, but it apparently didn't help.

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?
Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?
Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?
No one said it was wrong. He just offered his point of view. What is wrong with that?
What was wrong with that is that a newbie came into the forums, asked a simple question, and the first three responders decided to turn the thread into their personal soapbox rather than answering the question.

Uh..................one of the first three here, and i said nothing about what i would do. I was just trying to give him some advice on how to keep this GAME fun

You are assuming your fun way will be his fun way. Let him find out for himself. I agree with sbell111, and a few others, answer his questions directly; then, maybe, offer your opinion afterwards.

 

Thedaviesnisus, I love hiking for caches, but when I'm sore; or it's raining; or I'm on my weekly bike-to-home-from-work (20-30 miles depending on cache location :) ); or I get together with some local cachers to go "power caching" (most in one day is 113), I use mapping software (MapSource) to draw up an efficient route to avoid back-tracking. I use GSAK to filter out multiple DNFs and high-rated terrain caches. I also use GSAK to set up my waypoints with hints in my GPS and download customized POI (a combined 132 characters of information) in case I have trouble finding the cache onsite. Once my waypoints are in MapSource, I export them into Google Earth and start listing the caches in the most efficient order to visit them. I also make notes of the best places to park for the cache.

What I'm trying to say is a little preparation goes a long way.

 

Good luck, and foremost, as others have pointed out, make sure you're fun out there.

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:) I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Were these all event caches everyone was hunting, or were you let loose to find caches in the area? I'm fairly new also and I've never been to an event, so I was wondering how it was set up. If you were given a list of caches in a 50 mile radius or were all the caches were near/on the event site. The organizing tips previously mentioned would play a bigger part if the caches are all over the place.

 

Some people just seem to be able to find things faster. My friend has a "gift". I don't know how she does it. She's the least interested in caching of our little group, but we can search for 20 minutes while she's walking around with the baby, and then she'll walk right up and spot it.

 

I have days when I can find everything I'm looking for, and days when I don't find a thing. I would imagine experience has a LOT to do with it. I bet this time next year new cachers will wonder how you got so many finds at the event and they didn't. :huh:

 

yes these were caches especially for an event. They were all on a small island, with about 60, so they were packed like sardines, but it apparently didn't help.

The secret to finding lots of caches at an event is to team up with somebody else and to hurry, hurry, hurry.
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Our Gps is part of the problem, its old. I realize this. It doesn't allow us to flip through to 'next closest'. we have to load each cache in individually.

 

ahhh...mine's not old, just not designed for this activity. I have to load each set of coords individually also. I would be right there with you.

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...so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My best day ever was 24 or 26 or so. 250 miles, Sunrise to Sunset at the height of summer. What a great day. Sure now I could hit a cache dense town and beat that record. Maybe someday I will. But only when I think that's going to be fun to do.

 

For speed you want a cache dense area. Don't waste your time looking more than 5 min. Then move on. Since the next cache is close you don't lose much time.

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I've never quite been able to work out what I like to call "Power Runs"; where cachers do 20 or 30 caches in a day- it's just mind boggling for me! So I understand where you're coming from.

I've never done an event, so I don't have personal experience in doing the heavily saturated caching.

 

People earlier in the thread have offered great advice pertaining to paperless caching.

If you're unable to do that, do some work before going out. Look up caches in an area, write them down in the order you'd like to do them (say, in a small journalist notebook) and then load the coordinates into your GPSr. That way you sort of have a route picked out, and you know the ones you want to try. Could be 10, or it could be 40. It also depends on how fast you are with logging or trading; not trading, only signing the logbook really cuts down on time. :)

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Hey, we enjoy challenging ourselves to set new personal records, too. So I understand your desire to know how it's done by others.

 

This is just my opinion from my personal experience, but it seems to me that the learning curve for being able to find caches quickly is on the steep side....The first few take longer and you get faster the more you find.

 

The first 50 or so caches I found took "forever" to locate. We'd spend 20-30 minutes on caches that someone else just walked straight to and picked up. Later (say around a hundred caches found), with a few more caches under our belts, the time had gone down considerably. We probably found most "easy" caches in under 10 minutes or we weren't going to find them unless we invested serious time in the search.

 

I've never been able to instigate the 2 minute rule, but if we are trying to see how many caches we can find for a day, we do what the others have told you: Use GSAK to filter caches you want to do, plan a route on the map, maximize the route, etc

 

Some other things we'd try even after we went paperless:

 

Plan the route to the last detail. Know where you think you will park and choose the most cache dense route you can create. No backtracking, no outlying lone caches. Park once and hunt for multiple caches spots are great!

Pick lower difficulty/terrain caches-- (we choose 2.5/2.0 and under caches)

Pick out the caches carefully, read every detail about them and make an abbreviated list with notes that include: the cache name, the hint, the GC ID, and where/how you *think* the cache is going to be hidden. That way you can plug in the next cache, drive there, and hit the ground running to find the cache instead of reading about it again in the PDA.

Skip any that have logs that say anything about "going there several times to find them"

Look for 5 minutes and then move on if it's not in hand. Seriously.

 

We once found 11 in 2 hours--it was a nice day, we were in our home town, and we were just on fire that day.

Our personal best in a strange town was 29 for a four hour day.

Our highest number of caches visited with another couple was 52 in one day (but we had already found some of those and were just 'with' them while they found them).

And our highest number found with a group for the day (about 4 hours) was 39.

 

All of those 'record runs' came after we had found at least a couple of hundred caches. For most of those trips we were using eTrex Legends as our gps units. I can remember the first time we found 10 caches before we gave up for the day. For months that was our status quo for a day of caching.

 

Eventually we got better at spotting the cache once we got to the coords. When we got the Garmin 60's (a CS and a CSx), the 'time to get to the coords' went down a little bit more. So the unit does matter, but not as much as you'd think. We spent a day caching with a fellow using a little yellow Geko 201, and he found as many caches as we did.

 

I honestly think you'll find that experience will make you faster at actually locating the caches and that's the real key to finding a lot of caches in a short amount of time.---the other things (routing etc) just makes it easier to get to the caches more quickly.

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:ph34r: I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

You could use my secret method...... Go Fast :(

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:ph34r: I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You need to consider what you want to get out of your day OVERALL. I think most of those who find 40-50 or more in a day are really going at this like a sport. Lots of preparation, mapping your route, skipping that cool coffee shop you found, not eating 'til mignight, etc. Personally I can't understand how to get any enjoyment from the game that way (other than to be able to look down your nose at those who only found 10 and know that you are better than them) I've discovered over the years that 10 is about the magic maximum bor me to find, and still enjoy the other things I discover throughout the day. Maybe someone can link to the thread about how to break records. You need to be 100% focused on Caching and goung full throttle all day to find that many, unless they're mostly lined up every 500 feet.

 

Today I found 1, and I'm very happy with that number!

 

Anyway, to answer the question, If you want to maximize your number of finds, it takes some good planning, and a commitment all day. Having a team of helpers helps. I can't remember the exact details, but I think it was a

 

Good Driver,

Good Navigator,

Good Cache Finder,

and a Good Planner.

 

Then set a time limit to spend on each Cache. If you reach the limit and haven't found the Cache, move on.

 

So let me give you some numbers here, that I can equate to a job I used to have. I used to put up Real estate signs, and some days they would give me 40+ stops to do in a day. OK, so it takes about an hour of prep in the shop before I leave...another hour to drive to my work area...and an hour to drive back to the shop at the end of the day. That's three hours. Then I have to do the 40+ stops in 9 hours if I want to get my day done in 12 hours. I have to complete about 5 stops per hour to keep on pace. This time includes all the time to complete the work at one stop AND the time it takes to drive to the next stop. That only leaves 12 minutes for each stop including the drive time. If it took 7 minutes to drive to a location, I only have five left to complete the work there.

 

This is the kind of schedule you will have to keep if you want to find 40+ caches in one day, and be done before dark. If you can enjoy playing the game that way, more power to you, and I wish you the best of luck.

 

I did that job for 5 years and sometimes marveled how similar Caching was to the job, but I could never enjoy having a liesure activity that was on such a stressful and hurried pace.

 

Find 5-6 Caches per Hour all day long, that's the way to maximize your numbers.

Edited by WRITE SHOP ROBERT
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:ph34r: I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Others have posted excellent methods for finding massive quantities of caches in a single day, some have given valid reasons why you shouldn't care, and still others have tried to turn this thread into a personal soapbox.

 

But if you REALLY want to set records for massive numbers of finds, simply cache sunup to sundown for a week in a cache dense area concentrating on 1.5/1.5's and below. Then log all your finds on the same day, and brag to your friends about setting a record!

 

According to www.itsnotaboutthenumbers.com, the most number of finds in a single day is 313. Assuming the cacher worked for 24 hours straight with no food, naps, or potty breaks, that leaves 4.6 minutes per cache.

 

My personal best is 13 caches in a day.

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:ph34r: I'll admit that we are still fairly new to geocaching and I realize that with experience comes speed. But I am really curious to know if we are doing something wrong. We attended an amazing event over the weekend on Belle Isle, Michigan. We had a great time. But my concern is that we only had 6 finds, and 2 dnf's after a full 7 hours of caching. After hearing from many other attendee's with much larger number of finds(39 finds). I guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds? I had envisioned having 20-25 finds for the day, so the few that we found are a bit disappointing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Others have posted excellent methods for finding massive quantities of caches in a single day, some have given valid reasons why you shouldn't care, and still others have tried to turn this thread into a personal soapbox.

 

But if you REALLY want to set records for massive numbers of finds, simply cache sunup to sundown for a week in a cache dense area concentrating on 1.5/1.5's and below. Then log all your finds on the same day, and brag to your friends about setting a record!

 

According to www.itsnotaboutthenumbers.com, the most number of finds in a single day is 313. Assuming the cacher worked for 24 hours straight with no food, naps, or potty breaks, that leaves 4.6 minutes per cache.

 

My personal best is 13 caches in a day.

I think those records are set by teams, so maybe three can find one and the 4th is on a potty break?

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?

 

Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?

 

I like that theory. A friend of mine and I started pretty much the same time in 2002. He has 700 finds, and Im closing in on 250. Enjoy yourself. Forget the numbers.

 

This is geocaching, not myspace. no one really cares about the number of "friends"/"finds" you have here. If they do, well...let them go do that series of 30 parking lot/lamp post caches while you enjoy a mountain view and get one cache.

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We once found 11 in 2 hours--it was a nice day, we were in our home town, and we were just on fire that day.

Your area is *wonderful* for caching. We found 10 in less than 2 hours one day last week, with no advance planning, and most of the hides were creative/not of the cliche stereotype. Thank you for your contributions to our fun. Once we found ten, which was our goal, we crossed the river and moved on. Our goal was 10, not a day-long death march.

 

You need to consider what you want to get out of your day OVERALL. I think most of those who find 40-50 or more in a day are really going at this like a sport. Lots of preparation, mapping your route, skipping that cool coffee shop you found, not eating 'til mignight, etc. Personally I can't understand how to get any enjoyment from the game that way (other than to be able to look down your nose at those who only found 10 and know that you are better than them)

Please don't make assumptions. There was another day last week where I found 45 caches with my 14 year old daughter. These finds were scattered across five counties in two states, with zero advance planning other than we knew we wanted 10 finds in South Carolina during the afternoon before heading back north. We didn't check out of the hotel until after 10 in the morning, had three full meals at restaurants, and quit caching when it got dark and my daughter hit her goal of exceeding her one-day high find count. During the day we took pictures, went shopping, and lingered wherever we felt like lingering. We had a blast, and we don't plan on using that experience to look down at anyone. All day long, we were chasing another team moving through the area. I am certain they found more caches than we did. Who cares? We had fun, they had fun, and the team that found 15 caches had fun.

 

It is all a matter of cache density, experience with finding caches, efficient navigating, and staying organized.

 

For some of my tips, see this post. It is oriented towards 24-hour cache runs, but the speed and efficiency tips apply equally to five-hour caching trips.

Edited by The Leprechauns
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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?

 

Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?

Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?

 

Hmmm, don't recall saying it was wrong. I was just offering advice to a novice who seemed to think that he was a failure because his find count didn't reach the levels achieved by others. I thought I was being helpful, but I guess I was out of line with my response suggesting that numbers aren't necessarily the be all and end all of the sport, and I apologize to the OP for being so rude and thoughtless.

 

To address the OP's original question:

 

1. Choose an area with many, low terrain, low difficulty caches. Eliminate any with recent DNFs.

2. Prepare your route ahead of time, considering traffic patterns at the time of day you will be there. You don't want to get stuck in traffic, or hit too many lights.

3. Bring sandwiches, drinks and a portable urinal along to reduce the need for unwanted stops

4. Run, don't walk between caches.

5. Don't worry too much about actually finding the cache. If you search for more than 3 minutes, assume it's missing and log a find anyway (you were there, found the spot and saw what the cache owner wanted you to see, so its a find). Or better yet carry a supply of film canisters and hide one where you think the cache should have been, then log your find.

6. Don't open the cache and sign the log, it takes too long. Just put your initials on the outside of the container.

Edited by briansnat
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We once found 11 in 2 hours--it was a nice day, we were in our home town, and we were just on fire that day.

Your area is *wonderful* for caching. We found 10 in less than 2 hours one day last week, with no advance planning, and most of the hides were creative/not of the cliche stereotype. Thank you for your contributions to our fun. Once we found ten, which was our goal, we crossed the river and moved on. Our goal was 10, not a day-long death march.

Hiya Lep,

I saw your logs, and was planning to write you to thank you for visiting--and for the nice compliments. Since you brought it up here, I'll just do that here publicly. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and your daughter, as well. I saw some of your other choices on my watchlist---you selected well. It is a good area to cache, and we have a lot of very caring and creative cache owners in our area.

 

Back to the OP-- please don't let any of the posts that may sound negative discourage you. They mean well, for the most part, and they are really just trying to help you see that just getting more caches is not the only possible benefit from a day of caching.

 

My husband and I do a variety of types of cache outing. Sometimes we go out for one or two caches that have some special value for us: historic interest, fascinating earthcache, nice hike, gorgeous location. Other times we go out to see if we can beat our old record for most in one day. Sometimes we take short trips to nearby towns to try to get away from the city; other times we try to clear out the caches in the 2-mile radius around out house. Some days we start out trying to find a lot of caches hidden by one person in an area; other days we look for the oldest caches remaining in our area.

 

Mixing it up is a nice way to do it. I think the reason we aren't burnt out on caching, or getting disgusted with all the "x" type of hides (insert your favorite hated-cache-type here) is because we don't do the same thing all the time. Hope my tips helped you for the days you want to try to find many caches.

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5. Don't worry too much about actually finding the cache. If you search for more than 3 minutes, assume it's missing and log a find anyway (you were there, found the spot and saw what the cache owner wanted you to see, so its a find). Or better yet carry a supply of film canisters and hide one where you think the cache should have been, then log your find.

6. Don't open the cache and sign the log, it takes too long. Just put your initials on the outside of the container.

 

:(

 

:ph34r:

 

;)

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According to www.itsnotaboutthenumbers.com, the most number of finds in a single day is 313. Assuming the cacher worked for 24 hours straight with no food, naps, or potty breaks, that leaves 4.6 minutes per cache.

I think those records are set by teams, so maybe three can find one and the 4th is on a potty break?
Good point... and who says the team has to stay together? Get 12 or more people on your team and break up into groups of 3 or 4. Plan your attack so you aren't finding duplicate caches, then take off! If each group can find 100 in a day, then you should be able to chalk up 300-400 total "team" finds easily! Also, like briansnat said, signing the log just wastes time and locating the actual container is pointless. Just make sure your GPSr zeros out (or is at least within 10 feet or so of GZ) and that's good enough.

 

Also, for even more smilies:

- When logging online, make sure you check the last log-in date of the owner. If it's over a year ago, then you can assume he/she doesn't play anymore and you can log that cache as many times as you want.

- Plan an event for the end of the day and log it repeatedly for all of the temporary event caches (specifically, all the ones you found earlier). Double Smilies!

 

And yes, I'm being snarkey, but all of these tactics have been used in the past. Because you joined the game late (some have been caching non-stop for 7 years), you have to use one or all of them if you want to join the "top ranks" of geocachers. Ultimately, though, it's not a contest. Do whatever it takes to have fun. If a high number and seeing your name on a top-ten list makes you happy, then go for it. If finding a cool park or interesting historical marker because of a geocache makes you happy, then go for it. If solving a brain-bending puzzle or finding that 5-star nano on the busy street corner makes you happy, then go for it.

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To address the OP's original question:

 

1. Choose an area with many, low terrain, low difficulty caches. Eliminate any with recent DNFs.

2. Prepare your route ahead of time, considering traffic patterns at the time of day you will be there. You don't want to get stuck in traffic, or hit too many lights.

3. Bring sandwiches, drinks and a portable urinal along to reduce the need for unwanted stops

4. Run, don't walk between caches.

5. Don't worry too much about actually finding the cache. If you search for more than 3 minutes, assume it's missing and log a find anyway (you were there, found the spot and saw what the cache owner wanted you to see, so its a find). Or better yet carry a supply of film canisters and hide one where you think the cache should have been, then log your find.

6. Don't open the cache and sign the log, it takes too long. Just put your initials on the outside of the container.

To add my personal favorite until I realized "numbers" isn't the reason I like the hobby.

 

7. Don't stop to smell the roses.

 

We weren't even concentrating on numbers, just getting the next cache. This was back when 365 in year was an accomplishment.

 

I started feeling sort of sense of loss or missing out on something when we'd hit a park, grab the cache and leave. What about the rest of the park? We have a couple of caches in a park: a traditional and a multi. You could grab the traditional without walking by any stage of the multi, but the multi takes you around the park to visit many of the bronze statutes. The multi gets found half as much as the traditional. That's too bad.

 

Don't get me wrong. A speed challenge is intriguing--especially a 24 hour solo run. A single person, a route, a plan, a GPS, and 24 hours. No pre-running, no support crew, no help.

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...unless we're hunting for numbers - then when someone calls "found it" everyone else heads for the truck while the finder signs a team name for all of us.

Just want to point out this is not a universally accepted practice. Logbooks really should be signed as they are logged online: teams as teams and individuals as individuals. It's really sad that folks are claiming finds on caches they've not even laid eyes, much less hands, on. "But I was there" is really pushing the boundaries of accepted practices much like the signing of the outside of the cache container.

 

Seems like some folks simply want to push the boundaries of what it means to find a cache. We've already had folks claim a find simply because they were near where the coordinates took them. Finds on caches that were never located. Now finds where someone found the cache within earshot but didn't walk over to even look at the cache. What's next? "I rode with the guy who found the cache." or "I was on the phone with the guy when he found the cache."

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guess what I am asking is are there any tips to help us maximize our # of finds?

 

Why not just maximize the fun and not worry about the number of finds?

Why is it wrong for someone to ask the question?

 

Hmmm, don't recall saying it was wrong. I was just offering advice to a novice who seemed to think that he was a failure because his find count didn't reach the levels achieved by others. I thought I was being helpful, but I guess I was out of line with my response suggesting that numbers aren't necessarily the be all and end all of the sport, and I apologize to the OP for being so rude and thoughtless.

 

To address the OP's original question:

 

1. Choose an area with many, low terrain, low difficulty caches. Eliminate any with recent DNFs.

2. Prepare your route ahead of time, considering traffic patterns at the time of day you will be there. You don't want to get stuck in traffic, or hit too many lights.

3. Bring sandwiches, drinks and a portable urinal along to reduce the need for unwanted stops

4. Run, don't walk between caches.

5. Don't worry too much about actually finding the cache. If you search for more than 3 minutes, assume it's missing and log a find anyway (you were there, found the spot and saw what the cache owner wanted you to see, so its a find). Or better yet carry a supply of film canisters and hide one where you think the cache should have been, then log your find.

6. Don't open the cache and sign the log, it takes too long. Just put your initials on the outside of the container.

Please refer to posts #9 and #11.

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Please refer to posts #9 and #11.

 

His question was a two parter. He was concerned that he was doing something wrong. The first three posters addressed that part.

He was concerned tthat he was doing something 'wrong' that was stopping him from being able to find as many as others are. Toward that end, he asked about methods used to find more.

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