Trache Caches ?

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Having read a bit in the forums I'm thinking there are ares in the country that have a big problem with sub-standard caches. My wife and I have cached most of the U.S. and hope to do the balance next summer and have not really had a problem in this regard. In dozens of outings over the last 5 years I can only remember two outings ( days) where we ran in to dozens of phones ( one place) and lightpoles ( the other place....no pun intended). One of these blindsided me but the density of caches in the other should have tipped me off.....I just thought there would be a better mix.The reason I think there's not a problem is because of the way we cache. On our last trip I had almost 40 PQ's loaded for a 8000 mile trip. Each PQ represents a city or other general area and contains 190 caches. In the PQ's I elimanated multi's only. I simply pick a " ground zero" cache in the area and create a PQ of 190 caches. We then hunt caches taking them in order ( closest) and will look for a 5 star or 1 star. What we have found is a nice mix of regular and micro's hidden in parks, hiking trails, historical areas, and downtown. To be sure some days are better than others but, all in all, a decent mix.

To think my two bad experiences above could be replicated dozens of times in other areas would be a bummer but, as yet, we haven't seen it.

 

It would be good if folks would rate there own general area of the country.....try to be somewhat forgiving as trache or beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Skippermark]

Generally, around here (CT, MA, RI), most of the caches, take you some place cool. There's some that bring you to a "strange spot for a cache" where you just pull over along the road and there's a cache there, but most aren't like that. Many of the quick ones bring you to an historic cemetery, an historical plaque, something like that. New England is fortunate to have a TON of history, and the caches here are often hidden around that to lure someone into the area to learn about something cool that happened in the area.

 

And hey, for your trip next year. If you need a partner, I'm an excellent driver and/or navigator.

Edited October 20, 2008 by Skippermark

[+Buggheart]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

[+sbell111]

Having read a bit in the forums I'm thinking there are ares in the country that have a big problem with sub-standard caches. ...

Outside the forums, that hasn't been my experience. I think that people have much bigger issues with people who use those oh-so-cool names to brand any cache that they don't like.

 

"Trache Caches". Ugh.

Edited October 20, 2008 by sbell111

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

 

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Generally, around here (CT, MA, RI), most of the caches, take you some place cool. There's some that bring you to a "strange spot for a cache" where you just pull over along the road and there's a cache there, but most aren't like that. Many of the quick ones bring you to an historic cemetery, an historical plaque, something like that. New England is fortunate to have a TON of history, and the caches here are often hidden around that to lure someone into the area to learn about something cool that happened in the area.

 

And hey, for your trip next year. If you need a partner, I'm an excellent driver and/or navigator.

 

If all goes well I'll be back in the N.E. next summer.......brother-in-law lives in CT. In 2002 we did the N.E. big time but we weren't caching yet. Can't wait to get back and cache the area.....love the history, clam chowder, lobster, Red Sox, etc.

[Skippermark]

If all goes well I'll be back in the N.E. next summer.......brother-in-law lives in CT. In 2002 we did the N.E. big time but we weren't caching yet. Can't wait to get back and cache the area.....love the history, clam chowder, lobster, Red Sox, etc.

Well, I agree with all you said except the last part. Around these parts, we are Yankees Fans.

 

But seriously, when you get ready to visit, let me know (is your brother a cacher? If so, he'll know) the area's you'll be in, and I'll try to point you to some caches that you might like.

 

Edit for typo...as usual.

Edited October 20, 2008 by Skippermark

[+Buggheart]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

 

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

 

Now that my original suspicion has been confirmed, perhaps y'all need to stop and take a look around you when you're visiting those lightposts. I'm sure that if you were truly in a beautiful part of the country that you had your eyes open during the journey so all was not lost.

 

Wouldn't it be great to always find large, creative caches in beautiful areas that meet everyone's standards? Of course it would. I live in an area where there are some parks but the majority of the caches would be considered urban. I.e., In a lightpost, a magnetic nano stuck to the underside of a guardrail, meter, pipe, or downspout, things of that nature. As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items. There have also been a few that have seen better days and need serious maintenance and/or archiving. Some are really great, like the lightpost skirt I lifted which caused a huge rubber rat to pop out at me.

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

 

BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

[+basswoodbend]

As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items.

 

OMG! You poor child! The type you describe do exist but there are so many fun, exciting, beautiful caches all across the country that is is a shame to hunt the urban micros just to rack up a smilie.

[+ZSandmann]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

 

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

 

Now that my original suspicion has been confirmed, perhaps y'all need to stop and take a look around you when you're visiting those lightposts. I'm sure that if you were truly in a beautiful part of the country that you had your eyes open during the journey so all was not lost.

 

Wouldn't it be great to always find large, creative caches in beautiful areas that meet everyone's standards? Of course it would. I live in an area where there are some parks but the majority of the caches would be considered urban. I.e., In a lightpost, a magnetic nano stuck to the underside of a guardrail, meter, pipe, or downspout, things of that nature. As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items. There have also been a few that have seen better days and need serious maintenance and/or archiving. Some are really great, like the lightpost skirt I lifted which caused a huge rubber rat to pop out at me.

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

 

BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

 

Woah-de woah-de woah... I happen to know BAM pretty well and he's and up and up fellow. Also happens to own the best cache experiences I've ever had but that's neither here nor there. BAM wasn't calling those caches you describe trache (trash cache) he was commenting on what others in the forums have said. He was looking to see what the over-arching theme of other areas of the country are, IE are there a lot of lampskirts in Miami? Are there a lot of piles of rocks in Arizona? Are there a lot of UPS (unusual piles of sticks) in Alabama? There was no venom in his questions, and I'm surprised it got thatg kind of response.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

...BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

Buggheart, thanks for asking this question, for the OP's usage of this term has been consistently bugging me since I first encountered this thread. At first, I though that it might be a typo for the word "trash", but no, it turns out that the OP repeatedly uses that term, albeit in some highly idiosyncratic way.

 

And, I too have been dying to find out what it means! A few online web sources have suggested that it might be a shorthand term for "performing a tracheotomy", or perhaps for "performing a self-tracheotomy" (that is, using a pen-knife to perform an emergency tracheotomy on one's own trachea/throat), but none of these explanations seem to fully fit the bill either! So, I am hoping that the OP or one of the inner clique in his area (for this is surely a regional slang term) will enlighten us as to the meaning of this new geo term!

[+Harry Dolphin]

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

EEK! That's really sad. Thanks for tossing another film canister out the car window?

If you don't like my cache, feel free to say so. I won't be too offended. I may move the one next to the chop shop, due to cacher feedback. But, hey, I take pride in my cache placement. If you like cache trache, go for it. But I'm not thanking anyone for some of the trache out there. Found a really sad cache the other day. The hints were badly done, and made no sense. The nanos were small. The final was under an S" bridge over a stram. Or was supposed to be. We found it 30' away in the poison ivy. Been muggled twice so far. Nope. Not offering any thanks for that one.

[+Harry Dolphin]

OMG! You poor child! The type you describe do exist but there are so many fun, exciting, beautiful caches all across the country that is is a shame to hunt the urban micros just to rack up a smilie.

 

I've found a lot of (and even hidden a few) nice urban caches. Great places, great views. Nothing wrong with a good urban micro!

[Mr.Yuck]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

 

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

 

Now that my original suspicion has been confirmed, perhaps y'all need to stop and take a look around you when you're visiting those lightposts. I'm sure that if you were truly in a beautiful part of the country that you had your eyes open during the journey so all was not lost.

 

Wouldn't it be great to always find large, creative caches in beautiful areas that meet everyone's standards? Of course it would. I live in an area where there are some parks but the majority of the caches would be considered urban. I.e., In a lightpost, a magnetic nano stuck to the underside of a guardrail, meter, pipe, or downspout, things of that nature. As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items. There have also been a few that have seen better days and need serious maintenance and/or archiving. Some are really great, like the lightpost skirt I lifted which caused a huge rubber rat to pop out at me.

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

 

BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

 

Welcome to the lame micro debate, which it appears you didn't know existed before today.

 

Nope, they didn't place that cache under a lampskirt for "our" enjoyment, many people (myself included) ignore such caches.

 

I'm going to say Coyote Red invented the term trache.

[+vwaldoguy]

If lampost caches don't float your boat, skip them and move on. I'm just getting into caching, so a lamp post is just as exciting as a scenic vista. But, I'm sure I'll get to the point of, "Oh, it's just a lampost," and will move on. What makes a lampost a so special that someone placed a cache there? I'm not sure, but it also seems sometimes people just place caches to place caches, rather than think about why they're doing it.

[+Buggheart]

As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items.

 

OMG! You poor child! The type you describe do exist but there are so many fun, exciting, beautiful caches all across the country that is is a shame to hunt the urban micros just to rack up a smilie.

 

Last time I checked I was geocaching for the fun of it and to find those hidden in my vicinity, not to rack up smilies. I don't consider myself "poor" for finding what others consider trash either. I've seen some very poorly maintained caches out there but I'd never call them trash. If it's good enough to be reviewed, approved, and published, it's good enough for me. What I find more disturbing is the lack of proper spelling and grammar in cache listings.

[+Buggheart]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

 

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

 

Now that my original suspicion has been confirmed, perhaps y'all need to stop and take a look around you when you're visiting those lightposts. I'm sure that if you were truly in a beautiful part of the country that you had your eyes open during the journey so all was not lost.

 

Wouldn't it be great to always find large, creative caches in beautiful areas that meet everyone's standards? Of course it would. I live in an area where there are some parks but the majority of the caches would be considered urban. I.e., In a lightpost, a magnetic nano stuck to the underside of a guardrail, meter, pipe, or downspout, things of that nature. As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items. There have also been a few that have seen better days and need serious maintenance and/or archiving. Some are really great, like the lightpost skirt I lifted which caused a huge rubber rat to pop out at me.

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

 

BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

 

Woah-de woah-de woah... I happen to know BAM pretty well and he's and up and up fellow. Also happens to own the best cache experiences I've ever had but that's neither here nor there. BAM wasn't calling those caches you describe trache (trash cache) he was commenting on what others in the forums have said. He was looking to see what the over-arching theme of other areas of the country are, IE are there a lot of lampskirts in Miami? Are there a lot of piles of rocks in Arizona? Are there a lot of UPS (unusual piles of sticks) in Alabama? There was no venom in his questions, and I'm surprised it got thatg kind of response.

 

I guarantee I'm not the only one who read it that way.

[+ar_kayaker]

I think the OP's comment wasn't directed at urban micros in general or even all skirt lifters or phone caches, just those areas where someone without much imagination has gone around a town and placed 50 identical caches under every lamp skirt more than 550 feet apart in a town.

 

Some guy did something simular in Clarksville, AR. The town already had several good caches and still does, but now there is a magnetic micro attached to a fire-hydrant in every single space more than 550 from the next cache. The town is totally saturated to the point where when a new guy started caching in town he had to place his hides in the next town down the road. And you know what he did? He copied the idea! They are called the "Green Hat" series because the top of all the hydrants in the town are green.

 

Then to make things worse after an Event was held in the area all the numbers ho's started doing it to other towns around the state. There are three other cities that I know of with "hat" caches and one town with "S.L.A.P." caches (skirt-lift-a-pole) all over the place.

 

Are skirt-lifters, fire-hydrant, and Phone-booth caches lame? Not really....until they saturate a town.

 

AK

[+ZSandmann]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

 

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

 

Now that my original suspicion has been confirmed, perhaps y'all need to stop and take a look around you when you're visiting those lightposts. I'm sure that if you were truly in a beautiful part of the country that you had your eyes open during the journey so all was not lost.

 

Wouldn't it be great to always find large, creative caches in beautiful areas that meet everyone's standards? Of course it would. I live in an area where there are some parks but the majority of the caches would be considered urban. I.e., In a lightpost, a magnetic nano stuck to the underside of a guardrail, meter, pipe, or downspout, things of that nature. As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items. There have also been a few that have seen better days and need serious maintenance and/or archiving. Some are really great, like the lightpost skirt I lifted which caused a huge rubber rat to pop out at me.

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

 

BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

 

Woah-de woah-de woah... I happen to know BAM pretty well and he's and up and up fellow. Also happens to own the best cache experiences I've ever had but that's neither here nor there. BAM wasn't calling those caches you describe trache (trash cache) he was commenting on what others in the forums have said. He was looking to see what the over-arching theme of other areas of the country are, IE are there a lot of lampskirts in Miami? Are there a lot of piles of rocks in Arizona? Are there a lot of UPS (unusual piles of sticks) in Alabama? There was no venom in his questions, and I'm surprised it got thatg kind of response.

 

I guarantee I'm not the only one who read it that way.

 

I can't say how you interpreted the OP all I am saying is that I know BAMBOOZLE in real life and that was not what he meant.

[+ZSandmann]

Gah sorry forum is burping tonight.

Edited October 21, 2008 by ZSandmann

[earthcurrent]

but now there is a magnetic micro attached to a fire-hydrant in every single space more than 550 from the next cache. The town is totally saturated to the point where when a new guy started caching in town he had to place his hides in the next town down the road. And you know what he did? He copied the idea! They are called the "Green Hat" series because the top of all the hydrants in the town are green.

I know it's not in the guidelines, but I recall reading on some volunteer reviewer's blog that fire-hydrant caches are against the rules without explicit permission. Am I mistaken?

[+briansnat]

If lampost caches don't float your boat, skip them and move on. I'm just getting into caching, so a lamp post is just as exciting as a scenic vista. But, I'm sure I'll get to the point of, "Oh, it's just a lampost," and will move on. What makes a lampost a so special that someone placed a cache there? I'm not sure, but it also seems sometimes people just place caches to place caches, rather than think about why they're doing it.

 

I do the same thing. When I get to the area and see that it's a lamp post cache in a store parking lot, or hidden in a guardrail on the side of a non-descript road I move on. I've been out for a day of caching and racked up a dozen or more DNBs (did not bothers). Skip them is great advice, but I still have wasted my time and gas on them.

[CoyoteRed]

I'm going to say Coyote Red invented the term trache.

Can't take credit for it. Mr. Snazz first posed a question regarding the term. I thought the term fit. Some folks object to it, but after a couple of invitations to come up with a better term for "caches with little or no point" with no takers, I'm still using it. I guess a rose by any other name...

 

I'm finding it interesting the posts in this thread. It's kind of like a prophecy unfolding before your eyes. It concerns the notion of newbies seeing only a portion, the convenient portion, of the hobby and thinking that is what the hobby is all about.

 

I am heartened by some newbies who question the numbers game and do see the adventure in the hobby. At least it is still attracting those like myself.

[CoyoteRed]

... DNBs (did not bothers)...

Oh! Oh! Can we have a new log type? I want! I want!

[+ar_kayaker]

Yes, please add that as a log type, then I could filter out any cache with more than 4 or 5 DNB logs with a GSAK macro!

 

AK

[Mushtang]

If lampost caches don't float your boat, skip them and move on. I'm just getting into caching, so a lamp post is just as exciting as a scenic vista. But, I'm sure I'll get to the point of, "Oh, it's just a lampost," and will move on. What makes a lampost a so special that someone placed a cache there? I'm not sure, but it also seems sometimes people just place caches to place caches, rather than think about why they're doing it.

I do the same thing. When I get to the area and see that it's a lamp post cache in a store parking lot, or hidden in a guardrail on the side of a non-descript road I move on. I've been out for a day of caching and racked up a dozen or more DNBs (did not bothers). Skip them is great advice, but I still have wasted my time and gas on them.

Since you don't read the cache description most of the time, I can't really feel sorry for you when you keep wasting time and gas going to caches you probably would have known to avoid.

[+TrailGators]

... DNBs (did not bothers)...

Oh! Oh! Can we have a new log type? I want! I want!

I agree, DNB sounds better than ignore. Plus it's a stat that I just might be very competitive with...

[Clan Riffster]

Are skirt-lifters, fire-hydrant, and Phone-booth caches lame?

Lame is in the eye of the beholder. I know people that get all googly eyed at the thought of driving to a blistering 500 acres of exhaust laden blacktop, dodging soccer moms in SUV's for the chance to locate a film canister in a lamp post kilt. I think I got a bit of entitlement drummed into me early in my caching career, as all I was finding was caches in pretty nice places. I almost came to expect it. (Yeah, I was pretty naive) I had no idea that cachers would want to hide their caches in incredibly uninspired locations, so my first LPC was quite a shock. As I followed the arrow on my GPSr into a big box store parking lot, I started questioning its accuracy. "What are we doing here?" was a question I put to my wife. Did I fumble finger the coords? As the distance declined, the arrow swung toward a lamp post. There was nothing whatsoever unique about that lamp post. It was identical to the other couple hundred lamp posts, with the same, uninspired view. "Surely no one would put a cache there" I exclaimed, but lo and behold, there was the poster child of lameness, the dreaded film canister, hiding under the kilt.

 

My first phone booth find wasn't quite as shocking, as I had already learned that lame caches existed.

By the time I discovered guard rail hide-a-keys, I knew enough to just drive on by and not waste my ink.

 

What was that line from Miracle on 34th St?

"Yes Virginia, there really are trache caches".

[+ar_kayaker]

Are skirt-lifters, fire-hydrant, and Phone-booth caches lame?

Lame is in the eye of the beholder. I know people that get all googly eyed at the thought of driving to a blistering 500 acres of exhaust laden blacktop, dodging soccer moms in SUV's for the chance to locate a film canister in a lamp post kilt.

 

Took my quote out of context...like I said in the original post "...lame? Not really." until they saturate and area.

 

Do I read cache descriptions, sure, but I haven't read all 600,000+ cache descriptions and never will. I do a little research and asking around when I'm going to travel someplace and find a few interesting sounding caches to seek while I'm there...then I load a PQ of everything within a few miles of those. I don't have or want to take the time to read every cache description. The point of geocaching, for me, is to get out away from my computer. If I wanted to spend all my time on my computer I could log every virtual in the system without ever leaving my desk. Or I could just go back to playing Warcraft. Either way is a good way to let both body and brain turn to rot.

 

AK

[+4wheelingmirage]

I've done quite a few lamp post caches and other assorted urban caches and have no problems with them. Sometimes you don't have the funds or the time to go out of town to find a cache so ya gotta do what you can. Add in it's 115 out and sometimes the drive by through the Walmart parking lot makes your day with a find.

 

Ya gotta find the little joys in life and sometimes it's an urban cache (I like that better than trache cache personally but to each his own).

[Clan Riffster]

Ya gotta find the little joys in life and sometimes it's an urban cache

Absolutely! The ingenuity and outright creativity of many urban micros has blown me away. Whether it's unique camouflage or innovative hiding techniques, there are lots of urban micros out there worthy of anyone's favorites lists. That's why I have so many on mine.

 

There are also quite literally hordes of caches with no more thought put into their placement than a copier uses to replicate a piece of paper. These are the caches that qualify for the "trache" label, in accordance with my rather biased aesthetics. If you are capable of finding the exact same thing, over and over, Ad infinitum, and still experience joy in the act, ("Holy mackerel! Look! It's a film canister! It's, ... it's, ... it's under a lamp post! That's amazing! I've only seen 15 of these today! Thank you for such a clever hide! You've made my day!) then I reckon I should feel jealous of you.

 

Perhaps I simply lack the wit to see the beauty in such similar hides?

[+sbell111]

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

EEK! That's really sad. Thanks for tossing another film canister out the car window?

If you don't like my cache, feel free to say so. I won't be too offended. I may move the one next to the chop shop, due to cacher feedback. But, hey, I take pride in my cache placement. If you like cache trache, go for it. But I'm not thanking anyone for some of the trache out there. Found a really sad cache the other day. The hints were badly done, and made no sense. The nanos were small. The final was under an S" bridge over a stram. Or was supposed to be. We found it 30' away in the poison ivy. Been muggled twice so far. Nope. Not offering any thanks for that one.

When I first started playing this game, this is the thing that really impressed me: Some stranger placed something for me to find, posted it's coordinates, and I was able to find it using a cool gizmo that used satellites to lead me to the thing. It wasn't really about the location of the hide, the method of the hide, or the specific container used. It was the simple fact that some stranger contributed to my opportunity to get out and have fun playing this cool game.

 

Back then, there were only a handful of caches in any area that I visited and I would carefully map each cache and read every cache page before deciding whether to print the cache page and take it along.

I suspect that many of us felt the very same way when we started playing. We did feel that every cache was a gift to the community in an effort to keep the game going.

 

Flash forward seven years and there are thousands of caches in most areas. I can easily slurp all these caches to my pda and GPSr and hit the road. I think that the combination of lots of data and ease of prtability have changed how some people view the game. They are no longer thankful for each cache hidden. Instead, they see cache hides as a given and allow their personal preferences to become demands. Since cache data is easy to download and dump to mobile devices, they no longer bother to actually take at the cache information prior to heading out. When they end up being dissatisfied with the cache, they place the game on the cache owner rather than where it really belongs, themselves.

Edited October 21, 2008 by sbell111

[+sbell111]

Before I answer this I would like to make sure that I understand your post and the question. Are you saying that caches hidden in lightpoles or phones (that's a new one for me but I haven't been doing this very long) are trash or somehow sub-standard?

What was unusual was the amount.......maybe 20-30 caches or more on telephones ........my wife looked at me and said, "we drove all this way to a beautifull section of the country and we're doing this".......we then shifted our activity toward a more scenic area with caches a little more spaced out.

In the other instance it was lightpole, after lightpole................

I have no problem with a couple lightpoles and a couple of phones in a days caching.......its all part of it.

 

I think my point was while it can be overdone I'm not seeing a lot of this in places I've been.

Now that my original suspicion has been confirmed, perhaps y'all need to stop and take a look around you when you're visiting those lightposts. I'm sure that if you were truly in a beautiful part of the country that you had your eyes open during the journey so all was not lost.

 

Wouldn't it be great to always find large, creative caches in beautiful areas that meet everyone's standards? Of course it would. I live in an area where there are some parks but the majority of the caches would be considered urban. I.e., In a lightpost, a magnetic nano stuck to the underside of a guardrail, meter, pipe, or downspout, things of that nature. As a result, the majority of caches I have found are the type I just described and only about 5 of my finds are large enough to hold even a few small trade items. There have also been a few that have seen better days and need serious maintenance and/or archiving. Some are really great, like the lightpost skirt I lifted which caused a huge rubber rat to pop out at me.

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

 

BTW, what exactly does "trache" mean anyway? Is it all Frenched up and euphemized to make one feel better about saying something mean instead of not saying anything at all?

Woah-de woah-de woah... I happen to know BAM pretty well and he's and up and up fellow. Also happens to own the best cache experiences I've ever had but that's neither here nor there. BAM wasn't calling those caches you describe trache (trash cache) he was commenting on what others in the forums have said. He was looking to see what the over-arching theme of other areas of the country are, IE are there a lot of lampskirts in Miami? Are there a lot of piles of rocks in Arizona? Are there a lot of UPS (unusual piles of sticks) in Alabama? There was no venom in his questions, and I'm surprised it got thatg kind of response.

I guarantee I'm not the only one who read it that way.

I can't say how you interpreted the OP all I am saying is that I know BAMBOOZLE in real life and that was not what he meant.

Unfortunately, we don't know him, or you. We can only go by his posts. Therefore, I can only assume that he was trying to be rude.

[+sbell111]

Are skirt-lifters, fire-hydrant, and Phone-booth caches lame?

Lame is in the eye of the beholder. I know people that get all googly eyed at the thought of driving to a blistering 500 acres of exhaust laden blacktop, dodging soccer moms in SUV's for the chance to locate a film canister in a lamp post kilt.

Took my quote out of context...like I said in the original post "...lame? Not really." until they saturate and area.

 

Do I read cache descriptions, sure, but I haven't read all 600,000+ cache descriptions and never will. I do a little research and asking around when I'm going to travel someplace and find a few interesting sounding caches to seek while I'm there...then I load a PQ of everything within a few miles of those. I don't have or want to take the time to read every cache description. The point of geocaching, for me, is to get out away from my computer. If I wanted to spend all my time on my computer I could log every virtual in the system without ever leaving my desk. Or I could just go back to playing Warcraft. Either way is a good way to let both body and brain turn to rot.

 

AK

Many people have made similar arguments for not reading the cache pages. Personally, I don't buy it. You see, a quick look at you stats tells me that you haven't looked for any where near 600,000 caches. Therefore, there is no need for you to preview 600,000 listings. The truth is, you only need to read one cache page prior to the hunt. It's the cache page for the very next cache that you are hunting. All you have to do is read that cache page before hitting <GOTO>. If you decide to not search that cache, read the cache page for the next cache. The time, money, and angst that you save by doing this will more than cover the thirty seconds that it takes.

[Mr.Yuck]

I'm going to say Coyote Red invented the term trache.

Can't take credit for it. Mr. Snazz first posed a question regarding the term. I thought the term fit. Some folks object to it, but after a couple of invitations to come up with a better term for "caches with little or no point" with no takers, I'm still using it. I guess a rose by any other name...

 

I'm finding it interesting the posts in this thread. It's kind of like a prophecy unfolding before your eyes. It concerns the notion of newbies seeing only a portion, the convenient portion, of the hobby and thinking that is what the hobby is all about.

 

I am heartened by some newbies who question the numbers game and do see the adventure in the hobby. At least it is still attracting those like myself.

 

Interesting thread, over 3 years old, and when the ignore list feature was brand new (and temporarily broken).

 

I don't want to tick off any newbs, but I too find the posts interesting. I'm seeing a lot of the Snooganesque mantra "every cache is a gift to us all" in some of the posts. And I've never understood the whole "sometimes I just need a quick fix in the Wal-Mart parking lot" thing.

 

I know if I were a newb, and I typed in my suburban zip code, on the first page of 20 caches, I would see 12 micros, and 7 of them in parking lots. When I first typed that zip in the box in 2003, that number was zero, of course. What you see in that first search is I suppose what you consider geocaching to be.

[+sbell111]

... the he-man micro haters club can all go back to their treehouse.

 

Edited October 21, 2008 by sbell111

[Mr.Yuck]

... the he-man micro haters club can all go back to their treehouse.

 

 

Yup, I saw that. You failed to credit Keystone though.

[Trinity's Crew]

I'm finding it interesting the posts in this thread. It's kind of like a prophecy unfolding before your eyes. It concerns the notion of newbies seeing only a portion, the convenient portion, of the hobby and thinking that is what the hobby is all about.

I read those same posts and thought it was refreshing to see the perspective of someone who doesn't have a lot of baggage.

[+DanOCan]

Once I quit worrying about trying to find as many caches as I could I found the game got much more enjoyable. I don't have the need to look for that skirt lifter in the parking lot because there is no point. I'll just drive right on by.

 

My opinion of the hides in our city has gotten much higher lately because I have gotten picky about the caches I do. I'll sit down, look at the map and pick which park I want to visit or which hike I want to do.

 

On those rare occasions where I haven't planned my caching if I read a description and it describes a micro in a tree I'll give it a pass. I'll read the previous logs -- if they mention encounters with homeless or drug users I'll give it a pass.

 

When I don't plan my trips I end up finding lame caches. Example:

 

On the map it looked like a nice park. Upon arrival near ground zero I found a hide-a-key stuck under a garbage can next to some homeless camp. When I got home the description read "We were stuck in traffic and decided this area needed more caches." Yeah, if that cache is a gift and that cache owner is giving back to the community then my response is "No thanks."

 

I really like the fact I am not finding many of those type of caches anymore. I couldn't change other cachers so I just had to change myself.

[+TrailGators]

Once I quit worrying about trying to find as many caches as I could I found the game got much more enjoyable. I don't have the need to look for that skirt lifter in the parking lot because there is no point. I'll just drive right on by.

 

My opinion of the hides in our city has gotten much higher lately because I have gotten picky about the caches I do. I'll sit down, look at the map and pick which park I want to visit or which hike I want to do.

 

On those rare occasions where I haven't planned my caching if I read a description and it describes a micro in a tree I'll give it a pass. I'll read the previous logs -- if they mention encounters with homeless or drug users I'll give it a pass.

 

When I don't plan my trips I end up finding lame caches. Example:

 

On the map it looked like a nice park. Upon arrival near ground zero I found a hide-a-key stuck under a garbage can next to some homeless camp. When I got home the description read "We were stuck in traffic and decided this area needed more caches." Yeah, if that cache is a gift and that cache owner is giving back to the community then my response is "No thanks."

 

I really like the fact I am not finding many of those type of caches anymore. I couldn't change other cachers so I just had to change myself.

 

I'm the exact same way now.

[+briansnat]

If lampost caches don't float your boat, skip them and move on. I'm just getting into caching, so a lamp post is just as exciting as a scenic vista. But, I'm sure I'll get to the point of, "Oh, it's just a lampost," and will move on. What makes a lampost a so special that someone placed a cache there? I'm not sure, but it also seems sometimes people just place caches to place caches, rather than think about why they're doing it.

I do the same thing. When I get to the area and see that it's a lamp post cache in a store parking lot, or hidden in a guardrail on the side of a non-descript road I move on. I've been out for a day of caching and racked up a dozen or more DNBs (did not bothers). Skip them is great advice, but I still have wasted my time and gas on them.

Since you don't read the cache description most of the time, I can't really feel sorry for you when you keep wasting time and gas going to caches you probably would have known to avoid.

 

What is the description going to tell me. Very rarely will one say "This cache is in one of the most mundane places imaginable". In fact I've seen some incredibly lame caches with descriptions that made you think it was taking you some place really special.

[+StarBrand]

... DNBs (did not bothers)...

Oh! Oh! Can we have a new log type? I want! I want!

 

me too!! - I can add several to my list quickly.

[Mushtang]

If lampost caches don't float your boat, skip them and move on. I'm just getting into caching, so a lamp post is just as exciting as a scenic vista. But, I'm sure I'll get to the point of, "Oh, it's just a lampost," and will move on. What makes a lampost a so special that someone placed a cache there? I'm not sure, but it also seems sometimes people just place caches to place caches, rather than think about why they're doing it.

I do the same thing. When I get to the area and see that it's a lamp post cache in a store parking lot, or hidden in a guardrail on the side of a non-descript road I move on. I've been out for a day of caching and racked up a dozen or more DNBs (did not bothers). Skip them is great advice, but I still have wasted my time and gas on them.

Since you don't read the cache description most of the time, I can't really feel sorry for you when you keep wasting time and gas going to caches you probably would have known to avoid.

What is the description going to tell me. Very rarely will one say "This cache is in one of the most mundane places imaginable". In fact I've seen some incredibly lame caches with descriptions that made you think it was taking you some place really special.

Well I guess your way is best then.

 

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I think the OP's comment wasn't directed at urban micros in general or even all skirt lifters or phone caches, just those areas where someone without much imagination has gone around a town and placed 50 identical caches under every lamp skirt more than 550 feet apart in a town.

 

This is what I am talking about, exactly.

Until a couple of days ago I never heard the word trache.........I hid the first lightpole in our area after finding my first one ( I was very impressed).....I've also hid a keyholder on a guardrail and I'm sure a telephone. My wife and I traveled and I would try to bring home ideas I found in other areas........in most cases they were original in our area. The question is SATURATION. In dozens of outings accross the country over the last 5 years I have not seen a real problem ( other than the 2 forementioned.)

I was wondering if SATURATION is really a bigger problem than I have seen.

Like I said, I don't mind doing a couple LP's in a day.....at our age its a bit of a break.....I can let the motor/AC run and flip it to my wife who dosen't leave the truck for a signature.

[+Kohavis]

Trache Caches

sub-standard

Substandard by whose reckoning?

 

But I'm not thanking anyone for some of the trache out there. Found a really sad cache the other day. The hints were badly done, and made no sense. The nanos were small. The final was under an S" bridge over a stram. Or was supposed to be. We found it 30' away in the poison ivy. Been muggled twice so far. Nope. Not offering any thanks for that one.

It was SO bad, I'll bet that to protest this cache, you didn't log it as a "Found It", right?

 

Are we seeing cache elitism here?

 

Apparently the reviewer felt these caches met the "standard" enough to be published.

 

I've found caches I didn't think were particularly creative or scenic. I've still got one cache out there that is a terrible place for a cache (it was one of my first ....I blame noobishness). But people still find it, sign the logbook, and log "TFTC!".

 

Isn't the main purpose of caching to hunt caches? What if many people who read this topic think "I don't think my cache is particularly scenic or intellectually stimulating", and instead of adding another cache for all to enjoy, take a pass instead, for fear of ridicule? That's one less find out there, and one less positive experience for someone

 

But the fact of the matter is that someone took the trouble to find that lightpost, write it up, submit it, create and place, and (hopefully) maintain it for our enjoyment and I think that's really flippin cool. I'm sure the people who placed those caches are proud of them. I know I would be proud if they were mine. Only then I'd be disappointed when someone came along and called my baby trash because it didn't meet their standards. It's topics like this that confirm my desire to not place any caches of my own until I dream up something super fantastic and worthy of being called good and not trash.

 

The area in which I live may not be the most beautiful zip code in the country and when I stop to take in the view it may not be all that great. I have seen a lot of lightposts, guardrails, smelly natural gas meters, and trash. But what really matters is that another person I may never meet has secretly placed this little cache at that particular location so that I can find it and make a memory with my family and share some laughs.

There it is. Buggheart sums it up. Thank you!

[+Gorge_Hiker]

Here in OR we have a generous variety. There are definately our share of lightposts and guardrails, but there are also fun and unique caches that bring you to some pretty spectacular places.

 

When I myself place a cache, it may just be a "lame" micro, but I didn't put it there necessarily for swag, but to experience some odd/funny/beautiful location.

[+Gorge_Hiker]

I am not a Premium member, but I think I do know you can search for caches and unselect micros. Don't think anyone is going to hide an ammo can on a telephone booth.

[+Gorge_Hiker]

 

Are skirt-lifters, fire-hydrant, and Phone-booth caches lame? Not really....until they saturate a town.

 

AK

 

Exactly! There is a guy around here that anytime you hunt a cache of his and it is a micro, you know just to go direcly to the nearest fire hydrant (is that even legal?)

[+Renegade Knight]

...I'm thinking there are ares in the country that have a big problem with sub-standard caches....

 

Mostly I find it's substandard finders who don't know how to take ownership of their own fun and blame their substandard fun on caches.

 

Fun is what you do. Caches just are.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Here in OR we have a generous variety. There are definately our share of lightposts and guardrails, but there are also fun and unique caches that bring you to some pretty spectacular places.

 

When I myself place a cache, it may just be a "lame" micro, but I didn't put it there necessarily for swag, but to experience some odd/funny/beautiful location.

 

We had a great time in OR and the N.W. this past summer....found the First Cache and others. Lovely state and great caches. It really only takes two things to make a great cache, 1. Location and 2. Presentation.