#@%#%$ Micro caches!

October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches! Is there any worse combination than a micro cache and a stone farmer's wall? GAH! The only caches near me that I haven't found are all micros. It drives me crazy! I don't have 3 hours to paw through a wall for a scrap of paper in a tube!!!

Thanks for letting me share, I feel better now. :yikes:

20.7k · October 30, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.

3.9k · October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Ever.

So cheer up! :yikes:

October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Ever.

So cheer up!

Does that mean I have to swallow my pride? LOL thanks for the tip I may have to do that for now to save my sanity!

9.2k · October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches! Is there any worse combination than a micro cache and a stone farmer's wall?

Do not mess with a stoned farmer's wall. They're touchy enough when they're sober.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Prime Suspect

20.7k · October 30, 2008

We tried to farm stones once. We carefully planted the small ones and watered them daily. Nothing grew. Perhaps we used the wrong fertilizer.

10.2k · October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Ever.

So cheer up!

Does that mean I have to swallow my pride? LOL thanks for the tip I may have to do that for now to save my sanity!

Although I'm sure you were just venting your frustration over a "needle in a haystack" hide, you've unknowingly opened up not 1, but 2 Pandora's boxes. Micros, and caches hidden in historic stone walls in New England. :yikes:

It is true though, you don't have to look for every cache that's listed. If you get frustrated, and don't have 3 hours to look for a soggy scrap of paper in a little tube in a stone wall, it's best to just ignore that cache.

1k · October 30, 2008

Although I'm sure you were just venting your frustration over a "needle in a haystack" hide, you've unknowingly opened up not 1, but 2 Pandora's boxes.

Two boxes???? Sounds like a multi :laughing:

Yeah, micros are the pits, nothing like an ammo can. Micros make you have accurate coords, you actually have to search and you can't find them when you're fifty feet from ground zero.... yuck! Okay, okay.... I was just kidding... put that back into Pandora's box and I'll leave quietly.... :yikes:

3.6k · October 30, 2008

I "love" seeing the descriptions that say, "You are looking for a deviously hidden micro in a stone wall. Please do not destroy the wall to find it..."

And the cache is rated a 1/1 and it's a 500' bushwhack in the woods to get there. Devious micro and a stone wall DOES NOT equal a 1 difficulty.

The wall ends up getting destroyed because people pick it apart to find the cache. They may not damage it on purpose but over time the rocks don't get restacked the way they were originally laid, and the wall ends up losing it's integrity and falling down at ground zero.

18.9k · October 30, 2008

So is the problem that it is a micro or that it is in a stone wall??

Recent discussion would indicate that the majority believes that stone wall caches should ALL be avoided.

October 30, 2008

Although I'm sure you were just venting your frustration over a "needle in a haystack" hide, you've unknowingly opened up not 1, but 2 Pandora's boxes. Micros, and caches hidden in historic stone walls in New England.

It is true though, you don't have to look for every cache that's listed. If you get frustrated, and don't have 3 hours to look for a soggy scrap of paper in a little tube in a stone wall, it's best to just ignore that cache.

Needle in a haystack??? :laughing: ??? Now that's a good idea for a micro - thanks

October 30, 2008

So is the problem that it is a micro or that it is in a stone wall??

Recent discussion would indicate that the majority believes that stone wall caches should ALL be avoided.

Despite the original post I'm more frustrated with the stone wall aspect of the location. I'm fairly new at this and I'm finding that caches in or near stone walls is pretty common to my area. I get within striking distance of GZ and see a stone wall and I'm like "Oh no here we go again". The one that is currently tormenting me also describes the micro as an 'orange matchbox-sized container' which makes me feel doubly inept :yikes: Reaching around inside a cracks of a wall is not very fun. So far I've encountered pieces of a broken bottle and in another location, watched a snake slither into the wall near where I wanted to search...yikes!

There's yet another micro near me on a pedestrian walkway attached to a bridge, it must be a brutal cache as half the log entries are DNFs, I've walked over the bridge numerous times but there's literally thousands of nooks so I can never tell if the cache is just devious or has fallen into the river below. Oh well, I'm just thankful for the cleverly hidden ammo box caches!

20.7k · October 30, 2008

Although I'm sure you were just venting your frustration over a "needle in a haystack" hide, you've unknowingly opened up not 1, but 2 Pandora's boxes. Micros, and caches hidden in historic stone walls in New England.

It is true though, you don't have to look for every cache that's listed. If you get frustrated, and don't have 3 hours to look for a soggy scrap of paper in a little tube in a stone wall, it's best to just ignore that cache.

Needle in a haystack??? ??? Now that's a good idea for a micro - thanks

Been there, done that, logged the DNF.

3.6k · October 30, 2008

So is the problem that it is a micro or that it is in a stone wall??

Recent discussion would indicate that the majority believes that stone wall caches should ALL be avoided.

I'm opposed to hard to find caches in a wall. It doesn't matter whether they're micros or ammo boxes.

If the cache is obvious (to a cacher), then I'm okay with it. If it's the former, make it so it's visible or pretty obvious. If the latter, don't cammo it or bury it so deep in the wall that someone can't see it.

Don't cammo tape a bison tube to a stick and drop into the center of the wall or drill a nano into a rock and put it deep inside the wall.

Typo edit

Edited October 30, 2008 by Skippermark

8.4k · October 30, 2008

*yawwwn* :yikes:

10.1k · October 30, 2008

Reaching around inside a cracks of a wall is not very fun. So far I've encountered pieces of a broken bottle and in another location, watched a snake slither into the wall near where I wanted to search...yikes!

Is that all? I've read of people finding a butcher knife, a gun, and stashes of drugs in stone walls.

October 30, 2008

Reaching around inside a cracks of a wall is not very fun. So far I've encountered pieces of a broken bottle and in another location, watched a snake slither into the wall near where I wanted to search...yikes!

Is that all? I've read of people finding a butcher knife, a gun, and stashes of drugs in stone walls.

Did you find that?? That's a pretty scary thing to come across, especially if it had been 'used'. :laughing: The strangest thing I've found while out caching is a clear plastic tarp with bones. They looked animal... :yikes:

1.6k · October 30, 2008

We tried to farm stones once. We carefully planted the small ones and watered them daily. Nothing grew. Perhaps we used the wrong fertilizer.

You should try farming cache containers. Gather lots of seed caches (plastic film cans and metal bison tubes), plant them in a large dung heap (for the fertilizer), and water often. The film cans grow up to be lock-n-locks and the bison tubes grow up to be ammo cans. This isn't a rumor, my cousin's girlfriend's father's friend's kid tried it in a school science fair project and it definitely worked!

1.6k · October 30, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.

This is probably the best answer to an "I hate micros" post I've ever seen. I personally prefer regular caches myself, but nothing's wrong with micros either.

9.3k · October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Excellent advice! You can even go one step farther, and hand select any micros that come across your inbox which might appeal to you. This way you get the best of both worlds. All the micros which you don't happen to like instantly disappear from your radar, and those few that meet your personal caching aesthetics are on your GPSr.

It works. :yikes:

October 30, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Excellent advice! You can even go one step farther, and hand select any micros that come across your inbox which might appeal to you. This way you get the best of both worlds. All the micros which you don't happen to like instantly disappear from your radar, and those few that meet your personal caching aesthetics are on your GPSr.

It works.

I wasn't even aware of this site feature so I set that up and I'm pretty happy now. :yikes: Unfortunately, I can't ignore the micros I've already attempted so I may just have to keep trying those...I'm stubborn like that!

10.1k · October 30, 2008

Did you find that?? That's a pretty scary thing to come across, especially if it had been 'used'. The strangest thing I've found while out caching is a clear plastic tarp with bones. They looked animal...

No. The micro got moved after that. That was at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights, where Aaron Burr retired, after killing Alexander Hamilton in the duel in Weehawken. (Speaking of which, I have a micro in Weehawken, near Hamilton Rock, with tremendous views of the city. Yes. It's a micro.) Other than that, I just find things like rats, and used condoms, and homeless people sleeping.

Two days a month, I cache in the city for a few hours. And, there are some really great micros in the city!

The rest of the time I mostly cache in North Jersey, where I find things like bears and turkeys. I do cache and dashes, and I do long hikes.

But, we were talking about micros. There are some really good and creative micro hiders around here. You look forward to the half mile hike in a beautiful area to wrack your brain finding the micro. Or searching on a street in the city.

True. There are a lot of carpy micros. Some people think a film canister in a guardrail behind the school is a good cache. I'll save them for when I'm desperate for a fix during the winter. If they're still there. But there are also a lot of carpy regular caches. Some people do not seem to understand what constitutes a good cache. To me, size does not determine whether a cache is good or not. It's the hide, and the area that determine that.

October 30, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.

This is probably the best answer to an "I hate micros" post I've ever seen. I personally prefer regular caches myself, but nothing's wrong with micros either.

I would have to agree.

- Rev Mike

3.6k · October 30, 2008

*yawwwn*

I agree. I'm getting tired too.

3.6k · October 31, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Excellent advice! You can even go one step farther, and hand select any micros that come across your inbox which might appeal to you. This way you get the best of both worlds. All the micros which you don't happen to like instantly disappear from your radar, and those few that meet your personal caching aesthetics are on your GPSr.

It works.

I wasn't even aware of this site feature so I set that up and I'm pretty happy now. Unfortunately, I can't ignore the micros I've already attempted so I may just have to keep trying those...I'm stubborn like that!

And don't give up on them either. You may not like them now, but may find yourself liking then sometime in the future.

I don't really pay attention to my stats and was surprised when I finally checked on them that over 50% of my finds were micros.

October 31, 2008

I hate micro caches!

The good news is that these are remarkably easy to avoid completely if you want to. Set the filters on your PQs and you'll never have to see another one.

Excellent advice! You can even go one step farther, and hand select any micros that come across your inbox which might appeal to you. This way you get the best of both worlds. All the micros which you don't happen to like instantly disappear from your radar, and those few that meet your personal caching aesthetics are on your GPSr.

It works.

I wasn't even aware of this site feature so I set that up and I'm pretty happy now. Unfortunately, I can't ignore the micros I've already attempted so I may just have to keep trying those...I'm stubborn like that!

And don't give up on them either. You may not like them now, but may find yourself liking then sometime in the future.

I don't really pay attention to my stats and was surprised when I finally checked on them that over 50% of my finds were micros.

I think you're right, a lot of it is more exposure and experience, I think you sharpen your skills the more caches you find, you start to think like a cache placer. I have a ways to go, right now the micros are too much work with my limited caching time.

October 31, 2008

Micros get me frustrated like little else. Especially those *&^#@% forest nano hides Every time I'm standing there dumbly gazing at a clearing full of deadfall and stumps, reading the cache description that says "Its bark is worse than its bite" or a hint that says "Don't get too stumped", I shake my head, feeling my blood pressure rise, begin to enter into my own personal Tourette's sufferer impression, muttering curses about the cache owner's questionable lineage and allegiances with unholy hellspawn, swearing that NEXT time I'm filtering out anything smaller than a Samsonite Overnighter!!!!

But I keep ....searching for them ....every single outing .......they are caches, after all. And I LOVE hunting caches

Maybe the forest haystack hides make me appreciate and enjoy the forest ammo box hides that much more :mad:

8.4k · October 31, 2008

I hate micro caches!

I love 'em. I'm probably the biggest micro proliferator in the geocaching world. There's probably one not too far from you....

20.7k · October 31, 2008

Micros get me frustrated like little else. Especially those *&^#@% forest nano hides ...

Maybe the forest haystack hides make me appreciate and enjoy the forest ammo box hides that much more

If only there was a way for you to know what size the cache was before you started looking for it.

Hmmm.

Edited October 31, 2008 by sbell111

3.6k · October 31, 2008

If only there was a way for you to know what size the cache was before you started looking for it.

Maybe there should be a "nano" category.

Gasp...okay, let's not go there again.

Edited October 31, 2008 by Skippermark

1k · October 31, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.

Isn't that up there with "Don't hate cigarettes, hate the people that lite them"....

Respect the planet with your hides, and your searching techniques.

Except for LPC's. Plow them down with your SUV and then look for the 35mm canister in the rubble <jk>

20.7k · October 31, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.
Isn't that up there with "Don't hate cigarettes, hate the people that lite them"....

Your analogy is apt if the person who is complaining about cigarettes is smoking one.

1k · October 31, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.
Isn't that up there with "Don't hate cigarettes, hate the people that lite them"....
Your analogy is apt if the person who is complaining about cigarettes is smoking one.

And also when the person complaining about finding micros is also hiding them

October 31, 2008

I hate micro caches! Is there any worse combination than a micro cache and a stone farmer's wall? GAH!

What's worse than a micro in a stone wall is a micro on a telephone pole!!!! Have some freakin creativity! I don't mind micros when they are out in the woods because some of them can be pretty fun to find, but the ones that are in a guard rail or on a telephone pole frustrate me to all heck! give me a little bit of a challenge!

1k · October 31, 2008

What's worse than a micro in a stone wall is a micro on a telephone pole!!!! Have some freakin creativity! I don't mind micros when they are out in the woods because some of them can be pretty fun to find, but the ones that are in a guard rail or on a telephone pole frustrate me to all heck! give me a little bit of a challenge!

So how challenged do you feel about walking down a trail and from 100 feet away, seeing one large tree coming up as you approach GZ and you just walk to the bottom of the tree and pick up the ammo can?

I like the challenges, too, but also some caches are only there to bring you to a location. A guard rail cache on a curve in the road showing you a break in the trees and a beautiful view of a winding river, or on a guard rail cache hidden where a road curves around a mountain exposing an overlook into a marvelous valley... those are good caches, too. Each cache has a purpose, be it a challenge, a camo job, a story, some sentimental stuff, a celebration, a location, an event, some history, but the ones that are only hidden for the sake of hiding a cache have a higher chance of being a disappointment, regardless of size or technique.

October 31, 2008

What's worse than a micro in a stone wall is a micro on a telephone pole!!!! Have some freakin creativity! I don't mind micros when they are out in the woods because some of them can be pretty fun to find, but the ones that are in a guard rail or on a telephone pole frustrate me to all heck! give me a little bit of a challenge!
So how challenged do you feel about walking down a trail and from 100 feet away, seeing one large tree coming up as you approach GZ and you just walk to the bottom of the tree and pick up the ammo can?

I like the challenges, too, but also some caches are only there to bring you to a location. A guard rail cache on a curve in the road showing you a break in the trees and a beautiful view of a winding river, or on a guard rail cache hidden where a road curves around a mountain exposing an overlook into a marvelous valley... those are good caches, too. Each cache has a purpose, be it a challenge, a camo job, a story, some sentimental stuff, a celebration, a location, an event, some history, but the ones that are only hidden for the sake of hiding a cache have a higher chance of being a disappointment, regardless of size or technique.

Unfortuantly, most of the caches that I have found hidden on a pole or a guard rail don't have any particular relevence to anything important from what I could tell, it was just a place to hide a cache. And that ammo can hidden under a tree is usually at the end of a nice hike in the beauty of nature.

I'm not trying to dog on people and their caches, I'm just a little bit more picky than most other cachers about how I spend my time caching because I don't get the opportunity to do it that often.

October 31, 2008

So is the problem that it is a micro or that it is in a stone wall??

Recent discussion would indicate that the majority believes that stone wall caches should ALL be avoided.

I don't avoid searching for caches in stone walls (regardless of cache size). I do have respect for these old walls though, so I have a specific method for searching stone walls. I use a combination of searching with my eyes (and flashlight if necessary) and poking around with my hiking stick. I will only move a rock if I've found the cache and the rock needs to be moved to access the container. Sure I end up with a DNF every now and then, but I'd much rather write up a DNF log than ruin a 200+ year old stone wall.

1k · October 31, 2008

Unfortuantly, most of the caches that I have found hidden on a pole or a guard rail don't have any particular relevence to anything important from what I could tell, it was just a place to hide a cache. And that ammo can hidden under a tree is usually at the end of a nice hike in the beauty of nature.

There are many micro caches as you describe but also there are also many ammo can's just tossed off a trail somewhere with nothing more relevant about the hiding spot then the previous several miles or the next several miles. We often find an ammo can just laying under some tree and then walking back from the cache we see a big spooky tree with a hollow trunk, or several trees twisted and growing together, or some unique spot and look back at the bland hiding spot and wonder why that place was picked.

I'm not trying to dog on people and their caches, I'm just a little bit more picky than most other cachers about how I spend my time caching because I don't get the opportunity to do it that often.

Anyone hiding any cache is at least putting some effort forth to spread the game, but just as not every photo is a National Geographic cover, neither is every cache something to write home about. Fun is what you make it. I also agree with the time constraints.... maintaining several hundred hides takes about ten times the time every month that I get to put into seeking caches. But then again I get pleasure out of reading the fun others had at my hides, too.

1.5k · November 2, 2008

I actually enjoy micros and nanos and some are very clever. What I don't like are ammo boxes hidden under a pile of bark or sticks that you can see a mile away. And what I despise are those where someone has placed a container that is 4" or 5" tall and just thrown it into the middle of a juniper bush or similar type bush.

November 2, 2008

So is the problem that it is a micro or that it is in a stone wall??

Recent discussion would indicate that the majority believes that stone wall caches should ALL be avoided.

The only stone wall cache we have found so far was an ammo can.

But around here stone walls:

-Are not historic.

-Are built with stones that you aren't going to move without heavy machinery.

I actually enjoy micros and nanos and some are very clever. What I don't like are ammo boxes hidden under a pile of bark or sticks that you can see a mile away. And what I despise are those where someone has placed a container that is 4" or 5" tall and just thrown it into the middle of a juniper bush or similar type bush.

I hate juniper.

November 3, 2008

not only do i dislike micros esspesially since they dont usually have room for travelers - i hate urbans even more since i hate the idea of being mistaken for a vandel or other type of criminal

the only urbans i like are virtual urbans

3.6k · November 3, 2008

What's worse than a micro in a stone wall is a micro on a telephone pole!!!! Have some freakin creativity! I don't mind micros when they are out in the woods because some of them can be pretty fun to find, but the ones that are in a guard rail or on a telephone pole frustrate me to all heck! give me a little bit of a challenge!

I just noticed that you're from CA, and that was the only place we've seen hides on telephone poles. Maybe it's a local thing or something.

7.2k · November 3, 2008

not only do i dislike micros esspesially since they dont usually have room for travelers - i hate urbans even more since i hate the idea of being mistaken for a vandel or other type of criminal

I've seen plenty of urbans that don't make you look like a criminal. Some of my favorite have been urbans.

I do know what you mean, though. Some folks think just any old spot is "good enough" without much thought to the finding process or entertainment value of the cache. These go on my ignore list fairly quickly.

Edited November 3, 2008 by CoyoteRed

24.7k · November 3, 2008

I would try not to get upset at the micros. It's that person who keeps forcing you to go look for them that you should be mad at.

Yup. When the fun stops I hightail it. Sometimes the fun stops when we pull up to the parking log. "Wanna do this one?" "Nope." "Cool, What's next?"

1k · November 3, 2008

not only do i dislike micros esspesially since they dont usually have room for travelers - i hate urbans even more since i hate the idea of being mistaken for a vandel or other type of criminal

Ever hear gunshots nearby while hiking deep in the wild? Would you prefer to be mistaken for a vandal or a target?

Everything has it's occasional risks and discomforts. Some people like the stealthy requirements of a muggle-challenge while others prefer to be so far removed that critters are the only muggles around. Different caches for different tastes. Doesn't make any of them worse or better then any others, only makes them better suited to different tastes.

I sum up my tastes in caches the same way I sum up my musical tastes... I like the "good" ones. And what I think is "good" might change with my mood but I'm not going to say every micro is "bad" simply because of the size of the container. Life is too short to live with limitations and labels but I sure won't stand in the way of someone who wants to do that.

Edited November 3, 2008 by infiniteMPG

November 3, 2008

Get a grip...grow up, and get over it....You sound like a child crying because they can't have any more candy....Traditional Micros are great...Multi caches suck...Traditional Small and Regular caches are great. Any container that has a log and when you sign that log sheet, you can get a "smiley"...So what's not to like? Except maybe an attitude that is out of place. Good luck and Happy Trails.

November 3, 2008

I hate juniper.

Try it with tonic and some extra lime.

November 4, 2008

I hate juniper.

Try it with tonic and some extra lime.

OK, that way I do like it.

#@%#%$ Micro caches!

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