Best and worst?

[+Wintonian]

Now that 2008 is comming to an end I thought it would be intersting and fun to see what pepoles best and worst geocaching moments of the year are.

 

As a newbee I havn't got much to say but my worst has to be my very first cache, spending a hour looking for an urban micro that I couldn't find and DNF'd along with others, it got declerd missing and was replaced so I went and lookd again and found it, only for someone since to find the origonal container. Rather annoying.

 

Best: as I said I have only just started so probably convincing myself to spend £150 on a new toy to play with. Mind you I might regret it after christmas when i'm poor.

 

Anyway's happy 2009!

[+Walkworthy & Wife]

My worst experience was the time I went caching alone for a cache along a creek. The water was low so I could walk on the large flag stones that lined the creek bed. I was being very careful because some of the stones were covered with algae which is very slippery when wet. I stepped on one stone and before I knew it my feet when out from under me and I landed on the stones on my right side. Fortunately, I didn't break anything, but I bruised my right hip and cut my arm. Choose wisely what caches you going looking for when you are alone.

 

My best experiences is caching with my wife and enjoying the outdoors together.

 

May 2009 provide many great opportunities to go caching with family and friends.

[+Milbank]

Can't say I have ever had a bad experience geocaching.

Some are better then others, but it's all good.

[+m.austin]

I think my worst was going after a cache, DNF, got back to my car & discovered I was covered in ticks. Ticks & leeches are the grossest things I can imagine having on my body!

 

My best - too many to count! The day I took a close friend caching & we drove forever to a remote spot & found 12 caches. A few breathtaking views right in my own backyard that caught me by surprise. Hubby sucking it up & taking me caching on my birthday ALL DAY LONG! He doesn't mind caching, but he gave up a lot of stuff he wanted to do that day. OH WAIT! Finding out I was accepted to present on Geocaching in the Classroom at a National Convention, paid for by my school district & I get to take my friend!!!

[+windscorpion]

My worst would have to be when I was a bit off the beaten path. Got out of my vehicle with my GPS'r and shut the door only to see my key in the ignition, my cell phone and wallet on the seat, and the doors all locked. No hide-a-key for entry. Noticed a nice piece of stout chain on the ground, picked it up and one good swing later the front passenger window was gone. Drove home in the rain and ordered a new piece of glass the next day. At least I already had the experience of replacing the window regulator motor, so the glass replacement was easy enough. I can assure you that adventure won't happen to me again!

[+mdplayers]

Best... I would have to say it was the day we cached up in the Elkton Maryland area and found a small pond that was covered in ice. Our son skipped a rock across the ice and the sound it made was the most interesting sound we had heard. The fun we had skipping rocks across that ice... Best. All of our cache runs have been fun. We enjoy spending time together, hiking is great exercise (8 miles today!), caching adds a little something to it - something fun along the way.

 

Worst... can't think of any bad times. Worst would be hmmmm... I guess DNF's. I don't like to be disappointed. We haven't locked our keys in a car, broken any bones, lost any valuables, etc. (knocking on wood as I type these words).

 

It's just been fun.

[+slukster]

The best moment this year (my first year) for me was when looking for the final stage of a 3 stage cache. Here is my cache log:

 

As I am approaching GZ I see a man sitting on a fallen tree. I was a little dissappointed at first thinking I would have to come back another day to retrieve the final. As I got closer the man said hi and asked if I was looking for "that thing". Now I started thinking he was a fellow cacher who had just finished. Here is the kicker. He was drinking a can of BEER!!!! (the hint for this stage was to "Grab a Bottle or Can of Beer, they're about 15' from the cache" They turned out to be a chain with several tiny cans of beer hanging from a tree) Now I had some high expectations of what I was going to find at the final. LOL As I started looking he asked if I wanted some help so he started playing the "hot and cold" game with me. I found the clue but was lucky to have him guiding me since the cache would have been tough to find with the heavy leaf cover on the ground. It turns out this guy was a muggle who has been coming to this spot "for 20 years". He said a man and his grandson had come by not too long ago and that is how he knew where it was. I don't think he will be joining us caching anytime soon but he enjoyed my description of the game. I asked him for his name so I could give him credit but he just laughed and told me that "you got my brother but you ain't gonna get me". This turned out to be one of the best caches ever for me!!

 

I still laugh about this experience.

[+Snoogans]

The best for me this year was my month long, 6,000 mile, 75+ cache trip to GW6 and back.

 

On that trip:

 

The most unique cache was BUILD A BETTER GEOCACHE!

 

And the most special moment was on my way to the Morrow Rock Earthcache.

 

Most fun hunt Kashta's Rock. (An island near Monterey you can only get to easily at low tide.)

 

Bonus! I got to finally meet Miss Jenn. And GWVI4WD was an awesome 4 wheelin' cache trip lead by bthomas the day after the big event.

 

Oh, and being one of the faces on this was a great and unexpected honor:

 

 

I don't have bad hunts as a rule of thumb. I choose my caches carefully. I haven't had anything less than a pleasing hunt since very shortly after I started caching.

 

Okay, THIS happened on the way to an event I hosted. My first DNF on a hosted event. It might qualify as the worst of the year:

[+The Hornet]

Best - First UK Mega Event where so many like minded people met over a couple of days to have a great time together.

 

Worst - The disintegration of the local geocaching community which used to be a vibrant and lively group but which has all but disappeared.

[+eigengott]

Best: A series of long (20km+) multi-caches along the scenic Rheinsteig hiking path. I'm now halfway through, having some very nice hiking+caching weekends and look forward to complete the series next year. Thanks to Homer Jay for hiding those great caches!

 

Worst: One of my caches got muggled and I had to replace it. At least the muggles left the remains of the old logbook, so the stories in there are not lost.

[+tbg120]

This was definately the highlight of the year. After a mile and a half hike we got to this spot here for a virtual cache. In the background is the New River Bridge.

Can't really think of any low's. After all, a bad day of caching is better then a good day at work!

[+briansnat]

My best was actually a DNF on the Tongue Wagger cache in the Adirondack Mountains. A 5 stage multi in a beautiful area with very rugged terrain. We turned the 12 mile hike into a overnight backpacking trip to make it even more fun. It was a DNF but the only smiley we really wanted was on our faces when the trip was over. Made a video of the trip (be sure to select "watch in high quality") and here are a few photos of the great views along the way.

 

 

 

As far as the worst, can't think of any. I generally abandon any hunts that don't interest me these days. I geocache for the memories and I want them to be good ones.

[+StarBrand]

Best - My Garmin Oregon 200. Best Geocaching tool I own (besides the Jeep).

 

Worst - my 90 days of not finding anycaches last Spring. Hope not to repeat that ever.

[Skippermark]

Best - Geowoodstock VI - It was a blast. Met some great people and found some fun caches.

 

Worst - Can't really think of any. Maybe having to DNF some 1 rated caches. We rarely have a bad time when we cache, and if we do, it's forgotten when the next find is in hand.

[+m.austin]

New worst: Last Saturday hubby & I are getting ready to go caching. Now, we tend to be a bit like the Griswald's around Christmas time - WAY too many lights, but hey, there's always one in every town so somebody has to be the one! It's time to leave. Hubby puts the geodog in the back seat of the truck. I jump in the passenger seat, ready to go. Anyways, in Kansas the wind either blows or it blows hard. This was a "blows hard" day, so the wind was wrecking havoc on our decorations. Hubby asks me to help him secure one of the lawn decorations. Out I jump without a thought. We go to get back in the truck, ornament secured. Oops, door locked! Seems geodog stepped on the automatic lock! Hubby wants my keys to the truck. They are in my purse, which of course is in the truck! An hour later I finally find the extra key fob, which had never worked properly, but luckily worked just well enough to open the door. Because of this I missed out on my geocaching! THAT was a tragedy!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Worst...

 

Getting the day off on Fathers Day to go geocaching and starting off with 4 DNFs in a row.

 

Best...

 

Geocaching with friends.

[+coltillini]

Worst was getting into chiggers. Best was having chigger bites finally dry up.

[+va griz]

Best: Watching three Ospreys hunt over the river near a cache. Spent about an hour there trying to get good photos.

 

Worst (a tie):

1. going back to a micro at a not so attractive area that I and many others had DNFed a couple times. Had a give away hint from the owner or I wouldn't have made the drive. Despite a fairly recent "find", it wasn't there.

2. Going for a very hard to reach page on the Viginia Delorme challenge that required driving about 40 miles into West Virginia to get back around to the only area on the page that had caches. Beautiful trip that I don't regret, but got stopped about a mile short by unexpected snow.

Edited December 17, 2008 by va griz

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Oh, and being one of the faces on this was a great and unexpected honor:

Cool pic, lots of friends in it, where did that come from?

 

And isn't #29 a fine looking fellow?

Edited December 17, 2008 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+fox-and-the-hound]

Best would have to be doing a little cache maintenance with my new son this year on opening day of trout season and discovering that he LOVES being outside on the trails...

 

Worst would have to be the frequently abandoned plans to geocache due to the little guy being sick or weather being a bit too harsh for being outside. Already planning to make up for it with more frequent trips outdoors next year.

[+The Hipster]

Best: An afternoon biking with caching friends along a lake trail populated with caches - meeting up with family members for a pizza party - the entire gang doing a local night cache - after which the children & less interested better halves went left for warm cabin fires & we intrepid cachers did a wild-n-wooly new night cache, laid out by mutual geocaching friends.

 

Worst: In the wild woods of northern MN, there is a micro cache placed just below the observation platform of a very old fire tower. The view from on high was reported to be extraordinary. As it was the peak weekend of fall colors, I thought I would give it a shot, even though it had been raining for a couple of days. I hiked into the site & had to screw up my courage to climb the rickety old 10 story tower. Before seeking the cache I decided to go the last few feet into the small observation cabin at the top & take in the sights. I closed the trap door - BAD MISTAKE - The recent rains had caused said trap door to swell. I had no way to open it. I tried an SOS with my powerful flashlight at passing hunters SUV to no avail. (I was 10 stories up & 1/8 mile from a back road.) As it was getting dark my only recourse was to call 911 on the cell phone & explain my situation. Before the Sheriff's Department Deputies could arrive (I was a few miles from the closest town) the previous SUV arrived. Apparently they had seen my signal after all. First the sons climbed up (the father was afraid of heights) but their pushing & my pulling did no good. The father found a 5lb mallet in his tool kit & braved the climb. His pounding & my pulling finally opened the door. At that moment two patrol cars arrived full of four young deputies. They were actually relieved not to have to climb the tower themselves! I was too embarrassed to mention geocaching & way too unnerved to climb back up & make the find - maybe next season.

[+Semper Questio]

This one is easy.

 

Both my best and worst were when I fell while caching and shattered both of my heel bones.

 

On the one hand, it's been a long road to recovery, but on the other it has been a life-changing (for the better) experience for me in many ways.

[Skippermark]

Oh, and being one of the faces on this was a great and unexpected honor:

Cool pic, lots of friends in it, where did that come from?

 

And isn't #29 a fine looking fellow?

That was at GeoWoodstock VI, kind of over near the travel bug tables.

[+KJcachers]

Best: Watching three Ospreys hunt over the river near a cache. Spent about an hour there trying to get good photos.

 

Worst (a tie):

2. Going for a very hard to reach page on the Viginia Delorme challenge that required driving about 40 miles into West Virginia to get back around to the only area on the page that had caches. Beautiful trip that I don't regret, but got stopped about a mile short by unexpected snow.

 

What grid were you looking for?

[Quizes]

My best and worst were also one day:

 

A couple of weeks ago, I got the flu and had to have my husband drive me to the doctor's office. When we pulled in I grabbed my logbook of unfound geocaches and coordinates and said; honey, there's a new cache in the alley behind the office...maybe we can get it quick.

 

My husband (no big geocacher by any means) delcared me to sick to search and hustled me in the the doctor's office.

 

I was very disappointed, but very sick and it was the right decision.l

 

I got called in to the doctor's exam room and my husband excused himself. When I got out of the exam room, he handed me the geocache (an altoid magnetic) and let me sign the log. Then he walked me outside, fired up the car & heater and let me watch him put it back in place.

 

I would have found it anyway at some point, and we're a team in life, so I didn't feel bad about logging for that smiley.

[+9Key]

Best: getting my 3000th find and winning a 60GSx in the same day.

 

Worst: getting into a nasty and rather public fight with a former geocaching friend.

[sdarken]

Best Day: Pretty much any one of a number of days spent with a group of geocaching friends.

 

Best DNF: An island in Thailand, a boat that was about to leave, jungle vines, an abandoned ladder and dozens of biting ants. Doesn't get any better than that : http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...64-724226c8aef0

 

Worst: Calling 911 to have a geoacaching friend rescued after suffering from heat exhaustion, off trail in the blazing sun.