Move it ... or Lose it!

[+angevine]

Okay, this is not a complaint (I have no one to blame but myself!); it's really just an opportunity to share my frustration with People Who Understand. And maybe as a caution to those who, like me, may sometimes move a little slowly.

 

I've been planning a cache ever since we moved to Cape Cod in April. A multi, which is the kind of cache I do. A didactic multi, in fact, which is also the kind of cache I do. And I figured I had time to research it and make it perfect, since there hadn't been a lot of caches placed in this area for a while.

 

While I was planning, a cacher placed a cache in one of the important spots on my itinerary. But no worries: her goal is to place a cache in every town on the Cape, so that particular spot wasn't primordial to her. Paul contacted her and we made an offer: relocate her cache *and* maintain it for her (it's closer to us than to her) in exchange for getting that spot.

 

We were in negotiation around this when she placed another cache ... at the planned *terminus* of my yet-unplaced multi.

 

Obviously, this cache was not meant to be! I learned two valuable lessons from the experience:

 

1) If you decide to do something, DO IT. Perfection isn't necessary: just getting it out there is. Just because there hasn't been recent caching activity in an area doesn't mean that there won't be tomorrow.

 

2) Keep things in perspective. I actually cried when I saw a cache placed at "my" spot. How absurd! Get a grip, Jeannette! Geocaching is supposed to be fun (at least, that's what I tell people in my book!): so what's with taking this whole thing to heart like that?

 

So that's it. I may do an abbreviated version of my multi, or I may move on. Either way, I'm doing it *soon*!

 

-- Jeannette (angevine)

[+Kit Fox]

A little know secret (not listed in the guidelines) but used by many reviewers, is the ability to save spots, with a work in progress cache.

 

I tried to place a cache recently, and was told that my cache was two close to a multi. I've found every multi and puzzle in my area, so I contacted the reviewer. He told it was an unpublished multi (in progress) with waypoints already listed in the additional waypoints section. Because of the additional waypoints, he honored the geocache in progress as having been there first.

 

I have a three part puzzle cache highlighting three different aircraft wrecks, but i've haven't been able to visit one stage yet. I've already added my additional waypoints, and I posted a note to the reviewer about my progress on this cache.

 

I hope this helps.

[+9Key]

A little know secret (not listed in the guidelines) but used by many reviewers, is the ability to save spots, with a work in progress cache.

 

Yes, this is what you should have done, had you known about it. I only recently learned of it.

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

Great job taking a Big Girl Pill! It's refreshing to read someone write that something was disappointing but that they'll move on.

 

I know KitFox has given you a tip that'll avoid this unfortunate situation in the future, but I wanted to say that it's great you have such a positive attitude about things not going your way.

[+The VanDucks]

I'm sorry your cache didn't work out! A similar problem happened to us when we wanted to place a cache highlighting the historical area of our town. We had received partial permission from the town, but they would not let me place the final where I wanted it to be. I was able to rewrite the cache description and place the final a short distance away. Maybe you can think about whether you can redo your cache to have the geocachers find some information along the planned route and then use some numbers or words to go to a farther away location to find the final stage. You can look at our cache, "Town History in Herndon" to see how we set ours up - there is actually an older geocache that was already along the route the cachers travel to get to our final stage.

Good luck, and don't let a disappointment stop you from placing caches! We always need new ones to find and it sounds like you have some valuable ideas!

[Keystone]

Purely virtual "question to answer" waypoints are not subject to the 528 foot cache saturation guideline. Find a sign, monument or other object -- even a utiltity pole ID number -- that already exists in the environment. Use numbers or letters from the object to plug into a formula to take the finder to the next location. Meanwhile, they see whatever it is that you want them to see at that spot. As a bonus, they can pick up the other caches while doing your multicache.