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Ever have one of those caches you just can not find?


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After nearly 4000 finds I have had numerous caches that I just could not seem to see despite them being easy to find (whether it be rating, "easy" find in the logs, or all smileys except your frowny face). Listed below are a couple of my current ones that I just can't seem to locate despite them being easy. Let's hear some of you nemesis caches current or past:

 

1/1 I have DNF 3 times

 

1.5/1 multi that I found stage 1 on 4th attempt, Now a DNF on stage 3

 

2/1.5 that had 21 smileys then my 2 DNF with a CO check-up sandwiched in between

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After nearly 4000 finds I have had numerous caches that I just could not seem to see despite them being easy to find (whether it be rating, "easy" find in the logs, or all smileys except your frowny face). Listed below are a couple of my current ones that I just can't seem to locate despite them being easy. Let's hear some of you nemesis caches current or past:

 

1/1 I have DNF 3 times

 

1.5/1 multi that I found stage 1 on 4th attempt, Now a DNF on stage 3

 

2/1.5 that had 21 smileys then my 2 DNF with a CO check-up sandwiched in between

 

The Gardiner Bird Store and Gardens A 1/1 cache that is now at 152 finds and 2 DNFs. We were the first DNF, haven't had a chance to go back and look again. The second DNF was by a very experienced local cacher.

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I have found - with rare exception - that caches rated a 1/1 are anything but. I have almost gotten to the point where I wont look for a cache if its rated 1/1 due to them being next to impossible to find. The few 1/1 caches that I have gone back and eventually found were more like 2.5 to 3.5 in difficulty.

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I'd think this thing would be all about improperly rated caches, rather than someone not being able to find the correct lampskirt in a parking lot. :D But then it would be an angsty thread, wouldn't it? :D

 

I disagree. Sometimes there are caches that are blatantly obvious but for some reason you just can't see them. There's one that I found a while back that I'd been to at least four times with no luck. I finally found it. The cache is was a large pill bottle covered in fur with a fake tail at eye level... right in front of me where I had looked many times. I must have been trying to cache with my eyes closed to have missed that one. :D

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After nearly 4000 finds I have had numerous caches that I just could not seem to see despite them being easy to find (whether it be rating, "easy" find in the logs, or all smileys except your frowny face). Listed below are a couple of my current ones that I just can't seem to locate despite them being easy. Let's hear some of you nemesis caches current or past:

 

Oh yes. Of course I have way, way fewer cache finds than you, but some of the difficulty 1 caches seem to elude me for some reason.

 

Which reminds me of this post (though a little late for Christmas)...

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=3204330

 

I think for my case part of it could be psychological. If it is a 1 star difficulty cache, I may be expecting an easy find and don't put in as much effort as I would for a, say, 3 star cache. I'm trying to break this bad habit.

Edited by Chrysalides
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I had a cache that was a large capsule in a tree. I had to go to the location three different times. After reading the logs I finally realized it was in the tree. I learned a valuable lesson dont always look on the ground!

 

That is valuable advise for many things in life. I did a cache today that had a hint that was actually "Not on the ground". I have been to a metal detecting competition that had coins hidden in the bark and forks of trees. I never assume anything is near the ground.

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Yes, and I still can't find it.

 

It is supposed to be an easy one. Brand new cachers have found it as their first cache ever and said it was easy. I have spent hours there. Heck one day I went there three times and looked, going away when I got frustrated. I've been there in summer, winter, spring, and fall. Thankfully, it's in a pretty place.

 

The owner has even told me specifically how to find it--in detail--because it isn't supposed to be hard to find. And I still can't find it. I know I must be over-thinking it, but I can't imagine how.

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We have done that. We're usually the first to DNF a cache.

 

Good as Gold - We just kept making it harder than it really was. Hidden for us and we got the first two DNFS and no FTF..

 

Concrete Jungle - Even after I knew what we were looking for we didn't see it. The worst part about it is I answered a phone a friend and helped someone else find it but still we never made it back.

 

I used to delete DNFs after we found the cache so I don't remember which caches they were but there were a couple that we tried a few times and would have a new cacher show up right after us and say how easy the find was..

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I had one that I tried to FTF. Visited 3 times before anyone else had found it. After it had been logged a few times I went back. Still couldn't find it. Finally gave up. Then the cache had to be moved and the CO placed another nearby and hid it the same way. When I went to find that, my son and I found it almost right away. Maybe the lighting was different, I don't know. At least I felt better that I wasn't stumped again.

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After nearly 4000 finds I have had numerous caches that I just could not seem to see despite them being easy to find (whether it be rating, "easy" find in the logs, or all smileys except your frowny face). Listed below are a couple of my current ones that I just can't seem to locate despite them being easy. Let's hear some of you nemesis caches current or past:

 

1/1 I have DNF 3 times

 

1.5/1 multi that I found stage 1 on 4th attempt, Now a DNF on stage 3

 

2/1.5 that had 21 smileys then my 2 DNF with a CO check-up sandwiched in between

I have, since I started geocaching 3.5 years ago, become locally famous, and particularly famous with my wife Sue, for being unable to find 1/1 urban geocaches, and I even use the phrase "Famed for being unable to find 1/1 geocaches" in my sig line on all the local geo forums. Interestingly, I have done some followup studies on some of the 1/1 caches that I have been unable to find, and it seems that at least 70% of them turned out to have been missing in action, and that my DNFs were, in retrospective, just one in a long string of DNFs (with the exception of a few interspersed fake find logs) for each or those caches. I guess that 1/1 urban hides tend to get muggled easily, particularly if previous finders did not hide them well enough.

 

 

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We have done that. We're usually the first to DNF a cache.

 

Good as Gold - We just kept making it harder than it really was. Hidden for us and we got the first two DNFS and no FTF..

 

Concrete Jungle - Even after I knew what we were looking for we didn't see it. The worst part about it is I answered a phone a friend and helped someone else find it but still we never made it back.

 

I used to delete DNFs after we found the cache so I don't remember which caches they were but there were a couple that we tried a few times and would have a new cacher show up right after us and say how easy the find was..

First, as someone else has already said, you were probably NOT the first to DNF on those caches, and rather only the first to log on online, for perhaps only one in twenty DNFS in our area are ever logged!

 

Next, Carl, I have seen you go after some very nasty and difficult caches (and cache stages) and I am in awe of your ability to find a cache. I remember that Lynn, CCCA, has often said that you have some kind of built-in radar for finding caches that no one else is able to notice. Your ability is amazing!

 

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We have done that. We're usually the first to DNF a cache.

 

Concrete Jungle - Even after I knew what we were looking for we didn't see it. The worst part about it is I answered a phone a friend and helped someone else find it but still we never made it back.

..

 

I was FTF on that cache and ironically had spoiler info in my DNF log. I just was not not smart enough the initial attempt to put 2 and 2 together I guess.

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We have done that. We're usually the first to DNF a cache.

 

Good as Gold - We just kept making it harder than it really was. Hidden for us and we got the first two DNFS and no FTF..

 

Concrete Jungle - Even after I knew what we were looking for we didn't see it. The worst part about it is I answered a phone a friend and helped someone else find it but still we never made it back.

 

I used to delete DNFs after we found the cache so I don't remember which caches they were but there were a couple that we tried a few times and would have a new cacher show up right after us and say how easy the find was..

First, as someone else has already said, you were probably NOT the first to DNF on those caches, and rather only the first to log on online, for perhaps only one in twenty DNFS in our area are ever logged!

 

 

What one in twenty? I can't believe so many people log their DNF's in your area! ;)

 

I had some disagreement with what I said earlier, but I stand by it. I've never had a rough time with a 1/1. Except for ones that were horrifically underated. ;) And of course the cache owners never get the clue, and change the ratings.

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First, as someone else has already said, you were probably NOT the first to DNF on those caches, and rather only the first to log on online, for perhaps only one in twenty DNFS in our area are ever logged!

 

Next, Carl, I have seen you go after some very nasty and difficult caches (and cache stages) and I am in awe of your ability to find a cache. I remember that Lynn, CCCA, has often said that you have some kind of built-in radar for finding caches that no one else is able to notice. Your ability is amazing!

 

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I think more people in our area log their DNFs here than they do in some other areas. I also know that some don't because once in a while I get an email for hints on one of our hides from someone that's tried a few times. If someone doesn't log their DNF online they don't get the glory so we're the first!

 

We both pretty consistantly overthink the lower rated caches. My cache finding radar also doesn't work for Lynn's caches at all.

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Yes. And with two of us searching.

Log #1

May 24, 2008 by Hellolost (129 found)

We decided not to try after seeing that it was in a persons yard. Then decided to drive around to the back of it and walked through the park only to have the coordinates show it was on the other side of the fence in that persons yard. Didn't feel comfortable searching private property.

 

(WAS NOT on private property)

 

Log #2

May 31, 2008 by Hellolost (129 found)

OK I can't tell you how frustrated Saz and I are on this one. Second DNF. Doesn't help that the gps says it is in the front yard on another street. We fanned out and looked and looked for over a hour. VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!

 

Log#3

June 4, 2008 by Hellolost (129 found)

Well we were going to look for this again today even though we are stil not sure what part of the park it is in. However once we got there we were sidetracked by a baby injured crow.(there were kids with sticks on the other side of the park) I tried to pretend I didn't see it but my softy heart couldn't handle it. So with 4 seconds of looking for the cache it switched to crow rescue. We walked it into the corner. Well we walked and it kind of flopped/jumped. I picked it up and we headed back to the car to take it to my neighbor who rescues birds. As I walked up her front walkway he cawed at me. very cute.

One rehabilitation on the way!!!

Hellolost and Saz

 

Log#4

June 7, 2008 by Hellolost (129 found)

We went to this one first and last on a day filled with hunts.

We are getting pretty bummed out that we can't find it. We spent a hour or so in the morning and about 30 minutes in the late afternoon.

We actually moped on the way back to the car. If we could have thrown a temper tantrum we probably would have but we tried to act like the adults we are.

This cache is under our skin now. We have no freaking clue what we are missing. We have gone over the entire left side of this park from the parking lot over to the walkway.

We are positive that we have either touched it, walked over it or looked at it and are blind.

We are at a complete loss. By the end of the second trip in we were just standing in the middle looking around wondering what was wrong with us. I wonder if we can motivate ourselves to look again

Sigh.....

Hellolost & Saz

 

Log #5

June 8, 2008 by Hellolost (129 found)

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Even after getting a clue we spent a hour looking for this cache. I swear to you we had cache blindness. We looked everywhere. Over and over and over again.

At one point I was even sitting on the ground staring at the whole area. FINALLY Saz goes... hey...look at this.

We looked at each other and both of us thought how stupid are we.

We both had been there at least three times but didn't see it.

We sat down and signed the log and added a few frogs.

 

It was a strange feeling. Part of us was so excited to have finally found it. The other half of us was disappointed that it wasn't extremely camoed to the point that our search would have made sense. We left with a feeling of happiness but also a feeling of stupidity lol

 

Thanks for the hide!!!

 

Hellolost and Saz

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I do have a cache that is driving me nuts...not only because it's supposed to be relatively easy, but also because it's the closest one to our home. It really should have been the very first one we ever went after, but thank God we found several others before we tried to tackle this cache, which has become my own personal albatross. It's called "Creekie Cache". It's a 2/2, but still should have been relatively easy to track down. GCQ8ZZ

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Lately, when folks say, "An easy find", we know we're probably skunked.

Usually with caches less than a 2/2 rating.

 

Unfortunately, the time frame may be so far away, or it WAS so easy - it was muggled or grabbed by critters before we get there.

Will find signs of others searching, but no DNFs other than ours.

 

Last couple of "easy" ones we DID find were laying out in the open, so just a matter of time...

I believe numbers freaks are responsible for most not replaced properly.

"Gotta get 'em all!" - and to heck with it after "I'm" gone. Real shame.

 

Had one last month. Turns out that the cache has been replaced a few times by someone other than the CO, as he hasn't cached in over a year.

Was replaced by an entirely different container than stated on the main page. We didn't find that either.

Really should have been archived and a new one replaced by another cacher.

 

Cache safe.

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Silver Creek Falls is so close to my house that I can walk over to it in my spare time. I see the locale every time I leave my neighborhood and every time I come back home. Two DNF's so far, even though I have walked by with my dog and given the area a once over several times w/o GPS. I even had my brother go out and take a look.

I am certain that it will kill me one day.

 

I have it watched too. Every find takes a hefty chunk out of my ego.

Edited by Mredria
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Hey, I resemble that remark! :)

I'm curious about this statement. I've seen it a lot and not sure if it's a forum thing like "prolly" or "pwned" or are people saying that it sounds like them, or are they saying "resemble" when they mean something else like resent? Thanks.

In this case, hydnsek was the person I was referring to when I made the statement that she replied to.

 

Usually it means that it either sounds like them, or it was them.

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I went on 3 seperate occasions to this one cache and couldn't spot it only to go home and see someone logged that they found it. How Frustrating. I did find it after a hint from a friend. It was a Magnetic#2 letter on top of a light pole 10' up with the log behing the magnet. I felt so stupid!If your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough!

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I live in Gilbert, AZ. There are many many areas here where they use crushed granite for ground cover due to the dry climate. This seems to lend itself to geocache hiders using the crushed granite as a hiding place. Some of the caches I have found are litteraly a pill bottle with crushed granite glued to the top and then hidden in an acre or more of crushed granite. I do like a challenge but after a dozens and dozens of these same type of caches it gets tiresome.

 

I appreciate a well camoed cache as much as the next person but I really find no pleasure in searching in a field of granite for a cache that looks exactly like a rock in a pile of rocks.

 

I would probably avoid these types of caches but since nobody who hides them usually ever tells you what to expect you just have to go to the site and then of course you discover that its another cache burried in field of rocks.....

 

Ok, I am done complaining now... I have logged most of my DNF's because of the above.. I just get bored after a few minutes of pushing piles or crushed granite around.

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