Living in the area of the worlds most prolific cache hider, what do you think it would be like, or is like?

February 13, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

10.2k · February 13, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

From what I've heard, (and I've browsed through some of the hides once or twice myself), they're generally quite good. So umm, I guess I'd be finding a lot of caches?

So what is it like? :laughing:

February 13, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Sounds like a breading ground for FTF hounds.

1.5k · February 13, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

14k · February 13, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

King Boreas: 1980 hides

19k · February 13, 2009

Well, for one thing, there are lots and lots of caches around here. :laughing:

3.6k · February 13, 2009

In Utah, AD0OR's hidden over 1300 or something...

Edit to say that I misunderstood the original intent of the OP's message.

Edited February 13, 2009 by Skippermark

February 13, 2009

There are lots of great caches here in the Twin Cities area--lots by KB, but plenty of great caches by others as well. I'm pleased to be able to cache here where there are always good caches to go after.

3.5k · February 13, 2009

I don't understand the OP. Shouldn't you telling *us* what it's like? You live in Minnesota. :laughing:

3.5k · February 13, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

List of the top hiders in the world >> http://www.zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching...p;Ordering=DESC

February 13, 2009

Hiding them is one thing, maintaining them is another.

14k · February 14, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

To put it into perspecitve...

King Boreas has just under 2000 hides. If I only found the closest caches to home I would have to cover about a 47 mile radius to find 2000 caches. If I were in Minneapolis I would only have to cover about a 13 mile radius to find 2000 caches. I've already found every cache within a 14.4 mile radius of home yet only have just over 700 finds and over 1/3 of those finds are over 20 miles away (50 of them are over 1000 miles away).

8.4k · February 14, 2009

I don't understand the OP. Shouldn't you telling *us* what it's like? You live in Minnesota.

I agree. I'd like to know what the OP is driving at. I smell an agenda.

I just got back from a week in Asheville. That's OzGuff's (the #2 hider here) territory. The landscape wasn't papered with Oz caches. There was plenty of room for other hiders. Graeme was a great host/advocate for geocaching in his area. His caches were well thought out, maintained, and FUN.

I've heard no less positive feedback about King Boreas, but I've never visited his territory.....

9.3k · February 14, 2009

Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

You tell us. You live there, we don't. I've never done a KB hide, so I can't comment on the quality, or lack thereof. We've got a fairly prolific hider around these parts, who mostly hides well thought out and creative caches. The only downside are frequently recurring maintenance issues that take a long time to get fixed unless another local fixes it for them.

So, what's the average KB hide like? A film can plopped into the shrubbery of a Burger King? A scenic hike to a otherwise hidden waterfall? Somewhere in between?

10.2k · February 14, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

List of the top hiders in the world >> http://www.zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching...p;Ordering=DESC

Oh, you just wanted to draw attention to the fact you're #10 on the list. :laughing: Probably pretty easy to maintain manually (and I'm sure it is), but I'm aware of a newb couple from Quebec who have hidden 250 in well under a year, and I don't see them listed. They just dropped a few vacation caches in my area.

Yes, I agree with Snoogs. I smell an agenda here. I think the Minnesotan's have seemed awful defensive over KB in the past, but like I said in my earlier post, I hear most the caches are quite excellent.

February 15, 2009

Hiding them is one thing, maintaining them is another.

We have 12 of them and I think thats a lot to maintain.

3.5k · February 15, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

List of the top hiders in the world >> http://www.zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching...p;Ordering=DESC

Oh, you just wanted to draw attention to the fact you're #10 on the list. Probably pretty easy to maintain manually (and I'm sure it is), but I'm aware of a newb couple from Quebec who have hidden 250 in well under a year, and I don't see them listed. They just dropped a few vacation caches in my area.

Yes, I agree with Snoogs. I smell an agenda here. I think the Minnesotan's have seemed awful defensive over KB in the past, but like I said in my earlier post, I hear most the caches are quite excellent.

Si, I'm #10, but a distant #2 in the great State of Texas. I hide what I can maintain.

Definitely an agenda here. I got blasted by some locals a while back on a similar topic regarding The King. Luckily one the guys that blasted me in that thread came around and has become an email buddy.

February 15, 2009

I met King Boreas at one of his event caches(my sister lives in Minnesota). Lets just say he marches to a different drummer. He is kind of cantankerous, but I liked him. I moved some of his many travel bugs out west. It took a few days and I got e-mails asking "what up?". I know first hand why his bugs move a lot. Also, he has many volunteer cache maintainers in his "King Boreas Hall of Fame".

19k · February 15, 2009

OK, I will go out on a 4.5 terrain limb here, since 6.7% (188) of my 2975 finds are KB's caches. I'm going to try to tell the story as objectively as I can.

They really vary considerably, depending on when they were hidden. Local wisdom says that older KB hides were done using an old yellow Etrex and they used to say that he simply tossed them out of the car while driving past, and took the reading later. But his coords have become much more reliable (as have all of ours!) with newer technology.

Almost all of his hides are on the ground, although we have heavy snowfalls here. That probably comes from Ian's years of hunting the Minnesota Winter Carnival medallion, which is apparently (I've never found or even searched for it) hidden right on the ground. I have found exactly one KB cache that I can recall... a pill bottle in a tree... that was off the ground, although I'm sure there are more. But most that I have cached with instinctively look at the ground when looking for King Boreas caches.

I'd say that most of his caches that I've found have been cookie tins, which frankly don't hold up well through our winters, but they do manage to hang in there, somehow. I've found a couple of KB ammo boxes, probably (guessing here) door prizes at events. One was in a very lovely tall pine woods.

More recently, he has been hiding Gladware containers... a big "no-no" on this site, and they really do not hold up to handling, especially in the winter. Most are under a pile of sticks. You can usually find them in the winter if you are willing to dig through the snow. I'm not 100% sure, but I *think* that these containers have been a recent gift to him by someone that wants to help him meet his 2K goal in time.

He has also has a huge number of caches that are micros, each one placed at the base of a metal fencepost that marks a benchmark. You can drive right up to these and find them without thinking, each one, the same as the last.

I honestly have no idea how well KB maintains his own caches. I do know that others have helped, which is totally understandable with that many hides, but certainly not preferable. I have also heard of people finding KB caches that were archived, but not picked up, sometimes within 100 feet of another active KB cache.

Now, I know that sounds like a lot of negatives to some of you, but now I need to switch gears:

Without Ian's help, Minnesota might still be in the dark ages of geocaching. Without hiders there are no finders. Ian took a ton of his time, money, and energy to give us something to find, and for that, I am very grateful, even when I'm cussing him for that cookie tin, under sticks, under two feet of snow, and 50 feet from ground zero.

I hope that was fair, Ian. If not, I tried.

14k · February 15, 2009

I met King Boreas at one of his event caches(my sister lives in Minnesota). Lets just say he marches to a different drummer. He is kind of cantankerous, but I liked him. I moved some of his many travel bugs out west. It took a few days and I got e-mails asking "what up?". I know first hand why his bugs move a lot. Also, he has many volunteer cache maintainers in his "King Boreas Hall of Fame".

I picked up a King Boreas 1000th hide geocoin from a coin/bug hotel about a mile from here. It was launched by someone from Utah (I have no idea how he got it). I was in St. Paul for a conference last April and dropped it in a cache near my hotel. The first Minnesota cache I found was a KB cache. It has the distinction of being one of a pair of caches that I found on the same day 857 miles apart. It was the only KB cache of 7 I found while on that trip.

10.2k · February 15, 2009

More recently, he has been hiding Gladware containers... a big "no-no" on this site, and they really do not hold up to handling, especially in the winter. Most are under a pile of sticks. You can usually find them in the winter if you are willing to dig through the snow. I'm not 100% sure, but I *think* that these containers have been a recent gift to him by someone that wants to help him meet his 2K goal in time.

Mmmm. Piles of sticks in the woods. I <3 piles of sticks in the woods. I do not, however, love Gladware containers. I take back everything I said about the hides being good. Just kidding.

I didn't quote it, but the part about all the caches being on the ground was interesting. Coming from an area with even more snow than Minneapolis (but not as cold, thankfully), I'd say most caches are still on the ground. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I guess you just have to know you're not going to find some of them with 1-2 feet of snow on the ground.

EDIT: Oh, I'd heard he was big into Pog tubes as cache containers. Is that true? Maybe it was just a phase? Maybe they're all gone. :mad:

Edited February 15, 2009 by TheWhiteUrkel

19k · February 16, 2009

Lair of the Three-Headed Woman (GCR71H) is an awesome KB hide. Just check out the gallery and the number of milestone finds this cache has received! Without a doubt my favorite KB cache by far.

19k · February 16, 2009

EDIT: Oh, I'd heard he was big into Pog tubes as cache containers. Is that true? Maybe it was just a phase? Maybe they're all gone.

I think it all depends on what's available at The Ax-Man (a really wild & crazy surplus store, like non you've ever seen!)

I'm still curious about why the OP started this thread, though.

9.3k · February 17, 2009

OK, I will go out on a 4.5 terrain limb here, since 6.7% (188) of my 2975 finds are KB's caches. I'm going to try to tell the story as objectively as I can.

Thanx for the honest evaluation. From what you've told me, I would judge, (is that the right word), KB's hides as largely being the types of hides which do little to promote the game of geocaching. Knowingly using containers with proven bad track records, and compounding that with an assumption that others should do their maintenance for them, leads me to think the only reason he is hiding caches is to boost his hide count and his ego. If he were willing to perform the necessary maintenance, as mentioned in the guidelines he claims to have read, then I would simply assume that KB has a thing for crappy containers. The two issues together tells me his hides are the type I would likely avoid, as I am a believer in quality over quantity.

However, I'm sure there are gobs of cachers who are perfectly happy finding soggy logs, moldy swag, and cracked containers, so for them, he is doing a good deed.

Note: This is naught but one ol' fat guy's opinion, based upon available data. I have never hunted a KB cache, so I recognize I could be way off base.

February 17, 2009

Lair of the Three-Headed Woman (GCR71H) is an awesome KB hide. Just check out the gallery and the number of milestone finds this cache has received! Without a doubt my favorite KB cache by far.

I second that. Some bring you to some pretty cool places. When I first walked up to GZ at the Lair of the Three-Headed Woman, I noticed a sign warning about ice climbing and then noticed the plunge. Since I couldn't see the bottom, I took a different route in. Fun hide, an ammo can even!

Yes, most of KB's containers aren't very good. I can only think of a handful of hides that I can honestly say were clever or unique. And his coords are usually off by at least 30-50 feet. We tend to scour areas when looking for his hides.

But I will say this about KB, his caches often have neat themes. He tends to go on a bout of hides based upon ideas. For example, he's recently been putting out a lot of letterbox/hybrids based on the Winter Medallions of years past. His Hot Wax series is pretty fun. Every cache contains a 45 single and you know exactly what kind of container you're looking for. He put out a series based on a 60 mile, three day hike that a Minnesota geocacher followed in 2005 around the cities, which I strangely find intriguing. The series takes you on a route and to places that someone else had experienced. Of course, we also like his challenges. We tend to a lot more driving now thanks to his state challenges, such as a cache found in every county seat. They add a new dimension to our vacations and travel.

Edited February 17, 2009 by joukkusisu

February 17, 2009

Hiding them is one thing, maintaining them is another.

Amen!!!!

February 17, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

King Boreas: 1980 hides

I started caching June 08, 254 finds and 42 hides. I love to hide them, but wow 1980! guess my question,do they get maintained by this guy? or do they just sort of die? I say if they are being kept fresh, cool have fun, but if you are looking to hid, better get busy!

Terracaching has a wide open field where I am and when saturation issues creep up, I turn them loose via other sites.

3.8k · February 17, 2009

Just a couple of other notes...

Ian's VERY FIRST hide is some 5' off the ground. Hidden well over 5 years ago and still in original condition.

All of his hides are not necessarily close to his home. He's hidden caches in at least 5 or 6 or more states. Most of his caches are hidden within the KB circle, a 100 mile radius from his home that circles through interstate and state higway system.

I would say that of all the KB hides I've found, the top of the bell curve for cache size peaks to the small sized cache but with the full gamut of cache sizes across the curve. I've never seen a KB nano.. kudos.

As for maintenance, I know he's constantly on the road and enlists dozens of friends and caching buddies that volunteer to help out.

As for Ian's personality, I find him kind and not the least bit antagonistic. He would NEVER be found in these forums for any extended period of time. He would have NO tolerance for the way noobs and lame questions generally get shredded apart (sorry, my rant for ther day, but tis true).

As for the agenda of the OP? It could be that there is an official event being lined up for his 2000th hide. But that's just a guess. KB events are often the better events in the area.. he's famous for his annual Halloween Hoopla and the Winter Cache Bash events.

3.8k · February 17, 2009

Note: This is naught but one ol' fat guy's opinion, based upon available data. I have never hunted a KB cache, so I recognize I could be way off base.

You are off base. But we forgive you. KB's logs aren't any soggier than anyone else's cache.

14k · February 17, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

King Boreas: 1980 hides

I started caching June 08, 254 finds and 42 hides. I love to hide them, but wow 1980! guess my question,do they get maintained by this guy? or do they just sort of die?

I was just looking at the logs for the caches I found in St. Paul and saw that I only found 1 KB cache. It was in a very public area and thus would be quite prone to being muggled. Someone found it after I did and the next person reported a DNF. Within a few days KB verified that it was missing and it was replaced. It was muggled twice more after that and in both cases it was replaced within a week or so. I'd say that he maintains them very well. A one week turnaround from a DNF to a maintenance log is very good and this was on a small magnetic key hide that a lot of cacher would have just said, it's not worth the maintenance effort, and archived it.

I also noticed that KB tends to get very verbose on his cache descriptions, rather than just post a single sentence that you might see on a lot of unimaginative micros.

February 17, 2009

The King Boreas event I attended was amazing. It was very well attended outside in a park in the middle of the Minnesota winter. It was extremely well organized with event caches, bug exchanges and a potluck. Half the people were KB geocache friends and half were KB's Saint Paul Winter Carnival medallion hunter friends. "King Boreas" is the name of the Winter Carnival mythical ruler(it is a different person each year) so I am guessing KB did the medallion hunting first and when he found geocaching, he said "Wow, I can medallion hunt all year round"

February 17, 2009

More recently, he has been hiding Gladware containers... a big "no-no" on this site, and they really do not hold up to handling, especially in the winter. Most are under a pile of sticks. You can usually find them in the winter if you are willing to dig through the snow. I'm not 100% sure, but I *think* that these containers have been a recent gift to him by someone that wants to help him meet his 2K goal in time.

Mmmm. Piles of sticks in the woods. I <3 piles of sticks in the woods. I do not, however, love Gladware containers. I take back everything I said about the hides being good. Just kidding.

I didn't quote it, but the part about all the caches being on the ground was interesting. Coming from an area with even more snow than Minneapolis (but not as cold, thankfully), I'd say most caches are still on the ground. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I guess you just have to know you're not going to find some of them with 1-2 feet of snow on the ground.

EDIT: Oh, I'd heard he was big into Pog tubes as cache containers. Is that true? Maybe it was just a phase? Maybe they're all gone.

They still make Pogs?

19k · February 17, 2009

... could be that there is an official event being lined up for his 2000th hide.

Link provided to referenced event.

19k · February 17, 2009

[They still make Pogs?

Even Google has forgotten about pog tubes. The autosuggest recommends "Pog Tuscon" and "Peg tubes"!!

April 20, 2009

I attended one KB event over 6 years ago and today I got invited(an audience with the "King"?) to this weekend's GC1HMNE The Crowning of King Boreas (aka KB's 2000th Hide). It is not from a mailing list, it is a gc.com e-mail. Amazing. I can't go because I am in Oregon. I hope it gets the MEGA Event status he wants. It sounds like they have sponsors this time.

3.1k · April 20, 2009

It's been a trip to move here to MN and experience the King Boreas effect. His caches are spread all over, but by no means saturating an area. That's nice. And, he is very grateful for those that take the time to replace wet logs or get a new baggie in a cache. I've been hanging out on the MNGCA website for a while since moving, and he has mentioned a system in place to get the caches maintained on rotation throughout the year.

The only thing I noticed is that KB's hides claim all the spots I imagined I would hide a cache. Living in Oregon I thought about all of the fun places I went as a kid that "deserve" a cache...and for the most part, KB has got em! Just means we've got to get a bit creative.

It must be a task to maintain *nearly* 2000 caches, and that's a bummer. If nothing else, the caches may have large containers, but not much in terms of swag--unless you want a few sig items. The logs are usually intact, but there hasn't been much to trade. Unfortunately, I've been forced into that habit since moving to MN--of not making any trades--no matter the cache size...

Edited April 20, 2009 by NeverSummer

April 21, 2009

It must be a task to maintain *nearly* 2000 caches, and that's a bummer.

He's basically living my dream. To be retired and get to spend everyday traveling around, caching, and placing/maintaining caches. Some day. Some distant day...

20.7k · April 21, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

I bet it's cold, don't cha know.

Edited April 21, 2009 by sbell111

3.8k · April 21, 2009

It must be a task to maintain *nearly* 2000 caches, and that's a bummer.

He's basically living my dream. To be retired and get to spend everyday traveling around, caching, and placing/maintaining caches. Some day. Some distant day...

Except Ian is not retired. He works a job like the rest of us dopes.

April 21, 2009

Except Ian is not retired. He works a job like the rest of us dopes.

Whoops, my bad. I thought he was. How else can he travel all over the place? Amazing. Still, I like to think I'd still be into the sport by the time I retire. If it's still legal then.

3.8k · April 22, 2009

Except Ian is not retired. He works a job like the rest of us dopes.

Whoops, my bad. I thought he was. How else can he travel all over the place? Amazing. Still, I like to think I'd still be into the sport by the time I retire. If it's still legal then.

The type of travels he does is easy. Even with a family of 5, I still managed to average 200-300 miles a Saturday. I travelled 8000 miles last year JUST for the state parks alone not to mention the many other road trips. You have to have a willingness. Well, and the gas money.

20.7k · April 22, 2009

Except Ian is not retired. He works a job like the rest of us dopes.

Whoops, my bad. I thought he was. How else can he travel all over the place? Amazing. Still, I like to think I'd still be into the sport by the time I retire. If it's still legal then.

The type of travels he does is easy. Even with a family of 5, I still managed to average 200-300 miles a Saturday. I travelled 8000 miles last year JUST for the state parks alone not to mention the many other road trips. You have to have a willingness. Well, and the gas money.

... and an understanding spouse.

April 23, 2009

[

... and an understanding spouse.

My wife is into caching just as much as I, if not more and I still don't think we could do 300 miles on a Saturday. We're lucky if we find a couple hours a weekend to cache. Kudos!

1.9k · April 23, 2009

It's been noted that I live in the area of the World's Most Prolific Cache Hider. Have any notions of what that must be like? Want to comment on living in the area of the WMPCH?

Ok, I give up. Who is the "world's most prolific cache hider"?

King Boreas: 1980 hides

boy, maint must be a full time job on all those caches!

April 23, 2009

Hiding them is one thing, maintaining them is another.

I have never found a King Boreas cache to be ill maintained. I have spoken with him and attended his events more than once. He is a professional. I only express here my amazement of the effort K.B. puts into his passion.

CM22

3.1k · April 23, 2009

Hiding them is one thing, maintaining them is another.

I have never found a King Boreas cache to be ill maintained. I have spoken with him and attended his events more than once. He is a professional. I only express here my amazement of the effort K.B. puts into his passion.

CM22

Not a slight toward KB, but I have found a couple of his caches in ill repair or with little to be found other than the log in a cache. The former is dealt with by KB as best he can on his rotating maintenance schedule, but the latter reflects more on the cachers lack of trading ethics than on KB's ability to keep swag in them.

Do you not log your finds online? I didn't see a KB cache in your finds. Just wondering...

20.7k · April 23, 2009

You'll never be disappointed if you never look.

3.1k · April 23, 2009

You'll never be disappointed if you never look.

April 23, 2009

I will say I feel lucky to live where there is someone this dedicated to the caching community. I personally think his best hides aren't hides at all, but the events he puts on. They are varied in nature, everything from an informal gathering at the local horse track to sit around and BS about caching and throw a buck on a horse if you want to meeting in a park in St Paul in January when it is usually below zero to "celebrate" winter to the Halloween Hoopla that in the 3 or 4 years we've gone has grown from a handful of people to probably over 200 last year. The only thing he cares about is that people enjoy themselves and have fun.

As far as physical hides, yes he has a lot in the metro, there are other cachers who have a substantial number of hides in the metro. Other cachers have hides that are in dire need of maintenance, I honestly don't think his caches are in any worse condition than the average cache you'll find. What I do like is he has a bunch of hides in really cool out of the way places, particularly state forests, where he typically puts ammo cans out since the chances of them walking off are a little less (unless a bear needs an ammo can)

Sure he could hide a 35mm canister in every Target parking lot in the metro just to boost his numbers, but he doesn't, cause he puts more thought into his hides than that.

Thanks for all you do KB... let's spin some Prince tomorrow night and party like it's 1999-- oh wait it is!

2.2k · April 23, 2009

I personally admire someone who has taken that much time and effort to the sport, especially if his caches are well maintained. That's just really neat.

-Rozie

Living in the area of the worlds most prolific cache hider, what do you think it would be like, or is like?

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