Leave the way you found it

[+morningwood1101]

I am very frustrated, i made a custom cache that i spent quite a bit of time making. i placed it in the woods along side the building where i work. i go out and check it about once a week to make sure it is not falling apart, and what i find is that every other person replaces the cache how they think it should be hidden. it has been upside down, backwards and everything in between. after the first time i found it misplaced i edited the description to say that it did not need to be moved to open and retrieve the log and to place exactly as found. today when i went to check on it it was upside down and when i went to fix it part of it broke, i plan to fix it but it really pisses me off that went the extra mile to make a unique cache and i get a lot of good feedback but still they don't put it back the way they found it. i guess i just need to vent and it makes me not want to hide the others i have been working on and wont be able to check as often.

[+Turtle_Sask]

i'm with you on this one. I hate when people do this, I think it is inevitable.

[+briansnat]

An issue that is dear to me. I have one cache that is in a high traffic area, so it's well hidden, tucked under a boulder. Every time I visit it, it's out of its hiding place sitting behind a rock, covered with an URP.

 

I have another cache that I just can't find. I even archived it because I thought it was missing, but unarchived it when someone found it. I've visited several times and it eludes me. It is still getting finds so I leave it, but it's not where I hide it.

 

And just yesterday I found out about a situation with another cache of mine. I hid it under the support of a pedestrian bridge on the north side of a stream. Saturday I received a found it log that questioned my ability to tell north from south. After some investigating, it seems that someone moved the cache to the other side of the stream. Now I have to take 2 hours out of my day to go back and return the cache to where it belongs because someone didn't but it back where it belonged.

[+beejay&esskay]

place exactly as found.

 

Of course, saying that ensures that one mistake and everyone else following your request will result in a cache incorrectly placed.

 

Maybe the top of the log could explicitly show and state how you want the cache to be replaced, so you have a self-correcting mechanism.

[+TrailGators]

I agree. One of the worst ones I've seen was an extra large ammo can that the last finder didn't shut the lid. It sat full of water for a year until we found it. All the once nice swag inside was moldy and ruined. We hauled out the 25 pounds of wet garbage and replaced the log after drying out the ammo can.

Edited March 24, 2009 by TrailGators

[+undertree]

I also don't like it when my caches are not hidden correctly.

 

I have a bubble gum cache that is hidden on a park bench. To get the full effect it has to be under the seat. Well it is held by a magnet that sticks to a screw (the bench is vinyl and held together with screws). Well a few finders into the logs I see a "found it but not where expected" so I go check it out and find it inside the backrest of the bench.

 

I would like to think that the person who put it there either was afraid that the magnet would not hold onto the screw and was "doing the right thing" in their mind. But the other part of me says that someone was too lazy to place it back on the screw.

 

I have another cache that is two pieces. That cache is just asking for trouble. The two pieces form an illusion that is very cool when it is hidden properly. Otherwise it gives it away. I a have to check on it and adjust the hide frequently.

 

Its a part of the game that I wish wasn't.

[+JanniCash]

I would like to think that the person who put it there either was afraid that the magnet would not hold onto the screw and was "doing the right thing" in their mind. But the other part of me says that someone was too lazy to place it back on the screw.

 

You are so polite. But in between those lines I just read that the "stupid idiot, who did this, must not have attended school past 3rd grade" (after which the gum problem usually appears).

 

You are probably right. That idiot most probably did not ... even make it past 2nd grade with a functional brain.

 

Jan

[+undertree]

I would like to think that the person who put it there either was afraid that the magnet would not hold onto the screw and was "doing the right thing" in their mind. But the other part of me says that someone was too lazy to place it back on the screw.

 

You are so polite. But in between those lines I just read that the "stupid idiot, who did this, must not have attended school past 3rd grade" (after which the gum problem usually appears).

 

You are probably right. That idiot most probably did not ... even make it past 2nd grade with a functional brain.

 

Jan

 

WHOA Angry much.

 

I try not to let it get to me. I don't get to control everything about my caches. It might not be too much fun if I did. I just wish that people could remember how the cache looked when they found it. Then recreate that look before they left.

[+mfamilee]

Okay, so how are so supposed to know if the last finder placed the cache back in its exact, original location?

 

If we leave it where & how we exactly found it by the previous cacher - the hider might get frustrated.

If we put it where we think was the original spot - the hider might get frustrated.

 

Decisions, decisions...........

[Clan Riffster]

Okay, so how are so supposed to know if the last finder placed the cache back in its exact, original location?

We just do what we think is the right thing. It usually works.

For the most part, I replace caches I find exactly as I find them. If I think there might have been some cache drift, I'll shoot a note to the owner describing what I found and how I replaced it. On rare occasions, I'll find a cache I know is not where it's supposed to be. (I.e: Hint says "In a stump", yet the Lock & Lock is sitting at the base of a hollow stump) In those rare cases, I return it to where I believe it should be, again shooting a note to the owner. So far, (knocks on wooden head), I've been 100% successful in determining the intended placement location. If an owner were to ever tell me I guessed wrong, I'd go back and correct the error of my ways.

[+ernbob]

I've got a multi-stage cache that I can see stage 1 from the back of my house. I've actually seen people dis-assemble stage 1 destructively and leave it in shambles after they left. Log statements simply say they found it. I've been very tempted to go to the cache location and confront them about their intentions as they destroyed the cache...but decided not to.

 

A second cache that I've got is a bison tube stuck in a crack in the asphalt on a tennis court followed by a fake rock a little distance away. This in the park by the gym that I go to and after the FTF I checked in...only to find the rock sitting out in the open plainly obvious and no longer discretely hidden with other rocks. Next person that found it mentioned that the bison tube was sitting out in the open also. It really doesn't seem that hard to put something back where it WAS not where someone thinks it should be.

 

I've come to the realization that if cache hiders are going to place custom built caches then you've got to be willing to rebuild it often. Not saying that it is right but that's the reality of life.

[+succotash]

Okay, so how are so supposed to know if the last finder placed the cache back in its exact, original location?

We just do what we think is the right thing. It usually works.

For the most part, I replace caches I find exactly as I find them. If I think there might have been some cache drift, I'll shoot a note to the owner describing what I found and how I replaced it. On rare occasions, I'll find a cache I know is not where it's supposed to be. (I.e: Hint says "In a stump", yet the Lock & Lock is sitting at the base of a hollow stump) In those rare cases, I return it to where I believe it should be, again shooting a note to the owner. So far, (knocks on wooden head), I've been 100% successful in determining the intended placement location. If an owner were to ever tell me I guessed wrong, I'd go back and correct the error of my ways.

 

Yes. The key is for the cache owner to understand that the last person to visit the cache may not be the person to get frustrated with, the last cachers may have made the best decision they could given the information they had (physical find and information on the cache page).

Edited March 24, 2009 by succotash

[+Andycacher]

Whenever I find a cache I always try to leave it the way I found it. It would be frustrating to be the owner and be able to find my own cache.

[+Isonzo Karst]

the top of the log could explicitly show and state how you want the cache to be replaced, so you have a self-correcting mechanism.

 

I recently found a nice custom cache with a nice custom logbook. The log cover has an explanation of "how to rehide the cache"! very sweet. And it worked, at least when I found it, cache was hidden per directions, and I put it back that way. A nice idea that ought to help.

[+mertat]

the top of the log could explicitly show and state how you want the cache to be replaced, so you have a self-correcting mechanism.

 

I recently found a nice custom cache with a nice custom logbook. The log cover has an explanation of "how to rehide the cache"! very sweet. And it worked, at least when I found it, cache was hidden per directions, and I put it back that way. A nice idea that ought to help.

I really like that idea! I try very hard to hide the cache back the way I found it although I probably err on the side of rehiding it too aggressively. After having rehidden some caches "better" than I found them only to go back and find the hint states that the cache should be exposed, I now read the hint after I find it (if I haven't already read it) to see if it mentions how it's hidden and then try to rehide as indicated.

[+va griz]

Considering so many people will find the cache, it's inevitable that one of them will misunderstand the way it should be hidden. Either because they are in a group and the finder isn't the one to replace it, or they just can't figure out how to get it back like it was. Plus there are a few that always think they can hide it "better". I guess it's a part of the game we have to live with.

 

My pet peeve is the cacher who will destroy the cache if they can't figure out how to reach it or open it. I found one birds nest cache on the ground after somebody knocked it out of the tree, such a shame.

[+power69]

I have one thats like that. not once but TWICE someone taped a magnet to the cache and "hid" it in an area where its EXPOSED to anyone walking by on the sidewalk.

[+JakeInPA]

My daughter and I are very new to the obsession, but this is one lesson I remind her of, every time we find a cache. We haven't come across to many unique/specific hiding spots, like mentioned above, but I still tell her to make sure we close the containers up tight, and place it exactly how we found it. Sure, the person before us might not have had it in the correct spot, but we're not going to chance that or guess at what the CO had in mind. If everyone practiced this, you wouldn't have mistakes.

[+Bear and Ragged]

When I wasn't caching alone, it was always "Who ever finds the cache, replaces it" that way it goes back "As found"

 

Did a cache recently, hidden by "Stick-o-flage" but it was more like

 

"STICK-O-FLAGE!" and visable from 100 yards away!

 

Why do people feel the need to add extra sticks?

[+morningwood1101]

I like the post about leaving instructions on how the cache was originally hid, at least this way if someone doesn't have enough respect for the owner or the other cachers after them to re hide it properly then the next respectable cacher can hide the cache properly. if this doesn't work then i am joining the ammo can band wagon! no offense to the hiders of ammo cans there are some tough ones and they sure beat a nano in a haystack!

[+emmett]

.

 

Just about all the cachers I have met have seemed pretty nice. yet most don't take care of the caches they find. I just saw one of mine yesterday, left in plain view by the last finder. Happens all the time.

 

Never mind how caches with good stuff get plundered!

 

Kind of goes along with the lame notion offered by so many here in this forum who simply play the game any way they want without regard to rules or basic protocol.

 

I especially love the find logs from people who mention multiple prior visits but never posted a DNF.

 

As for me, I'm done cleaning up the mess.

 

No more new caches, no more fixing of caches.

 

Life is better that way.

 

.

[+mfamilee]

Okay, so how are so supposed to know if the last finder placed the cache back in its exact, original location?

We just do what we think is the right thing. It usually works.

For the most part, I replace caches I find exactly as I find them. If I think there might have been some cache drift, I'll shoot a note to the owner describing what I found and how I replaced it. On rare occasions, I'll find a cache I know is not where it's supposed to be. (I.e: Hint says "In a stump", yet the Lock & Lock is sitting at the base of a hollow stump) In those rare cases, I return it to where I believe it should be, again shooting a note to the owner. So far, (knocks on wooden head), I've been 100% successful in determining the intended placement location. If an owner were to ever tell me I guessed wrong, I'd go back and correct the error of my ways.

Thanks for the reply.

We will definitely keep this in mind and send a message to the owner if we are unsure of the original location.

Honestly, we never even considered doing this before.

Definitely great advice. Thanks.

[+cantuland]

Replace it exactly like you found it? Or replace it like you think it SHOULD be? It's a judgement call. If you find a screwdriver laying out in your front yard, and you then use it to drive in a screw, where do you place it when you put it back? Do you put the screwdriver back in the grassy yard because that's where you found it? Or do you put the screwdriver away where it SHOULD be. It's a judgement call. If the cache LOOKS like I found it in the wrong place, I'll put the cache back where I think it should be, or where I think it was intended to be. If I find it where I think it was intended to be, I'll put it back where I found it.

[sdarken]

Just about all the cachers I have met have seemed pretty nice. yet most don't take care of the caches they find.

.

.

.

.

No more new caches, no more fixing of caches. Life is better that way.

 

If you really believe that most people dont take care of the caches they find then it's probably a good thing that stop hiding them. Not everybody needs to hide caches. Some enjoy it more than others.

 

Realistically I think you'd find that most people do take care of caches. That's easier done with some caches than others. The problem is not with most cachers, it's with the few geocachers that make a make a mistake or dont know any better. Subsequent cachers can't necessarily know that someone has replaced a cache in the wrong spot so it stays mis-placed.

 

Unless you want to invite a lot of unnecessary maintenance for yourself you need to try and make the cache idiot proof. That's a skill in itself particularly with clever uban hides. Delicate caches, for example, dont last very long.

[+Viajero Perdido]

I've seen lots of caches that were moved by animals. Coyotes in particular, in this neck of the woods.

 

If I find a cache upside-down out in the open, say, I'll put it back in the most likely intended spot.

 

Animals happen. (PS, that's why I don't hide any caches that a squirrel could run off with.)

[+Knight2000]

I especially love the find logs from people who mention multiple prior visits but never posted a DNF.

"Concede defeat? Me? Never!"

 

My wife and I were talking about this yesterday. Those DNFs are important. Some people just won't post them though...

[+undertree]

 

I especially love the find logs from people who mention multiple prior visits but never posted a DNF.

 

 

I admit that I sometimes make more than one visit to some caches without a log. If it is a 1 difficulty then I am more prone to log a DNF. If it is much higher than that then a few things factor into me logging a DNF. If it is a 2 or higher did I give it enough searching? When I arrived were there too many muggles to attempt a reasonable search? Was I in the mood to hunt that type of hide in the first place?

 

Just cause I visited the area before with the intent to hunt a cache does not mean that I was prepared to find it.

 

OK, so you didn't get you jollies from my DNF last week, but don't you feel good when I visit and find your "difficult" cache? Maybe its just me.

[+flask]

I especially love the find logs from people who mention multiple prior visits but never posted a DNF.

"Concede defeat? Me? Never!"

 

My wife and I were talking about this yesterday. Those DNFs are important. Some people just won't post them though...

 

sometimes i don't find a cache but i have nothing good to say about it or its location. i will usually prefer not to log those. later on if i find the cache i may still think the cache sucks, but i'll take the smilie as compensation for having suspended final judgment until i see for myself.

 

i often run across caches that i'm very sure aren't where they were intended to be. if i can figure out where they were intended to be, i put them there. if i can't, i put them where i found them or, if where i found them is obviously very, very wrong (like opened up and completely exposed), i'll put them somewhere that fits the description and the coords i have at hand.

 

caches in animal holes have a high likelihood of being moved by animals who do not like foreign objects in their foyer.

 

caches in places where ice forms and thaws and reforms also tend to move.

 

but there's this thing about the sticks: a few sticks on an ammo box breaks up the visual effect of the edges and makes it hard to see. upholstering it with sticks just shouts "WOOOTY WOOT WOOT WOOT, HERE'S SOMETHING BOX-SHAPED!"

 

a cache need not be completely covered to be nearly invisible to non-cachers.

 

heck, i have one that's da-glo orange with gold trim that people seem to have a hard time finding. perhaps it's because in the description i call it "camouflage".

[+mrbort]

 

I especially love the find logs from people who mention multiple prior visits but never posted a DNF.

 

 

I admit that I sometimes make more than one visit to some caches without a log. If it is a 1 difficulty then I am more prone to log a DNF. If it is much higher than that then a few things factor into me logging a DNF. If it is a 2 or higher did I give it enough searching? When I arrived were there too many muggles to

 

This is exactly how I work it. If I feel like I gave the cache the effort it merited based on its difficulty and logs, I'll post a DNF. If I feel like I didn't give it my all, sometimes I'll still post a DNF but indicate that I didn't look hard enough and will be back.... sometimes I don't and just come back to look a different day.

[+ghettomedic]

There is a cache near here that I do not own but maintain on behalf of the owner who lives FAR away. It is placed in a guardrail and seems to slowly wander further down the rail, after a month or two people start posting that it is ...Feet from coordinates and I go back to fix it. I think that they keep putting it back 1 support to the left.