Numbers Or Interesting

[+Keith Watson]

I think we have all done the numbers thing at one point or another. In the past year I have found I am more interested in outings that are more challenging or take me to places I have never been before. Some of the most recent adventures have been hiking down in the Niagara gorge along the American side for the day, and canoeing the Tour de Matchedash. I find it more satisfying to accomplish something other than yet another day grabbing 30 or 40 smiley’s. Family caching with the wife and kids is also fun, and those days we usually hit a few caches because they are simple ones that don’t tire everyone out. The kids love ones around parks.

 

Over the past few months what has been your primary habit of caching?

 

A - Going for the numbers or usual cache find?

B - Going for the challenge or places you don't normally go to.

Edited May 21, 2009 by Keith Watson

[+knitter]

I just spent five days in NYC - I could have logged all kinds of smilies if I'd wanted to, but I prefer just wandering around, using a map, and catching the occasional cache as I went by (except for a couple of puzzle caches I'd solved and just couldn't stand not attempting! ) The numbers aren't important to me - I like seeing the historical or interesting things that local cachers take you to see.

[+Girls Phind Squirrels]

I tend to do numbers runs in the winter because I don't like the cold. In the summer I prefer less quantity and more quality although my stats might indicate otherwise.

[+Tequila]

I quit logging my finds after the Good Friday BT Hike when I couldn't remember which cache was which.

 

Couldn't see any difference between "Nice Hide TFTC" and just placing the found cache on my Ignore List.

 

Now I log a note of memorable caches, place most LPC's on Lame/Ignore. With the lousy response time on gc.com this is much faster.

 

As for outings, I tend to pick an adventure based around in interesting/challenging cache. For example, Lisdowney and I drove to Kingston to do the local Wherigo. We drove by over 1,000 other caches and ignored them.

Edited May 21, 2009 by Tequila

[+res2100]

For me it’s about having fun. If I am not having fun, then something is wrong with the caches I picked on a given day. Everything can be fun if you pick the right caches and cache with the right people. An ideal day of caching for me would be to do a variety of caches, some longer ones, some quick ones, etc.

 

Last year I took part in the 24 hour caching event which was about numbers for me and for most, and it was fun and exactly as expected.

I’ve gone to the Niagara Gorge with Keith last month for a fun day of some difficult caches in the gorge that were very interesting caches and in places I have never visited before.

A couple weekends ago I got a handful of cachers together to do a certain set of caches in the pouring rain (30+mm)...yes this was on purpose to cache in the rain. It was pouring rain out on one of the days and although we got very wet, we all had a tonne of fun (I hope) and plan on doing it again.

On Sunday I went canoe caching with 12 people. The wind was strong, I knew my limits and I turned around and did other caches instead which were just as nice. On the way home we did 9 more caches (some long, some short) for a total of 14 for the day in about 15 hours.

On Victoria day I went out for some Family Caching where be found 15 caches in less than 5 hours. This was not about numbers, but instead about doing some easy caches that both families would enjoy and that everyone was capable of doing. It was about enjoying the time and taking it easy.

On Saturday I have organized another day of Challenge Caching where we will be doing some difficult caches in caves and others that will challenge us. There’s probably about 10-15 cachers that will be joining me. 23 caches are on the list and we’ll start with the first one. I doubt we will be able to do all of them, but whatever we get to, even if it is only 5, that is fine with me.

My BT Hike events is about hiking and pushing my limits to see how far I can walk (never will I try to hike 55km in a day again), not about caching.

My Mountain Top Picnic events are about pushing my limits to the extreme, facing personal challenges and taking me to an awesome place that I would never imagine ever going. And of course sharing this experience with fellow geocachers. The logs on these events reflect the awesome experience everyone had.

And yet other days, I might just go out with my wife or son for a cache or two and that is fine too. Most of the time I cache with my wife and son.

 

…Each day brings something different for me and I enjoy each one of them in my own way.

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with geocaching for numbers. Way too many people make a big deal about numbers being bad. Numbers is part of the game whether people admit it or not. I can bet that each one of us at some point have celebrated a milestone…well that’s about numbers! When I get to 5000 finds next year, it will be a big deal to me and I will celebrate it and the number will mean a lot to me, just as every cache means something.

 

As for lamppost caches, I think they are great hides. My first ever lamppost cache that I tried was a DNF. When I finally went back several month later and found it, I thought to myself, wow what a great way of hiding a cache. I still think they are unique hides, although much more common now. However according to the guidelines, lamppost hides are not allowed and I am surprised they get approved still.

 

I think that the one thing that I can say over and over again is that “Geocaching has brought me to so many unique and interesting spots that I never knew about before and never would have gone to if it wasn’t for geocaching.”

[+Juicepig]

... However according to the guidelines, lamppost hides are not allowed and I am surprised they get approved still...

 

that sentance jumped out at me.. Am i the only one using these set of guidelines? is there another set out there?? http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx

[+Juicepig]

duplicate!

Edited May 22, 2009 by Juicepig

[Mag Magician]

When a person lives in the vast desolate wasteland north of 9, the fact that I have achieved just over 500 finds, in 3 years, becomes a very real insight that numbers are not what this is about!

 

I prefer to count numbers in how many I have placed, that bring visitors and locals into the caching world, and let them have some excitement, too.

 

Oh, sure, I could spend time south of 9 and log 30 or 40 per day, but that's not why I entered this game. I prefer seeing the wild country that I have never visited before. Heck! One of my finds was an LPC in the middle of the bush, on a semi mountain, just off a 4 wheeling road. That was absolutely precious! That's the way I started, and that's the way I still cache.

[Mag Magician]

I tend to do numbers runs in the winter because I don't like the cold. In the summer I prefer less quantity and more quality although my stats might indicate otherwise.

 

Are you kidding? Just the fact you took less than a millisecond to find an almost impossible, invisible, ammo can under a bridge last summer tells me your stats are pretty close to true.

[+Girls Phind Squirrels]

Probably one of my all time favourite caches. I found it because I am an English major not because I am a geocacher.

 

I tend to do numbers runs in the winter because I don't like the cold. In the summer I prefer less quantity and more quality although my stats might indicate otherwise.

 

Are you kidding? Just the fact you took less than a millisecond to find an almost impossible, invisible, ammo can under a bridge last summer tells me your stats are pretty close to true.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Interesting. Always interesting.

 

On more than a couple of occasions, I've spent several days, mostly on travel, just to find a single interesting cache.

 

Sure, I get lousy caches-per-week stats that way, but who cares?

Edited May 22, 2009 by Viajero Perdido

[+Tequila]

Here is a good philosophy to live by:

 

"If you have more finds than good memories, you're caching all wrong."

[+M3J]

I had been in the numbers mode for a long time. Not to do more than anyone, but I was always setting goals like 2,000 by my 40th birthday...100 a month for a year...200 on vacation...etc. At the time, for me, that was part of the fun....the adventure AND the smilies.

 

Since I hit 3,000 in December, I have only done 60+ caches. I am just at a place where I had other things to do...life has been very very busy. I still enjoy caching, don't get me wrong, but I was placing a crazy day of 30 or 40 caches ahead of a day just hanging with my wife. I have cached in every province, I think something like 22 US states, 8 or 9 countries, but many a time it was by myself. What was the point to that???

 

I did some in the Carribean in Jan, some in Ottawa the long weekend, a few in Niagara this past weekend (my wife and I were away for our anniversary and SHE actually suggested we do some caching), and will be doing some this weekend on Toronto Island. In 4 weeks our family heads to Africa and I will be doing a few in Uganda (one right on the equator), BOTH of the caches in Rwanda, a few while on safari in Kenya, and a few in London on our day and a half there on the way home (including one around Grenwich so we will have a GPS picture showing 00 00.000 N/S in Uganda and another showing 000 00.000 E/W ini London...kinda cool).

 

All in, I may wind up with 200-300 for the year...a far cry from the 1,200 I have done in a year in the past. Doesn't bother me in the least. I am sure there will be a day when the kids are all grown up and the wife is into some new crazy craft and I am left to my own devices once again...maybe even be retired by then. Numbers may be a big deal once again. That will be fine too...life changes, priorities change, etc.

 

For now, I am just interested in seeing new places, having new countries beside my name, caching with friends and family when there is time, and enjoying caching as just another fun thing to do in life...not have it run my life.

[+TheGertridgeExplorers]

I am more about a nice walk than the numbers (obviously if you look at my stats) We took a nice walk around a neighbourhood and managed to pick off 6 micros (there has been a rash of micro hides lately) So even though some of the micros weren't the greatest hides in less than interesting spots, the series of caches created a plesant walk, so a positive cache outing. Walking 2 km or more to get one cache, as long as the walk is interesting, is fine too.

 

-Donna G

[+markjsolomon]

I like the numbers and to be honest really pushes me to get out there. I do agree though that the places that you are taken really make it worth while.

 

When my daughter was in the area we would do a bunch or the various park series and included some singing and sliding along with the find. I new to the Druham region and almost consider geocaching my unoffical tour guide to various areas

[+Monterry]

Probably one of my all time favourite caches. I found it because I am an English major not because I am a geocacher.

 

I tend to do numbers runs in the winter because I don't like the cold. In the summer I prefer less quantity and more quality although my stats might indicate otherwise.

 

Are you kidding? Just the fact you took less than a millisecond to find an almost impossible, invisible, ammo can under a bridge last summer tells me your stats are pretty close to true.

We do lpc and very interesting caches. Thanks for visiting our bridge and understanding our language.

[+In Need of Cache]

I like a combination of numbers and challenging or interesting caches. We tend to set goals for ourselves. The easiest way to measure a goal is through numbers. We achieved our first number goal and have set our next goal which is not as number based but rather to complete certain caches. This will likely result in a significant number of caches being completed due to the distance we will be travelling to complete the other caches.

[+GordEtob]

Sometimes I like doing the "numbers" game, but I like the challenging caches (mainly "tough" hides rather than physical-type challenge) and also exploring new areas is high on my list.

 

Speaking of which, I've been trying to find people interested in tackling a 5/3 adventure, AND it's a cache which still hasn't been found yet:

 

GC1KC7W

 

Any takers? I figure it can be done for around $3,000 per person (Canadian)!

 

[American Airlines flight Aug. 1, Toronto to Miami to Lima to Iquitos - 20 hour flight

A.A. flight Aug. 8, Iquitos to Lima to NYC to Toronto - 18.5 hr flight]:

$1,940.31 per person Cdn. (airfare)

Hotel 6 nights in Iquitos: $400

Food 7 days: $150 - $250

Riverboat & guide: $100

 

Rain Forest Excursion