Thoughts on caches with a "last found" of more than a year?

[+nericksx]

I'm a newbie and have taken up geocaching as something to do when we go on camping trips. Today we decided to go after two caches that were over 7 miles up an iffy logging road. About halfway there I decided to read the logs and it dawned on me that the last found date on both of them was over a year ago. We decided to skip it. If I had just been with my hubby (and maybe not so new at this) I would have gone for it, but we didn't drag the little-ones off on a fruitless search.

 

My questions are:

Does a long-ago last-found mean anything?

Have maybe people been DNFing but not logging it? Or has it just been a really long time since someone wanted to look for it?

Do you go for it or see that as a bad sign?

How long do caches last?

 

There is one I want to do in a couple of weeks that was hid in 2004 and last found in 2008. What's up with that? It sounds so cool... :-(

 

Thanks!

Nericksx

[+Bergie Bunch]

One of the groups I cache with do a lost and lonely challenge. Caches not found in the longest period of time in a 50 mile radius from a center point. We just found a cache that had been unfound for 487 days, and another that was unfound for 375. If you seek, you may find. Don't let the last found date discourage you, it is an adventure, even if NOT found, you never know what you might see even without the cache!

[+StarBrand]

As long as the last log was a "find" and not the last in a series of DNF logs - all it means is that it is likely a remote cache. Sounds like fun to me!!! Some of my remote ones have gone over a year between finds.

[+KoosKoos]

"over 7 miles up an iffy logging road" would more than likely be the reason it's been over a year without a find...the more remote ones tend to go longer without finds. Yes, it's possible that it could be missing now, but I wouldn't put automatic stock into that theory.

[jholly]

I'm a newbie and have taken up geocaching as something to do when we go on camping trips. Today we decided to go after two caches that were over 7 miles up an iffy logging road. About halfway there I decided to read the logs and it dawned on me that the last found date on both of them was over a year ago. We decided to skip it. If I had just been with my hubby (and maybe not so new at this) I would have gone for it, but we didn't drag the little-ones off on a fruitless search.

 

My questions are:

Does a long-ago last-found mean anything?

Have maybe people been DNFing but not logging it? Or has it just been a really long time since someone wanted to look for it?

Do you go for it or see that as a bad sign?

How long do caches last?

 

There is one I want to do in a couple of weeks that was hid in 2004 and last found in 2008. What's up with that? It sounds so cool... :-(

 

Thanks!

Nericksx

 

Lets see, 7 miles up an iffy logging road. Ya think most people might not go that way? Sounds like it is in an area of low population density so probably not many locals and they probably found it some time ago. Yep, not much activity at that cache, but it is probably there. If snow is an issue then no one is going there in the winter. I personally don't see it as a bad sign. I did a series that the final was a couple miles of logging roads away from the parking. I was the first one to sign in a year. I own some on logging roads and even though there is some population density I don't get many takers. As for how long caches last, some of the original caches are still around. I adopted one that was hid in 2002. Now if the last couple logs were DNF's on the one at the end of a seven mile road I might give it a thought or two, unless I was hiking and then it probably would be a pass.

 

Jim

[+Viajero Perdido]

I love visiting lonely caches.

 

My record so far is four years, and the cache was in perfect condition.

 

I'd also love to have a 1-year-plus FTF, but those are proving elusive.

[Clan Riffster]

I love visiting lonely caches.

I love owning lonely caches. I've got 5 that haven't been found in over a year. The lonely ones seem to get the best logs.

[+nericksx]

Wonderful comments - all! You're right, I kinda answered my own question, eh? Next time I'm in the area (and there WILL be a next time because the camping was CHOICE) I will totally go after the caches on the logging road. You guys are right about the other stuff you find on the hunt too. I usually take my 4 year old son and he is awesome for finding interesting bugs and snakes and other creepies that are fun to look at. On our way up the logging road we got to meet and pet a bull named chopper. :-)

[+Arrow42]

 

My record so far is four years, and the cache was in perfect condition.

 

That one hasn't been visited since 2007...

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

I've been keeping careful track of the caches we find, when the last find was on them, and I check nearly every day to see which of the ones we've found have been found (or DNF) after us. I've noticed the following in my area:

 

Puzzle caches don't get found as often as non-puzzle caches.

 

Caches that require any amount of hiking don't get found as much.

 

Caches that are premium member only don't get found as much.

 

Caches that are far from a highway don't get found as often as those near a highway.

 

Caches that require boats or that have prominent poisonous snake warnings don't get found as often.

 

What I do is mentally count all those things up in my mind. A premium members only puzzle cache that requires some hiking? Oh that could easily take a year for the next finder to log it. Probably best not to put a travel bug in that cache.

 

Your area probably has some special attributes as well. Perhaps poisonous snakes are not as prominent but you have other things that keep people from finding them?

 

From what I've noticed the most popular caches (by find count) are park and grabs off of major highways. So if one of those hadn't been found in 6 months, I might very well think it missing.

 

Carolyn

Edited June 15, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[Clan Riffster]

You could easily lump all that together, saying caches that require effort don't get found as often as P&Gs.

[+Firefly911]

We found one that hadn't been logged in over a year but to get there you had to go way out in the country and take a gravel road for probably over 5 or 6 miles. It was a GREAT find though....one of our favorites so far.

 

I look at DNF's to determine if we want to "try" for those not found in a while.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I love visiting lonely caches.

 

My record so far is four years, and the cache was in perfect condition.

 

I'd also love to have a 1-year-plus FTF, but those are proving elusive.

 

There is one on my todo list that was placed in 2003 and hasn't been found since Aug. 2005. It's a boat accessible only cache and since much of the shore line along the lake where it's place is private property the closest launch point is about 3.5 miles away. I *almost* went for it last year but calculated the time it would take to get there, find the cache, and come back and decided I didn't want to paddle back by my self in the dark.

 

I was within a couple of miles of a cache in Zimbabwe that had been in place for two years but had never been found. Since I was with a large group with a guide I wasn't able to get to that cache though (but I did get one at Victoria Falls). It was found a couple of weeks later and about a week later it was archived.

[+jackrock]

I'm a newbie and have taken up geocaching as something to do when we go on camping trips. Today we decided to go after two caches that were over 7 miles up an iffy logging road. About halfway there I decided to read the logs and it dawned on me that the last found date on both of them was over a year ago. We decided to skip it. If I had just been with my hubby (and maybe not so new at this) I would have gone for it, but we didn't drag the little-ones off on a fruitless search.

 

My questions are:

Does a long-ago last-found mean anything?

Have maybe people been DNFing but not logging it? Or has it just been a really long time since someone wanted to look for it?

Do you go for it or see that as a bad sign?

How long do caches last?

 

There is one I want to do in a couple of weeks that was hid in 2004 and last found in 2008. What's up with that? It sounds so cool... :-(

 

Thanks!

Nericksx

 

You just have to decide for yourself if you want to go look for a cache that may or may not still be there. If no one has found it in a long time and there are no DNFs logged online, it's possible that no one has looked or that some have looked but not logged their DNFs. You can look at the location to help you decide. If it's out of the way or hard to get to, it may be more likely that no one has looked. I found a cache that had not been found in 3 years and have several DNFs logged. It was there and in fine shape. Some caches last a long time without maintenance if the container is a good one.

 

You could email the cache owner and ask if they know whether or not the cache is still there.

[+jackrock]

 

I'd also love to have a 1-year-plus FTF, but those are proving elusive.

 

My record for a FTF was 3 years.

[+screamywill]

 

My record so far is four years, and the cache was in perfect condition.

 

That one hasn't been visited since 2007...

 

Arrow42 - That cache looks awesome! Look at it on googlemaps with the Satellite option on. Definitely not something for the little ones. I'll bet Terrain's a 5+ in the winter.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I have one cache that gets found maybe once a year. The cache involves about a one hour hike up a steep fire road. This cache is also next to an urban area with several hundred caches that cachers can park next to. From what I have seen most cachers are not interested in taking two hours to do a cache.

 

Edit due to posting before three cups of coffee

Edited June 15, 2009 by JohnnyVegas

[+Renegade Knight]

...

There is one I want to do in a couple of weeks that was hid in 2004 and last found in 2008. What's up with that? It sounds so cool... :-(

 

Thanks!

Nericksx

Remote caches are fairly secure and not likely to come up as missing. They do tend to go for long periods between finds. Especially as there are more of every kind of cache to find.

[+The Ravens]

 

My record so far is four years, and the cache was in perfect condition.

 

That one hasn't been visited since 2007...

 

Arrow42 - That cache looks awesome! Look at it on googlemaps with the Satellite option on. Definitely not something for the little ones. I'll bet Terrain's a 5+ in the winter.

 

Ahh heck... it's only a little more than a half mile off the road. 850m = 2788.713ft

[+nericksx]

For the record, I really like the remote caches and since now I have reassurances that remotes are not logged often just because they're remotes, then I'm all the more excited to go for them. Particularity since we like to cache when we go on camping trips, I really appreciate folks who place caches in out of the way places. I like the ones you have to hike to or drive logging roads to, way better than P&Gs. I did grab a P&G that was right at the turn to the logging road I mentioned, that's where we met the bull.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

You could easily lump all that together, saying caches that require effort don't get found as often as P&Gs.

 

I suppose so, but it doesn't seem to be entirely effort-driven. As near as I can tell (other than setting up a 5/5 cache) the easiest way to discourage visits to a cache is to make it premium members only, which cuts down visits to a greater degree than one would think. The effort to join the site is pretty minimal and the work-time value of the money involved is also pretty small.

 

Terrain and difficulty are not interchangeable on an effort-driven basis. They seem to have different discouragement curves.

 

Highway caches are popular all out of proportion to the effort it takes to get to one.

 

Strangely enough (to me) urban micros seem to be extremely popular when looked at from how often they are visited, despite the declarations of people on this forum and that doesn't seem to be particularly effort-driven.

 

I agree that effort has a lot to do with how often a cache is visited, but it seems to me that there are other dynamics in place as well (though I do not yet understand what they are).

 

Carolyn

Edited June 15, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[Jolard]

Even urban ones can go through this. I found a puzzle cache right downtown that was hidden in a strip of land right next to a Lowes Home Improvement store. It hadn't been found for 8 months, so I was half not expecting to find it. I did end up with one fruitless search, and then decided to try again later that week and managed to find it.

 

It felt good to be able to log a find on a cache that hadn't been found for so long.

[+cron]

I love visiting lonely caches.

I love owning lonely caches. I've got 5 that haven't been found in over a year. The lonely ones seem to get the best logs.

 

I love both!

 

I do own some caches that are not visited so often, and they do have the best log entries. I also go around chasing lost and forgotten caches. It does happen you won't find it, but when you do, the feeling is much stronger than your usual find!

 

691 days old (almost two years)

[+frizz]

The Wisconsin Geocaching Association sponsors a monthly "Lonely CacheGame" for WGA members nd friends. <http://www.wi-geocaching.com/modules.php?name=Lonely> Each month the WGA publishes a list of lonely caches. Many of the participants in the game donate prizes such as coins, pre-loaded cache containers, etc. for the monthly winner. In Wisconsin, lonely caches in the winter can be a real challenge. The real winners of this contest are those of us who like finding caches.

[Skippermark]

I enjoy finding "lonely" caches. Here in CT, if you find 75 lonely caches, you get a medal in our local forums.

 

To answer your questions:

Does a long-ago last-found mean anything? - That depends on what type/where it is. If it's a longer/harder cache, they tend to get found less than easier/shorter ones.

 

Have maybe people been DNFing but not logging it? Or has it just been a really long time since someone wanted to look for it? - That's an important question. If it's in a local park with several other caches and it's the only one not getting found, something weird is probably going on. Why would people find all the others but skip that one?

 

Do you go for it or see that as a bad sign? - If the cache is long/hard/far and has no DNFs, I'd go for it. If it's mixed in with others on a trail, I'd probably skip it.

 

How long do caches last? - If it's hidden well and with a quality container, they can last for a long time. The oldest one I've found was hidden in 2000 and is still going strong in its original container and hiding spot.

[GOF and Bacall]

Is there a particular way you people are finding these long lonely caches?

[CoyoteRed]

I suppose so, but it doesn't seem to be entirely effort-driven. As near as I can tell (other than setting up a 5/5 cache) the easiest way to discourage visits to a cache is to make it premium members only, which cuts down visits to a greater degree than one would think.

There's two things going on here. With MOCs, you're reducing the cacher-base. You're simply getting the listing in front of fewer people.

 

As far the rest, and granted I've not broken it down into finite detail, but the primary factor of cache visit frequency is convenience. If a cache is close where someone is already going to be and is easy to find, then it's going to be found a lot more often. These convenience factors include parking, distance from parking, muggles, D/T, and OOR (Out Of Route) distance.

 

There was a local cache that got found a lot because not only was it fairly convenient to find, but the cacher base was huge as it was in the middle of a touristy area--therefore continually got "new blood" for the finds.

 

Also, I'd bet if you start looking at cacher population, cache density, and remoteness from same you'll see that even harder caches in a densely populated area is found a lot more often than a P&G in the middle of nowhere.

[CoyoteRed]

My questions are:

Does a long-ago last-found mean anything?

Depends on the cache. You have to look to see how often it got found before the last find. If there was a lot of activity then nothing, that's a bad sign. But if it was placed, say, 2001 and only has a couple of finds and few DNFs, then pack your bags! I've long thought these lonely caches were the true treasures of the hobby.

 

Have maybe people been DNFing but not logging it? Or has it just been a really long time since someone wanted to look for it?

Few will not log a DNF on a remote, but easy to find cache.

 

Do you go for it or see that as a bad sign?

How long do caches last?

We'd go for it and caches can last for years. A good container like an ammo can is fantastic.

 

There is one I want to do in a couple of weeks that was hid in 2004 and last found in 2008. What's up with that? It sounds so cool...

 

I consider caches like these the cream of crop--right up there with the epic, but popular, hunts like Tube Torcher and Athena's Revenge. Here's the kicker, you'd be even more elite than finders of the epic and popular hunts because so few can claim finds on them.

 

My favorite lonely cache? Sand Dollar. Two finds in seven years. We no longer own a power boat. Anyone care to ferry us out there for a revisit?

Edited June 15, 2009 by CoyoteRed

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I have one cache that gets found maybe once a year. The cache involves about a one hour hike up a steep fire road. This cache is also next to an urban area with several hundred caches that cachers can park next to. From what I have seen most cachers are not interested in taking two hours to do a cache.

 

 

I suspect that can be somewhat of a regional thing. I know the Sacramento area has a pretty high density of caches (my brother lives in an area I've seen referred to as Microville). With so many easy caches to grab "most" cachers are going to spend the majority of their time just finding lots of caches close a paved road. Someone could easily rack up thousands of finds without ever walking more than a mile from a place to park the car.

 

One of the more remote caches I found required about round trip hike of a little more than four miles (and it's only 14 miles from home and was the closest cache I had not found at the time). When I found it early this spring (there was still about a foot of snow on the ground) it had only been found 4 times in the past two years, and it was a year and a half since the previous finder. It was found four times in the two weeks following my find. It took about 3.5 hours from the time I left my house until I got back home for just that one cache.

[+nericksx]

I have one cache that gets found maybe once a year. The cache involves about a one hour hike up a steep fire road. This cache is also next to an urban area with several hundred caches that cachers can park next to. From what I have seen most cachers are not interested in taking two hours to do a cache.

I suspect that can be somewhat of a regional thing. I know the Sacramento area has a pretty high density of caches (my brother lives in an area I've seen referred to as Microville). With so many easy caches to grab "most" cachers are going to spend the majority of their time just finding lots of caches close a paved road. Someone could easily rack up thousands of finds without ever walking more than a mile from a place to park the car.

 

I am finding that I'm a quality over quantity cacher. I WANT to take two hours to find a cache! Finding one stuck under a park bench within two blocks of my house isn't nearly as interesting for me as discovering an unknown little trail that I can make a real outing out of.

 

However, I do want to pay props to the urban/suburban P&Gs. My husband belongs to a Masonic lodge that is 60 miles from where we live now, and often has to visit lodges 30-75 miles from home. I NEVER go with. What a bore/drag. Now I'm finding I totally want to go because while he's in his boring meeting I can amuse myself finding suburban caches withing walking distance

[aniyn]

I noticed a while ago that my 5th find had a visitor 3 weeks after I found it, and then nothing else for 2 years! I went to go check up on it, but alas, it was gone! Curse you atv riders, curse you!

[CoyoteRed]

I went to go check up on it, but alas, it was gone!

Don't be so fast to assume the cache is gone. As a cache owner, I've twice though one of our caches was gone only have had a visitor move it. As owners or previous finders, we're at somewhat a disadvantage. We assume we know where the cache is and when it's not we assume it's gone. It's gone only from that spot. It could be only a few feet away as was the case in one of my missing caches--all I had to do is look up.

 

I say go back and assume nothing. Widen your search as if you've never visited before.

[+Jess80&Mike99]

I don't get discouraged if the cache has not been found for a long time, unless it has a record of DNFs. My boyfriend and I went after a cache that had not been found in two years, it was a multi, and it was after a rain storm. The location between the multi was within walking distance so we decided to try it. We went out once, looked for about an hour, decided to expand our search, and could not find the first stage. We came home to look at it again. We found we were to be looking for a pill bottle. We headed back out. When we got back to the location we expanded our search again and found the pill bottle. The lid of the bottle had been dry rotted, therefore there was barely a lid to speak of. Lying outside of the bottle was a post-it, I was SHOCKED, that even after a rain storm and being wheather beaten there was still a post-it with the bottle. We picked up the post-it and the second location was washed off. We were bummed! We decided to see if there was an impression of coordinates on the post-it, and there was. We ended up putting the coords in the GPS and found the final stage not too far away. We contacted the owner, but I don't think he did anything to fix the first stage. We even thought of fixing it, but didn't feel comfortable messing with someone else's cache.

 

We had a lot of fun with this one though. We think the ones that haven't been found in a long time are fun to find!!!

 

So don't get discouraged, just remember it may not be in the exact location due to wheather conditions, and you may find the container not in its original condition.

 

Jess80&Mike99

[+Sioneva]

I love visiting lonely caches.

 

My record so far is four years, and the cache was in perfect condition.

 

I'd also love to have a 1-year-plus FTF, but those are proving elusive.

 

I'm still FTF and OTF on Moonraker, a cache up in the sandhills of Nebraska. Though there's a big event coming up there this weekend, so my record may fall - but August 29 will mark a year with only my find on the cache.

[+skeezicks]

I have found several that have long periods between finds.Like stated above,unless there are DNF's the last few times they are usually due to being in out of the way\long hiking areas.I have one that I hid in the summer of 2007 that has only been found once.It is about 13 miles up a couple of dirt roads in the mountains and then a couple miles hiking from there.I place some of my own hides in very remote places with nice views and\or hikes to get people to interesting type places.I do this knowing that they will only get found probably once or twice a year at best.I,myself intentionally look for the ones that are very remote and have long hikes,because I like the peacefulness that being in a very remote location brings me.

[GPS-Hermit]

Any time I have questions about the cache, I simply email the owner and see if he has recently confirmed the cache is still there. I usually get response the next day. More info usually come than I asked for.

[+swizzle]

WooHoo I just found another lonely cache today. This one was last found one Sept 8th, 2007. I never thought about looking for lonely caches until I saw this post. I think its a great idea. I just wish there was a lonely cachers group in upstate ny. I'd love to get a medal for finding X amount of "lonely caches". Swizzle

[+Indotguy]

Whether a cache is still active after a year of no finds has quite a lot to do with the type of container and how it was hidden. An ammo can or similar container stashed in the deep woods is more likely to be available after a year of inactivity than a film vial stuck in the crotch of a tree. I would have reservations about hiking 5 miles for the latter but the former I would do so with a fairly high level of confidence. One should also consider the possibility that a cache hidden in a reasonably accessible area which has not been logged in a year may have been looked for within that time period and simply not found. Quite a few folks won't log a DNF. I feel this is less true of the deep woods type of caches.