What is geocaching about?

[+Knight2000]

Another thread about the evolution of geocaching. There may be one like it but I don't care. I want to say what I want to say and have it at the top instead of digging up an old thread and saying what I want to say last.

 

It seems to me that it started out where Ulmer just said come and find it. So in essence, it really was as I call it a "logging station". I don't think it was disguised or hard to find. Maybe more of a fun challenge. Especially since most of the people that read it didn't live near him.

 

I am imagining in the beginning it was more about the adventure to the "logging station". Now what is it? As everyone plays differently, what is it to you?

 

1) The adventure to the cache?

2) The thrill of the hunt?

3) The smileys?

 

I'm sure there are more. I guess all caches are logging stations. From ones that you need to hike miles to or the ones that need planes.

 

In the beginning I don't think it was ever about clever or devious hides. But I do like those.

 

I would say for us it is 1 and 2.

 

What is #4, #5 or #6?

[+hudsonfam]

Another thread about the evolution of geocaching. There may be one like it but I don't care. I want to say what I want to say and have it at the top instead of digging up an old thread and saying what I want to say last.

 

It seems to me that it started out where Ulmer just said come and find it. So in essence, it really was as I call it a "logging station". I don't think it was disguised or hard to find. Maybe more of a fun challenge. Especially since most of the people that read it didn't live near him.

 

I am imagining in the beginning it was more about the adventure to the "logging station". Now what is it? As everyone plays differently, what is it to you?

 

1) The adventure to the cache?

2) The thrill of the hunt?

3) The smileys?

 

I'm sure there are more. I guess all caches are logging stations. From ones that you need to hike miles to or the ones that need planes.

 

In the beginning I don't think it was ever about clever or devious hides. But I do like those.

 

I would say for us it is 1 and 2.

 

What is #4, #5 or #6?

 

I won't deny that we like the smileys, because it's evidence that we have succeeded and they especially feel nice to look at after an unsuccessful day of caching.

 

However, the adventure and the hunt are what we get the most out of, especially as a family. If it were all about the smileys, then each family member would have their own account (so everyone would get their own smiley) and we'd all be fighting over who actually finds the cache. That doesn't matter. It's a team adventure - we hunt as a team and we celebrate as a team.

 

As we're becoming more experienced, we're finding that the puzzle caches and multi-caches are our favorites, because it adds an extra challenge and even more adventure to the game. We also prefer more rural areas. It may take longer to find each one, but it's a lot more fun trudging through the woods and finding a well hidden cache under a log than it is to walk up to a phone booth and grab a hide-a-key.

[+bflentje]

I only do it for the harrassment people get here in the forums. Beyond that, geocaching is a complete waste of time (at least that's what my wife says).

[+Knight2000]

I only do it for the harrassment people get here in the forums. Beyond that, geocaching is a complete waste of time (at least that's what my wife says).

If you like each other then I would think she would loving caching with you alone.

 

I say that about liking each other because I often heard at work how men dreaded going home. I used to comment about how much I missed my wife and how I can't wait to go home. (Especially when I traveled.) They would always look at me like I am from another planet.

 

Now my wife and I love the idea of us caching alone. We have only found a few like this though. The luxury of alone time is few and far between. Very few and even more far between. We can wish though!

[+Winstonsdad]

My wife and I cache together a lot. We enjoy the clever hides and the places geocaching has taken us that we would not otherwise have seen, like parks and historical areas. I think it is a combination of the thrill of the hunt and the adventure. We have seen some really pretty places because of caching and I thank the CO's for that.

[+uxorious]

Now what is it? As everyone plays differently, what is it to you?

 

This kind of sums it up. What is it/what is it to you?

To figure out exactly what Geocaching is would be hard because What it is in general, and what it is to you, can be a little different to everyone.

There are those that will say it is none of your three, but something else altogether, and others that will say it is all three. It could be any combination of the three, plus who knows how many others.

I don't care what it is to anyone else, I just enjoy it for what I get out of it.

It may have started when Ulmer put out his cache and said come find it, but that doesn't mean this first cache is the only true cache. Any more than Bell's first telephone is the only true phone.

[+Hrethgir]

2, then 1, then 3. I went a did an all-day cache run a month or so ago, but instead of doing it in town and getting tons of micros, I went out into the woods, and only got 14 finds. But had tons of fun being out there in the middle of nowhere looking for something, while looking for a micro near a bus stop hold no appeal to me. I like getting smileys, but that doesn't consume me.

[+JackQuest]

My caching is pretty simple and basic. I want a nice hike through the woods that ends with the chance to sit down without the worry of attracting an audience, water the dog, and sift through trinkets just to satisfy personal curiosity on what others seem worthy or interesting. Log reading used to be fun but seems to have dropped off.

[+Singletree Expedition]

I cache...

1) to experience quality time with my family.

2) to experience quality locations.

3) for the challenge of the hunt.

 

Ulmer had a great idea and his hide was appropriate for the first. I wonder what, if any, differences there would be today if his hide was an epic adventure or an LPC.

[+Knight2000]

I'm not a fan of mindless micros, but...

 

and this is a big but.

 

Isn't a LPC or mindless micro the same type that Ulmer put out? Simply a challenge to "come and find it". Since the first one was not hard to find, then this is not different from the film can or magnetic key holder.

 

So maybe we shouldn't put down these "easy smileys"... They're caches too! Let's have them sit with us.

 

Edited August 18, 2009 by Knight2000

[+wimseyguy]

E-all of the above.

[+Stunod]

I just do it for the free beer and chicks.

[+gof1]

What is geocaching about?

 

About $30 a year if you are a premium member.

 

The best part, in my ever so humble opinion, is getting to see things that I never knew were there. Especially those places and things that I never knew about right here in my own back yard as it were.

[+Markwell]

My caching is pretty simple and basic. I want a nice hike through the woods that ends with the chance to sit down without the worry of attracting an audience, water the dog, and sift through trinkets just to satisfy personal curiosity on what others seem worthy or interesting. Log reading used to be fun but seems to have dropped off.

My thoughts exactly.

 

Isn't a LPC or mindless micro the same type that Ulmer put out? Simply a challenge to "come and find it". Since the first one was not hard to find, then this is not different from the film can or magnetic key holder.

While Dave Ulmer's first cache might have been no place special, I consider that one a "proof of concept" cache rather than a standard to which people should judge all caches. Instead of looking at just the first cache, why not look at what the hobby evolved into within the first year? Here's a samping of some of the descriptions from Oregon's oldest existing caches:

The cache is in the Tillamook State Forest. Forest maps are available from the state as well as the local grocery on route 6. You will need to drive on gravel but not on OHV trails.

 

Difficulty: 1; Terrain: 1.5; Altitude: 2900'; Container: 3.1 liter Rubbermaid, transparent, white lid, 11"x6.5"x4.5". ; Contents: Standard note explaining what it is.

 

gravel logging road little muddy; this road is a little muddy as they are logging on it now you will know when you are close because you will be able to see for miles and also you will see a reservoir in the distances.

 

This cache has a logging road near it. The road is rough and will require a high clearance vehicle, four wheel drive is not needed unless there is snow on the ground. ; The walk from the main road takes about 10 minutes and is a moderate uphill grade all the way. The elevation of the cache is 2350 ft by GPS.

 

Start at the very top - the coordinates given. At these coordinates is a big rock-wall circle. Stand in the middle and make some noise (say something) and hear the peculiar acoustics. If you look down you'll see the words "capped peaks" ...Proceed approximately 185 meters in the direction of these words (approximately 285° from magnetic North).

 

This parking spot that I took makes it about 1 Mile each way, but it is fairly easy and level. It was less then 1 hour once I parked. The view is awesome.

The earlier caches throughout the U.S. mirrored many of these types of caches, taking people to cool locations with great views. While not necessarily difficult to find, they took the seeker on journeys to areas that were little known and yet mostly had some intrinsic value. So, I'm not all that keen on people holding up Dave Ulmer's original cache as the "archetype" for caches.

 

The rest of this is my personal opinion:

Somewhere along the way (I can almost point to a date) cachers became obsessed with numbers. Statements like "I can find more caches than you have without even trying" made people feel better about themselves. People are (in general) lazy as well. So parks that had caches deep in the forest started having caches pop up by the parking lot of these great locations (lazy hiders). People found the easy find closer to the parking lot (lazy finders). Then people didn't even care that it was in the parking lot of a park - instead, it was a parking lot of a Big Box store. Lazy cachers liked increasing their find count and their personal self-importance by having a big number. New cachers found caches and increased their find count. So they copied what their experience showed them.

 

However, I also stopped worrying about them, since there are also many more caches around that ARE the types of caches I DO like to find.

 

The whole scenario reminds me of Marching Band Competitions. Early marching bands put on a new show for each half-time of the football game. Someone director boasted his marching band was better than someone else's, so they had a competition. Directors started taking great pride in their success at competitions. Soon they were working on perfecting a single field show for the season that was designed to elicit a response from the judges at the competition. My Senior Year in high school in 1985, we didn't have a final version of our field show until the end of October, which was the state competition. There was only one football game left in the season. So the football game only received portions of the field show all season. My nephews in the same school district didn't even show a complete show for the football games, but reserved their full effort for the competition. They also didn't work on parade marching at all, and only marched in one parade - the town's Homecoming parade. Somewhere along the way, the directors lost sight of the Marching Band's original purpose: entertaining families at the half-time of the football game.

 

 

OK - I'm done ranting.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Markwell

[+Team GPSaxophone]

I just do it for the free beer and chicks.

FTW!

[+flask]

 

The whole scenario reminds me of Marching Band Competitions. Early marching bands put on a new show for each half-time of the football game. Someone director boasted his marching band was better than someone else's, so they had a competition. Directors started taking great pride in their success at competitions. Soon they were working on perfecting a single field show for the season that was designed to elicit a response from the judges at the competition. My Senior Year in high school in 1985, we didn't have a final version of our field show until the end of October, which was the state competition. There was only one football game left in the season. So the football game only received portions of the field show all season. My nephews in the same school district didn't even show a complete show for the football games, but reserved their full effort for the competition. They also didn't work on parade marching at all, and only marched in one parade - the town's Homecoming parade. Somewhere along the way, the directors lost sight of the Marching Band's original purpose: entertaining families at the half-time of the football game.

 

 

that's a rather football-centric view.

 

ask a professional in the business. they'll tell you that the purpose of marching band is to have a marching band. football games are just one of the performance venues for that format.

 

marching bands predate football by centuries.

 

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

[+Knight2000]

OK - I'm done ranting.

My question is- Why are you ranting?

 

I am not a fan of mindless micros. I have been known to talk down to them. I was just starting to think that it is still a challenge to come and find it, no matter how easy it is, or how stupid of a location it is.

[+Jeep_Dog]

4) Some caches take me to the "cool" places in an area which I've never been.

 

5) Caching is an on-line diary of my travels.

 

6) It gives a "purpose" to my exploratory nature and behavior.

 

For 4, whether moving to a new place or visiting a new place, caching is a great way to get out and about. Carefully selected caches get me to the cool hiking, fishing, hunting, and historical places.

 

For 5, the log dates of caches found and not found are a calendar of where and when I was at a place. To review cache logs on vacation, I then remember the day, the smells, the sights, and the family. The last time I was away from my home and family for a year, it was a great way to remember and reflect upon photos happier times. Sort of a "memory bank."

[+Markwell]

that's a rather football-centric view.

 

ask a professional in the business. they'll tell you that the purpose of marching band is to have a marching band. football games are just one of the performance venues for that format.

 

marching bands predate football by centuries.

 

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Funny you should say that, since I have a degree in instrumental music education and only played football one year in the "pee-wee" leagues. Let me slightly restate my analogy - FIELD SHOWS, not marching bands in general. Marching bands that produce field shows use football fields as their venue because that's where FIELD SHOWS got started. Doubt it? Ask a high school band director how they feel about marching on a professional football field where the hash marks do not equally divide the field into thirds. Yes, parade marching bands have been around for centuries, but as I stated, my high school is now forgoing almost all parades in favor of spending their time on perfecting their field show competition.

 

Nitpicking of the analogy aside, the POINT is that the competition for a single season's field show has become such a driving force for the high school marching band, that the general population of high school parents not involved with the marching band rarely get to see the entire show. The tail is wagging the dog. THAT'S the point of the analogy - the competition to make findcount=findcount+1 is driving the placing of caches.

 

OK - I'm done ranting.

My question is- Why are you ranting?...I was just starting to think that it is still a challenge to come and find it, no matter how easy it is, or how stupid of a location it is.

That's why I'm ranting.

 

Old post on the subject:

So the ice cream analogy is more akin to Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans?

 

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor -- you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and mar- malade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.

"Bleaaargh -- see? Sprouts."

[Tahosa and Sons]

Caching sure has evolved since I jumped on the Ammo Can back in '01. The evolution has spurned many different changes, some good, some bad, some different. But that is the nature of change.

 

One thing that hasn't changed for me is that I still prefer to hide them, and most of those hides are in the upper D's & T's. And I will continue to be Tahosa.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Tahosa and Sons

[+DragonsWest]

Whenever I meet people and try to think of a way to best explain what I do, I tell them it's like a year-round global easter-egg hunt.

 

I explained it to a woman at work and she was utterly smitten by it, got a GPSr and took her kids out to find caches. She had a blast. The kids, well, not super into it, but didn't hate it either. These people have a lot on their list for a day and now need the planets to align before they get out again. I pointed out some good locations near where they live where they could pick up a few creatively hidden caches. Hope to get them hooked again.

 

Some days it takes a bit of motivating to get me out and looking, but once I'm out looking I always wish I had loaded more into the GPSr because I can always take 'one more cache' on the way home.

[+sbell111]

My caching is pretty simple and basic. I want a nice hike through the woods that ends with the chance to sit down without the worry of attracting an audience, water the dog, and sift through trinkets just to satisfy personal curiosity on what others seem worthy or interesting. Log reading used to be fun but seems to have dropped off.

My thoughts exactly.

 

Isn't a LPC or mindless micro the same type that Ulmer put out? Simply a challenge to "come and find it". Since the first one was not hard to find, then this is not different from the film can or magnetic key holder.

While Dave Ulmer's first cache might have been no place special, I consider that one a "proof of concept" cache rather than a standard to which people should judge all caches. Instead of looking at just the first cache, why not look at what the hobby evolved into within the first year? Here's a samping of some of the descriptions from Oregon's oldest existing caches: ...

I don't think that proves anything beyond the fact that the game has always had a wide variety of caches and that remote caches tend to last longer.

[+sbell111]

Whenever I meet people and try to think of a way to best explain what I do, I tell them it's like a year-round global easter-egg hunt.

 

I explained it to a woman at work and she was utterly smitten by it, got a GPSr and took her kids out to find caches. She had a blast. The kids, well, not super into it, but didn't hate it either. These people have a lot on their list for a day and now need the planets to align before they get out again. I pointed out some good locations near where they live where they could pick up a few creatively hidden caches. Hope to get them hooked again.

 

Some days it takes a bit of motivating to get me out and looking, but once I'm out looking I always wish I had loaded more into the GPSr because I can always take 'one more cache' on the way home.

That is how I look at it.

 

It's something that gets me out of the house and away from life's little dramas. Plus, I still can remember the coolness of going out and looking for something that a stranger hid, using only coordinates put on a website, all the while surrounded by people who have no clue. I still think that's cool and it's still why I like to cache. (Perhaps it's also one of the reasons that I don't really love going to events. I don't really enjoy looking behind the curtain.)

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Before answering the on-topic question, I have to say that I love, love, love the Pluto at the kiddie table image. Thanks for the smile!

 

As everyone plays differently, what is it to you?

 

1) The adventure to the cache?

2) The thrill of the hunt?

3) The smileys?

 

I'm sure there are more. I guess all caches are logging stations. From ones that you need to hike miles to or the ones that need planes.

 

For me, my internal game is the adventure, the opportunity to experience beauty, the opportunity to write up the adventure and and the opportunity to take beautiful or unusual photographs. I judge my success in my write up and photos. (A DNF can often be much better than a find if there is an adventure in a beautiful place.)

 

My beloved says that he is only in it for the hikes but if we don't find the cache we are looking for he gets grumpy and frustrated, so my guess is that there is something else there as well. He doesn't care about smiley counts and wouldn't care if we never logged our finds. But unsuccessfully looking for something disturbs his Veni, Vidi, Vici sensibility, I think. My suspicion is that he enjoys the strategic determinations of what to choose to look for, how to look, how to approach, and figuring out the mind of his opponent (the hider). If the hider prevents him from finding the cache through a devious hide, the hider has stolen a march on him. If we go in a season that is inauspicious for finding the hide, we've failed in our strategic analysis.

 

Carolyn

Edited August 19, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[+Team GPSaxophone]

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the football team will be playing before and after tonight's featured performance of the marching band.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Team GPSaxophone

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the football team will be playing before and after tonight's featured performance of the marching band.

 

OK. What is 'FTW'? When you used it with the picture of the babe, I assumed it meant "First to Wench", but now I'm mystified.

 

Carolyn

Edited August 19, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[+Stargazer22]

For me and SwampyGirl, it's mostly about the adventures we have while caching and finding cool new places to hike in our area that we didn't know about before geocaching.

 

I'd still do it without the smileys. In fact, I have several caches to log online going back a few months that I'll get around to logging eventually. The pursuit of the smiley is the item of least importance in the mix for us.

 

We've had some amazing adventures while geocaching that we ordinarily would otherwise not been able to experience. And made some nice friends we met through geocaching, so I'd say that would be near the top of my list, too.

[+Stunod]

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the football team will be playing before and after tonight's featured performance of the marching band.

 

OK. What is 'FTW'? When you used it with the picture of the babe, I assumed it meant "First to Wench", but now I'm mystified.

 

Carolyn

 

Hey, that was no babe...that was my wife!

 

(I'm seriously gonna be in trouble now)

 

 

(FTW = For The Win)

[+carleenp]

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the football team will be playing before and after tonight's featured performance of the marching band.

 

OK. What is 'FTW'? When you used it with the picture of the babe, I assumed it meant "First to Wench", but now I'm mystified.

 

Carolyn

 

Hey, that was no babe...that was my wife!

 

(I'm seriously gonna be in trouble now)

 

 

(FTW = For The Win)

 

 

And as I was scrolling, I was trying to figure out why I got a link to this thread from him that just said "hee hee"

 

I cache for the beer.

 

Seriously, I do. Almost all cache outings seem to involve it and I have been introduced to some great brewpubs that way.

[+wimseyguy]

I'm guessing you were a flag corps girl for the HS band too?

 

My HS was so small we didn't even have a football team nor marching band. They did have a string quartet though.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the football team will be playing before and after tonight's featured performance of the marching band.

 

OK. What is 'FTW'? When you used it with the picture of the babe, I assumed it meant "First to Wench", but now I'm mystified.

 

Carolyn

Stunod had said he geocaches "for the free beer and chicks" so I posted a picture of his wife. They met each other through this site. Since she is such a babe, the picture showed that his comment was the clear winner in response to the original post, hence FTW (for the win).

[+ePeterso2]

What is geocaching all about?

 

It's about this long, and about that wide, and about this country about which we're singing about.

 

-eP

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

if you ask me, a football game is just there to provide bookends for what's really important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the football team will be playing before and after tonight's featured performance of the marching band.

 

OK. What is 'FTW'? When you used it with the picture of the babe, I assumed it meant "First to Wench", but now I'm mystified.

 

Carolyn

Stunod had said he geocaches "for the free beer and chicks" so I posted a picture of his wife. They met each other through this site. Since she is such a babe, the picture showed that his comment was the clear winner in response to the original post, hence FTW (for the win).

 

Thank you! That makes sense. (Far more sense than First to Wench. What was I thinking?) So they are among the people Snoogans was referring to when he posted the thread on romances started through geocaching?

 

Wait a minute! She's wearing a saxophone. And you are Team GPSaxophone. Coincidence?

 

Carolyn

Edited August 22, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[dlp8]

Another thread about the evolution of geocaching. There may be one like it but I don't care. I want to say what I want to say and have it at the top instead of digging up an old thread and saying what I want to say last.

 

It seems to me that it started out where Ulmer just said come and find it. So in essence, it really was as I call it a "logging station". I don't think it was disguised or hard to find. Maybe more of a fun challenge. Especially since most of the people that read it didn't live near him.

 

I am imagining in the beginning it was more about the adventure to the "logging station". Now what is it? As everyone plays differently, what is it to you?

 

1) The adventure to the cache?

2) The thrill of the hunt?

3) The smileys?

 

I'm sure there are more. I guess all caches are logging stations. From ones that you need to hike miles to or the ones that need planes.

 

In the beginning I don't think it was ever about clever or devious hides. But I do like those.

 

I would say for us it is 1 and 2.

 

What is #4, #5 or #6?

 

Ulmer wasn't the first, really. Boo Radley had him beat by about 70 years.

 

And to answer the question, for us (me, my 74-year old dad, and my kids), it is about comraderie and adventure, plain and simple. We began 'caching in 2008, and we discovered canyons and trails we never knew existed, even after living there for 10 years. It got us outside and helped knock of 40+ pounds. It has been a huge blessing. Our caching creedo, as it were, is that the find is more important than the swag, the hunt is more important than the find, the hike is more important than the hunt, and the companionship is more important than all of it. We're caching nerds, and mighty proud of it!

Edited August 22, 2009 by dlp8