What's with all the micro caches (and smalls)

[Grawp]

Returning to geocaching after a series of heart attacks, I am surprised, and disappointed, at the large proportion of micro and small caches.

 

To me, this seems like laziness. Dropping some tiny container with a tatty piece of paper in it and calling it a cache is, in my opinion, not worth the trip.

 

We are fortunate to live in a place where there are wide open spaces, with amazing scenery, beautiful locations and a vast number of hiding places suitable for a medium to large container to be secreted.

 

Is this aspect of our country taken advantage of? No! Roadside micros are placed!

 

Come on everybody. For goodness' sake - get a bit more creative, take the time to find decent caching spots, hide interesting caches, stop leaving crappy caches in public, muggle-heavy areas, start playing the game with a bit more style.

 

Placing a cache in a car park is, quite frankly, dumb! As is hiding a 35mm film canister in a children's playground! We don't play the game to evade muggles - we would rather be out in the open somewhere, enjoying the natural world that surrounds us, hunting for a well-hidden, good-sized cache.

 

Man! I HATE MICROS!!!!!!

[+cincol]

................ Man! I HATE MICROS!!!!!!

 

Words that I support whole-heartedly! I avoid city caches as far as possible as generally a city cache = micro!

 

That said however, I do think that there are a limited number of micros that are in fact justified. A micro placed at a location that cannot conceal anything larger that has a distinct reason/purpose to encourage a cacher to visit that particular location for a specific reason is acceptable. I have had the pleasure of visiting a few magnificent locations whilst on holiday in various parts of the world that I would not normally have gone to had it not been for a micro cache that was placed nearby.

 

In support of Grawp's sentiments though, caches placed in children's playgrounds are a big no-no for me, as are other arbituarily placed micros which have been placed just because that can be. Especially those nondescript roadsides!

[cache-fan]

And the worst are the Shopping Mall micros.

[+The Fossil Hunters]

Hi Gawp,

 

Nice to hear your health has returned.

 

Ironically we just did your cache called "Shongweni Micro" yesterday

 

Happy caching.... we have just placed a regular cache at Shongweni reserve you may enjoy.

Edited December 7, 2009 by The Fossil Hunters

[+Wazat]

Welcome back Grawp... hope that your health remains great. Just a quick note I sent a mail to you some time back about my travel bug on a cocke bottle keyring called brrrrr, you don't perhaps have it in your possesion as it went missing from a cache you visited and was never logged out of the cache.

[+malo mystery]

To be diplomatic - everyone has their preferences and as much as some might hate micros, others love them. To me it is about what is appropriate - dont put a micro (and disguised and camouflaged) on top of a moutain - we have a few of those here in the Cape - camouflaged mountain micros. If it is the only way to get a cache at that place then fine, go with it, but please put the best cache possible in the area.

What I enjoy is -

Teach me something - tell me something I otherwise would not have known, the history behind something. something interesting.

Take me to something i would otherwise not have seen, be it something interesting I did not know about or an awesome view or on a great hike.

Test my mind with a good creative puzzle.

Time - take the time to keep your cache healthy and fit, dont just neglect it, if it needs maintenance, do it, if a once great area turns into a haven for the homeless or if the circumstances change then addapt accordingly

 

I do agree that we live in a country with so many areas begging for decent caches and we are not saturated to the point of needing lampost caches all over the place. I am still lucky enough to have hundreds of local caches that I havent found that I can still pick and choose which to do by the mood that I am in and not be cornered into having to do crappy caches because those are the only ones I havent found yet.

 

The game is up to us I guess, keep the standard we want, dont do the caches you dont like and the lousy ones will hopefully diminish through lack of interest. Leave a direct comment that you thought the cache was pointless or a waste of time.

 

Mike

Edited December 7, 2009 by malo mystery

[Grawp]

Welcome back Grawp... hope that your health remains great. Just a quick note I sent a mail to you some time back about my travel bug on a cocke bottle keyring called brrrrr, you don't perhaps have it in your possesion as it went missing from a cache you visited and was never logged out of the cache.

 

Sorry - not us. Having launched TBs of my own, I know how important they are to their owners and would not hold onto one.

 

I do hope you find it.

 

Thanks for the welcome back - I hope to get back into caching in a BIG way!!!

 

I LOVE this game!

[Grawp]

 

What I enjoy is -

Teach me something - tell me something I otherwise would not have known, the history behind something. something interesting.

Take me to something i would otherwise not have seen, be it something interesting I did not know about or an awesome view or on a great hike.

Test my mind with a good creative puzzle.

Time - take the time to keep your cache healthy and fit, dont just neglect it, if it needs maintenance, do it, if a once great area turns into a haven for the homeless or if the circumstances change then addapt accordingly

 

 

Well said Mike. Everything in your post is valid. I also believe that there ARE places for micros, but NOT, as mentioned, on top of a mountain, or at some indescribably beautiful place surrounded by nothing but magical African bush.

 

We are proud of the caches we have placed - not too many - but all are quality hides, with quality contents, and all present varying degrees of challenge to the seekers.

[+GEO936]

Wow Grawp....good to have you back in the game! We hope your health gets better each day! We believe a cache a day keeps the doctor away!

 

We are not fond of micros either, but we do understand that sometimes they cannot be avoided. We do have a few "small" caches, but when we mean small, the smallest is in a 200ml container. Sometimes, we wish we could go bigger, but it is just not possible. Also, we have had some fun finding micros, but those are around town and they are usually in a different/unique container.

 

We have to agree, that many times cachers set up their hides quickly and without much prep and effort. So a 35mm film cartridge with logbook is what gets placed. We take ages to place our caches, but we hope the wait is worthwhile in the end. Take a look at GC1VJ3T - The Piston Cup - for a different cache. Rolf made the cache camo himself and we think it is very cool. On the micro side, we thoroughly enjoyed finding the cache GC1PKEJ AROMERC-EHCAC - that was a worthwhile micro to find and in a beautiful place too!

 

We also agree with Malo Mystery about the value you get from caches. We also enjoy finding a new place and learning about the area/history, etc. There are countless occasions of where we would never have gone to a spot, had it not been for geocaching!

 

We hope you start finding some nice non-micro caches soon! There are many around...

[+erik88l-r]

At the risk of offending those who love urban micros, it appears that the micro-spew plague has made it to SA.

 

In their defense; for handicapped geocachers, or someone on a business trip without time or gear to go into the wild, it makes it possible to find a cache.

 

Their place is certainly not in places where a larger cache is possible. I've seen some sad environmental damage caused by people looking for a micro hidden in the woods.

 

One of the nice features of becoming a premium member is the ability to do pocket queries that filter out caches you don't want to hunt - be they 1/1 micros or 5/5 toughies.

 

Cheers,

 

~erik~

[+tomtwogates]

At the risk of offending those who love urban micros, it appears that the micro-spew plague has made it to SA.

 

 

I would like to hear Fish Eagles comments on this one - but I feel that down here in the Western Cape the balance between regular, smalls and micros has been maintained. I agree that putting a micro on top of a berg seems to be a bit over the top, but also believe that some micros I have found have been totally suitable for their location.

[+Fish Eagle]

I would like to hear Fish Eagles comments on this one

Ha-ha!! I hid a micro on Sunday!!

 

IMO, it's horses for courses. Micros are often the only viable option in the urban environment, and a clever micro at an interesting location can be quite entertaining.

 

Here's what I've said about cache size in the Guide for Hiding a Cache in Africa which pretty well sums up my views.

[+Wazat]

Welcome back Grawp... hope that your health remains great. Just a quick note I sent a mail to you some time back about my travel bug on a cocke bottle keyring called brrrrr, you don't perhaps have it in your possesion as it went missing from a cache you visited and was never logged out of the cache.

 

Sorry - not us. Having launched TBs of my own, I know how important they are to their owners and would not hold onto one.

 

I do hope you find it.

 

Thanks for the welcome back - I hope to get back into caching in a BIG way!!!

 

I LOVE this game!

 

Thanks, that clears you off the list. I must see who else hasn't replied..... eish.

 

Enjoy the return and we hope to see you out there sometime.