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People prefer micros


L0ne.R

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I will go on record stating that I like all kinds of caches. What caches I choose to do on any particular day depends upon a lot of different factors. I love that I have a wide variety of choices.

 

I prefer micros when I'm working (I drive around a lot on the job) and have a few minutes to spare between stops or on my lunch break. What I like most about them is that I don't have to worry about ruining my work shoes (or changing my shoes if I'm prepared) or ruining my work clothes. Caching in a skirt can be fun but a lot of times it can be challenging! :laughing:

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This is a spin-off from another recent forum topic about micros. It has been suggested that people prefer to find micro caches.

 

Do you prefer to find (not hide) micros more then regular/large cache sizes? If so, why?

Actually, you are misconstruing what was being discussed in the other thread.

 

Many people enjoy finding micros.

Many people enjoy finding larger caches.

 

The very fact that there are many, many micro caches hidden and that these caches are found lots of times proves that people do, in fact, enjoy hiding and finding micro caches.

 

As to why people enjoy hiding them, here's a few suggestions:

  • People hide caches that they would like to find.
  • They can be hidden in locations that cannot support a larger cache.
  • They generally don't cause the level of drama (in the real world) that a larger cache can.

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This is a spin-off from another recent forum topic about micros. It has been suggested that people prefer to find micro caches.

 

Do you prefer to find (not hide) micros more then regular/large cache sizes? If so, why?

Your set-up premise is unclear.

 

Did you mean to say "It has been suggested that some people prefer to find micro caches." Or did you mean to say "It has been suggested that all people prefer to find micro caches."

 

If the former, then your claim is about as non-controversial as you can get, and I don’t see why you think anyone would find it interesting.

 

If the latter, then not only are you going to find that one impossible to prove, but I seriously doubt anyone in these forums ever actually made that claim.

 

And to answer your question: I have no preference.

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This is a spin-off from another recent forum topic about micros. It has been suggested that people prefer to find micro caches.

 

Do you prefer to find (not hide) micros more then regular/large cache sizes? If so, why?

 

I hope you didn't mean I inferred that people like micros more. I believe they are more popular.

 

Do I prefer them?

 

I like finding micros but if all there were were micros, I wouldn't be a geocacher.

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I like having a record of all the caches I find - I have a display case with trinkets from all the caches I've found. For that reason, I don't really like microcaches. It's fun to find them wedged into small places, but I take a lot of joy out of finding a little trinket and leaving a trinket. I also really love swapping travel bugs, so I generally prefer larger caches.

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I prefer ammo cans filled with interesting kid-friendly swag hidden in places that make for a fun and/or educational excursion.

 

For years I either hid or gave away as event prizes approximately 60 stocked ammo cans at a cost of ~80-$100. each. Cost, the fact that caches degrade so rapidly, and losing around 70 geocoins in two stolen coin caches cured me of that. Now if I hide an ammo can at all it has dollar store junk in it. I love my caching community, but I am tired of fishing reels and FRS radios being replaced with dirty Matchbox cars. Therefore when I hide more caches there won't be much to them, most likely micros, and I will let the location speak for me rather than the swag.

 

I've alway hunted more micros than other, simply because in the early years I mostly did out-of-town runs and numbers runs, which lends itself to micros.

 

My health is degrading as well, so walking on crutches hurts more every day, and wheelchair caching has never been particularly viable.

 

So yes, for all those reasons, I mostly do micros.

 

That's not to say that I prefer them, it just is what it is. :laughing:

 

Edit to add: The question did make me curious enough to look at my profile to see...

 

Finds by Container

Number Percent

Micro 1397 54.3 %

Regular 458 17.8 %

Not chosen 223 8.67 %

Small 216 8.40 %

Large 139 5.40 %

Other 82 3.18 %

Virtual 56 2.17 %

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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Micros generally get found more often, because most of them are cache and dashes. That doesn't mean that people prefer them, just that they are quicker to get to. 26% of my finds are micros. Frequently, I travel to places where micros offer the only opportunity to hide caches. About half of those have taken me to very interesting places, where only a micro could be hidden. (Yeah, I also do cache and dashes along highways.) 34% of my hides are micros. That means that I enjoy taking people to great places where only a micro could be hidden. (Okay. The exception there is the bison tube hidden up the butt of a bronze rabbit statue, in the woods. That was meant to be humorous.) That doesn't mean that I prefer to hide micros. It means that I like showing peope places that I find interesting. If a micro is what it takes, then it will be a micro! Don't make me post photos! Okay. If you insist... :laughing:

 

2474c254-4fa6-4aa9-a46c-273691b3417b.jpg

 

Is this view worth hunting a micro? We thought so. And the finders have enjoyed it as well.

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This is a spin-off from another recent forum topic about micros. It has been suggested that people prefer to find micro caches.

 

Do you prefer to find (not hide) micros more then regular/large cache sizes? If so, why?

 

I hope you didn't mean I inferred that people like micros more. I believe they are more popular.

 

Do I prefer them?

 

I like finding micros but if all there were were micros, I wouldn't be a geocacher.

 

Specifically you said:

 

It is my experience that micros are, by far, the most popular container that cachers WANT to look for.

 

A couple of others seemed to support this theory. So I thought it would be interesting to open it up for discussion to see who else actually prefers micros.

 

I'm not looking for inference that they are popular because people want to look for them, I want to hear evidence that people actually do want to look for them because they prefer them thus supporting the theory that micros are popular BECAUSE finders WANT to look for micros.

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This is a spin-off from another recent forum topic about micros. It has been suggested that people prefer to find micro caches.

 

Do you prefer to find (not hide) micros more then regular/large cache sizes? If so, why?

 

I hope you didn't mean I inferred that people like micros more. I believe they are more popular.

 

Do I prefer them?

 

I like finding micros but if all there were were micros, I wouldn't be a geocacher.

 

Specifically you said:

 

It is my experience that micros are, by far, the most popular container that cachers WANT to look for.

 

A couple of others seemed to support this theory. So I thought it would be interesting to open it up for discussion to see who else actually prefers micros.

 

I'm not looking for inference that they are popular because people want to look for them, I want to hear evidence that people actually do want to look for them because they prefer them thus supporting the theory that micros are popular BECAUSE finders WANT to look for micros.

And you want to imply that people don't want to search for the most popular caches?

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Preference will always be personal and individualistic.

 

Run a PQ of your area. Are there more micros than other? If so about all that you can infer is that cachers in your area hide more micros than other sizes.

 

Good luck getting people to come in this forum and state that they prefer micros, flame-retardant suits don't make one safe enough from the kind of grief they know they'd catch.

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It has been suggested that people prefer to find micro caches.
Did you mean to say "It has been suggested that some people prefer to find micro caches." Or did you mean to say "It has been suggested that all people prefer to find micro caches."

 

If the former, then your claim is about as non-controversial as you can get, and I don’t see why you think anyone would find it interesting.

 

If the latter, then not only are you going to find that one impossible to prove, but I seriously doubt anyone in these forums ever actually made that claim.

I believe they are referring to claims such as this:
It is my experience that micros are, by far, the most popular conrainer that cachers WANT to look for.

 

My data is from my own experiments.

I have Micro, Small, and Regular sized caches in the field right now.

 

My micros were all found withina couple hours. Each one has more finds than my small or regular sized caches.

My small cache has had more finds than my regular caches but the FTF didn't come until a day after publication.

My regular caches have the fewest finds and the FTF can take days. The shortest amount of time on one of my regular sized caches was about 16 hours.

 

So, it's clear that if I want people to find my caches, I must place micros.

If you look at his caches, it seems to me that there is no more than a 16 hour gap between publication and FTF on any of his caches, so I have to disagree with his entire premise. :laughing: Edited by Too Tall John
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Clan Riffster is a team account, representing myself, my wife Vivian and our youngest, Munchkin.

I prefer caches with swag, as I find it interesting to paw through stuff, even though I almost never trade, and instead, simply leave stuff for others. I also prefer caches with log books as opposed to those that contain strips of paper, as I enjoy sitting down and reading about past endeavors, and jotting down my own thoughts for posterity. I also prefer caches that can hold TBs and geocoins, as I enjoy trying to meet their goals when I can, and reading about their travels when I can't. I also prefer caches way back in the woods, far from any sign of civilization.

 

As such, my preferences don't really lend themselves toward most micros.

 

Viv prefers caches that don't require a lot of walking to get to, and doesn't really have any preferences toward size. Locally, most hides that are close to parking are micros, so that's what she goes for the most. On the rare occasion that we find a P&G that has significant volume, she enjoys looking through the swag as well.

 

Munchkin prefers caches with swag, that are close to civilization.

 

Since I thoroughly enjoy caching with both my wife and littlest rugrat, on our family trips, I have very little preference.

 

I save my bias for those days I cache solo.

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I am almost always geocaching with a child - either my son or my special needs students - and I'm afraid most children don't really like micros so we usually go for the little bit bigger caches. I also prefer the larger caches, though micros can be fun sometimes! Although I prefer larger, I am happy that there are all kinds of caches in the geocaching world...just like people: if we were all the same, life would be so darn boring! Different caches also make like more interesting! :laughing:

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Strangely sometimes I prefer vanilla ice cream and sometimes I prefer raspberry :laughing:. I could say that I always prefer premium ice cream made with real cream and fresh ingredients, but sometimes I actualy want a dish of soft serve or maybe I'm on a diet and low-fat frozen yogurt will have to do.

 

Same with caches. When urban caching I sort of expect a micro. It is very hard to hide a regular or even a small cache and not have it be muggled in an urban/suburban location. So when I find a larger cache in this kind of setting I am pleasantly surprised and it makes an impression that I'm likely to remember. On the other hand in a rural type enviroment, it is often easy to hide an ammo can under a pile of rocks or a decon container in a bush. Particularly when you can go off trail a little ways. Some areas around here have taken to limit cache placement to with a few feet of the trail, and even when they allow off trail caches, I can appreciate a cache hidden by the trail so I don't have to worry about ticks or snakes. I actually do prefer micros in the woods so long as they are not needle-in-the-haystack hides. But even here, there are times when I like the challenge of spending a significant amount of time searching, trying to out think the cache owner, "Where would I hide a bison tube?" There is a lot of satisfaction that comes from realizing you can find something so small despite the number of spots where it could be hidden.

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When I'm caching from work at lunch during the week, I "prefer" whatever can be reached within a reasonable timeframe. It's bad enough that Spammer and I overstay these events as much as we do!

 

In this thread and others, I don't see any thought given to the fact that people aren't always in the same mode every time they have an opportunity to go caching, and it's usually a time issue. When you work in an urban/suburban environment, and you're going to do any regular cache runs during lunch, you'll find that avoiding micros shuts down the party pretty early.

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I prefer a cache to no cache.

I prefer caches I like over caches I don't like. Big whoop, eh?

 

If you like vanilla, say so.

Well, I like chocolate better than vanilla, but ice cream over no ice cream. Unless it's garlic flavored.

 

But for geocaches, I don't use size as the sole criteria, or even main criteria, for determining how much I like it.

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Micro sized geocaches are a scourge on the earth.

 

Micro sized geocaches hidden in urban settings are both a scourge and and embarrassment to the game of geocaching.

 

I do not prefer micros, in fact I generally despise them. The few 'good' ones are vastly out numbered by lame and embarrassing ones that never ought to have been hidden.

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But for geocaches, I don't use size as the sole criteria, or even main criteria, for determining how much I like it.

I hear ya.

 

What option do you use?

Interesting location, primarily. Followed by suitability of cache for area. I also like a well designed puzzle even if the location is crappy (after I've solved the puzzle. Before I solve it, it's just irritating :laughing: ) But I'll admit it, on some days, I just need to get my fix, and any cache will do. But I go for them not because I like them, but because I need them. Hello, my name is Chrysalides, and I'm a cacherholic.

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But for geocaches, I don't use size as the sole criteria, or even main criteria, for determining how much I like it.

I hear ya.

 

What option do you use?

Interesting location, primarily. Followed by suitability of cache for area. I also like a well designed puzzle even if the location is crappy (after I've solved the puzzle. Before I solve it, it's just irritating :laughing: ) But I'll admit it, on some days, I just need to get my fix, and any cache will do. But I go for them not because I like them, but because I need them. Hello, my name is Chrysalides, and I'm a cacherholic.

 

Yes. Interesting locations, well designed puzzles, and whose you want to avoid are not options.

 

Do you prefer micros?

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I prefer a cache that fits its location. Sometimes a micro (or a *gasp* nano) is better than a regular cache or a small cache. Sometimes a regular sized cache is better. I do not like a micro hidden when a regular cache could be placed there. Nor do I like a regular cache placed where a micro would have been a better choice. I want to be entertained by a cache. Sometimes a micro makes a cache site more entertaining, sometimes a regular is more entertaining.

 

For those of you who like to look at the swag, one thing Ive noticed here is that the quality of swag is almost nonexistent now. On very few occasions do we find anything worth trading for. Do you still love regular caches when all you find in them is junk? We have been leaving decent trade items in caches for the last couple of years in the hopes that folks will start leaving good stuff too, sort of leading by example. Its not working tho lol.

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The very fact that there are many, many micro caches hidden and that these caches are found lots of times proves that people do, in fact, enjoy hiding and finding micro caches.

 

Are you saying that because there are so many micros, then one can conclude that it's because people enjoy finding micros? And because so many people hide micros it is because those micro hiders enjoy finding micro caches?

 

So far the responses in this discussion don't lean towards that conclusion.

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Do you prefer micros?

How many ways do I need to spell out I neither prefer nor dislike them?

 

I've never really agreed with the whole No Bad Cache concept. It sounds nice but I haven't found someone who likes every cache type. Have you?

 

I think it's about time we specify what caches we prefer to search for.

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Good luck getting people to come in this forum and state that they prefer micros, flame-retardant suits don't make one safe enough from the kind of grief they know they'd catch.

flame_suit.jpg

 

I like micros!!

 

Now pummel me with ammo cans and lock n locks so I can scoop them up and run away,I have padding under the suit. :laughing:

 

Micros have a place.In my area the caches seem to get larger the further you go from the center of town.

Again....I'm new,but before reading some of these micro threads, it was just logical to me it would be that

way....(based on my limited travels)no pile ons please,its hard to move in this suit.

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One has only to look at one of the many, many, many threads in the forums about how people hate caches that are long hikes to scenic spots to get a general feel for why people love urban micros so much.

 

Right?

 

I dont hate those caches, but I am not physically able to do those caches. My physical limitations are getting worse not better so I will never be able to do those caches. I do not gripe about them though because there are many who do like them and I think its great that folks have caches they enjoy too even when they are different than my likes.

 

It would be nice if those who dislike micros would let the rest of us enjoy micros lol.

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One has only to look at one of the many, many, many threads in the forums about how people hate caches that are long hikes to scenic spots to get a general feel for why people love urban micros so much.

 

Right?

 

I dont hate those caches, but I am not physically able to do those caches. My physical limitations are getting worse not better so I will never be able to do those caches. I do not gripe about them though because there are many who do like them and I think its great that folks have caches they enjoy too even when they are different than my likes.

 

It would be nice if those who dislike micros would let the rest of us enjoy micros lol.

 

It would also be nice if the people who complained about micros, or urban caches, or "lame" caches were never allowed to seek those caches they complain about so much.

 

I don't complain about scuba diving caches, why would someone else complain about micros in the urban jungle?

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I'd like to share a nice little sentiment with everyone, written by someone posting in this very thread:

I love to find micros.

But if all that existed were micros, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a power trail.

But if all that existed were power trails, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a tree climb cache.

But if all that existed were tree climbing caches, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a 20 mile hike to a cache.

But if all that existed were 20 mile hike caches, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVED my first nano cache.

But if all that existed were nano caches, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVE ammo cans caches.

But if all that existed were ammo can caches, I would get bored and stop being a cacher.

 

I LOVED my first evil cache find.

But if all that existed were evil hides, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVE guardrail and lamp post skirt caches

But if all that existed were GR and LPC caches, I wouldn't be a cacher.

Seems an awful far stretch from that to this:
It would also be nice if the people who complained about micros, or urban caches, or "lame" caches were never allowed to seek those caches they complain about so much.
Here's a better idea: For anyone who's complaining bruises your sensitivities, don't read their posts any more. In these forums, there's even a magic way to not have to read someone's drivel any more, it's called the ignore feature.

 

In the meanwhile, anyone expressing their opinion on micros, be it pro or con, are dead-on-topic, and should feel free to post without worrying that bittsen is going to ban you from finding any particular type of cache.

 

I, personally, think micros have their place, but when I see a micro hidden in a spot where a larger cache would easily fit, it sometimes makes me a little sad. I wonder if it's a micro just because they couldn't (or wouldn't) fit a larger cache into their pack that morning on the off chance they found a spot that "needed" a cache. If a spot "needs" a cache, you should probably know about it ahead of time, and plan accordingly by bringing something more than one of the dozen film cans you have stuck in your pack. :laughing:

 

Forethought is the keyword for me.

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I'd like to share a nice little sentiment with everyone, written by someone posting in this very thread:

I love to find micros.

But if all that existed were micros, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a power trail.

But if all that existed were power trails, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a tree climb cache.

But if all that existed were tree climbing caches, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a 20 mile hike to a cache.

But if all that existed were 20 mile hike caches, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVED my first nano cache.

But if all that existed were nano caches, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVE ammo cans caches.

But if all that existed were ammo can caches, I would get bored and stop being a cacher.

 

I LOVED my first evil cache find.

But if all that existed were evil hides, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVE guardrail and lamp post skirt caches

But if all that existed were GR and LPC caches, I wouldn't be a cacher.

Seems an awful far stretch from that to this:
It would also be nice if the people who complained about micros, or urban caches, or "lame" caches were never allowed to seek those caches they complain about so much.
Here's a better idea: For anyone who's complaining bruises your sensitivities, don't read their posts any more. In these forums, there's even a magic way to not have to read someone's drivel any more, it's called the ignore feature.

 

In the meanwhile, anyone expressing their opinion on micros, be it pro or con, are dead-on-topic, and should feel free to post without worrying that bittsen is going to ban you from finding any particular type of cache.

 

I, personally, think micros have their place, but when I see a micro hidden in a spot where a larger cache would easily fit, it sometimes makes me a little sad. I wonder if it's a micro just because they couldn't (or wouldn't) fit a larger cache into their pack that morning on the off chance they found a spot that "needed" a cache. If a spot "needs" a cache, you should probably know about it ahead of time, and plan accordingly by bringing something more than one of the dozen film cans you have stuck in your pack. :laughing:

 

Forethought is the keyword for me.

 

So your sarcasm meter is broke?

 

:laughing:

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I've never really agreed with the whole No Bad Cache concept. It sounds nice but I haven't found someone who likes every cache type. Have you?

You have now!

 

I like them all, and my method of choosing caches has always been "Next!"

 

The only time I have ever sat down and plotted out what caches I wanted to hunt was for our Dallas Record Run attempt.

 

Even on cache runs where someone said "Let's go to Nashville and get 100 tomorrow" we just pick a cache-rich area and head out.

 

For the other 99% of the time we just head for a cache or event and after finding it hit "next nearest". There are times when someone in the group will want to skip long hikes or multis or puzzles or whatever, but I can't ever recall an outing where someone wanted to skip the next cache based on its size.

 

I strongly suspect that micro-hating is a forum thing, because I have never run across it verbalized in the wild.

 

Edit to add: Micro is a size, not a type. Just sayin' :laughing:

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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I've never really agreed with the whole No Bad Cache concept. It sounds nice but I haven't found someone who likes every cache type. Have you?

You have now!

 

I like them all, and my method of choosing caches has always been "Next!"

 

The only time I have ever sat down and plotted out what caches I wanted to hunt was for our Dallas Record Run attempt.

 

Even on cache runs where someone said "Let's go to Nashville and get 100 tomorrow" we just pick a cache-rich area and head out.

 

For the other 99% of the time we just head for a cache or event and after finding it hit "next nearest". There are times when someone in the group will want to skip long hikes or multis or puzzles or whatever, but I can't ever recall an outing where someone wanted to skip the next cache based on its size.

 

I strongly suspect that micro-hating is a forum thing, because I have never run across it verbalized in the wild.

 

Edit to add: Micro is a size, not a type. Just sayin' :laughing:

 

Next time that you are the area, stop by, k? :laughing:

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Well... let's see...

 

 

Two weekends ago, I found a micro that was an extremely well-hidden fake bolt. It took tweezers to extract the log. I also found a gallon jar covered with bark in a wooded, yet still urban, park about a mile from the other.

 

I found a Bison tube that was very cleverly hidden in a sound-barrier fence. It took me three trips (all on the same day... I got stubborn after my 3rd consecutive DNF by this particular hider). The next cache was an unpainted peanut butter jar in a tiny woods with houses in plain view, and about 35 feet from GZ.

 

Let's see... oh yeah... there was the penny lying on the ground, right in plain sight. It took five of us a good 45 minutes to realize what it really was. Later that day, we found an ammo box in a stump.

 

I enjoyed every one of those caches, but guess which ones really challenged me the most.

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Well... let's see...

 

 

Two weekends ago, I found a micro that was an extremely well-hidden fake bolt. It took tweezers to extract the log. I also found a gallon jar covered with bark in a wooded, yet still urban, park about a mile from the other.

 

I found a Bison tube that was very cleverly hidden in a sound-barrier fence. It took me three trips (all on the same day... I got stubborn after my 3rd consecutive DNF by this particular hider). The next cache was an unpainted peanut butter jar in a tiny woods with houses in plain view, and about 35 feet from GZ.

 

Let's see... oh yeah... there was the penny lying on the ground, right in plain sight. It took five of us a good 45 minutes to realize what it really was. Later that day, we found an ammo box in a stump.

 

I enjoyed every one of those caches, but guess which ones really challenged me the most.

 

I give up. Which ones really challenged you the most?

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One has only to look at one of the many, many, many threads in the forums about how people hate caches that are long hikes to scenic spots to get a general feel for why people love urban micros so much.

 

Right?

It may be that the people who hate these caches are so busy finding the lame urban micros that they enjoy that they don't have time to complain in the forums. :laughing:

 

Since all my caches require a long hike and all are in what I believe are scenic spots I would guess that they would get a lot of visits. But you know what, they don't get found so often compared to a micro at a WalMart. I am certain that my puzzles are on people's ignore lists. None of this bothers me, because I know the people who enjoy these kinds of caches will appreciate them that much more when the find them. In the meantime the people who enjoy caches that they can drive right up to and perhaps find hundreds in a day, have plenty of the caches they enjoy. And when from time to time I either feel like a quick cache outing in the city or a day with friends driving around doing PnGs, I enjoy these as well. I know that next Sunday, I can go on a hike somewhere and find a few caches and enjoy that as well. I can avoid doing urban hides if I want to find a scenic spot or a long hike.

 

Now if you ask about micros hidden in non-urban environments, I understand that some people prefer a regular cache in these situations. They are basically out to enjoy a hike and visit scenic spots. They don't want to be looking for a needle-in-the-haystack when they get to the cache. It can be frustrating to hike for an hour and then spend another hour searching for a micro. Fortunately where I am, most of the micros in the woods are hidden in an obvious place and/or the cache owner provides a good hint. But I am also willing to post a DNF on a cache (whatever size) if I get tired of looking. For various reasons that I stated in a previous post, there are times when I personally prefer a micro in the woods to a larger cache.

 

The reason you see only threads complaining of micros my be because some people have a misconception about geocaching. For those who have been around a long time, it may be that when they started the urban micros were a smaller percentage of the caches and they could find those along with the ones they enjoy without feeling overwhelmed. My guess is that geocaching has always been about hiding containers in many different places for people to find. The fact that among the early adopters were a large portion of hikers and other outdoor types who hid regular sized containers in the woods may have given some people the idea that it was about long hikes and scenic places. That may have encouraged other early adopters to seek out places that had some special interest to them instead of placing a cache in a parking lot just because there wasn't a cache there already. But I think since the idea was to hide caches for people to find, it soon became the game of people who liked to find caches no matter were they were hidden. And smaller micros opened up the number of place were a geocache could be successfully hidden. Those that don't enjoy looking in lamppost in parking lots should have ways to avoid these caches and still find ones in places they find interesting. Perhaps combining geocaching with Waymarking, you could see if the nearest waymark was a Starbucks or if it was an historic location or had some other feature you find particularly worthy of having a cache. Think of a pocket query where you could pick the Waymarking categories you find interesting, that would return only caches that were near one of these waymarks - or you could pick the Waymarking categories you want to avoid and it would not return any caches that were near these waymarks.

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While I don't choose caches to hunt according to their size, I will say that on average, I prefer to look for micros. I enjoy creative caches and caches hidden creatively. It seems more creative caches happen to be micro size. At least, around where we live. We've found a lot of creative caches that were regular and smalls, but if its a micro, we know we're in for a challenge (unless its a PNG or LPH). One of the caches that has impressed the most lately was a new one right by our house. It was in an aluminum pipe in a public park that used to be a part of a fence or something. A pretty non-assuming location. Water was required to retrieve it. So it took a second trip, the retrieval was fun, and it was fairly muggle-proof. Great! And it was a matchstick container.

 

Another reason why I like micros, is that all you have to do is sign the log. You don't have to worry about swag and trading up or even. Most of the larger caches around here have lousy swag anyways. This was highlighted on a trip to SD. We climbed up a hill in the Black Hills and found a regular that had been there for some years and was stocked with quality swag. I mean, nice outdoor gear like ponchos, flashlights, first aid kits, compasses, etc. We didn't really have anything with that was equal to trade even. I kind of thought it gave us a glimpse of what old-school caches were like "back in the day" (sort of like how people recall the 50's fondly as the good ole days, whether or not such good times exists). So with diminished states of swag, I say why bother? Just give me a log to sign.

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I have no preference and will seek any size cache. The quantity of endorphins released upon locating a cache is usually in proportion to the difficulty of the hide not the size of the container.

 

So your sarcasm meter is broke?

 

I actually have a (micro) cache placed called Sarcasm Detector. My excuse for placing (seemingly frowned-upon) micros is that they are subcomponents leading to larger containers but I admit they are really fun to camouflage and hide. People seem to enjoy finding them.

 

As far as me FINDING micros, I can also freely admit that one of my most enjoyable and memorable caching experiences was an LPC in a mall parking lot.

 

I didn't log this because I thought it was TMI but other entries mention the incredibly loud SCREEECHING sound the skirt makes when you lift it. It was 4am when I did this, and the configuration of the surrounding buildings caused it to echo horrendously. This made me laugh, alot - I'd have shot liquid out my nose had I been drinking anything at the time.

 

Good times!

 

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