What is the worst cache you've seached for?

[+Juan Durrer]

Did you go for a nice walk after you signed the log? It look like there is some park land there about.

 

Yes. Ricky and I moved on to the next cache, a pleasant 2 mile round trip down a bike path.

[Mr.Yuck]

Were you talking about the cache called "Don't Harass Us!"? Looking at past logs, early finders mention needing tweezers, which is consistent with a nano. Later on, someone else mentioned finding a red herring. Sometimes cache owners toss down a decoy. Something real easy to find, on a cache with a high difficulty rating. Maybe that's what happened here? Or, some one tossed down a crappy free container rather than get a DNF. I don't see any mention of the cache owner replacing the nano with a pill bottle. Judging by the cache page I would guess it should've been a nano stuck behind a sign warning against harassing geese?

Yeah, that's it. And it was in that very spot. I don't think it was a red herring; the log had a ton of signatures... Maybe someone switched out the container, but a nano stuck to that post would still have been no more than a 1.5. (Ah, who knows maybe the original was amazing camo?) But, nonetheless, the spot is obvious, 25 feet from the road, with a park bench in front of it... it is literally wheel chair accessible.

 

But why throw down a container? Why not just not log it? Who is keeping score besides the cacher, and how can he live with a "find" like that? He still knows he didn't find it.

 

I truly believe most throwdowners believe they are doing the Geocaching community at large a favor.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Grrr.... just yesterday. One of the rare "perfect days" in New England that we get about 10 of, all between April 15 and October 31. Looking for a nice walk with a cache at the end... Since I've found most of the local caches, I need to drive a bit if I want to find something special.

 

"A nature preserve... see lots of animals... a nano..." Rated 3/2. I look at the map. There's some kind of wooded park with a stream running through it. OK, I think a nice walk and a challenging find. The dog and I hop in the car and drive 1/2 an hour to get there.

 

Son of a...

 

I pull to the side of the busy road and park not more than 20 feet from GZ, walk over perfectly flat ground to the most obvious location (a bench with a sign in front of it) and take the barely hidden pill bottle that was magnetically attached to the base of the large sign.

 

This was a 1/1 and a crappy 1/1 at best. And why would anyone think that a 1,000 aspirin pill bottle wrapped in electrical tape was a nano? Or think that it would be hard to find, stuck to a brown post?

 

Almost an hour wasted... and the poor puppy wondered why we drove and drove got out of the car got back in a minute later and drove and drove some more. Hey, don't get me wrong. I like an LPC as much as the next guy - or maybe more, from what I read here ;-) But for heaven's sake... 3/2?

 

Still irate.

 

Did you go for a nice walk after you signed the log? It look like there is some park land there about.

Perhaps it's not the cache that was bad, but rather your motivation for and attitude towards caching that are? You couldn't enjoy the trip and the location without there being a rewarding cache? You couldn't sign the log and then go for that nice hike you wished for? If you can't then I am afraid that you are in for many more 'bad' experiences.

[+L0ne.R]

Grrr.... just yesterday. One of the rare "perfect days" in New England that we get about 10 of, all between April 15 and October 31. Looking for a nice walk with a cache at the end... Since I've found most of the local caches, I need to drive a bit if I want to find something special.

 

"A nature preserve... see lots of animals... a nano..." Rated 3/2. I look at the map. There's some kind of wooded park with a stream running through it. OK, I think a nice walk and a challenging find. The dog and I hop in the car and drive 1/2 an hour to get there.

 

Son of a...

 

I pull to the side of the busy road and park not more than 20 feet from GZ, walk over perfectly flat ground to the most obvious location (a bench with a sign in front of it) and take the barely hidden pill bottle that was magnetically attached to the base of the large sign.

 

This was a 1/1 and a crappy 1/1 at best. And why would anyone think that a 1,000 aspirin pill bottle wrapped in electrical tape was a nano? Or think that it would be hard to find, stuck to a brown post?

 

Almost an hour wasted... and the poor puppy wondered why we drove and drove got out of the car got back in a minute later and drove and drove some more. Hey, don't get me wrong. I like an LPC as much as the next guy - or maybe more, from what I read here ;-) But for heaven's sake... 3/2?

 

Still irate.

 

Did you go for a nice walk after you signed the log? It look like there is some park land there about.

Perhaps it's not the cache that was bad, but rather your motivation for and attitude towards caching that are? You couldn't enjoy the trip and the location without there being a rewarding cache? You couldn't sign the log and then go for that nice hike you wished for? If you can't then I am afraid that you are in for many more 'bad' experiences.

 

A nice experience while getting to the cache can end up soured by a throw-down or a poorly rated D/T cache. Doesn't mean you aren't suited to the game of caching. The goal of geocaching is finding the cache - the hike and outdoors is an auxiliary experience and hopefully an enjoyable one.

 

You can enjoy football but when your team doesn't win and you get upset, maybe even tee-off at the referee for a bad call, it doesn't mean you are not suited to football.

 

And when you are out caching and go to a good area and find a good cache - the sun shines brighter, the birds are more melodious, and you have a lighter spring in your step. (Remember, Juan enjoyed his next cache outting).

[+KevinWinkler]

one.... there's been a couple of multicaches that give no indication of how many stages, in a heavily traveled part of town (lots of chances for any stage to be removed accidentally or intentionally). not many finders on it to this point. has me scratching my head what the point is supposed to be... puzzles or mind-reading?

 

two.... any cache that is on the ground in waist deep poison ivy. i drove away from one last week. they could jack the difficulty on that one up to 5 for me.

 

 

I hid one last week with a title "Home land security - Protected by ivy" I feel it's a nice hide, and the name itself might throw a few people off the trail. There might be a little ivy close by, but I can catch the stuff in the wind, so this location can't be too bad. Good view of the country side. No one has found it yet, but do you think I should change the name? Do you think the name will keep people away from it?

 

Sorry, just a noob here wanting to see more caches in my area that are bigger than a pill bottle. I'd like to get more people in the area interested in caching.

[+Juan Durrer]

Perhaps it's not the cache that was bad, but rather your motivation for and attitude towards caching that are? You couldn't enjoy the trip and the location without there being a rewarding cache? You couldn't sign the log and then go for that nice hike you wished for? If you can't then I am afraid that you are in for many more 'bad' experiences.

I don't know what makes you say that.

 

As I've said in this forum before - for me, there's nothing wrong with a 1/1 LPC in a parking lot. I circled the first 1/1 LPC I encountered for 40 minutes. I never would have found it if another cacher hadn't come along. I still laugh when I tell the story about how I lost that FTF. Heck, an LPC was my first hide. But I rated it 1/1 and called it a park and grab in the description.

 

I was looking for a nice walk and a challenging hide. I didn't just fire up the GPS and head off to the nearest coordinates, I went online and did a PQ for something terrain 2 or 3, difficulty 2 or 3. I drove over 20 minutes (with the dog in the car) to this destination. We ended up at a roadside park and grab.

 

There was nothing enjoyable about the trip; it was through a couple high traffic suburban town centers and the location was, as I said, within spitting distance of a busy road. Trucks, car horns, sirens. I guess if you live in downtown Detroit, this area might feel "rustic." Not for me. Do you actually enjoy every trip you make in your car?

 

And, no, I couldn't "sign the log and go for the nice hike I wished for." There were no trails. We weren't looking to aimlessly bushwhack. That's not a "nice walk."

 

Since we weren't in an area we knew, Ricky and I had to get back in the car, fire up the GC app and see if there was anything else in the area. A couple miles down the road we found a bike trail and enjoyed a two mile round trip to a simple trailside cache. Nothing spectacular, but exactly what was advertised: 1.5/1.5

 

I've got over 150 finds at this point and probably 20 DNFs. I can say I've enjoyed every single one, except this one. The topic was "worst cache." It was at the top of the board and I had just done the cache, so I wrote about it. Probably wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise.

 

So, I don't get it. What's my problem?

[+Psychoticjesters]

There were a group of younger cachers brand new to the game who put out a series of Multi's with a final to it. A lot of the coords were off on many of the stages and a few of the containers were obviously not taken into consideration for anything long-term. A pill bottle tossed under a bush among other trash all over the place. One stage was the bottom half of a Carmex container, no lid, and not even a baggie for the logsheet. It was just placed in the side of a bush, no attachment mechanism or anything. It of course disappeared and one of the multi's in the series even got archived, effectively making the final impossible to solve.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Psychoticjester

[+Sunmill]

As mentioned here already, one of our worst was a rock in a pile of rocks and thorns. There were other better hiding places in the immediate vicinity, I do not understand why the CO chose the rock pile.

[+joshuar9476]

In a nearby town is a very dumpy house with a plastic treasure chest on his front porch. It has the geocaching sticker on it, so it's obvious as to what it is, but it was still creepy. The container is also placed right next to his front door. I could hear the tv and people talking inside. i signed real fast and got the heck out of there.

[Alvater]

Last year I went three times to a cache. I could not find it at first... The cacher had posted a long hint and some spoiler photos. I eventually found it and it was an empty butter box. It was cracked and definitely not suitable for a cache. It had migrated so the hint was off and finders had stampeded the area.

 

I posted a NM, I think, but I would be surprised if there was any response. The cacher has not been online for years and their other cache has been disabled who knows how long. I should visit both caches to see if they are still there.

[+Ben0w]

It was cracked and definitely not suitable for a cache. It had migrated so the hint was off and finders had stampeded the area.

I posted a NM, I think, but I would be surprised if there was any response. The cacher has not been online for years and their other cache has been disabled who knows how long.

Looks like perfect reasons to log an "Needs Archived" on both of those caches.

I should visit both caches to see if they are still there.

After it was archived please go out and collect the geo-litter (i.e. the remainings of those caches).

[team tisri]

There were a group of younger cachers brand new to the game who put out a series of Multi's with a final to it. A lot of the coords were off on many of the stages and a few of the containers were obviously not taken into consideration for anything long-term. A pill bottle tossed under a bush among other trash all over the place. One stage was the bottom half of a Carmex container, no lid, and not even a baggie for the logsheet. It was just placed in the side of a bush, no attachment mechanism or anything. It of course disappeared and one of the multi's in the series even got archived, effectively making the final impossible to solve.

 

Wow, a four-year thread zombie...

 

One of my worst was in a dark corner of the overflow parking at a railway station. The cache was a film pot that could have been attached with a magnet to the guard rail but no, the hider decided to hide it under the trash in the corner. I was so glad I went to find that one.

[Mr.Yuck]

OK, if the question is the worst cache I ever looked for, I'd say a garbage strewn area in a City Park where I couldn't tell the trash from a cache if I wanted to. And I did not find that particular cache. As someone who "does their research", I've seen much worse than that. Mainly pointless roadside rural micros, where the finders put their life in danger to pull over on a road that no one would ever park on otherwise, for that coveted "quick grab".

[+ottieolsen]

Any LPC! Never understood the point of them or any cache that's hidden just to "fill in a gap"

[+sbell111]

Any cache that I can't find.

[+Zepp914]

The dumbest cache I ever found was a LPC that had no skirt. The log was in a bag under a rock that was sitting where the skirt should be. It was soaked and apparently it gets soaked every single time it rains.

 

The most disappointing cache was a regular sized Letterbox. The oldest logs talk about how great the stamp was. The most recent logs were from those 10,000 find copy/paste people who tell you nothing about the cache in question, but go into great detail about how great their trip has been caching with cousin Randy. I wish those people would just copy and paste "TFTC". Anyway, I get my significant other psyched up because we don't have any letterboxes where we live and how this will be a new cool thing. The cache was just a film canister with a log in it. On one of the maintenance logs, the CO who inherited the cache mentioned that he had to replace the container, but said nothing about the missing stamp...

 

I have never seen a really negative post about a cache, so my "found it" logs for both were very polite.

[+Tassie_Boy]

In a nearby town is a very dumpy house with a plastic treasure chest on his front porch. It has the geocaching sticker on it, so it's obvious as to what it is, but it was still creepy. The container is also placed right next to his front door. I could hear the tv and people talking inside. i signed real fast and got the heck out of there.

 

Why in god's name do people who feel so uncomfortable with caches for whatever reason still feel the need to jump in and go get it?? It makes no sense!

[+wmpastor]

In a nearby town is a very dumpy house with a plastic treasure chest on his front porch. It has the geocaching sticker on it, so it's obvious as to what it is, but it was still creepy. The container is also placed right next to his front door. I could hear the tv and people talking inside. i signed real fast and got the heck out of there.

 

Why in god's name do people who feel so uncomfortable with caches for whatever reason still feel the need to jump in and go get it?? It makes no sense!

He was 99% of the way there. It was slightly uncomfortable but not unsafe. Why turn around now?

[+wmpastor]

Small plastic box with snap-on lid. Junk swag & moldy log ... all frozen inside a solid block of ice!

[+Rayvan43]

Were you talking about the cache called "Don't Harass Us!"? Looking at past logs, early finders mention needing tweezers, which is consistent with a nano. Later on, someone else mentioned finding a red herring. Sometimes cache owners toss down a decoy. Something real easy to find, on a cache with a high difficulty rating. Maybe that's what happened here? Or, some one tossed down a crappy free container rather than get a DNF. I don't see any mention of the cache owner replacing the nano with a pill bottle. Judging by the cache page I would guess it should've been a nano stuck behind a sign warning against harassing geese?

Yeah, that's it. And it was in that very spot. I don't think it was a red herring; the log had a ton of signatures... Maybe someone switched out the container, but a nano stuck to that post would still have been no more than a 1.5. (Ah, who knows maybe the original was amazing camo?) But, nonetheless, the spot is obvious, 25 feet from the road, with a park bench in front of it... it is literally wheel chair accessible.

 

But why throw down a container? Why not just not log it? Who is keeping score besides the cacher, and how can he live with a "find" like that? He still knows he didn't find it.

 

I truly believe most throwdowners believe they are doing the Geocaching community at large a favor.

 

I did a throw down just yesterday. A film can which was better than the missing still filled with chap stick original container.

Your Welcome!

[+Clever Monkey]

Can I be different and say the impossible puzzle cache ?

 

I've seen caches near toilets (which I thought was not on anyway) and just walked away. No dnf nothing, the numbers are just not that important to me.

[team tisri]

Small plastic box with snap-on lid. Junk swag & moldy log ... all frozen inside a solid block of ice!

 

At least it had a lid. I remember finding a plastic container with no lid tucked under a log, presumably in the belief that the log would stop the rain getting into the cache. Needless to say the (wooden) log didn't do the intended job and the (paper) log was sodden and mouldy, as was everything else in that rather sorry excuse for a cache.

 

Unsurprisingly it was archived by the reviewer for non-maintenance.

[+terratin]

Most likely caches in dry stone walls and inside archaeological monuments, usually also of the lose building materials type. First of all they are difficult to find. But what annoys me most is that other cachers can't find them either and take the walls apart. I usually post a NA on those now as caches are not meant to be there in the first place, unless the CO mentions in his description that it's his wall.

[+arlenlisa67]

The most difficult find for us was the back of a big screen at a drive in movie theater. The back of the screen faced the highway. Our gps lead us right within 7 feet of the cache. But could not find it. We left and went to another cache and met 3 other groups of cachers there. We all went back to the movie theater to look again. It ended up being 60 feet up on the back of the giant screen. It was an Altoids can with magnet. There was a brave young guy from the group that scaled the screen and retrieved the log book so we could sign the log sheet.

 

It ends up the owners of the movie theater didn't know there was a cache on their property. We lowered the cache to a safe distance like 6-7 feet. The owner of the cache was on vacation from far way and decided to place a cache there. That was our the worst cache and dangerous.

[+GilkerscleughCachers]

There was a cache that came out in November 2013 that I attempted to FTF. I went along to this strip of woodland on the edge of a housing estate to find a cache which I presume was a 1.5ml nano with leaves glued to it from what other logs say. The area was full of Buckie (Cheap Booze) bottles and scrap metal. Many of the trees had nails sticking out of them and there was scrap metal lying around in places. I made 3 visits to that GZ, spending a total of 3 hours there. I emailed the review to ask for clarification about this sort of GZ and it's suitability for caching because it wasn't obviously unsuitable for children. She suggested I put a Needs Archived log on it, I did just that and a fortnight or so later, the cache was archived, only to be unarchived the following week. I put it on my ignore list.

 

About a month later, the same cacher puts another cache out at a different part of the small town, still in some woodland. Hint was base of tree. I again spent 3 hours here to no avail. The owner changed the container from a micro to a tupperware box but that made no difference. Overall the cache received 12 DNF logs. It wasn't a nice place to look because it was a popular area with dog walkers and some insisted on sticking their bags of dog poo at the base of trees. Not pleasant.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4T9W3

[+JL_HSTRE]

Former candy or gum container on a footbridge abutment over a canal. Not even certain if it was the real container or a replacement or just trash coincidentally placed like a cache. Bad container, questionable location, inactive CO (couple finds, hid a cache, vanished). Reviewer archived.

[+triga]

The first cache we showed my parents, had been peed in it. It was our first find like that.

Strange enough they started caching on their own after that O.o

[+J Grouchy]

Right now, it's kind of a toss-up for me between these two:

 

http://coord.info/GC368ZD

 

http://coord.info/GC368Z2

 

The former was a find on a site where there was all sorts of broken-up concrete and rusted rebar and trash.

The latter was supposed to be located in a park...but the area around GZ was so completely covered in broken bottles, I didn't really feel safe even walking around, much less searching for a geocache. DNFed that one.

[+and1969]

Worst cache I found was this one, at the base of a metal box-section post with a box holding a life belt. The cache was nothing more than a log sheet in a plastic bag, with a metal plate holding it flush against the post at ground level. The problem was that the post is on a major dog-walking route. Fortunately there were some public toilets within 100m of the cache where I was able to wash my hands.

[+L0ne.R]

The worst geocaching experience of 2014, for me, was a cache placed behind a residential city backyard that had a small chain-link fence pen (about 8'x8') of about 20 ducks, chickens, and turkeys. GC596K8. Most of the chickens were 1/3 plucked - probably aggression due to the tight living space. One chicken looked like it was dying. The flies and the smell were bad. Why someone would choose to bring people to this spot to see the deplorable condition of these birds, I don't understand. I couldn't stop thinking about it after I left. The first finder and I wrote something about the birds in the log. Got a PM from the cache owner that said, if I didn't like it I should call the Humane Society. I told them that I had already contacted them. Turned out the first finder also called. Apparently didn't do much good, based on the logs posted afterwards.

[+bflentje]

I emailed the review to ask for clarification about this sort of GZ and it's suitability for caching because it wasn't obviously unsuitable for children. She suggested I put a Needs Archived log on it, I did just that and a fortnight or so later, the cache was archived,

 

Is it or is it ?

[+GeoLog81]

There were several caches locates on trash cans, but the worst were those located on the unofficial clochard or track-driver toilets bleee

[+Trotter17]

Two come to mind for me. One was in Georgia. My family was just driving through and stopping to grab a quick bite when I decided to pull up the app on my wife's phone. I found a cache only a couple hundred feet away (I didn't have a Georgia cache yet), plugged the coords in my Garmin, and walked....behind the building to a junky, trash filled empty lot. Fortunately it was a simple LPC but the entire theme of the cache was about how junky the area was and how it was representative of the nearby restaurants (on whose property this cache was not).

 

The second was a micro in some woods near a park. The hint was stick. Only one person ever found it, a local cacher who stumbled on it by accident. Eventually the woods got bulldozed for a city park expansion. Still, coords seemed off, a micro in the woods, and the clue was stick.