Not liking this game

[+sdbowen999]

I have been doing this for only a couple weeks but I think this game sucks. I have more not found caches than found ones. Today I went to look for one that should have been easy. It should have been an ammo box connected to a chain. My GPS took me to where it should have been but no luck. I'm not blind, I know to look up, down, in a tree, under plants, under bridges, etc. If this keeps up I am done with this game. I have found 0/4 caches in 2 days. Some nano, micro, and regular. My limit is 5-10 looking for a cache. I don't know what I am doing wrong if I can't find it that amount of time. Especially when I have found my first 2 caches in less than 30 seconds.

[+Cardinal Red]

I have been doing this for only a couple weeks but I think this game sucks. I have more not found caches than found ones. Today I went to look for one that should have been easy. It should have been an ammo box connected to a chain. My GPS took me to where it should have been but no luck. I'm not blind, I know to look up, down, in a tree, under plants, under bridges, etc. If this keeps up I am done with this game. I have found 0/4 caches in 2 days. Some nano, micro, and regular. My limit is 5-10 looking for a cache. I don't know what I am doing wrong if I can't find it that amount of time. Especially when I have found my first 2 caches in less than 30 seconds.

Were you looking for advise? For encouragement? Or simply just to vent?

[g_o_caching]

Are you going back through the logs of previous finders to find a clue in where they found it or where they looked? I wouldn't go for micro or nano's until you have found more regular sized ones. Do you know any other geocachers in your area to learn from? Try to go with friends along, you will have more eyes to look with and more thoughts of where it might be. My first find was easy and I thought there's nothing to this. The next 5 or 6 I didn't find the first time I tried. I went back 2, 3 or more times until I found it or exhausted all my ideas of where it could be. I don't mark it "Did not find" after only looking once. If I still can't find it I look for clues in what previous finders logged. If I still can't find it I mark it as DNF. There are more than this one to look for. There is no rule that you have to find every single cache you look for.

[+briansnat]

The challenge of finding them is a good part of the attraction of the game for many of us. Sometimes you find them, sometimes you don't. I've not found (DNFed) nearly 200 caches, but had a good time on nearly every one of them whether I found them or not.

 

You'll have more fun if you adjust your attitude and not place such a premium on the actual find. Enjoy the rainbow and don't worry so much about the pot of gold at the end.

[+ventura_kids]

I've DNF'd 5 in a row..... and that was just last month.

 

Normally, if a certain area is messed up, we move to another area.

If a certain hider is messed up, we skip those hides.

If we can figure out how messed up the hider is, we may go hunt them...for example... all his hides are about 40 feet off. We can still find them...but with much more effort.

 

Perhaps you need to HIDE a few caches. That should be fun.

 

Sometimes a bunch of geocaches get ripped off all at once. This is kinda rare still....but it happens.

 

Now calm down, pick an easy one.... and remember....you don't win a new car or a trip to Hawaii if you find the cache.....so a DNF isn't really a big deal.

[+roziecakes]

I suggest getting to know other cachers in your area and see if they will take you out and show you the ropes a little. You can make friends, and get to learn a lot about caching that way. Maybe attend a local event.

[+The Leprechauns]

I've been searching out tupperware in the woods for more than eight years now, and I still score a DNF more than 5% of the time.

 

One phrase that I find myself repeating in my DNF logs is: "If they were all easy to find, I would have lost interest in this game a long time ago."

 

If I found every cache within 30 seconds (think lamp posts and guardrails), geocaching would be quite boring. I need to mix in some evil camo jobs, needle in a haystack searches, and thorny bushwacks to add variety. For the easy ones where you can drive within 50 feet, I add to the fun by leaving the GPS in the car.

[+kunarion]

My limit is 5-10 looking for a cache. I don't know what I am doing wrong if I can't find it that amount of time.

I've returned for some "real easy" caches several times before finding. On a couple of them, the Cache Owner took pity on my with some remedial hints after my 3rd or 4th DNF on it. It would guess that perseverance is a good Geocaching trait. It's possible that this hobby may not be your style.

 

I would also say that a box that is "chained" may have past muggling issues -- maybe it was stolen a lot, so now it's chained, making it even more inviting to muggles.

 

 

In case you're interested in caching tips, this is everything I know:

 

Look at the star rating for a cache. If both Difficulty and Terrain are less than “2”, it should be good for beginners, and probably fun for the kids, too. Pick a “Traditional Cache” (green icon), “Small” or larger size (save Micros for later). Check the description to see if it's something that seems likely to find. Look for an encrypted “additional hint”, there may be useful info there (for more of a challenge, bring it along encrypted and use it only if necessary). Read a couple of recent logs, so you know others are finding it. You may even look at the “terrain” view on the map, to see where the cache icon is in relation to walls, fences, and other landmarks.

 

If it's a car GPS, use “”Off-Road”, “Pedestrian Mode” (otherwise, it tends to only point to mapped roads). If it's a handheld, select “Geocaching Mode”, or other hiking mode, and watch the compass and distance. When it says you're closer than 30 feet from the cache, it's time to look less at the GPSr, and look around for hiding spots.

 

When I started Geocaching, if the cache description was very specific, that's one I'd try – I'd basically know exactly where I was going to look when I arrived. You might try a similar system.

[+Ike 13]

Lots of good advice above. If you cannot handle not finding every cache you look for in 5-10 minutes on the first try then this hobby may not be for you. I have over 1100 finds. I still have times where I can't find easy caches. I have days where I regard 50% find rate as success. Remember that all caches are not exactly where your GPS is and to search at least a 20-30 ft radius. BTW the best feeling in geocaching is finding a cache after a couple DNF's.

[+Chokecherry]

I know on one cache I was looking for (and it was a multi) it took cumulatively probably about 20 hours to find it with all the trips out and searching we did. The final alone took an hour of searching to finally find. It's pretty normal for me to be looking about a half hour I found for many caches. And then sometimes I get lucky like the other week and I find them all with in 5 minutes.

 

If I get some cool pictures and get to see a cool spot I don't feel all that bad giving it a good whirl and logging a DNF. The cache is just the bonus to the journey really.

[+Waters Gang]

We find the fun is going to the different areas and looking around. We have spent over an hour on a few caches to find them and sometimes we leave to come back another time.

 

Lots of good info in the logs from other people and what they have written. Don't give up go out and have fun with it. It is amazing when you talk to people and find out they do it too. Try going out in a group or with some friends. Good luck with it and have fun

[+Team Cotati]

I have been doing this for only a couple weeks but I think this game sucks. I have more not found caches than found ones. Today I went to look for one that should have been easy. It should have been an ammo box connected to a chain. My GPS took me to where it should have been but no luck. I'm not blind, I know to look up, down, in a tree, under plants, under bridges, etc. If this keeps up I am done with this game. I have found 0/4 caches in 2 days. Some nano, micro, and regular. My limit is 5-10 looking for a cache. I don't know what I am doing wrong if I can't find it that amount of time. Especially when I have found my first 2 caches in less than 30 seconds.

 

Not every game is well suited for every person.

[+geodarts]

I like finding them better than I like looking for them, so I will stop the search when it is no longer fun. But there is a learning curve to everything. When I first started caching there were some easy ones that I just couldn't find - sometimes it took a second visit, sometimes it needed added hints from the cache owner. And the more I found the easier it became.

 

There has been some good advice posted: expand the search area (what gpsr do you use?), particularly under trees or near tall buildings, look at past logs (if only to make sure it does not have a string of dnfs), look for the signs of a cache - something just out of place, a stone or two that might not otherwise be there, a geotrail, and the like. A chained ammo can is rather specific but assume nothing unless you know it from the description, hint, or logs. See if you can go out with another cacher - at the very least it makes more fun.

[+knowltonGeo]

As a newbie cacher (I just started yesterday), I learned that it helps to do as much research as you can before going, particularly the hints provided by the hider. I did not do this, and I had to run back home and write down the hint and think about the name of the cache and how it related to the location. When I went back, I quickly realized I'd practically walked right past it! It was my 10 year old who found it in the end. Kids are great at thinking outside the box. They don't have pre-conceptions about where something might be hidden. They are open books.

 

How unfortunate it would have been if I had let my natural impatience get the better of me and stormed-off thinking "This game stinks!" after my first 10 minutes yielded no fruit.

 

After finding the cache, I'd have to say that finding it is incidental. There are far bigger rewards than finding the cache in a sport like this. Like the opportunity to spend time with family. If your situation warrants it, I'd suggest never go alone. What fun is there in not having anyone to share your experience with. Also, you get a chance to get out of the house for a while, get some mild exercise, exercise problem-solving skills and imagination and enjoy the beauty of the world around you. Plus you get to experience how sick and twisted hiders can be (based on some logs I've read online)

 

Almost everyone who is new at something experiences some frustration. That's normal. Just push through it as best you can! I'm sure many cachers here would say the best experiences for you are yet to come!

 

HTH,

 

Tom

[+Waazdag]

I have been doing this for only a couple weeks but I think this game sucks. I have more not found caches than found ones. Today I went to look for one that should have been easy. It should have been an ammo box connected to a chain. My GPS took me to where it should have been but no luck. I'm not blind, I know to look up, down, in a tree, under plants, under bridges, etc. If this keeps up I am done with this game. I have found 0/4 caches in 2 days. Some nano, micro, and regular. My limit is 5-10 looking for a cache. I don't know what I am doing wrong if I can't find it that amount of time. Especially when I have found my first 2 caches in less than 30 seconds.

 

In talking to another person yesterday who was just getting into it, there is a lot of stuff you need to know about your GPS before managing to get any successful finds: such as making sure that the GPS is set to WGS-84 Datum. My first GPS (Magellan) had the factory default as something other then the WGS 84 datum, so when I stumbled on the cache I was looking for and the GPS still showed it to be some 30+ meters off, I knew something was wrong... so I did some research and figured it out... changing the GPS settings and things got MUCH easier after that... course if I had not stumbled onto it and realized my error, I'd probably be not liking the game much either...

[Lissus]

I'm pretty new myself, and agree that there is a bit of a learning curve.

 

One I found today I have gone back to five times now. Reading all the logs I figured it would be a nice easy one, but this one just kept eluding me, and started to get me frustrated.

 

Well, since the first time I went. I've done some research, located a few different hides, read through the forums and learned some things, browsed some of the threads (spent 2 days looking at the cool cache containers post and discovering the deviousness of some of the caches) and today went back there looking with the attitude of "where would I HIDE something" instead of "where should I look for something hidden" and it made all the difference in the world. Bingo... there it was staring me in the face.

 

As a fellow newb I can understand your frustration, but take a deep breath, and try to enjoy the adventure rather than the number of smileys you get, because at the end of the day.... who cares how many lil smiley icons you racked up if you don't have a REAL smile on your face?

 

[+michigansnorkelers]

Yesterday I found 3 of 4. That 4'th one was on an island that I paddled upstream to find.

 

The other day, I found 4 of 5.

 

These were all supposed to be EASY finds. I suspect that they are gone. However, I've logged enough DNFs in the past only to see subsequent searchers find them.

 

The first TEN will be your hardest.

 

You are a premium member. You can run a POCKET QUERY for larger, easier caches that have been found within the past week. That might improve your chances, especially if someone just found the cache.

 

One thing to remember is that the GPSr is not a "cache detector". It just gets you within about 30 feet of the cache. Closer is often luck. From there, look for suspicious piles of sticks, bark, stones, etc. Sometimes, caches are in trees at eye level or even higher. Read the cache title, read the clues, read all previous logs. Avoid higher difficulty caches. They are DESIGNED to be difficult to find. I'd stick with 1 or 1.5 if possible.

 

Yes, it's frustrating to come up empty. So, try to choose a nice park where you might enjoy a short hike even if there were no geocache to find. Just getting outdoors and seeing new places is a big part of the experience. At least it's a great consolation prize.

 

If all else fails, go with some friends. Two people are about 5 times more effective than one.

 

Go to a geocaching event. I notice that there is one in your area in a couple weeks. Geocachers are a friendly bunch and I'm sure someone would be eager to show you the ropes.

 

I'm no expert, but I have found about 700 so far. Over 50 of those were in a cast around my ankle that I broke geocaching (when I was only into it for a month)! Yeah, it DOES get that addicting.

 

Keep trying.

[+buttaskotch]

If it were supposed to be that easy would it be worth playing?

[+lachupa]

Some people need instant gratification and some people don’t.

 

To each his own.

 

My advice is to NOT take up gardening either. Just a guess but I think you would hate it.

[+hukilaulau]

I've been doing this over 5 years and I'm closing in on 2500 finds. Yesterday I logged 4 DNF's.

And got chased by a swarm of wasps.

But I also saw a bunch of deer and some bunnies. Saw a tiny old cemetery. A bubbling brook. A nice view of the beach. Had a great fried clam platter.

I think I'll keep playing awhile. Maybe the fun will wear off eventually, but not yet...

[+popokiiti]

5 to 10 minutes is a short time for finding caches - good on you! We all have times we have to increase the hunt circle, we don't consider 30 mins too long, and have spent longer. We have often overlooked or even over thought the issue and have actually stared or touched the cache without it registering.

Rule of thumb...if a particular hide ceases to be fun, DNF it and put it on your watchlist, and go to the next one on your list. If we want to go for 10 caches on a trip, we load up the GPSr with 10 plus 5 or so to allow for any DNFs.

It was the same for us in the beginning - we still have off-days - don't give up just yet!

[+Original A1]

I'm no expert, but I have found about 700 so far. Over 50 of those were in a cast around my ankle that I broke geocaching (when I was only into it for a month)! Yeah, it DOES get that addicting.

 

Keep trying.

Well that'll explain why s/he can't find them then - you've stuffed them all down your plaster cast!

 

[+The Leprechauns]

My advice is to NOT take up gardening either. Just a guess but I think you would hate it.

Spoiler hint: Chyy hc ba gur terra ovgf. Gur pneebg vf haqrearngu!

[seegeo]

I just started but I had a lot of fun. We only looked for easy ones though.

[+Schnipdogs]

I have been doing this for only a couple weeks but I think this game sucks. I have more not found caches than found ones. Today I went to look for one that should have been easy. It should have been an ammo box connected to a chain. My GPS took me to where it should have been but no luck. I'm not blind, I know to look up, down, in a tree, under plants, under bridges, etc. If this keeps up I am done with this game. I have found 0/4 caches in 2 days. Some nano, micro, and regular. My limit is 5-10 looking for a cache. I don't know what I am doing wrong if I can't find it that amount of time. Especially when I have found my first 2 caches in less than 30 seconds.

What kind of GPS system do you have? I was trying to use the one in that I use in my car and then another one that was designed for a different purpose. It might be that your GPS radius is to large for geocaching. I bought 2 new GeomateJrs. For my 5 year old and 8 year old. Very user friendly. Comes preloaded with 250,000 geocaches already on it and ready to use right out of the box. It has an acuraccy of 3 meters, but is usually dead on. When I went back to the caches that I tried to find originally with the other GPSs it was amazing how far off base they really were. We had no trouble finding them with our new systems. Good luck. Not finding caches is very frustrating. I have had about 6 to my 32 found. Some we are planning to return to (about 4 more) before we chalk them up to a DNF. Keep trying and make sure you have the right equipment. It makes all the difference!