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Does the fun ever run dry?


alsaas

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Im a newbie to geocaching and i still have a blast everytime i go out caching. but for some of you veterans who have found 400+ does the fun in caching ever run dry?

i cant see how it would cus its really fun but im not sure if ill ever find more than 1000 caches.

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i cant see how anyone would lose interest. even on dnfs... i get eaten alive by mosquitoes but i still get to see many different landmarks i would never see if i hadnt started geocaching. just the enjoyment of fresh air, nature, and secludedness does wonders for me.

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i guess it all depends what your reasons for getting into it are, and your expectations

 

we do it because we get to see places that we wouldn't have known about, learn a bit of history, to wind down after a day at work or to plan a day trip or even vacation

i don't think we'll tire of it

 

i can see if someone gets in and turns it into a competition or a numbers game that it could loose its appeal over time, but judging from the number of members that are still around since the beginning of geocaching, i am inclined to say that not many loose interest

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Sometimes caching seem like it's going to be just another film can in a lamp post. But then I am taken to a trail I have never hiked or a place to explore in a new light; I find a tide pool I never would have discovered or hear coyotes howling around me; something turns into an adventure, even if it means pulling off 20 ticks; it gives a reason to spend a pleasant time with a friend of take a bike ride with my daughter; I look out at a beautiful site and learn something at an earthcache or discover something at a virtual; I follow a fun set of clues to a letterbox cache or a story in a Wherigo.

 

Yes, sometimes the fun runs dry, sometimes I am reminded about why I enjoy the game.

Edited by mulvaney
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I am taking a break from the hunt for a while. Here's why:

 

On March 21 of this year, I decided to start a streak of finding at least one cache a day for as many consecutive days as possible. Actually my goal was to find at least one a day until the first day of winter, Dec 21, and then go from there. Around day 100, I started to realize that most of the days, it was more of a chore than a fun experience to have to find one to keep my streak going. If it got late, and I hadn't found one for the day yet, I had to look up the closest LPC or guard rail cache, and drive to it. Those caches are not the type I prefer to find. But in order to keep my streak going at 7:30 or 8 pm, that is what I'd have to do. On day 117, I got to leave the country for a wedding, and I knew finding a cache every day while there was not going to be easy, so I decided when the day came that I didn't find one, I was going to let it happen naturally, not force the issue. Then I was going to take a break from the hunt. I am not quitting, in fact, I have already started to get the bug to get back out there. I still receive the notifications, and in the last 3 weeks, several new ones have popped up in my area. When I feel the time is right, I will have several new local caches to start with. I think I may spend part of my vacation renewing my love of geocaching, that starts in 2 weeks.

 

I still visit the forums regularly so I won't miss out on any of the controversies. :P

 

So to answer your question, yes, the fun can run dry, if you find yourself geocaching because you have to, and not because you want to.

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Thanks guys, youve given me a lot of advice.

moderation is all a part of it.

i have some buzzkill friends that wont go with me. and i have to literally pry them to

go to a png cache. i dont much care for those but i live in a very suburban area so their mostly micros.

often times i have the most time doing it by myself... i guess that shows me that im very much an independant

loner type person.

on another note. i found 9 today!!! :P made me feel great.

hah but like i said. i had to literally drag my friends with me to get the other three. i cant see how some people think this is lame. its the most funnest thing ive discovered in a long long time

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For me it's gotten more and more fun over time. I didn't get to do a lot in the beginning because of my bad back and my bad work schedule, but I have more and more fun each time I go out.

 

My husband though, gets bored after a couple of hours of caching... but he does still love it, just doesn't have the drive for it that I do.

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i need to join an event your right.

i rly think that if i were to get some other friends to come along with me i wouldnt be forcing other people to come with me. and i spose it would be fun to go with other fans of caching

Geocaching is like any other hobby. It's not for everyone and if you try to force people to like it, they will resent it, and maybe, resent you as well. So, don't try and force people to go caching with you. It's something for you to enjoy. As has been mentioned, go to events; you are likely to develop new friends.

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I enjoy caching alone and with others depends on what my goals are for the day.

 

I'm using geocaching as my tour guide on a trip I'm taking as well.

 

Anyhow, we don't have a high saturation of caches here. I could run out and do all of them potentially but I typically pick the ones at this point I know I'll enjoy. There's a ton along a local trail system and I don't do many of them because I don't particularly like that trail system for example. If I find the ones I'll enjoy I tend to have more fun over all doing it. No, I'm not going to get high numbers but I'm ok with that.

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The fun hasn't run dry for me, but I find that I am more choosey about the caches I hunt these days. Park and grabs don't generally thrill me like they used to... unless there is something really wonderful to be seen there. I read cache descriptions and logs even more closely than I did at the beginning. Those generally guide me to the caches that keep me a happy cacher. :(

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yeah. i went today with my gf. we went to a highly mosquito populated area, and that made her rly mad. was only able to find 2 out of the 6 i was trying for. but we saw some deer like 3 feet away. tottally blew her mind. thats why i like to cache. yeah its a lot hotter in the summer but you need to learn how to deal with it

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Does the fun ever run dry? (Never heard it put that way...) Everything loses its novelty after a while. Six years later, it's not as much fun as it once was. But those were the good old ways, before LPC and PNG. (Not that I don't search for those, but they aren't as much fun...) My first find was a BrianSnat cache. About a mile hike in. 300-400' of climb. Spectacular spot! I was psyched!!!! And, it's all gone downhill from there. :( What can compare to a BrianSnat cache?!? Oh, wait, I did one of his on Friday. Five caches on a five mile hike, with 300' of climb. Great area!!

I enjoy hiking and being outdoors. (I start turning moldy if I stay home.) Geocaching has shown me a lot of really great places (and hopefully, I've shown other geocachers a lot of great places.) I've met bears, herons, turkey, egrets, and a possible mountain lion. But you do run out of new places to visit after a while. But fun is what you make fun! I'm a bit more jaded, but still having fun.

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Does the fun ever run dry? (Never heard it put that way...) Everything loses its novelty after a while. Six years later, it's not as much fun as it once was. But those were the good old ways, before LPC and PNG. (Not that I don't search for those, but they aren't as much fun...) My first find was a BrianSnat cache. About a mile hike in. 300-400' of climb. Spectacular spot! I was psyched!!!! And, it's all gone downhill from there. :( What can compare to a BrianSnat cache?!? Oh, wait, I did one of his on Friday. Five caches on a five mile hike, with 300' of climb. Great area!!

I enjoy hiking and being outdoors. (I start turning moldy if I stay home.) Geocaching has shown me a lot of really great places (and hopefully, I've shown other geocachers a lot of great places.) I've met bears, herons, turkey, egrets, and a possible mountain lion. But you do run out of new places to visit after a while. But fun is what you make fun! I'm a bit more jaded, but still having fun.

 

See now thats the sort of thing i want to do! i live in a highly suburban area where all i ever cache is micros and pngs. just makes me kinda wana run into a woods hearing where some of these caches are

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I'm having more fun the more I cache. Although I have to admit if I lived in an area where all there was is micros, PNG and LPC's I'd probably not think the same way. I live where I can put a 80 miles on the van, never be more than 20 miles from home and not see a city street all day.

 

I started out as part of a couple team and it was fun...although my partner kept wanting to quit for the day before I was ready to quit so I was usually begging for 'just one more cache'.

 

Then I cached strictly solo for a while (the dog is not really all that much help) [:lol:] No one to tell me when to stop for the day... :lol:

 

I started caching with a couple of other cachers who are so much the same as me it's kinda scary....start early, stay late, and just hafta find 'just one more cache'!!

 

Somedays I go out on my own, other times the three of us go out for the day. Either way I have a blast.

 

I'm due to retire in a few years and have always wanted to travel....now I have an excellent excuse...I've run out of caches in one spot, time to move on.. :(

 

At the rate that caches are being put out, I should have enough in North America to do me until I can't cache any more. In the meantime, the exercise keeps my body fit, the mental challenges keep my brain fit too.

 

Has the fun run dry...nope...do I ever expect it to....not a chance in hades!!

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yeah. i went today with my gf. we went to a highly mosquito populated area, and that made her rly mad. was only able to find 2 out of the 6 i was trying for. but we saw some deer like 3 feet away. tottally blew her mind. thats why i like to cache. yeah its a lot hotter in the summer but you need to learn how to deal with it

 

Caching in mosquitoes is definitely challenging! My favorite time to cache is in the fall and spring, but I do cache all year.

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yeah. i went today with my gf. we went to a highly mosquito populated area, and that made her rly mad. was only able to find 2 out of the 6 i was trying for. but we saw some deer like 3 feet away. tottally blew her mind. thats why i like to cache. yeah its a lot hotter in the summer but you need to learn how to deal with it

 

Caching in mosquitoes is definitely challenging! My favorite time to cache is in the fall and spring, but I do cache all year.

 

Caching in the desert at 116* with the truck heater ON to keep the engine temps. down was less than pleasant. However, with the passage of time even that has become humorous. And fun as well.

 

We have choices to be miserable or to have fun regardless of what is thrown our way.

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yeah. i went today with my gf. we went to a highly mosquito populated area, and that made her rly mad. was only able to find 2 out of the 6 i was trying for. but we saw some deer like 3 feet away. tottally blew her mind. thats why i like to cache. yeah its a lot hotter in the summer but you need to learn how to deal with it

 

Caching in mosquitoes is definitely challenging! My favorite time to cache is in the fall and spring, but I do cache all year.

 

Caching in the desert at 116* with the truck heater ON to keep the engine temps. down was less than pleasant. However, with the passage of time even that has become humorous. And fun as well.

 

We have choices to be miserable or to have fun regardless of what is thrown our way.

 

lucky!!! i want to be able to go far away from my place of roots. my hometown just doesnt interest me like it used to. i want to actually be out and about and far from home.

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yeah. i went today with my gf. we went to a highly mosquito populated area, and that made her rly mad. was only able to find 2 out of the 6 i was trying for. but we saw some deer like 3 feet away. tottally blew her mind. thats why i like to cache. yeah its a lot hotter in the summer but you need to learn how to deal with it

 

Caching in mosquitoes is definitely challenging! My favorite time to cache is in the fall and spring, but I do cache all year.

 

Caching in the desert at 116* with the truck heater ON to keep the engine temps. down was less than pleasant. However, with the passage of time even that has become humorous. And fun as well.

 

We have choices to be miserable or to have fun regardless of what is thrown our way.

 

lucky!!! i want to be able to go far away from my place of roots. my hometown just doesnt interest me like it used to. i want to actually be out and about and far from home.

 

Sooooooo,

 

Does Rachel, Nevada interest you around Oct. 13th.?

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I've been caching 3 or 4 years and have found over 700 caches and the fun hasn't run dry yet!

 

The thing I like about caching is the variety, sometimes I want to be stealthy in an urban location, sometimes I feel like a long hike in the countryside. I might want to solve some challenging puzzles or spend a day doing loads of easier caches. I've even spent days visiting caches with TBs and geocoins to move them on and get different icons.

 

Add to that the chance to go on some great walks, log waymarks and trigpoints (the UK equivalent of benchmarks) and meet some great people in the caching community :)

 

Caching is also a great companion to other hobbies, wether you like visiting historic sites, mountain biking, kayaking, hiking or are even visiting cities on business, you can fit some caching into your travels :P

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What initially got us into this hobby was a program that the local park system was running. You would go on hunts thru the different parks within the system and find stickers to complete your game board. There are 12 parks all together. Started yesterday and visited 2 parks we didn't even know existed! So I can imagine that this hobby will be with us for a long time to come. Just hit our mini milestone of 25 caches, so we are well on our way!!

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What initially got us into this hobby was a program that the local park system was running. You would go on hunts thru the different parks within the system and find stickers to complete your game board. There are 12 parks all together. Started yesterday and visited 2 parks we didn't even know existed! So I can imagine that this hobby will be with us for a long time to come. Just hit our mini milestone of 25 caches, so we are well on our way!!

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I found 129 caches so far. My first one I think in decmebr last year. Sometimes I search for caches with my dad, sometimes with my wife. When going on holiday or just away for a weekend I always look on google maps if there are some caches in the neigberhood to be found. Just spend two weeks in Austria. Found some caches on some mountaintops. A unique experience, because I live in Holland and that's mostly flat. Lately I tend to combinate two hobby's: Caching and Mountainbiking. It's fun!

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Noob here. My children and I are 1 find for 4 attempts, so far. Not a perfect record, but normal according to everyone I talk to.

 

I just want to add my voice to the other posters. While I am not really close to burning-out, having just barely started, from all the posts I've read, it seems clear that a few truths come through:

 

-It is supposed to be fun. If it becomes no fun, you can quit. Or, perhaps a better option is to just take a break for a few weeks, and then try it again. That is the excellent thing about this sport. The caches aren't going anywhere. ;P

 

-The other side of this sport is making and hiding your OWN cache for someone else to find! Have you done much of that yet? I should mention that a few folks recommend you find a bunch before you hide one...so you have a better idea of the expectations, etc.

 

-For a lot of people, FINDING the cache is quite irrelevant. I know, even from the few hunts that I've been on, that the joy for me is in watching my son hold the GPS and watch him walk in a crazy line or in circles while he attempts to narrow down the location to under 10 feet. When he found our very first cache...the joy on his face trumped the slip of paper we found in the micro cache. Watching him roll up the paper and stuff it inside the container and reseal the cap...then put it back....was just so fun to watch. He is hooked, and so am I. This seems like an activity that can be more fun to do with someone. For some folks the point is a bit of quiet and solitude. Both are okay. But if you've only done solitary hunts...maybe next time take a friend along. :(

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