+Team GPSaxophone Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) I started doing a cache a day in late December and that lasted until Groundhog Day. We had some bad weather that made it difficult to keep the streak going and with some other stuff that was going on in my life, I had other things to worry about. I started another streak on March 1st and this time I'm pacing myself. No more 20-find days to clear the map out quickly, this time I'm going for a new longest streak. You can see from the map below that I'm making progress on clearing the map, but I still have plenty of caches to find on my way to or from work (I take I-225 most of the time, but get off and take Sable, Chambers, or Airport to find a cache or two each day). What does your map look like? Do you just find random caches all over town or do you do what I'm doing and find the next cache on that road each day? In a few more months this map won't have many unfound caches left on it. Edited March 17, 2011 by Team GPSaxophone Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 There are so few caches on my 35 mile (one way) commute to work that I generally just get them as they pop up in the area - if they look like something I'd like. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 There are so few caches on my 35 mile (one way) commute to work that I generally just get them as they pop up in the area - if they look like something I'd like. If I started to try and find a cache a day after two weeks I'd be driving 20 miles out of my way to/from work. Quote Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I've got a cache a day streak going as well. Since our caching areas overlap, I'm familiar with the area you're showing. The longer the streak the more strategic you need to be with your caching. In some ways its easier for us, than some others, to maintain the streak because of all the driving we do. Between work, home & volunteer activities we have a lot of places that are "along the way". The middle of winter was the hardest due to the shorter daylight hours and the snow storms. We still have the usual March/April snow storms to come, but the additional evening daylight really helps when trying to grab a cache after work. It's not hard to grab a cache on the weekend so the real challenge is getting caches during the work week. I try to grab a cache each day at lunch. If I DNF or don't have time, I then make plans to grab one on the way home. I vary my route each day to take me to an area that I haven't picked out yet and I preselect a couple of park and grabs to go after (in the winter, harder finds on the longer summer days). On the weekends I pick an area I don't normally hit during the week and cache through that area. I also use the weekend to grab more difficult or challenging caches and I don't worry about limiting my finds. If I'm a little burned out on caching or want to do other things, I'll just grab one and call it a day. I also save caches to do when the weather is bad. During that Groundhog Day period I grabbed a Mondou2 1/1 cache that was an easy trek from my house. On other snow days, I've grabbed nano's on park benches and LPC's. I try to avoid tree hides on snow days as they aren't a quick find. I'm looking forward to caching in the summer again when I'm not rushing to beat the fading light or dealing with several inches of snow. Nice thing for you is that PoolsharkyCat and Imusttravel2000 are working very hard setting up caches in your area for you to find right now. Very helpful. I grabbed some there yesterday. Side note: Thanks for the caches you've placed! It's help us keep our streak alive. We'll be grabbing the Bellview Station cache shortly to add to our "Days caches are placed" goal (so far, 331 out of 366). Quote Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 There are so few caches on my 35 mile (one way) commute to work that I generally just get them as they pop up in the area - if they look like something I'd like. If I started to try and find a cache a day after two weeks I'd be driving 20 miles out of my way to/from work. A long streak in your area is definitely not doable. I'm fortunate to live in a VERY cache dense area - 1000 caches within 5.5 miles of my house which makes it MUCH easier. The advantage you have is - less blacktop and more nature. A better situation in my opinion. Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I wish I had time to find a geocache on my way to or from work most any day. Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 It's not hard to grab a cache on the weekend so the real challenge is getting caches during the work week. It's harder for me on the weekends since I have to make a point of driving to a cache; I've cleared out the ones where I run my errands. Quote Link to comment
+Scubasonic Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I started doing a cache a day in late December and that lasted until Groundhog Day. We had some bad weather that made it difficult to keep the streak going and with some other stuff that was going on in my life, I had other things to worry about. I started another streak on March 1st and this time I'm pacing myself. No more 20-find days to clear the map out quickly, this time I'm going for a new longest streak. You can see from the map below that I'm making progress on clearing the map, but I still have plenty of caches to find on my way to or from work (I take I-225 most of the time, but get off and take Sable, Chambers, or Airport to find a cache or two each day). What does your map look like? Do you just find random caches all over town or do you do what I'm doing and find the next cache on that road each day? In a few more months this map won't have many unfound caches left on it. Well If I knew how to post a picture like you did on the forum I would post it but have my area pretty well tapped out but still on my current streak of almost 1000 consecutive days. Scubasonic Quote Link to comment
+hzoi Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Our streak lasted a little more than 100 days. My map was pretty spread out, as there were hundreds of caches in the 45 km or so between our apartment in Wiesbaden and my office in Darmstadt. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 There are so few caches on my 35 mile (one way) commute to work that I generally just get them as they pop up in the area - if they look like something I'd like. If I started to try and find a cache a day after two weeks I'd be driving 20 miles out of my way to/from work. A long streak in your area is definitely not doable. I'm fortunate to live in a VERY cache dense area - 1000 caches within 5.5 miles of my house which makes it MUCH easier. The advantage you have is - less blacktop and more nature. A better situation in my opinion. I certainly wasn't complaining about where I live or my commute (I live within walking distance of where I work) but sometimes when a thread like this is tarted I think it's worth reminding people just how diverse geocaching environments can be and for many finding a cache every day at lunch or after work just isn't feasible after a relatively short time playing the game. Quote Link to comment
+ZSandmann Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I moved to Midland, TX January 1st, so I figured it was the perfect time to start a Cache-a-Day run. I am currently at 75 consecutive days, Also, howdy Team GPSaxophone, long time. Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 I moved to Midland, TX January 1st, so I figured it was the perfect time to start a Cache-a-Day run. I am currently at 75 consecutive days, Also, howdy Team GPSaxophone, long time. Hi ZSandmann, it has been a while. Good thing you're pacing yourself; there aren't that many caches in your new area. Quote Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) A long streak in your area is definitely not doable. I'm fortunate to live in a VERY cache dense area - 1000 caches within 5.5 miles of my house which makes it MUCH easier. The advantage you have is - less blacktop and more nature. A better situation in my opinion. I certainly wasn't complaining about where I live or my commute (I live within walking distance of where I work) but sometimes when a thread like this is tarted I think it's worth reminding people just how diverse geocaching environments can be and for many finding a cache every day at lunch or after work just isn't feasible after a relatively short time playing the game. A very good point. That's why I find it a bit silly to compare any kind of geocaching stats between cachers. The geocaching universe is far too diverse to make any kind of apples-to-apples comparison. Though in any geocaching universe, Scubasonic's streak is amazing. Edited March 17, 2011 by Ecylram Quote Link to comment
+addisonbr Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 If I started to try and find a cache a day after two weeks I'd be driving 20 miles out of my way to/from work. I kind of wish I hadn't worked so hard to keep my home area / radius / island clear for so long. Last summer I decided I'd like to fill in my calendar, and keeping my home area clear is kind of killing me. The first few weeks I was able to find caches within easy walking distance from subway stops in the neighboring boroughs, but if I want to fill a day in now it usually takes me a couple of hours. 30-45 minutes to get there, 15-ish minutes to search and etc., 30-45 minutes to get back. That's fine on some days, but there are others where I've been pretty busy and wish I'd left myself a few that are easier to get to in a pinch. Originally I figured I'd complete the calendar a year after deciding to fill it in, but now I'm fairly certain it will be more like 2 years. Quote Link to comment
+Harry Dolphin Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 If I started to try and find a cache a day after two weeks I'd be driving 20 miles out of my way to/from work. I kind of wish I hadn't worked so hard to keep my home area / radius / island clear for so long. Last summer I decided I'd like to fill in my calendar, and keeping my home area clear is kind of killing me. The first few weeks I was able to find caches within easy walking distance from subway stops in the neighboring boroughs, but if I want to fill a day in now it usually takes me a couple of hours. 30-45 minutes to get there, 15-ish minutes to search and etc., 30-45 minutes to get back. That's fine on some days, but there are others where I've been pretty busy and wish I'd left myself a few that are easier to get to in a pinch. Originally I figured I'd complete the calendar a year after deciding to fill it in, but now I'm fairly certain it will be more like 2 years. Yeah. I started clearing my calendar last fall. It's tough! Partly because I don't drive at night. And if I go after work, the rush hour traffic is horrendous. And my commute is one mile. I did save a few new local ones. Thursday's was six miles from work. I barely managed it on a 45 mminute lunch break. Good news is I only have three to go, plus February 29th. I think there's a fairly new one only a couple of miles from you. (Probably only an hour's drive each way...) Quote Link to comment
+Search 4 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I was considering trying a cache a day spree but I had cleared out most of the caches in my immediate local area. Then somebody published a powertrail of over 70 caches along a trail that begins within 3 block of my house and ends about a mile from work! If I am out and about in a non-local area I will try and grab a find there so that I can save the powertrail caches as quick find on days when I am late leaving work. Quote Link to comment
+WonEyedJack Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I started doing a cache a day in late December and that lasted until Groundhog Day. We had some bad weather that made it difficult to keep the streak going and with some other stuff that was going on in my life, I had other things to worry about. I started another streak on March 1st and this time I'm pacing myself. No more 20-find days to clear the map out quickly, this time I'm going for a new longest streak. You can see from the map below that I'm making progress on clearing the map, but I still have plenty of caches to find on my way to or from work (I take I-225 most of the time, but get off and take Sable, Chambers, or Airport to find a cache or two each day). What does your map look like? Do you just find random caches all over town or do you do what I'm doing and find the next cache on that road each day? In a few more months this map won't have many unfound caches left on it. Well If I knew how to post a picture like you did on the forum I would post it but have my area pretty well tapped out but still on my current streak of almost 1000 consecutive days. Scubasonic I can help you with that if you want... Quote Link to comment
+E = Mc2 Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I ran 105 straight days with a find before I finally just quit. Matter of fact, I quit for almost two months. It just got to be too much like work. What I did was have a couple of easy caches laid on for my commute and then check my Pocket Queries before I left. I keep a query for unfound caches, so I was able to substitute a FTF on a new cache for one of my planned caches on occasion (26 FTFs all told, including 4 days straight with an FTF). My map looks like shotgun pattern. The hard part was, as you've said, keeping caches for later days. There were a couple of days that I cached just before and just after midnight, which gave me a reprieve. In 105 days, I found 178 caches in four states (KY, GA, IN, SC) with a cache-to-cache distance of 2845 miles and I guesstimated a total drive of 15,000 miles to find them. Here's the ones I bookmarked during the 105 days, excluding some 'flyers' and the GA and SC finds. The yellow dot is home, and the barely visible red dot in downtown Louisville is work. I can (and do) take either 31W or I65 to/from work. Of course, with 965 finds in a 30 mile radius of the house, I still have over 1000 caches that I haven't found within 30 miles of my house. Quote Link to comment
+MIAFINDIT Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 My caching streak is curently at 350 on April 6th. I should be at 365 after that I am thinking of not pushing it sooooo hard there are days when it seems to be more of a chore than fun to cach and I don't ever want it to not be fun. I am finding it more and more rewarding to find caches that are a challenge can't wait till spring has sprung around here so we can start doing some caches that you have to hike to Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 Update: I'm filling in a good portion of this area with smilies and starting to find a few to the south. Some days I only find one cache just to keep my streak alive, other days I find 5-8. This weekend though I'll be hitting the mountains for an epic 10 mile hike to my 3000th find! Quote Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Early congratulations on hitting 3000! Looking at your map I've gotten almost no caches in the area of your work and there are quite a few in that area. I'll have to rectify that soon. Good luck with your streak. It appears we're not likely to get any more heavy snows until fall, so that'll help this time around. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.