+GEO936 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 YAY - we think it is great to be able to offer a Power Trail for those that wish to do it. I love the fact that we have a little of everything to offer! Quote Link to comment
+I&J Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 (edited) NAY Have never been a fan of micros - especially if it is not at least taking you to a special place. Cannot agree more with Fisheagle on this one - if you were looking for a competitive sport, there are much better options. "... and it breaks my heart to think that newbies will see this as the premier example of how the game works." If I was living in Gauteng, I would have made it my mission to do those trails - (with a big rubbish bag in hand and collecting them all - would even consider logging a find on them to accumulate some favortite points to award to those caches which really make this game special!) Any Nay-Sayers feel like organising a CITO event? Edited August 21, 2011 by I&J Quote Link to comment
+Jors Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 NAY. Sometimes I'm asked about geocaching, on which I say a little of the aspects I love and enjoy. Those aspects include visiting nice places, driving lovely countryside roads, meeting great people, making friends, climbing mountains, admiring breathtaking views, hunting for and finding interesting containers hidden in interesting and innovative ways and places, learning new things, solving strange, interesting (sometimes obscure) puzzles, and experiencing a bit of history... The list goes on, but never have my motive been to hunt for badges, whacking up stats, colouring a grid, or chasing numbers. Yes, I enjoy looking at my statistics as a by-product but never a cause or motive. I see the Power Trail having the sole purpose of getting numbers, badges, etc, and therefore it doesn't appeal to me. Quote Link to comment
+Wazat Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 YAY - I did it and it is out of my hair... NAY I have to log over 650 finds... YAY I have lots of favorite points to allocate to real deserving caches... NAY I almost have more cache finds away from my home province than there are caches in my home province, if not more... YAY my centroid is gonna take a huge leap out of the Harrismith area where it has spent the last few years, NAY I have too many Micro sized finds... YAY I did 30 odd caches, not on the PT, over the weekend that made me realise that I still enjoy geocaching... and that there are still some worthwhile caches to do in GP, NAY I still have to log them 650 plus caches... YAY I heard someone mention a PT CITO, YAY I have a bronze, silver, gold, tinfoil and brass badge in something related to finding a container... NAY the badges mean diddly squat to anyone other than those that collect them YAY Earthcaches at least offer real badges with real meaning and I proudly own two badges NAY I forgot where I packed them away YAY to my power trail of one cache on top of one mountain, and you don't need 24 hours to do it, although some of you may... But believe me it is gonna require power and lots of it... Nay to having to fill some email boxes, sorry guys.... Quote Link to comment
+Larks Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) Hi, I've been off the forum for a few years, but saw this and felt strongly compelled to add my vote of NAY. It makes it so difficult to sell geocaching to new people when the quality of the cache is rubbish. I only want to find a cache if it takes me to an interesting or beautiful place, even if that means only caching once a month on a quality excursion. I would very much like get back into some quality caching again, and I truly hope that this doesn't happen in the Cape! Edited October 19, 2012 by Larks Quote Link to comment
+icarusjhb Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Hi, I've been off the forum for a few years, but saw this and felt strongly compelled to add my vote of NAY. It makes it so difficult to sell geocaching to new people when the quality of the cache is rubbish. I only want to find a cache if it takes me to an interesting or beautiful place, even if that means only caching once a month on a quality excursion. I would very much like get back into some quality caching again, and I truly hope that this doesn't happen in the Cape! I agree. I have done a couple of these caches just to reach a milestone but I actually prefer to do something of interest. Find somewhere new and exciting and interesting. I want to see things and visit places and not just go out there to get my numbers up. Quality over quantity. Quote Link to comment
+Wazat Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Ah the sore thumb rises its ugly head again. I decided to go for the P&M PT while doing the Mega for the sheer reason I wanted to have the Mega as a milestone. And although it was much the same as the other PT it was more about the fun we had as teams going for the finds. Getting to meet people we never met before and in general having a laugh at the antics we got up to... I still think that PT's are a pointless idea... it is all for numbers, has no real value, and is generally just a pain. I can only imagine that the CO's are overwhelmed after the Mega with countless email notifications, and wish they never had all these caches out there. If anything to go by a few of my caches on the N3 got loads of hits, and that was really only from KZN cachers going to and from the Mega. I do pity any of the CO's of the GPS series near the Mega.... Vote still will be a NAY.... although i have some kind of PT up my sleeve it will not be like the ones we already have in GP..... Quote Link to comment
+malo mystery Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I am bound to repeat a few points that have already been made, but for what it is worth, here is my opinion. Yes, a PT does decrease the "value" of smileys compared with other more "original" caches, Yes, a PT does decrease the amount of time needed to hit certain number targets, Yes, a PT does distort the numbers of caches found between those that have done a significant PT and those that have not. Doing a PT and using those numbers to in any way compare yourself to another player that might have done 650 tougher caches over a longer time is kind of like sending yourself a bunch of flowers for Valentines day, you might fool a few others but you are certainly not going to fool yourself. Some of us love long hikes to caches, other hate them, some love puzzles others not, some dont mind micros, others hate them, we all have the choice to do or not do any caches we want and in turn log them how we want. Geocaching has a great team spirit with fantastic comradery, and the success of geocaching is about the co-operation and input of all those involved it is still fundamentally an individual past time. I am not here to beat anyone at anything (well other than the occasional FTF), any goals or targets I might set are purely personal and I am not here to be better, faster, stronger than anyone else. Dont get me wrong, I have the world of respect for those that have thousands of smileys, hundreds of caches hidden, those that have found caches in plenty of countries, have found a cache a day for the last however many months and those that have completed the various grids, but those are YOUR goals, and although I look up to you all for your achievements they in no way affect me or how I play the game. I dont think there has ever been a local forum topic to bring about such opinionated statements as quickly as this one has and I do understand that I too am adding to this (the subtitle being "Tongue-in-check look at Power Trails") and so partially for the reasons above and partially because these PTs seem to create a lot of underlying negativity and tension amongst cachers I will say NAY Quote Link to comment
+Carbon Hunter Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 PTs - well they have been about now in SA for well over a year. And the world didn't end - but a lot of cachers haven't rushed out to do them - and a lot have. So really what ever floats your boat is my call. I am still to hit a GPS cache - both distance to the GPS and non-interest have fuelled this - but who knows - I may still do some, probably will. I like Wazat's comment about the P&M 50 series - doing it with friends as part of the MEGA experience - a fun activity - getting up to some interesting antics along the way (like pole dancing/climbing). Now that makes it more interesting. Are they here to stay - yep - but do they garner many favourite points - or discussions around the braai - nope, I doubt it. So a NAY from me, but I am not against them - as long as they do not flood the hobby. Quote Link to comment
+BruceTP Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Some PTs can be very unique displaying much ingenuity. Take for example this cache start and think of the effort that went into the whole series. (select the Geocaching map and zoom out.) Alternatively,try this link... and also zoom out. Quote Link to comment
Team Dragon Racing Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 the main problem i see with pt is that alot of them are the make it and forget about it.some co dont care once the trail is made and then others have to clean up the mess that left behind as those caches are archived Quote Link to comment
+CapeDoc Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Some PTs can be very unique displaying much ingenuity. Take for example this cache start and think of the effort that went into the whole series. (select the Geocaching map and zoom out.) Alternatively,try this link... and also zoom out. Is it fun to look at online - yes Would I have ANY desire to find any of them - No! I am jealous of someone with 1000 finds because they probably have had about 400 or 500 great experiences. Someone who has 1000 finds on a PT.....not so much. I am in the process of placing a PT.... Quote Link to comment
+tomtwogates Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I am in the process of placing a PT.... I hope that's a joke Doc? Quote Link to comment
+CapeDoc Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I am in the process of placing a PT.... I hope that's a joke Doc? Nope Quote Link to comment
+PieterM Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 (edited) NO x100 Geocaching is not a competition. Edited October 22, 2012 by PieterM Quote Link to comment
+paddawan Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I am in the process of placing a PT.... I hope that's a joke Doc? Nope Has 'Doc crossed over to the dark side? Quote Link to comment
+Hesamati Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I am in the process of placing a PT.... I hope that's a joke Doc? Nope Has 'Doc crossed over to the dark side? I bet it will have a lot to do with physical power... and maybe a bit of intellectual as well... Quote Link to comment
besem Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I am in the process of placing a PT.... I hope that's a joke Doc? Nope Has 'Doc crossed over to the dark side? I bet it will have a lot to do with physical power... and maybe a bit of intellectual as well... Hopefully it will be in place by the time I rock up in Cape Town... Quote Link to comment
+cownchicken Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) I bet it will have a lot to do with physical power... and maybe a bit of intellectual as well... We agree. CapeDoc would never place a string of caches without any value! Edited October 26, 2012 by cownchicken Quote Link to comment
+tomtwogates Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 That's kinda worrying - one CapeDoc can be bad enough imagine 640 of the darn things! Quote Link to comment
+Avanclan Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 YaY & Nay Coming from a city where a large volume of caches are mine and there are less than 500 in the whole country plus I need to travel 100km for the first cache that I have not yet found. PT are alluring PT have given me the opportunity to push my numbers up and so during this vacation and the previous we tried a bit of the PT and from an outsider but a South African too I have this input. The Breakfast Run series. Yay P&M's 50. Yay The GPS Series. Nay If this series had selected proper pull-off and park places further apart and let the terrain determine the hide and not the distance it would have been a better series. This series would best be done on foot or bicycle as seeing a car stopped on the side of the road every 160 odd meters draws attention. Its not going to take rocket science to work out where a car might next be stopping. Doing a PT that would involve hiking 2-3 days would be an awesome trail to do: Yay Quote Link to comment
+DamhuisClan Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 YaY & Nay (more Nay) I agree, according to me, its not in the spirit of geocaching. But I can understand there is some commadery involved doing 650 caches in 24 hours (one every 2.5 minutes). But I would get bored and just go through the motions after the 1st hour. But that's me. And yes it is a bottle store, and at some point I will go there. The question to me is how I will go there. I have been chatting to Porky2 and we are set to do 20 / 30 km on bicycle at the end of Feb. I'll have to train for that. I am very unfit. What I am still not clear on, is whether I will log it under my clan name or perhaps create a new name such as "DamhuisClan-PT" name, and log the caches under that. Still have a few months to think about it. Time will tell. Quote Link to comment
+Wazat Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Last night i watched the small video clip of Damhuisclan doing the PT50 (Or part thereof) from an outsider perspective you can see the fun the teams had, gettin if you may, a FTF of the group searching for the cache, sort of an inter team race to find the cache before the others did. It was funny to watch and i can only imagine the way muggles must observe this and wonder WTF just happened. For that spirit i think PT's will get my nod, but really when it gets to be more than 50 it does become a bit tedious. In the last 80 or so of our record run it was absolute hell, i was a zombie and i had to wake Gringer1 a few times when he just faded behind the wheel. We did the very last one in the series with less than 30 seconds to spare in the 24 hours. Unfortunately somewhere along the line we missed the short dogleg with 7 or so caches and we will have to return one day to do that set. I can look back on the GPS series though and say I really hated it, but for the team spirit, which faded a few times, but encouragement took us through it. We set a mission and we did it, 24 hours is a long time to cache and it is a lot of logsheet signing, but the experience was a fun and sometimes frustrating one. But it is behind us now. Will i do another PT series? Probably yes, but maybe not for 24 hours. Twice was enough. For now. Quote Link to comment
+cownchicken Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Power Trail Cape Town style: 8 caches, 10 hours, 4 peaks, great company, FTF's! Quote Link to comment
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