My, how you've changed.

[+lifechooser]

The other day, I was crawling around on prickly leaves under a holly bush muttering various things under my breath, such as "1.5/1.5? my arse!"* and "What kind of masochist places caches in such inaccessible locations anyway?". Once I'd signed, returned and rehidden the ammocan, I extracted myself from the bush, removed a few embedded holly leaves from my hands and brushed myself down.

 

I re-read the cache page, and two things stood out:

Hidden : 03/08/2003

Clue: Hidden in a moss covered upturned tree stump surrounded by holly saplings.

 

I calmed down a little after that, but it's amazing how locations can change so much over time. I wondered if anyone else has tales of scenery changing, but the cache remaining the same.

 

 

*My arse - a british equivalent of "yeah right!"

[+terrkan78]

I retrieved a cache from underneath a blue spruce tree, cussing the whole time. The pricks from a zillion spruce needles hurt for a long time afterwards. I had pushed my way through really thick brush to get there, in places having to pretty much crawl under because it was too thick to go through and too tall to go over. It looked like maybe it used to be a deer trail, but not anymore.

 

The CO put a note on the cache afterwards talking about how GZ had changed in the years since they placed the cache (hidden in 02). That deer trail used to be a 4WD road and they had originally been concerned that the cache would be muggled so close to a road. HEH HEH. Only insane geocachers go there now. Even the deer know better.

[+webscouter.]

So much for the theory that caches destroy the environment

[+briansnat]

There is one cache ( GCGRTG )that when I found it it in 2003 it was a 1.5 mile hike to a spot in the middle of the woods.

 

Now it is within feet of a home. It's interesting to follow the logs over the years including the first mention of construction, to people who now complain that it is so close to the house.

[+PokerLuck]

I was out caching with a friend of mine and we stopped for me to pick up a cache that she owned. She said it was very easy to find. It used to be, but since then a very prickly bush had completely grown up around it. Even after I spotted it, it took me a long time to figure out how to extract it without losing an arm. After I called her over to see how it had changed, she relocated it.

[+lamoracke]

I thought this was going to be a thread about how much one has physically changed after years of caching, oops, never mind!

 

I remember one hide, a puzzle that was a simple 2/1.5, at the base of a telephone pole. First 150 or so finders had it that way. Then, the CO replaced the cache and decided to put it in the middle of a huge tower which had hiding places outside, inside and on the two stairwells....literally hundreds of possibilities and a much higher terrain. Eventually he changed the difficulty and terrain to a 3/3, but it took me many many trips to find the thing. Also, it got muggled a few of the times I looked and he changed locations again in the middle of that, and the first few times I did not realize he changed the puzzle either.

 

Thus, sometimes, I wish folks would just archive and start over.

[+kunarion]

"What kind of masochist places caches in such inaccessible locations anyway?".

One of my caches is in the middle of a field. It stands out so much, I had to work on some camo for it, and even then, it's easy to find when the shadows are just right. But at this time of year, the grass and leaves grow so thick, the container's much harder to spot. Depending on your route, you can get shredded by all the little thorn plants. But after the freeze in February, the cache will be out in the open again.

[+Viajero Perdido]

I adopted a cache on a largish island, and at the time the cache was the only man-made thing there. Until one day when someone decided a toilet was needed.

 

 

On such a large island, how could they have chosen a spot only 14 meters (40 feet) from the cache?

 

New view from the cache location:

 

By coincidence, I was with a group paddling down the river to the island the very same day. So I promptly moved the cache to the other side of the island, where it happily remains today.

[+wildchld97]

One of my caches is called TB Tangle. I let you know right on the cache page that you might want to wear protective clothing unless you want to be torn to shreds at certain times of the year. It's a nice little hiding spot, but depending on the season you'll have to deal with stinging nettle and a few jagger bushes to access it. I try to keep the trail open, but they grow really fast around here.

 

I didn't realize HOW fast those rotten plants would grow until I just went to check on it recently. TB Tangle has turned into TB nightmare. I temporarily disabled it until I can hack my way back to it again. Hopefully I'll come back with all my appendages.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I did one last weekemd where stage three was 'at the base of a pine tree' in a grove. (We'll ignore the fact that they were fir trees.) Storm came through last year, and knocked down about eight of the trees. Makes for a very tough hunt when you have to climb over several of the downed trees to find the right one.

I hid one a few years back under a fallen tree. Went to check after a few DNFs, and the fallen tree had completely decomposed. No place else to hid the cache, so I archived it. I didn't want people 'digging' for it.

[+Sioneva]

I had my "Tuning Fork" cache up in a forked tree - beautiful spot, you had to shinny up a sloped tree to get it. Which was great, until part of the tree fell in a storm. I altered the desc to inform people that the fork was out of tune, and hid it at the base of the tree, lowered the terrain.

 

Which was great until the Missouri River came up and put the cache site under six feet of water. As of now, that cache, and about four other of my caches, are disabled.

 

I wish I could have left it in the tree.

[+St.Matthew]

One of my caches is called TB Tangle. I let you know right on the cache page that you might want to wear protective clothing unless you want to be torn to shreds at certain times of the year. It's a nice little hiding spot, but depending on the season you'll have to deal with stinging nettle and a few jagger bushes to access it. I try to keep the trail open, but they grow really fast around here.

 

I thought that name sounded familiar! It's the only Letterbox Hybrid in the Pittsburgh area.

[+wildchld97]

One of my caches is called TB Tangle. I let you know right on the cache page that you might want to wear protective clothing unless you want to be torn to shreds at certain times of the year. It's a nice little hiding spot, but depending on the season you'll have to deal with stinging nettle and a few jagger bushes to access it. I try to keep the trail open, but they grow really fast around here.

 

I thought that name sounded familiar! It's the only Letterbox Hybrid in the Pittsburgh area.

 

Wow. I honestly didn't know that! LOL.

 

I hope the rain stops soon so I can get down there and do a little "gardening" then. I wouldn't want it to be down too long. lol