Lame roadside micros

1.1k · September 9, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but it bugs me when people "hide" caches along public roads where there is no place to pull-off or park. Do they not realize it is unsafe to park/stop a vehicle in the middle of the road to grab a candy container tossed behind a utility pole? Yes, I realize I can ignore these types of caches and yes, I usually do, but it's often difficult to know from the description. Maybe there should be an "Attribute" for these sorts of caches to make it easier to identify and filter them out? :mad:

2k · September 9, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but it bugs me when people "hide" caches along public roads where there is no place to pull-off or park. Do they not realize it is unsafe to park/stop a vehicle in the middle of the road to grab a candy container tossed behind a utility pole? Yes, I realize I can ignore these types of caches and yes, I usually do, but it's often difficult to know from the description. Maybe there should be an "Attribute" for these sorts of caches to make it easier to identify and filter them out?

What attribute do you suggest? The "Unsafe" attribute?

If the hider thinks enough to flag it as unsafe, I would hope they would archive it instead.

September 9, 2011

I feel the same way. You pull the cache up on the list, drive out to find it, and discover there is no place to park. If you pull over and put on the blinkers you may as well put up a sign that say 'Muggles come look at what I'm doing'. The ones in this area usually end up with a NM log on them as the CO never goes back to check their hide.

7.9k · September 9, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

1.2k · September 9, 2011

Or maybe you could park up the street and...

wait for it...

Walk a little ways.

September 9, 2011

I don't like them either. Most are placed, in my opinion, just to place a cache, not every guard rail needs a cache.

1.7k · September 9, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

September 9, 2011

Don't like them. Not worth the gas it takes to find these. Big waste. I HAVE stopped visiting alot of these. You figure out quickly who hides them--if you can call it hiding.

September 9, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but it bugs me when people "hide" caches along public roads where there is no place to pull-off or park. Do they not realize it is unsafe to park/stop a vehicle in the middle of the road to grab a candy container tossed behind a utility pole? Yes, I realize I can ignore these types of caches and yes, I usually do, but it's often difficult to know from the description. Maybe there should be an "Attribute" for these sorts of caches to make it easier to identify and filter them out?

Wow. What an assortment of replies.

I agree with most everybody.

There is a Dangerous Area attribute. I usually exclude them from my PQs.

Last week, I parked on the quiet road next to one, walked a ways to another, ducked into a tiny pullout on a busy road for a GRC, and didn't search another. It's still up to the searcher. We don't have to smiley them all.

September 9, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but it bugs me when people "hide" caches along public roads where there is no place to pull-off or park. Do they not realize it is unsafe to park/stop a vehicle in the middle of the road to grab a candy container tossed behind a utility pole? Yes, I realize I can ignore these types of caches and yes, I usually do, but it's often difficult to know from the description. Maybe there should be an "Attribute" for these sorts of caches to make it easier to identify and filter them out?

What attribute do you suggest? The "Unsafe" attribute?

If the hider thinks enough to flag it as unsafe, I would hope they would archive it instead.

I almost always use attributes on my caches and look what ones are checked on caches I want to find.

If every CO would do that check off the parking icon it would be great. However, that's not going to happen so we can only guess as we leave the house.

5.6k · September 9, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but it bugs me when people "hide" caches along public roads where there is no place to pull-off or park. Do they not realize it is unsafe to park/stop a vehicle in the middle of the road to grab a candy container tossed behind a utility pole? Yes, I realize I can ignore these types of caches and yes, I usually do, but it's often difficult to know from the description. Maybe there should be an "Attribute" for these sorts of caches to make it easier to identify and filter them out?

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.

15.3k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.

+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

5k · September 9, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but it bugs me when people "hide" caches along public roads where there is no place to pull-off or park. Do they not realize it is unsafe to park/stop a vehicle in the middle of the road to grab a candy container tossed behind a utility pole? Yes, I realize I can ignore these types of caches and yes, I usually do, but it's often difficult to know from the description. Maybe there should be an "Attribute" for these sorts of caches to make it easier to identify and filter them out?

What attribute do you suggest? The "Unsafe" attribute?

If the hider thinks enough to flag it as unsafe, I would hope they would archive it instead.

I would prefer that they didn't hide it in the first place. We have quite a few in a neighboring valley that seriously should have the skull & crossbones attribute on them. Instead they have a Park 'n Grab. I fail to understand how a responsible person could stop their car in a traffic lane, on a curve of a 55 MPH street with no shoulder, just to hide or find a cache.

2.6k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.
+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

I agree; I've found caches along a road which I've walked to. These have generally been on quiet country roads.

Now if someone hides one on a busy main road - with no pavement (sidewalk) or footpath to allow safe walking access either, then it's probably not a good place for a cache.

Mark

1.1k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.
+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

I'm talking about rural areas, not city streets with sidewalks. Walking along a rural public road for a mile has safety issues of its own and I really don't believe this was the intention of the folks who toss these out.

6.8k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.
+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

In order to do that and to be safe, there needs to be space to walk along the road. Typically the hiders of such caches do not expect the finders to park somewhere else and walk to the cache, but indeed to stop at such places.

I also know caches where one has to cross very busy roads at extremely dangerous locations. This cache is an example for such a cache

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d4dac18d-a929-4f47-b1aa-9736ffb7b45c

It has parking coordinates that are feasible, but to get to the cache the road needs to be crossed. Even when coming by bicycle (not recommendable for that very heavy traffic road) one has a similar security issue.

Cezanne

3.1k · September 9, 2011

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

If you want to be on the side of the saints, then you could promote the concept of hiding containers in interesting locations. Why not combine the best of both worlds?

2.6k · September 9, 2011

I'm talking about rural areas, not city streets with sidewalks. Walking along a rural public road for a mile has safety issues of its own and I really don't believe this was the intention of the folks who toss these out.

For me, it depends on the road. I've found some caches on very quiet rural roads, which whilst they don't have a sidewalk, can safely be walked (or cycled) as there is very little traffic. I'm fine with these. Ones on busy roads without a sidewalk (or parking) I don't like.

September 9, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

AMEN!

10.2k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.
+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

Well, he'd have to give specific examples, and specific examples are never nice. But I think it's pretty obvious the OP is talking about road side micros tossed out with the intent of being a cache and dash. You know, with like 10 word cache pages, and "cache" and "dash" are two of them? Of course if someone wants to walk a mile for a candy container tossed behind a utility pole (example given in the OP), I guess they can.

2.6k · September 9, 2011

I have no problem with them, probably 80% of caches are along or just off of a publis road.

I don't mind pulling on the side and folding in my mirror but if it looks really unsafe I'll pass on it ( very rarely ). Finding these along nice country roads with very little traffic or muggles is great caching......I much prefer rural roads and small towns to urban caching.

14k · September 9, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

Those things are not mutually exclusive. A container hidden near someplace interesting doesn't detract from your ability to find containers and satisfies the desire of those that do prefer to geocache at interesting location to see something interesting.

September 9, 2011

I completely agree with with the OP on this one. As one who has done the majority of my caches alone I feel very unsafe with these. A lot of these are places on country road bridges, road signs, guard rails, etc with no pull offs or shoulders. If there were two cachers then the driver could

a. be a look out for on coming traffic

b. drop off the passenger/cacher then drive down the road, turn around and come back.

Caching by yourself puts you at risk for these. I've passed up over a couple hundred in my area that I've determined unsafe to stop at. Now, those that know me know I'll climb trees, kayak, swim, dive, or do about anything. But, I won't mess with road traffic.

3.3k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.
+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

Totaly aggree. It would be helpfull to add parking coordinates though to stop people from illegaly parking and endangering themselfs and other drivers. There seems to be an endless list of threads on this same topic, so obviously there are people who do it. Sad realy.

September 9, 2011

If the cache is really lame, dangerous, stupidly placed, crap, ensure you record a polite but honest log (found or not) to help others decide NOT to do the cache. It would be a pretty thick skinned CO who would not 'think again' about where their cache is placed and maybe move it somewhere better.

Self policing and honest communication is the only way to improve cache quality.

7.9k · September 9, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

Go to Walmart, they have shelves full of them.

5k · September 9, 2011

Why do you think that's a park 'n grab? Not every cache along the road has parking right next to it. That may be part of the hunt - finding where you need to park, and how to access the cache.
+1

I've found a number of caches that were along a road with no legal parking. I kept driving, found legal parking, and walked back to the cache location. Go and do likewise.

Well, he'd have to give specific examples, and specific examples are never nice. But I think it's pretty obvious the OP is talking about road side micros tossed out with the intent of being a cache and dash. You know, with like 10 word cache pages, and "cache" and "dash" are two of them? Of course if someone wants to walk a mile for a candy container tossed behind a utility pole (example given in the OP), I guess they can.

As others have said, I have no problem safely parking up the road and walking back. However, what I keep seeing are caches that are on high speed roadways that connect subdivisions. There is no safe parking for over a mile and the cache description has text similar to, "park right in front of the cache. Shouldn't be a problem if you are quick". I drive right past these at 55 MPH wondering what they consider to be a problem. If a SUV full of kids driven by a distracted soccer mom slams into the back of someone's Illegally parked cache-mobile, would that be a problem? I'm typically of the "if you don't like it, ignore it" crowd, but when cachers encourage others to participate in behavior that puts the public at danger, I feel compelled to object.

1.7k · September 10, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

Go to Walmart, they have shelves full of them.

Okay, funny comment. But, seriously. Why bother geocaching if you just want to see locations. Waymarks are better to do that.

2.7k · September 10, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

And this is what is taking the quality away from the game, all they can see is a lil container and the bragging rights that they have found more. Which is about as useful as pants on Porky Pig.

14k · September 10, 2011

For some people, an empty spot on the Geocaching map means something must be done.

Never mind the fact that there is nothin' to see, do, or enjoy there...other than 'scoring' another smiley.

Sadly, it's an issue that just isn't going to go away.

I don't want to be the devil's advocate, but I play geocaching to find containers, if I wanted to see something interesting id look for waymarks that interest me.

Go to Walmart, they have shelves full of them.

Okay, funny comment. But, seriously. Why bother geocaching if you just want to see locations. Waymarks are better to do that.

I didn't see an implication in what AZCachemeister wrote that they "just want to see locations". To me, a quality geocache is a combination of the journey to a location, the location itself, the act of finding the container, and even the creativity of the container itself.

Lame roadside micros

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