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How do you like to cache?


Lil Devil

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There have been several threads recently (and not so recently) where some have been criticized for the way they cache. It typically comes down to "you don't cache the way I do so you're doing it wrong." But the one thing that is usually missing is how does the complainer like to cache?

 

In this thread, let's focus on ourselves. No complaining about others. How do you like to cache?

 

I'll start.

 

Sometimes I like to go for a hike in the woods to find that one special cache.

Sometimes I like to go out with friends and find a few dozen or even a few hundred in a day.

By far my favorite, is to go for a leisurely drive in the mountains with my wife and find a few caches along the way. We usually bring a picnic lunch to eat at some pretty place we find, preferably a place with a cache.

 

How about you?

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Good topic! Can't agree more with the sentiment.

"You're doing it all wrong!!!" :lol:

I always get a chuckle out of that.

 

My favorite hunt?

 

Splash my kayak at the starting point of a scenic run.

Stop every mile or so and nab an ammo can.

If this trip is at night, it gets bonus points.

Having friends along adds even more bonus points.

 

I hosted such a trip Saturday night.

11+ miles of river, 3 caches, Launced at 7:00pm, landed around 1:30AM.

Gotta say, it was a hoot!

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I've only been caching for a month but we always cache as a combined activity with something else. Typically, exploring a regional nature preserve, metro park or hiking trail. Also, we live downtown and there are several small, urban caches in the areas where we go out on the weekends. Many times I'll say, "Let's go grab a cache!" at the end of the evening. Lastly, I've bookmarked a few caches around my office. It's relaxing to get away from work during lunchtime, get some fresh air and grab a cache. My favorite, by far, is discovering metro parks, preserves, etc. that we would have otherwise never seen.

:grin:

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What I do like about caching beside the typical being outdoors etc, is that you can change your caching style depending on the mood and desire.

 

I like hikes, and trail caches.

I like urban caches

I like LPCs (yes, I know)

I like caches of nanos to ammos

I recently retrofitted my MTB with a GPS mount for biking caches.

I kayak, so I will route water only caches.

Some weekdays I will pick up just one.

Some weekend days when I feel a little like I have OCD, I will go for 20 or more.

I have cached after dark, with head lamp for fun.

I am planning a local 24 hour run, just to see how many I could find.

I will probably in the future give the ET power trail a run with some friends, just for the memories of the experience.

I scuba dive, looking forward to trying a few underwater caches.

 

In short, you cache any way you choose. As someone coined, "I haven't found a cache I didn't like." , and I add, "or the way of getting there."

Edited by Russ!
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Sometimes I like to go out with friends and find a few dozen or even a few hundred in a day.

 

Few Hundred... in a Day? :yikes: Beastly...

 

 

Splash my kayak at the starting point of a scenic run.

Stop every mile or so and nab an ammo can.

If this trip is at night, it gets bonus points.

Having friends along adds even more bonus points.

 

I just became aware today of caches along kayak routes... and it sounds amazing to me.

 

Back on topic, I enjoy bushwhacking and long scenic hikes with my fiance(Morgans20). The longer it gets me out of the house, the more I like the cache(s). If it takes me an hour or two to get to/find/return from a cache, then I feel like it was worthwhile. If I have to crawl, climb, jump, etc then it adds to the challenge and the experience. (long into short: if I have to get dirty, frustrated, and exhausted I'm happy :lol:)

 

Also, any cache that is clever in the use of names or hints that seem unrelated, but hit you like a ton of bricks when you figure it out.

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Good topic! Can't agree more with the sentiment.

"You're doing it all wrong!!!" :lol:

I always get a chuckle out of that.

 

My favorite hunt?

 

Splash my kayak at the starting point of a scenic run.

Stop every mile or so and nab an ammo can.

If this trip is at night, it gets bonus points.

Having friends along adds even more bonus points.

 

I hosted such a trip Saturday night.

11+ miles of river, 3 caches, Launced at 7:00pm, landed around 1:30AM.

Gotta say, it was a hoot!

 

Way Cool!!!! I haven't done any night time paddles for caches...yet. Love moonlight paddles though. It a bit of a pain in the butt caching in my 17.5 sea kayak. Need to get a smaller rec kayak for easy entry/exits and getting close to those hanger caches.

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For me, sometimes, it's an excuse for a trip, whether that trip is a short detour on my bike commute, a long hike through the woods, a drive somewhere off the beaten path, or a chance to try something new (e.g., kayaking).

 

Sometimes, it's about interesting places, whether those places are historic, scenic, or artistic. (I especially enjoy caches that draw attention to public art.)

 

Sometimes, it's about the challenge, whether the challenge is solving a puzzle, finding a well-camouflaged cache, or retrieving a cleverly placed container. (I especially enjoy on-site puzzles and caches with 4-star camouflage.)

 

And sometimes it's about companionship, although I don't make it to events, unevents, and group hikes very often...

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Good topic! Can't agree more with the sentiment.

"You're doing it all wrong!!!" :lol:

I always get a chuckle out of that.

 

My favorite hunt?

 

Splash my kayak at the starting point of a scenic run.

Stop every mile or so and nab an ammo can.

If this trip is at night, it gets bonus points.

Having friends along adds even more bonus points.

 

I hosted such a trip Saturday night.

11+ miles of river, 3 caches, Launced at 7:00pm, landed around 1:30AM.

Gotta say, it was a hoot!

 

Way Cool!!!! I haven't done any night time paddles for caches...yet. Love moonlight paddles though. It a bit of a pain in the butt caching in my 17.5 sea kayak. Need to get a smaller rec kayak for easy entry/exits and getting close to those hanger caches.

 

I know what you mean. My first kayak was a 12' recreational boat but I sold it within 2 months of buying it and bought a 17' fiberglass boat (VCP Skerray). Then I built an 18' Chesapeake Light Craft Northbay, then bought a whitewater kayak and a 16' canoe. Then I built a 17'10" cedar strip boat (Outer Island, from plans) and sold the Northbay. Then the Outer Island got broken in half after a large maple tree fell on it. It's still in the basement undergoing repairs. Sometimes I wish I still had the recreational kayak for river trips but I still paddle the Skerray quite a bit.

 

Clan Riffsters trip sounds wonderful, especially if the trip was done under a full moon.

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Nice walks through the woods with challenging hides along the way are my all-time favorite, but I do like variety. What I do not like (unless I'm on a numbers run with a bunch of fun friends) is the "quick park & grab", "this place needed a cache", "just to keep your streak going" caches. I have enough of those in my immediate neighborhood that I have been ignoring to make for a full day of caching, but I just have no interest in them.

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As I have mentioned in other threads, geocaching is something I do to expand my enjoyment of my real interests. Bicycling is number 1 (did a century this past Saturday and stopped for 1 cache) kayaking is number 2, hiking number 3, historical sites number 4. Less than 1/4 of my finds were done for the sole purpose of geocaching and even those were usually done with other people.

The best thing about geocaching is that it gets me to do the things I enjoy in places that I might not otherwise have known. :D

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As I have mentioned in other threads, geocaching is something I do to expand my enjoyment of my real interests. Bicycling is number 1 (did a century this past Saturday and stopped for 1 cache) kayaking is number 2, hiking number 3, historical sites number 4. Less than 1/4 of my finds were done for the sole purpose of geocaching and even those were usually done with other people.

The best thing about geocaching is that it gets me to do the things I enjoy in places that I might not otherwise have known. :D

And I enjoy creating biking, hiking, kayacking, and historical location caches. These are also the kinds of caches I enjoy, along with EarthCaches and Waymarks to show me places that I might not otherwise know about. :D

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My sentiments are best articulated by another cacher's post I found while researching power trail threads -

Bittsen's Quote is #24 at this link

 

bittsen, on Dec 18 2009, 11:57 AM, said:

 

I would LOVE to do a power trail.

But if all that existed were power trails, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a tree climb cache.

But if all that existed were tree climbing caches, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I would LOVE to do a 20 mile hike to a cache.

But if all that existed were 20 mile hike caches, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVED my first nano cache.

But if all that existed were nano caches, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVE ammo cans caches.

But if all that existed were ammo can caches, I would get bored and stop being a cacher.

 

I LOVED my first evil cache find.

But if all that existed were evil hides, i wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I LOVE guardrail and lamp post skirt caches

But if all that existed were GR and LPC caches, I wouldn't be a cacher.

 

I hope you all are getting the point.

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How I cache depends on who I'm with and what else I'm doing.

 

For the most part I want to go somewhere interesting or special be it 200 feet from parking or more. I particularly like historical places but if it's scenic or artistic or what not I tend to like those too.

 

I usually try to choose caches that look like they were placed with some purpose. I'll typically avoid uninspired series. I usually avoid the caches on the bike trail in the area. Some other areas where once you've seen one you've seen them all I'll avoid. I usually put some thought into caches as I choose them. I never go out blindly with a PQ and cross my fingers.

 

Sometimes when I'm with my friend we just kind of take the next nearest cache to where we are. Sometimes we pick a cache specifically for where we're going. Or at least the next nearest interesting one.

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When we started, almost a year ago, everything was new and we grabbed everything in sight. Most of that was caching at night so we still carry a fondness for lurking about with flashlights and a folding knife in the back pocket. After months of including too many LPCs in our itinerary, we started ignoring all caches with a combined D/T rating of less than 4. That has worked well. We don't get out night caching as much as we would like any more, but have enjoyed tree caches this summer. Overall, a great multi that allows us to park the car and spend a couple of hours is probably our favorite. If it includes a tree climb or two...well that's just over the top. :)

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Well if it doesn't have me falling in a creek it's not caching :ph34r:

 

I like caching while traveling, I like caching near home for the streak and numbers, I like the caches released all at once for an event or a CAR, I like a cache out in the middle of nowhere. I specifically like the ones that the kids enjoy. :laughing:

 

Then of course the ones with bats, at dark, dead iPhone, and require multiple dnfs and return trips are icing on my cake; gotta eat it too :ph34r:

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Good topic! Can't agree more with the sentiment.

"You're doing it all wrong!!!" :lol:

I always get a chuckle out of that.

 

My favorite hunt?

 

Splash my kayak at the starting point of a scenic run.

Stop every mile or so and nab an ammo can.

If this trip is at night, it gets bonus points.

Having friends along adds even more bonus points.

 

I hosted such a trip Saturday night.

11+ miles of river, 3 caches, Launced at 7:00pm, landed around 1:30AM.

Gotta say, it was a hoot!

 

I was on this trip with Riffster, and I have to say, it was a total blast. If y'all ever get the chance to do anything like it, DO IT. That is all.

 

My preferred game is to go outside and find somewhere cool that involved a nice hike, or kayak trip, or whatever. I'm not real picky. In order to keep it interesting and keep me going to really cool places, I've decided to play a game with myself. I'm at 66 finds right now. I am only doing caches that improve my average terrain rating until I get to 100 total finds. Right now I'm at a 2.35, which seems to be a respectable bit higher than the average cacher, although I admit I have a low find count, so that skews the data. This encourages me to go out and do something really worthwhile, while getting my exercise! Who knows, I may very well continue this game after my 100th find.

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As long as I am caching I don't care.

 

I have a few caching buddy's, they are fun to go out with.

 

I have a sister, she caches as well, Kyadak. When we cache, with are both out out of the car and hit the ground running before the engine is off, or the car is in park.. The bad part about that is, it is HER car. :D Up until recently it was my Venture HC and her iPhone.

 

I now have the eTrex 20 and she upgrading her phone. I know I have the most fun with her.....

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During the week I usually just have time after work and before the sun goes down, so if I feel like it, I usually go find a cache or two around the city. But I love that I'm getting outside and moving around after a long day of work, plus I have been able to discover some truly amazing places in and around San Francisco that probably would've taken me years to find on my own (I'm relatively new to the city).

 

On the weekends, my favorite is to grab the boyfriend and go out on a long hike that has a few caches to grab along the way- we'll usually go out for 5-8 hours and again, I truly love getting out to beautiful places. We often will hike both Saturday and Sunday, but if we're feeling a bit lazier on one of the days, we'll head out to some tiny back roads and find some caches, then grab a late lunch or early dinner in whatever town we end up in. We both remark how we'd never have driven down these roads otherwise and we love that we now know about them.

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What I really like to do isn't an option anymore in most areas. I loved the days when I could load up my GPS and let it take me to new and interesting places. I especially enjoyed doing this when I traveled. At one time most people hid caches in places they found interesting and wanted to share with others, so I used geocaching as sort of a travel guide to find cool, off the beaten path places that the average tourist would never know about because they aren't in brochures.

 

I discovered a quiet little bend along the American River outside Sacramento that made for a memorable picnic, a scenic place in Vermont that was used as a nudist beach, a beautiful gorge in western NY state, a spot in a park outside Washington DC that was used as a drop by an infamous spy, a colonial era blockhouse in PA. Just amazing places that I never would have known about but for geocaching.

 

Sadly those days are gone, especially when I travel. Wading through the chaff is too much of a chore so I rarely geocache when traveling these days.

 

Today it's more a matter of fitting caching with other activities. If I'm fishing, hiking, canoeing, backpacking, etc. I'll check for caches in the area but the sense of discovery is usually gone as I was going there anyway.

 

One thing that is still enjoyable for me is to go caching with a group. I enjoy the camaraderie. Sometimes I don't even hunt caches, I simply hang out and chat while others in the group hunt the caches.

 

And at home we're blessed with some of the best cache hiders on the planet so when I load up my GPS and head out the door with geocaching as my goal I go right for their caches.

Edited by briansnat
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I love hitting a hiking trail and if there are caches along the way thats great but having a young family has really cut into my hiking time. So most of my caching is done after work. I work a 10-12 hour graveyard shift then have a 45 minute drive home. There were many mornings where I nearly fell alseep at the wheel. Since I discovered caching those days are pretty much gone. I usually get a couple on my home so with me stopping and getting some fresh air and the thrill of a hunt I no longer worry about falling asleep. Who knows maybe geocaching has saved my life?

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In my immediate area there are only like 50 total caches, probably less, I haven't counted. What I mean by immediate area is something that I don't have to drive more than 30-40 minutes to get to. So far the majority of the ones I've found have been urban micros. This is Japan so it's kind of understandable that most of them are urban. I've only had to go off the pavement once, had to walk up a small mountain, and I enjoyed it immensely. I guess I don't really have a favorite at this point because there really aren't that many around. On the other hand, I've checked the map on caches back home in the States and have to say that it looks pretty boring. There seems to be a dot on the map every other step. Not many here, and that bums me, but at the same time I think I'd prefer this over a whole ton of them.

 

The cool thing is that this gives me the opportunity to be King Cacher as far as setting them goes. Hopefully after I get a bunch of them out there they will draw people from outside....and they'll leave some along the way. Mine are definitely going to be cool spots with cool caches though.

MULLY

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Above all, I like caches which involve a good walk in the countryside. I use caching as motivation to get more exercise. And while doing this, I like to see nice locations.

 

Additionally, I like

 

- Puzzle caches (that I can do)

- Challenging terrain (but within my abilities)

- Themed Multi/Puzzle caches (i.e. ones which have several stages and fit together to tell a story/make it an adventure).

- Caching in unusual but interesting places (e.g. in an old abandoned mine)

- Caching when traveling (I like finding caches in new countries/areas, and often I see some interesting places which I would not have seen otherwise).

 

I am not fond of urban/suburban caches in general, and tend to only go for these when it is convenient; i.e. I happen to be nearby anyway. It's slightly different when I am traveling; if I'm traveling to a new city I will look for caches there as a way to see the city.

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My favorite way to cache is using my bicycle, riding though the woods, finding the cache, and being able to sit down and read the log and look at the contents of the cache.

I really hate caches where you have to be so sneaky that all you you have time for is signing the cache and then rehiding it.

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One of my favorite, in an odd way, is when you come to one in the wilderness rated high and you find you have to take a risk or three to claim it. 1st, I silently cuss out the person who put it there. Then I think of all kinds of reasons why I can't do it. Then I have to do a self check and see if I can do it. Then I stew for a week or three until I build up the nerve and then do it. Then I post it as an easy find. :rolleyes:

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I am an omniverous cacher. What I love about this the most is the variety of ways in which we can hunt and play depending on the mood.

 

I'll go for a walk in the park/woods on my own for a few.

I'll do that with a few other friends too.

I'll stop in a parking lot for a find if it is on the way while running errands

I bought a bike two years ago and mostly use it for caching.

I got a kayak as my birthday present this year so I can start finding the 100+ paddle caches nearby.

 

I don't do much power caching/PnG running on my own-I prefer to do that with one, maybe two carload of friends. Convoys become annoying and hard to keep together.

I do enjoy the occasional day of power caching with my friends finding 50-150 or even 850 in a day (with the OP).

I don't mind spending hours on a well done multi, even if it only scores one smiley.

I search out virtuals when I am traveling, ignore webcams, and am slowly warming to ECs.

I don't do puzzles much; just don't have the time to solve them before heading out to cache.

I enjoy most challenges and use them as a filter to plan my caching days on occasion.

 

Unlike Brian, I do enjoy planning my list of travel caches and sorting through the signal:noise to create a special BM for the ones I will target when I am away from home. On my last trip I found several really old ones, took a boat ride with some friends, found some cool local history, and saw some beautiful waterfalls all because there were caches nearby.

Edited by wimseyguy
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Oh man oh man...

 

- I am a traveler and adventurer, so I like caches that take me out of the ordinary.

- High terrain is awesome, and I'll go out of my way to do caches that have it. High difficulty not so much.

- Boat caches are a particular favorite as my family goes to NH in the summer and there are a bunch of "by boat" caches there. Who doesn't like an island? :laughing: And the Dutch (I now live in Holland) are pretty good at hiding stuff around the water too.

- Earthcaches and virtuals to a lesser extent. It's funny because I don't like challenges, somehow they're just a lot more dull, but Earthcaches make me notice interesting things and that's great. And if they ever invented something like "historycaches" for historic sites I think I would die happy.

- Caches I can bike to, or figuring out a good bike route for caching. Once again, I live in Holland now, so this is really not much of a problem when you only have a bike and no car!

- Love caching with friends, but unfortunately most of my caching friends don't live anywhere nearby. :(

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Great topic! I like to cache on trips to new places.

I cache around home, to get my "local" caches in between adventures.

My favorite way to cache is riding, camping & hiking. Especially in the mountains & desert. A lot of history in the West Desert out here, & caching sometimes brings me to new things I would have never seen before: such as old mining equipment, ghost towns, pioneer wagon tracks, etc.

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...

I will cache when in a box.

And I will cache with a fox.

And I will cache in a house.

And I will cache with a mouse.

And I will cache here and cache there.

Say! I will cache ANYWHERE!

...

 

Love it!!

 

I can't resist adding...

 

One Cache two Cache red Cache blue Cache

Black Cache blue Cache old Cache new Cache

Some are red and some are blue. Some are old and some are new.

Some are sad and some are glad. And some are very, very bad.

 

One Cache, Two Cache

Red Cache, Blue Cache

This One has a little car, This One has a little star

My, what a lot of Caches there are!

Edited by redsox_mark
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Some basic facts about my geocaching preferences can be found in my profile. To summarize, I prefer caches in forest and mountain areas to urban ones and I like to combine geocaching with hiking, going for a walk or for a bicycle tour and do not like to spend longer inside a car than with being physically active. Moreover, I appreciate caches that show me interesting locations and nice places and/or trails that are not well known. I prefer caches that are easy to find - I do not like the search aspect of geocaching at all. For me the container is just a way of verifying my log, not a source of enjoyment.

 

I have a preference for finding only one or a small number of caches per day and I prefer one long multi cache (with virtual stages and no interruption caused by searching) that leads along a trail to many separate caches. Among others it makes the logging more comfortable and enjoyable to me as I can for sure say which story in my mind belongs to which cache which is often not the case when I am visiting a series of caches along a trail. There is another reason why I particularly like real multi caches (not short offset caches): they can be used to spend a few hours without much planning and are typically more diverting/entertaining for me when caching alone. The cache description is a bit like a virtual caching companion to me in some sense. Unlike many others I typically do not first choose the area to go to and then look which caches I could visit there, but start to select some caches first. So, I do not have any issues with not knowing in advance in which direction a multi cache leads to as I have no previous plans and prefer if the planning is done by the hider of the cache and not by myself.

 

I like to cache alone or with at most 1-2 close friends. If there are more people around, I feel stressed.

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
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...

I will cache when in a box.

And I will cache with a fox.

And I will cache in a house.

And I will cache with a mouse.

And I will cache here and cache there.

Say! I will cache ANYWHERE!

...

 

Love it!!

 

I can't resist adding...

 

One Cache two Cache red Cache blue Cache

Black Cache blue Cache old Cache new Cache

Some are red and some are blue. Some are old and some are new.

Some are sad and some are glad. And some are very, very bad.

 

One Cache, Two Cache

Red Cache, Blue Cache

This One has a little car, This One has a little star

My, what a lot of Caches there are!

 

Will you cache up a tree?

Scuba dive to GZ?

Will you cache ‘neath a lamp?

Sign a log that is damp?

Over hill? Over dale?

A suburban guard rail?

A jar taped with camo?

A film can? A nano?

Remarkable places?

Magnetic key cases?

Avoid bomb squads and bears?

Yes, you’ll cache ANYWHERE!

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All is I can say is that we cache our way. In the group we were in in GA, people had us bookmarked and would read our logs. We rarely made it through an event without having to more fully describe something we did in order to find a cache, and we even had one say that were were making things up to make our logs funny. I can assure you, we haven't needed to, and couldn't script it to be funnier than reality was. In the end, we have fun, and get to spend a good bit of real quality time with each other, and with our kids. That's how and why we cache.

 

Later!

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