I suck:(

[+Akela57]

Wow...just wow

 

Here I thought this would be a nice leasurely activity, a few miles in any direction are loads of caches. So I read up, watch the forums, tips, tricks...check

 

Brand new Magellan, dialed in, check

 

A day off, (finally!) check

 

Good weather, bikes tuned, I have pencils, bags, tokens ready to go..

 

Not a single one found, 0 for 5 before I gave up.

 

Up in old Carrollwood area, read one was found two days before, another owner had one pegged, there, within three days.

 

I read the notes, hints, gps is reading zero feet, I look around every square inch within 20' nothing but trash, felt like a garbage man, picking up bags, wrappers, empty cans...looking in trees shrubs, old signs, fence posts..

 

 

/dislike.

[+JesandTodd]

Meh...I still have days like this. I've logged 6 DNFs this week alone!!

Caching can indeed be most frustrating. Wait until you slave for weeks over a cache, unable to find it, and some newbie logs a find on it saying, "my 4 yr old found this!!"

 

So ok.... What was the difficulty rating on your chosen caches? Many of our caches are covered with so any leaves right now that they really are quite difficult to find. Did any of the logs mention "great cammo" or give any spoilers like that? Did you read all the hints? How much time did you spend looking ?

 

It's tough when you start with a DNF..

 

And thank you for CITO'ing your local area!

[+L0ne.R]

Wow...just wow

 

Here I thought this would be a nice leasurely activity, a few miles in any direction are loads of caches. So I read up, watch the forums, tips, tricks...check

 

Brand new Magellan, dialed in, check

 

A day off, (finally!) check

 

Good weather, bikes tuned, I have pencils, bags, tokens ready to go..

 

Not a single one found, 0 for 5 before I gave up.

 

Up in old Carrollwood area, read one was found two days before, another owner had one pegged, there, within three days.

 

I read the notes, hints, gps is reading zero feet, I look around every square inch within 20' nothing but trash, felt like a garbage man, picking up bags, wrappers, empty cans...looking in trees shrubs, old signs, fence posts..

 

/dislike.

 

I'm going to assume your in Florida and I'm seeing a lot of micros in the Carrolwood area. My suggestion, start with larger caches and caches with Favorite votes. This is a list of the caches in the Carrolwood area with the most favorite votes at the top: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=28.050911&lng=-82.499549&dist=6.25&sortdir=desc&sort=fav

 

To sort by Favorite votes click on the Blue Ribbon icon and it floats the most favored to the top.

[+kunarion]

I read the notes, hints, gps is reading zero feet, I look around every square inch within 20' nothing but trash, felt like a garbage man

I'm bad at finding, but for some reason haven't learned my lesson. I persist.

 

But if you have a decent hint, there's no way you need to search every square inch. Select the ones with hints like "among the group of four trees" or whatever specific hint, and narrow the possibilities. Leave a "DNF" log (it's very valuable to people like me to see those types of logs), and ask the Cache Owner for another hint. Have you compared your GPS target with the cache icon's location on the online satellite map? That may be useful.

 

And pick a better place to hunt. I prefer the non-garbage-man areas. Sounds like you would, too.

Edited December 26, 2011 by kunarion

[+Bear and Ragged]

1 - If it was too easy, it wouldn't be fun.

2 - Some of us still have days with DNF's.

3 - Check the cache size. Micro's can be tricky little-so-an-so's

(That includes the ones marked 'Not Listed' and 'Other' they are often marked as such to try to cover the fact they are Micro/Nano's -even smaller than the 35mm film pot!)

 

4 - Get back out there, and try again. Soon.

[+briansnat]

read the notes, hints, gps is reading zero feet, I look around every square inch within 20' nothing but trash, felt like a garbage man, picking up bags, wrappers, empty cans...looking in trees shrubs, old signs, fence posts..

 

That could be your problem. GPS units are only accurate to 10-30 feet. So between the inaccuracy of your unit combined with that of the hider the cache can be 30,40 or more feet from where your GPS says it is. Expand your search area well beyond 20 feet.

 

Also stay away from micros at first. They can be frustrating for long time geocachers, so novices may have a very hard time finding them. Stick with small, regular and large in the beginning.

 

Even when you have been at it for a while you're going to come up empty. I've been doing this for over 10 years and I have a DNF rate of about 1 in 5.

Edited December 26, 2011 by briansnat

[+randco]

AKELA57,

 

If you are in the Carrollwood, Florida area you might be interested in knowing about a geocaching event that will be taking place in Eagle Lake Park in Clearwater. Look at GC3993N, you might be interested. There are going to be newbie classes and there will be plenty of us around to help you out. The park has some really nice hides in it. We have found most of them at a previous event held there. This time we will try to pick up the ones we left behind.

 

If you want to attend an event that will be held in a few weeks then Cacheapalooza 6 is where you want to be. It will be held in Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Jupiter Island, Florida. There should be around 500 cachers at that event. Look at GC30EFZ. There will be between 175 and 225 new caches in the park. Lots of us will be camping in the park for a few days. Some of the festivities start on Friday, January 19th and the main event will be Saturday the 20th. There will be lots to do at the event.

 

If you or any other cachers want more information you can contact me through the geocaching.com website.

 

The event caches are always a fun day and the oprotunity to meet and make new geocaching friends.

 

Happy hunting and be safe.

Edited December 26, 2011 by randco

[diggingest_dogg616]

I'm sorry you haven't found anything

 

A lot of people are mentioning micro containers and those are really hard to find (I've found one and I had to use a picture). Sometimes I think "micro" and I think like, those hide a key things. Yeah, this was way smaller. Have you looked at pictures of the cache (if any are available)? I know it may seem like cheating, but if you know exactly what you're looking for (hide a key versus penny-sized itty bitty thing) it can really help.

 

I always try to think "where would I hide something" and I still get stuck. I haven't looked for a lot of caches, but I have a few "Did Not Finds". One was a micro and I'm not sure if was muggled or what happened to it, the other was way easier and I couldn't have found if it was painted purple and sat on the ground with a sign.

 

Try not to get too down about it. Think of it this way, the more you try to find, the better chance you have of finding one perhaps?

[hoosier guy]

Keep at it Bro

[+SmokeySez]

Keep at it ... the first 100 can be really challenging. Once you hit that number, you have seen a myriad of caches and have a better idea as to what you're looking for. Each one is a gift!

[+RThreeSonz]

Here's a pretty solid thread from October that gave some good advice to another frustrated new cacher.

 

I'd especially emphasize that once at what your GPSr says is ground zero, put down your device and look around thinking like a hider not a finder.

 

Good luck & take up the offer to meet with local cachers at an event.

[+popokiiti]

Welcome to the fun and frustration! We just found a cache we DNF'd on back in the summer. Good job too, as the rain was going sideways due to the windstorm, 3m waves were crashing on the beach and it was freezing. This was no micro - it was about the size of an ice cream pail - and was in the area I had supposedly searched before!

You had some good advice about attending an event - one of the friendly bunch will probably suggest going out together. If you can't attend the event, maybe email a local cacher, or post a request for team caching/instruction in your regional forum. Scroll down on the main page of these forums, and you'll find it.

There is a learning curve, with the GPS and finding the cache itself. It will come, I promise! Think "where would I hide it?" and use the clue/hint and check the logs for subtle spoilers

[+The_Incredibles_]

Don't give up! You'll get better, trust me. Maybe you can find someone to go with?

 

When I was a newbie, I didn't try looking for micros at all. Go for the bigger caches, the ones that are hidden in stumps or under logs.

 

And go for the ones that are rated low difficulty and have been found recently.

 

Caches are usually within 30 feet of the coordinates, sometimes a little further. It's rare that a cache will be right where you zero out.

 

Good luck and don't forget a big part of caching is not just finding the cache but exploring your city.

[+Running Crazy]

Just Keep Choppin. As stated above, start with bigger caches (that's what she said) and ones that are rated easier...then work your way around from there. Also, hooking up with some other cachers helps as the collective intellect rises (usually). The game is built to be a bit of a challenge. If it was not it wouldn't be much of a game.

[+A & J Tooling]

Keep at it. I've logged an extra 600 miles this month because I keep going back to one cache in my neck of the woods that I can't find. I've been there many times and I'm stumped. They arn't all easy. Nor should they be.

[+Hunter1227]

I have had the same problem....even SIMPLE caches literally leave me frustrated.....I have taen my young son...(just turned 9) and I will give him the gps and the clues and within 5 minutes r of reaching gz he has it in hand and ready to sign the log....when I finally realized I simply over think everything and make it way to hard and he uses plain child simplicity.....so my thoughts on this....just relax...have fun don't think or try so hard....and keep it in your mind..."what fun would it be to find ever yone"....where would the challenge be?

[+johnnyfoundthespot]

I am new to this too but have had decent success, 15 finds, 2 DNFs. Be sure to review the log postings and look for a lot of "finds". If there are a few DNF in the most recent posting avoid those. There are hints or "spoilers" in the log comments so read a lot of them. It also helps to have some help. I went with my two daughters and it really helps to have extra sets of eyes. As others have said, choose the easy ones. Many are very small and are disguised as components built into a structure. Some are very clever and look to be a part of the structure. I have found that a lot of caches are attached with magnets to metal objects so pay attention to that. Look over, behind and especially under. Try to open things that normally you wouldn't. Keep at it, you will have success. The more you find the more you know what to look for. Even if you don't find it you are at least doing something vs watching TV!

PS, I assume you are using the compass function on your GPS as your final approach. Move around and make sure it continues to point you in the same direction.

Edited December 30, 2011 by johnnyfoundthespot

[+Croesgadwr]

If it was too easy then it wouldn't be fun. Bad days are all part of the trip, don't give it up... ITS A GREAT HOBBY!

Croesgadwr

North Wales UK

[+Akela57]

Wow thanks for all the tips!

 

Great community

 

After reading through all, I did seem to choose all micros as my targets, so I'll go back and set up a PC for the more popular, large ones and try again (today).

 

I'll have to dig a little deeper too, as many have said, if it was easy it wouldn't be fun.

 

Anyway, thank you all, I will keep trying.....

 

Akela

[+Trucker Lee]

At one time, I seemed to be having unusual difficulty. Discovered I had inadvertantly changed the system on my GPS. Needs to be WAS 84.

[+tsnyder88]

Wow...just wow

 

Here I thought this would be a nice leasurely activity, a few miles in any direction are loads of caches. So I read up, watch the forums, tips, tricks...check

 

Brand new Magellan, dialed in, check

 

A day off, (finally!) check

 

Good weather, bikes tuned, I have pencils, bags, tokens ready to go..

 

Not a single one found, 0 for 5 before I gave up.

 

Up in old Carrollwood area, read one was found two days before, another owner had one pegged, there, within three days.

 

I read the notes, hints, gps is reading zero feet, I look around every square inch within 20' nothing but trash, felt like a garbage man, picking up bags, wrappers, empty cans...looking in trees shrubs, old signs, fence posts..

 

 

/dislike.

 

it took me a few try's before i got my first find it gets easier as you get some finds now that i am starting to get a lot of find i have found few caches that i did not know where just got a feeling that there was a cache in a spot and looked and found a cache there so just keep at it and the number of DNF's will go down and the number of finds will go up

[DannyCaffeine]

Don't worry about it. Just try again. Geocaching takes practice.

 

Try to look for regular or large caches first with a low difficulty rating. I would suggest getting a walking stick to poke through underbrush and look for anything unnatural. If there is a worn path, sticks/rocks or other natural things that are piled up in an unnatural way that might be a hint. Think in the mind of the hider.

[+Mark+Karen]

It is important to not rely on your GPS too much. Even now I still tend to think "well it can't be there as the GPS says here", but the GPS is only supposed to get you close to the cache, not the exact spot.

[+Dancing_Duo]

Keep at it; it'll get better I'm sure

 

We are new & yesterday started off great then BAM! then only found 2 of the next 7.

As others have said, those micro & nano can be very difficult.

[niverson92]

my first week caching i didnt get a single find, and i still have dnf days but i always think to myself "well atleast i got out of the house" or "WOW! look at that view" just keep at it mate!