A few questions from a newbie!

[Pengam]

Hi all,

 

I'm brand new to the world of Geocaching, but from what I've read I want to get involved and I am about to head out to find my fist cache!

 

I wanted to ask a few newbie questions about trackables, so here goes;

 

1. Can you specifically search for trackables locations using the website? I'd like to help some along, but can't see how you can find where they are? Is it purely chance when you find them?

 

2. I live in Brighton and I want to get a trackable up to Leicestershire to my Dad then onto my Sister in Wales and finally onto my uncle in Japan. If I find the caches near my family can I explain somewhere that I would like it to eventually end up there? Or, is that complete wishful thinking?

 

Thanks, any help appreciated!

 

Dan

[+fotimyr]

1. Can you specifically search for trackables locations using the website? I'd like to help some along, but can't see how you can find where they are? Is it purely chance when you find them?

All cache descriptions on geocaching.com contains a list of trackables that are currently in it. Or, at least supposed to be in it.

If you want to see specifically which geocaches contains trackables in your area, you'll have to use a Pocket Query. I think this is a Premium Member feature though. A Pocket Query (PQ) for this would basically say "show me all the caches inside a 100 km radius from me which have trackables in them". You can also filter for difficulty etc.

 

Which method you want to use is up to you and how you plan your activity. Personally I tend to stumble upon them, while others actively go hunting. Others again just care about the numbers and are more or less only interested in discovering them without necessarily moving them. There are many ways to play this game

 

2. I live in Brighton and I want to get a trackable up to Leicestershire to my Dad then onto my Sister in Wales and finally onto my uncle in Japan. If I find the caches near my family can I explain somewhere that I would like it to eventually end up there? Or, is that complete wishful thinking?

Explain this on the trackable's mission page, PLUS on a "mission sheet" attached to the trackable. That way a finder will immediately know if there's any point for him/her in moving it. It's probably better to have one single mission for it though. You could always release separate trackables and see which one reaches its goal first

Edited February 25, 2012 by fotimyr

[Pengam]

Hey, thanks for your quick reply. It's much appreciated!

 

So you're saying the cache description gets updated each time a person puts a trackable in there? I thought the cache description is the original comments the person logged when created the cache? Do you mean someone updates the log to show they have dropped off a trackable in the cache?

 

For example, I just went to the 'find trackables' option and saw this one -

 

Visited 02/25/2012 cooper troopers took [skirtlifter Cache Geocoin] Skirtlifter Cache Geocoin to ruperts walk - along the river:3 East Midlands, United Kingdom Visit Log

 

but when I checked GC2GFQX I couldn't see anywhere saying a trackable was there?

 

Probably not looking in the right spot.. I find the website quite confusing.

 

thanks again

[+The Blorenges]

Hey, thanks for your quick reply. It's much appreciated!

 

So you're saying the cache description gets updated each time a person puts a trackable in there? I thought the cache description is the original comments the person logged when created the cache? Do you mean someone updates the log to show they have dropped off a trackable in the cache?

 

For example, I just went to the 'find trackables' option and saw this one -

 

Visited 02/25/2012 cooper troopers took [skirtlifter Cache Geocoin] Skirtlifter Cache Geocoin to ruperts walk - along the river:3 East Midlands, United Kingdom Visit Log

 

but when I checked GC2GFQX I couldn't see anywhere saying a trackable was there?

 

Probably not looking in the right spot.. I find the website quite confusing.

 

thanks again

 

Yes, when someone drops off a trackable at a cache (if they do it correctly!) it will show in the cache's inventory.

 

Look at this listing for one of our caches:

 

Gordano services cache

 

To the right side you'll see the Inventory box showing that there's one trackable in there - "Games - Sailing". Click on that trackable and you can see its details.

 

The whole system relies on cachers doing the logging in and out of trackables correctly: This doesn't always happen. For various reasons.

 

If you see that there's a trackable listed in a cache's inventory, before you get all excited and dash off to collect it read the last logs on the trackable's home page. If you see it was dropped into that cache several months previously and the cache has had a lot of finds since then, it's fairly unlikely that it's still there. But it might be! Read the logs on the cache page - Has anyone written, "Didn't see the trackable in the cache"?

 

Regarding the Skirtlifter geocoin you linked above: That is a 'visit' by that geocoin, not a 'drop-off'. That means that the cacher took the geocoin to the cache when they were out for the day caching, but they didn't leave it in that cache.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

MrsB

Edited February 25, 2012 by The Blorenges

[+fotimyr]

"Visited" is a special type of trackable activity. It means the trackable visited the geocache along with the geocacher currently holding it, but it was not physically left behind.

When you pick up a trackable and properly log it online as picked up (the actual option is "Retrieve from <cache name>"), your subsequent geocache logs give you two options for it: "Visited" and "Dropped off". Only the latter updates the trackable inventory on the geocache page. The former option only adds distance to the trackable, plus a log saying it visited such-and-such geocache.

 

Yes, trackables can be confusing and even daunting at first, but you'll get the hang of it. It's a good thing you ask by the way. I saw quite a few trackables in geocaches before I even started to wonder what they were all about. Silly me, 'cause they're really a game within a game.

 

For a cache with a real inventory, check out Rygge TB Hotel. The inventory is interesting in another way, since all of the listed trackables have in fact gone missing. But that's a subject for another day ...

[+fotimyr]

Heh. Looks like my typing is too slow

[+The Blorenges]

Heh. Looks like my typing is too slow

 

Noooooo. Always good to have things explained twice - That way people can decide which version they like best... or which makes most sense

 

 

MrsB

Edited February 25, 2012 by The Blorenges

[Pengam]

Thanks to both for your help! That makes perfect sense now.

 

I found my very first two caches today! One was fairly easy and the other was tricky. Left a nice something for the difficult one!

 

Thanks again