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I'm an Out-of-Date Cacher?


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Geocaching is my fitness plan. No gym membership. No leotards. No programmable exercise bicycles. No pointless lifting of weights. No boring stair-stepping machines. Just get out there and hike. We going on a Deathmarch this weekend. I can hardly wait! :anibad:

 

Probably pick up a dozen caches along the trail and I'm hoping I'll have a couple minutes to seek out an Azimuth benchmark, which has so far eluded cachers.

My kids off their Spring Break next week. We're going to finish off this hide and then I have my eyes on a bunch of 4 star Ter caches. I'm going to see if I can knock off about a dozen of 'em.

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...I really don't care what she had to say, but it did make me wonder if the outdoors side of caching so being outdated. So my question is, has caching change as a whole? Are the longer hikes become more of a thing of the past? I have caches that require little to no hiking but that's not why they are there, so I get that. However has the 'culture' of caching changed so much that a hike is not a good thing anymore in the minds of many?...

It's the dilution factor. There are now more people in the hobby which makes your interest group seem smaller. I'm sure if you take a look around you'll find that your interest group hasn't gotten any smaller. It's just that there is more people with other interests around.

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can you do it as a multi where each stop is a cache on it's own and have each cache contain clues for the final?

 

I've only done a couple of multi and in 2 of them a clue was missing :mad: so the whole afternoon was a bust even though I found 2 or 3 of the steps.

Are you talking about a bonus cache, a chain or traditional is an unknown at the end?

 

If so I would still run into the problems with folks cutting across farmers' land to get to some of the caches. One of the points will be within 300 feet of a road but all the land between is posted. In another the point is only 2 tenths of mile from a backroad where it is 1.5 airmiles from and trailhead that is the only way in that is not across private land. That's just two of them.

 

I'm really not trying to suggest that you don't create this a single multi cache with many stages, but could the private property issues be addressed by making a combination of traditional and multi caches. For the locations where there are not private property concerns tradtional could be placed. For locations where the most obvious route from the parking coordinates to the cache might take someone through private property it could be done as a multi to direct finders on a route that does not go through private property.

 

I would probably enjoy the cache/stages either way but since you mention that you're specifically trying to attract hikers/cachers from out of the area I think it's also worth considering that out of town cachers/hikers might have a limited amount of time in the area. When I travel on business I might typically only have a few hours or so that I can spend finding a few cache *unless* I extend my trip by staying at a hotel an extra night. If I only have a few hours free for caching while far from home it's very unlikely that I'm going spend all of it on a single many stage multi, especially if there's a change that one of the stages might go missing. However, I'd prefer a 2 stage multi over a handful of parking log micros.

 

I get this. I do however, make specific trips for the right multi cache. If it's good enough, and gets the attention of the right locals, you'll get people coming to town just to find it.

 

That's certainly feasible if you live within a couple hundred miles of the area. However, an "out of towner" could also be someone that lives thousands of miles away and might not ever get the opportunity to visit that area again.

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Another cache was about .3mi down a paved bike path. A cacher drove to it and got a $300 ticket. He messaged me and tried to get me to pay it because he was only there for my cache!

 

 

Good lord. Where is the personal accountability?

 

I had a guy threaten to sue me over one of my caches. Thanks to gmail and not having to delete old messages, I busted the dude in a lie and reported him to Groundspeak.

 

In a previous email he named a cachin buddy and stated that he was tagging along on that guy's business trip to my area. In the threat to sue he claimed to have rented a car to drive down from New England just to do my cache, and wanted restitution for all expenses and his time + damages.

 

I quickly figured out who he really was, retrieved the other cacher's name, contacted him and the lie was exposed.

 

This is a guy that many folks in New England have known about for years. He is banned from the forums here and caches under a different name and even runs his own website and geocaching organization since he's not allowed to play here. He was and still is well known in the OT forum.

 

I had some training to do at S&W in Springfield, Mass. and noticed he had a club (his website) event posted for the night before I would be heading home, in a nearby town, so I posted a will attend note on his event. The guy didn't even show up to his own event until the very end. I was at home. My training had been cancelled at the last minute. I got quite a chuckle picturing him stalking the parking lot and peeking to see if the coast was clear. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

The kicker is that this guy was on my radar by word of mouth years before it happened. I actually predicted him (by name) or someone like him causing trouble with me over that exact same cache in an email that was dated a year earlier. I sent that to him when I busted his lies.

 

I hope you get a chance for poetic justice. If that had happened to me he'd never live it down.

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I would say that most of of those who aren't numbers hounds are also not bushwackers, mountain climbers, swamp hikers, and/or kayakers.

I saw this and I'm still scratching my head... :unsure:

Could it be a typo?

 

I know first hand which locals are not into this hobby for the numbers. Rather, (like myself), they play for the unique experiences it offers. Without exception, these will be the first to attempt anything I hide which involves miles of swampy bushwhacking, kayaking, fending off critters, etc. I also know who are the local numbers driven cachers. They see a Riffster hide pop up and give it a pass, knowing that during the 8 hours it would take to grab that one smiley, they could hit a power trail and crank out a few hundred TFTC's.

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I was on another site talking with some of my old caching friends who know that I love hiding caches as much as finding them. The were asking me if I had any hides planned and I told them about my latest hide on working on.

 

It's a multi with 8 to 12 points with a regaular size final. All the points are on the peaks and ridges or the mountains just outside of town. It'll will be a 4 to 5 mile hike with only the first 300 feet or so being on anything that could be called a trail. All the terrian is at least 3 star at best, and some is 4.5.

 

Anyway we're talking about this and another cacher pipes in and says,

Why do you older cachers still hide stuff like that? Don't you know that only a few or you hangers on to the old ways of caching would even care about a cache like that. Hide something normal. Caching has changed. Get with the times.

Well we told her we didn't get the memo so until the Frog tells us otherwise we'll hide what we like.

 

I really don't care what she had to say, but it did make me wonder if the outdoors side of caching so being outdated. So my question is, has caching change as a whole? Are the longer hikes become more of a thing of the past? I have caches that require little to no hiking but that's not why they are there, so I get that. However has the 'culture' of caching changed so much that a hike is not a good thing anymore in the minds of many?

 

 

[but like I told her, it doesn't matter I'll still hide what I like.]

 

I did NOT read the rest of the reply's but these are caches I love. Most of the multis around here are normally missing 1 or 2 stages and never seem to be maintained.

 

 

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I would hazard a guess that there has been a shift away from 'hiking' geocaches to ones easier to get to.

 

If you think about it, one of the main (though not necessary) items for geocaching is a GPS unit, which ten years ago were only really owned by those who bought them for hiking and walking as they were fairly limited and pretty expensive. The people that took part on the sport were therefore biased towards enthusiastic outdoors sorts, so thats where they placed the caches.

 

Nowadays most smartphones seem to come with a GPS as standard, so the stepping stone into the hobby has been lowered drastically from the hundreds of dollars a GPS used to cost to the fairly negligible price of an app for a smartphone. This means more people can get into the sport, and they will mainly be the average person, not the hardened hiker, so the caches they start putting out will reflect that - ideally I would hope still with the same level of interest and difficulty in most cases, but certainly more appropriate for the average joe accompanied by his kids and so on.

 

If you enjoy the hiking caches, then put them out and there will still be a range of people interested in finding them (such as myself - the description of your new one sounds god fun). Maybe not as many as an urban one that can be done with kids in tow, but nt every cache will suit every cacher.

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Another cache was about .3mi down a paved bike path. A cacher drove to it and got a $300 ticket. He messaged me and tried to get me to pay it because he was only there for my cache!

 

 

Good lord. Where is the personal accountability?

 

I had a guy threaten to sue me over one of my caches. Thanks to gmail and not having to delete old messages, I busted the dude in a lie and reported him to Groundspeak...

 

I remember that, I had the option to go on that business trip. I tried to tell him he didn't want to waste his time...

 

Anyway, there's hope for some of the P&G cachers. We had someone around here known for his simple (read: lame) puzzles and parking lot caches. He's archived most of them and has hidden some nice caches off in the woods. I think some people are afraid to go into the woods so they stick within sight of their car. Like someone said, back then the only people who owned a GPS were already hikers.

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Like others, I would personally prefer a series of traditionals rather than a multi like that. Of course, hide what you want, but be aware you'll get less people doing your cache. As a cache owner, I prefer as many people as possible to find my caches.

 

A few reasons for preferring a series of traditionals are as follows. I don't always have time to go on such a long hike. It's nice to be able to turn back when time runs out or I feel I"ve had enough rather rather than pushing forward because I don't feel I"ve met my goal. Another reason is even though I don't consider myself a numbers hound, I do enjoy them. It would nice to know even if I wasn't able to complete the whole thing, I could get some smilies out of it. Another reason is what if one of the stages is missing? Cachers are kind of screwed then, as they will have no way of knowing how to continue.

 

I recently did a very nice series, which was about a 9km hike. You had to find 8 smalls, each with info in them, to find a semi-final with coordinates for a large final cache. I had to break it into a few different trips due to time constraints, but I had a great time doing it. If I had to choose between a series like this and a long multi, I'd go for the series.

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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Hi, I'm from Italy and I live near Italian Alps, I am new to geocaching (25 finds) I found them in city, parks, old castle ... but my favourite was on top of a mountain that has required 1300 meters (4265 feet) of ascent.

Therefore ... don't worry :)

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so I guess the same will apply to your area, and you will make a few hike freaks happy,

but you just cant make all happy, the more special you make it, the less people will see the fun.

today it is getting more and more special to solve a 8-12 point multi,

it takes several hrs, you need planning and time.. oh.. terrible.. or yay cool..

 

Of course he cannot make everyone happy, but that's not the goal anyway.

There always have been cachers with different caching preferences around. What strikes me about the behaviour of

some modern geocachers is that quite a number of them tries to make suggestions to cachers from the old days how

they should hide and set up their caches.

 

I do not have an issue with a small number of visitors for a certain cache (for many areas this is better anyway).

I only regret that many new cachers feel that the old cachers should adapt to the new style of geocaching.

I had several discussions and debates about this and related topics with newer caches as they cannot understand

that I am not willing to change my own approach to geocaching just because modern geocachers are doing it differently than

what I am used to.

 

Cezanne

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The conversation may have changed in the 30 or so posts since the original, but the original is what I'm going to comment on.

 

My response: TO HELL WITH THEM

 

I see more and more power trails popping up, which are great for buffing up statistics but aren't nearly as engaging and don't usually produce the SMILE that should go with the SMILIE!

 

In essence (and speaking from the point of view of someone who only started caching last October), I think caching has become more about the statistics and less about the adventure in some areas. I would LOVE to do your 8+ stage multi! The adventure and the journey is what I would get out of the hunt.

 

So all boiled down I think geocaching certainly has factions within the hobby/sport. On one side, those who like easy-to-find caches that make their stats look unbeatable and on the other side cachers that embrace the challenge of a exceptional multi as well as value the place of every other cache!

 

I agree. :) I don't like to tell other people how to live their lives, but I feel that too many micros in a given geographic area is a turnoff for new cachers.

Edited by sholomar
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She appears to be from the Twin Cities

 

There's your problem right there!

 

I wish you would hide a 10 stage multi in the mountains around my house. I'd be going for the FTF in the dark if necessary. Oh, wait...I wish there were mountains around my house. Then I wish for the aforementioned 10 stage multi.

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Don't know if I'm old school -caching 5 years. I have all kinds of caches. Nice hikes (usually not much longer than two (some may be four) miles. If someone wants a longer hike they can park farther away), P&Gs, multi puzzles. An assortment for everybody. (oh darn no LP caches) Hopefully all enjoyable.

I see the beautiful pictures that people post here from the tops of mountains, but I'll never be able to do anything like that- asthma. Yet give me level terrain and I'll walk miles.

I always loved to hike (I hike alone), but didn't do it because I was afraid of carnivores in the woods. But now I'm old and ---what the heck. Funny thing is there were a lot less carnivores in the woods back when I was younger and afraid to go hiking than there are now.

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A generalization of what I'm seeing here is that the old people want to walk/hike, the younger ones want to drive to the LP. age or experience....?

I do all kinds but prefer not to do them in public. I like the idea of it being a series in case my feet give up 1/2 way there!

Putting parking coords should help with the private property issue.

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The way I see it :

 

1) Hide whatever you like, as long as it is within the guidelines. Hide what you consider a good cache.

 

2) Telling someone "You're not hiding what I like to find" is bad etiquette.

 

3) Pointing out someone's stats and laughing at them, well, I know they started it, but you could have stayed on the moral high ground. The opinion here is overwhelmingly in your favor.

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It's a multi with 8 to 12 points with a regaular size final. All the points are on the peaks and ridges or the mountains just outside of town. It'll will be a 4 to 5 mile hike with only the first 300 feet or so being on anything that could be called a trail. All the terrian is at least 3 star at best, and some is 4.5.

 

Although I think this is a nice idea, I would humbly suggest that one possible thing you might consider is that multi-caches tend to be breakable because they have more parts that can go missing. So if one of your 8-12 points goes missing, someone finding the cache is kind of stuck. I think it would be better to make this 3-4 multicaches that would be logically done serially, as you intend, but where if a stage goes missing, the finder could abandon that cache and go on to the next one and start that sequence.

 

The worst possible scenario I could imagine for a single cache would be to getting to WP #11 / 12 and having it go missing for whatever reason. (Maybe an unusually bad storm takes it out, maybe there's a fire.) The finder makes most of the hike but doesn't get the cache. At least they had a nice hike though - so maybe the worst case is that WP #2 / 12 goes missing. They barely started - maybe they carry on and have a nice hike - probably not the one you intended though - or maybe they just blow the whole thing off. (I guess that would really be the worst case - they don't experience what you had in mind for them that way.)

 

So it's not so much of an attempt to rack up a higher find count, but for redundancy that I'd suggest breaking this up into several hides. Of course depending on the terrain, this might not work out - you may really not want for people to have the ability to start in the middle of the series and make shorter / easier hikes. (I don't know what the terrain is like where you are contemplating this, splitting it up could spoil the whole thing.)

 

If you do want to do a really long multicache, at least consider hiding a couple of redirectors to the next waypoint at each site, so if something happens, the finder has some backup. Someone who's local and motivated might well try it again when you fix it up, but a visitor might never get the opportunity.

 

I point this out because I've seen this with follow the reflector trail type night caches - which are essentially just multicaches with lots of stages. You lose some reflectors, and suddenly an interesting, directed walk in the woods at night becomes a random walk in the woods at night.

 

Apologies if you've already thought through these concerns - you certainly know what you are doing. It sounds like an awesome adventure, by the way.

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"Well we told her we didn't get the memo so until the Frog tells us otherwise we'll hide what we like."

 

You hit the nail on the head! Bravo!

 

The other person is not up for a challenge. So be it.

 

The hide you described would be very attractive to me. Others will seek this hide to fill out their Fizzy Challenge. (hope I got that right)

 

Don't let some fuddy duddy spoil your creativity. HIDE THAT CACHE!

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A generalization of what I'm seeing here is that the old people want to walk/hike, the younger ones want to drive to the LP. age or experience....?

I do all kinds but prefer not to do them in public. I like the idea of it being a series in case my feet give up 1/2 way there!

Putting parking coords should help with the private property issue.

That's the thing. There is only one parking area for the whole thing.

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List the parking coords where they are. List the difficulty / terrain as it is. Stop worrying about what a few others thing. If you like the hide, hide it! If I was in OK, I'd seek it out!

Sure, you will not get a lot of persons finding that cache. So what? If you want everyone and their brother to find your cache, put out a skirt lifter in the local Walmart.

But you sound like the adventurous type. So hide that cache and those that find it will salute you.

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List the parking coords where they are. List the difficulty / terrain as it is. Stop worrying about what a few others thing. If you like the hide, hide it! If I was in OK, I'd seek it out!

Sure, you will not get a lot of persons finding that cache. So what? If you want everyone and their brother to find your cache, put out a skirt lifter in the local Walmart.

But you sound like the adventurous type. So hide that cache and those that find it will salute you.

Oh I'm hiding it. Don't worry about that.

 

What struck me was her comment and her tone. It just got me to wondering if geocaching had changed that much.

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List the parking coords where they are. List the difficulty / terrain as it is. Stop worrying about what a few others thing. If you like the hide, hide it! If I was in OK, I'd seek it out!

Sure, you will not get a lot of persons finding that cache. So what? If you want everyone and their brother to find your cache, put out a skirt lifter in the local Walmart.

But you sound like the adventurous type. So hide that cache and those that find it will salute you.

Oh I'm hiding it. Don't worry about that.

 

What struck me was her comment and her tone. It just got me to wondering if geocaching had changed that much.

 

For the record, I would have had a problem with her attitude too. It's your cache and you're the one spending the time and money and making it. It's one thing to state her opinion, it's another thing to be demanding.

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It's the dilution factor. There are now more people in the hobby which makes your interest group seem smaller. I'm sure if you take a look around you'll find that your interest group hasn't gotten any smaller. It's just that there is more people with other interests around.

 

^THIS^

 

It was inevitable.

There are still plenty of cachers around who want that sense of accomplishment you get at the end of a challenging cache.

Just because the 200-300-400 cache powertrail is 'all the rage' doesn't mean that is really the best thing for the RA/S/H.

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....has caching changed that much over the years that a long hike is not considered a good cache anymore?

 

I think it has around here. I had one cache in a state park that was about a mile walk down a gated dirt road. Nearly every log Bragged about how they drove around the gate and drove to the cache!

 

Another cache was about .3mi down a paved bike path. A cacher drove to it and got a $300 ticket. He messaged me and tried to get me to pay it because he was only there for my cache!

 

That said, I vote place the nice long multi! I'd go find it.

Wow, how entitled can we get???? :blink::blink::blink: THEY made the decision to break the law and now they want you to assume the penalty? That is absolutely ludicrous! :mad::mad::mad:

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I probably wouldn't attempt a 12 part mountaintop multi (lazy Florida flatlander here) but I don't understand the attitude of someone who complains about the fact that someone else wants to have a 12 part mountaintop multi. It's not like that multi sitting up there is going to crowd out other caches that the complainer might attempt.

 

I wouldn't do a 12 part mount top multi either but I am working on a series with 12+ mountain top caches called Peaked Out: name of mountain here, some of which are T5 and quite enjoying it here. As for caching has changed, yes the lazy made it easy for the lazy but there are still many, many who hide and seek the truly rewarding caches.

 

Buy her a latte and while she's busy sprinkling crap on top steal her iPhone and it'll be one less prissy cacher to worry about.

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>Another cache was about .3mi down a paved bike path.

>A cacher drove to it and got a $300 ticket.

>He messaged me and tried to get me to pay it because he was only there for my cache!

 

you got to stop posting stuff like this,

I nearly passed out laughing :-)

HAHA finnally one dumb dude who truely deserved that ticket.

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Thanks for hiding what I consider to be normal caches. It's all the PNGs and LPCs that seem like the chaff to me. I've seen plenty of guard rails, stop signs and lamp posts, thank you very much. I don't need geocaching to take me to those.

 

I enjoy taking a nice long hike that shows me some interesting areas and some fun bushwhacking. I don't care if there's only one cache along the way, I'm good with that.

 

I'm one of the guys Riffster talks about that looks for his hides as what I consider to be a premium hide - thanks Riff!! Sorry we missed your last CITO. I didn't see it until the last minute and couldn't get my act together quick enough.

 

I've got one of my own that has been out since 4/26/08 that has only been found on 3 occasions, the first time by my friends Clan Riffster and Nativefly182. It's about a 6 mile round trip paddle, with the cache about a 1/2 mile up a little creek to a pond.

 

You're welcome to come down and cache in our neck of the woods anytime. I think we have some caches down here you would enjoy. We'll just do it old-school and have a good time! :D

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Hi, I'm from Italy and I live near Italian Alps, I am new to geocaching (25 finds) I found them in city, parks, old castle ... but my favourite was on top of a mountain that has required 1300 meters (4265 feet) of ascent.

Therefore ... don't worry :)

 

Welcome to Geocaching!

 

There are many ways to play the game. All are just as valid as any other. I have often thought, however, that there should be a separate type indicator for hike in caches.

 

As for me I cache anywhere and everywhere I can. Hike in and power runs it just depends uponmy mood and the weather.

 

I did have a bit of a chuckle about the 4265 ft mountain, I live at 5000ft and my higest find is 14,110ft. But I have to admit that I didn't walk all the way up there (I'm too old for that), it was all I could do to not pass out from lack of oxygen! LOL

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RE: multi-caches.

 

Frankly, I was turned off on multi-caches because a lot of them around her made it too complicated. Go to XY coordinates, read the plaque, take the date on the plaque, subract XXX from that date, and that is your compass heading, or multiply this date times that, and those are your new coordinates.

 

Crud, I wanted to have fun, not do math, OK?

 

Oh, and lets not forget "take x step to the north from this point to get your new coordinates"...and that everyone has a different stride length.

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I probably wouldn't attempt a 12 part mountaintop multi (lazy Florida flatlander here) but I don't understand the attitude of someone who complains about the fact that someone else wants to have a 12 part mountaintop multi. It's not like that multi sitting up there is going to crowd out other caches that the complainer might attempt.

 

I wouldn't do a 12 part mount top multi either but I am working on a series with 12+ mountain top caches called Peaked Out: name of mountain here, some of which are T5 and quite enjoying it here. As for caching has changed, yes the lazy made it easy for the lazy but there are still many, many who hide and seek the truly rewarding caches.

 

The advantage of a 12 stage multi cache in comparison to 12 separate traditionals in the same area is that it will attract much less additional traffic to the region.

In the areas where I cache it is often problematic when the number of visitors from one point to the other increases dramatically. This leads to a lot of troubles for geocaching in the long run in this areas. If there is a longer 10 stage multi cache, typically mainly local cachers or long term visitors will visit it and so the additional traffic will be kept within reasonable limits.

 

Cezanne

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The advantage of a 12 stage multi cache in comparison to 12 separate traditionals in the same area is that it will attract much less additional traffic to the region.

In the areas where I cache it is often problematic when the number of visitors from one point to the other increases dramatically. This leads to a lot of troubles for geocaching in the long run in this areas. If there is a longer 10 stage multi cache, typically mainly local cachers or long term visitors will visit it and so the additional traffic will be kept within reasonable limits.

 

Cezanne

 

See that's what I don't get. We hide caches for people to...you know...find them. Isn't it better if more people find your cache? I wouldn't be happy if I put alot of work into a cache and only 1 person logged it. For me, that would suck. I do my best to hide my caches near trails (we're fortunate to have a very good trail network in our area) so not so many worries about hoardes of people bushwacking to get to them.

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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The advantage of a 12 stage multi cache in comparison to 12 separate traditionals in the same area is that it will attract much less additional traffic to the region.

In the areas where I cache it is often problematic when the number of visitors from one point to the other increases dramatically. This leads to a lot of troubles for geocaching in the long run in this areas. If there is a longer 10 stage multi cache, typically mainly local cachers or long term visitors will visit it and so the additional traffic will be kept within reasonable limits.

 

Cezanne

 

See that's what I don't get. We hide caches for people to...you know...find them. Isn't it better if more people find your cache? I wouldn't be happy if I put alot of work into a cache and only 1 person logged it. For me, that would suck. I do my best to hide my caches near trails (we're fortunate to have a very good trail network in our area) so not so many worries about hoardes of people bushwacking to get to them.

You're not wrong, so I hope you don't take this as some kind of elitist critique;

But you not are coming at this from the same perspective as I am. The notion of 'hiding caches so others can find them' is only partially true. If that were the whole of this hobby, all we'd have is a bunch of zero effort P&Gs. The entire caching world would be reduced to one giant power trail. While that concept would hold a great deal of appeal to some folks, it holds absolutely none for me. Just a personal preference. My favorite caches, both as a hider and a seeker, are those which offer the greatest sense of adventure. If I can walk away with a DNF and feel every bit as good as if I had walked away with a smiley, that, to me, is a perfect cache. Saturating an area tends to detract from cache quality, as folks focus more on satisfying their need to hide something, anything, (what I call knee-jerk hiding), rather than focusing on hiding something because they found an area that just begged for a cache.

 

Many years ago, someone asked me what kind of caches I preferred. My answer was, "I like caches which tend to generate lengthy logs". That's a really tough thing to measure, before the fact. There are so many variables in play, including the fact that some people simply will not type anything beyond an acronym. Still, it's what I consider to be a worthy goal. Something I've noticed is, the greater the number of caches per square mile, the shorter the average logs will get. A 12 stage multi, taking folks to 12 separate mountain peaks, is guaranteed to get some stellar logs. Again, based strictly upon my personal bias, I would much rather see one nice log a year on one of my hides, rather than see 500 acronym and/or copy paste logs a year. I would probably archive any cache I owned which generated that kind of drivel.

 

We don't have mountains down here in Florida, so my preferences lean towards long, winding rivers, and swamps. A little while back I hid a Wherigo that took you on a 9+ mile paddle. 3 miles of this run is up a narrow, shallow, windy, unmaintained creek, bristling with alligators, with nary a cache in sight. I thought there should be at least one cache up that creek, as it was a pretty amazing place, and my personal bias for paddle caches is, keep them at least a mile apart, so folks have time to take in the surroundings and don't waste their whole trip with their nose buried in a GPS. So, I scouted out a couple way kewl spots and hid a 2 stage multi along the creek. Including that hide, there are now 5 caches along its banks. Is that bad? Not really. Just a bit much for my bias. I just kinda embrace the "Less Is More" philosophy. (Yeah, my entitlement is showing) At least the containers are quality ones.

 

In my eyes, Totem Clan's solution is, quite simply, perfect. He has created a cache that not only gives folks a sense of adventure, but also gives those who tackle it a huge feeling of accomplishment. I think the worst thing the locals could possibly do is litter the area with a bunch of knee-jerk hides, just so folks will have more smileys for their efforts.

 

Just one old, fat, crippled guys $0.02 B)

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Hide what you like and set the example for others. Look at her caches and compare the average length of the find logs to yours and I bet the difference is quite clear.

 

If I lived in the Sierras full time, I would probably be one of the most prolific hiders on this listing site. Most would be remote or take a real effort to get to and only generate a few finds a year, but the logs would make the effort worth it as the ones I have there now are worth it.

 

There is nothing better than to get a DNF on a hard cache and the DNFr is happy just to have experienced the area you brought them to.

:laughing:

 

I just looked at her profile. 400+ finds in just over a year. Nothing over Ter 2.5 (and only one of those) and nothing over Dif 2. Over 90% micros. No hides yet.

 

This is just my area, but I've seen many newer cachers with micro as their #1 size, but rarely is it more than 50%. That's kinda crazy. And no, you're not out of date, you didn't even join early enough to be one of the 10% of cachers around long enough to log a locationless cache (if you so choose to do so, of course). :lol:

 

There are a ton of posts, but ones by Knowschad and IK early on caught my eye. I think the whole multi-cache thing is an even bigger turn-off to a larger pool of cachers than you might think. I mean I know people who avoided most multi's in 2004. You've explained your reasons for it being a multi though.

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See that's what I don't get. We hide caches for people to...you know...find them. Isn't it better if more people find your cache? I wouldn't be happy if I put alot of work into a cache and only 1 person logged it. For me, that would suck. I do my best to hide my caches near trails (we're fortunate to have a very good trail network in our area) so not so many worries about hoardes of people bushwacking to get to them.

You have to find a balance though. Some areas are already hiked & camped to excess; throwing more people into the mix doesn't make things better. I've been hiking in areas of NY, several miles from roads, where there's been so much traffic you could practically rollerskate down the trail - and that's just from hikers wearing it down. Not everyone is conscientious about Leave No Trace, and off-trail areas start taking a hit too.

 

Bring one extra person per week to the area, no problem. Bring a couple a day, things get ugly.

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My opinion is go hide the multi. Those that want to seek it will go out.

 

Caching has changed right along with the world. We did not have smart phones back when it started, so things were slower. I cannot even recall an LPC hide when we started in 2002. Now we have instant everything and access to it whenever we want. So more people want their caches done right now and get their numbers up as fast as possible.

 

That is the beauty of geocaching, everyone can customize it to how they want to play. When we started it was all about the easy traditional. Now I enjoy the longer walk traditionals, multis, and puzzles. The quick traditional have its place, inclement weather streak extenders. :laughing:

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Hi, I'm from Italy and I live near Italian Alps, I am new to geocaching (25 finds) I found them in city, parks, old castle ... but my favourite was on top of a mountain that has required 1300 meters (4265 feet) of ascent.

Therefore ... don't worry :)

 

Welcome to Geocaching!

 

There are many ways to play the game. All are just as valid as any other. I have often thought, however, that there should be a separate type indicator for hike in caches.

 

As for me I cache anywhere and everywhere I can. Hike in and power runs it just depends uponmy mood and the weather.

 

I did have a bit of a chuckle about the 4265 ft mountain, I live at 5000ft and my higest find is 14,110ft. But I have to admit that I didn't walk all the way up there (I'm too old for that), it was all I could do to not pass out from lack of oxygen! LOL

 

To be fair, they did say 'ascent' the peak might have been much higher... or not. I live around 4500 ft ASL plus or minus myself, and find that always interesting. Many years ago (not geocaching but climbing) I did a few higher ones, always thought it was odd that I had just walked higher than I had piloted a plane. Nothing that much these days though 6 to 7,000 seems to be it, and not often.

 

Doug 7rxc

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My challenging caches that require a mile or more of hiking (or kayaking) are the ones I am most proud of. I hide those kind because they're the kind I like to find. I'm OK with the majority of cachers not interested in finding my caches. When I get a long and wonderfully written cache log about the adventure, and a dozen photos uploaded to those caches, it makes everything worthwhile, so I don't even mind that only half a dozen cachers will ever find those caches.

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One of my favorite logs on one of my caches.

 

Well, today was nice and sunny, but too dang hot! xxxx and I appreciated the thought and work that went into this one, but you know, I can't figure out why it was a good idea to put it so far out. It would be just as effective closer in. We hiked 5 miles previous at the caves and had 4 other forested caches under our belt already for the day. Another 1.5 miles wasn't that hard physically, just a pain given the heat and the heavy overgrowth. SLTNLN TFTC!

 

Some caches are just a bit further than most. I told him maybe he could place one along the way. So he placed one in the parking lot.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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I would say that most of of those who aren't numbers hounds are also not bushwackers, mountain climbers, swamp hikers, and/or kayakers.

I saw this and I'm still scratching my head... :unsure:

Could it be a typo?

 

I agree you can generalize geocachiers into "numbers hounds" and those who "cache for the experience". (And there are some two do both: I'm good friends with a couple that has done both ET Highways...but also the 10 mile swamp hike that is Ghost Orchid!)

 

But not all cachers in it for the experience are looking for the same experience. A cacher can skip LPCs and GRIMs and aim for caches with substance: parks, natural areas, historical locations, cemeteries, unusual trees, museums, plaques, etc. They can prefer Puzzles, Multis, Earthcaches, and Wherigos more than Traditionals. But they may not enjoy mountain climbing, may not own a kayak/canoe, may not enjoy plunging through palmettos, may enjoy hiking but not swamp hikes, or may simply not feel they are physically capable of longer hikes/paddles.

 

Myself: I always write more than an acronym and often write a long log, I skip most P&G caches and PTs, I hike, I kayak. But I don't kayak much because I feel I shouldn't kayak alone for safety reasons, I don't enjoy wading through palmettos, and when hiking I like to keep my feet dry.

Edited by Joshism
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I would say that most of of those who aren't numbers hounds are also not bushwackers, mountain climbers, swamp hikers, and/or kayakers.

I saw this and I'm still scratching my head... :unsure:

Could it be a typo?

 

I agree you can generalize geocachiers into "numbers hounds" and those who "cache for the experience". (And there are some two do both: I'm good friends with a couple that has done both ET Highways...but also the 10 mile swamp hike that is Ghost Orchid!)

 

But not all cachers in it for the experience are looking for the same experience. A cacher can skip LPCs and GRIMs and aim for caches with substance: parks, natural areas, historical locations, cemeteries, unusual trees, museums, plaques, etc. They can prefer Puzzles, Multis, Earthcaches, and Wherigos more than Traditionals. But they may not enjoy mountain climbing, may not own a kayak/canoe, may not enjoy plunging through palmettos, may enjoy hiking but not swamp hikes, or may simply not feel they are physically capable of longer hikes/paddles.

 

Myself: I always write more than an acronym and often write a long log, I skip most P&G caches and PTs, I hike, I kayak. But I don't kayak much because I feel I shouldn't kayak alone for safety reasons, I don't enjoy wading through palmettos, and when hiking I like to keep my feet dry.

Here in the local area I get every cache for two reasons. First of all if I want to cache I can't be to picky. Also there are not very many if any LPC and GRIM around here. Within 30 miles of here there are only 2% to 3% of the caches would fall into that group. I grab them to clear the map and so I'll know all the caches in my area.

Now when I head toward one of the bigger cities around here I'll pick out the ones I want and leave the rest.

Edited by Totem Clan
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