Where's the Adventure?

[+1Lonerunner]

I my area of Central Texas Geocachers are just as happy as larks finding and logging "zipped to a tree", log in only BYOP, and watching their numbers climb on the web site. BULL!

I have hidden some challenging caches...something like I might like to find. Very few put things in a cache here. I have a cache I put out a month ago. Wade a creek 393 yard, climb a rock embankment 75', climb a tree 8' feet. Now that's a cache! It is a medium container with 10 nice "prizes" inside. The first 10 finders get a prize. They will not have to leave anything. I also hid 5 "zipped to tree" to entice them along the way to go to the "real cache". I have had about 5 people get the "zipped" ones and only 2 for the one with a challenge.

I want Geocachers to use their imagination and put out some REAL Geocaches. I am new to this game. I have 61 finds and 15 hides. All of my hides are a little challenging. Some are easy, some not so easy. I would love to look for a cache that has some element of Adventure! One man of our county hid a cache where you climb a rock wall 150' and cache is under cedar tree at the top. It was great! Loved it, but that was it.....no more caches with challenge of any kind. I love Geocaching, but I hate BYOP, "zipped to a tree"!

[+the4dirtydogs]

Some people dont want an adventure, they just want to find easy caches. Good for you on hiding what you like to find, the ones that find those caches will appreciate it. It really wont do you any justice by complaining here because most of us here hide the caches that you would like to find. Good luck and hope you stick around and enjoy this game and lead by example.

[+L0ne.R]

I my area of Central Texas Geocachers are just as happy as larks finding and logging "zipped to a tree", log in only BYOP, and watching their numbers climb on the web site. BULL!

I have hidden some challenging caches...something like I might like to find. Very few put things in a cache here. I have a cache I put out a month ago. Wade a creek 393 yard, climb a rock embankment 75', climb a tree 8' feet. Now that's a cache! It is a medium container with 10 nice "prizes" inside. The first 10 finders get a prize. They will not have to leave anything. I also hid 5 "zipped to tree" to entice them along the way to go to the "real cache". I have had about 5 people get the "zipped" ones and only 2 for the one with a challenge.

I want Geocachers to use their imagination and put out some REAL Geocaches. I am new to this game. I have 61 finds and 15 hides. All of my hides are a little challenging. Some are easy, some not so easy. I would love to look for a cache that has some element of Adventure! One man of our county hid a cache where you climb a rock wall 150' and cache is under cedar tree at the top. It was great! Loved it, but that was it.....no more caches with challenge of any kind. I love Geocaching, but I hate BYOP, "zipped to a tree"!

 

The reward for those challenging types of caches is not so much in the number of visitors you get but the number of kudos you get in the logs from those that have the physical ability and gumption to get to your 4/4 cache. I see you have had 2 finders and 2 favorite votes on your 4/4 cache. Congrats.

 

Maybe you've inspired those finders to hide something similar.

 

Personally I'm not physically capable of tough terrain challenges and I cache alone so if something happened I may end up in deep trouble. I have fallen out of a tree (panicked because I couldn't breath for a few seconds) and have broken my leg while geocaching so I don't want to repeat those experiences. I limit myself to terrain 3 or under.

Edited July 14, 2012 by L0ne R

[Mr.Yuck]

Some people dont want an adventure, they just want to find easy caches. Good for you on hiding what you like to find, the ones that find those caches will appreciate it. It really wont do you any justice by complaining here because most of us here hide the caches that you would like to find. Good luck and hope you stick around and enjoy this game and lead by example.

 

Yeah, here's your answer. +1 as they say. Unlikely you'll find people who own 200 zip tied to a tree micros hanging out here. They're too busy zip tying micros to trees. Actually, I'm not quite as adventurous as you, bit I like to hike to small and regular sized caches. Even if if's along a paved bike trail. I do also do ones like you describe in the original post too, but only when I get around to them, and usually with a group.

[+Roman!]

So you have 61 finds and you want to tell everyone else how to play the game?

[Mr.Yuck]

So you have 61 finds and you want to tell everyone else how to play the game?

 

That's not quite as funny as the guy who buried a cache and had his cache archived by a senior reviewer (started reviewing in 2003) who said "This cache is still there; no one with 1 find is going to tell me how to play the game".

[+Roman!]

So you have 61 finds and you want to tell everyone else how to play the game?

 

That's not quite as funny as the guy who buried a cache and had his cache archived by a senior reviewer (started reviewing in 2003) who said "This cache is still there; no one with 1 find is going to tell me how to play the game".

 

Now that is funny

[Mr.Yuck]

So you have 61 finds and you want to tell everyone else how to play the game?

 

That's not quite as funny as the guy who buried a cache and had his cache archived by a senior reviewer (started reviewing in 2003) who said "This cache is still there; no one with 1 find is going to tell me how to play the game".

 

Now that is funny

 

It was in Canada, but east coast. I will PM the link, no need to post it here. Although I did post it to Twitter, that's how I'm going to find it. Was within the past year. Sorry, back to the regularly scheduled topic.

[+tozainamboku]

 

Different people cache for different reasons. For some a challenge of some sort may be necessary to enjoy the game. Whether it be taking a a long hike, climbing a tree, solving a puzzle, or discerning something out of place when the cache is cleverly camouflaged or hidden; the satisfaction one gets in finding these caches it what makes this game worthwhile. Yet for other people it simply enough to find a cache. For some of these people any extra challenge adds little to their enjoyment, and then may even feel that a challenging cache is more likely to be DNF'd. Since their enjoyment comes in finding a cache, a DNF is always disappointing; more so when they have expended a lot of effort getting to the cache, climbing trees, solving puzzles, or searching.

 

Remember that some people are unable or unwilling to undertake a serious physical challenge, and that some people cache with small children who may not be able to do the challenge and my become bored or frustrated looking for a difficult cache.

 

There are a number of reason that easy park and grab style caches are more popular both for hiders and finders. One simple one is that those how hunt mostly easy caches can find dozens or even hundred in a day, while a difficult cache may take the better part of a day, perhaps more with the preparation. So these cachers tend to find (and hide) many more caches than those who prefer challenging hides.

 

My guess is that the OP may discover that there are enough Central Texas cachers that have similar tastes to his that he won't run out of challenging caches to find; and while there will be fewer finds on his challenging caches than on those easier ones he left to show the way, those that go all the way and do the challenged hide will have enjoyed these more.

[MisterEFQ]

How dare people enjoy caches you don't enjoy.

[+Lieblweb]

How dare people enjoy caches you don't enjoy.

 

[Mr.Yuck]

How dare people enjoy caches you don't enjoy.

 

Sbellism creeping into the forums here? Who is to say people "enjoy" every cache they find? I know people with 5,000 - 10,000 finds who find every stinking cache that is listed on this website. And they roll their eyes and hold their nose while lifting that skirt.

 

Then there's that high number guy about a year ago who started the thread complaining about how he miscalculated, and his XX,000th find ending up being a nano on a stop sign. That would imply he didn't "enjoy" that cache, just because he found it. My point here? Running out and finding anything listed on the website does not = endorsement. Or maybe I just get worked up when I hear the term "enjoy" thrown out there.

[+cheech gang]

I do not enjoy every cache I find.

I log every cache I find.

Every cache I enjoy, I log.

Every cache I don't enjoy, I log.

Every cache I don't bother looking for, I don't log.

Works for me.

[+T.D.M.22]

And what about those who cache with their children. I've been known to do some-lets say not so smart stuff-But I would NEVER let a 5 or even 10 YO go with me to climb some rock 75 feet. Plus I have an injury that flairs up. Prevents me from doing anything other than a PnG. We even have 2 small powertrails and I can't do them all at once, because It causes pain to get in and out of a car constantly. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy those types of caches, but I wouldn't do them. It's not up to others to place stuff for YOU. They place what they like, and you place what you want. That's all that can be done.

[+tozainamboku]

Or maybe I just get worked up when I hear the term "enjoy" thrown out there.

You can complain about sbell saying the someone must enjoy a cache or they wouldn't have placed it, but the opposite of sbellism is assuming that just because you don't enjoy some cache, no one else enjoys it; and then go on to say that the only reason for these caches are hidden is to get another smiley.

 

It's just not the case that nobody enjoys PnGs. Sure there are people who have fun finding PnGs who prefer a more challenging cache now and then. It's not surprising someone might have wanted to save a challenging cache for a milestone and then complained when they miscounted and found an LPC instead. And there are cachers who might reserve their favorite points for cahces that were a bit more challenging. That's not to say that they didn't enjoy the PnGs they found.

 

For many people the fun is not each cache but the overall adventure for the day. So for them going out with friends to find 80 or so PnGs my be a great day geocaching. The next weekend they may hike 12 miles to find one cache and find that it was just as much fun.

 

I didn't take the OP as critical of what others enjoy, despite the use of the word BULL to characterize a type of cache that appears to be popular in his area. Instead I simply try to point out that cachers cache for a lot of different reasons. Even caching "for numbers" is a legitimate reason for "enjoying" geocaching. For the most part, there are plenty of tougher caches to find even when it seems the the easy PnG caches out number the challenging caches by a huge margin.

[+W7WT]

The wife and I are in our mid-eighties and just did a power trail south of the Columbia River in the hills. We did have an adventure as I made a wrong turn and ended up the mountain. Our routing GPS got us in a loop.

finally found a better road and took it back into town and then did the power trail in reverse order. Since I had open heart surgery and the wife had a stroke, we had to pass up some caches that were up an embankment. We just do what we can do. Still found over 70 caches. Not complaining, just happy we can still geocache.

[+KBLAST]

I am very lucky to live in Central Ohio where we have a WIDE variety of caches - some very intense and challenging caches, and some light posts and guardrails. I tend to hide the challenging ones because it's what I love. There are others who hide the zip ties and LPCs and guardrails. I find them all.

 

For me, I tend to use challenge caches to keep the less interesting ones more interesting for me. Just the other day I ran a little series of easy caches in the area because I had to find exactly 42 caches in one day to complete a challenge based on the TV series "Lost".

 

Anyway, if you ARE looking for the challenging caches, they ARE out there, and I've found them all over the country. Keep your eyes open and rank the caches by terrain... that's how I find a lot of great challenging caches. Also, make sure you check out the multi's and puzzles - you never know what you'll find with those. I've done a number of field puzzles that ended up being amazing adventures.

 

I'm not sure if you were just posting to vent and you'll never be back, or if you were really looking for kindred souls. I'd love to give you some examples of great challenges I've done if you're interested. I've just never been in Texas, so I can't help you there.

[+DragonsWest]

Worked on some Caching Karma today, found a bunch of old 4-digit caches while hiking. So much for enjoyable than any power trail. Great weather, too. Great to be able to enjoy it.

[+Isonzo Karst]

I would love to look for a cache that has some element of Adventure! One man of our county hid a cache where you climb a rock wall 150' and cache is under cedar tree at the top. It was great! Loved it, but that was it.....no more caches with challenge of any kind.

 

I think you might want to spring for a Premium Membership, so you can get a feel for the challenging caches in your area by having access to Pocket Queries.

 

I just ran a Pocket Query for caches within 65 miles of your placed cache, GC3NXMY. = I asked for those with terrain rating greater then or equal to 3, and difficulty of 1.5 or greater

- typically, there's gonna be some "adventure" to these...

 

This query returned 356 caches. That ought keep you busy for a while. When ranked by numbers of Favorite points, there are some humdingers in this group, notably:

 

Texas County Challenge by The Royal Order of the Lake | GCRX6F ....... you're within 40 miles of this thing - a monster !

 

Rapunzel by HackAttack adopted by Guido71 & Gilliansage | GCBA34

 

Track Meet? by Waterweasel and Tygress | GC1RZM5

 

JW 's Initial Cache by VRae | GC2YVT7

 

PowerRiddle 25 by ATXTracker | GC2PB5M

 

Peep Show by Mrs. Captain Picard | GCVCWJ

 

Coo, Coo, Cach(e)oo! by Bigguy In Texas | GC377ZM

[cezanne]

I my area of Central Texas Geocachers are just as happy as larks finding and logging "zipped to a tree", log in only BYOP, and watching their numbers climb on the web site. BULL!

I have hidden some challenging caches...something like I might like to find. Very few put things in a cache here. I have a cache I put out a month ago. Wade a creek 393 yard, climb a rock embankment 75', climb a tree 8' feet. Now that's a cache!

 

Like LoneR I need to restrict myself to lower terrain caches and I also cache alone and I'm not surefooted and have a very troublesome knee. I'm not able to climb up trees and never have been.

Moreover, I'm caching to relax from my stressful work and I rather look for peace and calmness and not for special adventures.

So there is a lot between searching out special adventures and watching one's numbers climb.

 

I prefer non-micros in most cases, but only because they are easier to find and because they can accomodate trackables. I'm not interested into trading and also not into prizes for the first finders. I leave such items always in the cache because I'm against the competition aspect. Geocaching for me is not a sport and not a competion - there are no winners and no losers.

 

Cezanne

[Mr.Yuck]

Or maybe I just get worked up when I hear the term "enjoy" thrown out there.

You can complain about sbell saying the someone must enjoy a cache or they wouldn't have placed it, but the opposite of sbellism is assuming that just because you don't enjoy some cache, no one else enjoys it; and then go on to say that the only reason for these caches are hidden is to get another smiley.

 

It's just not the case that nobody enjoys PnGs. Sure there are people who have fun finding PnGs who prefer a more challenging cache now and then. It's not surprising someone might have wanted to save a challenging cache for a milestone and then complained when they miscounted and found an LPC instead. And there are cachers who might reserve their favorite points for cahces that were a bit more challenging. That's not to say that they didn't enjoy the PnGs they found.

 

For many people the fun is not each cache but the overall adventure for the day. So for them going out with friends to find 80 or so PnGs my be a great day geocaching. The next weekend they may hike 12 miles to find one cache and find that it was just as much fun.

 

I didn't take the OP as critical of what others enjoy, despite the use of the word BULL to characterize a type of cache that appears to be popular in his area. Instead I simply try to point out that cachers cache for a lot of different reasons. Even caching "for numbers" is a legitimate reason for "enjoying" geocaching. For the most part, there are plenty of tougher caches to find even when it seems the the easy PnG caches out number the challenging caches by a huge margin.

 

Thanks Mr. T, I knew I could count on you. Yeah, I didn't take the OP being critical about what others like, but I can see where some could read it the wrong way, and interpret it as "telling people how to cache". And also, I said I got "worked up", but I really wasn't, and certainly wasn't yelling at Mr. EFQ. Hey, I put a smiley on the end, didn't i?

 

I think the best answers are from the4dirtydogs and IK. IK, a person who likes the same kinds of caches I do, and ignores those they don't like, always does a great job of giving advice, without making snide remarks about "lame" caches. Markwell is like that too. Me, I have a lot of work to do to get there. I don't know, I think referring to a cache as a parking lot turd is just too funny.

[+briansnat]

How dare people enjoy caches you don't enjoy.

 

Sbellism creeping into the forums here? Who is to say people "enjoy" every cache they find? I know people with 5,000 - 10,000 finds who find every stinking cache that is listed on this website. And they roll their eyes and hold their nose while lifting that skirt.

 

Then there's that high number guy about a year ago who started the thread complaining about how he miscalculated, and his XX,000th find ending up being a nano on a stop sign. That would imply he didn't "enjoy" that cache, just because he found it. My point here? Running out and finding anything listed on the website does not = endorsement. Or maybe I just get worked up when I hear the term "enjoy" thrown out there.

 

True. I know a few people who have this thing about keeping an X mile radius around their home clear of unfound caches. They admit to holding their noses and finding caches they don't care for because of their odd obsession. Anyway, since everyone seems to love those park and grabs so much, how come I rarely see one with a favorite point?

 

As far as the OP, I didn't take it as a blanket condemnation of a type of cache or an attempt to tell others how the enjoy the sport. I took it more as a complaint about the preponderance a single type of cache and a dearth of the sort of caches that he enjoys.

Edited July 16, 2012 by briansnat

[DannyCaffeine]

If you don't care for it, just don't seek it. It's a bummer when there are a bunch of lame micros but don't waste your time getting grumpy over it. Enjoy the game

 

You have 2 options-

Plant some awesome caches for others to find

Seek out caches you actually want to

[cezanne]

Anyway, since everyone seems to love those park and grabs so much, how come I rarely see one with a favorite point?

 

As far as the OP, I didn't take it as a blanket condemnation of a type of cache or an attempt to tell others how the enjoy the sport. I took it more as a complaint about the preponderance a single type of cache and a dearth of the sort of caches that he enjoys.

 

Actually, there is a lot between park and grab caches and caches where one has to climb up a rock and then climb up a tree. I do not enjoy park and grab caches - I enjoy peaceful walks that I'm able to do. For me the OP somehow sounds like everyone who is not seeking out such adventures is just interested into numbers, but maybe I misunderstood something.

 

Cezanne