Lonesome Cache

[+DragonsWest]

Running around off the highway in the Amargosa Valley (Nevada) I found a cache not logged for 3 years. Sure was a beautiful day and I had massive fun running around out there, except for the few minutes of panic when I buried the front wheels in deep sand, but my Michigan snow-driving skills got me back out of it.

 

I think I found a number of caches last week which hadn't been logged for a year or more. And each one of those gave me a great feeling - finding something off the beaten path. Some were well done and other were still just good to find.

[+RIclimber]

It's always nice to find a cache that hasn't been found for awhile, it's almost like opening a time capsule.

Last year I was 2nd to find on a cache - 3 years after FTF!! It was a (full-size) puzzle cache hidden in the parking lot of a 70 cache power trail! I parked within 5' of it, but it was a "bonus" to a hard series that few took the time to go after.

[+Mr. Wilson & a Mt. Goat]

Even the feeling of being the first to find a cache in the spring after a long cold winter is good. We don't really get those kind of winters over here, but I've found some higher altitude caches that hadn't been found since 2 seasons ago and thought it was cool to open the cache and see how it survived.

[+Mike & Jess]

What the OP describes is why I got hooked on Geocaching.

Sure they wheren't finds many years later, but they where good quality caches found at the end of a good hike, mtn bike ride or trek in the middle of no where.

[+dprovan]

Running around off the highway in the Amargosa Valley (Nevada) I found a cache not logged for 3 years.

I love when that happens. I started caching just at the start of the current wave of new cachers, so for me, most of the lonesome caches I've found have been puzzle caches that all the local puzzlers solved and found long before I started caching. With the new crop of puzzlers over the last year or two, that happens less and less. Most are far less than 3 years unvisited, but I found one that was almost 3 years, and I still don't understand why, since it was a relatively simple puzzle on a nice suburban hike.

 

But lonesome caches seem to come in all flavors. I assumed the one you were talking about was deep down a hiking trail, so I was amused to see that it was technically a park&grab.

[+DragonsWest]

Running around off the highway in the Amargosa Valley (Nevada) I found a cache not logged for 3 years.

I love when that happens. I started caching just at the start of the current wave of new cachers, so for me, most of the lonesome caches I've found have been puzzle caches that all the local puzzlers solved and found long before I started caching. With the new crop of puzzlers over the last year or two, that happens less and less. Most are far less than 3 years unvisited, but I found one that was almost 3 years, and I still don't understand why, since it was a relatively simple puzzle on a nice suburban hike.

 

But lonesome caches seem to come in all flavors. I assumed the one you were talking about was deep down a hiking trail, so I was amused to see that it was technically a park&grab.

 

That vicinity of the Amargosa Valley is crossed by many old tracks, many of which are passable by a car. One I tried turned out to be a wash with deep sand. When the car stopped progressing I cleared what I could, put rocks under the wheels and gently eased it back into moving forward in as straight a line as possible, until I could park on a rocky burm to figure my best path out of the wash. There are a number which haven't been found since 2010, but are on definite 4WD tracks. I'm salivating as the prospect of going back next year in a Jeep and finding them. Some of the pictures people have posted are very cool.

 

All who wander are not lost.

[+Lieblweb]

You should search your area for a Lonesome Puzzle Cache.

 

In my area, there's a puzzle cache where you gather up points for finding lonely caches. I cant remember the point system exactly -but i think it was 1point for 3 months. 3 points for 6 months and 5 points for a year. You need a total of 120 points to find the puzzle cache.

 

Fun adventure

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Really don't have any stats, but I usually check the daily finds within 25 miles and have the higher terrains on watch-list. We've only been at this for 2 years and believe the number of mid to high terrain finds has plumeted in the area compared to 2011.

[+dprovan]

You should search your area for a Lonesome Puzzle Cache.

 

In my area, there's a puzzle cache where you gather up points for finding lonely caches. I cant remember the point system exactly -but i think it was 1point for 3 months. 3 points for 6 months and 5 points for a year. You need a total of 120 points to find the puzzle cache.

 

Fun adventure

I can't find a Lonesome Puzzle Cache, but I'm guessing you aren't remembering the numbers exactly right, 'cuz that seems like quite a premium for 6 months vs. a year. The one in my area is Neglected Cache Challenge. It requires finding enough caches neglected a minimum of 6 months to total up 15 years worth of neglected time, so the value of each cache towards completing the challenge is directly proportional to how long it had been lonesome. I've always thought that was a cool idea, but it has led to a few people scooping up all the lonesome caches in the area in order to satisfy the challenge, so it's getting harder and harder to complete these days.

[+Lieblweb]

I can't find a Lonesome Puzzle Cache, but I'm guessing you aren't remembering the numbers exactly right, 'cuz that seems like quite a premium for 6 months vs. a year. The one in my area is Neglected Cache Challenge. It requires finding enough caches neglected a minimum of 6 months to total up 15 years worth of neglected time, so the value of each cache towards completing the challenge is directly proportional to how long it had been lonesome. I've always thought that was a cool idea, but it has led to a few people scooping up all the lonesome caches in the area in order to satisfy the challenge, so it's getting harder and harder to complete these days.

 

It was back in June when we found it.... But here's the one in our area.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1b82e6be-a976-4bcc-91a8-3cdd0ee0ceed

 

We live in an area with lots & lots of caches in various different areas. It's not that hard to find lonely caches to fulfill our local challenge.

[+terrkan78]

Running around off the highway in the Amargosa Valley (Nevada) I found a cache not logged for 3 years.

I love when that happens. I started caching just at the start of the current wave of new cachers, so for me, most of the lonesome caches I've found have been puzzle caches that all the local puzzlers solved and found long before I started caching. With the new crop of puzzlers over the last year or two, that happens less and less. Most are far less than 3 years unvisited, but I found one that was almost 3 years, and I still don't understand why, since it was a relatively simple puzzle on a nice suburban hike.

 

But lonesome caches seem to come in all flavors. I assumed the one you were talking about was deep down a hiking trail, so I was amused to see that it was technically a park&grab.

 

That vicinity of the Amargosa Valley is crossed by many old tracks, many of which are passable by a car. One I tried turned out to be a wash with deep sand. When the car stopped progressing I cleared what I could, put rocks under the wheels and gently eased it back into moving forward in as straight a line as possible, until I could park on a rocky burm to figure my best path out of the wash. There are a number which haven't been found since 2010, but are on definite 4WD tracks. I'm salivating as the prospect of going back next year in a Jeep and finding them. Some of the pictures people have posted are very cool.

 

All who wander are not lost.

Ah yes! How I would love to have a Jeep (well, until it came time to fill up the tank anyway). I'm frequently wincing as I drive my 2WD car on roads where it ought not be, trying to get within hiking distance of yet another cache out in the boonies - my favorite type. They don't get found very often, and it's not unusual for the last find to be a year or two back (or more - the loneliest cache I've found to date had almost five years between the last finder and me). Total blast! I salivate over the thought of a Jeep, too.

[+Team OPJim]

For those in the southwest, there is LCP: http://www.lonelycache.com/

[+jennkarita]

My fiance and I found a cache this summer that was about 2 weeks shy of 3 years with no finds. It was a multi-cache in the Southern Adirondacks. We even rescued a TB in there that was waiting to move since 2009 (bet that surprised it's owner!) It really was so cool to be thinking that we were the first people with our hands on this thing in so long, and there it was fine and untouched out in the wilderness. It was also kind of sad because this AWESOME cache is out there, but nobody is taking the time to find it... I guess cause of the far walk. It was worth it. Nobody has found it since we were there in the beginning of August... hopefully it won't be as lonely again.

[+frinklabs]

I found a cache in Sept that I thought was lonely for more than two years (based on the online logs):

 

Batchawana 360

 

When I had the logbook in my hands, I found three or four written entries that were never logged online. And they were for-sure from cachers because there were TFTC acronyms used.

[+JL_HSTRE]

There is a Challenge Cache in SE Florida that requires finding a Lonely Cache (find a cache with no Finds in the year prior to yours). I qualified last week by finding a puzzle cache that hadn't been found in 1 1/2 years. Brevard County (north of me) has a Lonely Caches bookmark list of about 30 and it seems to draw some activity. I created one for my area which is the 7 counties south of Brevard; that list started with 219 caches on it, although more than a dozen have been knocked off in the first week thanks to people seeking them or being archived.

 

So if you like Lonely Caches I definitely recommend a bookmark list to promote them.

[+fizzymagic]

So if you like Lonely Caches I definitely recommend a bookmark list to promote them.

 

Problem with that is that as soon as the cache has been found it is no longer lonely!

[+dprovan]

When I had the logbook in my hands, I found three or four written entries that were never logged online.

That reminds me of a puzzle cache I recently found that I thought was lonely, no logs for almost 2 years, but when I opened it, I found 12 signatures not filed on-line. It turns out that the cache was old enough that it's final location wasn't in the database, so a few years ago, a traditional was planted about 30' away. Ever since, people have been finding the puzzle cache's container and signing it, thinking they were finding the traditional. I'm still not clear whether I can count that as lonesome for these challenges.

[4wheelin_fool]

I'm going to be hiding one soon. It will be an ammo can, about 30 feet or more up a cedar tree with no lower branches. It may get 3 finds within the first year, and then sit like a time capsule until who knows when. I'll stuff it with swag, and perhaps a current newspaper.

[+cb461]

There are a few in central Colorado like that. I visited a few along a narly 4x4 jeep trail known as Carnage Canyon that hadn't been logged in a year or so when I got to them and it was another 8 months or more before they were logged again.

Although if my memory serves me two of them were signed but never logged online.