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How do you find so many caches?


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Well, first let's be perfectly clear... the number of finds you have does not necessarily equate to the amount of fun you've had. With that out of the way... let's look at your stats:

 

  • Find Rate 0.082 caches/day
  • Longest Streak 2 consecutive days with finds from 01/01/2011 to 01/02/2011
  • Longest Slump 221 consecutive days without a find from 05/11/2012 to 12/18/2012
  • Best Day 12 caches in one day on 04/26/2011
  • Best Month 25 caches in April of 2011
  • Best Year 44 caches in 2011

Seems like you need to return to whatever you did on 4/26/2011, and to do it regularly, kind of like you did on 1/1/11 and 1/2/11, but don't stop after the 2nd day like that.

 

Do a bit of pre-planning. Look at the caches in the area you are interested in, decide how many and which ones you want to do, and plan a route. Stick to that route when you get there... simply going to the next nearest according to your GPS is seldom a good plan. Caching that way can be highly inefficient.

 

 

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My 12 YO son and I go on weekends to places nearby. We're not in any cache rich place but there are quite a few. We've gotten 9 so far. We're in no hurry to get big numbers, we're spending time together and hopefully he'll remember that later. This summer, hubby plans to come along (so he says).

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Well, first let's be perfectly clear... the number of finds you have does not necessarily equate to the amount of fun you've had. With that out of the way... let's look at your stats:

 

  • Find Rate 0.082 caches/day
  • Longest Streak 2 consecutive days with finds from 01/01/2011 to 01/02/2011
  • Longest Slump 221 consecutive days without a find from 05/11/2012 to 12/18/2012
  • Best Day 12 caches in one day on 04/26/2011
  • Best Month 25 caches in April of 2011
  • Best Year 44 caches in 2011

Seems like you need to return to whatever you did on 4/26/2011, and to do it regularly, kind of like you did on 1/1/11 and 1/2/11, but don't stop after the 2nd day like that.

 

Do a bit of pre-planning. Look at the caches in the area you are interested in, decide how many and which ones you want to do, and plan a route. Stick to that route when you get there... simply going to the next nearest according to your GPS is seldom a good plan. Caching that way can be highly inefficient.

 

 

I have to agree with that. However, of where I live, we got alot of logging roads that arent on maps and they are HARD to plan a caching trip in the hills. So I just plan to be in the hill all day. Once I learn all the roads, it get really easy to plan the next time I go up there. As far as planning caching in a city, it works well with your idea of planning. We got caches on "landing" in the hills because cachers take the wrong road and have to turn around. So they place a cache there to tell their story that they took that road. LOL.

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There's no secret. They spend more time caching than you. If they're finding 61/week, they probably also live in a cache rich area. If you want to find more, make more of an effort. There are plenty of caches where you live.

 

I agree. There are lots of places where finding 60-100 in a week would be relatively easy. There are many more places where finding that many caches in a week would require traveling hundreds of miles. There's someone from Russia that's posted here a few times recently. With only 389 caches in his entire country, one that is nearly twice the size of the United States, it has far fewer caches that can be found in Rhode Island (currently 2397).

 

Assuming that there are plenty of caches to be found I assume that the OP is looking for ways to increase their find rate. There are several ways to do that.

 

Minimize the distance between finds. Selecting areas with a cluster of caches helps as does select caches which do not require a significant walk from where one can park their car.

 

Careful route planning can help a lot. Select the caches that you want to find in a specific order such that you'll find some while outbound from home as well as on the way back home. Sometimes finding all caches on the right side of the road then turn around and find the caches on the other side the road will save a lot of time than if you try to cross a major road back and forth.

 

Reducing the time it takes to find a cache once you're near ground zero just takes practice and experience. Over time you'll learn to recognize potential hiding spots well before you get to ground zero. Learning how to start the search while 100 feet or more from ground zero rather than trying to follow the GPS all the way to the cache can save a significant amount of time. Before the use of smart phones with satellite imagery to locate the where the cache is hidden, learning how to estimate distances really helps. As you're walking down a trail and you're GPS tells you the cache is 200 feet a bit off to the left of the trail, look off in that direction and estimate 200 feet. If you see something that looks like a potential hiding spot (a large tree, some unique object), stop looking at the GPS (or just glance at it occasionally) and head right for the object and start searching. Quite often, you'll find the cache at that object and will have saved a lot of time watching the GPS and following the arrow.

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Cache density helps, good planning helps and making it something you actually make a point to do all makes for higher numbers.

Mine have gone way up since moving from the SW of Colorado, with low density and a smaller caching season to NW Washington with a high density, year round caching and being able to go caching every day.

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I live in an area with a lot of caches so I can find a lot when I go out caching. I have a nice GPS that has caches, descriptions, logs, and hints and that helps a lot. I cache a lot. Before work. After work. On the weekends. I've done this consistently for a couple years and the finds begin to add up.

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Rule #1 - NEVER measure your fun with caching by others' find counts.

 

Rule #2 - When you find yourself worrying over others' find counts, refer to rule number 1.

+1.

 

The biggest day I've had caching was 62, it was also the worse day I had caching, bored to death and my partner had the worse headache ever. :sad: The best day I found 1, but it was a great cache, that I've gone back and visited twice since. :D

 

So, the real question is? are you enjoying what you are doing? If so refer to Rule #1.

 

If you really must up your daily rate try a power trail, some love them I don't but to each his own.

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So I've been geocaching for 2 years now and I have 61 finds.. not too many. But then I look at other people and they are getting that many finds per week.

My question is how do you do it? What tips do you have to help me find more caches?

Also, feel free to discuss anything relating to this.

 

Don't go down this road. You've been caching for two years at your preferred pace and there is no reason to change. If you find you have more time and want to head out a bit more, fine. Putting a number on caching leads to angst and then burn-out.

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Rule #1 - NEVER measure your fun with caching by others' find counts.

 

Rule #2 - When you find yourself worrying over others' find counts, refer to rule number 1.

+1.

 

The biggest day I've had caching was 62, it was also the worse day I had caching, bored to death and my partner had the worse headache ever. :sad: The best day I found 1, but it was a great cache, that I've gone back and visited twice since. :D

 

So, the real question is? are you enjoying what you are doing? If so refer to Rule #1.

 

If you really must up your daily rate try a power trail, some love them I don't but to each his own.

Accept the fact that some have been doing this a LOT longer than you, have more time for the hobby, and point blank, are more experienced.

 

Have fun at the game, whatever makes you have fun with it, and NEVER EVER worry about how many someone else has.

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So I've been geocaching for 2 years now and I have 61 finds.. not too many. But then I look at other people and they are getting that many finds per week.

My question is how do you do it? What tips do you have to help me find more caches?

Also, feel free to discuss anything relating to this.

 

In a week? Some people get that in an hour and you know why? Because they enjoy it but doesn't mean you would. Cache as much as makes you happy.

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So I've been geocaching for 2 years now and I have 61 finds.. not too many. But then I look at other people and they are getting that many finds per week.

My question is how do you do it? What tips do you have to help me find more caches?

Also, feel free to discuss anything relating to this.

 

Drive up caches. Power trails. Series.

I'm not one of those. Started in 2002 and I'm under 1500 finds. There are cachers that find them to and from work and at lunch time too. And some people are just lucky enough to be retired and have the time.

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So I've been geocaching for 2 years now and I have 61 finds.. not too many. But then I look at other people and they are getting that many finds per week.

My question is how do you do it? What tips do you have to help me find more caches?

Also, feel free to discuss anything relating to this.

I joined up with a team (husband and wife) for a couple of caches in town, as they passed through one day. They'd stop, find, sign the log, and then they're off to the next cache. I felt like I was slowing them down by just being there, which I guess I was (there's the added time for the extra signature).

 

I also enjoy puzzling over some clever cache hides, or exploring a new place I never knew about. I take pictures of the cache and of various Trackables with the cache, add or trade Swag, clean out the leaves and trash, replace a torn ziplock, take extra care to place the container back in its spot and cover it properly. Can't do all that if it's “sign and go, sign and go”.

 

OK, I'm also bad at finding Geocaches. That kept my numbers down.

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Accept the fact that some have been doing this a LOT longer than you, have more time for the hobby, and point blank, are more experienced.

 

Have fun at the game, whatever makes you have fun with it, and NEVER EVER worry about how many someone else has.

 

Yep.

 

We joined up in 2001, didn't find our first cache until 2004, then it took us until last year to get to 1000 finds. We don't do nearly as much caching as we used to but we still enjoy the amount we do - That's the important bit.

 

Just a couple of suggestions...

 

Planning is part of the fun so maybe decide to do a weekend of caching in a new area - Got a caching friend? Get them in on it too.

 

No particular caching friend? Maybe you would enjoy attending a local Event cache, get to know a few local cachers.

 

Also, I see you're in Sydney. Just in case you haven't found it yet, most of the Australian cachers use this forum: Geocaching Australia (Don't take that the wrong way - I'm not saying you shouldn't be on this forum! :D It's just that Groundspeak's Australia forum is quiet in comparison.

 

Enjoy your caching.

 

MrsB (in the "old" South Wales)

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The great thing about caching is that EVERYONE gets something different out of it and does it at their own pace.

I only started in late Oct (tutorial from a friend) and then early Nov on my own. I'm now on 123 and a 12-day stretch - and have more or less cleaned up the feasible ones in my home and work towns - often doing cache-and dashes at lunch / on the way back from work. Colleagues find it amusing to see me come back to my desk with muddy jeans having walked a mile to find a box under a tree at the back end of a muddy field. My rhythm is going to change for several reasons: relaxing having got 100; done all the low-hanging fruit as mentioned above; but on the plus side, in the spring I can see longer walks coming up. 100 of my 123 are urban but a canal walk on 27/12 and then a woodland walk yesterday with 3 1/2 - year - old Oxford Stone Junior (now on 53, of which he found 3 before me) have shown me that rural caches can be a lot more fun. I'm delighted to have a son who, like his dad and his late grandfather, loves gettin gout in the countryside and geocaching will be a part of his education: exercise, navigation skills, obseervation, learning about the countryside and respect for it.

As for planning - I just type the place into the website, sometimes zoom out to get an idea of density / a good route to pick up a handful. I've still never done more than 9 in a day.

Forthcoming overseas trips for me: Vegas for a conference so 20 caches are stored on my phone - but I don't care if I only get to two or 3; then we want to go to Italy in the summer in the area where the famous car factories are (ie Bologna / Parma / Modena). Parma seems to have ONE cache and Bologna about 40 from memory, so guess where we'll be staying!

Enjoy the hobby at your speed, Scott!

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I got 403 finds in ONE day !

it was VERY hardwork, I was thinking that was impressive,

until I find out alot of people did x2 or even x3 that value.

 

finding that ONE cache, that takes a few days of planning and a few days of hiking and such

it what make some people very happy.

 

Something in between is what makes most people happy :-)

 

DONT look at others find number

it only say one thing, how many logbooks they signed in total,

not anything about how much fun they had.

you can not define or measure FUN, since it is VERY different from person to person.

 

Also, some people started last week, and others started 10 years ago, how to compare or compeete ?!?!

your find number is not how cool you are or how much you love your hobby.

 

PLEASE just do what you find is funny.

 

I really LOVE geocaching, the best thing I ever did was to deside I wanted to see how long a streak I could make..

(how many days in a row)

What I think is most fun about this, is the planning,

and handle weather issues, there is no such thing as bad weather -

but there sure is lack of weather planning :-)

I also like the fact I know I will go out and play a little bit today after work,

I get a bit of fresh air today, and maybe also wet shoes, lovely :-)

Edited by OZ2CPU
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Just remember to keep it FUN FOR YOU, not what others think is fun. Maybe set aside one day per month and plan to visit a certain area to get as many as possible from that area. If transport is an issue, attend events in your area to make friends with other cachers. Then you may be able to team cache with them.

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Based on what appears to be your home location of Sydney, you've got some really good local cache density in the area. If you want to find more caches, take a good look at the map and find a good, dense pocket or two where you can spend a few hours or even a day on the hunt. Make sure the D/T ratings agree with you, and maybe invite another local cacher along.

 

But whatever you do, don't push yourself too hard. It's only fun if you're enjoying it. Good luck!

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1200 in a day?!?!

You realize that's almost one cache for every minute of the day? I suspect funny business in a case like that...

The main "funny business" is a remote highway with identical easily found containers every 528ft/161m. Add a carload of people who want to log cache after cache after cache after cache for hours, and you have something like this:

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There are allready a zillion Route 66 threads :-) so forgive me for one more lame reply..

I newer been to that state, yet..

But if I did try to take up that one,

I would do it my own style to see if how many in a day I could really handle.

I would : start at 00:00:00, have two friends as car drivers, so they can swap when tired,

I would remove one of the right side door of the car :-)

(handeling the doors was a serious trouble last time we did something like this)

have at least one person to handle the main logging GPS..

I get out, find, and stamp EVERY single cache my self, I stop at 23:59:59 same DATE as I started,

then we will see for sure.. how many I can find in one day,

only then I would feel proud of my score.. but that is just me..

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Get a car- you can practically pinpoint the moment when I moved and no longer had one, instead opting for bicycle power and public transport. My after work radius is pretty picked clean because I get tired (and this time of year it getting dark at 430am does not help!).

 

When I rented a car for a few days over break, on the other hand, I was getting a dozen caches a day without trying hard at all. Amazing how much easier it is when you can drive there!

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I just logged find 177. I'll probably hit 200 somewhere next month.

I started in August 2012, so that's roughly 6 months of caching. In my eyes that's not much, but I don't care. When I plan a caching trip, I don't just hit the numbers. I try to pick cache-rich areas with fun caches and/or interesting new places to keep things fun.

Edited by stijnhommes
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1200 in a day?!?!

You realize that's almost one cache for every minute of the day? I suspect funny business in a case like that...

The main "funny business" is a remote highway with identical easily found containers every 528ft/161m. Add a carload of people who want to log cache after cache after cache after cache for hours, and you have hey something like this:

 

Cheez and crackers-these guys again?!?!

They should start getting royalties every time this video gets posted to another one of these threads!

Fine print legal disclaimer-I am one of those guys. :lol:

Edited by wimseyguy
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If you really are in it just for the numbers.. Pocket query, difficulty 1.5 or less, terrain 1.5 or less, search in major city or suburb. Knock yourself out. I got 1,160 in almost ten years, around 2 a week on average, over half by bicycle. I've never done a power trail but I am going to do one via bicycle in rural SE Georgia this spring.

 

And there are people who do geocaching full-time. I couldn't do it full time but I salute those who can.

 

In today's inflated post counts, I have found the new 10,000 find crowd was the old 1,000 find crowd about 7 years ago.

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>I've never done a power trail but I am going to do one via bicycle in rural SE Georgia this spring.

 

great you try something new and different,

no matter what it is, you newer know what it really is, if you dont at least try it :-)

my advise about PT trips, go all in, try really hard to see how many you can really find in one day,

set a high and hard goal, the harder you try, the more fun the challenge is,

to me it was about finding something funny about it, and take it to my level of fun,

then it actually turned out to be alot of fun.

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As others have mentioned you play this game by your own rules, I do one or 2 a day normally, the most I have ever done in one day is 20 , this was on a power trail in Melbourne which was about 3 hours worth, and I was getting a little bored, but it was getting my numbers up. some have done all the PT in one day but I have only done 70% over 4 days and will complete when I am back down there.

 

I take about an hour out of my day for a bit of fun, some are drive by's, some are multi's, some are puzzles, some are a long walk, depends on how I feel. some day I can't be bothered but most days I do because I enjoy it.I enjoy streaking more than the bulking up my numbers.

 

I am nearing my 900th and have done nearly 100 in the last 50 days, and have only been caching just over 18 months, its what "I" choose to do and how "I" choose to do it.

 

I have friends who have done less than 50 in 3 years, they only do it when they are on holidays, it really is up to you, don't sweat about the numbers they will come with time. , power trails are a good way to up your numbers but they get numbing. I have a PT and have people doing 4 -5 caches once a week to complete them, others push to finish it in one day, others do 1 a week. who cares how you do it, its what you do with it that makes it yours.

I am in Sydney as well.

 

you might say this post is all about ME - well isn't your caching all about you!

 

remember life comes in "can"s, you just need to find the I'CAN

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For us it is not about the numbers but the adventure. I like to go for the caches that have a lot of favorite points, as those tend to be fun/interesting caches. That method has also taken us to some incredible locations throughout the US, as we travel in our RV. Don't get caught up in the numbers, do it for the adventure and fun.

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There are allready a zillion Route 66 threads :-) so forgive me for one more lame reply..

I newer been to that state, yet..

But if I did try to take up that one,

I would do it my own style to see if how many in a day I could really handle.

I would : start at 00:00:00, have two friends as car drivers, so they can swap when tired,

I would remove one of the right side door of the car :-)

(handeling the doors was a serious trouble last time we did something like this)

have at least one person to handle the main logging GPS..

I get out, find, and stamp EVERY single cache my self, I stop at 23:59:59 same DATE as I started,

then we will see for sure.. how many I can find in one day,

only then I would feel proud of my score.. but that is just me..

 

Because I love the dessert and solitude I really liked the Route 66 Trail ( I also kind of like all things Route 66 ).

I figured we'd have a go at setting a personal high and we did.....303 in 6-7 hours...although temp was 114 in the shade ( there is no shade ) I could have done a bunch more but we just didn't care to....I stopped at an easy to remember number then had a great meal at the diner in Ludlow on the south side of the interstate. I can see how these huge numbers are generated but for the most part have little interest in that type of caching....in fact I passed right by the ET trail. Six months later I'm still burned out from our " high numbers" summer vacation.

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So I've been geocaching for 2 years now and I have 61 finds.. not too many. But then I look at other people and they are getting that many finds per week.

My question is how do you do it? What tips do you have to help me find more caches?

Also, feel free to discuss anything relating to this.

 

First you need to go outside and start looking for them.

 

Did a quick search of the area that you have your hide (GC2VPQM), and found over 1000 caches with in 35km by air (just under 22 miles) rated at 2D/2T or easier. So if you don't have a car, find a friend with one and go caching together. Its always more fun with another person. If you only have a bike or just want to walk, then there are 179 caches with in 10km of your hide also rated 2D/2T and under.

 

If you want to do a power trail and can get there, a drive of 44km from you cache will put at one that is over 60 caches long.

 

But most of all, why do you want to find caches? If part of the answer is to have fun, then who cares have many finds you have as long as you are having a good time doing it.

 

But if you do want to find more, here is a very simple thing you can do. Whenever you are going somewhere, check the map to see what caches are along that route, and try to find one or two. This won't add much time to your trip and if you can do this twice a week, in a year it could add 100-300 finds to your total with out much work.

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So I've been geocaching for 2 years now and I have 61 finds.. not too many. But then I look at other people and they are getting that many finds per week.

My question is how do you do it? What tips do you have to help me find more caches?

Also, feel free to discuss anything relating to this.

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From the replies the answer is that everyone caches for different reasons and with somewhat different purposes. When we started we would go out after work and do 3 or 4 caches and come home. Then we met some other cachers and would go out all day with them. When we did the Stud Mill Road Run we did 109 caches in one day and another 60 caches or something like that when we finished the area. To do this we left at 4 am in the morning and cached until we heard the Moose pawing the ground late at night. It was a lot of fun. I recommend finding other local cachers and going out on caching days with them if that is something that would interest you. I know that we have enjoyed it. Planning is also key. Take a trip somewhere find out what cachers are there. Any awesome caches--check for favorite points. Like to ride bikes, find trails with caches on them. The list goes on and on. It is a sport that can be played many ways and enjoyed by all.

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Scott,

Something to think about is the type of cache you have found vs the type that many numbers cachers find. Your D/T average are both above 1.5. Do you really want to hang-out in parking lots just to increase your number of finds? Geocaching is a tool that supplements how we like to spend our time.

Well, put. In my case I have the choice of less frequent trips that involve a lot of hiking but are more interesting trips or going into the city and walking around finding magnetic bottle cap caches all day. I just found a park less than 1sq. km. in size with 7 caches on it. Can't take that long to find them but I know the guy who placed them and know what to expect.

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