Super-Stats?

[Saddle Mountain Man]

Now i've noticed some people have some 'super' stats listed on their profile. For example: One geocacher, 'Me & Bucky', has over 19,500 finds! This is, like impossible! I calculated and he would need to grab at least 5 caches a day to reach his current amount. This is nuts!

[+ras_oscar]

There are people who routinely score several thousand finds a year. Think retirees that travel a lot. It's really no different than someone who does scrapbooking or makes model trains. If its important to you, you make time for it. I enjoy caching but usually am only able to get out on the weekends, due to life in general. My goal for this year is to score 1,000 finds and fill out all the days on the caching calendar.

[+T.D.M.22]

With 2 million active caches you could grab 5 caches a day for 400,000 days. There are power trails made to get numbers up, with one having I think a thousand caches. My small city has a thousand caches, I could probably get that many caches in just Alberta and BC. Granted a lot of these people might be retired or not working for other reasons, and are able to travel to get these caches.

[+MartyBartfast]

19,000 is nothing, Alamogul has 83,214, though that will probably be out of date by the time you read this!

[+MartyBartfast]

and according to CacherStats.com there are about 150 cachers worldwide with over 20,000 finds.

[+TheWeatherWarrior]

I think topic is somewhat covered here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=307409

 

Do mods combine threads often/ever when there are repeat topics?

[+Lil Devil]

... he would need to grab at least 5 caches a day ...

Five a day is like a walk in the park to me. Any typical day I go caching I find anywhere from a dozen to several dozen. Days with hundreds of finds, while they don't happen very often, do happen with proper planning.

 

Heck, I was recently on a 10 day road trip around Oregon (where I see the OP lives) and had no problem finding 30-50 caches a day.

 

The caches are out there for a dedicated cacher to find. All it takes is time, money, and desire.

[Saddle Mountain Man]

Sorry bout the duplicate thread.

I kind of understand what you are all talking about. Realizing that in, say Portland, OR there's about a cache every block and most of them are 1.5 to 3 star difficulty, it is possible. it's just that in my area there's only about 25 to 30 caches within a reasonable travel time. Not to mention i have a real life

I'll probably never get past the casual cacher phase. I just don't have enough time in my life for it.

I lay my case to rest. Sorry to waste your time...

[+macatac1961]

Sorry bout the duplicate thread.

I kind of understand what you are all talking about. Realizing that in, say Portland, OR there's about a cache every block and most of them are 1.5 to 3 star difficulty, it is possible. it's just that in my area there's only about 25 to 30 caches within a reasonable travel time. Not to mention i have a real life

I'll probably never get past the casual cacher phase. I just don't have enough time in my life for it.

I lay my case to rest. Sorry to waste your time...

One of the best things about this game is you can play it at any level you feel comfortable with.

 

Also no matter what topic you want to talk about in here, there will always be someone to tell you it's been talked about before so don't let that bother you. Bring up whatever topic you like. It's why they have forums. If people are in here at all they obviously have the time to waste.

[+Roman!]

Sorry bout the duplicate thread.

I kind of understand what you are all talking about. Realizing that in, say Portland, OR there's about a cache every block and most of them are 1.5 to 3 star difficulty, it is possible. it's just that in my area there's only about 25 to 30 caches within a reasonable travel time. Not to mention i have a real life

I'll probably never get past the casual cacher phase. I just don't have enough time in my life for it.

I lay my case to rest. Sorry to waste your time...

 

So you've found 3 caches, you question how people can find huge numbers then you tell those that do they have no life?

 

Just out of curiosity what is a real life? Mine seems pretty real to me.

[+TheWeatherWarrior]

Sorry bout the duplicate thread.

No biggie...I only lightly brought it up, because you might have had a reason for a separate thread (like wanting to go in a different direction).

 

One of the best things about this game is you can play it at any level you feel comfortable with.

Yup, this is exactly true. We may have opinions about certain styles, but they are just opinions.

[+S&SLaird]

Now i've noticed some people have some 'super' stats listed on their profile. For example: One geocacher, 'Me & Bucky', has over 19,500 finds! This is, like impossible! I calculated and he would need to grab at least 5 caches a day to reach his current amount. This is nuts!

 

????

 

Me & Bucky has been caching for 10 years....not that hard to believe.

I think it is more nuts that some people stop and grab a 12 pack on the way home every night and drink the whole thing....I for one would rather go caching.

[+Fiver1]

I met a very nice retired couple the other day while out caching and they have over 21000 finds logged. I'm impressed. Looking at their stats, they've geocached all over the country. So it's not impossible if you have the time and the desire not to mention the money.

[+briansnat]

If you look at some of the high numbers cachers they can average over 20 finds a day over the course of a year. I know a number of people personally who have find counts in 5 digits. Nuts? That's for you to decide. But there are people who have found more caches in 24 hours than I've found in close to 12 years.

 

Not to mention i have a real life

 

For some cachers geocaching is real life. I've met a few retired couples who find geocaching to be a great way to explore the country. They let geocaching take them all over the place and they get to see all kinds of sights and meet many people.

 

And I know people who have jobs, family and other "real life" responsibilities who have thousands of finds. They incorporate geocaching into their real life. Going to the dentist? Find a few caches on the way. Working? There is always lunch hour. Visiting the in-laws? No reason not to step out for an hour or two to bag a half dozen caches. Shopping? Find some of the ubiquitous mall caches. Traveling? Hit those rest area caches. They have full, real lives and thousands of cache finds to go along with that life.

Edited February 20, 2013 by briansnat

[+Roman!]

If you look at some of the high numbers cachers they can average over 20 finds a day over the course of a year. I know a number of people personally who have find counts in 5 digits. Nuts? That's for you to decide. But there are people who have found more caches in 24 hours than I've found in close to 12 years.

 

Not to mention i have a real life

 

For some cachers geocaching is real life. I've met a few retired couples who find geocaching to be a great way to explore the country. They let geocaching take them all over the place and they get to see all kinds of sights and meet many people.

 

And I know people who have jobs, family and other "real life" responsibilities who have thousands of finds. They incorporate geocaching into their real life. Going to the dentist? Find a few caches on the way. Working? There is always lunch hour. Visiting the in-laws? No reason not to step out for an hour or two to bag a half dozen caches. Shopping? Find some of the ubiquitous mall caches. Traveling? Hit those rest area caches.

 

That actually made me look at your stats and although it's not 1 day it is 1 month, just barely though.

[+Lil Devil]

But there are people who have found more caches in 24 hours than I've found in close to 12 years.

I believe my best day is tied with your current 1,005 finds, but I'm behind in my online logging and haven't logged that day, so I'm not completely sure. When I look at the other three people that were with me that day I see 1005, 1002, and 843

 

That was certainly a day none of us will ever forget, even if we can't agree on the count

[+Alkhalikoi]

Sorry bout the duplicate thread.

I kind of understand what you are all talking about. Realizing that in, say Portland, OR there's about a cache every block and most of them are 1.5 to 3 star difficulty, it is possible. it's just that in my area there's only about 25 to 30 caches within a reasonable travel time. Not to mention i have a real life

I'll probably never get past the casual cacher phase. I just don't have enough time in my life for it.

I lay my case to rest. Sorry to waste your time...

 

Please don't apologize about duplicate threads! I do not quite understand the impulse to tell people not to bring up the same topic. You are just making conversation and it's not like we're going to run out of room.

 

I live pretty near Alamogul, the #1 cacher, and this is what he does. I saw a cache about a mile from my office go live about 11 am. I thought I might take an early lunch to go grab it. By the time I could get out of here - about 45 minutes after the cache went live - he'd already snagged it, despite a cold, pouring rain! Don't doubt these guys are serious about this and can easily knock out 50 or more day in and day out.

[+Alkhalikoi]

I think it is more nuts that some people stop and grab a 12 pack on the way home every night and drink the whole thing....I for one would rather go caching.

 

Drinking beer and caching and manifestly not incompatible! I had a brilliant 9 mile, 3300', 26 cache hike yesterday that included a two-beer lunch. It was glorious!

[+JL_HSTRE]

it's just that in my area there's only about 25 to 30 caches within a reasonable travel time.

 

It also depends on what kind of area you live in, what a "reasonable travel time" means to you, and what kind of caches you are willing to seek (park-n-grabs? hikes? puzzles?).

 

Where I live in Florida there are 3855 caches of all types within 50 miles. Since I'm on the coast there aren't many east of me and the area west of me is a rural area and includes a very large lake so a similiar cache density in a more centrally located area might have upwards of 5000 caches within 50 miles.

 

But really "super stats" are in no small part thanks to the existence of Power Trails. If PTs aren't your thing that really changes your Find rate. I would love to be a full-time cacher retiree, but based on a recent week-long trip I did where I did lots of caching but also lots of sightseeing I would probably never have more than 4000-5000 caches/year if I was traveling the country and finding the ones I wanted to (many of the "super stat" cachers have gotten 10,000 in a year).

 

Find the caches you want in the area you want and don't worry that others find lots more.

[Saddle Mountain Man]

Well, reasonable travel time to me is 30 mins one way. Also depends whether I can pick it up while on my way to a seperate destination, which i can haul 1hr one way (i'm used to it). All my finds so far have been while driving to-and-from my job in KF (see home location). HowEVER all finding in my area will pretty much be killed for the next week or more as it just snowed 6in today. Rats, I was planning my first hide too...

 

Maybe i'll devote a weekend or two in April to go cache a big pile in the town, just for kicks. Lots of quick finds in KF that I can grab (and not look too stupid searching for )

Edited February 20, 2013 by Saddle Mountain Man

[Mr.Yuck]

And all this time I thought Me & Bucky was from Wisconsin, as "Bucky", his/her Geocaching mascot, is a Badger with a Wisconsin Sweatshirt. They've found a couple of my caches in Western NY, but I see now they are from Nevada? Go figure. Yes, some people have a lot of time to devote to the hobby, and may be retired, or travel extensively for work. I don't doubt the find counts of any of the top cachers in the world, according to cacherstats.com.

[+briansnat]

Well, reasonable travel time to me is 30 mins one way. Also depends whether I can pick it up while on my way to a seperate destination, which i can haul 1hr one way (i'm used to it). All my finds so far have been while driving to-and-from my job in KF (see home location). HowEVER all finding in my area will pretty much be killed for the next week or more as it just snowed 6in today. Rats, I was planning my first hide too...

 

Maybe i'll devote a weekend or two in April to go cache a big pile in the town, just for kicks. Lots of quick finds in KF that I can grab (and not look too stupid searching for )

 

Never think that numbers are important. Find the kinds of caches you enjoy, when you enjoy finding them. Too many people think that having a high find count gives them some sort of status and hunt caches with that in mind. I know one person who has been caching as long as I've been and he has yet to reach 100 finds. I know others who have been caching for a year or two who have many more finds than I do. Whether you average ten finds in a hour, day, or year it the important thing is what your are comfortable with and enjoy doing.

[+bjmccacher]

Averaging 5 a day while working isn't hard, I did it the first year and a half I cached, only 50 of those finds were on a power trail (found out I don't like them!) just need to hit 50 on the weekends

[+gpsblake]

For example: One geocacher, 'Me & Bucky', has over 19,500 finds! This is, like impossible!

 

Well, it's not nuts nor impossible. Some cachers find 10,000 a year or nearly 30 a day, every day. It does take an incredible amount of dedication to the hobby (and a lot of miles on a car), and there's nothing wrong with that. Also depends on your location, living in Wyoming will give you far less local opportunities to cache versus living in Portland for example.

 

And with power trails now, you can do a few 100 in a day if you so choose.

 

The wonderful thing about geocaching, so many different ways to play it.

[+TheWeatherWarrior]

No disrespect intended, but I think when someone talks about have a "real life" it means they have priorities they need to focus on (work, family, etc.). Geocaching in no way should ever be considered a priority since it doesn't feed, shelter, or provide the priorities in life. I don't mean that people who have the means to cache like a mad man shouldn't, but I just feel there is a disconnect with those with means to over state how easy it is for anyone to do it.

[+wimseyguy]

But there are people who have found more caches in 24 hours than I've found in close to 12 years.

I believe my best day is tied with your current 1,005 finds, but I'm behind in my online logging and haven't logged that day, so I'm not completely sure. When I look at the other three people that were with me that day I see 1005, 1002, and 843

 

That was certainly a day none of us will ever forget, even if we can't agree on the count

 

If only there was some video that could document behavior like this?!?

[Saddle Mountain Man]

But there are people who have found more caches in 24 hours than I've found in close to 12 years.

I believe my best day is tied with your current 1,005 finds, but I'm behind in my online logging and haven't logged that day, so I'm not completely sure. When I look at the other three people that were with me that day I see 1005, 1002, and 843

 

That was certainly a day none of us will ever forget, even if we can't agree on the count

 

If only there was some video that could document behavior like this?!?

 

Hmmm....Being a you-tube jockey i feel a new upload coming on.... ;-)

May just be an informative vid on caching, but who knows...

[Saddle Mountain Man]

OK, so i'm a casual user.

I may get into it heavier this summer but my car's having alternator probs so i need to take it easy and get it fixed in the next month... My '98 chevy Lumina has survived 150,000 miles on only 1 altenator, 1 water pump, 2 batteries, an a/c recharge, an oggle of oil changes and a new radio (wanted a disc player).

srry, offtopic, can't help it...

[Ranger Fox]

It's easy these days to get big numbers, so it's just not impressive to me. I've been slowly losing the time I used to put into caching, but I still managed to find over 10K in 2012 alone (I have 34K+ total finds). I work full-time, have one month I'm insanely busy (October, where I work 7PM - 3AM on Thursdays through Saturdays and 6PM - 11PM on Sundays in addition to my full-time job), and now I'm working on a private caching-related project for one or two weekends each month and every other weeknight. Regardless, I still manage to find a cache on every day of the year (been doing so since early 2007). The only way I can do everything is I'm single. Of course, all this work means I'm forever behind on my logs. It doesn't help to catch up on logs that, every now and then, I'll write epic logs, which take four hours or more to write, proofread, and revise just one log.

 

Numbers just aren't as impressive as they once were, and your view of numbers becomes all distorted when you know the trick. Take two and a half weeks off cumulatively over the year, find two or three people to cache with, and only choose to visit number-rich areas. During each day off, find caches from 8AM - 11PM, having only a one hour break. That's all there is to it. One of my weeks off yielded 3,500 and another was around the same. So, for two weeks of work, that was 7,000. You have fifty more weeks to find a paltry (comparatively) 3,000. So, if you're retired and are full-time RVers, you could rack up the numbers by going to number-rich areas and "casually" finding 2,000 a week. For us full-time workers, we have to get there, do everything in a flurry, and get back just in time to get some sleep before going back to work the next morning. Team Snook are full-time RVers and they were casually doing 30 a day back in 2008 when I first met them. Do the math and that's 10K a year, which was an awesome number back then.

 

Geocaching is how I experience the world. If it weren't for caching, I would have no excuse whatsoever to take time off work or go anywhere. I'm the type who can be bored at an amusement park because I need a task, something to do. Geocaching provides this. I just don't have the time I once had for caching because I'm doing too many other caching-related things to contribute back to the community.

 

Numbers by themselves don't mean anything. It's like saying you want to hike the Appalachian Trail just for the mileage. Instead, they should be a byproduct of a greater process. Otherwise, it's just pointless. Tell me a story: that's how you gain my respect.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

It's easy these days to get big numbers, so it's just not impressive to me. ...

 

Numbers just aren't as impressive as they once were, and your view of numbers becomes all distorted when you know the trick. Take two and a half weeks off cumulatively over the year, find two or three people to cache with, and only choose to visit number-rich areas. During each day off, find caches from 8AM - 11PM, having only a one hour break. That's all there is to it. One of my weeks off yielded 3,500 and another was around the same. So, for two weeks of work, that was 7,000. You have fifty more weeks to find a paltry (comparatively) 3,000.

 

It's also easy *not* to get big numbers. Just live in one of the many places in the world where there are relatively few geocaches to be found. 10,000 a year? Try finding 10,000 caches if you live in Africa (other than South Africa), or in South or Central America, or pretty much any country ouside of North America or Europe. Try finding just 1000 thousand caches if you live in China (there are only 471 caches in the entire country). Yes, getting big numbers *can* be easy if you happen to live in a place that has a big number of caches available to find or can freely travel whenever you wish, but for most of the world, getting big numbers on the scale you're talking about is *not* easy.

 

Even if one *does* live in a place where getting big numbers can be achieved, the emphasis on high numbers has become so pervasive that if someone doesn't doesn't have thousands of finds after a few years of caching they're judged as underachievers or inexperienced. IMHO, it's perfectly acceptable *not* to have a desire to find 10,000 caches. It's okay if geocaching is not the most important thing in your live. It's fine to give more importance to spending time with family (which may have no interest in geocaching) or ones job than rushing out at 3AM to get that FTF. It's even okay to have other hobbies that one might enjoy as much or more than geocaching.

[Andronicus]

I think it is more nuts that some people stop and grab a 12 pack on the way home every night and drink the whole thing....I for one would rather go caching.

 

Drinking beer and caching and manifestly not incompatible! I had a brilliant 9 mile, 3300', 26 cache hike yesterday that included a two-beer lunch. It was glorious!

 

My best day (24h), 17 finds, was done on foot after having 3 pints.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I think it is more nuts that some people stop and grab a 12 pack on the way home every night and drink the whole thing....I for one would rather go caching.

 

Drinking beer and caching and manifestly not incompatible! I had a brilliant 9 mile, 3300', 26 cache hike yesterday that included a two-beer lunch. It was glorious!

 

My best day (24h), 17 finds, was done on foot after having 3 pints.

 

If I ever organize a geocaching outing/pub crawl I'll make sure to send you an invitation.

[+geodarts]

Numbers by themselves don't mean anything. It's like saying you want to hike the Appalachian Trail just for the mileage. Instead, they should be a byproduct of a greater process. Otherwise, it's just pointless. Tell me a story: that's how you gain my respect.

 

One of the nice things about wherigos is that they often cannot be done fast, you have to slow down and listen to the story.

 

Too often numbers get in the way of stories. If you focus on numbers, you are likely to miss the Banksy art just down the street from a cache, not venture inside of the abandoned buildings next to the cache, not see the sleeping otter in the rocks just beyond the park and grab location, not stopping to taste Pliny the Younger. (To be honest, after doing the latter, I was in no condition to cache.)

 

The last time we went to the ET Highway, I excluded all the repetitive caches because the stories I wanted to hear were elsewhere -- the conversations with the innkeeper, fossils, petroglyphs, ghost towns, camo dudes, and night skies that we found in the area.

 

By the same token, how many stories can you tell if you are cutting and pasting the same thing?

 

Life is too short to think very long about stats or super-stats. Particularly if they are somebody else's numbers. Last weekend, I went to a conference for work and was reminded that each of us has a story - it is not where you live, what you look like, or in this case, how many containers you have found. Hopefully, caching can allow us to tell at least part of our story.

Edited February 21, 2013 by geodarts

[Andronicus]

Numbers by themselves don't mean anything. It's like saying you want to hike the Appalachian Trail just for the mileage. Instead, they should be a byproduct of a greater process. Otherwise, it's just pointless. Tell me a story: that's how you gain my respect.

 

One of the nice things about wherigos is that they often cannot be done fast, you have to slow down and listen to the story.

...

I wish there were more wherigos. The one I did was fun! (thanks PBB&J)

[+Understandblue]

"Real life" and "I wish I had time to do that" are just signs of envy. We all make time for what we love to do. People with hobbies they are passionate about are infinitely more interesting than people who don't "have time" for hobbies/passions.

 

Some of my most interesting finds were one cache days that I wouldn't trade for anything. Some days where I had more per day were less interesting, but still fun hikes that made the day fly by. I think you just make it fit your style and personality.

 

I've learned more about my city in less than a year of geocaching than I did in the previous 23 years living here. That's a super stat to me

[+jellis]

Sorry bout the duplicate thread.

I kind of understand what you are all talking about. Realizing that in, say Portland, OR there's about a cache every block and most of them are 1.5 to 3 star difficulty, it is possible. it's just that in my area there's only about 25 to 30 caches within a reasonable travel time. Not to mention i have a real life

I'll probably never get past the casual cacher phase. I just don't have enough time in my life for it.

I lay my case to rest. Sorry to waste your time...

I have a real life too (a job) and I did 199 in one day (on a weekend day) after traveling over 50 miles just to get the first cache and there was no real power trails involved. Many we did in the dark with flashlights. With my numbers I really only did one real power trail and that was the ET hwy.

Edited February 22, 2013 by jellis

[+Andromeda321]

"Real life" and "I wish I had time to do that" are just signs of envy. We all make time for what we love to do. People with hobbies they are passionate about are infinitely more interesting than people who don't "have time" for hobbies/passions.

 

For me this whole line of talk in this thread reminds me of my retort in high school to all the popular girls in my class who kept saying "geez, do you have a life?" (shocker but I was very bookish and obsessed with astronomy and Ham radio at the time)

 

It was, "Yes, I have a life. It's quite different from yours."

 

Wonder why we didn't get along?

 

NYPaddleCacher, I'm already RSVPing to your pub crawl event. I will also direct your attention to the fact that there are two virtual caches in Dublin that do just that though.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Andromeda321

[+S&SLaird]

I think it is more nuts that some people stop and grab a 12 pack on the way home every night and drink the whole thing....I for one would rather go caching.

 

Drinking beer and caching and manifestly not incompatible! I had a brilliant 9 mile, 3300', 26 cache hike yesterday that included a two-beer lunch. It was glorious!

 

My best day (24h), 17 finds, was done on foot after having 3 pints.

 

I'm not saying you can't cache and have a beer....or 10. Just saying I don't get the guy that goes home and sits on his couch everyday hugging a 12 pack. Why is getting out and caching nuts and sitting at home or even worse in rush hour traffic with the rest of the rats acceptable.

[+BAIN!]

My caching usually includes an hour set aside every morning before work to grab some here and there, then on the weekends I'll do the ones that require a longer walk/hike. I'm still trying to fill in my calendar, but its a game/hobby that can have time made for it... depending on how much time you want to spend outside. I actually wish I could cache more than I do because I would so much rather be outside walking in the woods, than sitting at home watching television.

Edited April 5, 2013 by BAIN!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

"Real life" and "I wish I had time to do that" are just signs of envy. We all make time for what we love to do. People with hobbies they are passionate about are infinitely more interesting than people who don't "have time" for hobbies/passions.

 

It's not that simple. If I, as someone suggested later, went out for an hour every morning before work to go geocaching it would only be a few weeks before I had no unfound caches that I could find in an hours time. Not everyone lives in a place where there are thousands of caches to be found nearby with new ones being placed everyday. My real life job does take up a significant amount of time as do my family obligations and other interests, and if I spent a lot more time geocaching locally it would mean that I would just find all the nearby caches quicker and would lead to traveling further and further (which cuts into the amount of free time available) in order to do any geocaching at all.