Ten years of geocaching!

[+wimseyguy]

I hear they say the same thing about him over at Waymarking now, but no one really notices.

[+BruceS]

I hit my 12th year a few days ago as far as creating an account but on a break now for a bit... pursuing other interests.

 

Funny, I remember when BruceS hit 5,000 finds and people were calling him a liar because there was no way someone could rack up those numbers.

 

I remember when I hit 1,000 finds and people asked how many pair of boots I wore out to find them... Unfortunately we don't hear that question any more.

Edited August 25, 2013 by BruceS

[+styx]

Joined 10/18/2001... First (and only) find that year on 10/30/2001 with the original etrex. Then I took a nine year break (I think I may have the longest documented slump in the sites history). Started up again in late 2010 and proceeded to begin a 400 day streak in January of 2011 to "fill in my calendar" for a challenge cache. Since it was essentially empty that seemed like the logical thing to do. Sanity has returned and I am now loving the sport at a "normal" pace....

[+briansnat]

I hit my 12th year a few days ago as far as creating an account but on a break now for a bit... pursuing other interests.

 

Funny, I remember when BruceS hit 5,000 finds and people were calling him a liar because there was no way someone could rack up those numbers.

 

I remember when I hit 1,000 finds and people asked how many pair of boots I wore out to find them... Unfortunately we don't hear that question any more.

 

And so many people doubted your achievements - 50 caches in a weekend, he's lying - that you had to explain here how it was possible. And even after your detailed, plausible explanation there were doubters.

[+-CJ-]

Started in Nov 2002 but has played mostly at the national geocaching website. This is why people (generally from the US and Germany ) sometimes ask me "Hey, you're more than 10 years in this sport so why your statistics is not 5,000+?"

[+Ladybug Kids]

Any stats on how many 10+ year active accounts on gc.com? It would be interesting to know. Anyone have a percentage guesstimate?

 

Actually, it is easy to figure out the upper limit. Find somebody who joined ten years ago and get their account number, and then compare it to the most recent account numbers.

 

Of course, most of the people caching that long ago are no longer active. I am account number 40 thousand something, and new accounts seem to have numbers around 7,550,000 so I am in the oldest 0.5% of caching accounts. Of course, a lot of new caching accounts aren't active either, but I would guess that 10-year cachers are less than 1% of all active cachers.

I'm one week shy of nine years (September 3) and have member number 272513.

 

It's been a great ride, exploring 49 states and 17 countries, completing the Jasmer Challenge, and discovering the hidden gems that aren't in the guidebooks via geocaching.

 

During my tenth year, I look forward to finding caches in the last two states I need and completing the Fizzy Challenge.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Ladybug Kids

[+cerberus1]

I'm one week shy of ten years (September 3) and have member number 272513.

That's odd...

I still have almost a year to go (July 24) with member number 257118.

Edited August 28, 2013 by cerberus1

[+Harrald]

11 + years for me......with a long vacation in the middle. Since I've been back, I've found more caches in a few months than I found in a year. Up until a few days ago, my singe day high was 6 caches. That took 10 hours and 7 miles of hiking. Now I can find ten with only 2 miles of walking in a couple of hours.

 

My how things have changed. But the itch is definitely back.

[+briansnat]

11 + years for me......with a long vacation in the middle. Since I've been back, I've found more caches in a few months than I found in a year. Up until a few days ago, my singe day high was 6 caches. That took 10 hours and 7 miles of hiking. Now I can find ten with only 2 miles of walking in a couple of hours.

 

My how things have changed. But the itch is definitely back.

Ten in 2 miles and a couple of hours? that is so 2008. Find your yourself a good power trail and you can find a 20 in two miles and dozens in two hours. Hundreds in a few hours (literally) if you hit one of the big highway power trails like the ET Highway. There are a lot of people who have found more caches in a day than I have in 12 years.

 

Personally I don't think it's a good thing. I preferred the days when most caches brought you someplace at least somewhat interesting. The kinds of places you may have enjoyed visiting even if the cache wasn't there. In northern NJ we are lucky in that there are plenty of the old fashioned caches that bring you to cool places, but it becomes more of an effort to weed them out from the strip mall nonsense that has become the rage in much of the country and worked its way into NJ in the past few years.

 

Some old timers who left and came back are horrified by what geocaching has become and often go right back out. Yet there are still those caches that bring you to fantastic places, which is why I stick with the game.

 

I've found that I've become a bit of a curiosity. People I meet can't believe that I've barely broken 1,000 finds in 12 years when people who have been caching a year or two have several thousand finds, and many have more finds in a day that I've ever found in a year. But I'm still happy spending an hour to find one outstanding cache rather than ten parking lot caches in an hour.

 

It's more work to find the good ones nowadays. You can't just load up the GPS anymore and assume that most caches on it will take you someplace worthwhile. And you can no longer hide a cache in a great spot and get a lot of finders. They want numbers, so you can hide a cache in the best spot and it will be generally ignored. I don't care, I'm still trying to hide those caches and if they get five or ten finds a year I know those five or ten finders will have an interesting journey. The others can be impressed by their numbers. Good for them.

 

By the way it's great to see one of NJ's geocaching legends back on the hunt.

Edited August 28, 2013 by briansnat

[+The Leprechauns]

I echo briansnat's comments in welcoming Harrald back to the forums and, more importantly, to active geocaching. While I've never met Harrald, I feel I know him from the olden days of the forums, pre-Facebook, when this was the ONLY place to talk with fellow geocachers.

 

I also slumped a bit for several years, but the "31 Days of Geocaching" challenge motivated me to get out caching every day this month. I continue my efforts to avoid going to flash mobs or kissing a different guardrail each day. I've enjoyed doing things like flying to Seattle for Block Party, adding Montana to my "states cached" list, filling out my Fizzy Grid with some D5 or T5 cache finds, visiting a stirring memorial to Anne Frank that's improbably placed in Boise, Idaho, and finding the "Pennsylvania All Counties Challenge" cache as my 5000th find. It does not bother me a bit that one can rack up 5000 finds in a month on the big power trails. I like how I earned mine.

[+The Leprechauns]

I hit my 12th year a few days ago as far as creating an account but on a break now for a bit... pursuing other interests.

 

Funny, I remember when BruceS hit 5,000 finds and people were calling him a liar because there was no way someone could rack up those numbers.

 

I remember when I hit 1,000 finds and people asked how many pair of boots I wore out to find them... Unfortunately we don't hear that question any more.

 

And so many people doubted your achievements - 50 caches in a weekend, he's lying - that you had to explain here how it was possible. And even after your detailed, plausible explanation there were doubters.

But that same detailed, plausible defense taught me for the first time about planning a caching roadtrip, which turned out to be "my style" of geocaching. Inspired by Bruce's techniques over the years, as of today 57% of my finds are more than 100 miles from home and 10% are at least 1000 miles away. So, Bruce, some good did come out of that 2002 episode. Thank you to this day for the way in which you handled it. As a result, I've explored the entire USA through geocaching.

[+Ladybug Kids]

I'm one week shy of ten nine years (September 3) and have member number 272513.

That's odd...

I still have almost a year to go (July 24) with member number 257118.

Ooops! I crashed the thread a year early. Edited August 28, 2013 by Ladybug Kids

[+fizzymagic]

I also slumped a bit for several years, but the "31 Days of Geocaching" challenge motivated me to get out caching every day this month. I continue my efforts to avoid going to flash mobs or kissing a different guardrail each day. I've enjoyed doing things like flying to Seattle for Block Party, adding Montana to my "states cached" list, filling out my Fizzy Grid with some D5 or T5 cache finds, visiting a stirring memorial to Anne Frank that's improbably placed in Boise, Idaho, and finding the "Pennsylvania All Counties Challenge" cache as my 5000th find. It does not bother me a bit that one can rack up 5000 finds in a month on the big power trails. I like how I earned mine.

 

That is very much how I feel. To me, it's the memories I collect doing the caches that are the value.

 

This summer I had a chance to add a lot of experiences. Five new countries, seven new states, and some very fun road trips while I was working back East.

 

I slumped for a while one year when I was having a rough time, but overall my caching rate has been pretty steady. Slow by today's standards, but steady.

[+OZ2CPU]

how do you see the member number ?

is that just a number incremented every time one join ?

[4wheelin_fool]

how do you see the member number ?

is that just a number incremented every time one join ?

 

You are #825039. It's on the profile URL, or if you hover the cursor on someone's name.

[+OZ2CPU]

allright thanks, so it can only be seen via this forum ?

[4wheelin_fool]

allright thanks, so it can only be seen via this forum ?

No, its on the profile URL also.

[+Harrald]

Oxymoron??

 

**SNIP** Find your yourself a good power trail**SNIP**

 

I guess some people never get bored looking at miles of roadside guardrail. I'll stick with the rock outcrop that overlooks the mountain range and lake.

[+Ladybug Kids]

allright thanks, so it can only be seen via this forum ?

No, its on the profile URL also.

Geocaching.com > Your profile > Account Details ... Member ID is in top left box.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I'm one week shy of ten nine years (September 3) and have member number 272513.

That's odd...

I still have almost a year to go (July 24) with member number 257118.

Ooops! I crashed the thread a year early.

 

Yup. You, I,and cerberus1 are still newbies. Maybe next year they will accept us? but I have you both beat. My user number is 248962. Less than a quarter million!

Maybe next year?

[+briansnat]

I'm one week shy of ten nine years (September 3) and have member number 272513.

That's odd...

I still have almost a year to go (July 24) with member number 257118.

Ooops! I crashed the thread a year early.

 

Yup. You, I,and cerberus1 are still newbies. Maybe next year they will accept us? but I have you both beat. My user number is 248962. Less than a quarter million!

Maybe next year?

Kids

[+MotorBug]

 

I joined on August 16 2003...

Good day, that.