Multi's, do they bug anyone apart from me?!

[mac367]

I actually really enjoy multis. Both of my hides are multis with a bit of hiking involved. I wanted the cache experience to include hiking a specific trail and the multi is the best way to accomplish that. My first one involves several "questions to answer" WPs instead of containers, but that was partly to avoid hogging up a chunk of the park, while still taking the finders along an awesome trail. 2.5 miles for one smiley is not for everyone. There is an awesome multi in western Pennsylvania that involves a 20 mile hike for one smiley. It gets many long detailed logs and has a bunch of favorites. I am looking forward to finding it!

[+WarNinjas]

I can see where the OP is coming from. I don't really target multi's. But some of my favorite caches have been multi's. I don't know why we don't like them so much but it is not the time it takes to figure them out. We love letterbox hides and it takes as much work to go around figuring them out as it would a multi. We have yet to place one because of this. I remember once I was working over a hour away from home and wanted to go grab some caches. I like to do that when far from home. I seen a multi that didn't look to difficult. I figured I would pick that one up and then some of the others in the area. It started to take a lot of time. Then at stage 3 or 4 I couldn't find it. I seen many got lost at that stage and was feeling like I shouldn't have started that adventure as I wanted to find some caches while there. I ended up finding it and it was a awesome multi. I was glad I did that one instead of a bunch in the area. It got a favorite. It always just depends. I think filtering them all out you might miss a great one. It is up to you.

[+GopherGreg]

I find that if the multi (or puzzle) is well thought out and well placed, then it is just as enjoyable, maybe even more enjoyable, than a trad, EC, virtual, etc.

 

There are multicaches that are annoying, and poorly thought out, but you can find plenty of traditional caches like that too.

 

Put the bad ones on your ignore list, and only find the ones you want to. That's what's great about geocaching. There's bound to be something for everyone, with over what, 2 million caches (?), out there.

[cezanne]

My point is that the attitude and comments will probably be different depending on what part of the world you are caching.

 

While it is certainly true that European countries like The Netherlands, Austria and Germany have a higher proportion of multi caches than e.g. the US or the UK, I rather think that it is an individual preference what cachers think about multi caches. I know many fellow cachers from my country who hate multi caches and I'd could list quite a number of cachers from the US and from the UK who like multi caches and have hidden beautiful multi caches.

 

Of course the characteristics of the region where one aims to hide a cache also come into play. In lonesome areas of Canada or Scandinavia it is easier to hide a hiking traditional and make sure that people will visit it on foot and trespassing is also a much smaller issue. In densely populated areas multi caches are sometimes unavoidable if one wants to enforce a certain route for whatever reason.

 

 

Cezanne

[+Oxford Stone]

Some numbers to compare Netherlands (where I'm from) with USA.

USA: 127 cachers with 500+ founds in multies

Netherlands: 373 cachers with 500+ founds in multies

 

USA: 25688 multi caches = 2.6% of all caches

Netherlands: 5110 multi caches = 18.3% of all caches

 

These statistics show there is a difference in multi-caches culture between Netherlands (Europe) and USA. My point is that the attitude and comments will probably be different depending on what part of the world you are caching. And by the way, I love multi-caches.

 

Interesting point. I'm just back from a week in Belgium / NL and the cache in Gent with the most FPs was... a multi. 10 points to visit, find the number, do the calculations and end up in a bar where the CO pays for your drink! Made for a brilliant family walking tour, enjoying the scenery as we went. There were many more multis, all in Dutch, again giving thorough tours of Gent and Bruges.

 

There's a big UK series called Church Micros - many of these are multis, as if you can't find any numbers in a churchyard, where can you?

 

If you like that sort of treasure-hunt info-gathering then they're great but if you want to do loads of caches in a day then obviously steer clear. I'm on a permanent mission to keep my trad % below 90 (in the 88s ATM) as once I got past 1000 caches the total number stopped being of interest.

 

I'll probably pick up a multi on the way home today - already solved as the CO's made it too obvious (local dialling code, googlable telephone number, person died x006...) - occasionally I've known I COULD "short-circuit" a multi but have chosen to visit the waypoints anyway just for the sake of exploring a spot I'd otherwise not see.

 

My own multi is all of 10 metres long but that's another story...

[+narcissa]

Interesting point. I'm just back from a week in Belgium / NL and the cache in Gent with the most FPs was... a multi. 10 points to visit, find the number, do the calculations and end up in a bar where the CO pays for your drink! Made for a brilliant family walking tour, enjoying the scenery as we went. There were many more multis, all in Dutch, again giving thorough tours of Gent and Bruges.

 

There's a big UK series called Church Micros - many of these are multis, as if you can't find any numbers in a churchyard, where can you?

 

If you like that sort of treasure-hunt info-gathering then they're great but if you want to do loads of caches in a day then obviously steer clear. I'm on a permanent mission to keep my trad % below 90 (in the 88s ATM) as once I got past 1000 caches the total number stopped being of interest.

 

I'll probably pick up a multi on the way home today - already solved as the CO's made it too obvious (local dialling code, googlable telephone number, person died x006...) - occasionally I've known I COULD "short-circuit" a multi but have chosen to visit the waypoints anyway just for the sake of exploring a spot I'd otherwise not see.

 

My own multi is all of 10 metres long but that's another story...

 

You might enjoy seeing if you can qualify for this challenge (page is French on top, English on bottom).

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2Q1AM_le-defi-du-geocacheur-bien-equilibre-bilingual

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

My own multi is all of 10 metres long but that's another story...

 

I've got one where the coordinates for the two stages are identical.

[cezanne]

You might enjoy seeing if you can qualify for this challenge (page is French on top, English on bottom).

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2Q1AM_le-defi-du-geocacheur-bien-equilibre-bilingual

 

Qualifying would be trivial for me - even though unfortunately the number of multi caches decreased considerably over recent years, I still am at a ratio of over 83% using the definition of this challenge cache and this without putting me any focus on this value.

 

While I really like caches with multiple stages, I do not think that the classification into "requires more field-work" and "requires less field work" used for that cache makes much sense.

I've done traditionals on mountain summits that require a hike of more than 6 hours and 1 minute multi caches and for some puzzles one needs to invest hours of homework and the field work is very short.

 

Certain types of multi caches are my favourite cache type, but I do not see any value in trying to find a certain number of a certain cache type. It's the individual caches and not their type that make me enjoy or not enjoy a cache.

[+Oxford Stone]

Had a look at that Ottawa cache, good concept!

 

http://coord.info/GC36N4J is an old-school multi I do want to try one day;

 

http://coord.info/GCG56T might do in two goes as it includes a mile walking along a busy road.

 

In general - big thumbs-up for multis, especially when accompanied by kids who can look for the numbers.

[+zoothornrollo]

Our first experience with a multi put us off them for a while when we figured out that the final stage was miles from the first stage with no real assurance that we had the correct final coordinates. Since then, however, we have sought some great multis. Most memorable was GCFA7D "South Kaibab to Bright Angel" at Grand Canyon National Park... 6 Stages total, 7 mile hike down on the South Kaibab Trail and 9 miles up on the Bright Angel Trail. Each Minnesota State Park has a multi as part of their "Avian Adventure" series... we did several last summer and each one takes you to 3 or 4 points of interest in the state park.

[+The Rat]

I love a good multi. One of my all-time favorite caches was a 19-stage multi in Belgium that took us all around a park. Every stage was a puzzle or gimmick of some kind that would be at least a 3-star hide here. I was with a Belgian friend and his family (all English speakers) since I don't speak Flemish. That cvache is now archived but I remember the first stage was a model of a wasps' nest stuck up under the eave of a shed. Each stage, of course, had the decimal part of the coordinates of the next. One of the next was a printed sticker with the numbers for the next stage, but it was stuck under the metal beam of a small bridge. You had to hold a mirror out under the bridge while lying on your stomach, then remember that the coordinates (which contained all 6's, 8's and 9's) was upside down and mirror writing. I've forgotten most of the stages, but they were all clever. My wife and I and our host family, a total of six of us, spent about two hours on that one. Philippe had to call the CO two or three times for some of the stages, but in the end it was a marvelous experience. I agree that multis are perfect for sites where you want to bring the finders to two or three different locations that are interrelated and which are 100 - 500 feet apart, or even closer. You can't hide 3 separate caches that close to each other.

[+eightwednesday]

My husband and primary caching partner hates multis with a firey passion. Getting him to read through the directions or even get out the car is a challenge.

 

However, I've noticed that they seem to help fill the void of virtual caches. I've discovered many really cool historical sites through multi-caches, where the first stage is at some kind of monument and the final is a short walk away in a place that is less muggle-dense.

 

Like so many others have said, they vary in quality--but so do all cache types.

[+JesandTodd]

I love multis. For me, it's what geocaching is all about. I want adventure and discovery and a story.

 

The chance that a traditionals that can give me me this is pretty nil.

For me, I'd choose a multi over a traditional cache every.day.of.the.week.

 

I wish there were more. The more laborious, long winded, difficult, and agonizing....the better!

 

They take extra time to find

So do most high-terrain and/or high-difficulty caches. Some of them are among my Favorites too.

 

They don't offer anything new

That must be why I gave another Favorites point to a multi-cache this past weekend.

 

In my experience, multi-caches and multi-stage mystery/puzzle caches can take you on an adventure in a way that single-stage caches can't.

 

They end up just being another nano or film canister

Or an ammo box. Or a Lock&Lock. Or a keyholder. Or a beach safe. Or... just like pretty much any other type of cache.

 

Except for the multi-stage adventure that got you to the nano or film canister or ammo box or Lock&Lock or...

 

Some are too ambiguous with the clues

And some traditional caches have soft coordinates, or intentionally misleading hints. So?

 

Does anyone else struggle to see the point?

Some of my Favorites have been multi-caches, or multi-stage mystery/puzzle caches.

 

I guess I should just filter them out from now on and stop griping!

Sounds like a plan. You don't have to find them all.

 

This x100...

 

Eta...

I also like posting pictures of all the bugs in my possession, writing interesting logs, and taking lots of photographs

 

That kind of stuff takes extra 'work'

 

Two kinds of people in this world...

Edited June 7, 2014 by JesandTodd