Cache Area Stagnation

[+The Magna Defender]

There was a time when Lancashire (mainly Chorley / Leyland and surrounding areas) was a hive of geocaching activity going back all the way to 2008. There were monthly meets all the time and there were so many people who came to the events. New caches were being set all the time and everyone was active. In the last two years it has just gone downhill. The monthly events stopped and pretty much everyone who came to the events has given up. Any where else in the country experienced this and howd you get out of the rut?

[+dartymoor]

I saw on the project-gc stats that there were 10% fewer caches posted this year to September than the same period last year in Europe and US.

 

Devon's fairly active now. Good community on facebook, quite a few events (not my thing but lots do) and some very active and well respected cache owners. When a new series is put out, you'll often meet lots of others doing it on the first week or two, which is as much real life social interaction as I generally like...

 

Was there any trigger reason for your downturn? A fight, or an individual moving away or stopping?

[patdhill]

Could be the post title have been "Cache Area Saturation" in 2008 you had to make a big investment to start caching as you needed a GPS. With that cost and the lesser amount of caches to find made a standard cacher a bit out of the ordinary and maybe classed as quirky/interesting and more likely to go out and find like minded people at events.

 

Groundspeak seem to be keen to grow numbers or cachers and caches with very little focus on quality, with the majority of cachers now starting with a free smartphone app and basic membership, with the ability to find 10 or more caches within 1 mile of home the casual cacher has become more prevalent it seems and hence less likely to involved in events per se.

Edited November 4, 2015 by patdhill

[+The Magna Defender]

Stagnation - saturation they have the same effect really.