Caching after retirement

[+zoothornrollo]

As we approach the one year anniversary of retirement, I reflect on our caching habits. We still love caching on road trips (Newfoundland, Florida Keys, Gulf of Maine Geotour, county challenges in other states) but not near our home coordinates. We are not interested in the urban/suburban hides after spending 5 months on back roads, national forests, out-of-the-way locations - not a new phenomenon for us, but one that has become more true with each passing year. Knowing that we can go out almost any time we choose means we aren't compelled to go out any chance we get. We prize quality over quantity and usually filter out micros from our PQs when we are traveling. Of course, we have aged a bit since we began caching 9 years ago. Just wondering if other veteran cachers have noticed any of the same things.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Other than I like micros just fine I could have wrote your post.....you can't beat out of town back roads caching.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

I'm not retired yet (but getting close), so I don't have the luxury of time. However, my caching habits have changed over the years. For the most part, I go after 'quality' caches. I put 'quality' in quotes, because everyone's definition of a quality cache is different. For me, I have a set of personal goals. Right now, they are finish my D/T matrix (got a ways to go), find a cache at every bearing (91 degrees left) and do GeoTours. I have completed a Jasmer, and am thinking of adding the well travelled cacher (at least one cache every five miles from home, to a distance of 500 miles).

 

To complete these goals, I will drive long distances, bypassing lots of caches. I have driven one way 800 miles just to log a single cache (Potters Pond, UT, for my Jasmer). I did pick up a few others along the way, they were also Jasmer related.

 

It will be interesting to see if my caching habits change when I'm retired. They probably will, and they will probably be similar to your experience. Pick a destination, search for high favorite point caches along the way, and at the destination, then GO!

[+The Rat]

I started caching in 2002 before I retired. Most of it was on the weekend and I quickly made a good friend to cache with at an event. We would go out almost every weekend and do whatever was out there, although we both enjoyed solving puzzles together and did a lot of those. But there were so few caches, that we couldn't be choosy as to type. By the time I retired in 2007 my friend had returned to Europe, where he was from, and I was caching alone. Initially I started caching a lot and my numbers shot up, but that got boring. Then I teamed up with some other puzzle fans to solve together and we would find those together, but I was doing other types alone. The area was exploding with more caches, both urban and in the mountains. I think I overdid it on caching in general and puzzles in particular. I got so sick of them I stopped caching altogether for over a year (2010) although I continued to maintain my own caches. Then I interested another friend of mine in geocaching and we've been regular caching buddies ever since. My numbers are back up but he doesn't do puzzles or events, so I do a few of those on my own. We do mostly trail/mountain hikes for our caching now. So I think you can overdo it after retirement, but the key is to find a friend or group to geocache with. If your spouse enjoys it, too, then you're all set. I don't think the type is as important as finding a style that matches the both of you (or whole group). You'll find that unanticipated factors, like health, economics, moving to be near family or out of winter weather, etc., can all affect your caching choices. Just go with the flow.

[+zoothornrollo]

I started caching in 2002 before I retired. Most of it was on the weekend and I quickly made a good friend to cache with at an event. We would go out almost every weekend and do whatever was out there, although we both enjoyed solving puzzles together and did a lot of those. But there were so few caches, that we couldn't be choosy as to type. By the time I retired in 2007 my friend had returned to Europe, where he was from, and I was caching alone. Initially I started caching a lot and my numbers shot up, but that got boring. Then I teamed up with some other puzzle fans to solve together and we would find those together, but I was doing other types alone. The area was exploding with more caches, both urban and in the mountains. I think I overdid it on caching in general and puzzles in particular. I got so sick of them I stopped caching altogether for over a year (2010) although I continued to maintain my own caches. Then I interested another friend of mine in geocaching and we've been regular caching buddies ever since. My numbers are back up but he doesn't do puzzles or events, so I do a few of those on my own. We do mostly trail/mountain hikes for our caching now. So I think you can overdo it after retirement, but the key is to find a friend or group to geocache with. If your spouse enjoys it, too, then you're all set. I don't think the type is as important as finding a style that matches the both of you (or whole group). You'll find that unanticipated factors, like health, economics, moving to be near family or out of winter weather, etc., can all affect your caching choices. Just go with the flow.

 

We are very fortunate, my spouse and I, to enjoy caching together. We have camped and hiked for 40 years (with and without our kids) together so our retirement is a natural extension of that . . . just waiting for our grandkids to get old enough to go with us. :lol: