Self Geocaching Rules?

[+NanCycle]

7 hours ago, noncentric said:

 

On 11/14/2017 at 9:24 AM, NanCycle said:

Pretty much everything Inmountains said, except #5.  I prefer not to interact with muggles at all and usually will be as brief as possible without being downright rude.

^This. I'd rather a muggle passes me by without asking me what I'm doing than to explain geocaching to them. Assuming they are not authority figures, like law enforcement or park rangers, than I'd rather tell them I'm taking a rest break than to say that I'm looking for a geocache - unless of course, they specifically ask "are you looking for a cache" or "are you geocaching".

 

Of course, any LEO is a special case--honesty is the only policy!  And anyone who specifically asks about geocaching probably isn't a muggle, maybe already knows where the cache is.

 

7 hours ago, noncentric said:

On 11/14/2017 at 9:24 AM, NanCycle said:

As for #1, I have 1 "Find " that my husband found for me,  even though I had told him not to.   But since he thought he was doing me a favor, I thought I'd better accept it.

I had this happen once. I felt compelled to go out that night and find it myself, since I wanted the online log date to match the date in the physical log, and I didn't want to log it online unless I had actually found it.

This wasn't an option for me.  

[+briansnat]

I don't have a lot of personal rules. Here are a few.

If I'm caching with a group, I only log a find if I'm actively searching for the cache and personally sign the log.  If I'm at the rear of the group and arrive when those at the head of the group already have found the cache, that gets a note.   I had no involvement with the hunt whatsoever.   Same if I'm standing around chatting while others hunt the cache.  It gets a note.

If I'm the driver while my passenger is hunting park n grabs, I don't log those finds, unless I get out of the car and search.  If I stay in the car (which I usually do for those), I may log a note or nothing at all.

If the cache is in a tree, on top of a large boulder, on a rock face, cliff, etc.,  I only log a find if I make the climb to retreive the cache or return it.  If I don't make the climb, I don't log the find.

I dont knowingly log finds on throwdowns.   If I learn later on that I logged a throwdown I'll change my log to a note.

I know a lot of cachers won't log a find if they don't sign the log, regardless of the circumstances.  I'm not quite as strict with that myself.  If the log is missing or not signabable (e.g.  a mass of sodden pulp), l will sign a slip of paper and add it to the container.  If I have no paper, I will take a pic of the cache and post that with my online log, along with an explanation. Never had of those deleted. I figure the point of geocaching is to find the cache, and I did that. 



 

[+Rebore]

1 hour ago, briansnat said:

If the cache is in a tree, on top of a large boulder, on a rock face, cliff, etc.,  I only log a find if I make the climb to retreive the cache or return it.  If I don't make the climb, I don't log the find.

I remember a heated local discussion on this from my early years and I still stand by my viewpoint. If I was part of the team that made the find possible, I'll log it, even if I was just handling the rope on the ground, securing the climber. There's no need that s/he throws down the the container or logbook for me to sign to adhere to some strange ruleset. Also, tree climbs are not the way to show off your skills anyway, go find a rock or wall to climb with an official (climber) difficulty rating. Just saying

Edited December 2, 2017 by Rebore

[+briansnat]

4 hours ago, Rebore said:

I remember a heated local discussion on this from my early years and I still stand by my viewpoint. If I was part of the team that made the find possible, I'll log it, even if I was just handling the rope on the ground, securing the climber. There's no need that s/he throws down the the container or logbook for me to sign to adhere to some strange ruleset. Also, tree climbs are not the way to show off your skills anyway, go find a rock or wall to climb with an official (climber) difficulty rating. Just saying

They are all personal decisions.  I remember a cache under an abandoned RR bridge hidden well out on a 2 inch wide steel beam, 30 feet above  a shallow, rocky  river.  A fall would be serious and possibly fatal.  One of us crawled down through a rotten space between the RR ties then walked out on the beam as if he was a circus performer.  I reached down and he handed the cache up to me.  We all signed in. Th  CO had stopped by to watch our group find his cache (we organized it the forums so he knew we were coming) and he announced that we should all feel free to log a find.  One guy I was with felt so guilty about that, he returned days later with climbing gear to  lower himself to the beam and log in again.   iI was a legit  4.5 star terrain hide, not the 4 - 4.5 star terrain we often see today.

Walking or crawling out onto that beam was the challenge.   For several years it bothered me that I logged a find on this cache, knowing that no way in hell would I ever crawl out on that beam, let alone walk out on it. I justified it by my reaching down between the RR  ties so he could hand the cache up to me so I could deliver it to everyone else to sign  I participated, but I had this 4.5 star terrain find that was  considered to be the toughest in the state at the time on my record. One I felt that I didn't deserve.

I think it was three or four years later that I changed my find to a note.  I realized that if it bothered me that much for so long, was it really worth the  +1?

My personal rules,  I'm not saying yours are wrong.  It was what felt right for me.



 

Edited December 3, 2017 by briansnat

[+wmpastor]

5 hours ago, Rebore said:

I remember a heated local discussion on this from my early years....

Also, tree climbs are not the way to show off your skills anyway, go find a rock or wall to climb with an official (climber) difficulty rating. Just saying

How about we have a heated discussion in your later years?!  

[+Rebore]

Just for reference, that's the cache I was referring to. I climbed up to it, but I didn't see it  until I was back on the ground. I have no bad feelings because I didn't climb up again just to sign the log.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Rebore

[+NYPaddleCacher]

11 hours ago, Rebore said:

Just for reference, that's the cache I was referring to. I climbed up to it, but I didn't see it  until I was back on the ground. I have no bad feelings because I didn't climb up again just to sign the log.

In the cache description it states:

"The cache is right above you, when you look carefully you can see it."

I wonder why the CO gives a 5 for difficulty.

[+Rebore]

26 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

In the cache description it states:

"The cache is right above you, when you look carefully you can see it."

I wonder why the CO gives a 5 for difficulty.

It's not a D5 and never was. Maybe the owner thought "That's a really hard cache to find, compared to what I have found so far". I don't know, and honetly, I don't care. It took a while until the cache was spotted, so maybe it's D2 or even D3. A D5 would have been a very poor choice for this location, however.

[+cerberus1]

2 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

In the cache description it states:

"The cache is right above you, when you look carefully you can see it."

I wonder why the CO gives a 5 for difficulty.

I kinda agree with Rebore, that the CO may have experienced less and assumed without using clayjar or similar.  One close to my area used "5" for all, and many could be seen walking to it,  so they could be puffing themselves up a bit (like the one near me did) , presenting it as more than it really is as well.

[+niraD]

Could it be another example of where the CO thought a high-terrain cache is hard to complete, and therefore raised the difficulty too?

[+bflentje]

On 12/2/2017 at 2:00 PM, briansnat said:

I don't have a lot of personal rules. Here are a few.

If I'm caching with a group, I only log a find if I'm actively searching for the cache and personally sign the log.  If I'm at the rear of the group and arrive when those at the head of the group already have found the cache, that gets a note.   I had no involvement with the hunt whatsoever.   Same if I'm standing around chatting while others hunt the cache.  It gets a note.

If I'm the driver while my passenger is hunting park n grabs, I don't log those finds, unless I get out of the car and search.  If I stay in the car (which I usually do for those), I may log a note or nothing at all.

If the cache is in a tree, on top of a large boulder, on a rock face, cliff, etc.,  I only log a find if I make the climb to retreive the cache or return it.  If I don't make the climb, I don't log the find.

I dont knowingly log finds on throwdowns.   If I learn later on that I logged a throwdown I'll change my log to a note.

I know a lot of cachers won't log a find if they don't sign the log, regardless of the circumstances.  I'm not quite as strict with that myself.  If the log is missing or not signabable (e.g.  a mass of sodden pulp), l will sign a slip of paper and add it to the container.  If I have no paper, I will take a pic of the cache and post that with my online log, along with an explanation. Never had of those deleted. I figure the point of geocaching is to find the cache, and I did that. 



 

I know some of us are geocaching purists but this takes it to a whole different level. :-)