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Help Wanted by Newbie


mgott

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:(

I've been out searching for geocaches 6 or 7 times and have only found 2.  I am very new to this.  I'm a 62ish senior citizens with some health issues but I'm retired and thought this would keep up and active.  But I'm getting very discourage.  Need a mentor or something before I lose my enthusiasm for this fun activity.  I love hunts and mysteries etc.  This is right up my alley trying to unravel clues but am having a tough time finding the actual cache.

Anyone out there want to be my go-to geocache guru?  I'd appreciate some support and encouragement.  Is exchanging emails allowed?  I want to make sure I follow the geo rules.

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Welcome to the hobby. I hope a rough start doesn't discourage you from continuing on. It can be tough to get started, but you'll eventually develop some "geosenses" that help you identify cache hiding spaces quicker. You can contact other cachers by going to their profiles and sending them an email or message. Feel free to send me questions if you want, or feel free to post questions in these forums. You can also search the forums if there are specific subjects you are wondering about and don't feel comfortable asking about. You could try contacting cache owners to ask for a hint if you're having trouble finding their cache.

 

Here is a post that another cacher (niraD) has posted several times. It has some great tips for beginners:

 

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On 2/7/2018 at 11:27 PM, mgott said:

Anyone out there want to be my go-to geocache guru?  I'd appreciate some support and encouragement.  Is exchanging emails allowed?  I want to make sure I follow the geo rules.

Just wanted to comment on this part.  Yes, exchanging email or using the messaging system to contact other geocachers is allowed, and I would encourage it.  When I first started 11 years ago I failed to find the first cache I tried (but found another nearby).  The CO of that cache saw my DNF log and sent me an email message, welcoming me to the game, giving me a hint, and asking me where I had searched.  When I told him where I had looked he said that it was probably missing (and he confirmed it a day later) and to go ahead and log it as found.  I waited until I found it myself but it was the act of reaching out to a new geocacher (me) by someone that had been playing for a while that was one of the things that attracted me to the game.  It looks like you're on the other side of the country from me but I hope that you can find a few local geocachers that will welcome you to the game the same way that I was.  

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Ok, I'm finally found a few caches and have been bitten by the cache bug.  I was in Arizona when I started this venture so weather was not an deterrent.  Back home in WNY, well, Mother Nature definitely has some say in my searches.

Having said that, I have another question - On the geocache maps, what are the boxes with the question marks?

 

Thank you,

MGott

 

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51 minutes ago, mgott said:

On the geocache maps, what are the boxes with the question marks?

If you mean the question marks inside the blue circles, those are Puzzle caches.  The placement of the icon on the map is set by the coordinates on the Listing page.  The coordinates for most Puzzle caches that you see on the site, are irrelevant.  You usually have to solve some sort of puzzle in order to derive the correct coordinates for the Final cache container, which as defined by the Guidelines, must be within 2 miles of the posted coordinates.  Ya, I know, it's kind of confusing ;)

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3 hours ago, mgott said:

Ok, I'm finally found a few caches and have been bitten by the cache bug.  I was in Arizona when I started this venture so weather was not an deterrent.  Back home in WNY, well, Mother Nature definitely has some say in my searches.

Having said that, I have another question - On the geocache maps, what are the boxes with the question marks?

 

Thank you,

MGott

 

They are a Mystery Cache. Usually, it's a puzzle to solve to get the correct cache location coordinates.

OR, it may be a Challenge Cache, which requires you to meet some qualification (find 25 caches whose name begins with Q, or find 5000 caches, or some other something, etc.) prior to logging the cache online.

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A funny and embarrassing story about our first time.  We had read up on geocaching and planned a day out.  Our first look (later found out it was missing)  We found a box on a door at the car wash it was hidden at.  It had some paper and other stuff in it.  We signed the paper and left some swagg. Went on about our day and actually started to find some caches.  At the end of the day we went back and cleaned out the little box we had left stuff in.

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