+W2RLR (PIAA_NISSAN) Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Spending time finding a cache to only discover it's been robbed of everything but junk toys? Of the few short ones I've did the best ones have been in Eastern Oregon. All the ones in Portland area I've hit are loaded with "McToys". Do members only caches have a better rate of decent trades? Quote Link to comment
+astheravenflies Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 I feel your pain. I carry around a bag full of worthwhile goodies in my daypack when I go caching. But about 75% of the time, I TNLN because most caches are literally filled with worthless McCrap. What is it with you people who take all the good stuff? Trade up or even! But hey, most of the fun is the hunt and the find, no? Quote Link to comment
+bazzle Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Wow a whopping 12 caches and a month at doing it and you have this to say? Just get out and enjoy the hunt, caching will never make you rich... ********************************************* * Remember... Only you can pervert forest faeries... * ********************************************* **Namaste** Quote Link to comment
+W2RLR (PIAA_NISSAN) Posted October 12, 2003 Author Share Posted October 12, 2003 I been signed up here for a month, been doing this for over a year with friends. No ones trying to get rich, just disapointed in the steady influx of people who think leaving JUNK behind is an accepted thing. It's an insult to the maker of the cache and the person hunting for it. It's gotten worse as more people find out about caching. But I guess my puny "12" finds doesn't really give me any grounds to have an opinion does it. Hopefully I can aspire to your level. Quote Link to comment
+bazzle Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Or you could accept that this is the way it is and enjoy the hunt ********************************************* * Remember... Only you can pervert forest faeries... * ********************************************* **Namaste** Quote Link to comment
+pdxmarathonman Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 It is true that there is no hope of changing the overall human tendencies. In fact I found myself reviewing some of my earlier log entries recently and was appalled at what trades I made early on. Of course I have made up for it but if I hadn't continued caching long enough to see the error of my ways I'd just be one of those that nissan was complaining about. The best thing is to just add value to the sport/hobby and forget about the fact that not everyone will. Oh yeah, let's keep it friendly. Otherwise you'll have to move the discussion into the General Forums Quote Link to comment
+bazzle Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 PDXMM is very correct. I have to appologize for the tone of my previous posts. **Note to self - Avoid replying to forum posts when battling with Ex** Best we can do is improve what we find. It is true that many caches will contain MyJunk or worse. It is also true that in my experience M/O caches tend to not degrade quite as quickly, but they often still do. So my advice is just go for the hunt and expect to find junk, that way when you find something cool it is a good surprise rather than the other way around. ********************************************* * Remember... Only you can pervert forest faeries... * ********************************************* **Namaste** Quote Link to comment
+Navdog Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Contents of a cache aren't that important to me unless there is a signature item to be found. I try to design my caches to be challenging and entertaining and I hope people remmemer the hunt and not what they found in one of my caches. I've actually considered filling my ammo cans with expanding foam and leaving just enough room for a logbook on top. ______________________________ Moondog3.com - Portland Geocaching Quote Link to comment
+Team JOYSON Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Navdog's right. In all the conversations that I've had with fellow cachers, I don't remember saying "Oh yeah, and at Pi I left a compass". Short of signature items, trading has become a self perpetuating thing for us. Most of what we wind up leaving is something we've pulled from another cache elsewhere. I'm actually surprised how often we TN/LN now a days. Personally I like some of the McToys & wind up trading for them. One man's junk... ah you know the rest. Enjoy the hunt! "And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination." Quote Link to comment
+W2RLR (PIAA_NISSAN) Posted October 12, 2003 Author Share Posted October 12, 2003 I also apoligize If I've sounded harsh. Your last point is well taken Bazzle. In the end whats inside isn't important as finding it! Quote Link to comment
+MattandLaura Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 when caching with a 1 and 4 year those Mctoys are a treasure compared to some of the junk. This is not a hobby/sport/game just for adults. I figure the harder the hunt the better the treasure should be. Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery. Quote Link to comment
+Logscaler and Red Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Red and I have also found that trade items seem to degrade over time. But as we see it, the only thing to do is leave something better then what you found. Like a sig item or something unique. Worry not about what or who went before you, but what happens after you. logscaler. Quote Link to comment
+CurmudgeonlyGal Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Having been at this for a month, with only 50 under my belt, I too, have noticed an alarming propensity for a lot of junk to amass in some of the boxes. I revel in the ability to TNLN if it's just me, altho I did cave the other day and trade for a Troll pencil topper. It IS all about the hunt for me, but my kids (there are four) DO want to see what's in the boxes. We are DEFINITELY working on the equitable trade/leave something better than what we took. Fortunately this isn't hard to do in most cases. (Although yesterday one of them tried to trade a single sticker for this awesome (as in HUGE) ladybug. We rectified the situation, but still... A STICKER?) I've been thinking about carrying some goodies along just to drop into some of the less-than-wonderful cache stashes we're running into. You know, you can run by the dollar store and get some pretty good kid-friendly/not-crappy things for cheap. Toss in a few fancy pencils, some erasers, a matchbox car or few when you see they suck. You may not get anything out of it, but really, we're having a good time seeing just who's been taking what of the stuff we've left behind. (There's a family around here that has a younger boy than we have and they seem to be taking all of our left lizards, snakes and houseflies.) Most recently, the kids have been leaving playdough sets (they're really very cool if you're a kid) and have left a little 'business' card on them with their names and email address. Hopefully someone will write to them someday! Quote Link to comment
+Team JOYSON Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 So how many McDonalds toys is a Tungston Jihad Silver Dollar worth? "And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination." Quote Link to comment
+Boojum Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 I've accepted that older caches will most likely have junk in them... that's just the way things are. What bothers me is when I read in a log that one of those early finders is double or more dipping... you know 'Took a sig item, had to take one of those great unique-to-this-cache items, and snagged one of the 3 neato objects; left mostly unused tissue, pried the mcToy out of my kid's mouth and tossed that in, and a couple of quarters I had in my pocket. Thanks for the great cache!' Grrrrr! Quote Link to comment
+bazzle Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Well I just came from a fairly new cache. The log showed a good amount of trades, but funny thing was...there was nothing actually in the cache except the cache cam, a spare little note book, and some papers left by the hider ... Not even the TB that was supposed to be there. I think that is becoming my biggest pet peeve of late, that being folks who take a bug, log the cache and never mention they took the bug or do not bother to log it out of one cache until days (or sometimes weeks) later when they place it in another cache. Basic etiquette is to log the bug as soon as you log the cache find, does not seem that tough to me... Oh and I took nothing but the last pic on the cam and I left a rather cool gold writting pen set... ********************************************* * Remember... Only you can pervert forest faeries... * ********************************************* **Namaste** Quote Link to comment
+YankeeRage Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 quote:Originally posted by bazzle: ... Not even the TB that was supposed to be there. I think that is becoming my biggest pet peeve of late, that being folks who take a bug, log the cache and never mention they took the bug or do not bother to log it out of one cache until days (or sometimes weeks) later when they place it in another cache. Basic etiquette is to log the bug as soon as you log the cache find, does not seem that tough to me... http://www.pdxgeocaching.com So it isn't just me. I was taling with 1/2 of Kiwimonster earlier this week complaining that missing TB seem to be rampant here in the Portland Westside Area (Beaverton, Aloha, Hillsboro) Does anyone else feel this way? Quote Link to comment
+WheelsMan Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Yeah, the Key to the Nutria has been missing for a while, now. It was here on 9/17, but missing by 9/19. I think that if someone isn't going to take the time to log a TB, they should just leave it along. Quote Link to comment
+DoodleCat & MisterKrrk Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 My guess is that most folks don't expect to find anything worth taking so they don't carry decent trade items with them. Then they find something cool and aren't prepared for an even trade. Lots of cachers will just TNLN in that situation but eventually that nice item is traded for multiple junkie things. Probably feels like a fair trade but degrades the cache quality. I guess it feels fair to take something nice and leave a travelbug, but then does the next person take out a bug and put in something nice? Probably not. Still, you can't get too worried about what you leave in a box in the woods. Lately so many are being stolen altogether that you're not leaving cool stuff for the next geocacher, you're putting junk in there so that if the cache is stolen it doesn't matter. About bugs - I picked up a brand new one out of a kid's cache and took it 60 miles towards its goal. No one logged a visit at that cache for a month. Finally someone else visits and says they didn't see the bug. They couldn't have missed it, he was huge. I feel so bad for that kid! Hey, if anyone out there has seen Ugly Bill, please log it. -DoodleCat. Quote Link to comment
+bazzle Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 That is too bad about that bug doodlecat. The same thing happened to me this summer. I picked up a bug that wanted to visit Members Only caches and travel to other states. I took it with me to Arizona and even started a brand new M/O cache to place it in, and believe me it ain't easy getting a cache approved 1300 miles from where you live. The third visitor to said brand new cache reported the bug gone, but yet neither of the first 2 claim to have it... ********************************************* * Remember... Only you can pervert forest faeries... * ********************************************* **Namaste** Quote Link to comment
+kiwimonster Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 quote:Originally posted by WheelsMan:Yeah, the Key to the Nutria has been missing for a while, now. It was [in the birthday card cache] on 9/17, but missing by 9/19. The Key to the Nutria has been overlooked before, because it did not immediately look like a travel bug. I know it has received a face-lift since I last saw it, but perhaps someone should take a second, closer, look at some of the items in that cache. Quote Link to comment
+WheelsMan Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 quote:Originally posted by kiwimonster:The Key to the Nutria has been overlooked before, because it did not immediately look like a travel bug. I know it has received a face-lift since I last saw it, but perhaps someone should take a second, closer, look at some of the items in that cache. I went there today and carefully examined everything in the cache, but the Key does not appear to be there. Of course, I don't know what it looks like, so it could be cleverly disguised as a birthday card. Quote Link to comment
+Danman Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 I was the first one to log the Birthday Card Cache after GeoHuntingFamily dropped the Nutria Key there. I had been watching the bug for a while. I went to the cache to (hopefully) finally get the Key to the Nutria. When I found the cache it was neatly hidden and in fine shape. There were no logs in the logbook since GeoHuntingFamily's. I carefully looked through the cache and even on the ground around the cache but did not find it. (I am assuming that the bug has a Bug-tag...That is what I was looking for). I even emailed GeoHuntingFamily before I logged my find and they said that they remembered leaving it right on top in the cache. It sure seems to me that someone deliberately grabbed the bug without logging it in the logbook or online. Quote Link to comment
+YankeeRage Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 If you feel a cache is full of "junk" what is the proper etiquette? Write the owner to check or just 'trash out' the junk, or ??? Quote Link to comment
+bigeddy Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 quote:Originally posted by YankeeRage:If you feel a cache is full of "junk" what is the proper etiquette? Write the owner to check or just 'trash out' the junk, or ??? Note the poor quality when you log in and trust the owner to maintain it. Of course, some owners could care less--I'd hate to be a guest at their home! Sometimes caches have been abandoned and depend on the finders to maintain them, in which case do what seems best. The principle of degrading contents probably relates to the "tragedy of the commons" scenario. Fortunately, there is always the joy of the hunt or the discovery of a nice location, assuming the cache offers those qualities. The best caches are strong in all 3 factors: hunt, location and contents. One reason I can't recall a really great micro. Quote Link to comment
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