Mystery as virtual

[+Ry Dawg]

I “found” a mystery cache that requires the finder to message the owner an answer to a question upon visiting. There’s no container or log to sign. Isn’t this just a virtual? What am I missing here? 

[+Max and 99]

16 minutes ago, Ry Dawg said:

I “found” a mystery cache that requires the finder to message the owner an answer to a question upon visiting. There’s no container or log to sign. Isn’t this just a virtual? What am I missing here? 

I've seen some really odd stuff like that too! A virtual which requires you to to find a physical cache, among others.

[+Ry Dawg]

4 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

I've seen some really odd stuff like that too! A virtual which requires you to to find a physical cache, among others.

It was really cool. I loved it. I was just confused about not being required to sign something . 

[+Touchstone]

38 minutes ago, Ry Dawg said:

It was really cool. I loved it. I was just confused about not being required to sign something . 

Looks like fun.  Interesting that it was Published in 2009, almost 4 years after Virtuals were officially grandfathered (aside from the recent limited Virtual reboot).  I imagine it just slipped through unintentionally.  Definitely an unusual Find.

 

We have a similar one in my area, pre grandfathering, that is several stages and listed as a Multi.

[+Ry Dawg]

1 minute ago, Touchstone said:

Looks like fun.  Interesting that it was Published in 2009, almost 4 years after Virtuals were officially grandfathered (aside from the recent limited Virtual reboot).  I imagine it just slipped through unintentionally.  Definitely an unusual Find.

 

We have a similar one in my area, pre grandfathering, that is several stages and listed as a Multi.

it was! That was more my question I guess. If they were slip throughs or something that I’m missing that could still be done, as it would be fun to put something like that out for people. 
 

that does sound cool! I like the odd ball caches like that. 

[+Touchstone]

26 minutes ago, Ry Dawg said:

it was! That was more my question I guess. If they were slip throughs or something that I’m missing that could still be done, as it would be fun to put something like that out for people. 
 

that does sound cool! I like the odd ball caches like that. 

My guess is it wouldn't get through nowadays.  Guess it depends on how lucky you feel   YMMV

[+MNTA]

I was looking for charter member caches and came across this one. Frog Shrine https://coord.info/GC3540 Lists as an unknown but no requirements at all. Sounds like a waymark to me.

 

Description:

 

A fun curiosity that's not too hard to find.

 

Nestled by a quiet residential road in Santa Barbara's upper east-side is an interesting landmark, known only to locals and those like me who discovered it accidentally. The Frog Shrine has been here for years. Nobody I've asked seems to know who started it, but many have made contributions over time. This is not a traditional geocache, so PLEASE do not remove anything. However, if you have something frog-oriented you'd like to contribute, I'm sure future generations will appreciate it.

If you visit the Frog Shrine, be sure and explore some of the beautiful surrounding neighborhoods. The Frog Shrine site itself doesn't have much of a view, but many of the roads in the area offer spectacular vistas of downtown, the waterfront, and the islands. Definitely check it out while you're in the neighborhood...and bring your binoculars!

I've reclassified this as a virtual cache, since some people have gotten confused about the lack of a container and logbook.

[+Max and 99]

27 minutes ago, MNTA said:

I was looking for charter member caches and came across this one. Frog Shrine https://coord.info/GC3540 Lists as an unknown but no requirements at all. Sounds like a waymark to me.

 

Description:

 

A fun curiosity that's not too hard to find.

 

Nestled by a quiet residential road in Santa Barbara's upper east-side is an interesting landmark, known only to locals and those like me who discovered it accidentally. The Frog Shrine has been here for years. Nobody I've asked seems to know who started it, but many have made contributions over time. This is not a traditional geocache, so PLEASE do not remove anything. However, if you have something frog-oriented you'd like to contribute, I'm sure future generations will appreciate it.

If you visit the Frog Shrine, be sure and explore some of the beautiful surrounding neighborhoods. The Frog Shrine site itself doesn't have much of a view, but many of the roads in the area offer spectacular vistas of downtown, the waterfront, and the islands. Definitely check it out while you're in the neighborhood...and bring your binoculars!

I've reclassified this as a virtual cache, since some people have gotten confused about the lack of a container and logbook.

I remember that one! I left a contribution. 

[+barefootjeff]

There's a 2001 cache near Sydney Harbour that was originally published as a traditional but the CO changed it to a virtual after the container was muggled (back then it was possible to change the type of a published cache). There's a paragraph inserted into the top of the description to that effect, but the rest is unchanged from its original incarnation and goes into great detail about how to locate the container. There's no logging requirement stated for its virtual form, so when I visited GZ during last year's Cache Carnival promotion (being a tourist attraction, it had well over the required 50+ FP count), I just did what most others have done and posted a photo of myself there. Some don't even bother with that, though, like this one:

 

 

Not really what I consider caching is about, so little wonder I tend to avoid caches with large numbers of FPs.

[+ecanderson]

Surprised that High Country Admin let that one slip through.  From the early logs, you can tell it has been a virtual from the beginning, not something with a description that was changed after publishing.

 

[+hzoi]

9 hours ago, MNTA said:

I was looking for charter member caches and came across this one. Frog Shrine https://coord.info/GC3540 Lists as an unknown but no requirements at all. Sounds like a waymark to me.

 

8 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

There's a 2001 cache near Sydney Harbour that was originally published as a traditional but the CO changed it to a virtual after the container was muggled (back then it was possible to change the type of a published cache).

 

The difference between these two and the subject cache is that they both came into existence when virtuals were allowed.  There are a few old multis out there that function as virtuals as well - I can think of a couple in Arlington Cemetery and one in the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma - but again, they're old and were all published when virtuals were allowed.

 

This is a 2009 cache, "hidden" and published well after virtuals were discontinued.  Cool spot, appears well worth checking out, but...how to put this diplomatically...it appears to be inconsistent with the guidelines that existed at the time of publication.

[+hal-an-tow]

8 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

There's a 2001 cache near Sydney Harbour that was originally published as a traditional but the CO changed it to a virtual after the container was muggled (back then it was possible to change the type of a published cache).

I came across a similar era virtual in the UK which had the same history, a trad. muggled.  The listing was simply left pretty much as per the trad,  just cache type switched to a somewhat mystifying virtual  , the virtual requirement itself was unclear . However the immediate area was a great hidden spot to be taken to (and you'd be unlikely to get permission for a non-virtual) ,  and fascinating (once you managed to get to it), so it had merit beyond the rare type/placed date.