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Why is Geocaching so popular in Utah?


Guest highpointer

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Guest highpointer

In looking at the locations of geocaches by state, it appears that Utah has the largest concentration of geocachers in the USA, at least in the western USA. As of 1/10/02 there are 561 geocaches in Utah, compared to 290 in Arizona and 154 in Colorado (both states with larger populations than Utah).

 

Why is geocaching so popular in Utah? What makes Utah the apparently #1 state for geocachers?

 

Ken Akerman

Tempe, AZ

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Guest bunkerdave

We figured this out a while back, here is what we decided:

 

1) Gobs of public land. (Thank you to BLM, USFS, etc. for letting us play) and good access to it. (For now)

 

2) Predominant religion HEAVILY stresses families. Even if you are not "one of those," you can't live in a barn for very long and not get some of 'that' on you." (as the saying goes) Everyone I have talked to, with few exceptions, does this with their family. (I am one of those exceptions, not by choice)

 

3) High percentage of homes connected to the Internet. (Utah was in the top three nationally, percentage-wise)

 

4) Lots of fabulous places to hide caches, all within an hour of a fairly major metro area.

 

5) Network TV (as in, nothing is ever on) ( Threw this one in to round it out.

 

Personally, having seen almost every corner of this state, I think it would be a big shame if Utah wasn't the highest cache-per-capita state. You can't beat the diversity of the scenery. Think you've seen Utah? Guess again. The scenery out here changes more often than the weather.

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Guest highpointer

However, I wonder why Colorado doesn't have more geocaches. Its population is about the same as Arizona, yet it has about half as many caches as Arizona and less than a third as many as Utah. The percentage of people in Colorado who are connected to the Internet is one of the highest in the USA, and Colorado has one of the highest percentage of people working in fields such as GIS, cartography, and similar geographic-based technologies. The state has lots of public land and hiking trails within close proximity to cities. Therefore, why doesn't Colorado have more geocaches?

 

Ken

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Actually this got me thinking about how many geocaches are up my way... The numbers are interesting actually...

 

RI - 30

CT - 58

MA - 164

NH - 45

VT - 21

ME - 50

Total for New England: 368

 

Actually I should research population per state - I would guess that RI (in a population/geocache) ranks fairly high on the list...

 

Laurie

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Guest JAMCC47

HighPointer:

After moving from Mesa 2 years ago, its easy to understand why we dont have more caches here in CO. I was able to hike in the Superstions year round. Up here they have this white stuff that covers the ground for a few months of the year, which can make it a little bit difficult. When you do put one in the hills you get very little attempts at them. I think the majority of them up here are after the total count and not the challenge for just 1 Cache. Look at the "Grey Diamond Ghost Trail" & "Lions Ridge" so far few takers for them. The elevation gains on some of these trails out here are fairly steep but they can be done.

 

------------------

JoseCanUSea

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Guest highpointer

I'd like to see Arizona move into the #1 position by spring. Arizona seems to be a prime cache-locating state. The low elevations don't get much snow and there is lots of public land outside the urban areas. In the desert, you don't have to worry about dense forest cover blocking your GPS satellite signals, and the rocks and dirt make good hiding places and camouflage. The dry climate helps prevent caches and their contents from deteriorating quickly.

 

I am looking forward to setting some caches during the upcoming months, but I won't make them too easy. It would be good to work to get to them.

 

Also, the 368 total caches in New England is a pretty good total for a compact region that is smaller in total area than most western states. The forest cover, while being a hindrance to good GPS reception, does make it easy to find lots of good hiding places. However, with rain, snow, and humidity you have to be sure that your caches are closed tightly and made of material that does not decompose quickly.

 

Ken

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Back in APril, when I started, AZ actually had more than Utah. I assumed this was because AZ was prime territory in the winter months, while Utah is mostly in hibernation in winter. Once spring came around, though, UT quickly took the lead over every place save CA, and has led in the caches per capita ever since. We used to do a lot of analytics on the trends and such, but grew bored with it, as it just seemed to do crazy things every week. The craziness just became normal, I suppose.

 

bunkerdave

6327_1600.gif

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My guess is that it has to due with the fact that the Phoenix and Denver metro areas are larger than Salt Lake. From my limited experience in SLC, people seem more rural than they do in either Phoenix or Denver. They seem more comfortable with the outdoors and more likely to have grown up in or near the area.

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I'm guess that we're omitting California as being a part of the west with it's 2124 geocaches (as of 18 March 2002, more geocaches than every other nation in the world besides for the US)? ;~) There are over 550 geocaches in the San Francisco Bay Area alone. Someone had to put all those caches out there...

 

This is in no way ment to suggest that California is the best place to go geocaching, only that it's really big.

 

-IC

 

quote:
Originally posted by highpointer:

In looking at the locations of geocaches by state, it appears that Utah has the largest concentration of geocachers in the USA, at least in the western USA. As of 1/10/02 there are 561 geocaches in Utah, compared to 290 in Arizona and 154 in Colorado (both states with larger populations than Utah)....


 

______________________

Iron Chef

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quote:
Originally posted by Iron Chef:

I'm guess that we're omitting California as being a part of the west with it's 2124 geocaches ...


quote:
Originally posted by Highpointer:

 

In looking at the locations of geocaches by state, it appears that Utah has the largest concentration of geocachers in the USA, at least in the western USA. As of 1/10/02 there are 561 geocaches in Utah, compared to 290 in Arizona and 154 in Colorado (both states with larger populations than Utah) ...


 

Arizona is narrowing the gap between itself and Utah in the number of active caches. As of 3/19/02 there are 578 active caches in Utah and 445 in Arizona. In just a little over two months, the gap between Utah and Arizona has been reduced by more than half, from 271 to 133. At this rate of increase, Arizona should pass Utah by Memorial Day.

 

California may have the most caches of any state, but this can be explained mainly because California has far more people than any other state.

 

Highpointer

icon_razz.gif Tempe, AZ icon_biggrin.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Iron Chef:

I'm guess that we're omitting California as being a part of the west with it's 2124 geocaches ...


quote:
Originally posted by Highpointer:

 

In looking at the locations of geocaches by state, it appears that Utah has the largest concentration of geocachers in the USA, at least in the western USA. As of 1/10/02 there are 561 geocaches in Utah, compared to 290 in Arizona and 154 in Colorado (both states with larger populations than Utah) ...


 

Arizona is narrowing the gap between itself and Utah in the number of active caches. As of 3/19/02 there are 578 active caches in Utah and 445 in Arizona. In just a little over two months, the gap between Utah and Arizona has been reduced by more than half, from 271 to 133. At this rate of increase, Arizona should pass Utah by Memorial Day.

 

California may have the most caches of any state, but this can be explained mainly because California has far more people than any other state.

 

Highpointer

icon_razz.gif Tempe, AZ icon_biggrin.gif

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I would rather have 100 really good ones, with 5-10 good ones new per week, than 1000 crappy ones. (I am not saying those in any state are crappy, but there are crappy ones in every state.)

 

I would rather see imaginative 2s and 3s with a couple of really challenging 4s and 5s and a few charming 1s thrown in for newbies and youngsters than a gazillion "drive-by" 1s so we can hit some magic number.

 

Let's work on the quality, so that everyone benefits. It's frustrating to want to hide a cache where someone else hid one of questionable quality.

 

My .02

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Well, I moved to Salt Lake from San Francisco last year, and, well...there ain't much else to do! icon_smile.gif But seriously, the landscape here is beautiful and Utahns seem to appreciate good clean fun. Also, the valley is really spread out and not too densely populated, so there are lots of good places to put caches that aren't urban but aren't wilderness, either, which makes it friendly for beginners like me. For me, it's also a good way to discover parts of the area I might not have otherwise.

 

edited to add: As far as the matter of quality, I've only found 2 caches so far and am still wrapped up in the coolness of the whole concept to be able to tell a good cache from a not-so-good one...

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Well, I moved to Salt Lake from San Francisco last year, and, well...there ain't much else to do! icon_smile.gif But seriously, the landscape here is beautiful and Utahns seem to appreciate good clean fun. Also, the valley is really spread out and not too densely populated, so there are lots of good places to put caches that aren't urban but aren't wilderness, either, which makes it friendly for beginners like me. For me, it's also a good way to discover parts of the area I might not have otherwise.

 

edited to add: As far as the matter of quality, I've only found 2 caches so far and am still wrapped up in the coolness of the whole concept to be able to tell a good cache from a not-so-good one...

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We're going to Tahoe in June and are specifically renting a car to drive to Utah. We've heard so much about the geocaches there that we couldn't resist. I've printed out a map of caches in the state and am trying to plot a course based on scenery and cache selection.

 

I can't wait to see what all of you guys have been talking about!!

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As was pointed out by BunkerDave, in the winter months it only makes sense that a warmer state will see more geocaching activity.

 

I don't forsee Arizona overtaking Utah because warmer weather is upon us and the cachers will be out and about in force.

 

My scout troop has hidden one cache as a trial run. The boys are so happy with the results, they can hardly wait to do more, we have been holding off for warmer weather.

 

Anyway, if AZ did pass UT what does that mean? AZ has twice the population of UT. AZ has 4.7 million, UT has 2.1 million. AZ should be double the number of caches in UT.

 

Good luck though AZ ... a bit of positive thinking and a little competition is always good.

icon_biggrin.gif

 

WJJagFan

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As was pointed out by BunkerDave, in the winter months it only makes sense that a warmer state will see more geocaching activity.

 

I don't forsee Arizona overtaking Utah because warmer weather is upon us and the cachers will be out and about in force.

 

My scout troop has hidden one cache as a trial run. The boys are so happy with the results, they can hardly wait to do more, we have been holding off for warmer weather.

 

Anyway, if AZ did pass UT what does that mean? AZ has twice the population of UT. AZ has 4.7 million, UT has 2.1 million. AZ should be double the number of caches in UT.

 

Good luck though AZ ... a bit of positive thinking and a little competition is always good.

icon_biggrin.gif

 

WJJagFan

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9 of the 23 caches I have found have been in Utah, and my most favorite of all caches ever is located just outside Zion Park. Search for "Eagle Crag" then go to it.

 

I live in Nevada where winter is prime Geocaching season. In the summer, I geocache in Utah. It is cooler.

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