+Shawna426 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I live in Central Oregon and visited Walla Walla WA this past weekend. Really made me appreciate our local reviewers and hiders! Nearly every cache we looked for lacked any kind of hint, either in the description or in the designated hint area. The sizes were nearly always small, possibly the most misinterpreted size, so I figured they could be anywhere from a bison tube to a decent-sized ammo box in actual size. And no clue whether to look up in the branches, under things, or whatever. And mostly hidden in places with LOTS of potential hiding places. Got a few DNFs, but also a few smilies. :-) Granted, I was mostly looking for "lonely" caches, and many had a few prior DNFs, so that affects it, but even the frequently-found caches didn't have any hints and were often small size. It was an experience. Glad to be home, where people usually include "you're looking for a bison tube hanging in a tree" or the hint "rocks" so you can eliminate a bunch of potential hiding spots right off the bat and save a little time. :-) 2 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment
+Max and 99 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 3 hours ago, Shawna426 said: Really made me appreciate our local reviewers and hiders! What does the reviewer have to do with hints? 1 Quote Link to comment
+CAVinoGal Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 3 hours ago, Shawna426 said: It was an experience. Glad to be home, where people usually include "you're looking for a bison tube hanging in a tree" or the hint "rocks" so you can eliminate a bunch of potential hiding spots right off the bat and save a little time. :-) I will agree that having no hint at all is sometimes frustrating - but hints like you quoted above are what I would call "spoilers" - I enjoy cyrptic hints, "punny" hints, even those that don't make sense till after you've found the cache! We do have at least one local hider whose hints tell you exactly where to look ("Cammoed pill bottle under rocks behind the fence post"), but I prefer to figure out a bit more on my own...so I don't look at those hints till I am stumped. Quote Link to comment
+kunarion Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 29 minutes ago, CAVinoGal said: I will agree that having no hint at all is sometimes frustrating - but hints like you quoted above are what I would call "spoilers" - I enjoy cyrptic hints, "punny" hints, even those that don't make sense till after you've found the cache! We do have at least one local hider whose hints tell you exactly where to look ("Cammoed pill bottle under rocks behind the fence post"), but I prefer to figure out a bit more on my own...so I don't look at those hints till I am stumped. I have cryptic hint for a cache magnetically held behind a guard rail. The hint is DRUAG. I thought it’s a great hint! It’s the word “guard” in reverse, for a box on the reverse side of the guard rail. Yet cachers look around on the ground, they’re wondering if it’s gone, maybe they didn’t read the hint. But they sure don’t give an indication that they worked on that hint. If a cache is a tiny camo pill bottle listed as a Small (see many threads about that kind of thing), I’d like that clearly stated in the cache description. Because I likely avoided a bunch of pill bottles listed as Micro, to hunt this one of the same physical size listed as Small. Quote Link to comment
+Shawna426 Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 6 hours ago, Max and 99 said: What does the reviewer have to do with hints? Not much, I suppose, but I do think reviewers probably have influence over the "style" of the region over time. Maybe not as much as I'm giving them credit for--its probably more peer-to-peer examples of what to do and what not to do. 6 hours ago, CAVinoGal said: I will agree that having no hint at all is sometimes frustrating - but hints like you quoted above are what I would call "spoilers". You're right. But still especially in an area with both standing trees, downed (cut) limbs, AND a ton of rocks, I'd love to have a clue to narrow down which type of hide I'm looking for. Or, it seems especially the "small" size is often used incorrectly, so I'd love a quick clue as to whether I'm looking for a bison tube / match holder / Altoid tin / preform / lock-n-lock, etc., to help eliminate some types and/or places of hides. But then, I'm on the lazy end of the spectrum, as I discovered while caching with my mom and step-dad. They would have looked in the same spot for HOURS, while I was like, "it's already had a couple DNFs, we're not finding it quickly, let's move along." We had a few DNFs, but I also got a couple "lonely" caches, so it seemed like a decent ratio, especially when considering pre-existing DNFs. :-) 5 hours ago, kunarion said: I have cryptic hint for a cache magnetically held behind a guard rail. The hint is DRUAG. I thought it’s a great hint! It’s the word “guard” in reverse, for a box on the reverse side of the guard rail. I do agree that cryptic hints are more fun than blatant ones, but if they're so cryptic you only understand them in retrospect, it's not very useful in the moment. But things like "yep, where you think it is" or "not the type of hide you're expecting" or that sort of thing are a little bit helpful without giving it away. Similarly, the logs. I found one tonight that was hidden by a very prolific local hider, who often uses preforms or micros made from two preforms "welded" together (basically two soda caps back-to-back). But the logs kept mentioning how tiny the cache was, so I knew I was looking for a tiny nano and not the "typical" soda bottle cap that hider often uses. Not that it helped narrow down the 20-trillion possible hiding spots! :-) It was just super frustrating to be out of town, not know the local hiders, AND have zero hints (either in the description or as an actual hint) and have the most-commonly-abused "small" size. It literally could have been anywhere, because I've seen things as small as bison tubes marked as "small" (I suspect because folks who've found nanos don't think a bison tube counts as a "micro," a tick in the column for having a separate "nano" category, but that's neither here nor there). It also seemed like there were a WHOLE lot of caches rated 1.5 D that should've been rated harder, but maybe I'm just bitter at this point. Just glad to be home, where I "know" a lot of the cachers, and hints at least help you eliminate some of the possible hiding spots. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment
+CAVinoGal Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 13 hours ago, Shawna426 said: But then, I'm on the lazy end of the spectrum, as I discovered while caching with my mom and step-dad. They would have looked in the same spot for HOURS, while I was like, "it's already had a couple DNFs, we're not finding it quickly, let's move along." I chuckled as I read this - and I wouldn't call it "lazy" - just a little impatient, maybe? Or faster to give up and move on than others. We've spent 30 minutes or more looking for some caches that *should* have been obvious, but not willing to give up! And sometimes, after those 30 minutes, the cache reveals itself...so it was worth the time spent searching. Sometimes not, and it's logged as a DNF. At least the CO and others know we gave it a good effort, as I will mention how long we searched, both for finds and DNF's. I would hope that info would be useful to future seekers. We will be traveling out of state for Thanksgiving, on the road for a couple of weeks or more, and looking forward to some out of area geocaching along the way. It IS more challenging when you are not familiar with the local hide styles, but I enjoy that kind of challenge, and I enjoy tackling puzzles that are different than what I've solved in my home area. We'll be in Arizona, and the Mohave Desert area in So Cal - we've found some of the desert caches on previous trips, but this is the first time in a long time we've traveled south (well, since COVID, so a year and a half at least). Yes, caching in other, "new" areas can be challenging, and frustrating, but it can be fun as well. It sounds like the whole area where you were is sull of uninteresting, miscategorized, and poorly written descriptions. We have a few of those around here too, but then we have other hiders who put a lot of effort into their write ups and cache hides - those are the caches I like to find!! 1 Quote Link to comment
+The Jester Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 (edited) After almost 90K miles of travel around the country with our trailer these last 6 years, I'm not too upset with local hide styles/standards. I know hints are optional (I'm of the school that only looks at hints when I need them). They don't have to be spoilers but I prefer helpful ones - not like the one I hand decoded years ago that turned out to be in Spanish - but if there isn't one, that's fine it's the CO's choice. Variations on D/T are also common. I've seen a very gentle 10 foot rise in a trail listed as 3* terrain. I've seen that hilly regions sometimes under rate terrain as opposed to flat regions (I suppose it's what you're used to). Our last trip (ending just a week ago) was thru southern Utah for all the National Parks. Boy, did some of those 'easy' walks bust our butts, until we got used to the 6000+ elevation (we live very close to sea level). But after a few weeks we handled them much easier. Some places it hasn't sunk in that when you know where/what you are looking for, of course it seems easy, so CO's tend to under rate the hide. So, all this is just what caching is like around the country (and world). We see DNF's as an excuse to come back again on another trip to find it. On this last trip we cleared one DNF after 9 years, one month and 15 days (yeah, it took a little while to get back to the Nevada desert a ways east of Area 51). You just learn to roll with it and enjoy all the new sights you find/see. Edited November 3, 2021 by The Jester 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.