Removed a cache while camping

[mandatoryoption]

Back around memorial day weekend last year, some friends and I went camping out in the desert around Area S-4 in Nevada. As we were packing up I noticed a strange formation of rocks that were out of place. We were ready to leave so I moved it and found a small tube with paper inside. I grabbed it not knowing what I had and tossed it in my bag. After getting to our hotel to shower before heading home I realized it was. I had messed up.

 

I'm 28 hours drive away now and don't have a realistic way to put this back where I found it myself.

 

What should I do?

 

I'm happy to mail it to someone to put it back, or put it in a new location to discover...

 

I dont want to ruin anyones fun here. My apologies if I have. Help me make this right.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Rock Chalk
Edited subject line to be more descriptive

[+GeoElmo6000]

2 hours ago, mandatoryoption said:

What should I do?

 

Let's see, you were camping and removed what you thought was a piece of trash from the desert.  You realized later that you accidentally took a geocache, and you reached out to the geocaching community to apologize and try to make things right.

 

I think you should start geocaching.  It'd be great to have someone like you as part of the community.  

 

If you could figure out on the geocaching map (use the website instead of the app) which geocache you accidentally took, you can click on the cache, then click on the owner's profile, message them, and tell them what happened.

[Darwin473]

"I made a mistake, how do I fix it?"

 

Echoing GeoElmo6000's sentiments - you're a great person and we'd love to have you as part of the community! 

 

The fastest way to work out a possible solution might be if you fire up Google Maps, drop a pin roughly where you think you may have picked it up from (within a mile or three should be plenty) and take a screenshot then post it here. Or since you have registered a GeoCaching account, you may be able to skip a step and look up that spot on the geocaching map where you can see caches in the area, take a screenshot of which ones it may possibly be and post that. Note that there may not be any icons on the map where you think you picked it up from as there are various types of caches which require extra steps, so the icon can be several miles where the actual container is; or it may be a Premium Member Only cache, where no icon shows up for a Basic member.

 

This shouldn't affect you, as either of these screenshots might allow a player who lives close to the area to either work out which cache it is and inform the CO (Cache Owner) or might be able to go out and put down a replacement.

[+kunarion]

There are a bunch of Micros that were found by the same cachers listed, such as this one:  https://coord.info/GC33MGB

That's not necessarily the one the OP found, but I'm guessing it's in the general area.  It's among very long power trails, and even the Cache Owner may not be able to identify it by what was found.

 

One clue is the log was replaced at some point before 8-14-19.  I didn't immediately see any caches that mentioned a log replacement at a suitable time frame, but it's also possible that no maintenance log was made.

 

The good news is (as it applies to issues caused to Geocaching when a container is removed), this kind of thing tends to get "fixed" by cachers as they work through the power trail, it's what ya might call a self healing situation, power trails are strange animals as it is.  If a gap remains in the trail, it's likely the Cache Owner will hear about it.  And I'd suppose the Cache Owner has plenty of extra containers to fill the gaps if the cachers themselves don't have one.  Anyway, the container was certainly replaced months ago.

 

And I agree with the previous post, that the OP would make a fine Geocacher. 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by kunarion

[+niraD]

37 minutes ago, kunarion said:

It's among very long power trails, and even the Cache Owner may not be able to identify it by what was found.

This forum really needs a "Sad" response.

[+kunarion]

15 hours ago, niraD said:

This forum really needs a "Sad" response.

 

I've been thinking lately about what happens if someone takes one of my containers home, how someone will figure out how to return it.  A couple of mine have started moving or vanishing.  Regardless of the container, my caches don't always have identification on the container, although at least the cache code is written on the log sheet.  But when a container has a foot-tall plastic duck bolted to it, it's probably not hard to figure out which cache it's from. 

 

On the plus side, that cache photo in the OP's post has a pretty nice cap for a Micro.  It looks to me like it's a 1.0ml vial (hard to tell the scale from the photo), not the cheapest, maybe 30 cents each.  I have 1000 of the dirt-cheap flip-top kind (and no, I ain't making power trails out of them!).  Had them for years, and I'm still considering non-cache possibilities.  I have a pretty cool idea for Swag.  Please standby.  

 

But I have placed similar tubes, and when they degrade to the condition in the photo, I replaced them.  OK, I also tended to place a bigger version instead, up to a little lock-n-lock. The vials are a lot of maintenance.  And I simply cannot bear to inflict the tiniest "Micro Vials" on cachers. 

 

Ever notice that if you have one cache (good sized lock-n-lock or something with swag in it and a log book and in a notable spot), it gets NMs and NAs and complaints and DNFs, but if it's instead a line of a bahzillion Micros, NONE of them have any issues whatsoever?  Even if the containers are scrambled, logs full or missing, or broken tubes, or accidentally taken, there are no problem logs at all.  Can those CO's maintain caches or WHAT!! 

 

Makes me want to just place all my Micro vials in a line and then I'd never have another maintenance issue. 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by kunarion