Joys of Cache Ownership

[+barefootjeff]

I see in this week's newsletter a link to this blog article on the Joys of Cache Ownership. First it's good to see something more relating to Year of the Hide as there's been very little on that since the souvenir was announced in February and a lot of the earlier stuff seemed to focus on "refreshing the game board" by encouraging people to archive their less popular hides.

 

Popularity still seems to be a major theme here, though, with the section on Favourite Points:

 

Quote

Premium members are awarded Favorite points that they can then award to geocaches they enjoyed the most. The total number of Favorite points shows on the cache page and adds to the total accumulated Favorite points from all the cache owner’s hides.

Premium members can even search for caches with the most Favorite points on Geocaching.com, encouraging even more finds on highly-Favorited caches. As a cache owner, it can be extremely rewarding to see that your cache was enjoyed and appreciated by finders.

 

The other side of "encouraging even more finds on highly-favourited caches" is that, by definition, it's discouraging finds on those caches that haven't gotten up into that high FP-count stratosphere. The FP count is biased heavily in favour of older caches, since they've had more time to accumulate them, and those in popular tourist areas where lots of cachers are likely to visit. In my own state (New South Wales, Australia), a search for caches with 100+ FPs shows they're mostly clustered around inner Sydney and the harbour, with none at all in the Central Coast or Hunter regions.

 

The only really popular cache I own is a 2005 one I adopted (GCMHXX) that's in a tourist hotspot on Sydney's northern beaches. It has 54 FPs from 667 finds but, as a CO, it's probably one of my least joyful caches as a lot of the logs it gets, while usually complimentary, are pretty minimal and it's been relatively maintenance-intensive with some people not putting it back properly and damaging the container.

 

My most recent three hides are at the opposite end of the spectrum:

• GC9JDPF, a 2/2.5 puzzle published last November with 6 finds and 3 FPs
• GC9M6X5, a 3/3.5 multi published in January with 3 finds and 2 FPs
• GC9TW3Y, a 1.5/2.5 traditional published in May with 6 finds and 4 FPs.

 

The multi in particular was a joy to create, starting with several visits to the beautiful location to see what creative opportunities there were that could be themed into the site, composing the story-line with its accompanying treasure map, then assembling the waypoint objects and themed final container. All up it was pretty much a full-time job for about a month and it gave me great satisfaction the way everything fitted together and fell into place. Unfortunately it's not one the community has taken a liking to, with the first two finders coming up from Sydney to vie for FTF honours and the only other find by a local in March. But I still enjoy going up there every month or two to do the walk around the headland and make sure everything is in good nick, even if nobody else is interested.

 

But it's not just me, one of my friends published a 1.5/3.5 traditional (GC9QR5W) in April which so far has one find and one FP (I was the finder). That one's a fun cache in a beautiful spot, if you don't mind getting muddy feet and doing a bit of wading and rock-scrambling, but it's the antithesis of a quick and easy smiley that the tourists will flock to and it will never rank highly in the FP-count stakes. I would hope, though, that its owner got some joy from creating it and maybe from reading my log.

 

I have another new cache in the pipeline at a beautiful vantage point on the Great North Walk overlooking Patonga beach and the Hawkesbury River, but getting permission from national parks has become bogged down and is starting to look doubtful. It's a spot I found on my permitted exercise during last year's COVID lockdown and, If it eventuates, it'll be a 1.5/3 traditional.

 

 

Getting to it is a 100 metre climb up many steps from Patonga beach or a few kilometres of hiking if coming from the other end of the trail, so I don't expect it'll get more than a handful of finders, but it's one I'll enjoy creating and keeping an eye on going forward and I'll be sad if national parks eventually says no.

 

For me, most of the joy in being a CO comes from the creation process and going back out to some of my favourite spots to make sure my offerings are in tip-top condition, with the occasional appreciative log and FP being a nice but increasingly rare touch on top of that.

[+cerberus1]

"As a cache owner, it can be extremely rewarding to see that your cache was enjoyed and appreciated by finders." on favorite points...

Maybe it's just me, but as one who started well-before 2011 (or December 21, 2010, if anal...), we felt "rewarded" with nice cache logs.

We especially appreciated the lengthy, often creative cache logs from years ago.  

[+ChriBli]

30 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

"As a cache owner, it can be extremely rewarding to see that your cache was enjoyed and appreciated by finders." on favorite points...

Maybe it's just me, but as one who started well-before 2011 (or December 21, 2010, if anal...), we felt "rewarded" with nice cache logs.

We especially appreciated the lengthy, often creative cache logs from years ago.  

The one does not exclude the other. I find it rewarding to get an FP on one of my caches, and I think the FP system is good and works properly (as opposed to AL ratings, I gather). But I also enjoy getting lengthy/creative online logs. Cache logs (written in the physical log book) could also be nice, but only if the log has ample space for it which is often not the case these days. And sadly, many logbooks are lost to muggling, water or fire before the CO gets to see them, making all those creative logs wasted effort.

[+barefootjeff]

10 hours ago, ChriBli said:

Cache logs (written in the physical log book) could also be nice, but only if the log has ample space for it which is often not the case these days. And sadly, many logbooks are lost to muggling, water or fire before the CO gets to see them, making all those creative logs wasted effort.

 

I often see a bit of narrative in my logbooks, particularly on my higher terrain caches that are rarely visited, like this one:

 

 

Whenever I'm out doing a routine check, I'll have a look through the logbook to see what's been written and take a photo if it's something nice or something I might need to refer to later on. Likewise, when I'm out finding higher terrain caches, I'll often take the time to look through the log to see what others have written and add something myself beyond just the date and my name.

[+CheekyBrit]

On 8/2/2022 at 10:22 PM, barefootjeff said:

For me, most of the joy in being a CO comes from the creation process

I hear you. A lot of my geocaches are there because I had an idea come to me and I cannot get it out of my head until it is built. This goes for puzzles, but also GeoArt, Containers, mini games, all of it. And that is the best part of geocaching for me. 

Sure I like going to cool areas but sharing them with someone is better and being a CO lets you do that en masse.
Best example: one of my chess puzzle caches ends in a cave amidst a jump intense mountain biking area.

[+brodiebunch]

It is also a joy to no longer be a CO as well. 

 

We had a small number of them over a decade old then we decided to just be finders exclusively. 

[+Smitherington]

 

On 8/2/2022 at 10:22 PM, barefootjeff said:

My most recent three hides are at the opposite end of the spectrum:

• GC9JDPF, a 2/2.5 puzzle published last November with 6 finds and 3 FPs
• GC9M6X5, a 3/3.5 multi published in January with 3 finds and 2 FPs
• GC9TW3Y, a 1.5/2.5 traditional published in May with 6 finds and 4 FPs.

Another way to look at it is the percentage of finders that give you a favorite point. The 3 you listed barefootjeff, one had 50% and 2 at 67%. I think that is good.