Comparisons: Salt Lake City vs. Vancouver

[Guest a_calder]

I just came back from a business trip to Salt Lake City and was astounded by the number of caches available there! Here is a Zip Code search for 84101, downtown Salt Lake:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?zip=84101

 

A search of nearby caches from a prominent Vancouver cache yields these results:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?origin_lat=49.304667&origin_long =-123.133133

 

What you will notice is that SLC contains literally *hundreds* of caches just in the city limits! Using a 30 mile radius starting from the downtown core of each city, SLC has 207, Vancouver has only 18!

 

Why do you think that is? Has the sport just not caught on here? Is the equipment prohibitive or hard to get?

 

Anyone have any ideas? I would love to see more out there, as I have become a dyed-in-the-wool follower of this excellent sport. In fact, I should be planting my first cache later this week!

 

Alistair

 

[This message has been edited by a_calder (edited 22 October 2001).]

[Guest mrgigabyte]

Simple.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/map/canada.asp

 

Half the map is tan coloured, half is blue. We are the former.

 

An area needs caches so new cachers will get interested. If you only hear about the sport, go to the web site and see a few in your area, you will not get involved. However, if you see dozens, then you may get involved. If you get involved, theoretically, you will start placing caches. More caches means more interest etc.etc.

 

So, I think we are just on the bubble. A dozen or more caches in the lower mainland and it might start the wave of activity. Without caches, there is no interest. More interest = more caches.

 

I have found 21 and I have hidden 6. That is a 30% find/hind ratio. I bet most Vancouver cachers are around 0% (baggers) or 10% at most. I think I am doing my part. Your planning your first hide is a big step in the right direction.

 

I also notice that the finds in general have dropped off greatly since early September. I watch all the local caches and I am lucky to get one watch notification per week now. In August, I was getting 3 or 4 a day. This again could be due to the lack of cache cycle.

 

I wonder if this is true elsewhere in Canada?

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by mrgigabyte:

I also notice that the finds in general have dropped off greatly since early September. I watch all the local caches and I am lucky to get one watch notification per week now. In August, I was getting 3 or 4 a day. This again could be due to the lack of cache cycle.

 

I wonder if this is true elsewhere in Canada?

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I'm seeing the same thing in Southern Ontario outside of metro Toronto. I spot-checked the website for 8 popular well established caches. The total is 3 logs for the past month. Not very good. Urban caches in Toronto are doing better but not by much. New cache placements have dropped off proportionately as well. I can't really come up with any answers for this slow period.

Happy Caching everyone. Olar

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by mrgigabyte:

I also notice that the finds in general have dropped off greatly since early September. I watch all the local caches and I am lucky to get one watch notification per week now. In August, I was getting 3 or 4 a day. This again could be due to the lack of cache cycle.

 

I wonder if this is true elsewhere in Canada?

---

I'm seeing the same thing in Southern Ontario outside of metro Toronto. I spot-checked the website for 8 popular well established caches. The total is 3 logs for the past month. Not very good. Urban caches in Toronto are doing better but not by much. New cache placements have dropped off proportionately as well. I can't really come up with any answers for this slow period.

Happy Caching everyone. Olar

[Guest mrgigabyte]

here's a thought. lets create a coast to coast multi cache. Stage one Vancouver, next phase Calgary, then Toronto, then Halifax. We find a cacher in Calgary (there are lots) and one out east. We each pick a prominent local landmark that forms a virtual cache. From each of those Virtual caches, the cache seeker must extract a clue that forms part of the final coordinates of the actual cache.

 

I am planning a multi-stager right now. It will involve about 5 or 6km of travel. BUT, if we can manage a 10,000 km, cross country, cosat to coast, 8 time zoner multi-cache, I think this might get the Euro tourists in the rental RV's heading cross county on the worlds longest multi-stage cahce hunt.

 

Then again, maybe I should just get my 5 km, 4 stager out there first. ;-)

[Guest a_calder]

A multi-cache that big? That would be a thing of beauty, but you'd have to be loaded or a frequent flier with buckets of airmiles.

 

As for the Vancouver scene, I guess we are lucky in so far as the winter will likely not prevent us from finding caches like our snowed-under friends east of here.

 

And as for the Salt Lake City comparison, I certainly understand that we need more people placing more caches, but my question was slightly different than that:

 

I am wondering why they have so many more caches in their city when they have half the population (the entire state has less than the population of Greater Vancouver) and have been 'playing the game' about as long as we have?

 

I'm wondering if there is another reason for not getting out there, like GPS units being harder to come by in Canada or something.

 

Certainly the more we cache, the more the sport will grow, but the difference in the number of caches is extraordinary!

 

Alistair.

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by a_calder:

I am wondering why they have so many more caches in their city when they have half the population (the entire state has less than the population of Greater Vancouver) and have been 'playing the game' about as long as we have?.

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I see what you mean. The State of Utah itself has quite a few more caches than all of Canada.

 

quote:

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I'm wondering if there is another reason for not getting out there, like GPS units being harder to come by in Canada or something.

---

There are no shortages of GPSR's in the Greater Toronto Area. Just about every Radio Shack, Wally-Mart and Crappy Tire have them.

One thing I have noticed in reading a lot of the posts in this forum is that our American cousins have numerous get-togethers and organized group hunts etc. A glance at the south/southwest(USA) area section here shows 4 current posts that refer to some group meeting of some sort. That alone has got to create more interest and enthusiasm amongst current cachers which would in turn attract new folks to join in. Just a thought!

Bill

[Guest navdog]

There is one geocacher (Bunkerdave) who is quite active in the Salt Lake, Utah area and is nearing his 200th find!

 

Part of the reason for so many caches may be the weather and the availability of so much open space nearby.

 

From where I am from (Oregon) there is also a high density of caches per capita, and at least here I think it is because we are very outdoor oriented. And suprisingly we have very little if any organized caching groups.