About geo-challanges

[+Oxford Stone]

On 1/20/2023 at 8:27 PM, MtnGoat50 said:

 

That seems like a lot. I suspect your reviewer will ask you for a list of 10 other local qualifiers. See 5. Standard for Criteria in the Help Center which says:

"A challenge cache needs to appeal to and be attainable by a reasonable number of cachers. Your reviewer may ask for a list of cachers from your area who qualify."

 

Why 10? I've done 6 loops (366/6) and I'm happy with that but if wanted another goal it would be 11 (where the color on the grid changes) not 10.

1. There are a lot of puzzle caches (and fans thereof) round here. That'll be easy.

2. Cos I work in base 10? But I do know what you mean about getting the colour one shade darker. Guess what I'll be doing in 2024-25...

[+Oxford Stone]

If you want some for your ignore list, look at https://coord.info/GC767JJ and (view larger map) about 25 others nearby. I'm on nearly 9000 caches but only qualify for about 5 of these. But I often see logs on my puzzle caches in particular, 'needed a regular sized unknown cache on this date'... and know they're working on this lot. 

[+thebruce0]

You could say "treasures" in a descriptive explanation of the challenge, but you'd need be clear in the actual qualification requirements that it's "4 geocaches in each of 4 countries" for example, so there's no confusion.

[+CCFwasG]

On 1/20/2023 at 11:00 AM, Hügh said:

…it’s also not the only one that’s very specifically disallowed - #4 is not publishable either:
 

Requiring more than one find on any day or calendar date, even if cumulative. Example: find 5 caches for every date of the Finds for Each Day of the Year grid.

Well somehow I missed that. I have been working on a challenge that requires 100 finds per calendar date (only the numbered day, not full calendar, i.e. 100 on the 1st, 2nd etc). I suspect it is an older cache... hmmm. [Did I miss in this thread when the new rules went into force? (Someone remind/tell me pls?)] edit: Ok, looks like 2015, I think?

I also did not realize that you can't base a challenge on a "resurrection" or "lonely" cache any more. But there are a LOT of people out there still working on many of these challenges. Interesting!

Edited January 23, 2023 by CCFwasG

[+niraD]

16 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

Ok, looks like 2015, I think?

Yep, a year-long hiatus in publishing new challenge caches started in 2015, and the rules guidelines were tightened up significantly when the hiatus ended in 2016. (They've tightened up more since then.) There are a lot of grandfathered challenges, including the two back in California that I was actually working on, that I'll probably never complete now that I'm on the other side of the country.

 

18 minutes ago, CCFwasG said:

I also did not realize that you can't base a challenge on a "resurrection" or "lonely" cache any more. But there are a LOT of people out there still working on many of these challenges. Interesting!

Yep. Basically, if a Find log can disqualify anyone from a challenge, then that challenge is no longer allowed.

 

As an example, if you logged a lonely cache yesterday to qualify for a challenge, and then I log that same cache today, but date the log last week when I actually found the cache, then suddenly the cache was no longer lonely on the date you found it, and you no longer qualify. FTF challenges run into the same guideline.

[+Oxford Stone]

Yes, some 'challenges' have to be just for your own benefit I suppose. A cacher local to me said he found his 100th lonely cache ("resuss / resuscitation" as we call them over here) - he keeps track by adding them to a list. Wish I'd done the same as I find them at least as satisfying as a FTF and have lost count of how many I've found (but I digress).

 

https://coord.info/GC3CZ5H is another one that would no longer be allowed (and see the caches that inspired it, one on each side of the US, still active) - took me the best part of 10 years to qualify, lining it up for my 9000th in the coming weeks. Another one that I don't think Project-GC can cope with. It was a matter of keeping a spreadsheeet and then using geocaching toolbox to do things like circles 210 and 214.9 miles from home. Hardest D3 I'll ever do!

 

IMHO as with puzzles, there's room for a whole range from dead easy to encourage the novices, through to hardcore / verging on the impossible to reward those who have the time.

[+Nite*Owls]

One of my favorite types of challenge caches are the ones that involve the names of the caches. Like titles with animals, colors, etc. And challenge caches for places like alphabetical cities/towns you've found caches in, etc. But sadly these are no longer allowed. I don't get it, you'd think they'd want to open up more fun challenge caches to us since many of their paying members really enjoy them. Instead they just keep doing confusing souvenir Signal games. Let people place more fun challenges!

[+Hügh]

On 1/24/2023 at 4:29 AM, Oxford Stone said:

Wish I'd done the same

 

Here’s a challenge checker that’ll generate that list for you. 🙃

 

https://project-gc.com/Challenges//74712

[+thebruce0]

1 hour ago, Nite*Owls said:

One of my favorite types of challenge caches are the ones that involve the names of the caches. Like titles with animals, colors, etc. And challenge caches for places like alphabetical cities/towns you've found caches in, etc. But sadly these are no longer allowed. I don't get it, you'd think they'd want to open up more fun challenge caches to us since many of their paying members really enjoy them. Instead they just keep doing confusing souvenir Signal games. Let people place more fun challenges!

 

I agree. But there other ways still to enjoy goals like that. Do them personally and award yourself (bragging rights? profile text?), or create "Un"challenges. Regular geocaches with optional challenges to complete. The CO could recognize people in the description who log and complete the proposed challenge, but completing it is not an ALR.

[+Goldenwattle]

5 hours ago, Hügh said:

 

Here’s a challenge checker that’ll generate that list for you. 🙃

 

https://project-gc.com/Challenges//74712

I used the checker and got 44 caches. However, I have been keeping a list of lonely caches I have logged and I have 127, from 183 days to 1,375 days.  This is one that didn't appear on the list. 

GCRAWM. Not found for 265 days.

I take it I don't understand this challenge.

 

(Copy and past is the reason for the text difference.)

[+barefootjeff]

6 hours ago, Nite*Owls said:

One of my favorite types of challenge caches are the ones that involve the names of the caches. Like titles with animals, colors, etc. And challenge caches for places like alphabetical cities/towns you've found caches in, etc. But sadly these are no longer allowed. I don't get it, you'd think they'd want to open up more fun challenge caches to us since many of their paying members really enjoy them. Instead they just keep doing confusing souvenir Signal games. Let people place more fun challenges!

 

To each their own, but I prefer challenges that encourage finds on caches that take a bit more time and effort than the run-of-the-mill urban micros. In particular, I find those that focus on higher terrain ratings or terrain-specific attributes appealing. I've only completed 12 challenges, but the one I enjoyed the most required 24 finds on caches with a 2/4 D/T rating. At the time it was published (2016) I only had 4 qualifying finds and it took me a year to reach the required 24, but that journey took me far and wide to some awesome caches I wouldn't have otherwise done. The challenge cache itself was also in a pretty awesome T4 spot so it was a very satisfying experience to be able to finally log that one as found. It's only had 8 finders in the 6+ years it's been out there, but all those finders had a great time doing it and I know of several other cachers who are currently working towards qualifying.

 

My own two challenges are along similar lines, one (GC752YF) requiring 20 finds with the Takes more than an hour attribute and the other (GC8DQXK) based on a combination of terrain rating and attributes that fit the theme and location of the cache itself. Both were intended to encourage people to try some of the more challenging but rarely found caches around this region and initially had a bit of success, but those challenges themselves are now mostly overlooked, with the more than an hour one having only had one find in the last two years.

 

As I said, everyone has different likes, but to me, a mint tin in a guard rail with an animal in its name is still just a mint tin in a guard rail.

[+Goldenwattle]

28 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

My own two challenges are along similar lines, one (GC752YF) requiring 20 finds with the Takes more than an hour attribute and the other (GC8DQXK)

I qualify for both.

 

This is a challenge I like. GC81G1T I still need to get February 2001, and then I can log a find. I signed the log on 19 April 2022. I bled getting to that cache.

 

This is a favourite of mine; a travel one. GC5BFD9. Log a cache in every Australian state and territory in one year. I set out to drive to Darwin for an event I wanted to attend. I already had finds in NSW and the ACT that year, and on the way I logged caches in Victoria, SA and NT. I would return through QLD, so would get a cache then. That left WA and Tasmania. I decided to take a side trip to Kununurra in WA. After I got home I booked the ferry to Tasmania. Caches in all states logged in one calendar year. Now, they are challengers!

[+Hügh]

5 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

I used the checker and got 44 caches. However, I have been keeping a list of lonely caches I have logged and I have 127, from 183 days to 1,375 days.  This is one that didn't appear on the list. 

GCRAWM. Not found for 265 days.

I take it I don't understand this challenge.

 

(Copy and past is the reason for the text difference.)

The script was set for a minimum of 365 days lonely, but I’ve just changed it to 183. Now it finds 184 caches. 

[+MNTA]

13 hours ago, Hügh said:

 

Here’s a challenge checker that’ll generate that list for you. 🙃

 

https://project-gc.com/Challenges//74712

Wow brings back some memories. Some I forgot about. Some did not realize was that lonely. Thanks

 

With Covid avoiding people a lot of remote camping and exploring.

 

 

found 261 caches (needed: 500) not found in 183 days
 

#	visited	previous	days	gccode	cache_name	type	country	region	county
1.	2022-03-20	2013-09-02	3121	GC1GKHA	Dangerous Creek	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Washington County (OR)
2.	2022-06-14	2017-03-10	1922	GC45PNN	<> Diamonds Are Forever <>	Unknown Cache	United States	Oregon	Multnomah County (OR)
3.	2021-07-25	2017-08-10	1445	GC3677Y	-RH108- Are we there yet?	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Hood River County (OR)
4.	2022-07-30	2018-08-17	1443	GC2BM9Z	Pyramid Lake Cutoff	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Clackamas County (OR)
5.	2021-03-13	2017-06-20	1362	GC2RCY7	HIGH ABOVE	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Jefferson County (OR)
6.	2021-05-01	2017-11-04	1274	GC4H0N7	Bear Springs	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Jefferson County (OR)
7.	2021-07-25	2018-06-30	1121	GC36AJA	-RH186- The inside of the turn.	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Hood River County (OR)
8.	2020-06-21	2018-04-08	805	GC1KVQG	Poison Oak #6: Coffee Tree	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Washington County (OR)
9.	2021-10-13	2019-08-03	802	GC59JZB	Sand Creek Pinnacles	Traditional Cache	United States	Oregon	Klamath County (OR)

[+Goldenwattle]

7 hours ago, Hügh said:

The script was set for a minimum of 365 days lonely, but I’ve just changed it to 183. Now it finds 184 caches. 

Now I get 184 caches. Seems there must be caches missing off my list. Likely early finds.

[+Oxford Stone]

On 1/26/2023 at 5:04 AM, Hügh said:

 

Here’s a challenge checker that’ll generate that list for you. 🙃

 

https://project-gc.com/Challenges//74712

Superb - thanks - I'm on 52! I'll bookmark that, assuming it'll stay around?

PS great name (my real name's Huw...)

[+Goldenwattle]

1 hour ago, Oxford Stone said:

Superb - thanks - I'm on 52! I'll bookmark that, assuming it'll stay around?

PS great name (my real name's Huw...)

I bookmarked it too.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Hmm...  I only have 458...

[+Hügh]

4 hours ago, Oxford Stone said:

assuming it'll stay around?

 

I'll leave it up.

 

(Hello, fellow /hjuː/!)

[+CAVinoGal]

On 1/24/2023 at 1:29 AM, Oxford Stone said:

A cacher local to me said he found his 100th lonely cache ("resuss / resuscitation" as we call them over here) - he keeps track by adding them to a list. Wish I'd done the same as I find them at least as satisfying as a FTF and have lost count of how many I've found (but I digress).

 

On 1/25/2023 at 9:04 PM, Hügh said:

Here’s a challenge checker that’ll generate that list for you. 🙃

 

https://project-gc.com/Challenges//74712

 

I just checked, as I have found some "lonely" caches and it's always fun to find a cache that has been hidden away for YEARS and is still there, findable, and in good shape.  I don't specifically target lonelies, but there are some challenges and lonely cache hunters in my area.  If I can nab one that they haven't gotten to ... well, that's satisfying to me!!

 

Anyway, I was surprised to see I have 158 on my list....not enough to qualify but a lot more than I was expecting, and a few very old ones in the mix!

 

[+Smitherington]

I am only at 103 but it was fun to see the checker output and relive some of those finds including one in Costa Rica on that list.

[+BirdSearcher]

Thanks for that checker! I am at 240..I do like finding lonely caches!

(Just checked a Geo-friend ..she has found 2515 lonely caches!!)

Edited January 28, 2023 by BirdSearcher

[+Matekarlo]

Hello. So, after many conversations with our reviewer, the following challenges were chosen. Also BINGO. Hard for someone, easy for someone. Anyway, I'm happy with the result. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[+CheekyBrit]

On 1/23/2023 at 2:48 AM, Oxford Stone said:

Fair dos, I think the only cache I currently ignore is a CITO in 6 counties' challenge! Doing one in my own county was bad enough!

Done one in my own country - yeah they are rare. A friend and I now just host our own CITOs and do as many as we want. Trying to wait for other people took waaay too long and they were always too far away to get to / get time off work for.

[+HuggableHamster]

20 hours ago, CheekyBrit said:

Done one in my own country - yeah they are rare. A friend and I now just host our own CITOs and do as many as we want. Trying to wait for other people took waaay too long and they were always too far away to get to / get time off work for.

I find they often seem to pop up near MEGAs, that's how I did one abroad.  We are very lucky there are one or two a year by the Water of Leith organised by HaggisHunter, not that they are ever when I can go... but they are there!