How Do You Find So Many?

[+KYcachingguy]

Yesterday I created a list of 58 caches to go after. My goal was to reach the 100 fuel points souvenir, I had 57 starting out. Unfortunately, I only found 20 caches and had three DNFs. Needless to say, I did not hit my goal. Short by 23. I did break my one-day record which was 18. 

 

I've seen people find hundreds of caches in a day. I don't know how, but I have seen logs exclaiming ridiculously high one-day numbers. I know I could do Adventure Labs but I didn't want to use that for my goal.

 

What tips do you have for completing the most caches in a day?

 

 

[+lee737]

Don't take young kids along with you!

[+lee737]

Seriously... don't take them....

And - power trails mate..... easier DTs, close to vehicel parking. These are also good for collecting FPs to give out to good caches....

[+KYcachingguy]

50 minutes ago, lee737 said:

Don't take young kids along with you!

No kids to take so that's no problem.

[+Smitherington]

Power trails, planning, teamwork, maybe some obsession involved. 

[+Smitherington]

My best day (excluding Adventure Labs) was 85 on some geoart.  Hours of preparation solving and mapping.  Did it alone. 

[+kunarion]

I found a bunch of caches in one day by riding along with a power cacher who came into town. His wife was the navigator. They had a basic route that passed likely caches, but they didn't appear to have planned all the specific caches. They were FAST, they found, signed, and left. If the cache was taking more than a minute or two, they used a PAF, and they found, signed, and were on their way to the next one. Run down to the cache spot, get it, sign it, run back and get back in the van. Hurry up!

 

When they arrived at a D5 I'd been hunting for years, I told them it's a tough one and... they did a PAF and found it, time to go. Oh, wow, that's where it is... very clever... huh. OK, no need to ponder that one anymore...

 

When they were at a tough puzzle, PAF again. Found it. Next cache. Um, I still don't understand the puzzle, how do I solve it...? …but I guess I can discard my years of notes on that one, it's done...

 

They dropped the container wherever. It's close enough. There's no time to set it back up exactly right. Next!

 

It was definitely fast. It was illuminating. It is NOT the way I want to hunt caches.

 

I might have a very optimistic list of 85 caches, but I'm in no hurry and want to go hunt for it as the Cache Owner intended.  I carefully select caches that sound cool to me, almost always not micro-spew.  I read the cache page, and sometimes if I have trouble finding it, I read all the logs (yes, ALL). When I find it, I trade or drop goodies, Visit my personal TB, check for Trackables, take pictures of the place. I check out the area, maybe visit that old jailhouse or whatever the cache is pointing out. And I restore the container in the right spot, if I can tell how that may be (usually, if it's out in the open, it's not in its hiding spot).

 

But I in fact know a way to find a ton of caches in a day.

 

 

Edited September 2 by kunarion

[+barefootjeff]

2 hours ago, KYcachingguy said:

Unfortunately, I only found 20 caches and had three DNFs. Needless to say, I did not hit my goal. Short by 23. I did break my one-day record which was 18. 

 

You did well to break your previous record anyway. My highest number of finds in a day over 11 years of caching is 25, which were part of a kayaking power trail along a river that I did with a group of friends last year. There had been several recent floods, though, so I also logged 5 DNFs and 2 NMs that day. Prior to that, my highest in a day was 22 when I attended a nearby mega in 2018 and did a bunch of caches placed for that.

 

One of my friends has found 188 in a day, which to me is pretty mind-blowing as I just don't have the staying power or enthusiasm for anywhere near that many. Even if it's a fun series, by the time I get to about twenty a part of my mind starts whispering, "Can I go home yet?".

[+KYcachingguy]

22 minutes ago, kunarion said:

When they were at a tough puzzle, PAF again. Found it. Next cache. Um, I still don't understand the puzzle, how do I solve it...? …but I guess I can discard my years of notes on that one, it's done...

 

23 minutes ago, kunarion said:

They dropped the container wherever. It's close enough. There's no time to set it back up exactly right. Next!

Yeah...no...I couldn't cache like that. Dropping the container wherever is definitely not cool. That doesn't respect the CO or the next cacher. 

 

I'm definitely a slow cacher and like to look at things that catch my eye. Hanging tree caches are really hard for me for some reason and tend to take up a lot of my time.

[+KYcachingguy]

1 minute ago, barefootjeff said:

Even if it's a fun series, by the time I get to about twenty a part of my mind starts whispering, "Can I go home yet?".

I completely understand. I was looking for what would have been number 20 but didn't see it. I looked a couple minutes, but it was getting dark, and I was just done. Decided to walk around the little town I was at. Went down to the river and walked along the river walk. Just happened to be a cache at the end of it. I took a couple minutes looking for it and found it. I made number 20 for the day. It was almost 10pm by that time. It was a long, but enjoyable day.

[+lee737]

5 hours ago, kunarion said:

They dropped the container wherever. It's close enough. There's no time to set it back up exactly right. Next!

Sounds like a 30,000-finds-no-hides-cacher thing to do. Even an involved cache only takes 30s to rehide properly.

[+JL_HSTRE]

20 Finds in a day is a pretty normal full day of caching. 

 

Without ALs, if you're going for numbers you're looking for easy hiking trails with high cache density or a power trail, either bike trail or roadside. Teamwork helps a lot too. Obviously stick to low D/T single stage caches. 

 

It's quite plausible to honestly find 50+ caches on foot, 100+ on bike, or hundreds by car. If you use divide & conquer or other dubious strategies then even more is possible. 

 

The real question is: how many can you do in a day without getting bored and making caching no longer fun?

 

As long as I can physically hold up, hiking and caching all day is no problem. I also don't rush. Take in the scenery. If I was in a hurry I wouldn't be getting from A to B on foot!

 

For biking solo I found a power trail gets tedious fast because of its repetitive nature. It's much better with 1-3 other people. More than that and somebody usually starts getting impatient. The ideal bike power trail for me is close enough nearby I can go back and again (and nice enough that i would want to), getting the caches over time rather than one big day.

 

For driving, I have never had any interest in doing an auto power trail. It sounds exceeding tedious and a waste of gas. Teamwork would make it better, but there are so many places I'd rather go and things I'd rather do with friends than hop out of a car to grab a camp pill bottle every 528 ft.

 

Edited September 2 by JL_HSTRE

[+niraD]

12 hours ago, KYcachingguy said:

What tips do you have for completing the most caches in a day?

Back in the day, before modern numbers trails existed, there was a team that found 200-something caches in a 24-hour midnight-to-midnight numbers run. They focused on easy caches near parking and planned their route in advance. They did take some heat for signing the outside of many containers, rather than opening the containers and signing the logs.

 

With modern numbers trails, it's possible to get hundreds of finds in a 24-hour numbers run without taking any blatant "shortcuts" (like the Three Cache Monte, or any of the divide-and-conquer systems).  I heard of one solo numbers run, on a motorcycle (which made blatant "shortcuts" impossible), where the geocacher found 400-something caches in a 24-hour period.

 

Here's what a numbers run looks like on one of these numbers trails:

 

If you add some of the blatant "shortcuts" then your numbers can go even higher, especially with the various divide-and-conquer systems where numbers are limited only by the number of sub-teams you have claiming each others finds as part of the combined "team".

[+Sottiwotti]

I already feel bored after finding 5 caches in a day

[+cerberus1]

17 hours ago, KYcachingguy said:

What tips do you have for completing the most caches in a day?

"Power trails" and Geoart, the same cache type placed in the same way, rinse/repeat could work. A container placed every 528 feet...

If speed is a thing, stamps and or stickers help some, and by the twentieth pill bottle, you should have speed down pat.

The most so far for me (since 7/'04) is only 31, a series of mostly ammo cans and varied terrain. 

Didn't have fun, the drive and terrain meant rush to complete it.  I like to walk, but observing the outdoors is important to me.

I wouldn't do that again...

[+lee737]

5 hours ago, niraD said:

They did take some heat for signing the outside of many containers, rather than opening the containers and signing the logs.

That sort of thing really irritates me. Who do some people think they are? Every other bunny goes to the (huge!) effort of opening the container and signing the log, why are they so special? I've seen similar here with stickers stuck on the outside of containers occasionally. Some by very respected cachers too. It would soon become a huge mess if everyone started doing that....

[+Goldenwattle]

On 9/2/2024 at 12:08 PM, KYcachingguy said:

I've seen people find hundreds of caches in a day. I don't know how

Have more than one car and some find some caches, others find other caches and sign for everyone. Grab a cache and sign it while another drives, then dump that cache where the next cache is, and then take that one, swapping caches out; not giving a heck what the CO thinks or putting the cache back where it should go. Have several people under the same name and you all cache, not necessarily together. Numbers, numbers, that's all that matters to some people. Stuff up caches, it doesn't matter. Numbers, numbers...

 

Sorry to be cynical, but I really do think that is how some people find 100s of caches on one day. My best in one day was 84. We had time to find more, but by then we were 'cached out' for the day. Two people, one car, we visited everyone of those caches...and left them where we found them (not 'stuffing' them up), not moving them down the road. That was enough (time for coffee*), and it was something different - then - as not many power trails then. Now that power trails are everywhere, I don't care for them and mostly can't be bothered with them. With a few exceptions, most are same old, same old; similar caches, similar hides .

 

* Fortunately there was a café in the area. Civilised caching .

Edited September 3 by Goldenwattle

[+KYcachingguy]

Yesterday my goal was to complete the 100 fuel points required for the Ultra souvenir. I needed 21 and I was able to get those 21, which included an AL. It took me about three hours longer than I wanted and at the end, when I got my 100 fuel point and my souvenir showed up, I didn't feel a great satisfaction in the accomplishment. It felt more like work than a fun thing I did. There were several DNF which aggravated me because I had my list planned out, but because of DNFs, that plan wasn't working. 

 

Trying to "get numbers" wasn't fun so I don't understand the draw of it, especially when cachers go against the integrity of the game just to get those numbers. That doesn't sit well with me. 

 

Although there were some highlights this weekend, trying to hit a big number within a certain time period does not interest me. I'm going to focus on filling out challenges and getting my first jasmer. And I'm going to do it at an enjoyable pace. If that means I only get one smiley for the day, then that smiley will mean something special. 

 

Sure hope those dang aliens appreciate what I did for them. 

[+Chwiliwr]

7 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Have more than one car and some find some caches, others find other caches and sign for everyone. Grab a cache and sign it while another drives, then dump that cache where the next cache is, and then take that one, swapping caches out; not giving a heck what the CO thinks or putting the cache back where it should go. Have several people under the same name and you all cache, not necessarily together. Numbers, numbers, that's all that matters to some people. Stuff up caches, it doesn't matter. Numbers, numbers...

 

Sorry to be cynical, but I really do think that is how some people find 100s of caches on one day. My best in one day was 84. We had time to find more, but by then we were 'cached out' for the day. Two people, one car, we visited everyone of those caches...and left them where we found them (not 'stuffing' them up), not moving them down the road. That was enough (time for coffee*), and it was something different - then - as not many power trails then. Now that power trails are everywhere, I don't care for them and mostly can't be bothered with them. With a few exceptions, most are same old, same old; similar caches, similar hides .

 

* Fortunately there was a café in the area. Civilised caching .

 

My best count for a single day 256 and whilst it was a power trail with a single vehicle with only two people (some of the 'On your Bike' in South Australia) the D/T combinations were many including a few ladder climbs so we never lost interest in finding them until I run out of time and had to find some accomodation.

 

Although I have done some of the other 100+ power trails in Australia I agree they can be so repetative and boring.  One of the local power trails of 500 I still have more than 300 to go.

 

[+thebruce0]

3 hours ago, KYcachingguy said:

Trying to "get numbers" wasn't fun so I don't understand the draw of it, especially when cachers go against the integrity of the game just to get those numbers. That doesn't sit well with me. 

 

Once you start looking at challenges, the statistics really begin to light up. Strictly speaking, challenges add a layer of fun and motivation; but often they lower geocachers' standards to finding 'for the numbers'. In any case, enjoying geocaching the way it's meant can still be done while enjoying the numbers too.

 

My highest was 900 on the nose with a group of 3 other guys doing the ET Highway, a 2400 cache series of simply/ugly roadsides in Nevada. Obviously, that's not geocaching where every container takes you to some great experience to remember, or container that's unique and fun.  Powertrails tend to be large mundane sets of containers where the enjoying is more the whole rather than the individual find. Go for a hike for a few hours, or spend the day on a river or paddling around a lake.  The ET series is really only for people who may enjoy the challenge of a marathon few days of finding as many as possible; enjoying being on the road with a group of friends (though some have done the series alone); appreciating the desert and that whole experience (there are also many others to find along the way, like Nevada's oldest).

 

Really the point is just to do what you enjoy, find what you like finding. There are plenty of experiences out there for everyone, and complaining that there are caches to find that you don't enjoy really doesn't help anyone. There's no inherent competition in this hobby, even though many seem like they turn into one.

 

For me a general good day of caching will be with a group I usually head out with for the day, targeting an area that each of us hasn't visited very much so we can all find as many fresh caches together as we feel led, and that's usually 20-50 depending on whether there's a trail hike for a bit, or a geoart of roadsides, etc.

 

Also keep in mind that different regions/areas/neighbourhoods may have very different cache landscapes. My area has loads of people who LOVE powertrails, so we have loads of powertrails. We don't really have anyone who is really handy and creative so gadget caches are few and far between. But a place like Gilby, ND or West Virginia are littered with fun, well crafted, entertaining geocaches that people love to find and relatively fewer powertrails.

 

I still remember coming across some challenge in Nevada where the Bronze level - 'easy' - was something like having 30,000 finds!  I thought we had prolific geocacher stats in southern Ontario... but because of the desert powertrails and series, average find counts for people in that region are much higher.

 

 

As for ability to find more in a day with general caching, it really depends on the style and spread of geocaches placed in the area. Don't target a place with high-D non-puzzle caches! Or where there are COs who don't often check their caches, where there may be loads of DNFs of maintenance-required caches. Find an area with a good cluster of >Small sized geocaches.  And yeah, be prepared for at least a little bit of rapidity from cache to cache.

 

We have a local group that heads out monthly to find a list of anywhere from 30-100 caches; sometimes lots of walking, sometimes driving. But often people will decide they don't like it because every time there are people who break off, find some from the list and sign the group name, then report back to everyone that they're found so everyone can log them and 'don't need to be found [again]'.  Yeah, that turns a lot of people off.  Can't really stop people from doing that, but you join them or not. Happens more often in areas with caches that are themselves not as spectacular and generally just 'numbers' caches. It's just unfortunate when the group hits an area with a bunch of excellent geocaches and most people never experience them because of the 'group caching' mentality.

 

 

Anyway, point being, the more experienced you are in geocaching, almost certainly the quicker you'll be able to find geocaches. And hopefully keep of a good ethic of proper finding and replacement, and signing that's in line with the spirit of the hobby. You'll see those finds-per-day count slowly tick up, and may occasionally see a few days with spike in your statistics because of having a high-find experience day and there

 

Enjoy what you like, avoid what you don't, and remember that it's a community game!

[+Wadcutter]

Our most for a single day was 201.  It was a power trail.  A pill bottle stuck in the ground every other power pole on very rural roads with very little traffic.  Took us about 12 hours.  2 of us.  Wife stayed in the car, drove and kept the log and I got out to log the cache.  There was really no looking for the container as every cache was the same type container and placed in the same location.  Can't say we particularly enjoyed it.  It got very tiring.  It was just something to do one day to see if we could.

We've done a few 100+ days.  Power trails but involved more variety.

20-30 finds a day are fairly common.  But then we've had days like a couple of weeks ago where we had 8 DNR and 2 finds.  Just part of the game.

[+Smitherington]

26 minutes ago, Wadcutter said:

20-30 finds a day are fairly common.  But then we've had days like a couple of weeks ago where we had 8 DNR and 2 finds.  Just part of the game.

This “DNR” was probably a typo but it may be useful for caches we hope get archived rather than resuscitated.

[+GeoElmo6000]

Sadly lab caches count toward the total find, though they aren't geocaches.  There are several places nearby where I can sit on a bench and log hundreds of lab cache finds if I want to dirty up my numbers.  For this reason I created a second account for lab caches.

[+captnemo]

MY best? is 62 on the Route 66 series will never be broken.  Couldn't wait to stop, both of us had headaches.  Got so we could most likely spot the cache from the car.  Have gone back and got more from this series but limit myself to around 20 at a time. 

[+Wadcutter]

3 hours ago, Smitherington said:

This “DNR” was probably a typo but it may be useful for caches we hope get archived rather than resuscitated.

HAHA.  We've all come across cache locations that need a DNR.

Note to fat fingers and poor typing skills - DNF, not DNR.  

[+KYcachingguy]

On 9/3/2024 at 10:11 AM, thebruce0 said:

There are plenty of experiences out there for everyone, and complaining that there are caches to find that you don't enjoy really doesn't help anyone.

I don't have a problem with people hitting power trails if that is their prerogative (as long as they keep the integrity of the game intact, no cache swapping). I think my experience this past weekend made me realize I wouldn't like being focused on hitting huge numbers in a short period just to hit huge numbers in a short period. Granted, I feel my area does lean toward low maintenance caches, which is an aggravation for sure. Maybe my feelings would have been different if my DNFs hadn't occurred towards the end of my goal. IDK. My post was mainly expressing the fact that even though I had reached my goal, it had felt more like work than a fun experience. I just wanted to get it done.

[+thebruce0]

2 hours ago, KYcachingguy said:

My post was mainly expressing the fact that even though I had reached my goal, it had felt more like work than a fun experience.

For sure, and the nice thing is we don't have to find every cache I think the people who have the biggest difficulty (myself at times too) are those who have this conflict between 'must clear the map!' and 'only want to find specific caches!' (for the stat or the location/experience). Can't really have it both ways But this hobby gives us that flexibility without it being an essential part of the hobby. We've got a smorgasbord of experiences, and I think it's wrong for anyone to force or imply competitiveness, or for anyone to say another type of experience should be removed simply because they don't like it (not that that's you). Whether something should belong in geocaching is a different discussion with greater nuances if one realized the global and multi-cultural nature of this game.

butanyway...!