Geocache never found in 1.5 years

[Stebin92]

This geocache was hidden 1.5 years ago and it has never been found. How rare is it?

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCA6ZBT

Getting there requires a 3 hours ferry trip to the island and then 7 km by foot across mountain paths.

[+MartyBartfast]

Would that count as an FTF AND a resuss find?

[+Viajero Perdido]

That's fairly rare.  How rare depends, I suppose, on which part of the world.

 

These are what keep the game interesting!  

 

I've found a handful that have been waiting longer than that for their first find (memorable, all of 'em), and own one that still hasn't seen a cacher reach GZ for 9+ years now.  I'm sure some people have their eyes on it.

 

Oh so Blue in Belize was 8 years before the first find, and there was quite the forum discussion leading up to it.  I almost went because I was nearby.  Coulda shoulda woulda...  (All talk, no walk.)

 

Edited October 18 by Viajero Perdido
More...

[Moun10Bike]

After a quick scan of the database, I see 2,471 unarchived caches that have been sitting unfound longer than the one in the OP. Here are the current top 10 (sorry for the formatting):

 

GC Code    Cache Name                                        Cache Type            Country            Region                        Date Placed    Days Unfound
GCG822    Rainbow Hydrothermal Vents                        Traditional Cache    Portugal        Arquipélago dos Açores        2002-07-19    8126
GCGWD7    Bullwinkle                                        Traditional Cache    Canada            Northwest Territories        2003-09-09    7709
GCJ3WC    Ivan's Eye                                        Traditional Cache    United States    Alaska                        2004-04-05    7500
GCQMXW    Iskut River Hot Springs                         EarthCache            Canada            British Columbia            2005-09-21    6966
GCTXGE    NO CACHES NEAR HERE, PLEASE - PRIVATE PROPERTY    Traditional Cache    United States    Rhode Island                2006-03-15    6791
GCVZAA    PASO LUPO                                        Traditional Cache    Argentina        None                        2006-05-07    6738
GCWFEX    West Point                                      Traditional Cache    Canada            Newfoundland and Labrador    2006-06-04    6710
GCWV3P    Little Island Cove Cache                        Traditional Cache    United States    Alaska                        2006-06-05    6709
GCXDP7    Caboclos                                        Traditional Cache    Brazil            Bahia                        2006-07-25    6659
GCXTE7    Sylvester Glacier                                Traditional Cache    United States    Alaska                        2006-08-10    6643

 

Edited October 18 by Moun10Bike

[+The Leprechauns]

I don't think that GCTXGE should ever have been published.  Should the site be listing published caches at every location where a cache shouldn't be placed?  I think not.  Caches at impermissible locations ought to be screened out during the review process.  This cache should be archived.  There's no cache there, and even if there was, nobody can log a find on it because the page is locked.

[+BirdSearcher]

Here’s a good one, it’s in a cave on an island (I may have mentioned this one before) https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC613DE_the-sqeeze

Edited October 18 by BirdSearcher

[+JL_HSTRE]

9 hours ago, The Leprechauns said:

I don't think that GCTXGE should ever have been published.  Should the site be listing published caches at every location where a cache shouldn't be placed?  I think not.  Caches at impermissible locations ought to be screened out during the review process.  This cache should be archived.  There's no cache there, and even if there was, nobody can log a find on it because the page is locked.

 

That cache was from 2006. It's a weird relic from the every years of the hobby when hides were rare and Reviewer tools were limited.

[+baer2006]

43 minutes ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

That cache was from 2006. It's a weird relic from the every years of the hobby when hides were rare and Reviewer tools were limited.

... which doesn't explain why it is still not archived in 2024 .

[Pup Patrol]

1 hour ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

That cache was from 2006. It's a weird relic from the every years of the hobby when hides were rare and Reviewer tools were limited.

 

I think that The Leprechauns would be well aware of what Reviewer tools would have been available then.

 

Pup Patrol

[+Ringrat]

Like VP said, I think the rarity is location dependent. Overall, rare. For me, it seems very normal. I currently own 4 older than 1.5 years that haven't been found yet, one of them for 8+ years. Many of my hides go 2-3 years before they're found. However, I hide them on mountain hikes and live in a rural area with a sparse population of geocachers. FTF aside, it's very normal for many of my caches to go 4-5 years between finds and it's always a pleasant surprise to get a log. 

 

[+Clongo_Rongo]

this one was placed in 2011 and not found yet ?

 

https://coord.info/GC2WE3W

 

[+Viajero Perdido]

Friendly wave to @Ringrat who puts out caches that always get my attention when I notice them on the map.    British Columbia, oh, that map is amazing, soo many lonely, remote, challenging hides.

 

Wilderness hides can offer some excitement in ways that are hard to predict.  (Ringrat can probably guess the link I just posted.)  

[+MNTA]

22 hours ago, Moun10Bike said:

After a quick scan of the database, I see 2,471 unarchived caches that have been sitting unfound longer than the one in the OP. Here are the current top 10 (sorry for the formatting):

 

GC Code    Cache Name                                        Cache Type            Country            Region                        Date Placed    Days Unfound
GCG822    Rainbow Hydrothermal Vents                        Traditional Cache    Portugal        Arquipélago dos Açores        2002-07-19    8126
GCGWD7    Bullwinkle                                        Traditional Cache    Canada            Northwest Territories        2003-09-09    7709
GCJ3WC    Ivan's Eye                                        Traditional Cache    United States    Alaska                        2004-04-05    7500
GCQMXW    Iskut River Hot Springs                         EarthCache            Canada            British Columbia            2005-09-21    6966
GCTXGE    NO CACHES NEAR HERE, PLEASE - PRIVATE PROPERTY    Traditional Cache    United States    Rhode Island                2006-03-15    6791
GCVZAA    PASO LUPO                                        Traditional Cache    Argentina        None                        2006-05-07    6738
GCWFEX    West Point                                      Traditional Cache    Canada            Newfoundland and Labrador    2006-06-04    6710
GCWV3P    Little Island Cove Cache                        Traditional Cache    United States    Alaska                        2006-06-05    6709
GCXDP7    Caboclos                                        Traditional Cache    Brazil            Bahia                        2006-07-25    6659
GCXTE7    Sylvester Glacier                                Traditional Cache    United States    Alaska                        2006-08-10    6643

 

 

As a recovering FTF addict  and to a lesser extent lonely cache lover this post makes me want to get out there and try.

 

 

[+Goldenwattle]

Not as long as 1.5 years, but I was once watching two caches that hadn't a find in 8 months since being published. On the Chatham Islands, where I had a trip planned to. Someone beat me there by two weeks and got FTF. Grumble, whimper, ....   (Did get another FTF in the Chathams though while there, but the day it was published.)

 

The longest between publication and FTF that I have had the FTF with has only been one to two weeks. Several in Australia and one in the Antarctic. 

[+barefootjeff]

6 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

The longest between publication and FTF that I have had the FTF with has only been one to two weeks.

 

My most recent FTF (on GCAWEZ6) was almost four weeks after publication and, another month later, I'm still the only finder. This isn't some remote cache in the outback wilderness, it's only 11km from the Newcastle CBD.

 

One of my own hides, GC6JMDK, yesterday passed four years since its last find. Prior to that it'd had 40 finds and received 29 FPs, so I guess everyone who was interested has now done it. Another 11 of my 57 active hides had their last find over a year ago, with two more set to join them by the end of the month.

[+thebruce0]

GC2P0TY was the oldest FTF I'd ever achieved with some friends. Posted in 2010, and we found our way to it 10 years later

[+psychpineapple]

There is a old Wherigo near my work that I was a bit apprehensive about going for, because it hadn't been found in 2 years. It is in a city near Toronto, and I was so surprised that such an old Wherigo (from 2008) isn't found often! I decided to look for it, and I found it quickly and it was in excellent shape. I learned from this cache what I call, 'lonely begets lonely'. I believe that because it hadn't been found in a long time, people will think its not there, which means it goes unfound for longer! I am glad I ended up going for it.

I've also noticed, that since I had found it in 2020, it has been found a few times a year, loneliness be gone! 

Edited October 24 by psychpineapple

[+GeoElmo6000]

11 hours ago, psychpineapple said:

There is a old Wherigo near my work that I was a bit apprehensive about going for, because it hadn't been found in 2 years. It is in a city near Toronto, and I was so surprised that such an old Wherigo (from 2008) isn't found often! I decided to look for it, and I found it quickly and it was in excellent shape. I learned from this cache what I call, 'lonely begets lonely'. I believe that because it hadn't been found in a long time, people will think its not there, which means it goes unfound for longer! I am glad I ended up going for it.

I've also noticed, that since I had found it in 2020, it has been found a few times a year, loneliness be gone! 

 

You make a good point.  I am CO to some puzzles near my house that don't get found often, and I try to remember to check on them at least yearly so that people don't worry they're missing.  I'll add that to my to-do list, thanks for the reminder!  I think it's a good idea for COs to check on their caches that don't get found in a long time to sort of reset the "it's been too long" clock.

[+GrateBear]

I have a list of 500 caches within 500 miles of my location that have not been found.  Oldest are from 2008.  On a couple the owner has been asked to verify that it is still there.  Others have been checked and verified.  Many of them are 4 or 5 for difficulty and terrain, as well as mystery caches.  

[+baer2006]

On 10/28/2024 at 11:49 PM, GrateBear said:

I have a list of 500 caches within 500 miles of my location that have not been found.  Oldest are from 2008.  On a couple the owner has been asked to verify that it is still there.  Others have been checked and verified.  Many of them are 4 or 5 for difficulty and terrain, as well as mystery caches.  

Interesting.

 

So I tried this for my own location in Munich (using Project-GC's "Map not found caches" tool). Results, for radius 800 km (~ 500 miles) and hiding date more than 1 year ago:

• 270 unfound caches in total
• Slightly more than half of that (144) are mystery caches. Most likely almost all are of the "unsolvable" type ("moon logic", "read my mind", etc.), because even difficult puzzles usually get found within a reasonable time here in Europe. Interestingly, of these 144, almost 90(!) are in one hotspot by a single CO! Must be a saturation rule nightmare for other COs in that area to place their own caches.
• The rest are mostly traditionals in more remote/mountainous areas. I randomly looked at some of them, and these have either never been attempted, or the single attempt (sometimes years ago) resulted in a DNF.
• I found a single "hotspot" (5 caches) of "easy to reach" traditionals, all by the same CO, each with a D4+ rating and with lots of DNFs. Apparently someone there likes to hide unfindable caches.

[+MNTA]

3 hours ago, baer2006 said:

I found a single "hotspot" (5 caches) of "easy to reach" traditionals, all by the same CO, each with a D4+ rating and with lots of DNFs. Apparently someone there likes to hide unfindable caches.

 

In the US we have a saying.

 

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”

 

Sounds like the locals have figured this out and simply ignore the caches. 

 

 

BTW got a 5 month old FTF this past weekend 68 miles from my home out on the forest roads. Had a wonderful time trying to figure out how to get there and in spots the fall foliage was quite pretty. 

 

 

[+barefootjeff]

7 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Interesting.

 

So I tried this for my own location in Munich (using Project-GC's "Map not found caches" tool). Results, for radius 800 km (~ 500 miles) and hiding date more than 1 year ago:

• 270 unfound caches in total
• Slightly more than half of that (144) are mystery caches. Most likely almost all are of the "unsolvable" type ("moon logic", "read my mind", etc.), because even difficult puzzles usually get found within a reasonable time here in Europe. Interestingly, of these 144, almost 90(!) are in one hotspot by a single CO! Must be a saturation rule nightmare for other COs in that area to place their own caches.
• The rest are mostly traditionals in more remote/mountainous areas. I randomly looked at some of them, and these have either never been attempted, or the single attempt (sometimes years ago) resulted in a DNF.
• I found a single "hotspot" (5 caches) of "easy to reach" traditionals, all by the same CO, each with a D4+ rating and with lots of DNFs. Apparently someone there likes to hide unfindable caches.

 

Doing a similar search here, there are only 15 unfound caches within 800km placed more than a year ago. Seven are traditionals, five are mysteries (three D5, one D4.5 and one D4), plus an LBH and an EC. The oldest, a D5 mystery in rural Victoria, dates from 2013. The oldest unfound traditional, dating from 2015, has had 320 DNFs and 43 OM logs confirming it's still there.

[+barefootjeff]

Today I went over to Berrilee in north-west Sydney to do a couple of caches in bushland along a ridge-top hiking trail. One, a 3.5/3 puzzle cache published in 2020, had 9 previous finds with the last one just over two years ago. The second was an old 2003 2/2 traditional, still with its original container and logbook, with 94 previous finds but the last in January 2023. There really seems to be little interest now in anything that's not a quick find close to parking.

[+thebruce0]

On 10/31/2024 at 12:46 PM, MNTA said:

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”

 

Or as Michael would say...

"Fool me once, strike one. But fool me twice, strike... three."

/sidebar

[+Mudfrog]

I don't think it has been linked to in this thread but there was a cache, I believe in Canada, maybe Northwest Territory area?, that went without a find for many years. There was a thread on here with the finder describing this feat. Involved canoe or raft and miles of travel in a vast wilderness. Believe they had some video as well. Wish I could find that thread but I'm not even sure how to search for it. Again, my memory isn't what it used to be so I might have some of this wrong. Anyone remember reading that thread?

[+cerberus1]

7 hours ago, Mudfrog said:

I don't think it has been linked to in this thread but there was a cache, I believe in Canada, maybe Northwest Territory area?, that went without a find for many years. There was a thread on here with the finder describing this feat. Involved canoe or raft and miles of travel in a vast wilderness. Believe they had some video as well. Wish I could find that thread but I'm not even sure how to search for it. Again, my memory isn't what it used to be so I might have some of this wrong. Anyone remember reading that thread?

 

This one?    4.5lb walleye

[+barefootjeff]

8 hours ago, Mudfrog said:

I don't think it has been linked to in this thread but there was a cache, I believe in Canada, maybe Northwest Territory area?, that went without a find for many years. There was a thread on here with the finder describing this feat. Involved canoe or raft and miles of travel in a vast wilderness. Believe they had some video as well. Wish I could find that thread but I'm not even sure how to search for it. Again, my memory isn't what it used to be so I might have some of this wrong. Anyone remember reading that thread?

 

Or maybe it was Gosenda GC2P0TY, published in 2011 and found by a group in 2020. thebruce0 was with the group and posted this video of their journey on his Cache The Line channel.

Edited November 2 by barefootjeff

[+thebruce0]

Pretty sure the reference is to 4.5lb walleye (the oldest unfound at the time, in Canada I believe)as that was done by Stormgren-X and a buddy, and they used a Spot to broadcast their progress and status throughout their multi-day canoe camping trip. First experience (live social geocaching?) of it's kind I think

 

Gosenda was a beautiful one too though. That took a lot of research to find the closest access point that wouldn't require more than one camp overnight from launch to return. The recommended put-in was much father away. But logging roads are regularly changing so we found a new access point. 

[+Mudfrog]

12 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

Pretty sure the reference is to 4.5lb walleye (the oldest unfound at the time, in Canada I believe)as that was done by Stormgren-X and a buddy, and they used a Spot to broadcast their progress and status throughout their multi-day canoe camping trip. First experience (live social geocaching?) of it's kind I think

 

Gosenda was a beautiful one too though. That took a lot of research to find the closest access point that wouldn't require more than one camp overnight from launch to return. The recommended put-in was much father away. But logging roads are regularly changing so we found a new access point. 

 

Yep,, that was the one I was trying to remember. The memory jar came reading the old thread where people were tracking Stormgren-x's adventure via SPOT. I'm pretty sure I watched some video that he posted back then but I wasn't able to find a link that worked today. Anyway, that was a cache that went unfound for about 12 years...