MORE THOUGHTFUL CACHES!!

[Pantalaimon]

So, I'm beginning to notice a flood of new caches... most likely due to more and more newspaper exposure... and when I look at a map of Massachusetts I know I'd never have enough time to find them all. I think this turn of events has its pros and its cons.

 

The pros are that I love Geocaching, and the more the better.

 

The con is that I'm starting to notice more and more of a trend of less and less thought going into caches.

 

I love caches that introduce me to a new spot, a new park, or some other interesting landmark. I don't care what the difficulty is. What I'm not a big fan of is a container (usually not too waterproof) dropped in the woods somewhere, with very little thought as to the hiding place, the clues, the location, or the overall cache quality.

 

I like thoughtful caches, caches that show you that the cache hider didn't accidentally trip on the spot where the half-closed tupperware container spilled out of their backpack into the woods.

 

You're welcome to see how I hide my caches ("Taz et al." is me). I try to make them thoughtful and fun. Don't get me wrong, a majority of the caches hidden are hidden well, I just wanted to inject a discussion of a little more thought into the mix.

 

Taz

[Rigour]

Taz, I take your point. On the other hand, placing a cache is a learned skill much as finding one is. I have now placed 3 caches, and I know that I'm actually getting better at all aspects of cache placement:

- choosing/designing/filling the container

- hiding the container in a good location

- writing a better description of it

 

So I agree people need to think more about their caches, but I also don't want to discourage people from being enthusiastic and learning from experience.

[FullOn]

Here in Southern CA, we have a plethora or caches. Around my area code a hundred mile search gives me 1102 caches. The vast majority of these are tuperware under a rock/in a bush. While these are not neccesarily bad, actually quite good for the beginners, there are a handful of them (actually more than a handful) that are great caches.

 

By more people placing caches around you, you'll end up with some really good ones. Even if the cache isn't so great, maybe the area is.

 

The thoughfully placed geocaches are a true treasure that the memories of will stay with you. The others are at least a reason to get your(our) butts off the couch.

 

"I thought you said this was a quick find!" - My wife

[+MartyFouts]

I think you're just seeing the bell cover at work. There's been a rush of placements around here as well, and a lot of them are 1/1 grab-and-go caches, but enough of them are puzzle and theme caches to keep the area interesting.

 

On the other hand, what constitutes a good cache location is another one of those topics that have a wide range of opinions.

[Lyra]

I just started this a few months ago and I've enjoyed it a great deal, although I've been using a GPSr even before geocaching came along (wish I heard about it a long time ago!). I'm in one of the "underprivileged" areas where there are very few caches. Just do a search on my ZIP code, 24114, and look at the Virginia state map. A few west of here, but look to my east! Nada! Nothing! Zippo! Lots of virgin counties east of here!

 

I've doubled the number of caches in my home county by placing a whopping three. As far as I know, there are only two other cachers in the county, and neither of them seems to be too active in placing them (I haven't looked at their profiles, but I think they're also relative newcomers).

 

The three that I've placed locally are pretty easy, except the micro that will take decoding the clue to find. My reasoning in making them easy caches was to give any newcomers a "fat pitch" to encourage them.

 

The only cache I've place outside of my home territory is a boat-only cache (though the first finder was determined enough that he tromped through someone's land and pretty much confessed to doing so in the log, but he and I both know the landowner who wouldn't have cared to give him access).

 

My problem is that I've told tons of people about this sport and can't seem to get any of them interested. Oh, well. C'est la vie!

----

Edited:

After I made my original post, I decided that it would be a good topic for a separate thread, so I've made it a topic for a separate thread)

----

 

[This message was edited by Lyra on August 21, 2002 at 03:23 PM.]

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

Well they can't all be by a beautiful waterfall, only so many of those babies to go around. And those of use who have found all the local caches are very happy to have almost any cache placed in an area close enough that we don't have to drive 75 miles to get.

 

I have found that people appreciate all sorts of caches. Some enjoy virtuals in a park. A micro in town. Just about anything that gets us out the door and playing.

 

We also have plenty of people with physical limitations that might really appreciate a drive up cache that you don't have to leave the car to log. For those of us that are capable of hiking, we can choose to ignore those types of caches if they don't appeal to us.

 

We have over 1100 caches in the entire state of Oregon. That's as many as you have in your nearby area. I honestly would love to have that many so close. There are plenty of caches around me. I'm not into multi stage caches or puzzle caches. I'm too stupid for those.

 

I see I have 486 caches within 100 miles of my home. That's not so bad. I don't have all of those yet.

 

Never Squat With Yer Spurs On

[Pantalaimon]

quote:

---

 

We also have plenty of people with physical limitations that might really appreciate a drive up cache that you don't have to leave the car to log. For those of us that are capable of hiking, we can choose to ignore those types of caches if they don't appeal to us.

---

 

I'm not saying the hike or the location makes the difference. I'm saying the THOUGHT that goes into the cache does. I've found caches I've really liked that I drove right up to. Sometimes you're just not in the mood for a 2 mile hike to find the tupperware. : )

 

My point: more thought, less careless toss-in-the-woods-cache.

 

But that's only one cacher's opinion.

 

Taz

[+Harrald]

I'm glad I don't live near Worcester. I wouldn't enjoy having my choice of cache tradeables and caches bashed on the forums.

 

====================================

As always, the above statements are just MHO.

====================================

 

[This message was edited by Harrald on August 22, 2002 at 08:54 AM.]

[MTBguy]

...I would love to have "too many" caches in my area to find! No matter how much though went into them. I'd have to drive 50+ miles to get to another real cache that I havn't found yet.

 

If you are talking via communicatior to Captain Picard, remember this, for it is the single most important thing you can learn... Never give him a straight answer, make sure he has to come on down to the planet and see for himself.

[Pantalaimon]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Harrald:

I'm glad I don't live near Worcester. I wouldn't enjoy having my choice of cache tradeables and caches bashed on the forums.

---

 

Yeah Harrald, because that's exactly what I'm doing. Bashing people, their tradeables and their caches.

 

Glad I know enough to skip over Harrald's posts now. Otherwise I might get the impression that no one else's opinion matters.

 

Taz

[+Web-ling]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MTBguy:

...I would love to have "too many" caches in my area to find! No matter how much though went into them. I'd have to drive 50+ miles to get to another real cache that I havn't found yet.

---

OK, maybe you don't consider it a "real" cache, but my virtual Cache on the Corner is less than 10 miles from Joplin, and you haven't found it yet...

 

[+Web-ling]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MTBguy:

...I would love to have "too many" caches in my area to find! No matter how much though went into them. I'd have to drive 50+ miles to get to another real cache that I havn't found yet.

---

OK, maybe you don't consider it a "real" cache, but my virtual Cache on the Corner is less than 10 miles from Joplin, and you haven't found it yet...

 

[+sbukosky]

When we see a cache placed by one name, we expect a pretty chinzy cache. When we see one from another name, we know that we are in for a whollaping challenge. I welcome both and everyone inbetween. Nobody likes everything on the menu but everything is liked by somebody!

 

Steve Bukosky N9BGH

Waukesha Wisconsin

[MyBoys&Me]

I consider myself quite well-behaved considering how enthusiastically (and naively) I jumped into this. Started planning a multi-cache tour of a local park within days of first find, but told myself "WHOA...read some and get a few more under your belt first!". I've done an awful lot of research on potential locations...but I am not going to just drop a box off-trail in the woods, and I'll get other more experienced local cachers to check out my plans before I EVER place a cache. I'm not even going to approach park managers or land owners for permission until I know way more about it so I don't sound like an idiot.

 

These boards are wonderful for newbies, but there needs to be more specific info with support and advice for them going in - I've spent WAY too much time in here trying to read every thread to get a grip on the bigger picture; the "How to place your first cache" page is just vague enough to leave rise to the careless caches that concerned Taz. Had I not bothered to read all the smiles, gripes and advice, I probably would have a tupperware container hidden under the bush in my neighbor's front yard!

 

"Men are what their mothers made them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

[+briansnat]

I may be in the minority here, but I think that placing interesting caches, with nice contents shows that you give a hoot about this sport and the people who will be looking for your cache.

 

Many seekers may not care about the contents, but others do, so you should plan for both types when you place your cache. You should also consider that families with children may be looking for it.

 

I've said this before here (so don't jump on me for my redundancy), but anybody can take a Gladware container, throw some trash and a logbook in it and toss it it the bushes behind a park bench. Unfortunately some do.

 

A good cache should bring people to someplace at least slightly interesting and the placer should put some effort into choosing the contents and container.

 

It doesn't take a lot of work to place a decent cache, just a bit of thought.

[+Renegade Knight]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Taz et al.:

So, I'm beginning to notice a flood of new caches... most likely due to more and more newspaper exposure... and when I look at a map of Massachusetts I know I'd never have enough time to find them all. I think this turn of events has its pros and its cons.

 

The pros are that I love Geocaching, and the more the better.

 

The con is that I'm starting to notice more and more of a trend of less and less thought going into caches.

 

I love caches that introduce me to a new spot, a new park, or some other interesting landmark. I don't care what the difficulty is. What I'm not a big fan of is a container (usually not too waterproof) dropped in the woods somewhere, with very little thought as to the hiding place, the clues, the location, or the overall cache quality.

 

I like thoughtful caches, caches that show you that the cache hider didn't accidentally trip on the spot where the half-closed tupperware container spilled out of their backpack into the woods.

 

You're welcome to see how I hide my caches ("Taz et al." is me). I try to make them thoughtful and fun. Don't get me wrong, a majority of the caches hidden are hidden well, I just wanted to inject a discussion of a little more thought into the mix.

 

Taz

---

 

Again the solution to your complain is found within the complaint. Put a little more thought into which caches you will find and you will not notice all the caches that are not 'worth your time'. Others will enjoy those caches without you.

[+Renegade Knight]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BrianSnat:

I may be in the minority here, but I think that placing interesting caches, with nice contents shows that you give a hoot about this sport and the people who will be looking for your cache.

 

Many seekers may not care about the contents, but others do, so you should plan for both types when you place your cache. You should also consider that families with children may be looking for it.

 

I've said this before here (so don't jump on me for my redundancy), but anybody can take a Gladware container, throw some trash and a logbook in it and toss it it the bushes behind a park bench. Unfortunately some do.

 

A good cache should bring people to someplace at least slightly interesting and the placer should put some effort into choosing the contents and container.

 

It doesn't take a lot of work to place a decent cache, just a bit of thought.

---

 

Some trash, a log book, and a cache is born. Worse, someone had fun doing it. That's a bad thing. They should have read the geocaching manual that tells you exactly what to do and how to do it, when you can do it and who you can do it with. Oh wait, that's work. I cache for fun.

[+Renegade Knight]

Sorry if I cut to the chase in a rather tactless fashion. Think I'll take the edge off the day with some wine and quit posting in the forums for a bit.

[Badgerboy]

 

Badgerboy

[Badgerboy]

 

Badgerboy

[erindira]

My thoughts on a "good" cache -

 

Right now, as a beginner and mom to twin baby boys, there can't be too many 1/1 caches in my home area. Considering the baby stroller, the more accessible the better. Even when I don't have the babies I'm on limited time. So a "thank you" to the placers of all those 1/1's!

 

Also, alot of these caches show me a park or area I haven't seen before, and I think that's neat.

 

There's over a thousand caches in my area, so there's probably a range from crappy to ultra-nifty. They're all a reason to get out and play!

[+BletchleyPark]

can exist when the cache is first placed and can be replenished periodically. However, I have found in my (one and only) cache, the quality of the contents vary with the visits. Some contents have been incredibly generous and then there are the others.

 

When all is said and done, I would much rather have a well thought-out cache in an interesting location than to have a drive-by with $20 in it.

 

Just my preference, however.

 

BP

[BassoonPilot]

Sure, there are plenty of, umm, "pedestrian" caches out there, but I would think the mere act of a stranger going out of his/her way by placing something for us to find would be "thoughtful" enough. But apparently that is not the case:

 

Hide a cache well, and someone will complain.

 

Hide a cache in plain view, and someone will complain.

 

Make the walk to the cache too long or too challenging, and someone will complain.

 

Place the cache too close to parking, and someone will complain.

 

Place a micro cache (virtual, theme, puzzle, etc.) and someone will complain.

 

Use tupperware (rubbermaid, etc.) as a cache container, and someone will complain.

 

Place a cache containing a few penny trinkets, and someone will complain.

 

Place a cache containing "good stuff," and people will "trade down" until the cache consists of only penny trinkets.

 

Good grief!! I've been guilty of some of those myself. But as far as I can tell, nobody is forcing anyone to go looking for any particular cache.

 

So if a particular cache description doesn't appear to fit our expectations, we should save ourselves disappointment by using our GPSRs to navigate to the nearest shopping center, park precisely the distance from the front door that we wish to walk, and buy ourselves whatever it is our little hearts desire.

 

But undoubtedly, some people would still find plenty to complain about.

 

[This message was edited by BassoonPilot on August 29, 2002 at 03:29 AM.]

[+Metaphor]

To each his own, but I have to agree with Brian Snat. I like to go out wandering, and geocaching has provided lots of incentive to do just that. However, sometimes a wander in the woods is enhanced by a history or a theme, or a special location. The 'tup' in the woods gets old, especially if it lacks some hook or challenge. On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, it is pretty flat, the woods are often pretty much the same, and poison ivy is everywhere. The caches I want to find have to be more than a run through the undergrowth to put another notch on my geocaching belt. When I cross the Bridge to the Western Shore there are many more caches, but the ones I tend to seek out are the ones with an uncommon theme, a personal story, an isolated, beautiful area, a tidbit of local history in the location description... I pass up the bland-sounding ones. The good part is that I have found many that are worth spending the time to explore the surrounding area, not just the direction the GPS points me to; however these often sit often unvisited because they are out of the way, or away from the population centers.

 

As a result, I thought about the caches I would plant, and even though the Eastern Shore is not overflowing with sites, I wanted to have the people who visit spend time exploring -- and enjoying more than the cache find itself. They don't always have to be 4/4 to be of value -- a 1/1 with a good concept is by far more interesting to me.

 

"All of us are standing in the mud, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde

[+Bluespreacher]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BassoonPilot:

Sure, there are plenty of, umm, "pedestrian" caches out there, but I would think the mere act of a stranger going out of his/her way by placing something for us to find would be "thoughtful" enough. But apparently that is not the case:

 

Hide a cache well, and someone will complain.

 

Hide a cache in plain view, and someone will complain.

 

Make the walk to the cache too long or too challenging, and someone will complain.

 

Place the cache too close to parking, and someone will complain.

 

Place a micro cache (virtual, theme, puzzle, etc.) and someone will complain.

 

Use tupperware (rubbermaid, etc.) as a cache container, and someone will complain.

 

Place a cache containing a few penny trinkets, and someone will complain.

 

Place a cache containing "good stuff," and people will "trade down" until the cache consists of only penny trinkets.

 

Good grief!! I've been guilty of some of those myself. But as far as I can tell, nobody is forcing anyone to go looking for any particular cache.

 

So if a particular cache description doesn't appear to fit our expectations, we should save ourselves disappointment by using our GPSRs to navigate to the nearest shopping center, park precisely the distance from the front door that we wish to walk, and buy ourselves whatever it is our little hearts desire.

 

But undoubtedly, some people would still find plenty to complain about.

 

[This message was edited by BassoonPilot on August 29, 2002 at 03:29 AM.]

---

 

All very true. Maybe it's the forums. When it comes to actual caching I've noticed that all the folks who visit my caches have expressed appreciation. Not that my caches are so wonderful, I just think we are a pretty nice bunch of people most of the time.

 

I've been using the pocket search to narrow the field. I try for longer hikes and (slightly) harder finds. It helps some.

 

Bluespreacher

 

"We've got the hardware and the software, the plans and the maps ..." -- Citizen Wayne Kramer

[+Planet]

No cache is too far, I still have so many in this area to find. I live in New England and any state around here only takes 1-5 hours to get to. When I run out of caches around here I'll travel. But for me some caches are too public. I always head for the woods, never to the town green. The object for me is to get a good workout, get fresh air, and get away from people, because in my line of work all I do is deal with people. If there is nothing in the cache that excites me I will take nothing and will still try to leave a little something. I like finding clever cache containers, but so far only found two that were "works of art, both placed by the same cacher. Still being new at this (only 30 found and 4 placed) I am always on the lookout for a great cache goodie to place in the cache for all ages to find. I am working on container ideas too. I love this sport, it's the best thing that's happened to me since canoeing, fishing, and kayaking. And now I can incorporate all of these together!

Cache you later,

Planet

[+Planet]

No cache is too far, I still have so many in this area to find. I live in New England and any state around here only takes 1-5 hours to get to. When I run out of caches around here I'll travel. But for me some caches are too public. I always head for the woods, never to the town green. The object for me is to get a good workout, get fresh air, and get away from people, because in my line of work all I do is deal with people. If there is nothing in the cache that excites me I will take nothing and will still try to leave a little something. I like finding clever cache containers, but so far only found two that were "works of art, both placed by the same cacher. Still being new at this (only 30 found and 4 placed) I am always on the lookout for a great cache goodie to place in the cache for all ages to find. I am working on container ideas too. I love this sport, it's the best thing that's happened to me since canoeing, fishing, and kayaking. And now I can incorporate all of these together!

Cache you later,

Planet

[+Ambrosia]

We had an experiance once where we traveled to a distant area and had very limited time to explore. We thought that geocaching would help us see the place. This is one reason why poorly thought out/poorly placed caches can be bad. This was one of the most frustrating caching experiances we have ever had. One person had put out multiple caches that were in ugly and or dirty and or dangerous places (or all in between). We spent some frustrating wasted time until we realized to erase all of this persons caches from our agenda. By then we had wasted a lot of our time, and there weren't very many other caches to go to. Ultimately, we didn't get to see this area at all like we wanted to. It was a very upsetting day. Sometimes when you are traveling, there is no way to tell if a cache is good or not. I'm not trying to pass judgement on anybody, and I hope I haven't been so specific to hurt anybody's feelings. I just thought that I would share an experiance so people could think about it. Maybe more should be said on the sites, that would give a traveler an idea which would be the best to go to in the short amount of time they have.