Let's see....

[+opey one]

...Where to start...

 

I'm curious about the time everyone has available to actually FIND a cache.

 

Sure, the more densly populated the area, obviously there should be more finds.

 

For instance, my brother lives in Knoxville, TN and I live in rural SW Virginia.

 

If I'm not mistaken, we found our first cache together April of last year.

 

To date, he has over 200 finds and I'm hovering at 54.

 

He has a job as well as I do, and I'm not looking for excuses, but I do pull in alot more OT than I should (still I'm financially embarrassed, but that's irrelevant).

 

Sure it is easier to snag caches in more populated areas, but I would like to know how often it is for you all to find one cache or more right after leaving work-and was it of great quality?

 

Better yet, I know this topic has been started before, but how often has a new cache appeared within let's say ten miles from your home/work?

 

Lord, it's been months for me, as I'm not complaining a bit. All of these here locally have been gems. It kinda makes me wonder how you can get soooo many caches in an area that REALLY deserve a visit.

 

Seems like all the good spots should have been taken, leaving people to just do a drive by cache placement to just say they did.

 

Come around to my neck of the woods and sure, you'll not find all that many caches, but I'll bet anything that your trip and what you see and encounter will surely be rewarding.

 

I've not participated in the number crunching, as I'm sure others will do that for me, but my theory will probably be right on:

 

Geocachers share one common bond, among others, but I will lean to this one in specific.

 

We all like to bring in others to see scenic areas, as well as historic places and good places to visit overall, and this is just a few among others.

 

After your local landmarks are taken, then the city parks and other "cool" spots, what is left out there?

 

I've started a thread a long while back, but I'm not going to bring it back to life, but...nevermind.

 

Oh, and BTW, this may sound like a 1/1 bashing, but it's not.

 

I guess I need to hit some larger areas first before I start poking around on the forums, huh?

 

That's all! Thanks for the ear! O1

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

We too live in a rural area and are limited in the number of nearby caches. Most of our caching is done on weekends. Most require a drive of an hour or more to reach. Even the caches we have placed require a minimum of 30 minutes driving. But once you get to one of our caches the scenery is fantastic.

The idea for us is not to see how many caches we can find but to enjoy the experience to the max. We enjoy placeing caches as much as we do finding them.

So many great places for a cache and so little time to hide them....

If you think all the good spots are taken it's time to quit the sport!!!

[+opey one]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders):

If you think all the good spots are taken it's time to quit the sport!!!

---

This is the topic

I said I wouldn't exume.

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

Depends. I have 1051 caches within 100 miles of me, but I've wiped out most within 20 miles, making me plan more for the cache trips, reducing my available time to do so. I was down with an illness for 3 weeks in May, but the 50 finds in 3 days took care of the month while I was on vacation prior to getting sick. Since I've recovered, I'm tryinf for 2-4/day on my way home from work...

 

Brian

Team A.I.

[+Og's outfit]

I think you made some very good observations.

 

I happen to live in a "cache-plenty" state. But I've found all the ones that are in my small town. I'm in no hurry to rush out every morning to the nearby towns to snag easy ones just to run my numbers up.

 

There are no doubt cachers that will look down on those who have fewer than a ba-zillion finds, but that's not my problem. I'm having fun!

 

Cheers to you!

OG

 

Prophetically Challenged

[+Marky]

If we have some free time, we tend to cache. Fortunately for us, we have a decent amount of free time.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

[+KYtrex]

Hi Opey! I've done several caches in your neck of the woods and I agree, they are some real gems. As for your questions, my wife and I do most of our cache hunting on weekends. We usually have to travel a minimum of an hour and a half to two hours to get to any close. As for caching after work, that is just about unheard of for us, although we drove 90 minutes yesterday to grab one, then another 45 minutes to get another, then a couple of hours home. The trip was worth it. Both caches were 4 stars in my book A hundred mile search from my house will return 308 caches. There is hope I remember just a few months ago, the same search would return around 225 caches. I have been caching for about a year and a half now, and I have really seen an explosion here in ole' KY. Also, if you get the chance, there are some really great caches popping up in the Middlesboro/Pineville/Barboursville area of Eastern, KY. Those should be fairly close to you, I think.

 

Great topic, Opey, and I think I told you once before, I love the cat

 

KYtrex

-----------------

Do it today because tomorrow it may be illegal.

[+Dread Pirate Roberts']

There are almost 1000 caches in a 100 miles radius of our house. There are many we have no interest in doing. We like long hikes, hard finds, and dogs allowed We occasionally do caches outside of these criteria but it is often a disappointment. I think I'd prefer to be in your shoes and have only quality ones to chose from instead of having to filter through ones that don't appeal to us.

[+mozartman]

with tons of caches in our area (Phoenix, AZ), both urban and rural, I could no doubt snag a cache or three after work every day for a year and still have some left over. So far, I've only found a few, but I think I prefer to mostly just do my caching on the weekends, kind of take it easy and enjoy it.

I'm thinking, though... maybe if I get up early enough, I could get a couple in BEFORE I go to work.... yeah, that's it!

 

even though I haven't been to many yet, what I've discovered just from reading about the locations and descriptions of caches in my area and kind of knowing where they are, is that there are plenty of high-quality, interesting and creative caches out there in urban areas...

 

the thing to remember, that I'll try to remember when I start hiding caches, is that there are plenty of really cool undiscovered spots in any city or town that would be a great place for a cache, and to go for those places and use a little creativity in hiding it and not place something just anywhere, but I think that's something most cachers really try hard to do anyway.

[+hmarq]

Great thread ...

 

I'm in Chicago metro and have a 15 mile commute for work so I cover a fair bit of ground (for a city) every day ... I've been hitting them

a) At Lunch with codependent addicted coworkers

Going home from work (though I split this with fishing occasionally)

c) Before work

d) weekends with the kids when we travel in other directions

 

It'll be a while before I *have* to schedule caching trips, yet I am, for the same reason that others have stated ... in a populated place there are a lot of chaffe to wade through for the wheat and there isn't much terrain variation in the immediate area ... Mind you I won't have to travel far to find more interesting terrain, but travel a little I must.

 

I think a happy medium of quantity v. quality would be best, but also remember that it's human nautre for the 'grass to be greener on the other side'

[+TotemLake]

I'm a cache of opportunity hunter. IF there happens to be one nearby where I'm heading and IF I have the time to stop and look, I will. Even being unemployed, there are too many other things around the house that need doing... watching grass grow... watching paint dry... ponidering the existence of weeds...

 

Sometimes it will take me a couple of weeks to solve a multi-cache or go back and sign a log to declare a find, but that's ok by me. I enjoy the time out and if it means a repeat visit, that means I get to see what I missed the last time. Kind of like the way a good movie is a good movie.

 

Cheers!

TL

[+briansnat]

I was laid off about 6 weeks ago, so I have plenty of time for hunting now. Before that, I'd bag a cache or two on a weekend and maybe hit one on the way home from work, or on my lunch hour.

 

In NJ there are a lot of caches in a very small state, so anyplace you go, you're likely to be within a few of miles of a cache. This makes it easy to bag caches while visiting friends and relatives, shopping, or just by stepping out of the house for an hour or so.

 

We also have a good variety. Lots of "1/1's" and some very challenging hunts and new caches pop up close to home and where I used to work all the time.

 

Despite the cache density here, there are still some "undiscovered" (meaning uncached, but interesting) spots. To find them, I frequently consult topo maps, road maps and sattelite photos (www.lostoutdoors.com is a good resource), then go there to scout them out and if I like the area, I put a cache there.

 

Even in places that already have caches, there are options like placing a multi cache to add some challenge, or if there is already a difficult multi-cache, placing an easy one for those who like quick finds.

 

"Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois"

[+Hiemdahl]

I do most of my caching while on business trips. Fresh air and exercise definitely beat sitting around a hotel at night and watching TV. Besides, you can definitely see areas that you would never have found just looking at tourist brochures and you meet some very nice people.

 

Hiemdahl

[+opey one]

quote:

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Originally posted by TotemLake:

Even being unemployed, there are too many other things around the house that need doing... watching grass grow... watching paint dry... ponidering the existence of weeds...

 

Cheers!

TL

---

 

ROFLMAO!!!! And tell me, why do weeds exist anyway?

 

And the www.lostoutdoors.com link BrianSnat gave is a great resource, indeed. I like the Waypoint Exchange feature, as it makes mapmaking simple, and interesting topo's, too....Thanks.