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city or country mice?


brad.32

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I can ask this troll because I'm a newbie...

 

In the Getting Started forum there is a thread about motivation, where people wrote about hiking, "the hunt", trading (wyoduckhunter: "It's not a sport unless there is something dead in the back of the truck when you get home"), and travel bugs. There is another Getting Started thread about what gear to take when geocaching, where people wrote that they take a GPS unit, trading items, geocaching.com printouts, maps, a knive ("tool"), water, snacks, a first aid kit, flashlights, matches, lockpick (I'm not a Criminal), etc.

 

Here around the SF Bay Area there are a lot of caches, including many micros. Some of these are in open space preserves and require a 1-2-mile hike each way, but most are in marginal spaces, disused corners of parks, etc, that are readily accessible by car (leaving a short walk).

 

Different people prefer different types of caches and levels of difficulty, so your mileage will vary, but what makes it geocaching, the activity itself or the time investment? What's the true spirit of geocaching? Are we city mice missing out because we don't have to trek 5 miles uphill both ways (through the snow) to reach a cache, regular, micro, or virtual?

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they're all good to me.

 

well, all well-maintained and in good shape are good to me. sometimes i feel like a hike, sometimes i don't.

 

i don't care about the value of the trinkets, although i tend to prefer quirky.

 

it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six.

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What makes it geocahing. Good question. It's the hunt.

 

When all is said and done and the smoke clears most everyone agrees it's the hunt and not the box. Part of the hunt is the find.

 

Having said that, all variations have the hunt and find as part of the goal.

 

Not everyone knows where a dadgum lake is that doesn't mix it's waters. Part of that hunt is finding where a lake is that meets the criteria. Then you still have to get there and claim the find.

 

Virtual, you have to get there and hunt down something to prove you were there. It's the hunt.

 

WebCam. You have to figure out the angle, where to stand and the timing. It's the hunt.

 

Letterbox. It's the hunt.

 

Multi Cache. Hunt, Find, Hunt, Find, Hunt Find, repeat.

 

So there it is. It's the hunt and find and variations on hunt and find that make it a geocache. You will note that a GPS was not mentioned anywere in that discussion. The GPS is a tool that makes it easier to hunt and find. But it's only a tool.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

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It's the hunt pure and simple. I couldn't care less as to what is inside the cache besides the log book.

 

I've been on hikes. I've been to the tops of the mountains, seen the views, splashed in the water falls, stared over the edge of the cliff, climbed the tree, swam across the river, all before geocaching. So that doesn't draw me.

 

It's the hunt.

 

george

 

39570_500.jpg

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

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Use to be the trinkets, trading something for something, but as we all know there are a lot of things in caches not worth trading for, except when they first are placed and then that's questionable. So now it is all about the hunt, the harder to find the better, I like micros multis that you have to find a film canister or even something smaller, then the final part is a regular size cache with a log book, I like reading the logs if I have time. Oh and the exercise, it gets me out from behind this monitor and keyboard into the fresh air!

 

Cache On!

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the hunt is the real draw, but i DO like to see what's in the box.

not so i can take stuff, mind you. the exciting thing is just opening it and looking at what-all is in there.

 

i like to read the logs if i can. i like pictures, if rints from a cache camera are there. one team in my neighborhood (and it's amazing how since i've started caching my neighborhood now includes locationds 40 miles away)always leaves a picture of themselves.

 

i do not enjoy pawing through the stuff so much if it's hotel soaps and broken, dirty stuff.when that happens i suffer a sort of embarrassment in absentia for the people who left the stuff.

 

but anyway, there's a real pleasure in seeing what's in the box. kind of like dessert. the hunt is the meal.

 

it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six.

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Most everybody says "it's the hunt". I think I would use a different word. I think it's the "adventure". We mostly hunt caches that are places we've never been. So there is a sense of adventure in getting to the location of a box that's in a location we've not been. Sometimes the rewards are finding a new and wonderful place. Our preferences are non-urban caches. A nice walk in the woods to mountain top, a lake, or a waterfalls. Sometimes the location is more of reward than finding the box. "The hunt"? Yes, the adventure of the hunt, more exact.

 

Byron

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That's more of the intent of my question: is the adventure of the hunt dependent on the getting there? The actual hiding locations are similar: under a bush or rock.

 

A walk in the woods is better than a walk in yet another park I didn't know about, but the only woods walking we have done is in the big YAPIDAs.

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Get the best of both worlds out here in Arizona, a lot of micros in the local parks, and then if you want to climb a mountain, or go out into the desert without anyone around for miles, you just drive 10 minutes down the freeway...if they could just turn down the heat in the summer now....

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It's all about having a good excuse to get away WITH the wife for several hours, come home dirty and exhausted, and to NOT have to answer any questions about where you were and what you were doing (because she was there with me)...

icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

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

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quote:
Originally posted by TEAM 360:

Oops.


 

Man-o-man.... somebody is trying to run up their message count on the boards!

 

Do your fingers stutter when you type??

 

Mike. Desert_Warrior (aka KD9KC).

El Paso, Texas.

 

Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom.

 

They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS!

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Hi, thats the first time my signature line has been quoted!! The best part of geocaching is you get out of it what you want, no expectations or performance levels other than what you want. I fell that this is probably one of the most broad based outdoor activities because of that. Some want to do only 5/5, my dad likes the 1/1, I try any close enough to get to. The variety of the responses speak volumes as to what individuals have made it to them personally. To me the fun is the new tech toys and learning how to use them in a fun way before they can be depended on to save your life or at least find the deer or elk you cant seem to remember what tree it is under during hunting season. A very BIG affect it has had on my life is a common ground for my dad and I to talk about as we dont share alot of interests. Probably one of the sig lines that fits better is "your mileage will vary".

 

It's not a sport unless there is something dead in the back of the truck when you get home.

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