+hikemeister Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I used to say that the number of finds was not important to me -- that I was just doing this for the fun of it, to get out into nature, etc.... Then I got into the 90s, and my 100th find suddenly did become important. I wanted it to be a 'good' find, not some lame virtual cache, wanted it to be relatively difficult, but nicely hidden, wanted my son to be along geocaching with me when it was found, etc, etc... Number 100 met all of those criteria and was a special event. So I guess the numbers really do matter. Have others experienced anything like this? Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Celebrating a landmark find like 100, 500, 1,000, etc. can be a personal goal and, when achieved, bring a sense of personal accomplishment. It is entirely a different matter to compare your numbers to someone else's numbers. Some folks love to do that, and to others it isn't important. I see nothing inconsistent in enjoying the personal milestone while still having no desire for playing the "stats game." CONGRATULATIONS on your 100th cache! Quote Link to comment
+Criminal Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I chose a special cache for my 100th. But if virts are lame, doesn't that skew your count? #100 won't be as special if #14, 29, 55, etc are virts. I have zero myself. Quote Link to comment
+Salvelinus Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 There is nothing wrong with celebrating milestones at all...whatever they may be. A caching friend reminded me yesterday that she has been a member for exactly one year. I found that an interesting milestone to remember...and I'm the one who got her hooked! I think for many, numbers do drive their caching activity. Its kind of obvious who they are. I generally don't have a problem with that. Except, I am seeing high numbers of drive-up, poorly maintained and poorly thought out caches popping up...just to boost their stats. IMO...that is the down side of the numbers game. Quality and cache experience seem to be forgotten. I have a feeling numbers will become less important now that #100 is behind you. They did for me! Salvelinus Quote Link to comment
umc Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Its all about the numbers for me but not in the milestone respect. I don't remember anything about my 100 mark numbers and don't really care. I guess I don't look at it like ewww can't wait to hit 400, rather its ewww can't wait to hit my next cache. The rest takes care of itself. Quote Link to comment
Cracker. Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I think its not cool when the numbers become the most important aspect. I think its great that people shoot for, keep track of, and maybe even share their personal milestones and stats. Its when they BRAG about it, and compare them to those of others... Different people have different criteria and ideas of what makes for true stats, so its useless to try to compare with other people sometimes.... Theres nothing wrong with being proud of your stats as long as YOU know they were honestly earned....And YOURE satisfied with them... Quote Link to comment
+sept1c_tank Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I could care less about the numbers. My 100th cache was a virtual. I made no plans to find an especially cool cache for #100 (although I did get a photo of myself). I just like caching (and posting to the forums). Quote Link to comment
umc Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Different people have different criteria and ideas of what makes for true stats, so its useless to try to compare with other people sometimes.... Right and I think that is the reason that it would be impossible to have stats on this site. Quote Link to comment
+Theseus Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I only recently hit 50, but I did the same thing. I "saved" the 50th for an above average cache (went up to a mountain in Maine from Boston). Of course numbers don't matter as much as finding new and wonderful places you wouldn't have without geocaching. But they are fun to keep track of. Quote Link to comment
umc Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Does everyone remember their first cache? That's one I don't think I will ever forget as it was the start to a terrible addiction. Aren't there several threads on "your first find"? Quote Link to comment
+astheravenflies Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Have others experienced anything like this? I'll tell ya when I hit 100 - maybe the middle of next year at my rate. The numbers really don't matter but I like the way they slowly accumulate. Hitting 100 will be nice - its a nice milestone and a number that some may consider a right of passage. I'll never keep up or catch up to the serious ubercachers. Besides, there's snow in the mountains to ski on, there's squid to catch off of the pier, there's a camellia bush to plant next to the house, and I want to watch Spongebob with my kids. Balance and choices. No, the numbers really don't matter. There's a cache waiting for me when I'm good and ready. Quote Link to comment
Clown Knife Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I've been hunting caches for 13 months with 43 finds to date. I'm looking forward to my 50th, but I won't go out of my way to persue a special hunt. When I started hunting I lived in the countryside and every hunt was a treat. But I moved to the Silly Con Valley this past March and most of my recent finds are micro caches; and they don't excite me much at all. Happy Hunting! Quote Link to comment
ju66l3r Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Different people have different criteria and ideas of what makes for true stats, so its useless to try to compare with other people sometimes.... Right and I think that is the reason that it would be impossible to have stats on this site. Of course, with an SDK...... Quote Link to comment
+JMBella Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Yep. We took a bunch of pics and hung around the cache site for quite a while. Mainly because it was a beautiful location but also because it was my 100th. To me the numbers do matter. I'm not so much competing with others (although there are a couple of people I keep my eye on and try to keep up with, surpass, stay ahead of, or challenge even) but I'm competing against myself. I set personal goals and I try to beat them. For me it's what makes it a sport. It's all perfectly healthy. Quote Link to comment
+bikenxs Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 This past summer a group of 3 or 4 cachers swept through our home area on a 50 cache marathon day. After reading a bunch of their posts my husband and I were inspired to plan out our own marathon day. We managed to complete 16 that day. Prior to that we had never done more than 6 or 7 in one day. Now I can only remember 3 or 4 of them without reading the logs to jog my memory. I remember posting the logs that night was a chore and I had a hard time thinking up anything worthwhile to say about most of them because we really weren't at any one of them long enough to really appreciate them. When all I have to say is "Found it. TNLNSL", It's just not that fun. Quote Link to comment
+astheravenflies Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 This past summer a group of 3 or 4 cachers swept through our home area on a 50 cache marathon day. After reading a bunch of their posts my husband and I were inspired to plan out our own marathon day. We managed to complete 16 that day. Prior to that we had never done more than 6 or 7 in one day. Now I can only remember 3 or 4 of them without reading the logs to jog my memory. I remember posting the logs that night was a chore and I had a hard time thinking up anything worthwhile to say about most of them because we really weren't at any one of them long enough to really appreciate them. When all I have to say is "Found it. TNLNSL", It's just not that fun. Well said! I don't think I could ever participate in any sort of marathon or cache machine event. Much of the fun I have with geocaching is writing a log and posting some photos to share. For me, its really about the experience and doing something a little creative at the end of the day. On the other hand, I think its great that other folks rack up numbers and make it a sport or competition (or obsession?). There's something for just about everyone in geocaching. Quote Link to comment
+Bloencustoms Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 Guess I started to become interested in my find count around my 15th cache or so. I really don't care about competition because for the most part, it depends largely on the number of caches in a person's area code, their ability to travel, the difficulty of each cache, etc. The numbers mean little unless you are comparing the exact same caches. However, I do like to set personal goals. It feels good to be close to finding 100 physical caches. Quote Link to comment
+Planet Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 My 100th was something to celebrate. It wasn't so much the cache I picked, but that I wanted to hit 100 before my one year anniversary of caching. I lined up five caches the day I hit 100. Then I realized that I still had a few days before my anniversary, and I realized I had cached in every state in New England except for New Hampshire. So we quickly planned a trip to New Hampshire, bringing along the State High Point Seeker II travel bug, and I climbed MT Monadnock for the bug to make a goal. We didn't find that cache under the ice and snow that was left, but we did hit a few others that weekend. That was special because when I started caching I was very out of shape and wouldn't go to any that had a hard climb. I'm now up to almost 230, climbing hills and mountains, and my 100th was just this past April. Someone told me the second 100 would be much easier and they were right! Quote Link to comment
+robert Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 The number of finds isn't important, but feeling good about the milestones is important. If you still feel good about them and still enjoy the game, then keep going for the next big milestone. Quote Link to comment
+Patuxent Pirates Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 I agree, we're new and kinda casual cachers so if we could get to 50 by the end of next year that would be great. 100 would be even better. So far we have only done one virt. It wasn't bad since it had me go to a very nice lighthouse here which hardly anyone knows about. Quote Link to comment
Tahosa and Sons Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 My 100th was real neat because one of my sons got hooked on chasing the caches. And he found my 100th for me not for his count. Which to us caching is just another thing to share with my kids, a nice thing I might say. Quote Link to comment
+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 My 100th was a virtual inside of a pizza parlor. But I celebrated with a pizza so it was one of my best tasting caches. We wanted something special for #500 so we did an underwater scuba diving cache. Numbers are important. I give a lot more weight to a log that can't find one of my caches when the cachers has a couple of hundred caches as compared to a dozen or so. Quote Link to comment
+hikemeister Posted December 11, 2003 Author Share Posted December 11, 2003 I will always remember my #1, #100, and.......#99 #99 was special because for that cache I introduced a group of 20 Boy Scouts to geocaching, and then we went out to find one. They descended on the cache like a swarm of locusts, and you should have seen the excitement as they looked through the cache contents, which included toy cars, airplanes, etc. It was fantastic -- we took photos and will be posting them shortly on our web page. I hit 100 in about 7 months after starting, and was thinking that 'now I can try for 200 more quickly than the frist 100.' Most likely won't happen, because now have done every cache within about 30 miles of my home / office. This changes the nature of the game to one of doing short trips to more distant places to hit clusters of caches (e.g., a group of us will drive about 2 hrs to attempt about 20 next weekend). Agree 100% however that while the numbers are fun, it is the underlying sport, the outdoors, the challenging finds that are the best part ! Quote Link to comment
+WalruZ Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 mildly ot - i wonder what it is about easily factored numbers that make them so special. Is it because they're nice and round? [] Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 I'm approaching #200. I want 200 to be a special cache. Challenging, exciting and fun, which is why I've decided on Yellow Jeep Feverfor my 200th find. Quote Link to comment
+The "Inukshuk"ers Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 I have found since I don't have a lot of time to cache, I am very selective about the ones that I do. I will read the logs to see what other cachers say about the hike and then go the most scenic or challenging. One thing I have noticed is that some caches placed are there because of the terrain or scenery. Then there will be a log by some who say "they ran in and ran out to do more caches" and that they will come back to see the area later. I bet they never go back because they are lining up the next multicache day. I think you miss a lot by this approach. One thing is for sure though....You sure see some beautiful areas that you would never know existed if weren't for other cachers pointing them out!!! The "Inukshuk"ers Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 I'm approaching #200. I want 200 to be a special cache. Challenging, exciting and fun, which is why I've decided on Yellow Jeep Feverfor my 200th find. I wanted #200 to be special, too, but in an ironic twist of fate, it ended up being a virtual at a rest stop. Quote Link to comment
+LukeH Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 I can't wait to get #10!!!! Quote Link to comment
+Mopar Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 It's never been about the numbers for me. I truly, honestly have no clue what my find count is, I know its somewhere over 350, but that's it. I didn't make any special deal about #100, #200, or #300. I'm not even sure if I've hit #400 yet or not. I'm a slow logger, often getting 30-50 logs behind (I do try to at least post a note or a DNF right away if there is a problem), waiting until I have a free day (HA!) to log them. Quote Link to comment
+Webfoot Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 I used to say that the number of finds was not important to me -- that I was just doing this for the fun of it, to get out into nature, etc.... Then I got into the 90s, and my 100th find suddenly did become important. I wanted it to be a 'good' find, not some lame virtual cache, wanted it to be relatively difficult, but nicely hidden, wanted my son to be along geocaching with me when it was found, etc, etc... Number 100 met all of those criteria and was a special event. So I guess the numbers really do matter. Have others experienced anything like this? I used to think that numbers mattered when I first started, then I realized that there was no way I was going to get out and cache four or five caches per weekend or more, so numbers stopped mattering. I'm at 76 right now after almost three years. I'm sure numbers will matter as I approach that 100 threshold, but that might not happen for another year or so as it appears that I'm averaging just slightly more than 25 caches per year. Congratulations on your 100th find hikemeister. Quote Link to comment
+mozartman Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Happy 100th! At the rate I'm going, I won't hit that for another year or more! Oh, well, I'm having fun so it doesn't really matter... I find that I'm kind of a slow cacher-- not one to do ten on a weekend, say. I did three last saturday and that was my most found in a day. I did enjoy seeing my count rise over 20.. wooo-hoo! --mozartman Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 For us, #100 was a cache we had attempted previously, and failed to find, in Kansas City, Mo. We celebrated with a nice dinner. #200 was a nice hike to a northern Iowa cache. We completed that one on the way to a cachiong trip to Minneapolis. Again, we celebrated with a big steak dinner. #300 was in Johnson County Kansas. Point is, we have enjoyed the milestones. When we started Geocaching (in Iowa), we had to drive a distance (nearest cache was 200+ miles away- we didn't find it). We have found traditions, virtuals, locationless, multis, etc. We have enjoyed it all. Quote Link to comment
+hikemeister Posted December 13, 2003 Author Share Posted December 13, 2003 I'm approaching #200. I want 200 to be a special cache. Challenging, exciting and fun, which is why I've decided on Yellow Jeep Feverfor my 200th find. Aha -- I actually have a digital photo of a yellow jeep on my camera right now, and it even has a GPS in the photo. It is not yet posted because I just got a new computer and have not loaded the camera software. It can be yours! What do you want to offer for this prize? A six pack of Guinness draft is the minimum bid. Quote Link to comment
+Webfoot Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Aha -- I actually have a digital photo of a yellow jeep on my camera right now, and it even has a GPS in the photo. It is not yet posted because I just got a new computer and have not loaded the camera software. Christmas shopping today and I spied a yellow jeep and I didn't have my digital camera with me. Then I remembered that I had already found a yellow jeep earlier this year. Quote Link to comment
+halstaff Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Although I don't make a big deal about the number of caches I have found, I have made the milestones special. Since I love to hike and climb, I have looked for the harder caches with a good hike and a big hill. I completed number 200 today with a local mountain cache with some easy rock climbing that was rated at a 4 1/2. It was a great hike with tremendous views. It will be a cache I will certainly remember and return to. I have already found the cache I want for my 300th find. It is rated a 5. Quote Link to comment
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