Question For Those Who Have Hid A Cache

[+fly46]

Wondering what the average time is for a FTF...

so.... log here and tell us the rating and how long it took for someone to log it.

[SBPhishy]

It can greatly depend on the difficulty of the cache, or whether it appeared active during the week, or on the weekend.

 

Around here, I am often FTF on most caches that are urban/somewhat urban. I will jump in my car the second I see it and go grab it.

 

For the caches I have hidden, some were found the day they became active, some the next day. I don't think they ever went more than a week without being found.

 

Often, multis will take longer, because there is more involved to go and find it. It just depends how crazy the FTF junkie in your area is!

[mikeh420]

On the 7 active caches I have, FTF is anywhere from 1 to 7 days, average of 3.4 days. I have one "almost" park-and-grab, the others require at least 1/4 to 1/2 mile hike.

[+fly46]

I have one "almost" park-and-grab

lol.. Mine's a park and grab too.. kinda... At least it's a park and suddenly find the spot it's in... Then there's the matter of actually touching the cache...

 

Mine was approved on the 7th and found today by a group of local (and very good) cachers.. It was rated 2/2, but I was told 1.5/1.5 would be a bit better rating...

[+Renegade Knight]

It varies from that afternoon to a few months later depending.

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

Here in the UK my 3 had first finders within a couple of days

[+Torry]

I think it really depends on the competitiveness and quantity of the cachers in your area. Anything that comes on the board within 20 miles of Indy is found within a day or sometimes a few hours. We have a few chronics that monitor the board VERY closely.

[+SeventhSon]

Yea, what Torry said

 

I have 4 caches linked together that took 6 hours to set up and send in for approval. It took 2 hours for approval ((*gln is a great approver)) and 3 hours for the FTF. I spent more time hiding than approval and FTF time combined!!

 

7

[+robert]

Planted 7/21/2002

Found 1/31/2004

 

Blood & Guts in Virginia

[+Desert_Warrior]

I have two that are easy to get to, they were done within hours of being posted. I have one that is a 4 hour round trip hike, it tool a week. I have one that is a 5 hour hike, terrain 4.5. It has only had a few visits in over a year.

 

So the answer is - IT DEPENDS.

[+Imajika]

I have 5 caches hidden so far. The shortest FTF was two hours after it had been approved. The longest FTF was not quite 24 hours.

[+fly46]

I should have posted this in the other forum. I didn't want people to 'answer me' like I haven't a clue... I wanted a fun discussion about first find on hidden caches..

 

oh well.

[+Quadcache]

Not to be rude but your intial post sort of sounded like you didn't really have a clue. It just seemed like someone trying to get ready to hide a cache for the first time.

[+Perrin]

All of mine were found sometime during the first day they went online.

 

Well, i guess that's not quite right. Since some went live late in the evening, but generally around my area, it is REALLY rare for a cache to go more than 24 hours without a FTF.

[+Ed & Julie]

Wondering what the average time is for a FTF...

so.... log here and tell us the rating and how long it took for someone to log it.

In my area, cachers are crazy for FTFs.

The FTF is usually just hours of public posting. Not unusual to see cachers doing pre-dawn sprints to new caches.

 

Ed

[+GEO.JOE]

My caches have received their FTF from within a few hours to as long as 10 days.

 

Cacher density is a major variable. Within 50 miles of me there are 5 caches waiting to be searched for. One has been out for only 6 days, one (2.5/1)has been waiting 19 days, one (2/3) has been waiting 24 days and two that require a small boat were placed Sep., 02 and Oct. 02.

 

How many of you have started planning you trip to grab these?

 

Happy Caching.

GEO.JOE

[+Cache Viking]

I have one that was one day short of a month for FTF. It is fairly remote and rated 2/3. This be it Firefighter Cross

[+JeepCachr]

Fly I'm not sure what your asking for. You seem dissapointed that this thread didn't go where you wanted it to. People are answering the question you asked.

 

Around here if its local its usually found within hours. People will go out at almost any time of day or night to try to get the first to find.

[+Tiwica]

Placed a Multi on January 4, 2004 and the FTF was on January 11, 2004. Just had the third finder today. GCHF03

[+crzycrzy]

Mine are generally next day caches...

[+SixDogTeam]

My experience is that urban caches in areas with a large number of resident cachers are found within a day, but not always. Rural caches may go from one to five days. Anything within 20 miles of me, I grab it at sun-up.

[+olbluesguy]

on good friday I went after a five part multi

found part one by myself.

part two i was joined by another cacher then three more.

at part three all of the before mentioned people were joined by 1 then 2 then three more.

people were coming and going...

we had as many as ten in the group at one time.

It was a great time.We all got to meet one another and finish off the last two parts together.

OBG

[+Riddlers]

The two caches we hid with a TB in them were found within hours but the two micros have not been found yet and they are not hard, just maybe a little off the busy path of the big city. It has only been less than a week.

[+briansnat]

I've hidden 73 caches at last count. The time for a FTF varies widely. Most come within a day or two of the cache being posted. Some harder caches, or ones that get listed earlier in the week may sit there for as many as 5-6 days before the FTF.

But I've had easy caches that waited a few days for the FTF and difficult ones that had the FTF the day they were posted.

 

One variable that comes into play is the weather. In the winter my caches seemed to wait a bit longer for the FTF, esp. when there was a lot of snow on the ground. When the weather warms up, they come a lot quicker.

Edited April 12, 2004 by briansnat

[+cyan_blue]

2/3 rating. I hid it yesterday at 2pm, reported it to geocaching.com at night. By morning it had been approved, and by 1pm today someone had found it. I was impressed.

[+Fritz_Monroe]

I placed a cache-n-grab micro that was found about half hour after I received the e-mail that it was approved.

 

I've put this one on my watch list. It's in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Not very easy to get to this island.

 

The Pines On S.I.

 

Hidden: 7/6/2003

Still not found

 

F_M

[+Andy and Robin]

had three new ones approved today and I can assure you they won't make it through the night before one of our local cachers and forum posters has FTF's on all three. Right Billy?

[+Tprints]

I just saw a new cache pop up around 11:30 the other night and ran out and found it at midnight. Saw another new one pop up the following morning (Easter) and ran out to grab that one too. Both within an hour of being made public. Most caches around here (Erie) go that fast or close to it.

[+blindleader]

Four star urban micro still virgin after nearly two weeks.

[+fly46]

T-Prints.... It's a shame you didn't rush right out when mine got approved... You could have been the first finder and I wouldn't have had to wait two days.

 

[edited because I can't spell]

Edited April 14, 2004 by fly46

[+fireflyfan]

First to find hunts are always a lot of fun in this area because it's like old home week at the cache. At this cache - Trading Digits we arrived with another team. During the hunt 3 more teams showed up and on the way back to the car we met up with yet another cacher ... he was waiting for 2 other cachers to show up. 8 logs in the first night.

 

This cache was unique. Binthair, the owner, had sent most of the cachers in the area a digit of the waypoint. You had to contact other cachers to try and trade for their number. Woe to you if you had been out for the evening ... you came back to 50+ emails.

 

And yes, I know, I haven't written my found it log yet. I am way behind.

[+Night Stalker]

Mine have varied from a few hours to close to 6 months. The later was actually found by a hunter who made a trade and logged his find even though he was not a geocacher. I would not have discovered this if I hadn't gone back to see if the cache was ok. It is in a very remote area of a national forest that is not easily accessed.

[+st_richardson]

As the replies indicate, most caches get found in a short time unless they are multis or have a high difficulty / terrain.

 

What would be interesting or at least amusing to me would be a graph of FTF to difficulty.

[+fly46]

Mine have varied from a few hours to close to 6 months. The later was actually found by a hunter who made a trade and logged his find even though he was not a geocacher. I would not have discovered this if I hadn't gone back to see if the cache was ok. It is in a very remote area of a national forest that is not easily accessed.

That's the coolest story I have heard in a while! Kudos to him for respecting the sport!