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How to get others in your area interested?


Traveling Jones

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Well we are relatively new to this but we find it great fun. However there is hardly no one in out immediate area that has a clue. There is one cache here, and we plan on putting some out also. This is a University town and it sure would be cool to get a couple of hundred people around her interested in this great hobby. So we are wanting suggestions on how to generate some interest in Geocaching here. icon_cool.gif

Oh yea thanks for the help!

 

How come the needle in my compass is 68? off?

 

[This message was edited by Traveling Jones on March 31, 2003 at 01:37 PM.]

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Many people learn about geocaching from newspaper articles and many newspapers have websites where they solicit leads for stories. So if your paper has something like this, submit a story idea about geocaching.

 

Also, place some caches.

 

"An appeaser is one who keeps feeding a crocodile-hoping it will eat him last" -Winston Churchill

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Ditto -- I found out about it through the local newspaper. That was a year ago, and it slipped my mind. However, I saw a mention of it on a messageboard I frequent, and thought, "I STILL want to do that!" Been having a great time. I also started a Yahoo group for those who DO get into it (notice i'm the only member of my "group" thus far): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/geocaching-SE/

 

Above all, have fun!

 

"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for ye are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!"

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And above all, as soon as you feel confident enough and have found a good number of caches*, place a whole lot of well thought out caches in various places around your area.

 

One of the first things people will do when they come to the website is to see where the nearest cache is to their zip code (US-centric, but true in 85% of the cases, I'd guess). If there's not something relatively close to them, it may take them a while to get out there to try it.

 

I know when I first looked at the site in January of 2001, there were only 7 or 8 caches in the whole region, but one was within driving distance of my office. That intrigued me.

 

When I finally got my GPS in March of 2001, the number in my region had more than doubled to 15.

 

BTW - there are now 454 active caches in my "region." icon_wink.gif

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

 

*Good number: that's a relative term. I don't pretend to define it.

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Last year when I started geocaching I was the only one in this area interested, so I had to travel 50 miles or more to find caches, after I was comfortable with seeking them, I started hiding them around my area. In the last few months there has been 3 or 4 more families getting into it and more caches have been hidden. So it is growing and as more get into geocaching then they will "drag" others into it as well.

It is not going to happen overnight but if you hide some caches, others will seek them and the sport will grow. Don't go overboard, quality is better then quantity.

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quote:
Originally posted by Markwell:

And above all, as soon as you feel confident enough and have found a good number of caches*, place a whole lot of well thought out caches in various places around your area.


 

Silly question perhaps, but what is a well thought out cache? Unfortunately I am in the same boat where there aren't a lot of caches in the area. I have to drive several hundred kilometers to find one or two. Is there a "think tank" or some where to discuss cache ideas, with participants that have a lot of experience and have a good feel for what works and doesn't work?

 

I placed 4 caches so far. I really don't know what makes a good cache. The items, the location, how well or little it's hidden? There are just so many variables.

 

Adi

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quote:
Originally posted by Smiley & Co.:

Is there a "think tank" or some where to discuss cache ideas, with participants that have a lot of experience and have a good feel for what works and doesn't work?


I would suggest you go over the "how to hide a cache" stuff, read other forum threads, and maybe ask a few questions. You could also try Clayjar's chat

 

waypoint_link.gif22008_1700.gif37_gp_logo88x31.jpg

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quote:
Originally posted by Smiley & Co.:

Been doing that but still have doubts about my ideas....


Have you tried posting a "would you visit a cache that..." question? Or maybe write up your idea(s) and run them by an approver, or any of your newest fellow cacher(s).

 

waypoint_link.gif22008_1700.gif37_gp_logo88x31.jpg

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quote:
Silly question perhaps, but what is a well thought out cache?

 

To me a well thought out cache cache is one placed in an interesting area. Perhaps an area of historical, or scenic interest. If a nice hike is involved to get there, all the better. A well thought out cache will be in a watertight container (read not Gladware) and contain some useful, or interesting trade items.

 

A Gladware container filled with junk drawer discards and hidden in a litter strewn lot, or

concealed under some bark in an area of no particular interest, a few hundred feet from a road is my idea of a poorly thought out cache.

 

"An appeaser is one who keeps feeding a crocodile-hoping it will eat him last" -Winston Churchill

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Traveling Jones,

 

Some additional thoughts:

 

· Once you feel there is enough geocaching ‘activity’ in your area, try posting an “Event Cache” for a get-together. Finding others in your area will increase the ideas and ‘hands’ available to promote the hobby. You may also be able to contact geocaching clubs in other nearby cities that may send some of their ‘seasoned’ hunters over to help organize/speak to the topic.

· Make an eye catching ‘informational flyer’ which explains what Geocaching is and try to get permission to place them in whatever businesses deal with selling GPSr and/or Maps in your local area.

· Contact the school systems and see if you can get permission to be a ‘guest speaker’ to the science class. The class can be educated into the basic principals of satellite positioning technology and if you can ‘place’ a few demo-caches in the school yard to let them ‘find the treasure’ you may find that once you get the kid interested… they may get their parents interested. (btw… you might even be able to get loaner GPSr from the folks that sell them locally… good PR for them and good for their ‘potential sales’).

 

... just a thought

 

"Remember... nothing is completly worthless!!... it can always be used as a bad example"!

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quote:
Originally posted by Smiley & Co.:

Silly question perhaps, but what is a well thought out cache?


Here's some historical threads that try to answer that question:

What makes a Great Cache great? but it didn't translate well in the first forum conversion in February of 2002. Here's the original: What makes a Great Cache great?

What makes a good cache good

 

One more thread: how to create a good cache, which also didn't translate. Here's the Original Format

 

The statement I made in the earliest thread still holds true: "Would I drive an hour to find a cache like this? And if I did, would I be pleasantly surprised?"

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

 

[This message was edited by Markwell on April 01, 2003 at 07:41 AM.]

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quote:
The statement I made in the earliest thread still holds true: "Would I drive an hour to find a cache like this? And if I did, would I be pleasantly surprised?"

 

That's a great statement. I agree completely however I also like caches that show you new areas of interest. Not every cache is going to be worth driving an hour to go visit (I can't think of any micro I'd drive an hour to go visit).

 

The best part of caching I have found (and I've only been doing this about 3 months) is that there is such a diversity in the cahces you can always find one youre interested in.

 

My suggestion is to put your heart and effort into a cache and it is most surely going to be a good one...

 

--

SpongeRob

rwmech@keenpeople.com

www.keenpeople.com

WPWU826

 

Cache'n Retrievers

crlogo.gif

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truth is, i'll drive an hour to get gladware in a parking lot.

 

i'm happy when what i find is a container where everythig that's in good order, or one that's in a pretty spot, or was hidden cleverly, or that has good stuff, or...

 

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

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quote:
Originally posted by SpongeRob:

Not every cache is going to be worth driving an hour to go visit (I can't think of any micro I'd drive an hour to go visit).


Hmmm... maybe my standards are too high. icon_wink.gif

 

I did make that statement before the proliferation of micros in our area. I just checked my database, and it appears that of the 91 caches that existed in my area when I made that statement, only two were micros. One was mine, which is more of a "mini" than a micro. The other one (Gangster's Final Hideaway) was definitely worth an hour's drive.

 

At the time, I had also pretty much found the caches within an hour's drive, so finding a new cache meant that I would have to do just that. With the placement of 158 new caches in our area, I can go 10 minutes in any direction and find 15-20 caches.

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

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