Cache Cloggers

[+CT Trampers]

The other day a cacher and I were discussing how some items never seem to be traded for in caches. Visit a bunch of caches in the same area, and you'll likely see these same "unwanted" items in each of them.

 

I'm not talking about the obvious things such as band-aids, cigs, golf balls, used movie tickets, etc., but items that just never seem to get traded for.

 

They may not have even been put there as a trade, but left as a "sig" item.

 

One of the biggest cache cloggers around here seem to be Madi Gras beads.

 

Anyone else have a good "cache clogger" to add to the list?

 

And yes, I know, for many of us it is "just about the hunt", but I figured this could be an interesting topic.

[+Doc-Dean]

Religious items!!

 

Business Cards!!

 

Signature items such as cards with a cacher's name, logo or pretty design. Junk! If you want to leave a sig item, leave something some would would want to trade or tape, staple, or glue your sig card into the log book!

[MMACH 5]

Green army men

Guitar picks

Lapel pins/tie tacks

Stretchy rubber frogs

Pocket change

Key chains

 

We could go on like this for days...

[+slapshot52]

I guess as a neebie I have a question. Shouldn’t the owner be cleaning this stuff out of the cache. I would think they could collect the cards (or discard them) and any of the things that have not moved in a while. Plus, what is the etiquette for stuff to leave? I recently found half a broken roller skate. I left something and took it just because it was clogging up the cache.

[+CT Trampers]

I guess as a neebie I have a question.  Shouldn’t the owner be cleaning this stuff out of the cache.  I would think they could collect the cards (or discard them) and any of the things that have not moved in a while.  Plus, what is the etiquette for stuff to leave?  I recently found half a broken roller skate.  I left something and took it just because it was clogging up the cache.

Yes, it is the responsibility of the cache owner to do regular maintenance on their caches, and removing innappropriate stuff, or stuff that hasn't moved in a while, is a part of that.

 

Half broken skate: not cool.

 

Taking the skate and leaving something in its place: VERY cool of you-

Edited December 8, 2004 by CT Trampers

[+NickL]

Around me there seems to be a lot of Madi Gras beads in the caches. So my solution is to take them and leave my "sig" trade item, which is not a business card but a "real gemstone". No you are not going to find diamonds as my trade item but you will find quartz and beryl. The other thing that I do see in caches is Trivial Pursuit question card.

[colonelby]

Play d'oh, yes, quite lierally a cache clogger.

[+Renegade Knight]

I take the sig cards that Doc-Dean called junk. I'm up to a collection of about 6 of them. Not bad for 700 caches.

 

Sports & Trading Cards tend to clog caches around here.

[+tirediron]

Old golf balls and green army men!

[+briansnat]

When I placed my first cache, I had a brand new horn for a Honda Civic laying around. Placed it in my cache and its still there 3+ years later. I guess that's a cache clogger.

[Radman Forever]

small coins like pennies and nickels can fill up a small cache

[+Mr Lost]

small coins like pennies and nickels can fill up a small cache

True, but interesting coins seem to get collected. Pre 1968 half dollars / quarters (Working in a casino gives me LOTS of access to older coins, enough silver content to interest some folks), SBA dollars, and Sacgawea dollars tend to get collected, especially by the kids.

[dantonac]

Old golf balls and green army men! 

are the brown army men OK? LOL

[+Isonzo Karst]

Packs of colored stickers - strings of beads - around here they're "gasparilla" beads key chains key chains key chains hm, did I mention key chains?

[+Suziq]

Funny took my grandson out caching for the first time a couple of weeks ago and guess what he opened it up and grabbed the green army man. Alot of other cool toys but he had to have that man. So as the saying goes Fun is in the eye of the beholder.

[+Sagefox]

Signature items such as cards with a cacher's name, logo or pretty design. Junk! If you want to leave a sig item, leave something some would would want to trade or tape, staple, or glue your sig card into the log book!

I like seeing geocacher's cards in a container. They are usually flat and don't take up much room.

 

They should be in a ziplock, preferably separate from the logbook. I remove them when they are damaged by moisture, muddy or covered with soap slime from that bar of soap that should never have been put in the cache in the first place.

[+Sagefox]

Old golf balls and green army men!

Old golf balls and green army men! Oops! That one is already taken.

 

I've read some of the topics whereby a case is made for golf balls but I have a terrible time avoiding the urge of tossing them as far as I can. Actually did that from a high cache along the Columbia River near Umitilla. It was great watching it fly and talk about bounce! Nothing like a flat slab of basalt to give the little white ball a new life. Fortunately it stopped bouncing right next to the entrance gate so I could snag it back and dump it in the nearby trash can.

[+Sagefox]

small coins like pennies and nickels can fill up a small cache

I collect all money I find in caches and make periodic payments to the Washington State Geocacher's Assn.

 

 

.....

 

 

O.K. I'm done now. I'll go away.

[+WolfnWendy]

The item I find around here alot are wooden nickels used as a sig item. You can go to many caches in the area and find at least a few. There is also a fake monopily card that says "get out of hell free" that talks about getting saved. The owner takes cool stuff from the cache and leaves this in his wake.

[WH]

Theres a local cacher who makes bookmarks out of paper with a few yarn tassles at the top. They usally end up up wet, crumpled. torn or all of the above. Ive trashed quite a few of them out of caches for the above reasons.

[+Planet]

MACDONALD'S TOYS

 

I can't believe I'm the first to bring that one up!

[Radman Forever]

small coins like pennies and nickels can fill up a small cache

True, but interesting coins seem to get collected. Pre 1968 half dollars / quarters (Working in a casino gives me LOTS of access to older coins, enough silver content to interest some folks), SBA dollars, and Sacgawea dollars tend to get collected, especially by the kids.

I agree, I've gotten some interesting foreign coins from small caches. I know of a couple of caches that has a theme of trading foreign coins. I get angry when someone takes a dollar item, then puts in 20 pennies and 2 nickels. That's just stupid.

[+TEAM LANDCRUISER]

Thingz must be different on your side of the planet. The biggest cache clogger I've noticed downunder are these logbooks there's one in every cache!

[MMACH 5]

The biggest cache clogger I've noticed downunder are these logbooks there's one in every cache!

[+RJFerret]

At least sig biz cards soak up any extra dampness (oh wait, someone suggests ziploc'ing 'em--don't do that, then they won't serve their purpose!)

 

But seriously, I do have to admit many logbooks are bigger than necessary. Why try to cram a full 8.5"x11" notebook page into a film can???

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

[+Mopar]

MACDONALD'S TOYS

 

I can't believe I'm the first to bring that one up!

I rarely trade, so I rarely pay much attention to what's in the cache. RK made a good point though. One man's junk is another's treasure.

In our case, when we we cache with the kid, some of his favorite things to find are new Mctoys, toy cars, and army men. If they are parachute army men that's a bonus. The mardi gras beads and coins? JACKPOT! That's real treasure to an 8yr old, and he'll trade almost anything for them so he can add them to his treasure chest at home.

To stay on topic: What clogs up a cache? Anything that's takes up a disproportionate amount of space, or is in such poor condition that nobody would want it.

Edited December 9, 2004 by Mopar

[+fly46]

The irony of this whole thread is that my mother, the non cacher, that gets forced to come with me always has the option of taking what she wants and then I'll make it good from my pack.

 

Two items that come to mind that she's taken? A golf ball. And Mardi Gras Beads.

[+Doc-Dean]

I take the sig cards that Doc-Dean called junk. I'm up to a collection of about 6 of them. Not bad for 700 caches.

 

Sports & Trading Cards tend to clog caches around here.

Let me know where to send them RK!

[+fly46]

I take the sig cards that Doc-Dean called junk.  I'm up to a collection of about 6 of them.  Not bad for 700 caches.

 

Sports & Trading Cards tend to clog caches around here.

Let me know where to send them RK!

You can send 'em to me, too..

I collect them as well.

 

Of course the worst thing about your rant isn't that people are leaving these, it's that people are leaving containers that get wet.

[+Katydid & Miles Stone]

Pens that don't work. MS

[+AMMOMAN]

I have started seeing finger nail clippers. Not sure if they are used or not.

[tubby and]

Hair. i just hate it when the tub won't drain and you have to reach down in there and pull out a clump. Oh, and jack-knifed semi-trailers.

[ucmike]

i take the army men and put them in my fishtank. they're not all bad

[+Birdsong-n-Bud]

Funny took my grandson out caching for the first time a couple of weeks ago and guess what he opened it up and grabbed the green army man. Alot of other cool toys but he had to have that man. So as the saying goes Fun is in the eye of the beholder.

 

LOL

 

Totally agreed. We had a choice of good stuff in a cache, and my 8 year-old son wanted the Mardi Gras beads that y'all think are cache cloggers. Same with the McToys. If it weren't for the hope of finding those, this wouldn't be a family hobby for us, it'd be just a hobby for the grown-ups.

 

One man's trash is a little kid's treasure <grin>.