Stumped By "easy" Cache

[+balidoy]

Today I tried to find a cache in my area but I'm puzzled because the directions don't make sense.

 

On the geocaching page, the cache was labeled with difficulty level 1, and supposedly "in the parking lot of a lunch stop". Instead the online map and my GPS lead me to the far end of a trailer park. No parking lot and no lunch stop there.

 

I feel stupid asking the person who hid it because it appears that 39 other people did find that cache within the last 7 weeks, incl. 2 today.

 

What am I doing wrong?

Edited March 28, 2005 by balidoy

[peter]

What am I doing wrong?

Hard to say since you don't tell us which cache or anything about the coordinates.

 

Likely possibilities are that your GPS receiver may be set to the wrong datum (should be WGS84), or that it might be set to the wrong location format (for example using degrees or degrees/minutes/seconds instead of the degrees/minutes format of the geocaching site.

[+New England n00b]

What am I doing wrong?

Hard to say since you don't tell us which cache or anything about the coordinates.

 

Likely possibilities are that your GPS receiver may be set to the wrong datum (should be WGS84), or that it might be set to the wrong location format (for example using degrees or degrees/minutes/seconds instead of the degrees/minutes format of the geocaching site.

Yep, been there, done that. Makes a huge difference!

 

Also, original poster, make sure if you hand entered the coordinates, that you entered them, correctly.

[+briansnat]

The cache could also be rated wrong. A 1 star difficutly cache should be in plain sight, or its hiding place should be obvious. In other words it should be a slam dunk, 1 minute find. It shouldn't stump anybody.

 

It's possible that it should be a 1.5 or 2 star difficulty and the other finders are a bit more experienced.

 

Is it a micro, or full sized cache? By their very nature I don't think most micros should be rated one star.

 

If its a micro, look and also feel with your hands. They are often magnetic, so pay particular attention to anything metal in the area.

 

If its a full sized cache, check hollow tree stumps and rock crevices. Scan the area for for unnatural looking piles of sticks and rocks, check alongside and underneath down trees, paying particular attention to areas where branches turn off or the trunk splits.

 

If all else fails, just pick out another one and go back to this one after you've had a bit more experience. Often, when you go back you get one of those "how could I have missed this the first time?" moments.

[+hb'sbear04]

If all of the above checks out and you were using mapping software in your GPSr, it could just be a funky thing with the street routing. We've had that happen a few times where, because it's at the back of a park or cemetery or parking lot, the GPSr "thinks" there's a better way around and routes you accordingly (usually through a neighborhood where you'd have to track through someone's yard - no good). Usually though, we can see where we're "supposed to be" and just switch to the compass to direct us.

[+Robespierre]

I'm bettin' on a single wrong digit in the coords.

[+Renegade Knight]

Blown digit, coords are off, it's not really a 1 (my personal nemisis), or it's MIA, are all reasons you may not of found it.

[+Jeep_Dog]

My experience on DNFs for a 1 difficulty has been to two reasons:

 

1) Cache was muggled and was not there;

 

2) Difficulty should actually have been set at 2.5 or 3, not a 1.

 

Reason #2 seems to be quite prevalent and a lot of times seems dependent upon geographical region (groupthink of cache difficulty interpretation). I've got a couple of caches that are in the 2-2.5 area difficulty. Had an email from one out of towner telling me "hey, this should be a 3 to 4, it was a toughie!", and email from a local stating it was an easy find, I should bump it to a 1. Think I'll leave it right at a 2.

[+cache_test_dummies]

While all of the above suggestions are reasonable, I'm puzzled by this statement:

 

Instead the online map and my GPS lead me to the far end of a trailer park

.

 

Assuming by "online map", you are talking about the map which appears on the cache listing page, and assuming that you are reading the map correctly, it almost sounds like the coordinates posted on the cache page are wrong, since those are the coordinates that are used to generate the map.

 

But others have found the cache. Perhaps the coordinates on the cache page have been updated recently, and were updated incorrectly?

[HIPS-meister]

It's certainly reasonable to e-mail the cache owner and to ask for a hint. Some folks will even be happy to meet you there, and be sure you find the cache, and to answer any other questions you may have.

[+WalruZ]

is it possible that on the other side of the fence from the trailer park is a lunch shop? GPS's are not all *that* accurate. If it points you onto private property, like someone's back yard, you should look around for someplace more reasonable.

[+Pasha]

I find that difficulty levels are really hit-or-miss, though since it's something of a value judgment in the first place there's no getting around it. A very experienced caching friend and I spent a total of about 6 hours DNF'ing two brand new caches yesterday, two visits to each cache location. Both were 1.5 difficulty and 1 terrain, and both had at least 5 DNFs this weekend before the FTF's... Generally speaking I agree with Briansnat - a 1 or 1.5 should be a park-and-grab cache, but in this case...

 

Of course, I'll probably go back this afternoon and want to die when I see how obvious it actually is.

[+Lightning Jeff]

Today I tried to find a cache in my area but I'm puzzled because the directions don't make sense.

 

On the geocaching page, the cache was labeled with difficulty level 1, and supposedly "in the parking lot of a lunch stop". Instead the online map and my GPS lead me to the far end of a trailer park. No parking lot and no lunch stop there.

Any chance this is a puzzle cache? In the upper left corner of the cache page you would see a big blue question mark rather than the usual cache container:

 

With this type of cache, the listed coordinates are not for the cache - in fact they may be meaningless. You to figure out the actual coordinates based on a puzzle or hints on the cache page. Just a shot...

 

Jeff

[+balidoy]

Hi all,

thanks for replying. The cache is called "Barren Heart" and the coords are:

N 33° 48.262 W 117° 50.082. The coords were downloaded, not typed in manually. I just double checked and they are correct on my GPSr.

 

I went to Jacaranda street (where that mobile home park is) because that's where I thought the online map was pointing to. With "online map" I meant the map that's displayed on the GC site for that cache.

 

I think more likely it is my lack of experience than the GPSs fault. It is set to WGS84 and WAAS enabled and it told me it was accurate to 15-25 ft. Probably my error in misinterpreting where it pointed me to.

 

Walruz may be right. The cache could be on the other side of that mobile home park, and I simply did not check there. I will go back this week and see what's over there.

[+Thot]

All I've got to say is that's some bunch of heavy weight cachers who've been finding that cache. 2800 found, 4700 found, 500, 700, 600, 1600, 500, 1200, 600 1600, 2100, 600, 2000, 2200, 5100, 4000, 1100, 1800, 3000, 1300 1100, 1000.

 

Wow!

 

It's not surprising that there aren't any DNFs.

 

edited to add URL.

Edited March 29, 2005 by Thot

[+webscouter.]

I would look near the Taco restaurant to the north of the trailer home park. Of course I only looked at it with ExpertGPS and Mapsource

[+blindleader]

USAPhotoMaps: a very powerful tool for urban geocaching.

 

.25m/pixel

[+geologyrox]

dude, that is just plain scary! no more sunbathing in the backyard for me

[+Tharagleb]

I would look near the Taco restaurant to the north of the trailer home park. Of course I only looked at it with ExpertGPS and Mapsource

From the photo it looks like it is in that car!

 

That Map Type, Urban Photo is cool, I had USAPhotoMaps but didn't realize it could do this.

[+tozainamboku]

I'd give you a hint but I did 60 caches the day I found this one and can't remember much about it.