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Is Geocaching Becoming Too Popular?


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As my post count should hint, I've only recently become active in the sport/hobby of Geocaching. Now that I am, I can completely understand why so many folks enjoy partaking in it. It is a great sport with many wonderful and positive attributes. My 4 year old boy lives for the treasure hunt almost as much as I enjoy discovering new places. We all have our reasons and they are all likely just as valid. So why, as a novice, do I have this uneasy feeling about Geocachings future?

 

Using my home co-ords, and doing a quick search, I wind up with pages and pages of nearby caches. That shocks me, especially when you consider I'm living in a relatively quiet part of the world (Vancouver Island). I've come to discover just about every one of my favorite spots, places I've been to time and time again, have either one or several caches hidden there. Having found a few, I'm now like probably most people ready to hide my own cache. Easier said than done. I'm actually having a hard time finding a great spot that isn't already covered. Sure, I could wonder off into the bush and just drop a cache but that wouldn't really be in the spirit of the sport. At least not in my eyes.

 

If in 5 short years this sport has exploded to cover 200+ countries with over 160,000 caches, what will the next 5 years bring? Most of the folks I speak to about caching are still completely oblivious much like I was just a short while ago. As more and more of these folks become aware of just how much fun it is to Geocache, will the influx of new people, such as myself, begin to generate a whole host of issues for the sport?

 

Will land managers (both public and private) see Geocaching as potentially destructive? Will the sheer numbers make it difficult to police the sport or maintain the highest of standards? Or,is an ever increasing popularity actually a great thing for the sport?

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It's interesting that someone as new as yourself would be asking if the sport is getting too popular.

 

When we started caching in our local area, there were only a few caches, and many open places to place new ones. Between our first placed cache and our second, caches sprung up seemingly out of nowhere all around us, and continue to do so. While it's kinda fun to have caches so close to home, I found myself thinking how great a new cache would be in this spot, or that spot, only to go and check the GC site and see one already there.

 

It's a little disconcerting sometimes to read about a new cache placement where the description says, Oh I just found this great spot to place a cache, and it's a place I've pedaled by a gillion times, as I have spent the better part of my life mountain biking and hiking in the area.

 

The only consolation I can give you is that some caches don't always last forever. I've seen a number of good spots open up around here (have yet to fill any of said spots) and if you really enjoyed the spot and would like to place your own there you are able to do just that. As long as the cache wasn't archived for any number of reasons that would prohibit you from placing another.

 

To me, I can't see geocaching becoming a giant sport/hobby, I don't think tupperware will release a Geocaching line of goods, Nike will never sponser a geocacher *Cough*Jeep*Cough* You will never watch Monday Night Geocaching. And nobody will ever win a Gold, Silver or Bronze in the sport of geocaching. I think there's enough room for the people who want to play, I cannot however see it ever getting big enough to make it not fun anymore.

 

Ohgr

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Will land managers (both public and private) see Geocaching as potentially destructive

 

Some do, but the enlightened ones see the positives and have embraced the sport.

 

what will the next 5 years bring?

 

A lot more caches. I'm beginning to think there is overkill in some areas and its only going to get worse.

 

Having found a few, I'm now like probably most people ready to hide my own cache. Easier said than done. I'm actually having a hard time finding a great spot that isn't already covered

 

It's not as hard as you might imagine. The popular spots - the ones everyone knows about - are usually taken. There are however many wonderful places that are not very well known and it takes and it takes a little effort to find them. Here in NJ we're the most densely cached state in the US, yet I'm amazed at the excellent, interesting spots that local geocachers keep coming up with.

Edited by briansnat
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Here in NJ we're the most densely cached state in the US

Umm, Brian, isn't NJ the densest everything state in the US? :):)

If in 5 short years this sport has exploded to cover 200+ countries with over 160,000 caches, what will the next 5 years bring? Most of the folks I speak to about caching are still completely oblivious much like I was just a short while ago. As more and more of these folks become aware of just how much fun it is to Geocache, will the influx of new people, such as myself, begin to generate a whole host of issues for the sport?
Back OT, the next five years will see continued exponantial growth of the sport as more become aware of it. But like many other recreational activities, skiing and golf to name two that have experienced boomlets recently, it will level out and find it's own niche in the listing of cool things to do outdoors. Greater exposure to the public will expose some of the issues that already exist, especially with cache placement and relationships with land managers, but there are both good and bad aspects to the increased exposure.

Worry about the things you can control, it makes life simpler, and minimizes headaches. Go find another cool place to hide your cache in complience with the guidelines. Maybe someone will find it who hasn't been there before. :unsure:

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Will land managers (both public and private) see Geocaching as potentially destructive? Will the sheer numbers make it difficult to police the sport or maintain the highest of standards? Or,is an ever increasing popularity actually a great thing for the sport?

There is a HIGH attrician level to geocaching. There are about as many folks dropping out as there are joining. It would be interesting to see statistics of how many people have less then 50, 100 finds. Eveyone starts out like "WOW THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER." and with in a few months they are back doing what ever. No I am mot saying numbers are everything but it is how active are folks and how much they drop out. There is no removing folks for inactivity so the number of reported cachers is miss leading. Maybe the number of caches reported is more accurate.

There is also a LARGE disparity of the folks on the forum and people that are out caching. What standards is my biggest question???

cheers

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After you find the caches in your area you have 2 choices. 1) You travel to neighboring areas to cache or 2) You simply give it up. I think many give it up and that will keep the growth factor down somewhat. But there's simply no telling where geocaching will be in 5 years.

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As fads build and fade so will geocaching. When will it reach it's peak and start to fade? My crystal ball isn't quite good enough to predict with any accuracy. But I believe it fade and become a nice activity for those that either stick around or come back after it's growth has reversed. It appears to me that the sales of hand held gps systems is getting close to peaking out too. What do I base this on? I remember the CB radio hay days of the 1970s. Almost every car on the road had a CB antenna on it. Geocaching and handheld gps receivers look about the same to me.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

:unsure:

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Given that a near endless possibilities that geocaching provides, I think that it would be tough for it to get too popular. I think, though, that if there aren't some regulated rules, as there are on this site, then quality of the caches and the traffic on the caches could grow too large and this could, as in South Carolina, provide the activity some undue attention. It is like horticulture.. big isn't bad so long as it is regularly managed.

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As another poster mentioned, the attrition rate is high....I am guilty of this. I joined this hobby in March of 2003, and I have logged 11 caches.

 

But, its not crime. There are no quotas.

 

I think that people will jump on and say "THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER", as mentioned, then jump off, perhaps jump back on down the road.

 

This cool thing about it, is that everyone can do it in thier own way. For me, geocaching is a free (well, after the GPS and gas) was to spend quality time with my fiance'. We can talk and spend time together as we hike around in the woods. It is also a way for me to be by myself....the most inspirational times of my life have occured whilst by myself. I like to step three feet back out of my head and contemplate my life and the direction it is going, and I do this best when on my own. With geocaching, I can spend some quality time with myself in the wilderness.

 

Face it, finding a box with cheap dollar store toys in it, isn't really that fun. Its the find, and hike, and the seeing of new places, and the toying around with the GPS, etc that makes it fun.

 

The sport will grow, caches will increase in numbers. Being a pilot and seeing the world from an aerial view as often as I do, I can attest that there is A LOT of places to put caches.

 

When I fly, I sometimes will just for giggles, have my gps find me the nearest cache in its database, and the number is often 50 miles or more. Many areas aren't easily accessible. But, why not put a cache there anyway for any brave soul who figures out a way to get there?

 

Thats my take.

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Take a look at an older cache, say about 4 years old look at the logs and see how many people have just a few caches to their name. Ive seen many logs where cachers just rave about this game, but yet in a few months you never hear from them again :mad:

Edited by vagabond
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In the early days hiding caches was needed. As the hobby matures it's not goint to be realistic to place 50 caches because you are blocking 49 other cachers who want to place one of their own.

 

The game hasn't caugt up or even discussed this much beyond a simple "Don't dominate your area" comment in the GC.com guidelines. (or somehwere I read).

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Being new to the sport i can see how easy it is to let it slip away in a sense. I have only been caching for a few months but have noticed that it gets hard to find time to go caching, outside of school, homework, practice and everything. I dont think that the sport will ever get too large scale to be playable for the reason that people come in and out of the sport.

As for too many caches i know around my home there are A LOT. in fact i think the nearest cache is less than .15 miles from my front steps, not to mention the closest 25 which i believe are all under 2 miles. With briones park a 5 minute drive away containing roughly 30 caches i dont think i will ever run out! hopefully the area wont continue to get over saturated, i would like to place my own cache soon. I think that is part of the beauty of the sport though. The places to hide caches are nearly limitless. Even though it seems like there are a lot around here its always possible to find enough room for a film canister.

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It appears to me that the sales of hand held gps systems is getting close to peaking out too. What do I base this on? I remember the CB radio hay days of the 1970s. Almost every car on the road had a CB antenna on it.

Yeah, but did you ever talk on a CB radio? After about three mind-numbing conversations you're ready to put the thing back in the box forever.

 

Every time I go caching I find a cool place that somebody wanted to share. (Of course, I avoid parking lots and similar "fun".) I've found cool stuff in other cities, states, and countries. And it gives me something great to share with the family. I can't imagine getting bored for a very long time.

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In the early days hiding caches was needed. As the hobby matures it's not goint to be realistic to place 50 caches because you are blocking 49 other cachers who want to place one of their own.

 

The game hasn't caugt up or even discussed this much beyond a simple "Don't dominate your area" comment in the GC.com guidelines. (or somehwere I read).

My parents are new to geocaching, and one of the things that drew them to it was the idea of hiding their own caches. They didn't have any great ambitions, just two or three ideas that they thought would be really good. Then they got home and started looking for spots and quickly realized that they had already been squeezed out of many areas by other cachers. The worst example of this is that there is one cacher or team which has 61 caches hidden around their area. Now this might be none too big of a problem if you live somewhere like Seattle (as my wife and I do), but in small-town Ohio it means that your choices are greatly narrowed. It's not impossible and they have managed to place one, though not in any of the five or six places they initially thought they could use. They had to drive to the next nearest town to do that, which isn't too big of a deal either, but still. I think it's a shame that they've lost some of the enthusiasm that they initially had because some other cachers went crazy and dumped caches all over the place. It would be nice if there were some way, as part of the approval process, for the PTB to look at someone's application and say, "you've placed 20 caches, in a five square mile area in, six months -- maybe you should let someone else have a chance."

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I think the existence of geocaching is pretty common knowledge by now. Maybe not by name, but I think most people who are potential participants have at least heard of "that GPS game". There will always be a new people trickling in. Eventually, though, the game will be widely-known, and everyone in the world will have decided whether it's interesting to them. Everyone knows what hunting and fishing are, but I imagine the number of people regularly doing either one is fairly constant.

 

I also think you can look the rising and falling popularity of other outdoor activities. Five years ago, everyone had a mountain bike; now only the real enthusiasts ever take them out of their garage. Kayaks seem to be enjoying a boom right now. Inline skating, rock climbing facilities (we don't have real rocks in lower Michigan), all with their diehards but also subject to fad-dom.

 

(Note: I acknowledge that I have no numbers or other evidence to back any of this up beyond what I've observed).

 

Re: the idea of slipping away, I started in April 2002 and found over 100 caches my first year. I barely reached 200 by the end of my second. I've found one cache in the past seven months. I have a second child now, and my four year old requires a lot more attention than when I first started. I still like it and look forward to being able to take the kids out, but it's just not a priority these days.

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I remember the CB radio hay days of the 1970s. Almost every car on the road had a CB antenna on it. Geocaching and handheld gps receivers look about the same to me

 

Think that comparison through again!

 

In the early '60s underground newspapers and radio stations began to spread news and communications not approved by the major media, who had historically controlled the flow of information, and thus guided most folk's thought processes.

 

Still, despite being "underground", most information was attributable and the author / publisher held accounatble to some degree.

 

Print, radio and TV where tightly controlled, and almost all communications were "nice".

 

CB radio, invented in '62 and pretty popular by '66, was the first, and at that time only, communications medium whereby Americans could communicate at will with anonymity. FCC regulation of CB was a total failure, and soon CB was being used for both good and bad.

 

In any group of humans, the more that are involved the more will happen that is foreign and distasteful to any given individual - see your local churches - every town has many! Instead of banding together for a common cause, after a certain growth-point interests, beliefs and the human condition cause folks to split up into small groups again. Instead of one large church in the center of town you have 25 spread all around town, each with essentially the same purpose and beliefs but unable to get along as a single group. Next time your preacher asks for 10% of your income ask him why he doesn't fold the building costs in with the other 10 churches in a 2-mile radius, reduce the costs of church 90% and actually use that money for something productive!!

 

The answer, is, of course, the same as that for Groundspeak's forums - too many people to ever get to agree on anything, and no way (chosen) to control behavior.

 

So, as CB expands thus does it include more ugliness and nuerosis revealed.

 

For the first time some wimp in a Fairlane could cuss out a truck driver and not get himself smushed, could sexually harrass any woman that dared to key a microphone without being killed by everyone who heard him, though believe me we would have if we could have found him!

 

People with base stations could spew their message upon anyone within radio range, which with proper amplification and antenna could be quite a ways, without attribution, identification or consequence.

 

By the mid-70's CB was extremely popular and more and more nuts appeared on the air, drawn by the only medium in which they could act out and not be caught.

 

By the mid-80s you couldn't go on the air without being bombarded by racism, hatred, sexism and general crudity.

 

Criminals could, did and still do talk openly and arrange everything from a watch for the cops to drug and prostitution deals, again, with very little danger of being caught.

 

By the nineties CB had died an ugly (and welcomed) death.

 

CB, in it's delivery of anonymous behaviour, became the predecessor of computer BBS and forums - places where folks can communicate anonymously allow people to act in ways they NEVER would if their identity were known and they held accountable for their actions.

 

In the early public computing days identification, attribution, ownership and responsibility were huge topics - as it happened the keep-it-anonymous feelings won out, setting the way for communications positive and negative that continue to change our world.

 

Spammers, hackers, scammers and crude forum posters can all thank CB for it's direct door-opening effect to todays uncontrollable internet.

 

How all that can be related to geocaching outside the forums is hard to see, as in this game it is popularly held that people should be identifiable and held accountable for their actions. Cachers should have their correct name and contact info on every cache.

 

So yes, compare the forums to radio, but the game itself, hardly!

 

Have fun,

Ed

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They had to drive to the next nearest town to do that, which isn't too big of a deal either, but still.  I think it's a shame that they've lost some of the enthusiasm that they initially had because some other cachers went crazy and dumped caches all over the place.  It would be nice if there were some way, as part of the approval process, for the PTB to look at someone's application and say, "you've placed 20 caches, in a five square mile area in, six months -- maybe you should let someone else have a chance."

I've placed 34 and plan another 19 or so in 2 months. The reason why I do it is because there alot of cachers around me but not alot of hides. I try to bring people to places that they never visited before and never would have if I didn't place a cache there.

You just have to be quicker to place the caches, We have a fourm in our local area(Maritimegeocaching.com) and I usually ask people if they have one in mind in a area I'm going to place caches. If they do I wait and place one after their cache is listed.

Edited by C&C+COMPANY
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I've placed 34 and plan another 19 or so in 2 months. The reason why I do it is because there alot of cachers around me but not alot of hides. I try to bring people to places that they never visited before and never would have if I didn't place a cache there.

You just have to be quicker to place the caches, We have a fourm in our local area(Maritimegeocaching.com) and I usually ask people if they have one in mind in a area I'm going to place caches. If they do I wait and place one after their cache is listed.

I guess you just have to ask yourself whether or not someone new who comes along might not find it discouraging if all of the caches you have placed fall into the areas that they are familiar with and would have chosen. I know I certainly would. And as for posting to that web site before you place a cache, that's a nice gesture but I'm sure there are a lot of people who geocache and don't visit these forums often or at all, let alone the forums on some other web site that they may very well never have heard of. It's possible to enjoy the game without liking online discussions.

Edited by halley-peabody
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One thing I have noticed is that most people dive whole hog into geocaching, really tear it up and end up with 100+ caches in their first year. Very few people are like us who have 63 finds in almost 3 years. We cache pretty steady, most of our finds are on caching days where we find about 5 on an average day. We don't really bother with micros, virtuals or locationless caches either. We may have about 3 micros and 1 virtual out of 63 total caches. In our 1st year we had 36 finds, 18 in year 2, and by the time year 3 is done we will be in the 12-14 range. I hope to cache more in year 4 but I doubt we will get much over 25-30 per year here on out. That is just wehere caching fits in our lives.

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I remember the CB radio hay days of the 1970s. Almost every car on the road had a CB antenna on it. Geocaching and handheld gps receivers look about the same to me

 

So yes, compare the forums to radio, but the game itself, hardly!

 

Have fun,

Ed

What you've said doesn't change the comparison.

CB -Grew rapidly. Geocaching - Grew rapidly

CB - Early stages quite enjoyable and useful. Geocaching - Early stages quite enjoyable.

CB - Later stages became difficult to use because of the ratio of users abusing the system vs the those not became high enough to render the system usless. Geocaching - ration of well thought out caches vs "light pole micros" increasing. I do remember when there wasn't a cache in my area that I didn't want to go after. Today there's very few that I will hunt.

 

Prediction; That ratio will increase to the point that it becomes a large amount of work to wade through hundreds of cache listings to find the few you want to hunt. They system will then begin to colapse with it own weight. As with CB radio, there will still be some that geocache.

 

The use of hand held gps receivers is also bound to diminish. The world lived a long time without them. Those mounted in vehicles, I think will increase, much like outside air thermometers mounted in vehicles today, but hand helds have very little practical use for most people.

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... Will land managers (both public and private) see Geocaching as potentially destructive? Will the sheer numbers make it difficult to police the sport or maintain the highest of standards? Or,is an ever increasing popularity actually a great thing for the sport?

I think that the growth of the hobby is a good thing. As more people join, there will be less of a mystery and fear towards the game that we are currently seeing in SC.

 

Look at it this way, if a geocacher was on the committee that SC's bill was initially presented to, he would have called shenanigans rather than bought the bull that the the legislator who initiated the bill was selling.

 

Some land managers still hesitate to allow caching because of fear of digging. As the hobby grows, these managers will come to know that digging isn't allowed.

 

Growth is good.

 

A few people took your thread as an opportunity to bash whatever kind of cache they didn't like. I say that the continued growth of the game will make it easier for everyone to have the types of caches that they like.

 

Growth is good.

 

As more people play the game, the numbers of Jeremy's minions will grow. Soon, not only will he be able to buy that third Hummer, but his quest for world domination will certainly come to fruition.

 

Growth is good.

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One thing I have noticed is that most people dive whole hog into geocaching, really tear it up and end up with 100+ caches in their first year. Very few people are like us who have 63 finds in almost 3 years.

 

We've been at it since Oct 2003, and have only found 32, Every find is still special to us, we have only placed 3 (1 was muggled) We now only have 2. I can see how it would be fun to have 100 in my area and OWN the valley, but variety is the spice they say,

 

I would rather see 100 individually owned caches in my area. I've placed most of my local caches on "Watch" and I read the logs like their on my own caches. When one goes missing, I worry, ok I don't worry a whole lot, but it's sad to see a cool cache dissapear.

 

I just can't see how somebody can place 100 caches and keep up with them as much as they should, going out to check on them, refreshing the contents, replacing missing ones, e-mailing hints to people etc. If you can do it, more power, but I think that would be spreading yourself a little thin.

 

Ohgr

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Wow, from a European perspective, this thread is amazing.

 

Check out this profile. 1 physical find and 48 locationlesses. Huh ? A guy who doesn't like getting his hands dirty searching for boxes ?

 

Well, no. Look at the one cache he has found and the nearest caches. Apart from the one which was placed two days ago, he owns every unfound cache within 22 miles.

 

And not very many people here have heard of "that GPS game", either. You're sometimes lucky to find people who have heard of GPS, or else they think it's a big add-on to a car which works by, um, er, doesn't the highways authority beam signals to you, or something ?

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Too popular? I wish!!!

 

Here in South AFrica, and in particular, the province we live in, there are relatively few caches and people playing the game.

 

If I look for caches close to my home coordinates, most of them are mine!

 

We continually try to attract new players, which is a slow and difficult process.

 

I don't know whether it's general apathy, the fear of something new, the expense of GPSr equipment, or a general distrust of technical equipment, but we are battling to attract people to the game here.

 

A newspaper article a while ago which we instigated was well written, conveyed the excitement of geocaching, portrayed geocaching in a very positive light, had a readership of around 600,000, resulted in contact from 5 potential new players!

 

The players in USA are more fortunate than they realise with the large numbers of caches placed. Don't knock it! We are frusrated in the extreme here, setting ourselves the task of placing caches to try and boost the numbers. Even then, very few hunters get out to try and locate the caches we have hidden off the beaten path, so to speak. FRUSTRATING!!!!!!

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As for posting to that web site before you place a cache, that's a nice gesture but I'm sure there are a lot of people who geocache and don't visit these forums often or at all, let alone the forums on some other web site that they may very well never have heard of. It's possible to enjoy the game without liking online discussions.

All of the geocachers in the Maritimes have a welcome letter sent to them if they are a new group on the seen,example:

 

Hey there, C&C+COMPANY here, I'm emailing you as a new local cacher to welcome you to the sport... So Welcome! (Insert Cheering Crowds Here) I also wanted to let you know if you have any problems or questions I would be happy to help you out.

 

Also you may have noticed links to the Maritime Geocacher's Association page on many of the caches in the Moncton (and surounding) areas. If you've not checked it out yet, please do. (www.maritimegeocaching.com) In particular, the forums are quite active and everyone there is quite friendly and helpful

 

And usually they join after seeing the note I send them.

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All of the geocachers in the Maritimes have a welcome letter sent to them if they are a new group on the seen,example:

I spoke of my parents before, so I'll do so again. If they were to receive a letter like the one you described they might say something like "how nice" and then forget all about it. Telling them that you have an active forum with many helpful and friendly people wouldn't mean anything to them. I've told them all about these forums and they've said that they're not interested. So you can't count on forums to alleviate misunderstandings.

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...So why, as a novice, do I have this uneasy feeling about Geocachings future?

 

This discussion is one of the most interesting I've read recently.

 

When I think about the future of geocaching, I see the game in it's infancy. I suspect the numbers of caches and cachers will increase dramatically in the next five years.

 

As everyone has already pointed out, this will have a positive and negative effect on the hobby. But I think the positive changes will outweigh the negative ones. :D:anibad:

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The world is a big place.

 

I've seen some folks concerned about cache density in some areas, but as long as the rules on distance limits are followed I personally see no problem with cache density -- with the possible exception that some land managers may not want ANY caches in an area due to increases in traffic.

 

My thought is that the hobby is very, very far from being saturated in most areas. For those of you in hightly cached areas: do you still enjoy the hobby, or are there too many caches to make finding them fun?

 

I'm originally from Vancouver Island and I can definately tell you that the north island is pretty sparsely cached. (for those of you unfamiliar with the size of the island-- it would take about 10-12 hours to drive from one end of the island to the other). There are plently of spots for new caches that are interesting and worth a visit (just wait until this summer when I vist family!)

 

In terms of growth? I could see a tenfold increase in size still leaving this hobby as a marginal activity in the scheme of things. At what point will growth and attrition balance? That is hard to say.

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I guess you can say its way to popular when there is no more room to place caches without violating the 1/10th mile rule.

I would say cache density is too high when the percentage of film container caches and other micro caches that offer little caching value starts sharply increasing in an area.

 

No offense meant to micro caches or cachers who enjoy them. I am referring only to the type of cache that takes all of 10 minutes to plan, put together and place.

 

I consider the growth of these micros an indication that the better spots already have caches in them so cachers resort to parking lots and roadsides.

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its gotten to public I think there by driving the addiction, everyone will have gps in their hands , spitting out coordinates to all theirs friends and we all will be tracking each other for fun... ok a little overkill but think its understood

Edited by flir67
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I have only found about 61 caches (who cares about the numbers) but, I have seen a Firefighters Memorial, that I didn't even know was there, and various other things around the area.

There are over 1,000 caches within 70 miles of my house. Luckily, living in Houston, I can cache throughout the year.

So, after a year of caching, I find about 5 a month, on average, but, we are starting to do more of it, because my daughters are involved.

The people who have 3 or 4 thousand found, might think that it is saturated, but I sure don't. I'm working on another to put out, a night only....hahahaha

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Where I live, in S. Central Alabama, there are 9 caches within 20 miles of my home coordinates, two of which are mine. I have plans to place 3 more in the next couple weeks, only one of which is within that 20 mile circle. I encourage more people in my area to become involved since there are so many great places to hide caches there! I'm also trying to get a couple cousins started in geocaching in the Orlando, Fl. area...in their case, I would encourage their participation more along the lines of being cache hunters, rather than hiders, since it's already so easy to "cache overdose" down there! I'm going there weekend after next to take them out on their first caching adventure, and I've been sorting through hundreds of caches and logs trying to find those I felt would offer them the most enjoyment and still be something of a challenge.

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As my post count should hint, I've only recently become active in the sport/hobby of Geocaching. Now that I am, I can completely understand why so many folks enjoy partaking in it. It is a great sport with many wonderful and positive attributes. My 4 year old boy lives for the treasure hunt almost as much as I enjoy discovering new places. We all have our reasons and they are all likely just as valid. So why, as a novice, do I have this uneasy feeling about Geocachings future?

If it had not become so popular...how would you have found it? Or me for that matter (I am also a relatively new cacher). I personally find it great that it is becoming more widely known because it has gotten me off the couch and back outside.

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"Is Geocaching Becoming Too Popular?"

 

Too late, that happened about two years ago....LOL.

 

The one thing that "popularity" has brought this "sport" is more and more rules. Why? Because they became necessary.

 

When the day comes that you cannot place a cache without an approver coming physicallly to the site to ensure it meets or exceeds the standards and practices of Geocaching.com, THEN it will have become "too" popular.....lol.

 

Mac

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The use of hand held gps receivers is also bound to diminish. The world lived a long time without them. Those mounted in vehicles, I think will increase, much like outside air thermometers mounted in vehicles today, but hand helds have very little practical use for most people.

GPS as a standalone recreational device will eventual disappear as the components become miniaturized and imbedded into other devices (mobile phones, PDA, watches, etc.) We'll begin taking it for granted, it will lose its glamour, and geocaching will lose its appeal for the techies who now find it so intriguing.

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...and geocaching will lose its appeal for the techies who now find it so intriguing.

I don't believe that the technology is what intrigues most of us techies with geocaching. I cache for the scenery and experience. The technical tools needed to get it done right now are just a hassle (PC, GPSr, SD reader, Palm, battery chargers, digital camera, etc) .

As the tecnology is developed into an all in one device I believe geocaching could become even More attractive to a techie. The catch is that the techie needs to love getting out there in the first place.

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