2012 vs. 2008

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:35 pm

We have been caching since late 2007. I don't remember any big hoopla over February 29 of 2008. Now we have eight Leap Day events in Wisconsin alone, the Lily Pad is awarding a souvenir, and we're all supposed to go caching on that date.

When we started, there was something about caching so many days in a row, and maybe something about the D/T grid, but now everyone is trying to fill in their date grids plus working on a gazillion other challenges.

Is all of this due to the increased numbers of cachers, the increased exposure of geocaching, social media, etc, etc, etc? We will be caching on the 29th, weather permitting, but then any day is a good day to go caching.

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:37 pm

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yup, and YES!

WGA Member Joined: 2007-02-03 Posts: 2180

It's all due to excessive posts asking questions, stating facts and an unending stream of useless drivel...Oop! wrong topic

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:03 pm

Well, I hadn't been doing this for too long anyway but the way that I geocache changed for me when they added the stats tab to our profiles. It made me realized that I had far too many 1.5/1.5's and that I needed to branch out more.

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:04 pm

It's because it's not about the numbers ... it's about the grids Laughing

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:50 pm

When we started, the DeLorme was out there and not too long after that, Well Roundeds started to show up. We went through all the phases many seem to pass through and have returned to the things that first interested us....long hikes or adventurous approaches, exploration into areas we'd otherwise never discover, seeing those quirky things that often have a cache nearby while we travel. We came into the game as confirmed outdoors types and that's where we are happiest. We've met pretty much any caching goal we've made for ourselves with the exception of a couple and have decided that once we meet those, we won't chase any more. Do what you enjoy. One thing we have both agreed upon is that we'll never look for a cache because we "needed" it for some end. Hopefully, each one we seek is worth the experience for us on its own merits. We have many, many caches close to home that we may or may not choose to seek, and it bothers us not at all to see them appear on the maps. They might be just the ticket for someone else and isn't it great there is something for everyone?

Others may play differently and that's one of the things that makes this a great activity for many to enjoy.

We have noticed a couple interesting trends as we've moved this direction the past several months. First of all, we have far fewer micros in our PQs now. We don't filter them out, but the types of locations we pick perhaps don't need such small caches. The other interesting phenomenon we've noticed is that a majority of the caches we've picked on any given outing have several "favorites" points at least. Again, we haven't looked at favorites to make our choices, but it seems like we pick pretty well. We've found a lot less on any given day than we did a year or two ago, but are having a lot more fun than we did, too. If we'd kept going on that other pace, we'd have....quit. We were getting to that point and actually did quit for a bit before having this attitude adjustment.

Interesting inquiry and it's interesting to see what others have to say about their own caching histories.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:12 pm

Trekkin' had the good fortune of doing some work with these guys as they used the results of their research to help craft new instruction for hunter education courses for the DNR. Bob Jackson was also the father of a friend of mine who is the president of our local Audubon club. Anyway, take a look at these stages of hunting. I think it could as easily apply to hunting tupperware as animals. We haven't reached that point where we just go out to look and don't worry about logging, but I know folks who are there.

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/hunter-stages.php

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:26 pm

Excellent article and comparison, Gwyn. I can see our caching in some of that, as I'm sure others can.

I always have believed in logging our finds for our own personal journal and as thanks to the people who hide the caches. However....

Would I be concerned about logging our finds if we couldn't see a way to count them?

Would I be concerned about when we went caching if I couldn't see which days we had already been out?

While we look at D/T ratings to see if we will be able to take on the rigors of certain caches, would I be concerned about going for a certain cache just because we needed to get that D/T combo?

While we fill our hides with swag when we can, do I care if we find anything when we go on the hunt?

I think we went through a lot of stages in our caching career, and we are still evolving. I'm on both sides of the fence about having our stats available. Maybe I should just not look at them. I like to count our numbers, but I don't compare them with anybody else's. I have a shelf of swag items we traded for on earlier caches, but lately I've been thinking of putting them out in some of our new hides. Maybe others will enjoy them more than the items like being covered in dust.

It could be that in 2008 we were too new to the game to pay attention to what was going on. We didn't even put out our first hide until April of that year. We were just enjoying getting outside and finding stuff in the woods. If we hadn't already made plans to go out on the 29th next week, I'm wondering if I would have the strength to "just say no" to the souvenir and the hole-filler for that date.