Lame Earthcaches

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:58 pm

Hey all,

Just wanted to know what ya all think about the need to keep Earthcache quality as high as possible. As we all know, Groundspeak put the kibosh on virituals when they started getting lame, and only brought back Earthcaches with a great deal of involvement by geology folks.

My concern is that if Earthcaches start going down the route of being lame, they will get shelved again. While I havent actually found any lame ones in Wisconsin, I did do one in Illinois this weekend that was about as lame as you can get. See GC191PD for details. It is basically just a small (and I do mean small) bolder laying next to the road.

My feeling is that you can give it a fancy writeup if ya want all about glaciers and stuff, but it is still just a small boulder by the road. I am glad that the folks doing Earthcaches in this state have thus far been doing a great job in finding great places.

zuma

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:07 pm

Great log way to tell it like it is.
I agree we need to keep our EC's top notch!
I hope Wisconsin can set a great example of what EC's should be like.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:49 pm

Digital Dan and I have had this discussion also. My hope is to get people to understand that it's about getting others to see interesting and unusual things - fossils, meteor hits, geological oddities, and some ancient history, etc. Things that one might not ordinarily come across or have knowledge of. So far, the ones I have done in WI have brought me to some familiar things that I have seen, BUT they have interesting backgrounds, so thats way kewl!!

I did 9 EC's this weekend. Only one in Illinois I was rather frustrated with, but will leave it at that. Otherwise, of the ones we found in Iowa took us to some incredible places.

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:20 am

Here is Wisconsins version of the same feature:
(Bicentennial Rock)
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/geolwisc/geostops/BicentRk.HTM

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3258

Bump!

Looking for some thoughts on how to avoid placing lame EarthCaches.

Obviously the best way to learn is through doing, but interestingly there is a big "void" of earthcaches north of Green Bay compared to the rest of the state. W/in 50 of our home coordinates there are only a handful of ECs, and w/in 100 mi nearly all EC's are to the south.

So...we're no geologists. In the course of our explorations we find something that we think is pretty neat, but is it EC-worthy? What are some good resources to use?

A public thanks at this point to LB7 for guidance on an EC we're working on at the moment.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:36 pm

Two resources that were helpful to me when I was looking to start placing earthcaches were:

Roadside Geology of Wisconsin by Robert Dott and John Attig

Wisconsin's Outdoor Treasures by Tim Bewer

I figured if something is cool enough to be included here, then it's probably cool enough to be an EC.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:45 am

I'm not trying to be condescending towards Illinois, at least not right now Laughing

; but maybe that rock is the most interesting geological feature in the area.

I cannot speak from experience with Earthcaches either, but I do have an interest in geology. And maybe it is interesting to some folks to learn why that rock is sitting in the field there.

WGA Member Joined: 2007-12-27 Posts: 342 Location: Wausau

You want lame? Check out Yellowstone National Park - A geological gold mine right? You won't see some of that stuff anywhere else in the WORLD and there are some of the lamest earthcaches there. There's like 3 or 4 that deal with the same item- Old Faithful - and they all require you to answer basically the same questions and some of the questions don't even really relate to Old Faithful.

There are also way too many artisan well earth caches in Wisconsin and they all have you do the same thing... measure the output in gal/sec. yeah right. How am I supposed to do that? Carry a gallon jug and a stopwatch with me all over the place? Not very interesting if you ask me. But I guess you get to drink alot of water.

So, my input: An earth cache should feature a somewhat unique geological item. There should certainly not be repetitions items in the same general area (say... 30 mile radius). And instead of answering a question unrelated to the feature, it should prove that the cacher actually learned something while there or had a real hands on experience. Maybe this could come off an informational sign but ideally would have to do with the item itself. On the other side of that coin, the question should not be so technically difficult that it stumps Bill Nye (as are some that I've seen). Alternatively, being able to prove visit by having the cachers photo taken at a certain spot is always a winner... and people like to see photos. For those without cameras... answer the geo-question.

The bottom line is that it has to be interesting to those who visit.. seeing the item, learning about the item, and even some shallow research of the item should not bore the cacher.

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:58 am

I admit there are a lot of the same old same old out there yes there are a lot of artesian wells, but may have an interesting past to learn about. Not a Rock in a field that is SUPPOSE to be an erratic, but was MOVED there bt a human... that gets to be a bit closer to lame, but who am I to say. I am sure geoaware (Gary and Anny) are both looking at the numbers coming through. I am surprised to hear about the Yellowstone EC's though. Kind of a shame.

I TRY to look for the unusual or not so common items to do my EC's. Hence the few I have. LOL As for the questions...I tend to lean more to having people take an educated guess, things that even kids could think about and answer, with maybe a little help from Mom ro Dad.

As for info from a sign....geoaware will give a "nay" to that as being the ONLY thing to do. They want you to actually DO something there, hence the flow rate thingy on the wells.

As for carrying a gallon jug and a watch.... We do it all the time. Actually made up an EC kit with all the contents held within the Rubbermaid gallon container. When we go out caching, we often times go with Earthcaching specifically in mind, making up a simple spread sheet with all the info we need to get answers and toss the kit in the car. Often times all we need is the camera. Some people seen a little miffed about having to even lug a camera, but it is the best proof that they were there and didn't jsut look up answers online. YES....people do that!!

Thanks for all the input....Great discussion everyone....keep it going!! Very Happy

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3258

My 2 cents is that since any earthcache--even the erratics talked about--will, by virtue of the publication requirements, require some actual thought and work on the part of both the placer and the finder, they're already way higher on the Not Lame scale than the lamp post, guard rail, and other drive-up hides that seem to be proliferating lately.

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:25 am

gotta run wrote:

My 2 cents is that since any earthcache--even the erratics talked about--will, by virtue of the publication requirements, require some actual thought and work on the part of both the placer and the finder, they're already way higher on the Not Lame scale than the lamp post, guard rail, and other drive-up hides that seem to be proliferating lately.

I have to agree with that whole heartedly!!!!! Just to clarify... I have done some erratics that were pretty kewl, but the ones that were moved by a farmer to the end of his drive.....are one of those things that make you go "Hmmmmmmm!!!"

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:07 am

I've never measured water flow at a geocache, but I would hope the cache owner would post a list of the extra items needed to complete the task.

Geocaching encompasses a wide range of interests and is constantly evolving. This evolution is one of the things I find fascinating about it. Making the cache-finders complete a task to claim the find is fine, as long as they know what they're getting into before they go out in the field.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:15 pm

2_Stand wrote:

I've never measured water flow at a geocache, but I would hope the cache owner would post a list of the extra items needed to complete the task.

Usually the cache owner will say something like "To figure the water flow rate, you will need a container of known volume and a timing device i.e. a watch with a second hand or a stop watch. We carry our EC kit which is a 1 gallon plastic jug, with all the odds and ends we acquired and needed to do other EC's, like a thermometer, a hydrometer, pH testing kit, a measuring tape, cheapo watch, etc. it's all self contained and we carry in the car when we know we are heading out to do EC's. Plus we create a simple spread sheet of all the info we need to do the EC's and a place to write the answers.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:24 pm

also overlooked quite often is that many GPS units have a stopwatch feature built in...

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:04 pm

Sorry if the many Spring Earthcaches seem lame.

I have been enjoying learning the history related to each one and sharing that with the Earthcache location. Waukesha had some very beautiful private parks and spas during the height of the Springs Era. As I can find photos and more information, I have been adding that to the cache pages as "well".

I have another in the works but I am not finding much for the history so I have been holding it back.