I always look at it as one person’s “uninteresting urban locations” as another person’s typical caching area. Many of us prefer to get out in the woods, go for a long hike and find a nice ammo can. For others, this is just not as much fun as finding 10-20 caches in a short afternoon. Many times these type of micros are more accessible to those cachers with limited abilities.

The future of this activity, as more people are finding geocaching and wanting to put out caches, is that some folks are just going to want to put caches in their hometowns, perhaps in areas in which others may not see the enjoyment factor. Simply, if you don’t like these types of caches, don’t do them. Same goes for people who don’t want to go for a long hike in the buggy woods.

My feelings? It really depends on what my caching goal is for the day. When I want to really have a great day, usually with great people, I prefer the long hike in the woods with the ammo box. I get the most personal satisfaction out of these kinds of finds. But, when I’m really looking to bump up my find count, I love going to somewhere with a bunch of micros in every single park. These types of caches are also great when I’m planning caching missions with Mom (ldybugldy). Not only is she great at finding micros (me, not so much, and I appreciate the help) but these types of hides are less taxing on her physcially.

Bec

What are your feelings about the proliferation of film cans in uninteresting urban locations, a phenomenon sometimes called “urban spew?”

Again, my opinion will perhaps go across the grain for some cachers, but who really wants to hear the expected political response all the time. I love to go on numbers runs and a big part of those runs is often finding city hides. While most of these are OK, I am disturbed by hides placed where you are forced to seek a cache in full and obvious view of the public. For example I find looking under a large bell at a busy intersection very bothersome. Not only does this type of hide attract attention from law enforcement it is a distraction to both neighbors and drivers. I think that a bit more care needs to be exercised when placing urban hides to avoid raising eyebrows and endangering our sport. Do we really need another bomb scare in the news?

My opinion is that this topic is beyond the control of the WGA board. Geocaching.com sets the guidelines for what caches can or cannot be published. If people prefer to place these sorts of caches and prefer to find these sorts of caches, so be it.

I do think, however, that poor quality caches diminish the ability of geocaching to provide direction to interesting places for those visiting. It is a little frustrating to be led to one parking lot after another when you are visiting a new area. That said, I do not see this too often in Wisconsin. Apparently we have better taste then some of those “other” places.