ALR’s vs Challenge caches

[labrat_wr]

Correct me if I am wrong as there seems to be a misinterpretation on the words “Challenge Cache”.
I believe the original post was looking at these as “complete so many of some type of cache with these specifications” not the replacement virtual cache ‘challenges’

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while Deejay did mention that the owners of challenge caches (former not latter) do not need to have met their own requirements, there certainly is a need to be able to complete said challenge.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[huffinpuffin2]

What’s the history behind the DeLorme Challenges?

Controversial at the time, or widely accepted? An idealized labor of love to aspire to?

Change is exciting for some…..others, not so much. Seems like the more one has vested in geocaching, whether in finds or time, the more the extremes in reaction emerge.

Just part of a thought.

[zuma]

@LMcGisme wrote:

I think the main difference between challenge caches and ALRs is that the challenge with a challenge cache has to do with caching – find 100 EarthCaches, find a cache that starts with each letter of the alphabet, or every county, or in all 50 states, etc. For a lot of the ALRs the additional requirements had nothing to do with caching – take a picture of yourself phooning, or wearing a stupid hat, or your log must be a poem, etc. I can see while challenge caches are allowed while ALRs are not. I echo the sentiment that the hider who places a challenge cache should have met all the requirements themselves before publication.

I think you summed up well the differences between an ALR cache and a Challenge Cache.

z

[zuma]

@huffinpuffin2 wrote:

What’s the history behind the DeLorme Challenges?

Controversial at the time, or widely accepted? An idealized labor of love to aspire to?

Change is exciting for some…..others, not so much. Seems like the more one has vested in geocaching, whether in finds or time, the more the extremes in reaction emerge.

Just part of a thought.

A little bit of the history on Challenge caches, as I understand it.

From what I can tell, one of the first Delorme Challenges was the Northern California Delorme Challenge, GCHANH, placed in 2004. Other Delorme Challenges followed in many states in 2005 – 2007, so now most states have a Delorme Challenge. Some states now have 2 Delorme Challenges, based on an old map and a newer version of the map. WI and MN are examples of states with 2 DeLormes.

As far as being widely accepted, that depends on your viewpoint, and your caching style. People who like to explore new places and see things they have not seen before tend to really like doing DeLorme Challenges. Other people cache more for being with friends, or finding interesting containers or interesting hides and don’t mind visiting the same areas over and over again, and tend not to be as interested as much as seeing every corner of a state, and for those folks Delormes are not as interesting.

The Wisconsin Delorme was placed first in Kenosha by the Cheeseheads in 2006, and first found 2 months later. It has since been moved to Wausau when RSpash adopted it. The Wisconsin Delorme has been found by 45 people already.

Those of us who love challenges would consider the Delorme Challenge, in any state to be the king of challenges because it is both difficult, but at the same time possible by anyone who can afford to buy and burn fossil fuel. The DeLorme has the added attraction of taking you to every possible area of the state, and those who do Delormes love them because of the unexpected things you find in unpopulated areas.

Second to the Delorme Challenge, is a state county challenge. The Texas County Challenge, GCRX6F may have been first in 2006, and most states got County Challenges in 2006 – 2007. The Wisconsin County Challenge was placed in 2007 (by myself), in a can decorated by Da Bloodhound, and is located in Neillsville, near the center of the state. That challenge has been found by 46 people.

County Challenges are as popular as DeLorme Challenges because you have to go to every part of a state, so have the same advantage of being difficult, yet possible for anyone to complete. I would argue that the DeLorme Challenge is a little more interesting since it often forces you do to pages without urban areas, so requires more nonurban caching in order to complete.

The third notable challenge is the Fizzy Challenge, which is completion of the 81 D/T grid. The first was in 2007 GC11E8N, in California, and versions have spread throughout the country. In 2008, Trekkin’ and birdin’ placed a Fizzy Challenge in Wisconsin, GC1GVN6, and more recently we have seen variations on the theme, such as Double Fizzys and Triple Fizzys.

Those 3 challenges are the veteran challenges, and still some of the most interesting. In all 3 cases, the actual challenge of the challenge has been diluted down quite a bit by people placing caches to make doing the challenge easier, which frankly is the biggest downside to any challenge cache. That is, it gets easier as time goes on to complete the challenge, as people place caches in parts of counties or on parts of DeLorme pages that are easier to find and easier to get to. This is especially true of the Fizzy Challenge, which has become a bit of farce as people put out caches of specific D/T combinations to make it possible to more easily complete the challenge.

Unlike those 3 veteran challenges, the Jasper Challenge actually gets more difficult as time passes by, which makes it a unique challenge. The Jasper Challenge is to find a cache that was published in each month since geocaching started.

There is a wide variety of other type of challenges out there, but those are the 4 most interesting and difficult challenges.

A list of other type of challenges can be found at http://www.cacheopedia.com/wiki/Challenge_cache

One new thing that has come to challenge caches more recently is the “challenge trail” which I first noticed last year. Essentially, a challenge trail, is a collection of a wide variety of challenge types, all concentrated in the same geographical area. There are challenge trails of note in Iowa, Utah and California. My own “Z Challenge” trail is my take on this emerging type of geocaching, and remains a work in progress.

zuma

[huffinpuffin2]

Many, Many thanks, zuma! Most helpful in understanding where the sport as been, and where this team might like to go! 🙂 🙂

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