Cache Ba$h Review Thread

[thepharmgirl]

A place to add your comments, compliments, or complaints about the event to be passed along to the Chamber and committee. What did you like? What didn’t you like? (Mosquitoes and humidity are beyond the control of the committee.)

It’s always helpful to hear feedback. Thanks!

[zuma]

My third year, and it is great that comments from past years were listened to. This event is getting better every year.

thanks

zuma

[-cheeto-]

WherIGo was awesome.

We loved that everyone had the same chance of winning cash rather than basing it on # of caches found. The social aspect of the event benefited from this changed.

No offense but my family took one look at the “kids cache” chutes & ladders sheet, got confused by all the squares and coordinates and decided to hunt ghosts instead.

Food/Drink vending and the geocache vendors were excellent.

We loved seeing all the “Geocachers Welcome” signs all around town. (see my pic on my event log for an example) My kids had a blast spotting messages on electronic billboards as well. It’s truly a unique experience like no other.

[Lostby7]

“Mosquitoes and humidity are beyond the control of the committee”….well that certainly shortens my list of complaints…

LOVED:
* Any unique container or hide (in particular the event’s multicache).
* The (almost) clockwork way in which folks were processed during check-ins.
* The passes to the pool.
* That the event was open for two days.
* The BINGO cards.
* The kid’s treasure box.

LIKED:
* Caches which were grouped closely.
* That there were available water caches.

NOT SO MUCH A FAN OF:
* The fact that one of the caches could only be reached by boat but was not listed as a water cache.
*Caches being spread out as far as they were (in particular the one out in Newberg).

[SammyClaws]

“Mosquitoes and humidity are beyond the control of the committee” – – Perhaps if you got Mother Nature on the committee you could get this one resolved too!

All joking aside, our compliments to West Bend, this event continues to improve. We felt starting the Bash on Friday helped cut down on the cache damage we saw last year. Of the ones we hunted, short of the trampled grass, all the containers were in good shape. Also the lines were not as long or non-existent at the event caches compared to past years as well. To us, the cache frenzy was not as it was in past years.

Our compliments to the committee making the changes, you’ve set the bar pretty high for next year. Please keep up the great work.

One interesting note, is the hotels are getting smarter, as the two we called were not honoring discounts or coupons for that weekend. Even with that we still felt the room rate was reasonable.

[glorkar]

This was my first time at the event. I had a really great time. There are only two things that were sub-par for me (and they are both related):

Turn in deadlines!
-The pick a spot game (I think it was on the form, but I didn’t notice it.)
-The cash drawing raffle ticket. When I picked up my goody bag at 9:15, they just said “here is your ticket.” I didn’t know they were supposed to be in at 10:00. When I came back to the park at 2:00 they were good enough to still put the ticket in for me. Just wish I would have know when I got it. Again, I’m sure it was posted somewhere, but I honestly didn’t know at the time.

Other than that, it was a great day. Got to meet a lot of people and even built a small pathtag collection 🙂

[RSplash40]

I heard multiple people say that the older caches around were all junk and needed maintenance. I was unable to get cache names from the conversations but the comments were soaked, moldy, empty and “trash”.

Not trashed – but trash, like the whole thing was more like random litter than a cache container.

That is a pretty strong statement in my opinion.

While the main attraction will be the new ones that come out, and it would be nice if everyone pitched in, the reality is they won’t. Yes it would be a significant task but I think it would be a good PR move to at least visit the old CB once in the month or so prior and clean them up.

[Walkingadventure]

This year was our 3rd and we loved it but like every experience there was good and not so good.

Loved:

The lack of race to the finish
No competitive dont’ let them see the cache until I’ve rehidden it) spirit at individual caches.
Learning what a Thermocell is (no skeeters!)
Imaginative caches
Canoe rental/Water caches
Bingo!
The new pavilion/shelter at Regner
Happy friendly volunteers eager to help
Variety of cache terrains

Not so Loved:

Opening the download stations before volunteers were ready
Having volunteers running downloads for equipment they were familiar with
Few “local” caches
Dad’s Duck Blind Water cache not part of the creek adventure- no boat rental on Friday
Not understanding the WhereIGo and missing out on it

Already waiting for next year’s event to list so I can sign up!

Following the signals from space.

[thepharmgirl]

@glorkar wrote:

There are only two things that were sub-par for me:
Turn-In Deadlines
-The pick a spot game (I think it was on the form, but I didn’t notice it.)

The reason we had a 10am deadline for Geo-Golf was that we needed time to enter all the coordinates we received. This deadline was listed on the Event Cache Page for months and it was also in the Booklet. Perhaps next year we could include it on the Geo-Golf form itself. If we had more volunteers, perhaps somebody could enter them as they were handed in. But alas, most volunteers had multiple tasks to do over the weekend.

@glorkar wrote:

-The cash drawing raffle ticket. I didn’t know they were supposed to be in at 10:00.

I agree with you, but I was out-voted. It was a decision made by the Chamber because they didn’t want people to put tickets in the wrong barrel. They said they would make sure to tell people to put their green ticket in the barrel right away, but I’m sure some people got missed. Apologies.

[Ashen15]

Our first year and even though we were only able to get out Friday afternoon/evening everything was great! It was my inlaws’ first time caching and now they’re hooked. The woman who registered us from the West Bend Chamber of Commerce was extremely friendly as was everyone we ran into out caching. I also agree that the town was welcoming (I might be a little biased; I grew up there 🙂 ). Finally, the woman running the t-shirt booth early Friday was very tolerant of my checking out different sizes!

I know I’d appreciate a two day event next year as well.

I would have loved to see more WSQs as part of the event.

Was hoping the 2010 coins would be on hand since I missed out on the online order but I’m happy with my t-shirt.

I know my inlaws talked to someone at their church who said they were disappointed that the people who found all 66 caches weren’t recognized like they were in prior years.

[thepharmgirl]

@RSplash40 wrote:

I heard multiple people say that the older caches around were all junk and needed maintenance. I was unable to get cache names from the conversations but the comments were soaked, moldy, empty and “trash”.

Not trashed – but trash, like the whole thing was more like random litter than a cache container.

That is a pretty strong statement in my opinion.

While the main attraction will be the new ones that come out, and it would be nice if everyone pitched in, the reality is they won’t. Yes it would be a significant task but I think it would be a good PR move to at least visit the old CB once in the month or so prior and clean them up.

That IS a strong statement.

It’s funny how I’ve heard multiple people say OTHER teams say this, but nobody is willing to say it themselves or give specific examples? I’m sure there are a few caches like that out there, but I’m certain it wasn’t the majority.

As a cache owner, the only way I know something is wrong is if somebody tells me. I tried to visit as many of my caches as I could in the week leading up to the Ba$h to make sure they were in good shape, but I didn’t visit if people have been finding them all summer with no notes about any maintenance needing to be performed.

I’m sorry if other cache owners aren’t being diligent about maintaining caches. I would recommending sending that specific cache owner a note.

[zuma]

@Ashen15 wrote:

Was hoping the 2010 coins would be on hand since I missed out on the online order but I’m happy with my t-shirt.

Glad you liked your shirt. I liked em too.

The 2010 WGA geocoin should be avalable at the WGA Picnic in Roche-a-Crix next month. Hope you can make it to that event to pick up a few geocoins.

zuma

[RSplash40]

* snip *

opting to take the high road on this one rather than my note that was here:

here’s my example:

On the one I hit that needed help I was the only one to mention it which surprised me, it is: http://coord.info/GC1TJ8R I didnt put a NM on it but I did note in my log could use owner tlc.

[thepharmgirl]

@RSplash40 wrote:

Never said it was the majority, but if you want to get snippy about it go ahead… don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to regardless of how much information you get back.

. I’m sure the found log emails are going directly to the bit bucket on a weekend like this.

Hi RSplash40,

I only got snippy because I put a lot of my own time and expense into my caches, so when I hear phrasing such as “the old caches are ALL junk”, it hurts my feelings. Especially since it seemed liked it was secondhand info.

Thank you for the specific example. I know who that belongs to, so I can send along the message.

As for the log emails…. I read each and every one of the logs of my personal caches that I hid for the Ba$h… and I know LDove does too.

I DO appreciate the feedback.

[glorkar]

@thepharmgirl wrote:

The reason we had a 10am deadline for Geo-Golf was that we needed time to enter all the coordinates we received. This deadline was listed on the Event Cache Page for months and it was also in the Booklet. Perhaps next year we could include it on the Geo-Golf form itself. If we had more volunteers, perhaps somebody could enter them as they were handed in. But alas, most volunteers had multiple tasks to do over the weekend.

I checked the cache page a few times. It was nice because there was so much information. But at the same time, there was sooo much information 🙂
I’ll just have to plan better next year and pay closer attention. This was my first year and I really had no idea what to expect. Just figured with the number of people that showed up, I probably wasn’t the only one who missed that point 🙂

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