Enough with the micro caches! Am I right, folks?

[-cheeto-]

now that’s where I lost my key…

[decdogg]

@gotta run wrote:

I’m going to start stocking our new caches with all the torn and damp “calling cards” that we clean out when restocking our caches. Maybe a few muddy range balls or buttons. Heck, I just found a house key in one of our key caches–wonder if I could find the house it goes to…

Personally I enjoy the gravel in mine.

[gotta run]

Say what you want about micros, but we have never had to remove unmentionable items from micros when maintaining our caches. I’m sure someone out there has a story, but…

On the Left Side of the Road...

[-cheeto-]

never had to remove unmentionable items from micros

I suppose it’d be worse living near Las Vegas and maintaining micros there… (of course we all know it’s all about the virtuals down there…)

Let’s not forget that altoid tins are typically listed as micros and geocoins can be moved through these types of hides.

Be careful when buying glow sticks from dollar stores as swag. I’ve had them break open when my kids are playing with them and it’s a heck of a mess and it stains clothes.

I agree, a micro in a woods is a rather disappointing cache in most cases (present creative cachers excluded)

However, so is a stale old ammo can with already mentioned “swag items” waiting to be traded or cleaned out.

I guess my point would be regardless of the size a cache can be crud or it can be of good quality depending on the cache owner’s intentions and maintenance.

Look at it this way.. (maybe this is a good idea for a bumper sticker or T-shirt) “I’d rather be finding a wet log sheet in a 35mm on a dead end guard rail…” or “Spending my day finding micros in parking lots is better than a good day at work.”

[DCexplorer]

I myself have had caches disappear, and it is frustrating to have to replace a container and contents. I also get tired of pulling garbage out of caches. (Ohhh! A golf tee! I’ve been wanting one of those!!! A moisture-stained inkjet business card!! Wow, thanks, Team CacheCrewNewToYou from Des Planes!!!)

However, just about any garage sale I visit has a cardboard box marked “free” on it, and these are perfect sources of no-cost swag.

I consider replacing or refilling caches part of the cost of the hobby.

But, I can’t believe that people say “I’m too poor to place full sized caches, so I MUST place micros.” If you don’t have the resources, or are too much of a tightwad, DON’T place the micro in the first place, unless, of course, the micro is the best option.

[gotta run]

@DCexplorer wrote:

But, I can’t believe that people say “I’m too poor to place full sized caches, so I MUST place micros.”

Good grief! Never heard that one. Anyone who can afford a GPSr and the gas it takes to drive around to hunt Tupperware can afford to spend the money to put out a swag-filled cache if they so choose. Ammo cans at Fleet Farm cost about the same as a pack of cigarettes. Ooooh, did I say that out loud????

On the Left Side of the Road...

[cheezehead]

Here’s a thought too. If ya don’t like micros, don’t go find them. There ain’t no one forcing ya to look for them!

[marc_54140]

@cheezehead wrote:

@marc_54140 wrote:

@Lander & Lancelot wrote:

Like Cheezehead, we make trips to the dollar store to put out quality caches …

Wait a minute ….. isn’t that a contradiction in terms?

🙄 😆 😯 😕

What the heck is that suppose to mean?? You can get a lot of quality items at the dollar store. Just what do you put in your caches for swag?

Hmmm. Do not know if I should admit to this … stuff I get out of my old caches that are archived.

[DCexplorer]

@cheezehead wrote:

He’s a thought too. If ya don’t like micros, don’t go find them. There ain’t no one forcing ya to look for them!

Very true, and I totally agree with Cheezehead that everybody should pick what they do or don’t do.

The broader point I was making is that inappropriate use of micros is, at least to me, annoying. So be it.

However, they are also hurting Geocaching for the newcomers. Newcomers (and I’ve asked the ones that I know) like finding caches, not little pill tubes. They see the words “The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site” on the top of the geocaching home page, and naively believe that they will be using their newly-purchased GPS to hunt CACHES, not pill tubes.

Look at all the news stories and articles on Geocaching you’ve ever read; They always talk about the cache container and swag, not about how you shake the little piece of paper the size of a gum wrapper out of a tube and scratch your name on it with a one-inch pencil stub.

[Mathman]

I personally like to look for and hide a varying type of cache. Variety is good.

I just did some maintenance on several caches today. Some trade items I found were a beer bottle cap, and a used baby pacifier! I have in the past thrown out an empty miniature vodka bottle, ripped up golf balls and broken toys. In my opinion it is nice to trade evenly but sometimes if cachers are with their kids and they want something I would prefer they just take an item even if they don’t leave something. That’s right! Take an item and don’t worry about leaving something. It is better than the container turning into a “Geo-Trash” container. I will eventually get around to adding to the cache.

My daughter (Cutie Pi) placed a “Harry Potter” cache with some very nice Harry Potter items in it. Those items have since disappeared and the cache is fairly empty. She will be placing more items in it soon because she likes to have visitors to “her Cache.” I can remember some of the first caches that I found. They had a lot of swag in them and I admit it was fun to look through all of the items. I am sure it is fun for adults and kids alike.

As for micros… they too have their place. I try not to use them but for stages in a multi-cache or where it isn’t feasible to have a larger cache, I will place a micro. One of my multis was muggled and is close to a play area (now) by some kids. I had to replace the final with a micro but I then added additional information to find the final because the intent was NOT to make the hide difficult. I stated where and how high off of the ground where the cache was hidden.

I have also hidden several smaller caches considered micros but with a higher dificulty level because they are not park and grabs. Again… these are designated as being more difficult by using the rating system. Either way micros do have their place in caching and will undoubtedly continue to do so. There is a large variety to search for and that is what is great about this sport. Happy caching and remember to have fun!

[gotta run]

@DCexplorer wrote:

Look at all the news stories and articles on Geocaching you’ve ever read; They always talk about the cache container and swag, not about how you shake the little piece of paper the size of a gum wrapper out of a tube and scratch your name on it with a one-inch pencil stub.

Ok, that made me laugh. Great post.

But, they also talk about finding buried treasure, and that ain’t true either. Dang journalists…oh wait, that’s me…

On the Left Side of the Road...

[stokstad]

Ok I am one of those “new” people to geocaching. I have only 41 finds and I have hidden 4 with a fifth ready to go out soon. I just realized that my hides have run the entire size scale except nano. I have a couple regular sized ones, a large one, and one micro. All of the caches I have hidden with the exception of the micro I have filled with lots of cool stuff. The strange thing I have found is that people don’t take anything. I don’t get it. In one of my caches I actually say in the description to take anything and that you don’t have to worry about putting anything back in. The object is to get rid of the stuff lol. In my first cache I placed a kids DVD brand new in the plastic. I figured it would be a cool FTF prize or something. Well no one has touched it. I don’t know if people are afraid to take it or if everyone has the movie. Its actually kind of disappointing because I was kind of excited about giving something cool in the cache. Oh well.

Now the only frustrations I have found so far are with Micros. I blame a lot of that on my own inexperience. I am starting to get the hang of where people like to put them. So that is getting easier. I don’t really mind too much looking for and finding micros. There is good satisfaction when you finally do find it. The main problem I do have with them is that I usually cache with my 4yr old son. He loves it. But he could care less about micros and signing a log. I lose his attention very quickly when he sees its a micro. He likes to find “Treasure”. He gets very excited when he gets to pick something out of the box. I get the impression that a lot of the people on this board either don’t have kids or they are all older. It seems like the kid factor has been left out of many of these posts.

So please think about the children, Kill the Micro! 😥 😉 <---sarcasm

[Team Deejay]

@stokstad wrote:

Ok I am one of those “new” people to geocaching. I have only 41 finds and I have hidden 4 with a fifth ready to go out soon. …

With regard to people not taking things from caches, most finds (not most cachers) are made by those of us who regularly head out to find a bunch of caches on a given day. When you are finding a bunch of caches, it is a bit of a pain to worry about keeping track of swag. Additionally, since we should be “trading up or even”, most of us will not have a trade item worth $10 or so (the cost of a DVD), so we don’t trade for something that valuable In fact, I was telling my caching companions on Sunday that I took a lanyard the previous weekend from a cache in Illinois (trading in some custom geocaching buttons I picked up at an event), which was the first time I had EVER taken anything from a geocache other than a geocoin/TB (or garbage removal, of course). I leave stuff all the time, but generally I’m not in it for the swag. Note that this is not true of most geocachers, but it is the old 80/20 rule. 80% of the finds are by 20% of the cachers, and those 20% mostly don’t bother trading.

With regard to caching with children as young as 4, if you use GSAK, EasyGPS, or similar software, it is easy enough to filter out the micro caches from the load to your GPS. That way, any cache you have on the machine will at least have some swag for the kid to find. You might also want to filter out the higher terrain ratings if your child can’t handle the challenge. If you need help getting started using some sort of caching database, drop me a line and I will walk you through the process. Its pretty easy and allows you to easily tailor the geocaching experience to your liking.

[seldom|seen]

@Team Deejay wrote:

That way, any cache you have on the machine will at least have some swag for the kid to find.

It’s not always about swag for kids! I’d rather take my kind to the top of Lookout Above I|Remnants, a 3.5 Terrain then take them to 5 ammo boxes with McD junk with a terrain of 1. They will REMEMBER the view from the lookout tower and will not remember the other ammo boxes in the area even though they might find something of interest in there, that will be forgotten, broken or thrown away in a month (there are some exceptions to this general comment about swag).

I wish everyone would stop associating “kid-friendly” with SWAG! It dries me nuts. Any child who is along to find the final for PUC | Hooray for Diffendoffer Day, will not forget that micro final. Just because it is a micro does not mean that it can’t be creative, or memorable, or challenging. Any kid who climbs to get PUC|Stop Your Pining will remember that one as well, or Camelback Cinema | Passings of Mr. Pink. Ask -cheeto-‘s kid what his top 5 favorite caches are and I GUARANTEE none of them are ammo boxes.

It’s about the journey not about the junk that you find when you get there.

[gotta run]

Take your kids to letterbox hybrids. Ours think the stamps are cool and they get something to “take” with them that they do keep as they fill up a stamp journal that’s a reminder of things we’ve done as a family over the past few years.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[Author]

Posts