Ever happen to you??

[Flushingrouse]

Here’s the story: I’ve been caching hard the last few weeks..Don’t know why, just felt right…

I fully intended to go all day today and after I finished the second one, something just clicked and said..”Bill, that’s enough”.. “go home and sit around”….

Let me stress!! It wasn’t the quality of the caches(like in other threads)..It’s not my energy level…

I think I just burned out!! Give me a couple days and see if the fire re-lights….

You ever get “burned out”?

Bill
Team Flushingrouse

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[kbraband]

No burnout here because I no longer go for numbers. There was a time when I felt compelled to go geocaching just to increase my number of finds. That was between cache #50 and #200 or so. Now we’re much more relaxed about geocaching. We only go when we want to, not because we feel other geocachers are out there increasing their numbers. We select caches based on those that look like a nice hike, and those on the way back that sound interesting for whatever reason. I’m not saying everyone should give up on the numbers. I have become aware of how important this is to some people. However, if you’re feeling burned out, free yourself from chasing numbers and geocaching becomes much more fun instead of an obsession.

[Found on Earth 4 Now]

Complete agreement with Kbraband! I no longer care about the numbers because I was feeling pressured to find the caches. I much prefer the occassional, laid back approach. In fact, to be completely honest, I prefer doing the hiding. I and my family have spent the last eight months mostly looking for good locations/parks. If there is a cache there, we will pick it up. If not, we will look for a hiding spot or just make a note of the location and go back to try to get some historical information on the location. I am kind of a history buff so I love to find out what places used to be, who owned/donated it, etc..

FOEFN

[The Lil Otter]

I always stop when it isn’t fun anymore.. I live by that rule and only geocache when I want to.. not because I have to.. I can go months without geocaching.. I know.. surprising isn’t it? (grins) and I can walk away from caches that frustrate the heck out of me.. and actually sleep that night without being kept awake by the lil geo-nightmare of “WHERE WAS IT?” (grins) I don’t even have searches delivered to my email unless I’m actually planning an outing.. And I have actually saved caches closeby (I have one that is 17 miles as the crow flies) for a special day.. like I did for another that was 5 miles away last year.. saved it for July 4th.. I can go for a month or two geocaching before I get homesick.. but at anytime I allow myself to say “it’s not fun right now” and I just head home.

Hopefully I don’t sound jaded because of my other postings.. but I’m still totally excited about geocaching.

~The Lil Otter

[Cathunter]

My mood completely determines how my day of caching goes. Yesterday, I drove 50 miles into the Crystal Lake area with intention of picking off a handful of caches. I arrived at ground zero of the first cache on my trip and determined it was 200 yards off the trail in a wet area. Normally, this would be ok. Yesterday, I just didn’t feel like it. I had a nice hike without hunting the cache and spent the next couple of hours driving around the countryside. (my other true passion) I’m finishing off the weekend with no caches hunted. It happens, and it’s not a matter of being burned out. Some weekends are for caching frenzies, some are for reflection. I like it that way.

My problem comes when I really feel like caching but also feel like taking the boat (or yak) out on the same day. Many weekends I wake up torn as to which choice to make.

That problem will go away as soon as I win the lottery and take up caching and fishing on a full-time basis.

[Flushingrouse]

I wouldn’t say it was a numbers thing for me up to this point..(Although it was a goal to reach 200 at the campout!) Most of all, I just enjoy being out!!

Today I guess I just didn’t want to… So, I went home, cut the grass(quick! NO RAIN), and kicked back with the kids..

I agree with FOEFN in that there’s much fun to be had in placing caches as well.. Kind of a good way to “give back”..

We’ll see if the mood changes in awhile..

Bill
Team Flushingrouse

[Mama Fishcacher]

Happens to me too. It’s fun to go on occasional caching “binges”, lol. But it’s also nice to sit back, take a break, and just read the logs.

Besides, I gotta go to work and keep the house relatively clean and all that kind of stuff sometime!

Recently, the huge amount of ticks has me staying out of the woods, (they should be dwindling soon though) and pretty soon, we should be getting a flood hatch of mosquitos…. Maybe I’ll have to brave the ticks before those mosquitos hit!

~Mama Fishcacher

[brkster]

I wouldn’t call it burnout for me. I pace myself, allowing myself certain time limits to search, or whenever I feel satified with the day’s adventures; it varies. All I know is that if I feel drained after one day, I don’t go cache hunting for a few days to a week. Then I get that hunger to go out again shortly afterwards. I also try to mix in other activities throughout the week in order to balance things out.

[Linus4Cache]

Where does one begin on a topic such as this one? I personally enjoy 98% of the time I spend planning, driving to and actually caching. I generally cache w/ my Sister and her husband (and mine when he’s in town). We like the numbers, and are now getting into the TB side of it, but our main goal in caching is the time we get to spend together as a family, and the silliness which generally ensues because of this. (The rest of the family thinks we’re crazy…oh wait, we are!) The number of caches, TB’s, etc. are a bonus.

Like everyone there are times when I ask myself, “Self, what the…?” But mostly I love the sport and the wonderful places it has taken me. Without the introduction of the GPSR, I would have never seen these places.

Last night Lucy and I returned from a week long vacation. We went to a wedding in Dallas, TX. On the way there we were able to cache in 4 states. On the way home we got the ones we missed when heading South. Now I ask you, would there really have been a reason for us to stop in 4 states and travel for 25 hours for a drive that could have been completed in 14 hours? No, not w/ out our passion for GeoCaching. Over the course of our trip we managed 21 caches and 8 benchmarks. Oh, and a wedding, time w/ family, shopping, and yes…vactioning. This is what the sport is about people. You can do as much as you want, when you want. Each cache is a new place to see, a new item to find, and if you’re as lucky as I am…a new silly story to tell.

If you aren’t having fun step back and breathe for a while. GeoCaching isn’t going away anytime soon, we’ll all be waiting for you to come back. When I get to a “WTF” stage (yes, I do have those), I simply take a moment to remember what brought me here… The very first time I found a cache on my own. My first FTF…the first time I logged a cache, and the # of times I edited that log. The first person I told about the sport after I bought my GPSR…those I introduced to the sport, and the looks on their faces when they found their first one. The introduction to fellow cachers and the stories they tell of their own adventures. The laughter I hear when they talk of reading some of my logs. The questions they have for me and my team about our adventures. It’s all about the community. And that community of cachers is amazing! Even if I don’t feel like caching (yeah, that’ll happen…LOL) I would still want to see what others are doing. I imagine I would continue to attend events. Maybe that would spark the old caching flame.

The good thing is that there is always another cache to do. Another place to see. Another cacher to meet. So if I took some time off, I would have so much fun seeking the caches when I got back to it.

I’m a bit sappy, but I’m still blessed with a passion for this sport.
~Linus

[djwini]

i’m still so relatively new at this that the fun hasn’t gone out of it yet. i started saving the newer caches close to home for when i need a quick fix. and we are planning a trip to hawaii next year that will incorporate caching–figuring to get to see areas that the normal tourist doesn’t go to.

[Geoffnsara]

Totally feel what you’re trying to express! Geoff and I both go through phases when the bugs get bad during the summer, it’s too hot out or just one of us gets beat that we decide to call it quits for a while. I told Geoff a while back (in our second year) that I was done for good. He went out and did a couple of caches alone, which he’d never done before. I got jealous that he was going out without me and he said it just wasn’t as much fun doing the hunting without me either. We decided that from that point on, that if either one of us decided that we didn’t want to cache for any extended period of time, that we’d wait it out. The bad thing about caching together as a constant, is that we both have different drives at different times. Sometimes I’ll push him harder than he’d like. You’ll see our numbers drop significantly during the summer. I hate hot weather and really enjoy doing the festivals, going to the zoo, camping and lots of other time-consuming activities that you just can’t do during the winter. Caching in the fall and winter for us is perfect because we don’t have kids either. Don’t worry, it’ll pass.

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