personal moratorium on micros

[3 Hawks]

Hey, I’ll hunt for almost anything but what gets me is when the posting does not list the size of the cache and/or if the coords are waaaaaayyyyyy off. Micro’s can be a lot of fun but I would like to make the decision to search for a micro myself instead of blindly wandering around looking for “something” hidden “somewhere” in the “general vicinity” of “nothing.”

[cheezehead]

I’m not a big fan of micros either, but there are not all that many up this way. I tend to over think them when looking for them. I been doing some recon for a new set I want to put out. The places I have picked out will not support large caches. My plan is to have 6 or seven micros and then have a large ammo box for the final. For me, it’s more about the hunt and the hide and the container or whats inside.

[zuma]

@Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:

Another vote for a big old ammo box at the end of a nice hike in the woods or some other wild place, but we go after them all, too. The ones I *really* have learned to dislike are rock pile hides!

If they’re in our 50 mile radius, we’ll hunt ’em, though. The Merrillan Dam one is on that list. Sigh.

Yeah, it’s a toss-up: What is worse? A film can in a rock pile or a film can in a pine tree? How about a film can in a rock pile with a pine tree at GZ, and no hint so ya have to search em both????

(Marc–this is not a suggestion, just an example.)

zuma

[Team Deejay]

For us, geocaching is all about the place and the journey to the place, not the hide or the container. Micro, small, regular, large, regular, multi, mystery, virtual, pine tree, rock pile, hollow log, thorn thicket, knot hole or pile of sticks….its all good! The more interesting the place and the journey is, the better we like it. On the other hand, caches showcasing nothing but a dead end or a parking lot are quickly forgotten as a waste of time. Caches taking us to obnoxious places, such as dumps, piles of grass clippings, trash cans, dumpsters, and outhouses, are remembered with disdain for the hiders.

[Team Hemisphere Dancer]

@Team Deejay wrote:

For us, geocaching is all about the place and the journey to the place, not the hide or the container. Micro, small, regular, large, regular, multi, mystery, virtual, pine tree, rock pile, hollow log, thorn thicket, knot hole or pile of sticks….its all good! The more interesting the place and the journey is, the better we like it. On the other hand, caches showcasing nothing but a dead end or a parking lot are quickly forgotten as a waste of time. Caches taking us to obnoxious places, such as dumps, piles of grass clippings, trash cans, dumpsters, and outhouses, are remembered with disdain for the hiders.

I have the same thoughts. But if the description doesn’t tell you much it may take a great number of these to find the gem of a location that you never would have found if you just blocked all of one style of hide.

[Grandma & Grandpa]

We hunt micro’s occasionally, but overall, we prefer something larger full of stuff. We have been noticing lately a lot of pretty empty ammo cans, but lots of visitors in the log book. It would seem there are a lot of cachers who are not trading fairly.

One of our caches has a sign attached – “Don’t trash this cache! Trade often, Trade up.” with a picture of a broken top with the red slashed circle. The sums up our point of view.

Grandma & Grandpa

[rogheff]

The problem I have with many regular sized caches is that they have good swag when they’re new. After a while, they’re filled with bottle caps, rocks, a stick, food, and a bunch of worthless junk.

I just went on a maintenance run of a bunch of my caches in Minnesota. I pulled out at least half of the contents. Those contents, in addition to the items I mentioned above, included a small bottle of vodka and a camera with less than family friendly photos.

So I’ll hide and seek any type of cache- large or small. It’s more than the journey and destination for me. It’s also the craftsmanship of the container, creativity of the hider and often, the difficulty of the hide.

[Decrepit]

Occasional micros are fine, but it’s getting harder and harder to find ammo boxes that aren’t filled with the afore mentioned trash. I have two tote boxes of brand new treasure that I have picked up at stores going out of business and no place to leave it.

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

IMHO

The reason for so many types of caches, and so many different types of containers, is simply because every cacher has his/her own preferences, and will hide/find caches of those types.

If there is a style you don’t like, don’t look. Not everyone is going to like every cache. This I think reflects the sentiments of this topics author, and mine as well. You all know what types of caches I like to hide, small, large, up a tree, puzzles, a half mile over the rocks, and even the occasional pill bottle lying on the ground in a park with nothing to cammo it. These are the types I like to find as well. Every kind. Although the pill bottle in the crotch of a tree (not yours Rog) can get real boring, real fast.

[3 Hawks]

@rogheff wrote:

I just went on a maintenance run of a bunch of my caches in Minnesota. I pulled out at least half of the contents. Those contents, in addition to the items I mentioned above, included a small bottle of VODKA and a camera with less than family friendly photos.

Bottoms up!! No reason to CITO a full mini bottle of Vodka out of the woods.

[rogheff]

@tyedyeskyguy wrote:

IMHO

Although the pill bottle in the crotch of a tree (not yours Rog) can get real boring, real fast.

A newbie placing a pill bottle in the crotch of a tree is a great IMHO. I would never discourage anyone from placing anything. You have to learn somewhere.

When an experienced cacher places a pill bottle in the crotch of a tree, he/she CAN create a great cache if he/she uses their imagination.

[Ray]

Each of us finds pleasures in different facets of geocaching. We have put together itineraries that excluded micros to avoid the Pines and the rocks. Now, I wonder if we aren’t missing some great caching. We have our StreetPilot set for the shortest route to get away from freeway travel. We enjoy the journey. For a long weekend, we might include a number of PNG caches because they offer good vistas. Yesterday we visited GC11N91, essentially a micro in a pile of rocks, but toured the park it was showcasing. It would have been a huge mistake to grab the cache and go without the look-around. Later, we visited GCWDWV, a micro at the gate of Governor Thompson State Park. Again, we would have missed a lot without the look-around. The point is that if we concentrate in seeking only those caches that fit our liking, we may be missing the greater joy. Seek the caches you prefer, but don’t ignore all what your fellow geocachers offer.

[Astro_D]

We ignore the micro caches. We run PQs and deliberately remove micros from the list. There may be some micros that have a cool location, but for the most part, when we’ve come across them they are dead end streets, in a tree (when there’s a whole darned park to exploit) and other equally dumb locations. For us, the bad micro placements have outweighed any good ones that may be out there for us to even consider finding them anymore.

We also have a child. Micros, and hence geocaching, lose the appeal VERY quickly if all there is a logbook at each cache. For us, we’d still rather find a cache full of crap, then find a micro.

The only problem with our ban on micros, means we no longer get invited to go caching with others. We miss it, but hey, we choose to play our way and accept the adjustments that have come with it. Just as we accept those who enjoy the micros.

[SammyClaws]

I gotta go with 3Hawks on this one. When the coordinates are off it is really annoying – not knowing the size of the cache does increase the challenge. But as far as cache sizes, they are all good, its the hunt that is fun.

djwini – if you ever decide to hunt micros again – I’ll go with you – I like just getting outdoors with a purpose, micros or not. We’re currently working out way through Whitnall and the Root River.

[djwini]

hey, i’ll still do micros with other people. but i’m glad to see i’m not alone in my feeling that micros just aren’t worth the trouble sometimes. and i love going thru the box to see if there might be something i want to take.

[Author]

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