This topic contains 17 replies, has 14 voices, and was last updated by 
wi_pattymel 10 years, 6 months ago.
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This is going to ramble a little, so grab a beverage if you want to read on. I don’t want this to be one of those “play the game however you like” posts, because I do truly believe that there is something for everyone if they look for it. Instead, my question arose from reading a little snippet from one of the quick highway caches zuma placed near the Dells.
“Everyone says that they prefer the type of caches that are ammo cans in the woods, but those get actually found pretty infrequently. Some people say they dislike film cans in highway signs, yet they will log this cache. Go figure.”
So….we’ve all found leg stretchers from time to time and appreciate such caches when the weather is lousy. No argument with that at all. We really do like the caches that “everyone says they prefer” and tend to place those kind ourselves when we get in the mood for hiding. Yes, some are challenges, but other than those, all are accessible to those who say they prefer that kind. We’ve learned to avoid “cute” or gimmicky type containers, which I know are very popular, because they lead to maintenance issues and sometimes frustration for finders when that happens.
So…..why are they so seldom visited? We’ve tended to place them in clumps, in other words….many in Bice Forest, many in the MVC and many at Eagle Bluff across the river. Trekkin’ did some analysis of caches we’ve placed this past year and by and large…once the FTF race is over, they just sit. I know we aren’t alone in this, but it does make us wonder. Even local area cachers haven’t found most of them. It’s just an interesting phenomenon.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
If I’m caching around my home area, I will try to go after hiking or more “difficult” caches. When I’m out of my home area, I tend to stick with caches that have favorite points but certainly won’t pass up hiking/difficult caches. The biggest issue for me when traveling or outside my home turf is just not really knowing the area, so finding my way around makes it challenging to filter out the P/G caches from something I need to hike for.
Of course, I used to set up a pocket query(s) with 1000 caches, including the ones I wanted to seek and load that up before I left. This meant the “good” caches got completely buried in my GPS and I since I rarely remembered the name/code, they stayed buried. In the past few months, I’m just adding the caches I want to find to a bookmark and then loading that bookmark query before I leave. This way, the caches I am targeting to find are on my GPS and anything else is just a cache of opportunity that I’d have to look up using the smartphone app. It’s worked out much better for me. I’ve never cared about numbers and now I get to find the caches I really want to find and anything else is a bonus. I just wonder why it took me so many years to figure this out! I guess I always thought I should arrive at a place with a GPS stuffed full of caches to find, even if that meant that 90% would be the take-it-or-leave-it variety.
I do get what you’re saying about placing caches, though. In a perfect world, any cache I place would involve a scenic hike. But, the few years I’ve been a cache owner have taught me that you have to decide what you want out of ownership. If you want your caches to be found often, forget about placing them in the woods or making them anything but a traditional. I like to think I put effort and thought into my caches, especially my multi/mystery caches and while I don’t believe they’re “incredible, must find caches”, I do think they’re worth the effort of finding. I’m lucky to see more than two to three finds on my multis a year and neither of those require any long distance hiking. It seems like anything that isn’t a traditional right off the side of the highway/street, it might as well not exist. That disappoints me and it’s really taken a lot of wind out of my sails in terms of finding the energy to craft a new cache.
We prefer not to be in plain view when we hunt for caches, and that would leave out most signpost hides. However, we make exceptions for high visibility caches when: they are puzzle finals; they are our home territory or very near to where we are staying; we are seeking caches to fill grid days, build to a milestone, or something along those lines; the caches are placed there to draw our attention to something nearby. Signpost caches themselves are fine in remote locations. Zuma’s cache that Birdin’ referred to above is one of those that we did.
We do not mind looking for nanos, film containers, plastic jars, ammo cans, or anything else as long the coordinates are good, we can take our time looking for the containers, and the locations do not pose any dangers. To us, caching is using our receiver to go to given or determined coordinates to find something there. It is frustrating when hides are deemed so clever or so evil that we do not enjoy the searches. When it becomes more about the hiders’ egos than the seekers’ enjoyment of this activity, it is no longer fun for us. Evil puzzle caches are fine; we can choose to ignore them from the start if we want. Gadget caches are fine if we know that is what we will be up against and can make our decisions accordingly. Well-camoed caches are fine if we have enjoyed our visit to GZ and the coordinates are good.
We do not do physically demanding caches. Long walks (many miles in some cases) on good trails are fine; lengthy bushwhacking on uneven terrain is not. We do not care for water crossings unless there is a bridge or the water is visibly shallow. Swamps? Nope. No rock scrambling or much in the way of uphills. We do not enjoy caches that require us to bring a whole hardware store along with us; if our trekking poles or something nearby will help us reach something, then we may enjoy that cache. Ladders? Nope. CLimbing sticks? Nope.
We place caches that are like one we want to find. However, we are in the middle of nowhere when it comes to a lot of cachers’ radar, so while local and area cachers can always be counted on to visit Sandland on occasion, many of our hides to go unfound for lengthy stretches. When we think about archiving some of our caches, we think back to the ones we found when we were starting, and we are very grateful that those were (and many still are) in existence for us to discover. We keep hoping that somewhere out there are some new cachers… who use GPS receivers instead of cell phones, who care more about the experiences rather than the numbers, who can rely on their own knowledge, wits, and skills rather than PAFs or group hunts… who will be very grateful us and others like us who have left some dinosaur hides in place and well-maintained for them to discover and enjoy. And maybe some veterans will also find their way to Sandland…
Now, Birdin’, as for your hides specifically, and some of this may apply to other cachers, we just don’t get over your way a lot. Our intentions are there, and some puzzles are solved, but we have to plan to do some of those hikes, and we don’t usually do a whole lot else over that way. That doesn’t address why local hiders don’t seek your caches, though. We have found that the longer the hike, the fewer the finds. That can be looked at in two-ways: (1) People don’t want to take long hikes, so they don’t try your caches; (2) People may be OK with looking for your caches, but if they do, they won’t get a lot of finds for the day, even where you have placed clusters of hides.
(Note to self: When making plans for day trips after the snow melts and the weather warms up… but before the ticks and skeets come out in full force… go for some more Trekkin’ and Birdin’ caches in the coulee region.)
On my phone so brevity more than content.
I miss the LCG or rescues. So many in this area would qualify but go ignored. I like the history associated with those caches and keeping the game going. I like the camaraderie that comes with those finds. Working with others to find them, or find them first 🙂
I can still wade through snow (if we ever get any) and bushwhacking isn’t something to turn me away. I don’t mind clever urban caches (but my wife hates them).
I will stop for guard rail hides, but prefer more than that.
My my own hides are nothing special. No nearby places like WRSP or public land to hide on. Right now I am focused on getting people out here from Klamath, or traveling cachers to stop. Plans in place for more & better soon. My write ups are more creative than the containers.
GC5HJEQ
GC5EM1R
The best sig is no sig.
My home PQ is set for 1,000 caches in an unlimited radius from my home…so the radius just keeps growing with each cache I find. It pulls all cache and container types with no limit on attributes. In short: everything is in play. I don’t filter out anything.
I would rather be in the woods than in a city and/or at the side of some road but, life circumstances being what they are, I spend far more time in the city than in the woods and I’ll look for a cache pretty much anywhere.
I would have to say my kind of finds are: 1) An ammo can after a good hike in the woods (so, pretty much any Hotdogs-type cache!), 2) A hide with an exceptionally clever or unique container or 3) A hide that brings you to a cool location. I (self-admittedly) may be one of the people that zuma mentions in the snippet, at least to some extent. I don’t mind to find a PNG every so often, mainly to give myself a break between caches and boost my numbers a bit (though I definitely wouldn’t consider myself a “numbers cacher”) or because it is close to a restaurant, hotel, etc. However, where my dislike of PNGs (mainly directed at film cans) comes into play is when they take away from the possibility of a much better hide somewhere within 528 feet. There have been countless chunks of woods and trails taken away in my area by film cans in signposts around the perimeter of an “outdoorsy-type” property, hidden for nothing but numbers. With a good stock of ammo cans sitting here at home, I can’t help but wonder how many other hides I could put out if not for some of those PNGs. Just my two cents.
Some interesting discussion, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ll have to check on CrowTRobot’s hides whenever we’re in their neighborhood.
Also, I found the observation by Ostermi about the signpost hides cutting out the possibility of hiding in those little pockets of nature. We have a stock of ammo cans, too, but having had two of them go missing, we are more cautious about where we place them. None of the ones in Bice Forest have gone missing, though a small lock and lock letterbox was plagued over the years, leading us to just give that one up. Critters, no doubt.
I think all of us find those quick p/gs from time to time. We’re heading out later today to get a couple like that….they’re on our map, ha ha! They surely have their place to help break up a drive, allow some caching in poor weather conditions or allow those with some physical limitations to play. We’ve seen a huge shift in our area from the hikes to cool spots to what Trekkin’ calls “pavement caches.” As the game has changed, his theory is that new people see those and that’s what they hide.
I’d like to point out that there is a big difference between your favorite kind of caches and the ones that you have time to do.
My favorite caches are hikes in the woods, far from civilization. However, I am a mom with three kids in various activities, that works and also volunteers for many different kinds of places. Living in the Milwaukee area there were no shortage of PNG’s and sometimes I’d find them if I had time to kill. In fact, every day I had about 45 minutes of time to kill between when I got off of work and when the kids had to be picked up from school. Sometimes I’d run errands, sometimes I’d park and read a little, sometimes I’d pick up a couple of caches.
We do schedule family hikes as often as we can, but even then we usually can only spare a few hours between all of the kid’s various sports and activities, social obligations, etc. Most of our caching out of our home territory has been on the way to or from another family event or kid’s activities or some other destination we’re already going. This is when I choose a cache that helps me meet some sort of challenge. The one that I’m working on the most right now isn’t a challenge, but it’s competing the WGA State Parks Series. We’ve taken “the long way” home many times to pick up some caches. I also want to do the 52 pick-up challenge but haven’t gotten too far on it yet. So I run a PQ for qualifying caches and adjust our route accordingly.
We very rarely will have a full weekend, or even a full day, where we just choose an area and cache in it. One day when the kids grow up I’m sure that will happen but it isn’t our reality now.
I also do love the brain burners. I have had so many really awesome experiences showing up for a Ranger Boy cache (or other challenging hiders) and meeting with other local cachers. The camaraderie and mental challenge is priceless!
And sometimes (probably the most frequent caching I do) I have an hour or two with my kids and so we will head to a park or some sort of attraction where caching comes second. We enjoy the destination and pick up a cache or two while we’re there.
So this would be why I’ve found very few Trekkin and Birdin caches. I’m sure they are amazing caches and I would enjoy them. But I don’t have family in that area, or a church in our synod, my husband doesn’t have any clients there, etc. We just hardly ever visit that part of the state! Now that it’s closer I hope that will change, however.
Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien
Becca, I agree….sometimes you just have to do what you can and save the favorites for when you have the time. Though we’ve sort of entered a “second parenthood” with the taking on of childcare for one of our grandkids, we are at a different point (until they get a little older) of having some free time, though surely not as much as we thought we would in retirement. Any visions of traveling all over are just not in our immediate future for now, but we’ve adjusted and found new ways to entertain ourselves close to home, not necessarily related to finding boxes in the woods.
We do notice over the almost nine years we’ve been doing this how the general direction of what people want and find has changed a lot. I know people use the favorites to help find the stuff they want to find, but I like looking at photos and reading logs, too, although those are less helpful than they once were with the advent of mass logging. But that’s a whole different subject!
I have to laugh at the “attraction” method of choosing caches. We’ve kind of done that quite often the past year, the attraction usually being a winery we want to visit, or less often, somewhere there have been cool birds sighted. Honestly, that can be really the most fun, because you aren’t so driven to make the find, knowing you have other reasons for making that trip.
Think most are saying the same thing …
There are two kinds that are very annoying…
1) Some caches are hidden just as ego trips and numbers for the hider…. several examples of someone just walking a trail or path or even roadway and dropping caches every 600 feet with some name concocted for interest .. One of the guiding principles for caches is I believe the requirement that if the only reason a person goes to the spot where the cache is hidden is to find it, it should not be approved as a geocache…. Wisconsin reviewers should keep that in mind to prevent what exists in some areas and certainly in AZ.
2) In AZ, there are thousands of examples of someone that walked a trail, (and even state highways) and dropped containers every 600ft – 1/2 mile and normally cover it with gravel and/or rocks… Most have no value of being there and calling them “Arizona Style” just means they are buried under rocks , pebbles, gravel, sand…. I understand that caches are NOT to be buried completely or even partially….. this is ignored in AZ and being 100% covered out of sight with rocks,gravel, pebbles, sand, is still being buried in my book. There are examples of dozens hidden in the gravel between the curbs in the parking lots of malls and large stores…….I ignored those but wasted time driving to general area…………….
Interesting thread. I like everything – just depends the mood and the weather. If it is cold, cold, cold and even if it is hot, hot, hot – those PnG caches get me out – but also allow me to lavish in the heat/ac of my geomobile. Probably my absolute favorite is a State Park full of a variety of hides where I can just park the geomobile and get on a trail and get lost. I don’t mind the bike trails either. We will bike one way grabbing every other cache and then bike back and pick up the ones we skipped. Great exercise.
Currently – it is winter – and I love working on puzzles – nothing beats a good puzzle – especially when I the light bulb goes on. I have had puzzles that have taken me years to solve – and the satisfaction is fabulous.
We have been to so many places we would never have known about had it not been for a geocache. I love this element of geocaching also. We were recently in Jerusalem and there is a cache hidden at every gate. None were difficult hides. However, the old city was a maze and knowing how to get to any one gate was a piece of cake because each had a cache!
Favorite all time cache – the one we just did in Petra, Jordan – where we hired donkeys and climbed a steep piece of rock! The view at the top was 360. It doesn’t get much better!
Currently, we are working on a Cheesy Challenge (will not mention the CO’s name) – and we have been working on this challenge for nearly five years! Getting closer. There will be a time of celebration. I think we have 11 to go.
The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA board.
We have been caching since 2006 and many the about caching have changed since then. But the biggest change for me is the fact that in 2006 I was 59 years old and now I am 68. I had a heart procedure done in 2006 and hopefully my heart is the same now, but most likely it is not. My knees are bad, but I still manage to hike with pain. We walked 3 miles on the Bugline Trail today. I do that regularly to try and maintain my ability to do hiking caches. Last April we did all of the caches in Bice Forest and as difficult as it was for me it remains near the top of our list of memorable caching adventures. For us and our love of geocaching it has now become a mix of everything that the game now has to offer. Last weekend we walked the 2+ miles on the Rock River with the group to hunt the Owl Series. Did my knees hurt? Yes! Was it fun? You bet! Yesterday we did our first 5/5 which took some physical skill. We also found about a dozen hides in small parks and an equal amount of park and grabs. Our recent trip to Tennessee was a mix of hiking and park and grabs. It was the way we planned it and it turned out to be an amazing trip. Where this is going I’m not sure, but this is my perspective of geocaching for what it has to offer. In the next couple of months we have some hiking caches we want to find and I’m sure will satisfy the itch to find some caches with some park and grabs too. We have camping trips planned for this summer which will lead to some finds. In July we are going on a waterfall tour. Haven’t even looked if there are caches there, but I bet there are. The weather doesn’t look too nice for tomorrow so I hope a lot of you are online somewhere so I can get my geocaching fix there.
In July we are going on a waterfall tour.
I’m still waiting for that event you had talked about where we were all going to camp and all go find waterfalls together.
Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien
I enjoy the caches that take me to somewhere I haven’t been. A new trail, park, etc. I also tend to do those that I won’t be in view of a lot of traffic, or people, so the walk in the woods for me is great. I also tend to avoid those placed on private property. Something about those make me unsure yet. Maybe because I’m still somewhat of a newbie. I do like those on a trail where there are multiple caches hidden. Like someone else mentioned, I will walk or bike them, and hit every other one going, so that I have some to do on the return trip. I do also like seeing all the “stuff” in the caches. Sure sometimes its not much, but still interesting to see what people have left.
~ **~ All posts are my opinion and do not in any way reflect the opinion of the WGA Board of Directors ~**~
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