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I guess now it would be Felsenmeer Ridge (GC10G67) outside of Rice Lake. It highlights a unique geological feature, is a longish hike and has a great view at GZ. Plus it takes you right past a significant Indian pipestone quarry. It started as a simple addon to my Pipestone Quarry cache (GC10G4M) but evolved into something more.
I was inspired by the oldest cache in Eau Claire County (Green in Green (GC9F0), by Klahn) so, I’d always wanted to hide a 10 gallon pail with some really neat information inside for the finders to read about the area while at the cache. So, eventually I was able to transform Felsenmeer Ridge into that type of tribute cache.
Tell you what, superimpose GMO’s compass rose over the state of Wisconsin in the logo and I think you’d have a winner.
To keep participation up, I like the idea of throwing all the names of those who find a certain number of LCG’s/yr into a hat and do a raffle of some sort.
Those who are serious can play to win, and those who just can’t devote the time to a competition but LOVE finding lonely caches have a reason to participate.
Like others have said, nothing wrong with playing hard or playing to win, that’s what a competition is all about. Having a method to reward those who participate is good, too.
No bugs, no humidity, and you’re wearing long pants not because the thorns will tear up your bare legs but because it’s Winter. Winter caching is the best!!!
I carry a garden trowel, it’s small and easy to carry and chips through ice encased caches pretty well. We also avoid non winter friendly micros during the snowy stretches.
I love cemetery caches, but I guess I’m a little guilty of being a bit uncomfortable when I see pictures posted of anonymous headstones on a cache page. If the stone is someone you know or it’s a family member, it’s different.
The grave plot and stone are owned by someone and considered private property, but of course there’s no real enforced law prohibiting someone from photographing private property. Happens all the time, and they are meant to be seen. But, if I were to run across a web page where anonymous people were posting pictures of say, my car or house, and writing goofy posts about it, I wouldn’t feel threatened or angry, but maybe a bit weirded out by it. A bit uncomfortable. If I had a vote, I’d restrict pictures to stones of people you know, but that’s just MHO.
Congrats T&B! Keep having fun out there!
Thanks! The whole family had a blast and kudos to elfdoctors for a great series through Crex Meadows. I think the sandhills were migrating as we saw hundreds if not thousands of them, plus a great up close view of some trumpeter swans on one of the ponds. Lots of wildlife and a great spot for our milestone!
I think it sort of violates the “permanancy” aspect of placing a geocache so I prefer not to do that unless problems arise or cache needs to be moved a fairly “long” distance from original placement.
But, each cache owner has their own reasons for doing what they do, so who am I to argue? 😉
After reading all the logs from the event I am SOOOO jealous we weren’t able to come! Sounds like it was a really fun event and a great start to the regional events.
The transmission went out in our car at 10pm Fri night in the thriving metropolis of Ewen, Michigan so I was really, really, really, really wishing we had been able to stay home this weekend for the event! The wedding was nice, but getting stranded really S*cked 🙁
Wish we were there.
🙄 Aye Carumba. My last 2 posts I was merely writing in generalities, not as responses to any single post. My apologies to Hemi and Sandlanders who may have thought differently. 😉
I totally agree about long hikes to a difficult find. The hike was difficult enough! Let me rest up a bit with cache in hand and enjoy the view before heading on down the trail.
“I wuz here” cards should be outlawed. There, I’ve said it. Just sign the log book to tell us you were here. Nobody gives a dang about your moldy old cards. People who leave them in caches should be forced to listen to Yanni for eternity.
That is so funny! 😆 And, I could not agree more! Sorry to those who use sig cards, but…
Now that this thread has completely veered off course, I’m signin’ off. Ciao! 😉
This argument is only valid is somebody doesn’t research the area they are going to cache
I think for a truly enjoyable experience you HAVE to research which caches you are going to do. Still, like Hemi said, not all cache pages will tell you if it’s worth looking for or not, so even with alot of research you may overlook some great caches or choose some you wished you had skipped. A cache near home, GCRPMB I had skipped for some time. Too many muggles, lots of DNF’s, sneaking around in bushes near an area where college girls lay on the rocks. Not good for a creepy middle aged man! However…..after finally deciding to do the cache on a rainy afternoon, it turned out to be a very worthwhile experience and a great clever micro cache. You may suspect it will be lame, but you just never know. It may be very clever without much of a hint of it’s cleverness, especially if you’re one of the first to find and don’t have many logs to go by.
I tend to give the benefit of the doubt, especially locally so will hunt ’em all. But, if I’m driving quite a ways I carefully select which caches I want to look for, specifically to hopefully avoid disappointment and to maximize the chances of seeing some great places that I havn’t seen before. Of course by doing this, I’m sure I’ve skipped many great caches and experiences.
Skipping all micros because you don’t like lame micros would be foolish, cuz you’d miss out on some awesome locations and clever hides and containers. You just never know.
The problem with the “don’t look for ’em if you don’t like ’em” argument is that you don’t know if it will be lame before you look for it. It may turn out to be an amazingly unique or creative hide, a fantastic location…….or a lame guardrail/lamppost hide. If I ignored all micros in the woods I never would have stopped for GCP543 a cache by Candy Apple Green. It’s a micro, but it’s a micro because it had to be for CAG to give you the experience he wanted to give you, rock hopping to the edge of a cascading waterfall on a tiny island. No room for a regular, but plenty for a micro. It’s an amazing example of how good a micro can be. Unfortunately, for every cache like this, there are twice as many that are uninteresting hides in uninteresting locations. You just don’t know before you look; you may suspect, but you just don’t know for sure.
It’s not about the swag, and if you’re older than 12 I think we’d all agree. BUT…..sometimes it can be, as a nice surprise, I think. Probably between 1/3 and 1/2 of my caches get visited between 3-5 times per year, sometimes less. They are remote and require long hikes to reach them. Knowing this I will occasionally stock them with some nice items, not so much as an incentive but as an added reward for taking the effort to search for it. The journey and the end locations should be reward enough, but perhaps trading for something nice might make it even more memorable. If it’s not an even trade, I really don’t care, plus, since they are visited so rarely, the containers won’t go bare anytime soon. We’ve found some nice stuff too. We don’t expect it, don’t always trade for it, but when we see it we appreciate the thought someone put in to add to the experience.
There’s a different mentality and different methods due to necessity between urban and rural geocachers, it won’t change and there’s nothing wrong with either. Just a little thought into placing a cache, micro or regular, would go long way towards preserving the quality of the game.
My view is even more restrictive, so I don’t expect many to agree with it, which is fine, but I’ll throw it out there just for kicks and giggles. [ 😀 ]
I remember when Earthcaches were rare and very special and unique to find because the original intent was to showcase a natural feature, unique geology or sensitive area that was off limits to geocaching like National Parks, SNA’s, etc… or where heavy traffic would damage a fragile ecosystem. The requirements were very stringent and the logging requirements were tough as well. I would like to go back to that system, although I can understand why that probably won’t happen.
In my opinion (and my opinion only) alot of them have become glorified virtuals where alot of locations could support a regular geocache. If a regular geocache is allowed, I say place a regular geocache and give a really nice writeup on why it’s a unique and special location, or make it into a cool multi. Save the earthcaches for places off limits to geocaching. I would even support earthcaches abiding by the .10 mile limits.
Logging an earthcache has lost a bit of it’s luster because there are so many of them and many deal with common geology. To me, earthcaches are more about quality than quantity, and believe the more difficult the requirements and more unique the phenomena, the more special they are and will be.
But that’s just me…..too much of a traditionalist. [ 😉 ]
There’s actually a bunch of them up here if you happen to trek north in the future. Some of my favorites are:
GC126TB Reesebe Dam – Abandoned homestead and dam on Eau Claire River. Dam site really neat. Never gets visited.
GCZ4TQ Silverbrook Treasure – Abandoned farm and old mansion site with a nice waterfall to boot! Interstate State park. The trail is the original abandoned road from Osceola to St Croix falls.
GC12FBV I’m Still Standing – Very clever Mutsley and Crew cache at site of old farmstead. Interstate State Park.
GCTFWT Ruins at half Moon Lake – Ruins of old lumber mill. Right in the middle of Eau Claire, but back in the woods and way out of site. Hidden spot not many locals know about.
GCTP4X Porterville History on the Chippewa River Trail. – Classic ghost town location with historical plaque. On a bike trail with many AWESOME caches along it.
GCXM0C – Lone Grave – Very eerie site in the middle of nowhere. Single grave of an infant that is frequented often by locals. You have to see it to believe it.
GC10G4M – Pipestone Quarry. Near Rice Lake. Abandoned quarry once used by the Ojibwa 2000 years ago, one of only 3 or 4 known pipestone quarries in the country.
GCT82X – North Country Trail: Swedish Settlement. Abandoned settlement WAY back in the woods along NCT. 4-5 foundations plus old spring house still standing. Many artifacts remain. Rarely visited.
If the area can support a larger cache, why not place a larger cache? Micros in the woods, pine trees, rock piles etc… can be hard to find for absolutely no reason, plus they have a larger likelyhood of being muggled…by squirrels.
I understand the cost of filling a cache with swag is prohibitive, but it really doesn’t have to have much in it to keep kids happy. Plus, even if you never trade for swag, lots of people enjoy the opportunity of finding TB’s, jeeps and geocoins.
I worry about the new people coming into the game. I doubt they get into it thinking that what they’re going to be finding is match stick holders in a bush. Think back to when you first started and I’ll bet opening that first box and fingering through the swag was pretty cool.
There’s definitely a place for micros, (multi legs, creative hides and methods, etc…) I just think the majority of geocachers, especially new ones, enjoy a big ‘ol ammo can. Hide ’em how you like ’em.
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