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I tend to enjoy a variety of caches.  For a while I enjoyed a lot of the more difficult puzzles, when the kids were younger park and grabs.  Now we are almost out of the park phase with the kids and their lives seem to run our schedule for the most part.  My all time favorite cache was Out of Site.  Another more recent favorite is Vampire Empire.  The well thought out caches always tend to be the best.

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I am out in Mukwonago, which is close enough to see that the Waukesha area is populated with cachers more than any other parts of the state.  We also are a family that doesn’t like to camp at the same location every time we camp, yet we do return to locations because we enjoy them that much we need to see more of that area.  Like picking a camping location for an event, availability and accommodations need to be looked into before deciding.  Like locations choices for WGA events.  I feel we do need to expand and visit more of the different locations WI has to offer.  Basing a location by a poll is not always the best answer but it does help give feedback.  Holding event near the extreme populated areas of cachers isn’t always the best as well, because of the caching impact.  Geotrails, the nonCITO oriented cachers, so on.

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only rain here 🙁 but soon I’ll be able to clear all the dog stuff in the yard.

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lol, NEWbie…. You might want to recheck the threads…. I have some posts from wayyyyyy back.

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blah blah bla bla bubblahhh Good morning everyone.

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My mission statement would be “increase esponsiveness”.

 

As all types of forum posts, questions, directives, and roles, these all come down to the board being responsive to the situation.  From members to the visitors, and as leaders we are all here to help the WI geocaching community educate the importance of what geocaching is.

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I am going to assume that the current board has already set things in motion for the 15 years.  Geocoins are always great swag as well.

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I am very approachable, from being a diverse leader.  I never thought I would enjoy leading a small class and a den yet after getting outside of my box searching for more, the last few years I have learned more is not always the answer. The nourishment from volunteering is the satisfaction enough for me.

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If you post maintenance visits to your caches that haven’t been found in a while shows the reviewer you do want to keep your cache and haven’t abandoned it.

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I agree with Trekkin, the hobby has made way too many changes which is helping beginners show an interest and before they can understand jump in and cause havoc.  I have gone back away from the phone caching and our numbers have begun to decline with the type of caches hidden.  It seems a lot of people are lacking creativity in general.  Logs like “tftc” and seeing the same music groups used as the basis of a cache hide get old real quick.  We do occasionally geocache still but other hobbies are taking over.  Maybe one day we will become interested in running numbers again, but it isn’t looking positive.

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This last year or so, we have definitely cut back ALOT of our caching. Currently, we are probably at our lowest count per cache finds in a year.

What slowed our gaining interest in the hobby was the negativity and laziness of others, as well as our combined interests that as our children grow older they really have a lack of interest in geocaching.

When we started, it was a blast and then as our numbers grew and a competition of getting higher numbers within the “family” we have that geocaches. As competitions gained within, a dull finish geocaching was giving us. Then we would flip flop on the type of caches we enjoyed the most. Each type would win dependent on the wants and needs we had at the time.

As we started to get more into the game we began to enjoy the factors of exercise. We started exercising more to get the longer multis, the hikes and walks. Then we really got into the puzzle solving and FTF races. We met more and more people through geocaching through the social events but as the extra games became more and more popular within the hobby so did the competition. Some of the local hiders seemed to compete for who would hide the hardest puzzle or cache, and the finders would compete to FTF. The negativity for us started to build within the hobby at this time. We would hear back stabbing comments at events, people discussing how they could “bend” the rules set by geocaching. ETC. At that time my wife and I looked at each other and we knew to us, this hobby unless society changes the lack luster will dull or even fade off. We even contemplated losing our premium membership.

Here we sit reading our thoughts as you post them. My wife and I have definitely stayed friends with some of the charter members who play the hobby with the same mindset. We cherish some of the friendships we have made in this hobby. We still hide and find, its much more rare now. Our ties have been cut to the negativity we were feeling while geocaching. By cutting those ties we have started to again enjoy some of those classic hides and even some of the classic hikes and challenges. We are now playing the hobby completely differently, enjoying it as we enjoy some of the hobbies we enjoy as a family, fishing or hiking, hunting or canoeing, water skiing or out at a picnic lunch. A rare FTF run for a cache, but the numbers mean nothing to us again. What we enjoy when we look at the stats map are another county we may have visited we have not yet seen, a destination as a family or with true friends.

The PAFs we still have are those cachers that we thought were true people. Those genuine people we are only looking for a friendship, not a group to make a multi easier, or the easy way out on a 5 star puzzle. Like BBG’s story, someone who is willing to carry the extra weight because the extras are just the bonus in life. Who needs the negativity when there is so much positivity out there to cherish.

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I did not see a date posted spankybrandonf plans to have an event on Washington Island, but I know the Rock Island Campout is a blast. We attended one year and wish we could attend again. It is an annual event and I am pretty sure it will stay to become one of the longest running campouts. If you havent, its definitely a worthy event.

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As I was scouting new hide locations for the CITO here in Mukwonago, the dog and I came back with numerous ticks. Therefore in interest of not having to maintain those tick infested areas, we went against hiding the caches there.

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Anyone have an idea of when the gc.com listing for the campout will be? We are planning on coming unless something changes.

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Our walk today was at about -6 to. -8. We made about 2 miles one way
Then cold started to set in on the youngest. Well worth the trip.

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