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Congratulations! We’ve been enjoying these caches, too…have a way to go before getting to the final, though. Way to go!
We generally have to travel 50 miles or more to spend a day caching now, so it’s just not smart for us to be skipping stuff, especially with gas prices doing what they do. So that makes it tough for us to pass things up, which is probably why, even though we can see runs of non-traditionals, there’s a green box or two among the mix. Same with the guardrails…..though we don’t particularly love those, if they’re in the area, we aren’t going to stick our noses up at them, either. 😉 The same will probably be true of gls’s new challenge….we aren’t going to drive that far to get just a handful of caches. Both of these challenges are ones that a newer cacher definitely can have the edge, which is nice for a change.
I’ll be interested to see what others are able to do with this. If nothing else, it should help get those other icons that usually get passed by most folks a little more love.
Going through this little exercise showed me one thing…..we don’t really discriminate or go out to do “puzzle runs,” “earthcache runs” or that kind of thing. We’ll have a section on the GSAK My finds with a nice mix of a little of everything, but there’s always a traditional or three in there, too.
Lots of clumps of 4-5. Quite a few of 8 non-traditionals. The best I found was 15, and many, but not all, of those were Marc’s 900 Cemetery series, for which we did do the ALRs. I think there were a few multis and an EC or two in that mess, too.
Seth, There’s something like that in the Twin Cities metro. One of the multitudes of KB challenges, many of which are close to my parents’ home, since KB also lives in the area. Thus, many of which we’ve taken the time to try and qualify. I’d have to look back to see how it worked. It might have been simply a progressive one MN find, two MN finds kind of thing. The day could include only MN caches, and the number had to be right on the head for that day.
Lately, though we still pursue various challenge caches, it seems like there are so many now. We’ve been sort of creating our own personal challenge/goals more and more. We won’t get a separate smiley for any of those, but it still helps guide our caching choices. I think at this point, we just hope to finish up the waterfall one, do the Rustic Road one and finish the MN DeLorme. It gets to be more time consuming to sort out all these challenges, and I’m running out of bookmarks, anyway. LOL
Thanks Pete, we’ve enjoyed the ones we’ve done and agree there is a lot of great research that Rick’s already done to make these not only fun finds, but historically interesting as well. They’re a bit beyond our reach or we’d take some ourselves. Thanks Rick for making this offer instead of closing them all down. There is too much good material in them to let them go in place of a quick stop with just a smiley (which has its place, mind you!)
Before this gets too much farther down the road (and downhill), let’s look at how this incident can be turned around to be a positive thing for the local law enforcement in the area. Todd has already helped by stopping in and sharing the information that will hopefully be passed along. Another thread asks about educating the various agencies, and I looked back into the thread in which the information card was discussed, and though it was approved and quotes for printing were obtained, I’m not sure if it went beyond that point. This incident is perhaps a good reminder to continue with that effort, which it sounds like many of our members have already done on their own.
In an area the size of the greater Green Bay metro, in times when budgets and staff are being pinched, monitoring geocaching and the like is probably not a big priority in the grand scheme. I’d like to think these little episodes can offer a small window of opportunity to help inform those who are charged with protecting and serving. Thanks to those of you who’ve already taken that initiative.
I know our community education committee, spearheaded in this effort mainly by Jerry’s Dad, did a nice job of creating a simple, direct information card for law enforcement groups.
As for the premium membership thing, not sure on that one. I do know of a few caches that have been checked out by local police, who signed them, even. So they aren’t all lacking in information. In our encounters, only one time did the officer not have a clue about the sport, but he does now. The others, when they heard ‘geocaching,’ simply said, “Carry on!”
I do think placements close to places like parks, schools and residences are going to generate concern at times. Another argument for the good old ammo cans in the woods! 😉
So Ralph, what do you REALLY think? 😯
I have to agree in general, though……it’s tough to hit the bad luck you’ve had once, much less twice, but hang in there.
I did a geocaching presentation for Perrot State Park this past August, and learned that about 30% of the positions within the DNR (can’t remember if it was the agency as a whole or just the parks division) are going unfilled now due to budget. As attrition occurs, other people are doubling up, and of course, many things go to the “later” piles. The naturalist told me her position is actually funded now by the park’s “Friends” group.
Although the people in the DNR know that geocaching brings more people out, they have to do the stuff on the top of their lists first. Probably, taking care of notification forms is not at that part of the list. This is also part of the problem in trying to get a state park geocaching program off the ground. They are indeed interested, but they don’t have a staff person with the time available to monitor their side of the program.
One of my pet peeves regarding cemetery hides is “clever” or evil hides. Not appropriate. Usually I’m not so publicly opinionated about things, but this is about the one spot where I’ll make an exception to my laid back attitude. Granted, sometimes the placer doesn’t think it will be that way, but after a few seekers have trouble, it should be evaluated so as to maintain a respectful situation. We had one like that…..when people had trouble with something we thought was easy, we just archived it and did a new one, which has seemed to work well.
And yes…we had permission. From the caretaker and the neighbor lady, who found the concept really interesting. My other main pet peeve in general is any hide placed in such a way that people get aggressive in messing up the location in their search. The sport, as it has evolved, seems in some cases to have become “just how hard can I make this for someone to find?” not “can I make this so someone can find it?” A hide can be clever and difficult, with the emphasis on clever being key.
As always, in those moments when I express an opinion, it is mine alone, not to be confused with the WGA Board role I play right now. (which is basically to take notes!)
In Minnesota, any cemetery cache is placed in this way, for the most part.
I had a different kind of cemetery caching experience over the weekend. We did a cache on the way up to Duluth in the small Minnesota town where about half of my ancestors are buried. I have been there many times, of course, and knew they were there, but it’s been many years, and seeing Grandma and Grandpa’s headstones, along with countless other family, had me with a bit of a catch in my throat. It gave me a little different perspective on cemetery cache placements (which we do usually enjoy). I noticed a new series in another area of “zombie” caches, placed in or near cemeteries. I know the cachers intend it as fun, which they say, but had I encountered my grandparents while searching for a “zombie cache”…..I am not sure I’d see the humor. And I think most who know me know I have a pretty laid back sense of humor about most things, including zombies….in their rightful place. I think if you have to comment in your write up that “no disrespect is intended,” maybe you should reconsider your placement and theme.
So I guess this is the long way of saying, always think respectfully when placing these things, from permission to placement to cache write up. We try to do exactly what CJ suggests, create a puzzle from a visit to a noteworthy stone, and place the cache on the fringes.
Congratulations….have you done a WhereIGo for any of those milestones? If you don’t have the “tools,” I’m sure someone would love to help you out for the big 1K. Again, congrats!
10/30/2010 at 3:46 am in reply to: Team Honeybunnies completes yet another state challenge! #1937965You rock, THB!
I just used this feature to make a note on a puzzle I’m trying to solve that X did not work for this one. That way, I know I’ve tried that whenever I get back to it.
No smartphone, so all the reasons huffinpuffin’s friend mentioned help us, but I thought it was rather cool for this purpose.
It’s not a variant of hash runs, is it? If not, then….nope, never heard of it!
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