I enjoy urban caches myself. I enjoy the thrill of being out there in the concrete jungle and doing an activity that nobody around me knows about. I have yet to try a cache out in the bush yet because of being a city kid.
I have placed two caches (a small and most recently a micro). I am finding it daunting when placing one as I don't want it to be muggled. I have other ideas for caches that could be interesting but I never know where to place them. I am taking notes from these ideas but it always seems hard to hide a good urban cache.
The steady decline of the quality of geocaching....
I agree with some but not all of the comments here.
It doesn't matter what it is wether its caching or anything else nothing beets "the god old days"
Its "horses for courses" Different cachers like different types of caches and cache for different reasons. I like the long walk through the bush to have a look at the view and to see wildlife and hear only the wilderness. but the fact of the matter is with a young family these types of days are far and few between.
Now days I'm lucky to get a few hours to go caching. most of my caching is before work or during lunch. Today I did a brilliant cache and it only took about 35 -40 min round trip. Yeah the swaps were not that great but for me thats not what this cache was about. It was about finding a multi and solving a very cunning puzzle. finding GZ was reward enough within its self.
When I first started caching I wanted to place a cache but I held back for about 12 months until I got to see what others were doing. During that time I did a cache that was placed by a very experienced and respected cacher. When I found it after a long walk on a hot day there was no logical reason at all for this cache being there. On a back road under a hedge. then I did another that was very close to home. I had driven past an interpretive sign about a shipwreck every day for about four years and never bothered to stop. this was a multi the gz was only about 50 metres away and in a small container with not much room for swaps. I was blown away by this cache. Reading that sign and now being able to answer my kids questions is great. I couldn't believe I had driven past so often and never stopped. Another I did around the same time was at GCJ8QJ in Goulburn. It was also a short walk only about 5 min. But there was a war museum there that has to be the best little museum that I have ever visited. This cache is still at the top of my list for most memorable, not because of the long walk,the size of the container, the swaps or the location of GZ but because of the where it had takem me.
The first cache I placed was to a nice lookout which takes about 1.5 hrs although it is a bit out of the way only 5 people have been there in over 18 months yet my second cache only 15min drive away but only 10 min walk from the carpark has had 28 visits.
I like doing puzzles but there weren't many near home so I started placing some and then others followed. I see puzzle caches more for solving the puzzle rather than going to a location, to me that's what traditionals are for or multi's to follow a track etc. But I still take care when placing puzzle caches in interesting places just not a half day hike and most can be found in someones lunch time or on the way to or from work.
I do agree that the quallity of swaps has droped off and that a maccas toy is not a worthy swap. I usually put TNLN in the log as a polite way of saying there was nothing I liked.
I also agree Mundo when I first went to my first event I took my gpsr hoping to get a few hints but didn't. I think its up to all cahces to help others out. send a pm with a few suggestions heck I got them when I first started placing caches. I wasn't real wraped the first time but then I reaslised they were only trying to help. Not every one visits these forums.
I supose the thing to remember is that not all cachers started caching for the same reasons we did (I doubt that our reasons are the same) and don't have the same expectations.
theres my 2bobs worth
It doesn't matter what it is wether its caching or anything else nothing beets "the god old days"
Its "horses for courses" Different cachers like different types of caches and cache for different reasons. I like the long walk through the bush to have a look at the view and to see wildlife and hear only the wilderness. but the fact of the matter is with a young family these types of days are far and few between.
Now days I'm lucky to get a few hours to go caching. most of my caching is before work or during lunch. Today I did a brilliant cache and it only took about 35 -40 min round trip. Yeah the swaps were not that great but for me thats not what this cache was about. It was about finding a multi and solving a very cunning puzzle. finding GZ was reward enough within its self.
When I first started caching I wanted to place a cache but I held back for about 12 months until I got to see what others were doing. During that time I did a cache that was placed by a very experienced and respected cacher. When I found it after a long walk on a hot day there was no logical reason at all for this cache being there. On a back road under a hedge. then I did another that was very close to home. I had driven past an interpretive sign about a shipwreck every day for about four years and never bothered to stop. this was a multi the gz was only about 50 metres away and in a small container with not much room for swaps. I was blown away by this cache. Reading that sign and now being able to answer my kids questions is great. I couldn't believe I had driven past so often and never stopped. Another I did around the same time was at GCJ8QJ in Goulburn. It was also a short walk only about 5 min. But there was a war museum there that has to be the best little museum that I have ever visited. This cache is still at the top of my list for most memorable, not because of the long walk,the size of the container, the swaps or the location of GZ but because of the where it had takem me.
The first cache I placed was to a nice lookout which takes about 1.5 hrs although it is a bit out of the way only 5 people have been there in over 18 months yet my second cache only 15min drive away but only 10 min walk from the carpark has had 28 visits.
I like doing puzzles but there weren't many near home so I started placing some and then others followed. I see puzzle caches more for solving the puzzle rather than going to a location, to me that's what traditionals are for or multi's to follow a track etc. But I still take care when placing puzzle caches in interesting places just not a half day hike and most can be found in someones lunch time or on the way to or from work.
I do agree that the quallity of swaps has droped off and that a maccas toy is not a worthy swap. I usually put TNLN in the log as a polite way of saying there was nothing I liked.
I also agree Mundo when I first went to my first event I took my gpsr hoping to get a few hints but didn't. I think its up to all cahces to help others out. send a pm with a few suggestions heck I got them when I first started placing caches. I wasn't real wraped the first time but then I reaslised they were only trying to help. Not every one visits these forums.
I supose the thing to remember is that not all cachers started caching for the same reasons we did (I doubt that our reasons are the same) and don't have the same expectations.
theres my 2bobs worth
I was thinking about this, it started out as hiding a container and posting the coordinates for others to find, don't think there was any expectation of it being a 'place of interest'...Team Wibble wrote:Geocaching has evolved and will continue to evolve, from what was probably an original "stick a tupperware container under a bush somewhere that's kind of interesting or in an area that hasn't got one yet"...
So the new cacher hiding a cache next to a drain is just getting back to the roots of the sport. 
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Jardry
- 600 or more caches found
- Posts: 295
- Joined: 23 June 07 9:52 pm
- Twitter: Jardry
- Location: Berri, SA
As with any activity, there are varying degrees of participation.
As long as we cache - there will always be memorable caches and caches that you would prefer to forget.
Just as there was the episode with the sock puppet logging caches that "should be archived" a few weeks ago, we will also have a minority element within the geocaching community that think it fun to create a "bad" cache.
For those cachers for whom its all about the numbers they get another smiley, other cachers can jube more selective and move onto caches they perceive to be more enjoyable for them and ignore these "bad" caches.
Jardry
As long as we cache - there will always be memorable caches and caches that you would prefer to forget.
Just as there was the episode with the sock puppet logging caches that "should be archived" a few weeks ago, we will also have a minority element within the geocaching community that think it fun to create a "bad" cache.
For those cachers for whom its all about the numbers they get another smiley, other cachers can jube more selective and move onto caches they perceive to be more enjoyable for them and ignore these "bad" caches.
Jardry
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SecretSquirrel-BJC
- 2700 or more caches found
- Posts: 731
- Joined: 02 February 07 1:01 pm
- Location: Gungahlin ACT
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SecretSquirrel-BJC
- 2700 or more caches found
- Posts: 731
- Joined: 02 February 07 1:01 pm
- Location: Gungahlin ACT
pjamesk wrote:
Of course, coins and TBs are a different story. I will take every coin and most TBs and move them along. They aren't swaps - some cachers don't know that. And they aren't treasure for the cache either - I don't subscribe to "just take one or swap one at a time" - they are meant to keep moving.
This is just how I play the game - not trying to impose my views on others.
Swapping is fun for some adults and children but I never swap now. I just have a quick look at the "treasure" in the cache, and enjoy seeing all the odds and ends (even if they are $2 macca toys). I figure that swapping is a good way to reduce all cache holdings to the same lowest common denominator. And it is just too much trouble for me keeping track of what went in and out. I don't think that there is much fair trading going on - in general.I usually put TNLN in the log as a polite way of saying there was nothing I liked.
Of course, coins and TBs are a different story. I will take every coin and most TBs and move them along. They aren't swaps - some cachers don't know that. And they aren't treasure for the cache either - I don't subscribe to "just take one or swap one at a time" - they are meant to keep moving.
This is just how I play the game - not trying to impose my views on others.
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team unicycle
- 3500 or more caches found
- Posts: 294
- Joined: 15 April 03 11:03 pm
- Location: Adelaide
- Contact:
There's also those of us who have to clear an area. I find the lame caches, I complain about them, but I *have* to find themJardry wrote:For those cachers for whom its all about the numbers they get another smiley, other cachers can jube more selective and move onto caches they perceive to be more enjoyable for them and ignore these "bad" caches.
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matmob
- 1800 or more caches found
- Posts: 82
- Joined: 12 December 06 1:04 pm
- Location: Mid North South Australia
We have to agree with Webguy. There seems to be quite a few cachers out there who are intent on getting their 'hide' numbers up, and as a result, caches are often micros simply because they are inexpensive and require little or no maintenance. The main reasons for a micro as far as we can see are
a) the area is high with muggle activity which would compromise it
b) it is a clever or devious hide
Having said that, it is possible that one could come across an interesting spot and not have anything else on board to place the cache with other than an Eclipse tin out of the glovebox or something. Our geokid is also losing interest as the swaps are mostly of very poor quality. Another thing that annoys us is that 'themed' caches very quickly lose their theme. If cachers don't have swaps within the theme they should simply TNLN.
a) the area is high with muggle activity which would compromise it
b) it is a clever or devious hide
Having said that, it is possible that one could come across an interesting spot and not have anything else on board to place the cache with other than an Eclipse tin out of the glovebox or something. Our geokid is also losing interest as the swaps are mostly of very poor quality. Another thing that annoys us is that 'themed' caches very quickly lose their theme. If cachers don't have swaps within the theme they should simply TNLN.
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rhinogeo
- 2700 or more caches found
- Posts: 1213
- Joined: 31 October 03 11:45 am
- Twitter: rhinogeo
- Location: Benalla, VIC
One of my caches started out as a 1 litre container but shrank to 500ml after its first muggling and morphed to a Eclipse tin after its 2nd mugglingmatmob wrote:The main reasons for a micro as far as we can see are:
a) the area is high with muggle activity which would compromise it
b) it is a clever or devious hide
As a micro it is surviving very well
If the Nano container is one of theseWebguy wrote:Sort of makes me cringe when I read a comment like...
"This is one of my little Nanos that I am trying to hide everywhere in the bay area."
I guess you won't have to worry about crap swaps, or whether you logged a TB or coin out of em.
then after they've been found a couple of times the logsheet is full and you needn't log them either
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Papa Bear_Left
- 800 or more hollow logs searched
- Posts: 2573
- Joined: 03 April 03 12:28 am
- Location: Kalamunda, WA
- Contact:
I didn't vote as theUMP, but I'd've had to choose that option if I did. Sadly, I'm required to publish the crap ones as well as the ones that've had a lot of thought and effort put into them. (We get issued with a special nose-clip for publishing the smellier ones...)Webguy wrote:7 people have voted they don't care. I'm really curious as to why you don't care if the quality of caching is going down.
As a player, I don't really care that much, as long as there also good caches being published. By their very nature, the crap ones tend to be placed in areas where a good cache wouldn't be placed. If it was a good area, then even a boring micro-cache has at least brought me to a nice place! So, the micro-spew or 'series' of take-away containers in roadside bushes don't 'block' spots where good caches might've gone.
I made a tongue-in-cheek comment here some time ago (as an April Fool's Day joke, I think) that gc.com were going to be charging a couple of bucks to list a cache. It has merit, I think! With very few exceptions, an extra $2 wouldn't add much of a percentage of the cost of our caches, but it might discourage some kid from throwing a dozen film cans around the neighborhood.
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Jardry
- 600 or more caches found
- Posts: 295
- Joined: 23 June 07 9:52 pm
- Twitter: Jardry
- Location: Berri, SA
Only if the $2 went to GCA not GC!!!Papa Bear_Left wrote:I made a tongue-in-cheek comment here some time ago (as an April Fool's Day joke, I think) that gc.com were going to be charging a couple of bucks to list a cache. It has merit, I think! With very few exceptions, an extra $2 wouldn't add much of a percentage of the cost of our caches, but it might discourage some kid from throwing a dozen film cans around the neighborhood.
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Team Wibble
- 2100 or more geocaches found
- Posts: 1054
- Joined: 18 October 04 11:47 am
- Location: Adelaide
No snark intended, but why wouldn't you want the $2 to go to GC if that's where the cache was listed?Jardry wrote:Only if the $2 went to GCA not GC!!!Papa Bear_Left wrote:I made a tongue-in-cheek comment here some time ago (as an April Fool's Day joke, I think) that gc.com were going to be charging a couple of bucks to list a cache. It has merit, I think! With very few exceptions, an extra $2 wouldn't add much of a percentage of the cost of our caches, but it might discourage some kid from throwing a dozen film cans around the neighborhood.