My geocaching adventures started in March 2008. A few weeks prior, a friend came to me with this “game he found.” And, considering he had GPS receivers, he thought it sounded interesting.
On a snowy winter day, we ventured out to seek some geocaches. Trekking through snow, and digging around, we ended up finding five that day. What a fun little game this was. People hid stuff, we found it. Rinse, repeat.
Good times.
That exposed me to a whole new world. This “treasure hunt” of sorts was something that needed to be expanded in my world – and it was.
Geocaching and the changing priorities to go with the game.
On a recent episode of the Geocaching Podcast, the hosts talked about geocaching priorities and how they’ve changed. Basically, it’s an evolution of one’s thoughts and actions in the game.
It made me think a little, too.
My priorities in geocaching certainly have changed. When I first started, it was a fun game to go out and see what was hidden. It was also different back in 2008. There were fewer caches. People didn’t rush out for FTFs (first to finds) within minutes.
But the game – just like the players – evolves over the years. There are more ways to play (smart phones etc.) that make it easier for people to come and go. There’s more of a rush to get caches hidden, which results is more “meh” hides. There are people who post finds from their couch, which makes no sense. What’s the point if you don’t actually find it?
To each their own.
But after listening to the hosts, I thought this would make for a good blog post as my priorities in the game have change immensely since I started.
My first find came on March 1, 2008. That means, counting up to the day this post is published, I’ve been caching for 7 years, 123 days. That’s a long time.
And over that time, I have 4,000 finds. To me, that’s quite a few. Others in a span shorter than mine, have gone well beyond 10,000 finds, so it’s all relative. I’ve gone through some different phases in geocaching, too. And if you look at my statistics, you’d definitely see that.
I scored 686 finds in my first year and then found 1,030 in my second. I haven’t been close to that number since (my highest since then is 539 in 2012). On that note, I’ve found more this year already (236) than I did last year (227), and I have six months left to go. I also have some great caching trips planned, so that will be fun.
So where have my priorities changed?
Well, to start, I still enjoy geocaching a ton. It’s a fun outdoor activity that gets me out and about and brings me to places I never likely would have gone without the game. I still like finding things and such, but I also have started to tire of the “crap” caches. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still find those caches, but there’s no rush.
I like adventures a lot still. By that I mean the full caching day where we plan out a bunch of great caches and all and then go on a fun road trip and find them. Sometimes it means discovering a few good places to eat, or some trashy places with awful food. It means 20-plus hour days of hanging out and caching. It means miles and miles of entertainment.
But there’s another reality to priorities – I don’t like geocaching alone. To me, it’s just not as fun. Maybe if it’s a hike in the woods or something so I can clear my mind. But most geocaches? Not fun. So people I’ve cached with have moved along, or jobs get in the way (same with me), so the days of caching just aren’t as easy to plan out.
Too, I’ve started doing a lot of different things. I have other hobbies that take up some time. Heck, some of my other hobbies (home brewing) have taken a back seat – and that needs to change, too!
I also like to find better geocaches. I don’t run out for FTFs (I picked up four on Jan. 1, 2014, and then one a month or so ago… so not many in the past two years). I still get excited to move travelers and coins. I get super giddy if I find an actual Pathtag IN a cache and I love meeting fellow geocachers on the trail. Events are what I truly love as it gives you a chance to talk with many different people.
So yeah, priorities have changed – and I think for the better.
But it’s the experiences. I still totally want to do the ET trail in Nevada (where you can score 2,000+ geocaches in like three days), but I want to do it with 2-3 friends with cameras and videos to make sure it’s one heck of an experience.
That’s where my priorities are now – with the adventure and spending time with friends and enjoying all aspects of the game. There are cliques, and groups, and factions, and drama and all that – just like with any other thing in life. I’ve done my best to avoid it in recent years and it’s made the game more fun, which is a bonus.
So get out and find some geocaches. Or do something else. But when you come back to it, take it for what it’s worth and make sure your priorities with the game are fully straight!
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!
I’ve been caching since March 5, 2001. Definitely the game has changed.
The closest cache to my house back then was 7 miles away and required a half mile hike to get to it. That’s nearly impossibly now.
I agree with your lots of “meh” caches are being hidden. The smartphone app has made the game more accessible, but at the same time has encouraged these types of hides.
I think Geocaching.com would be doing a great service to the entire community if they were able to lock up accounts and not allow anyone to hide until A. They had at least 6 months of caching under their belt. With 6 months, you’re starting to show that you’re in the game for the long haul. Yes, people still get burned out or find other interests, but I think this would prevent those prepubescent kids from discovering geocaching, going out two days later and hiding a “meh” cache and then three months later forgetting about it because they discovered girls, or boys in the interim.
Or B. they would need to have at least 100 finds. This would insure that at least they knew what a decent hide is. Too many people hide what they find, which is one of the reason we have a proliferation of LPC hides. At least one could hope that a person with 100 finds under their belt would know what a good hide is and a “meh” hide is by that time. They could see that every lamppost doesn’t need a geocache hidden underneath it.
Or C. a combination of both.
Now granted, if those rules had been in place when I started, my first hide would have been disallowed. I didn’t get my first 100 finds until about three years later. I hid my first cache at 4 months. But things were different then. There weren’t that many caches to find, so it was more difficult to get to 100, let alone into 1000, which took me 5 and three quarter years from when I started.
Still, I felt I had some experience at that time and wanted to give back to the community. That first cache isn’t around, only because I moved from the area. It was hidden right behind my house and I could watch geocachers look for it. When we moved, I archived it. However, the second cache I hid a month after the first one is still going strong. It gets about one find a year or so, but it was hidden in August 2001, so it’s one of those old caches that will help younger cachers fill in their grid some day.
Paul recently posted..Photo Blogging Challenge (June 2015): Anything goes
You’ve been around the game a lot longer than I have, Paul. It’s changed immensely in the few years I’ve been doing it. I can’t imagine the landscape change from 2001 until now.
I agree with you in regard to the smartphone. It’s helped the overall feel of the game because it gets many new eyes out there. The problem is, as you note, people rush to place a ton of caches without taking the time to really understand the game and such. The issue here is the quality of caches.
I don’t mind finding a micro here and there, but it’s still nice to find larger containers. What’s the point of going for a hike in the woods to find a bison hanging in a tree?
It’s like, really? Our area has a lot of the smaller ones and, sometimes, it takes the spot where better caches could be. In the past, we’ve had that “window throw” feel with some caches – basically, we joke, it’s a throw the cache and take a quick reading as you go by. In other words, coordinates are way off and then it’s a junk cache. Those, thankfully, have been dwindling.
Though I agree there should be some restrictions on placing caches, it’s tough to say which. Some people have hundreds of finds and don’t always log online. I know a person who likely has more than 10,000 finds … and they have like 3,000 logged. It’s just how they are. The rules say to sign the log. He does that. So if you have somebody like that, could you say “You don’t have 100 finds … no cache placement?” I’m sure there’s a happy medium somewhere.
The game will continue to evolve. I don’t do as much as I used to when it comes to geocaching. I hope this fall to get back into it a bit more. I have a bunch of caches I’d like to place, so we’ll see how it goes. Here’s hoping for a good fall and the ability to put some quality caches out there for people to find!
We haven’t geocached in a long time. At least a year. I’m with the other commenter. So. Many. Light posts. Ugh. We did talk about looking for some caches on our trip to michigan coming up. Your post is pushing me towards picking it up again.
There are definitely an obscene amount of caches like that. But there are some decent ones still out there. Just have to hunt a little more for them.
I go in spurts. I’ll go a month or two without, and then go ahead and do a bunch for a month or two. I think it keeps me still into the game that way.