A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

geocaching trackables

Geocaching: Move those travelers when you can!

For those of you who have been into geocaching – or even those who are new – the world of trackables in the game is something cool.

Sometimes, though, it’s a pain.

Let me do a quick explanation, though. Trackables are a subculture, of sorts, with geocaching. Basically there’s an item – a coin, a dog tag, something else – with a trackable number. The idea, normally, is to take it out of a cache, note that you picked it up, move it to another cache, and then drop it. Along the way, the item might acquire photos, and miles, and all sorts of fun.

Well, that’s the hope anyway.

Sometimes, you see, things go wrong.

A lot of times these items will go missing – especially geocoins. Somebody drops them into a cache, a person will come along and just snag them and they are gone – just like that.

That’s tough to swallow when you are paying $8 or more for a coin. Even the official travel bugs are in the $4-$5 range. In the past few years, people have been coming up with proxies of their coins and such (either replica coins, or something completely different) to send out instead of the coin. There are different opinions on proxy coins, but that can be left for another time. I’ve actually blogged about proxy travelers before, so feel free to go back and read that.

People can also discover a trackable – basically just saying they saw it etc. Some of you may remember a while ago, I did a social media experiment where I put a geocoin out there just to see how much it would get discovered. I actually may revisit that at some point down the line (spoiler alert!), but the idea was to see how people would react to “finding” a coin virtually.

Anyway, let’s get to the point of today’s post – what to do when you find trackables in a geocache.

Here’s one thing to remember about a trackable – it’s still owned by the person who set it out etc., it’s just out in the woods. That means that another cache owner can’t put limitations on it. That will make more sense in a moment.

What should you do?

If you think you can move the coin and/or help it on its journey to its goal, then grab it. If there are five in a geocache and you think you can move them along, then do so. The reality is owners want things moving – not just being discovered.

Now, if you can’t help move them along, then by all means discover. It’s a nice way for owners to see that the trackable is still out there. But if you can move one (or many), do it. But, if you do so, try and log them as fast as possible so people know the traveler has been picked up.

The reason I say all of this is because I’ve seen some recent talk online about this whole situation. It’s been something people have talked about for many years, but it’s always worth revisiting.

An example: Somebody puts out a new travel bug hotel and places rules on it – basically the “if you take one, leave one.” In theory, it’s a good idea. And when I can, I do try and leave trackables. But this person is the owner of the geocache – not the trackables (unless, of course, they put several trackables of their own in there), therefore that person doesn’t have the right to say whether or not a trackable should be picked up and what one has to do to take one.

So, again, if you can move them all along – do it. Now, I don’t think somebody should wipe out an inventory of like 10 trackables, but if there are a few – don’t feel like you aren’t allowed to grab it if you don’t have something to leave behind.

As a trackable owner, I want to see my trackables moving – not staying in a TB hotel (or jail, as some will call them) because an owner wants to see many trackables in there.

Some things to remember:

  • Try and look at the description of the traveler to see its goals, as you might be taking it in the opposite direction.
  • Move them along as much as you can
  • Add photos to the traveler page as the owners enjoy seeing that
  • Don’t keep the trackable

In the end, trackables should be a lot of fun. Enjoy that part of the game as it’s something that can be shared. The only true rules are to make sure you log said trackable and move it along – don’t fear taking more than one or worrying about leaving one in its place as long as you can move them all. If not, discover away to let the owner know the travelers are safe!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please Like HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

The geocaching social media experiment: The traveling coin

In May, I set out on a social experiment.

For those of you who know about geocaching, you know there are trackables. Trackables can be moved or discovered. Personal geocoins — that is, ones people own and don’t set out to move around — are often discovered at events or some other place.

Discovery is interesting because people often do it to collect the icons that come with many coins. Basically, if you look at somebody’s profile on geocaching.com, you can see how many coins they’ve discovered and/or moved along. You also see, for coins and select trackables, the icons that go with the item.

A look at some trackables on my profile page.

It’s actually kind of cool.

I still discover trackables and, if I see some in a cache, I grab them and move them. I don’t worry about icons, but I do like to know I’ve moved a lot of trackables. I own many and I like them to be traveling.

Coins are a little trickier than items such as travel bugs. Why? Because they are more collectible. When one sets out the actual coin, they will eventually go missing. The more than likely reason for that is because it’s a coin somebody wants to have and decides to steal it.

Crappy? Yes, of course. But it happens.

I have a lot of personal coins. I don’t let them out because they were way too expensive to just let go and eventually disappear. I’ve seen coins get put out and by the time the cache is found next, they are gone. Such a shame.

That being said, I like to see things travel. Therefore, I’ve been releasing proxy travelers. Basically, it’s taking the trackable number and attaching it to something else to let it move along. Sure, it’s not the actual coin. But at least it’s moving around (hopefully), picking up miles and being seen. I also attempt to attach the proxy to something somewhat cool, thus making it not too bad to move along.

Back to the social media experiment.

It’s usually frowned upon to send a coin out in virtual land. I didn’t know what could happen if I did it, but I wondered what would happen if I put a photo of my coin on a social media site. I opened by putting the front of the coin out on Instagram (and having it also publish to Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr), and followed that up by putting the back side of the coin out there. The back is where the tracking number is.

When I posted the back photo, I kept it simple. This is the tweet, but it’s what went across all platforms as well:

Then it was time to wait and see what happened.

It didn’t take long before things started churning. Discoveries of the coin started coming in, including a lot from Canada. That is something I attribute to caching friend Lloyd, an Ontario-based cacher who shared the post on a few Canadian geocaching Facebook groups.

But Canada wasn’t the only place represented, that’s for sure.

The thing about social media is this — when things start to take off, it can go in several directions. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if I’d only get a handful of discoveries or a thousand. Maybe somebody might try to virtually grab it. Maybe people in many countries would discover.

The front of the coin.

Who knew?

But the idea was to let it take a life of its own to see what social media would do.

What I was really hoping for was when people discovered, they would then tell where they found it. Many people kept within the norms of the game and just noted they discovered. A few said they found it online. But many also posted what social media platform it was discovered on, which is what I really wanted to know.

Now that things have seemed to slow down — even with a recent attempt to see what else would happen by sharing the link on a few social media sites again — I’m ready to take a peek at the results and see how it went.

Let’s remember that these numbers aren’t perfect because I did them by hand and such. Nothing is scientific by any means, more about some curiosity I had.

In the end, there were 89 logs on the coin, not including a couple by me — when the coin was grabbed by somebody (likely accidental) and grabbed back by me!

Here are some numbers to chew on a little.

Those who discovered, and where:

  • Not mentioned: 35
  • Facebook: 26
  • Instagram: 23
  • Tumblr: 4
  • Twitter: 1

Of the not-mentioned ones, one seemed to be Facebook and one seemed to be Instagram. However, without it being spelled out, I decided to leave them in the not-mentioned group.

The thing I thought was coolest was the breakdown of countries. If a person didn’t have their home country mentioned in their profile, I went based on where the bulk of their placed geocaches were, or if no placed, I went through several pages of finds to make sure they seemed to be at their home base.

With that in mind, there were 14 countries represented, which is really quite cool. The top country was Canada, to which I attribute that to geocaching friend Lloyd, a Canadian who posted it on several Facebook groups in his country.

The breakdown is as follows:

  • Canada: 31
  • United States: 25
  • Germany: 8
  • Czech Republic: 4*
  • Denmark: 4*
  • Norway: 3
  • Netherlands: 2
  • Sweden: 2
  • Switzerland: 2*
  • Qatar: 1
  • Austria: 1
  • Portugal: 1
  • Italy: 1
  • United Kingdom: 1

Finally, of the numbers, I originally posted it on Instagram and then had it attach to my other social media profiles. From there, I figured it would take on a life of its own, which it somewhat did.

So how many likes did each side of the coin get on Instagram?

  • Front: 13
  • Back: 21

To end this, let’s check in on a couple of comments and see what people were saying.

One of the early people said:

A beautiful Geocoin, and one I have not seen before, wish the NYGO website was still around. Spotted virtually!

Somebody else likes the idea:

Hi, I discovered your coin on a Facebook site. What a neat idea!

Not that there was a test, but thanks for helping with the experiment!

Discovered on Instagram. Did I pass the test? 🙂

I truly do appreciate those who helped with this experiment:

Participating in your experiment. Thanks for sharing!

Keep the secret alive!

My buddy Binrat showed me this one. Where? Secret…

And…

Discovered in a secret place. Thanks for sharing

Hopefully you are reading this now!

Interested in reading about this experiment on your blog.

Finally, one of my favorite logs came with this as a signature, so I wanted to share it:




















That’s pretty neat, right?

Anyway, to sum this all up, I think this was a fun and cool experiment. I’m not sure if I would do it again because I am more about letting people see and discover my coins, but as technology develops and continues to get better, I wanted to see how it went. I ended up being quite happy with the results and thought it was interesting to see comments, whether on the trackable page, through social media or wherever else.

I’d like to thank all who participated in this experiment. Without that help, it would have flopped from the start!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Creating proxy trackables is becoming a big necessity

For those who don’t know about geocaching, there’s a side game of sorts to it.

Trackables.

A geocaching trackable is either a coin, travel bug (dog tag) or something along those lines. On the trackable is a code, which you can enter into the geocaching.com website to log it. You take these from geocaches and place them elsewhere, helping them move around the world freely, or to a specific goal.

Trackables come up missing, including this one.

The reality is geocaching trackables have lives of their own.

Along the way, these trackables rack up hundreds and thousands of miles, visiting far off places or staying close to home. It all depends on who picks it up and moves it along.

I have some trackables that have gone for more than 20,000 miles. Others have barely moved. You just never know.

If using a travel bug or something along those lines, there are often things attached to it, such as a small toy, a signature item, or something completely different. It’s a way to help define the goal of the item.

For example, I have one travel bug that is attached to a bottle opener. Its goal is to reach a geocacher in Washington. It made it as far as Idaho, but then it ended up becoming a hostage.

What’s a hostage you may ask?

Simply put, geocaching trackables disappear.

The reality is this — if you put one in the wild, you are putting in other people’s hands. Geocoins — because they are so nice — are more apt to disappear than others. But many others disappear for no reason.

I’ve found that the majority of mine that disappear because of newer cachers. They grab them, then after 10-12 finds, they stop caching and so goes the travelers.

I had one the other day with some more experienced cachers who had it for a while, somehow misplaced it, dropped it in one of their caches and then marked it missing.

Is that annoying? Absolutely. Does it happen? Yes.

The reality is, when you send these suckers out, you shouldn’t expect to see them again. It’s, unfortunately, part of the game.

A heap of the proxy trackables I am sending out.

So what to do when your geocaching trackable disappears?

If you have the official Groundspeak travel bug dog tags, you can send out the copy tag. But if you have other trackables, you may be out of luck.

Unless you send out a proxy.

A proxy is basically you sending something else out with the trackable number on it. It can be anything from custom dog tags, to wood coins, to laminated items. There are some companies which will create proxy coins for you. Those coins are usually thick metal and are of quality. But that costs money.

Not everyone wants to spend that sort of scratch to replace a coin or tag that will likely go missing again.

There is a persona about these proxy items, though. If a coin is listed in a geocache, people will often hope to see the actual coin. When they see a proxy, some will leave it behind and not do anything with it.

But there’s quality issues, too.

Some proxy setups are bad. I’ve picked up many a laminated proxy that has been in ruins. The lamination was bad, it’s soaked and basically mud. If it’s not attached to anything, it gets lost in the shuffle, too.

The first few times I found a proxy, I hated them. I moved them (I’m a firm believer that if a trackable is in a cache, move it along), but didn’t like them.

Then I realized why people did it.

I understand that coins are expensive. Why would you want to send those out to be stolen? Or, if you already had sent it out and it was stolen, why wouldn’t you want it to continue to move?

I have more than 100 coins in my personal collection. Only a few (ones that came with proxy coins) are out in the wilderness. I have a lot of travel bugs, too. Add in a few items such as ingots and all and I have a bunch of travelers.

Not all of them are still moving.

I recently started thinking about doing up a proxy or 12 to release. But how to do it? I didn’t want them to get lost, stuck or in bad shape. That meant I wasn’t going to put out wood coins with something written or stamped, because it could fade. Maybe some custom wood coins could be made, but even then, I’d have to put the number on there somehow.

One of the proxy tags I made. The big white spot on the right is where the trackable number goes.

A basic lamination always feels cheaply done to me.

So, I did what I thought was best.

I created a small tag in Photoshop. It’s two-sided, with one side showing the goal of the item and the other side showing the trackable number, where to log and the icon the number gives. I then put it in a heavier lamination sleeve (half of a luggage tag), attached it to a key ring and an item and then put it in a smaller Ziplock-style bag.

It’s my hope these will get out there and move around.

My plan is to do many of these for my geocoins, too. That way, people can move them along, discover or whatever else and get the icon of said coin. It’s also a nice way to have them moving, yet know I have the original and they won’t end up in somebody else’s collection or pocket.

So I’m now a fan of proxy travelers, as long as they are done decently well and with quality. It’s the ones that lack quality which are tough to deal with. Hopefully this is a way to make sure the life of these travelers continue and get many miles.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!