Not everything in geocaching is good.
I know that will come to a shock to some people who think everything involved with the game is lollipops and candy, but it’s not.
Let’s think about this for a second.
There are people in the game who get mad and/or offended because others don’t play it how they think it should be played. Or the people who complain because the coordinates are off 10 feet (despite the finder using a phone or something in the middle of the woods). There are people who break rules that go beyond the game (such as caching somewhere in the middle of the night at a place that specifically says not to do it).
Turns out I was FTF on the now-recycled cache!
Then there are those who start playing the game, get excited, place a few caches and leave. While it’s true that all those caches won’t become crappy, many do. Or, there are times when a cache gets archived for whatever reason, yet the container remains.
That’s when you have to make lemonade out of lemons.
New York state parks are in regions and the one in which I live is going to have a caching challenge this year. Without going into everything with it, basically they reached out to local cachers to find place the caches and maintain them. That’s fine, but while I was at it, I thought I’d place a few, too.
In New York (as with many states), to place a cache in a state park, a person needs to obtain a permit. That’s a good thing, though, as it makes sure people have an idea what’s out in the park.
But when a container doesn’t have a permit, and the geocacher is no longer active, and then the cache gets archived … what happens?
The cache remains.
So as I was scouting spots, I came across one of these such places. The cache remained. It was in good shape and it had been archived more than four years ago and it has been nearly six since the cachers logged into the site.
Seems like there was only one thing to do – recycle, so that’s just what I did. Sometime this week, if all goes well, the cache will be published and see life again. The spot is solid and the cache is pretty strong, so it will give people the chance to explore the park some. I place three in the park, as well as placing three for the challenge, so the park should get a lot of action.
How about those of you who geocache? Have you come across situations like this? What did you do?
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!