state of geocaching

Geocaching: The state of the game from my view

May 18, 2015

As the warmer months approach, I’m going to be more apt to head out and geocache on free weekends and maybe even a few nights after work, if some local caches start popping up.

The winter was harsh.

It was so tough, in fact, that I didn’t even consider geocaching most of the time. It was either too cold or there was too much snow – or for several months – both. Back in the day, I’d have gone anyway. But as I’ve grown older, I’m more a fair-weather cacher. I love the game, but I also want to have fun doing it and not worry about how much longer I am doing it, which is often the case when out in frigid winter weather.

Between December and March, I found one cache – and that was an event in December. Work and weather and other items made it so I didn’t get out or think about caching much. As it’s gotten better out, I’ve tried to go more often. That will continuethis month as I attended the ASP Geobash this past Saturday and head off to GeoWoodstock this week (and using some vacation time, finally, for it).

It’s still fun to get out and find those caches!

I actually had grand plans of making GeoWoodstock my 4,000th find, but I don’t see that happening. I need 118 and the event is Saturday.For the ASP Geobash weekend, I ended with 20 finds. There were grandeur thoughts of a 40 or 50 cache day, but with a slightly late start and things taking longer than expected… as well as some humidity and such, well, just didn’t happen. There will be plans to do a lot of geocaches on Thursday and Friday this week, but I’m not sure I’ll get that 118 before the big event. I’ll make a push, but we’ll see.

If I had been even somewhat active with caching this past winter, I probably would have no issues making this my 4,000th find. So it’s my fault if it doesn’t happen, but we will see how it all goes.

As the weather has started to bloom, however, I figured it was a good time to look at how the game seems to be overall. I’ve had a few odd logs on my caches recently that made me think about the game. I’ve also listened to a few geocaching podcasts that have touched on some interesting topics, so I wanted to chime in as well.

With that in mind, here’s my look at the Geocaching State of the Game Address

GROWING

Geocaching, whether you call it a game or a hobby or something else (I refuse to call it a sport as some others do – it’s not. There’s no competition and no winners… it’s purely a recreational thing), is still growing. With technology constantly changing, more and more people sign up to play.

Heck, just take a look at other geocaching listing sites. Though geocaching.com is still the main one, others are popping up and giving people options. And that’s a good thing. No business should be able to monopolize the market. I will admit I haven’t really checked the others much, but I will likely look into it a bit more.

That being said, geocaching.com is the biggest and more active listing site. The site boasts more than 2.6 million active caches worldwide and more than 6 million geocachers worldwide.

The game is healthy, or so it seems.

I’d be more interested to find out some information about those 6 million geocachers though. I’d be willing to bet that at least half of them haven’t found 25 geocaches. I’d say at least half probably aren’t all that active, either.

That can sometimes hurt.

With the growth of the game, there come some pains – for example, the geocaching app for smartphones. When I first started caching, I needed to get a GPS unit (for the record, I still own and use said unit and I started in 2008) to play the game. Now, somebody just has to download an app and they are off and running.

When I started, at the end of your day (or whenever soon after), you sat down at the computer and logged your caches (I still do it this way) and usually put some thought into your logs. Now, you can do it on the fly via the app and you can even just do a “log it” without writing any comment (that should be fixed. Force people to type something).

To say the game has changed would be an understatement.

Don’t get me wrong, I like this growth. In fact, when I travel, I’ll often pull out the phone and find a nearby cache to try and find. It makes it a lot easier to cache on the fly, which is nice. That being said, the app can also be a bad thing. Why? Well, people join, find a few caches and disappear. Worse than that, they’ll sometimes place a cache or two (usually nothing great), leave the game and then the cache becomes trash.

So it’s much easier to play, that’s for sure. But sometimes, I wonder if that’s a good thing.

The growth has seemed to go backward in my area. New caches don’t pop up too often. I have a boat load of containers ready to go, but I need to find spots to put them all out. I have a couple of ideas and hopeful plans once I can get out and do it.

WHAT TO LOG

Speaking of all the new people and such (and even some veteran cachers), it seems like it’s becoming the thing to post needs maintenance or needs archived when you can’t find a cache, instead of the old fashioned DNF.

I realize there’s no actual “rule” as to certain logs, but I have my own way of looking at things.

If I don’t find a cache, I DNF it. Simple as that.

If I look for a cache that has a bunch of DNFs and I can’t find it, I might log a “needs maintenance” because it might be gone. I also use this selection if I find the cache and it’s in bad shape.

In the rare instances I use the “needs archived” selection, it’s usually because the cache is in awful shape and the owner hasn’t been seen in a long time, or if there are many other DNFs or needs maintenance logs and nobody seems to be doing something about it.

But goodness knows I don’t use those last two options if the cache has been being found and I just can’t find it.

It seems like that’s the new thing as I’ve received a few of these logs from people with fewer than 10 finds. I’ve also seen it on caches I am looking to search for and it makes me shake my head.

The simple fact? Just because you can’t find it doesn’t mean it needs maintenance or should be archived.

If you are newer, keep that in mind when logging. Reach out to the owner. Reach out to others. Geocachers, for the most part, are friendly and helpful. Become part of our community and learn from people who have been doing it for a long time.

Another tip – when placing your first few caches, test those coordinates. Phones aren’t always that accurate, so make sure you have the coords you need.

ATTITUDES

One thing that still seems to be good, for the most part, is the attitude of those playing the game. It’s not like I haven’t seen some petty stuff (and heck, in the past, I’ve been involved with it – haven’t we all?), but for the most part it seems OK.

I’ve made an attempt to wash slates clean over the past year or two and take the game for what it’s worth and it’s made it much better. I don’t worry about some of the things I’ve heard in my area and beyond – whether it’s not liking somebody for the way they cache, or ignoring somebody hides because of what you’ve heard, or simply avoiding things because people are there – I’ve decided it’s not worth it.

Pennsylvania’s first — placed in September 2000.

Life’s too short.

I’ve made a lot of friends through this game. I enjoy talking to other people. I love traveling to different places, many of which I may have never seen were it not for geocaching. I’ve made contact with people when traveling to different parts of the country and the world to meet up and cache with somebody (it’s always more fun to cache with somebody than by myself, I think anyway).

But, the attitude isn’t always positive. I’ve also met grumpy people who find everything to be wrong with the hobby. And, I’m sure, I have been grumpy in the past. But in the present, I take it all for what it’s worth. I have fun. I talk to people. I smile. And why? Because it’s not worth getting upset over.

At this point of my geocaching life, when something feels like it’s going to irk me, I walk away from it. Easy as can be!

As I look back at my seven years of geocaching (which, to me, is a long time … but the hobby is in its 15th year!), I’ve seen a lot of things that have helped me come to some conclusions about the game.

Some take it really seriously

And when I say seriously, I mean seriously. I’ve met people who get visibly angry over, say, not being FTF. Some will get really competitive about the numbers. Personally, I like numbers and such, but it’s because I’m a baseball nut and love statistics and the programs. But I don’t care where I’m ranked or where I’m stacked up against other cachers. Why?

And this next thought isn’t something that’s across the board, but something I’m curious about. I’ve talked to several people who are extremely competitive or call this game a “sport.” I grew up playing sports and still play competitive softball. So, to me, geocaching is relaxing. I’ve talked to many on the opposite end and the majority of them didn’t compete in sports growing up or in high school etc. I wonder if there’s a connection there as to who pushes and who doesn’t when it comes to competitiveness?

Change happens

The reality is, the game is controlled by the listing sites. Though they may all listen to the community, in the end, they make the decisions. So when they make changes, it’s what they might think is best for the game and/or their business. Often, the changes are met with outrage.

As for me? I try and go with the flow. I can’t say I’ve always agreed with changes at geocaching.com, but I also realize they are a business and they have to do what they feel is best for them as well as the community. As the game continues to grow, more changes will happen. May as well deal with it, right?

What’s a 3 to me is a 1 to somebody else is a 5 to another person

Though I often look at terrain and difficulty, I realize people think of ratings in a much different light. Though there’s a tool to use to be able to help with it, not everybody uses it or agrees with it. So it’s a good starting point, but sometimes it might be a different thought process, so keep that in mind.

All types are fun

Though I’d rather not have a day full of lamp post caches and guardrail finds, I have no issues overall with them. I’ve gotten to the point where I enjoy all of the geocaches I find (besides those that are in bad shape and not being taken care of), and they all have their place. So, sign the log and move on.

Too often, I’ll see negative posts that call people out and things like that and it makes me shake my head. That is why it’s better to contact people privately, so utilize it. There’s no need to be negative and make somebody feel or look bad.

Positive energy is a good thing.

Now, I will say one thing, though. The only time I feel all types aren’t fun is when there’s an opportunity to place something bigger and a small container is placed instead. I don’t even care if it’s a soda preform (to be honest, they are some of my favorite containers, so I have no issue with them anywhere), but go up a size from a nano or a small bison, or a small plastic tube. Sometimes, you just can’t, and I get that. But when there are many other places to hide something, try and come up with something a bit more.

Either way, I’ll sign and smile!

I like what it does for me

Geocaching gets me out and about. I’ve met friends that I never would have known, if not for this hobby. I have a few podcasts I listen to about the game and never would have found those if not foe being involved. I enjoy events, creative hides, and easy grabs. I like a good hike, or taking me to an interesting place I never knew about. I like the people or the solitude this game can give.

It’s been a great thing for me and I hope it continues.

THE STATE OF THE GAME

Geocaching is strong right now. More and more people seem to know about the game, and that’s a good thing. I plan on caching as much as I can this summer and hopefully be able to meet more people, swap stories and cache with friends as much as possible.

I’m planning at least 4-5 weekends around geocaching, with two (GeoWoodstock and the Block Party in August) being longer and more in-depth. I look forward to seeing new places this summer, finding some great caches and enjoying being outside.

I’m excited for future milestones and trading pathtags and being involved as much as I can. Maybe I’ll make some old connections or find some new ones.

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

Part III: Is geocaching passing me by?

April 24, 2012

I went geocaching last week.

Yes, I admit it. In the hopes of not letting geocaching pass me by, I visited a local state park to do some caches I had never done. Some were easy, some harder. But in the end, the hope was to find a way to get the “caching bug” again.

It all leads me to the next installment of this series, however.

Creative caches (in the urban setting) vs. the old-fashioned ammo box in the woods after a fun walk and/or hike.

See, it seems in recent years that creative hides have become the norm. The micros go extremely far in testing a cacher’s mettle, patience and creativity when finding a cache.

Some of the “creative” hides I’ve come across in recent years include:

Cut-out logs
Fake mushrooms on trees
Fake pieces of gum
Fake bolts on guardrails
Fake sticks (sometimes in the woods)
Fake sprinkler heads
Tops of chain-link fences
Fake plants
Fake electrical covers
Fake rocks (sometimes in a pile of rocks)
Fake broken beer bottle
Flat magnet caches (can be on anything, including signs etc.)
Fake fruit (hanging in a tree)
Fake reflectors

Some others, which I’ve not personally found, but have seen photos of or have heard about:

Fake electrical outlet (seriously)
Fake cables (such as at the bottom of a phone pole)
Fake bugs/insects
Fake cigarette (seriously)

Of the caches above, I’ve enjoyed some. Others I’ve thought they were a waste. I understand being creative. But there’s a difference between being creative and just thinking you are all evil.

Is that the point of geocaching?

Being out on the trails is so much nicer than finding "creative" urban hides.

People have also started to actually unhinge official signs (such as on a electrical pole) and drill a hole, place a micro and put the sign back. You have to find the right way to remove said sign, take the micro, replace and get it all set. My issue here? Not only being potentially dangerous (depending on how it’s done), it’s illegal. I’m pretty sure most companies didn’t — and won’t — give permission to drill in these poles. I’ve seen this a few times and it blows my mind each time when I see it. I realize it’s supposed to be a “devious” or “evil” hide, but when you are doing something that likely has not been OKd, then it’s bordering stupidity.

There’s a difference between being creative and doing something illegal and potentially dangerous. I don’t say dangerous necessarily for personal safety, per say, but in the situation that someone could get in quite a bit of trouble if the wrong person/people saw them messing around with the pole.

Look, I have an evil hide of my own. It’s a nano on a square in my town. It’s easy to get, but it’s a tough little bugger. Over time, I’ve tried to make things easier (through hints etc.) because I don’t want people going away not finding the cache. I especially felt this way after once receiving a nasty e-mail about the hide.

I say right off the bat that it’s not easy and people may be aplenty. So I warn. But I also want to make sure people can find it.

Outside of that one, most of my caches are pretty straight forward. Some of them include harder puzzles (I know, many people don’t like puzzles), but I have a geochecker so people can check coordinates and I’m more than willing to help. When they solve said puzzles? It’s a decent walk to good caches.

I do, too, have a couple of park-and-grab micros. Some of those will be archived soon as I start my quest of placing more quality caches (and the archiving after a certain amount of time idea).

But that shows geocaching growth, I always thought.

Still, when I go to an area, I look around. I see micros. Many times, I see notes about evil hides. When I see a 3, 4 or 5-star difficulty rating, I know it’s going to be some sort of a “clever” micro hide. I don’t mind them sometimes. But it’s becoming more and more of the norm.

Seriously, the electrical cover cache is getting real old. It’s time to move on. Same with the fake bolt.

That leads me back to the beginning.

After writing the first two stories in this series, I decided I’d see what I could do. Get out and walk a few miles. Find a few caches. Take my time with things. And, let’s see what I could come up with.

So I hit up Gilbert Lake State Park, just outside of Laurens, NY.

For the day, I explored many trails and found about eight caches. Many were larger size, whether lock-n-lock containers or ammo cans. I took the time to look through the caches and reading the log books.

That also showed my point I’ve made a few times — nobody cares about the log anymore. A sign-and-dash and on their way.

There was one cache, however, that I enjoyed more than the others — Gilbert Lake Split Tree Family Fun Cache (GCAC2). It was placed in May of 2001 — a year after the game got started.

Though likely not the first finder, this was the first page in the log book at an old cache I found. Very cool.

For those who have logged online, I’m the 162nd finder of the cache, which is pretty cool. It’s historic and one of the, if not the, oldest active cache in our area. It’s a traditional ammo can, placed the way ammo cans often are. The find isn’t too difficult. The coordinates are quite good and the end result was a find of an oldie.

Though there was some useless swag in the box, the fin part was the log. Surfing through it was like surfing through some geocaching history in our area.

This also showed the trend I was talking about, however.

It was about 2009 or so when the logs in the book went from being longer and written out to signing just names. And that trend continues. I put a bit more than a signature in the log, but it really was interesting to see where things started going a little different.

Is it the smart phone? Is it just people not worrying about the log anymore. Is it more of a situation where people would (sometimes) rather write longer online (though isn’t always the case, of course).

Still, that the log book was in good shape and in the cache was a testament to the age and hide. It was fun to sift through the pages slowly and check out what people back in the older days of geocaching wrote. The funny part is that it seems like this was the first find for many people — whether local or not. The logs were longer, though. Some about their experiences. Some about finding the cache. Some just having fun with the log.

But they shared their experience.

I laughed at the one on the first page of the log that talked about taking a photo and that they will upload when they get it developed. Not many people use film anymore, so it’s fun to see that.

In the end, it’s nice to see some old geocaching exploits.

For the day, I had the chance to hike several miles, get outside and find a few boxes hidden in the woods. That’s what I think caching is about. I don’t mind the occasional quick grab, but it’s nice to still be able to get out there and find things how they used to be “back in the days.”

It’s proof, to me anyway, that one doesn’t always have to try and outfox another cacher or something like that. Take them somewhere, let them enjoy the area and let them soak things in. This is why I started playing this game and hopefully I won’t get chased out!

I have one or two more stories for this series and they will follow in the next week or so.

I do want to leave you with something from that old cache — one of the logs I found. It made me chuckle quite a bit, so I hope you enjoy it, too! (This is another reason to sift through the log books — you never know what you’ll find!)

This made me laugh!

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — even a small amount — you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted scarf. Click here for all the information!

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

Geocaching passing me by: Part Deux

April 19, 2012

How can we get some excitement back into caching? Let's take a peek...

I appreciate those who left comments to my first post about geocaching passing me by.

They were interesting comments and, it’s also seems that I’m not the only one who doesn’t have the “bug” anymore.

It also got me thinking about what could be done to fix this, so this will be my second post in regard to geocaching passing me by.

In the last post, I wrote about a few things, including the lack of good, quality caches and how Groundspeak has changed a lot of rules. With this post, I’d like to somewhat continue along that path.

Maybe not so much a rule, but a guideline.

When I first started caching, there were a lot of things that were done that are looked down upon now. Or not “allowed.” I think the game has been made “easier” for a generation of people who might not want to be challenged as much. Maybe challenged is the wrong word there. How about this — I think some of the newer geocaching generation doesn’t want to have to go above and beyond for a cache.

Don’t believe me?

Look at logs.

Most people don’t do much more than sign their name in the actual log. And online logs are usually short and quick. That could be for a couple of reasons — people don’t want to take the time for a good log OR the cache wasn’t anything special and hard to write about. If you don’t have an adventure, it’s hard to write something good, unless you repeat the same thing for every cache you found that day and/or just ramble about nothing in particular.

It's rare to see good in-person logs anymore.

I like to write good logs. But if the cache isn’t anything special, it’s hard to challenge myself to write a good log.

Note this, however — a good log doesn’t necessarily have to be long. Just keep that in mind.

Anyway, back to where I was going with this post. With Groundspeak changing rules and guidelines, why not change how long caches can be out in the wilderness?

I realize that there are some phenomenal caches out there that have withstood the test of time. I’m not advocating that everything should be archived. Far from it. I love finding the older caches because I think they are, most of the time, some great finds because it takes you back to what caching used to be about.

But I’m wondering if newer caches should have a limit.

Or even if this is possible.

Imagine if caches that have been out there for three or four years were archived and opened up spots to other people. Now, I don’t think Groundspeak or it’s crew of volunteers should do this. That would just be a waste of resources. But maybe if cache owners worked with this.

I look at it this way. There are many caches in our area that have been out for several years that don’t get hit too often. Mine hides included. We have a smaller set of people in our area who actively cache. When they are all found, the caches sit there for the people who come through. Realize the area is a tourist area, so caches can get hit during the summer quite a bit. But once they’ve been found, the hits start to dwindle.

When is it time to hang up a cache?

Though many of these caches might be good ones, if they are not getting hit, what’s the point? What about archiving some of them and finding new spots for caches? See, if you are in a park and have all sorts of caches there but they don’t get hit too often, why keep them there? Why not archive them and take people to new spots in the park? Or, open the spots up so others can hide caches in those parks?

One major issue, too, are multi and/or puzzle caches that require multiple stops.

I love puzzle caches and think multis can be fun and adventurous. But, if you put too many parts in a park, it can really close up great spots for hides. I know I had a great spot for a cache a few years ago, but I couldn’t do it because it was too close to a part of another cache — a water cache — that hadn’t been found in years.

So I got hosed.

I get the saturation rule of not being able to have a cache within .10 of a mile from another. However, if doing a multi-cache, you can have parts be very close. If that’s the fact, why not be able to hide a cache within those boundaries. Some people don’t do puzzle or multi caches. So it seems unfair that a person finds a great spot and then gets smoked because one piece of a 10-part multi is 300 feet away.

It’s happened to me more than once and it gets bothersome — and this comes from a fan of puzzles and multis. Imagine if you weren’t a fan of those caches!

There's no reason basic caches can't be archived and done up as a new one somewhere else every few years.

This all falls into one package, though.

If caches had some sort of a shelf life, then maybe there’d be caches out there for others to find a little more often. Again, I’m not saying all caches should last three years and be archived. If a steady stream of visitors keep going, well, keep them up. Or if they are great spots that take people to wonderful views or are milestone caches (such as golden ammo cans), then far be it from me to say archive them.

But the caches that get hit only once or twice a year and aren’t those super-long hikes etc., maybe it’s worth thinking about hanging ’em up and putting a new one out there.

That’s why I don’t think it should be a set rule, either.

There are some caches that are highly challenging — terrain or difficulty. Maybe it takes a 10-mile roundtrip hike. Maybe you have to climb a tree. I don’t think they should go. Keep ’em. High quality ones are beautiful to keep.

But the normal park-and-grabs?

Or the ones that are on a loop trail in a park that could be moved a .10 of a mile for a new spot?

Or the many-part multi that takes up a full park?

Maybe after 2, 3 or 4 years, it might be time to open the area up. Especially in this day and age with the economy as it is. It’s nice to know you can find caches in your area that are newer and maybe will take you to a new place of a park you know or a different look for a cache.

Could this work?

Who knows. But it’s an idea to keep things fresh in the geocaching world. Reality is games get stale. Things grow and move along. So do caches. The great ones will always remain. But the basic ones? Move them along and start fresh.

I look forward to hearing what others may have to say about this!

Note: I have several other items I’ll be dealing with in this series about geocaching passing me by over the next week or two. It’s my hope that by putting all of this out there, maybe I’ll get my “caching mojo” back and want to get back in it. It’s worth getting off my chest anyway, right?

Second note: I’ve renewed my Groundspeak membership and am heading out today to do a little hiking and some caching. We’ll see if I get the bug back. Even if I do, I plan on finishing this series of stories in the next week or two!

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

Is geocaching passing me by?

April 17, 2012

Caching days like this were truly fun. I need to find that fun again.

There used to be a time when I went on a trip, I’d plan some geocaches.

Even if I was with people who didn’t geocache, I’d find a way to go find a cache or three, just to satisfy the taste.

It seems like it’s passing me by.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy caching anymore. I do. In fact, a few weeks back, I went on a caching adventure with some people who were getting the bug back when I first got it. It was a throwback day. We did a bunch of caches, walked several miles, enjoyed the weather and had a fine afternoon.

I thought, at that point, I’d be back into it.

Not so much.

I’ve cached a little here and there since then. But one day, I went on a quest to find a few. And what followed was some DNFs on hides that had hints that didn’t help, difficulty levels that were high and some of the areas made me unsure if I was supposed to be there or not.

I don’t mind high difficulty caches. In fact, I enjoy a good hunt. But, in this day and age with the economy the way it is and gas prices as they are, walking away with more DNFs than finds make me want to re-consider the hobby as a whole.

I’ve made difficult cache hides. But in the end, I’m hoping people find my caches. That’s what this game is all about. At least that’s what I thought. I didn’t think the idea was to stump people. Now, I don’t believe this hider had the intentions of stumping people. Quite the contrary, actually. I think the idea was a hard hide with people finding it in the end. Alas, a few DNFs showed differently.

Starting out

I fully remember my first day of caching.

It was March 1, 2008. A new hobby. A friend had said we should try it. So we went and checked out one in my town. That day we found five caches. I even picked up my first geocoin to move along.

Oh my was I hooked.

An early cache outing -- exploring and finding new places and trails.

Caches all over the area and for me to find? Score! Soon after, I invested in a handheld GPS of my own. I still have that GPS to this day and it’s been amazing for geocaching. It’s a strong GPS, gets a good signal in the woods and has done so much for me. The averaging coordinates feature has been wonderful for placing caches.

I had the bug though. I ran out for new caches. I planned trips. I loved the game. Through events, I met like-minded people and it was fun. It was relaxing. It made me realized that life beyond work could be fun again.

At that time, I couldn’t see me ever giving up this game. Ever. It was fun. People were cool. Traveling was neat. And people put these caches in crazy cool places. Or they had fun and interesting puzzles. So why would I give it up?

Game grows

As with anything, when the game starts to grow, the “bosses” change things.

In the past several years, Groundspeak has taken some things away from the game. Items such as ALR (additional logging requirements), which made caches entertaining. I remember finding caches where we had to take a photo with something in the cache to be able to log it. It was awesome!

Gone.

Though virtuals were gone as new caches by the time I joined, I realized how great these caches could be, if given the proper treatment (see Earthcaches).

Instead, last year, Groundpeak added Challenges, which is a watered-down version of virtuals in that they aren’t really watched by the “powers that be” and, last time I checked, there was no way for the “Challenge owner” to delete a log if someone logged it without doing what they were supposed to do. See, that’s because nobody really “owns” challenges.

Technology, too, has made caching easier for the masses.

With the addition of smart phones and apps for people to be able to cache with, it’s made it easy for people play the game. But, with all positives come negatives.

It is still fun to find caches that aren't micros.

Some of those negatives include people rushing to do things — such as placing caches with not-so-good coordinates or placing caches that aren’t so great. But that’s fine as a hide is a hide and people can learn from it. However, some people play the game, enjoy it for a while, place a few caches and then stop playing.

In the end, the caches might eventually get into bad shape and if the owner is no longer active, it can take a while before things get archived. And, unfortunately, but without the permission of the owner, people can’t adopt the caches.

With this, too, comes micro caches.

Oh are there micro caches.

It seems to be the norm anymore where people place lots of micros. And then there are the “oh-so-clever devious hides.” Geocachers should know what I mean by this — the ones that are fake items: such as electric plates, sticks, bugs, sprinkler heads, fence toppers, gum, screws, bolts and anything else. Many of these can be found quickly because cachers are used to them. Others, not so much because of the surroundings.

The other negative?

Placing caches in places that just don’t matter. If I am looking for a quick find, an occasional lamp post skirt or guardrail cache is one thing. But it’s almost becoming commonplace for people to do these. They go somewhere and decide there should be a cache there (say, a shopping mall) and then place a film canister somewhere silly.

It gets boring.

The worst part is when you have these and they screw up placing a good cache elsewhere. Say there’s a nature trail nearby. You have to get 528 feet away from that.

There’s the micros in the woods, too. Why not something a little bigger. You are taking me somewhere, why not reward with a good cache?

State of the game

You can quiz 100 cachers and you might get 100 different answers on what the state of the game is right now.

As for me? I don’t know what to think.

I got back in the habit of trying to read log books (when it’s something other than a micro). The problem with that? Nobody writes much anymore. If they do, it’s more about what they took or what they left or something like that. Not the adventure. So the in-cache logs are becoming more and more of a “sign and run.”

It’s unfortunate that the game has become even more numbers-oriented than it used to be.

Look, I won’t lie — I used to be a numbers guy. Loved it. I wanted to find as many as I could. I’d run out for an FTF and all that. I still love the stats programs and stuff because I love stats/graphs etc.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the ammo can…

I realized how much numbers don’t matter. Getting the FTF meant nothing more than if I found the cache two weeks later. And, by going after new caches at night, I started to fear I might miss something cool the cache owner wanted me to see. So I started scaling back. And it became fun again.

That fun doesn’t last as long, however.

Reality is I’m not someone who enjoys caching solo. And most of the new caches in this area are found quite quickly by others, so asking people to cache usually means that somebody has to sit through cache after cache of someone finding ones the other already has. So it can be a bore. Therefore, it’s become secondary, at best, to me.

It was always cool finding the bigger caches in cool spots!

I’ve had other hobbies pop up, too. I’ve done more with this blog and my new one. I got into disc golf. I’ve become extremely passionate about photography again.

So my time has other things.

The funny thing is, you’d figure I would be missing geocaching. Maybe get the feeling of needing to do it. Not so much. As I said earlier, I still like to do it. But I don’t worry as much about trying to do it.

For example, this past weekend I went on a mini road trip. The first day was in Watertown. When we left the event we were at, I had a flat tire. That kind of sucks when it’s midnight. So I call AAA and we wait for the guy to come help me out. We were in a safe area (fairgrounds) with nary a person around.

Turns out I was probably 300 feet from a cache. I never checked my phone. It never even crossed my mind to check the caching app to see if one was close. Two years ago, it would have been the first thing I would have done.

That’s the state of the game for me.

The other things that have made me kind of ignore the game are items I’ve covered in the past on the blog — negativity, competition, self back-patting and, now, gas prices. Seriously, I can’t afford to drive all over the place to find caches. If I can go somewhere, go on a 3-4 mile hike and find a few good caches, I’m more apt to do that because then I feel I can do a few things in one trip (cache, photography, exercise).

I’ll still go to events. I’ll even organize a few (I have a couple in mind I am working on now, actually). But my caching days will be limited because I just don’t feel like the game is as fun as it used to be.

My future in caching

Tough to say.

I remember scoring my 2,000th find in Ireland in 2010. At that point, I figured I’d have to plan my 3,000th find a lot sooner. Checking my profile on geocaching.com shows I have 2,672 finds. I don’t think I’ll hit 3,000 this year, so I have time to plan a cache I’d like it to be.

For the immediate future, I plan on archiving several of my caches. The reality is, many of them have passed by in time and don’t get found anymore. So hopefully some others will step in and place a few. But I know that I don’t want those caches to become those ones that don’t get found or become nothing. I do have a couple I’d like to keep out there and will, but that’s more than sentimental than anything else.

I have even let my Groundspeak premium membership lapse. That’s something I’ve never done. I’ll likely renew it shortly, but it hasn’t been a “rush” for me to do so.

I’ll keep finding caches here and there.

And events, for sure. I plan on doing one or two mega events this year (unfortunately, GeoWoodstock is out. I just can’t afford that trip) and trying to find my “caching mojo” again. I’m just not confident it will be found right here.

Who knows? Maybe when I find a job, it will take me to a new area and maybe that will jolt me. Maybe not.

I’ll stay active. I’d like to recapture the feeling of the early days of caching. The coolness of finding things. The fun. And, well, knowing when I found something, look around and see what else is there. When I started, it was about the journey. Hopefully I can find it again. If not, it might be a hobby that slowly disappears for me.

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