My son and daughter and I play a game when we drive in the car. We'll be driving down the road and I'll point over to a spot and say, "You know, there's a geocache there." Their response is, "Did you find it?" I'll answer, "Yep." and we move on. Once I answered no and my daughter made me stop and find it. She's just a big enabler to my addiction.
The thing I love about this silly game/hobby is the different ways people can create camouflage and hide things in plain sight. The craftsmanship that some people employ on their caches could rival some big time Hollywood set designers. I don't get that elaborate with my camouflage, mainly because most of my caches are far away from the beaten path and you usually have to hike to them. Geocachers want people to find them, so I figure since they're hiking a mile or more to get my cache, the least I can do is make it fairly obvious where it is. When cachers hide in urban or suburban environments, they also want their caches to be found, but just by geocachers. Regular people might pick up a non-cammoed box and throw it away, so urban hides need to be a little more devious.
People think that geocaching should be easy. What's so tough about it? You're given the geographic coordinates, so all you have to do is go there and find it right? Well, yeah, that's the premise, but it's not always that easy. The photo above is ground zero, where the cache was hidden. My GPS unit was telling me that it was 35 feet southeast of this spot, putting me in a field. That's where I should have been looking according to the GPS.
Most handheld GPS units are only accurate to about 30 feet or so. Which means once you get to the cache site you still might have to look around for awhile, especially if the cache is small, like this one was. Sometimes cachers aren't very accurate when they take their geographic readings for caches and you'll end up finding them much farther away than they should be. This one was well within the margin of error for typical handheld machines. As you can see, it's well crafted, blends in with the surrounding scenery.
Next time I drive by there, I'll be able to point and say, "There's a geocache over there." When they ask if I found it or not, I'll be able to answer in the affirmative. You're my witnesses since you can see my signature on the logbook inside the cache.
Though creative, I'm not sure what I think of caches like this. Devious, for sure. But looking like litter. I'd be worried somebody would pick it up to chuck it out, see what it was and not care. Not saying I wouldn't try and place one like this (and have found one similar), but I'm in the middle.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started geocaching, back in the stone ages, everything was a large container, hidden out in the boonies away from most prying eyes. When micros started to proliferate, I chose not to find them, but decided later that if I never found any micros, I'd hardly find any geocaches at all. Micros now make up the most found by me at 35%, but small and regular sizes combined still make up the majority at 52%. That number has been shrinking.
DeleteThis cache, by the way, was listed as "Not Chosen" by the cache owner. The area was a vacant lot, prone to litter, so I seriously doubt it will disappear anytime soon unless the lot is sold and developed in the near future.
All that being said, I will not hide micros. The only micro in my cache hides right now is a cache that I adopted from a friend of mine. Other than that, the smallest cache container I've hidden was a decon container. I like hiding things that kids can find swag in, plus it's a little more of a challenge to hide caches that are slightly larger.
I am definitely of several minds on this subject. And for all of that, I suspect that all of those minds still won't add up to a whole "normal" mind, but I don't know that I really care, to be honest ;-)
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I have reached the point where I will no longer go out to pick up any of the local urban micros, unless A) I am in the area doing something else, B) I know where it is without having to use a GPSr, and C) I can get it without any chance of attracting attention. Also, if I/we are with a group, we'll pick up micros, but in that case, urbans was probably the plan, anyhow. We haven't gone group caching in several years; I don't consider two or three people a "group".
I will readily go after micros in the desert or in the woods, as the main point, for me, is the hike, so I often don't care about the size of the container. And I have slowly come around to the realization that pill bottles can be hidden in the woods in many creative ways. That plus the fact that we (and many of the local cachers) have a *lot* of pill bottles around: one of the "perks?" of getting old in body, if not in mind :-p
So, I hide micros. I would really prefer not to do so, but as much as I enjoy finding a good place for an ammo can, very few people go caching with an eye to trade swag, so why bother? People on a five-mile hike (or longer) generally don't want to be weighed down with extranea, so there is no point in putting some nice swag in an ammo can, as it will sit there for years. It's happened to us many times in the past: good stuff in caches of ours that is still there two, three or more years later, despite them being found by people who we know would have a use for it. They didn't bring anything with them, so they didn't trade. And very few people read cache pages at home before going out, so they don't know to prepare themselves for a trade. This is Reality, and we have had to accept it. Sharon really enjoys trading, but she gets very few chances to do so.
Another thing that we need to consider is that geocaching is no longer "Our Little Secret". It is a world-wide phenomenon, with corporate sponsors and promotions. Law enforcement agencies (in many areas) not only know about geocaching (and letterboxing), but they have begun to take it into account when responding to suspicious activities. Park agencies not only are aware of it, but they have issued special sets of rules for hiding caches and boxes. Many of them have hidden caches in areas of interest or sensitivity, so that they have better control over use. Even the NPS has begun to accept that caching does not necessarily interfere with its mission, and can actually enhance it; it can be a useful tool. But the trade-off is that the rules generally prohibit going 30 or 40 feet off-trail to hide a cache. And it is a rare placement that allows an ammo can a mere five feet off a trail: that's the local rule. Decons can often be hidden that close, but decons are also getting expensive and very hard to find except by mail order, so lots of cachers just don't want to hassle with it. Losing a pill bottle is NBD; a muggled decon is eight bucks, minimum.
So, while I wish that things were otherwise, the plain fact is that we have done too good of a job of promoting our game, and have to accept that things are not Ye Gude Olde Dayes. I resist hiding micros when I can, but I don't let it bother me too much when I decide that a larger cache just won't work.