NW Geocaching

I know I don't blog about geocaching much, but it is one of my favorite pasttimes, and I rarely seem to find time to do it lately. Add to this that geocaching in my area of the US absolutely sucks. This is frustrating when I do find the time because it is obvious that the hiders do not know what they are doing.

So while here in the NW, I have gone out on a couple of caches, actually found them on the first time and they were real caches (rather than micros, which I am beginning to hate). Geocachers in the NW just know how to do it better (might be the fact that it started here). I plan to hit a few more while I am here in Portland, only to return home later this week to the dismal attempts that are made where I live.

The following are some hints for those cache hiders in my area of residence in hopes that someday we'll see some improvement.

1. The hint section is supposed to just be that, a hint. Not some space for you to encrypt a snide remark to the seeker. A person should not have to go home to send you an email if you have included a hint on the cache page.

2. Hiding a 35mm film canister in the woods with accuracy of more than 25 ft is not fun for anyone but apparently you. Causing seekers to overturn every log and rock is not good for them, or the environment and if you continue down this path, I will be forced to report you to the powers that be.

3. Spend a little bit of money on a piece of tupperware and a few small items and hide a regular cache once in a while. When you hide 46 micro caches in the space of 6 miles, it seems like you are being a bit cheap.

4. Put the micro cache in some place interesting, picturesque, or educational. Sticking a magnetic key holder to a guardrail on the edge of a busy highway does not qualify as any of the above. Regular sized caches don't have to be in the above places because finding the cache and trading "treasure" is the fun. In a micro, the seeker is only signing a log and claiming the find, so the placement needs to add something in itself.

5. Don't put stupid things like "negative comments will be deleted" on your cache's page. If you know this is going to be the response by some of the seekers, then perhaps you should rethink the cache in the first place. We should be able to be honest about our finds and you should be able to take some constructive criticism.

I realize that those this is addressed to, do not read my blog, but getting it out of my system is good for me. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, but would like to know more, there is a link to the most popular geocaching website in my sidebar. For those that are going to tell me that I should put out my own caches to set an example, I say, I know this but haven't the time or inclination to do so, being a premium member is my contribution right now.

So, I will continue to take advantage of the superior geocaching available while here in the NW and hope that someone will learn from the mistakes of those micro hounds elsewhere in the country.