Cache hiding

In the past, I've dealt with what I think is the most efficient use of my time with regard to the hobby/game/silliness that we all know as geocaching.  I've kept a goal for myself of a 1% threshold, where I have hidden at least 1 hide for every 100 I find.  I probably could hide more than that, but there's an issue of quality in my mind.  I don't hide micros.  The smallest container I've ever hidden was a rectangular Altoids container.  The only reason I hid that was as a replacement cache for the one that I accidentally lost in my haste to make the grab.  Ooops.

Other than that cache, which really wasn't mine, the smallest has been a decon container.  I like decon containers for a number of reasons.  The first is they're large enough to hold a small travel bug or any geocoin.  In my mind, I think a small should be able to hold at least something other than a log book. A geocoin makes this criteria.  The second reason I like decon containers is they're small enough for general placement.  I have a couple of decon containers that are hidden just off trails and every time I go out to check on them, they're a tough find.  It's embarrassing having a tough time on your own cache.  Usually when happens after I check on them is I up the difficulty rating on the cache by half a star or so.

Those and the traditional ammo can are usually my containers of choice for caches, but I've been know to use other things, particularly old coffee containers.  But that's beside the point I'm trying to make here.  It's more background information.

My arbitrary 1% threshold was set by me as a way to keep a balance in my caching.  I hid my first two caches after only finding 14 caches.  By my own standards, I don't think that's enough cache finds to adequately make a decent hide.  There are always exceptions to the rule, but I think had I waited, I might have tried some camouflage techniques on the containers.  Neither of the first two containers were camouflaged, just a container with a label on the outside indicating that it's a geocache (see the picture).  Not that camouflage is a necessary requirement for a geocache, but I think they would look better if they had.  And yet one is still out there after almost 9 years in the field, so i guess it's done OK for a non camoed cache.

The 1% threshold for me keeps me from having too many caches out there at any one time, yet at the same time, it allows me to give back to the caching community.  At present I have hidden 35 caches, but only 22 are active.  I think if I had more than about 30 caches active at a time, all I would be doing would be cache maintenance.  Granted, cache maintenance is part of the game, but it's not the only part.  I don't know how people who have 100 or so hides active do it unless they shirk that part of their caching responsibility.  Nothing's worse in my opinion than coming across a cache site, not finding a cache and then checking the cache page and finding a string of DNFs dating back several months.  That just shows that the cache owner doesn't care about their cache.

What this all really leads to is I'm approaching my 1% again.  In the next couple of days, I will end up going over the mini milestone of 3400 cache finds, which will put me within 100 finds of the 1%.  I've been working on a couple of hides, so it's now time for me to go out and place a couple more caches.  The one I've been working on for the last couple of days is a puzzle cache with a theme to it, only the second time I've themed a cache.

The graphic of national park patches comes from my collection of patches that I've purchased over the years.  The Mesa Verde Patch was the very first patch I ever purchased, buying that particular patch back in the summer of 1971.  I will be making a graphic for that cache, based on those patches that cache finders will have to de-cypher in order to find the cache.  I guess local readers have an advanced warning, but they haven't see the puzzle yet, so it's really not a head start for them.

I hope to have this one out by the end of the week.  Today would have been a good day to go out and hide it, since it was unseasonably cool this morning, but I had no energy this morning due to a migraine.  If the weather continues in this vein, I might get out tomorrow or Wednesday to hide it.  I'm hoping this one will be challenging for cachers.

Top picture was taken the following geocache:
Willow Creek Cache - by The Swamp Things

Archiving Caches

Yesterday, the Tadpole and I hiked into the Claremont Wilderness Park, which is located in the foothills north of our house.  Most of the caches we've hidden are in and around this park, which has a nice five mile loop trail through the heart of the park.  The fall, winter and spring are definitely the best times to explore this park and all of its side trails.  Being situated in Southern California, the vegetation is somewhat sparse and there isn't much shade on the upper elevations of the trail, so it's a very hot walk in the summertime.  It's getting pleasant right about now in the park.

Our main purpose for heading up into the park was one of my caches, Scenic Value.  I hid Scenic Value on New Year's Day 2007, so it's been around for almost three years.  I'd gotten a couple of DNFs on the cache, but that wasn't unusual as it was hidden deep in a scrub oak tree and difficult to find.  I'd even had a hard time finding it once when I went up to check on it another time.  I wasn't too concerned when the first DNF showed up mainly because it was a new cacher and I figured it just might have been overlooked.  When an experienced cacher later also DNFed the cache, it was time to check it out.

I was actually surprised when the Tadpole and I got up there and couldn't find it.  I'd brought another cache just in case, but after getting to the site, decided against replacing it.  There was a lot of evidence of erosion and the starts of a bushwhacking type of trail leading up from the canyon below.  One of the finds on the cacher had even mentioned about coming up that way.  That was not something that I really wanted to promote, so I decided to archive the cache.

Just down the trail from Scenic Value is a small spur trail that would be a nice spot to hide another cache.  There had been a cache there previously but it had been burned out and either washed away or buried during a subsequent rainstorm.  The area has recovered nicely following the fire and could have a cache placed back in that side canyon.  I'll have to check that out in the near future and decide whether another cache in that general vicinity would be a good idea.

If not, then I'll leave the area alone.  Not many other cachers hide up there, so it will probably stay cache free for the foreseeable future.  That might not be such a bad thing.  It'll end up just being a nice open area along the trail in between other caches.

Pictures were taken at or near the following geocaches in the Claremont Wilderness Park:
Where is the parking lot? - by Mazingerzz
Scenic Value - by Webfoot

Maintaining Caches

Yesterday turned out cool and cloudy. After last weekend, which saw rain and/or cold temperatures all weekend long, it was a welcome respite. The Tadpole and I had thoughts about caching out near the Rose Bowl yesterday and were well into our plans when a perusal of the sports page, of all things, put the kibosh on that little trip.

One of the reasons for going yesterday was to grab a virtual flag just north of the Rose Bowl. The flag actually had been placed by the computer in between two fairways of the Brookside Golf Course close enough to the clubhouse that it looked like we could score from the driving range of the golf course. However, I noticed in the paper that the Tour of California bike race was to end in Pasadena yesterday with several trips around the Rose Bowl. That would surely cause logistical nightmares and parking problems for us, so we decided to pass and do a couple of other things that needed to be done geocaching-wise.

Tadpole's first cache, Vic-Tree, had apparently gone missing. With the weather and his Dad's schedule, it made it a little difficult for him to get up there and check it out, so I suggested that we do a maintenance run on his cache and one of mine that had two DNFs (Did Not Find) reported in the past month. Both caches were located along our favorite trail in the Claremont Wilderness Park, so it wasn't much of a push to get either of us out the door and on our way to a strenuous 3+ mile hike round trip.

We came with two decon containers in case either cache was indeed missing. Both had been pretty much filled with stuff from our collection of swag. Yesterday was the first nice day of weather on a weekend we've had in awhile, so the parking lots were both jammed for the park, so needless to say, there were lots of people and dogs on leashes roaming the trails.

Vic-tree lies off the main trail in a canyon wash area. The wash makes a nice right hand bend from the trail affording cachers some privacy without having to worry about muggles while looking for the cache. Tadpole had picked the site out on one of our other hikes and was very proud of his placement. This is why I wasn't too concerned about it being missing since it was well hidden in the stump of a tree up above the wash area around shoulder high to me. You'd really have to be looking for it in order to find it. Yet, when we got there, it was gone. We searched all around the tree to no avail.

At that point in time, Tadpole also decided not to re-hide another cache there, but instead opted for a different hide. I suspect that part of the reason for that was his Vic-tree wasn't in a victorious mood anymore. The cache was so named after Winston Churchill's victory picture taken many years ago. The tree had a V shape to it and it was a natural name for the cache. However, in the recent rains we've been having, a nearby tree had had its roots undermined by the water running in the wash and had toppled, taking one of the V branches from Tadpoles tree with it when it fell. One could still hide something there, but I think he wanted to let it go for now and hide some new ones.

We hiked back out to the main trail and continued further up the trail, checking on my Scenic Value cache and then finally to, Today, I saw a Lizard cache. Both of these caches are decon containers that I have added camoed duct tape to and they, for whatever reason, are extremely difficult to find. I had to search for a minute or so for Scenic Value and I knew where it was. I wasn't too worried about it since someone had logged a find on the cache on Friday, but the same person had logged a DNF on the Lizard cache as well, so I knew there could be a possible problem with that cache.

As we walked, we also scouted out locations for another hide for Tadpole, but none of the spots that we looked at really suited him, so we kept going up to Today, I Saw a Lizard. As luck would have it, there were two muggles back near Lizard, so we kept walking back to another cache that the Tadpole ended up finding. I'd already found this one awhile ago while out hiking with friends of mine. We then walked back down the trail and got to ground zero for Today, I Saw a Lizard.

As noted above, this one is another decon that is hard to spot. Once again, my eyes failed me and I couldn't spot my own hidden cache. All at once, the Tadpole announced he'd spotted it and even as he pointed it out to me, it took me a good 30 seconds or so before I could see it. At least that mystery was solved and it was still there. When we got back home, I ended up posting a note to the page and sent two emails to the last to DNFers letting them know that the cache was still there.

The mile and three quarter walk back to the car took most of the rest of the morning, so we decided that our stomachs were more important than trying to find hiding spots for the two caches that we'd brought along on this hike. I started thinking about my own record of cache maintenance and decided that I need to make sure and check my caches from time to time, especially if there have been DNFs logged recently. I know that I don't like it when I get out to a cache site, try to find the cache and then notice on the cache page a string of DNFs logged. The maintenance run on Today, I Saw a Lizard started that process. After all, maintaining caches is part of the game.

As a side note, all of the pictures were not taken yesterday, although in hindsight, I really should have taken some pictures because the views from up there were gorgeous. In the last picture, the mountain in the background is covered with large amount of snow at this time.

Pictures were taken at the following caches:
Vic-tree - by Tadpole95
Today, I Saw a Lizard - by Webfoot
Scenic Value - by Webfoot