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What's your method?


MMaru

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Hello! I was just curious about how people decide which caches they'll go for on any given day.

 

Personally, I generally have one "main" cache - whether it's a potential FTF that I'm going after, another cemetery hide to add to my list, or one that just sounds really interesting - then I use the map on the cache page to see what caches are nearby and/or along my route that I'd like to stop for.

 

What's your method?

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It varies... it can be any of these, or a combination

 

- The one special cache: Perhaps a tough puzzle I've solved. If there are other caches in the area and I have time, I'll find those too.

- Personal recommendation: Cache(s) recommended by a friend.

- Map: Find an area with interesting looking terrain and caches.

- If caching with friends.. do what they suggest

- Caches which are convenient to where I am (especially when travelling)

- Cache owner - seek out more caches by a cache owner when I have enjoyed their caches.

- Favourite points on caches

- Caches which help with a challenge I am working on

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We have a list of "worthwhile" caches that are "special" in any way. This can be a longer (max @35Km) bike ride, a special cache (multi/mystery/many favorites/promising logs). We then select other caches "nearby" (can be up to 20Km) that are interesting enough and then organize a route.

Any traditionals along the way that have "foot of tree", lamppost... get ignored even if we happen to pass them just meters away.

 

There must always be a reason to go find a cache. Solved mystery, Challenge (we don't go out to find caches to qualify for a challenge but find challenges we happen to qualify for), "gadget"caches that require special tools or decoding stuff.

 

Yesterday's 61Km bike tour (with muggle friends) brought us along 25-30 caches. We stopped at 3. One could easily have been ignored, the others were 2 solved mysteries with the cache "in theme" with the questions of the mystery. One got me into the ATC tower of a small grass runway airfield.

 

During holidays we're less picky but will still ignore plain traditionals at car parks or other uninspiring places.

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Normally it's just look on the map, find a cache or two that isn't on/near a road, seems more than a half-mile in, and head out.

I'll walk right by that micro in the parking lot...

My other 2/3rds caught heck for a while (numbers folks whine to her, not me...) but most of them aren't even playing anymore.

Must be doing something right. :laughing:

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Hello! I was just curious about how people decide which caches they'll go for on any given day.

 

Personally, I generally have one "main" cache - whether it's a potential FTF that I'm going after, another cemetery hide to add to my list, or one that just sounds really interesting - then I use the map on the cache page to see what caches are nearby and/or along my route that I'd like to stop for.

 

What's your method?

 

This is our method. We kind of scan the map and pick an area, and then find something interesting to be our main target of the day. Lately our choices have revolved around our new canoe.

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Sometimes I have one or more caches as a goal (e.g., continuing my progress on a regional series, or finding a specific "epic" multi-hour multi-stage cache with friends).

 

Usually I start with the location. For opportunistic caching, it's just my current location. For planned trips, it's the location where I expect to be hiking, cycling, camping, or otherwise visiting. If I have enough time in advance, then I'll try to solve some puzzles in the area before a planned trip.

 

And I usually look for solved puzzles first, and then I just look for whatever caches are in the area.

Edited by niraD
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Usually, my method is:

 

1) Find a cache which is interesting somehow. It can either be: high D/T cache, missing in my D/T matrix, special experience, lots of favs, etc.

2) Check how to get there

3) check for caches around the "main" cache.

4) then, we do some "easy" caches for warm-up, then do the "main" cache, then settle down with more "easy" caches. It might happen that there are more than 1 interesting cache (hopefully :))

 

Other times, we just aim for covering an area as much as we can.

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Although there are several factors, primarily I look for a nice place to walk. For the most part, I look at the cache page to see where I haven't been yet or where I haven't walked for long enough that someone's planted new caches there.

 

But it's true I also sometimes look at "special caches", the most common example being a few solved puzzle caches within walking range of each other.

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Completely depends on what what my partner and I want to do... I note that if we have any TBs in my inventory (other than my own), I'll factor in their missions into our plans. For instance, today we're taking an extra long dog walk to hit a nearby pair of caches in hopes of moving some TBs along.

Edited by CV Kurt
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Not in any real order: Location. Photo opportunity. Roadside America listing. Kayak destination. A nice hike. Virtual. Earthcache. Letterbox. A title or description that inspires something I could write about in a log. Someplace Aura Raines would visit. History. Cryptids. Location.

 

It's always nice when these overlap. Did I mention something about location?

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I've used just about all of the above, plus this:

If I have a geocoin or particularly nice travelbug to place. I'll look for a PMO cache big enough to hold it and use that as a starting point.

I try not to leave travelers in regular caches anymore to try to avoid intro app users from taking them.

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Depends. If I am on a trip, am going to have lots more variety to choose from, like when we go to Yellowstone, I have old caches, caches that help on challenges, high favorite caches, webcams, virtuals, interesting spots...

but at home, often its just what I have not found if its say within 10 miles. If I want to go further, I try to find a nice hike I have not been to before or if a puzzle catches my eye or something new with favorites.

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First, it depends.

 

If I am going somewhere and I hope to do some caching while there, I'll often run a PQ centered over the area and do some sorting/filtering in GSAK. Look for Favorites, ignore things with lots of DNFs, etc. If I know I have limited time, I'll filter out anything with high Difficulty and/or Terrain. I'll take whatever survives all that filtering and export it to Basecamp to view it on a map to see what looks interesting.

 

If I'm around my local area? I'll mostly browse the map on the Geocaching site and see if there are any interesting patterns that show up...strings of caches, an unfound cache in the middle of a pile of smileys, what's closest to home that I haven't picked off yet, etc.

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I look for caches in either states: where I haven't found one yet, or in an area that I may be expecting to "hang around" for some time whilst waiting on someone or something, to kill time. I look for only D1 to 1.5 or maybe 2 if the logs look like they justify it, and T1 to 2. That gets me a few caches a year.

Edited by MountainWoods
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I call up the map on the website and find a route of about 100km, sorry for my metric, around home or further if I am going over night and log the enroute caches onto my GPS. I don't use the Smart phone, because it works out they become dumber than me the minute we have no contact with the thingy that makes it work. If I go overnight I take laptop and attach to the internet and work out trips around that location. The big one I have yet to figure out is return visits to DNF!

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Mine varies. If I'm driving a fair distance, I may look for something along the way to break up the drive, or gives me a good place to stop and stretch my legs.

 

I also like finding TBs, so I will look for a cache that has some of these. Gotta be a bit careful with this, though - there's a lot of these that have been lost over the years, but not marked as such. So I check the TB log to see how long it has been in the cache. Once I find a target cache, I look around for what else is in the area.

 

I like the historical ones as well. I've been working on the 25 oldest ones in my state. One I went after one a few years ago ticked off several of my desirable boxes. It was large - a 5 gallon bucket; - it was old - 10th oldest in the state at that time; and it was way back out on the back side of beyond, instead of next to a busy highway. But when I got there, I found a clear-cutting crew had come through the area within the last week, and drove over the cache with heavy equipment. I think I found a few scraps of plastic from the bucket, and nothing more.

 

I also like the ones that have a little challenge to them. One historical cache I want to get to is on an island a mile or so offshore. Some day, I'm going to take my kayak out and go after that one.

 

I also consider the size and type of cache, too. Nanos and micros are generally a waste of space, in my opinion. So are LPC hides. Granted, there are some that will bring me to an interesting location, but generally a magnetic key container under a light pole cap in a Walmart parking lot is going to be ignored. And I don't usually find anything interesting in yet another bison tube hung on a tree branch, or those itty bitty magnetic containers about the size of my little fingernail, tucked under a picnic table in a crowded park. I tend to ignore urban caches in busy or crowded places as well. I don't really feel like explaining why I'm crawling under a picnic table to yet another muggle.

 

Power trails are sometimes interesting, if the caches don't fall into the dislike categories above. I'm not a huge numbers person, but sometimes finding 5-10-15 caches while out riding my bike is a good way to spend the morning.

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