Working the Grid

[+purpletrumpet]

I had such great replies to my first question, I'll post another.

 

I see a lot of cachers refer to "filling out their grid". Is this another side-game? Are they trying to get a find in every quadrant of a grid they create of their local caches? Can anyone give an example of how you created your grid?

 

Thanks, you all are awesome. I'm still a newbie, but I'm trying to learn fast.

[+cerberus1]

As a PM, your stat page has grids for finds in days of the year, Difficulty/Terrain, etc.

We have cached all days of a year (even leap), so we have a "filled grid".

[+purpletrumpet]

Ok, that makes sense. Guess I have a ways to go on that, but I like the idea. Thanks for the help!

[+J Grouchy]

There are lots of challenges around the world that work off the various 'grids'. Example: http://coord.info/GC5MZJ4

 

That's extreme, though. Most folks focus on one at a time. Personally, I'm really only interested in the calendar grid. I should be able to complete that one on February 29th next year.

 

The D/T grid is a good one to try for, but it's not something I really have an interest in intentionally trying to fill. I still check every now and then to see if I've turned more of it green.

 

Now...the Jasmer one...I have no interest in. Honestly, I think that one tends to encourage some shenanigans when it comes to cache maintenance. Too many really old caches that have been abandoned or destroyed end up getting a pass simply because it's a rare cache that was placed in a certain month 14 or 15 years ago. It causes a lot of heartburn for too many folks.

[+purpletrumpet]

There's no grid for this, but I met a man from Australia at a local event. He was in town for another function. He said he was participating in a challenge to find caches that have sat unfound the longest. Then they add up the lapsed times from one cache to another for a total. So, if he finds a cache that hasn't been found and logged in a year, then another that hasn't been found in 6 months, he is credited with a year and a half and he builds on that. I think that's a great idea. I think he said he's up to 40+ years.

[+noncentric]

There's no grid for this, but I met a man from Australia at a local event. He was in town for another function. He said he was participating in a challenge to find caches that have sat unfound the longest. Then they add up the lapsed times from one cache to another for a total. So, if he finds a cache that hasn't been found and logged in a year, then another that hasn't been found in 6 months, he is credited with a year and a half and he builds on that. I think that's a great idea. I think he said he's up to 40+ years.

Caches that haven't been found in a while are often referred to as "lonely" caches. You're correct that they're not associated with grids, but some cachers search for them because of "challenge" cache requirements. You could search the forums to find several discussions about these two types of caches.

 

These are some of my favorite to find. I recently went to an area where there were over a dozen caches that hadn't been found in at least a year. I thought the area would be difficult to access, or that it had changed to being private property. Arrived and realized that it was closed to cars, but was open to hikers and non-motorized bikes. Not sure why cachers hadn't been there in so long, but we spent the day covering about 9 miles on unpaved roads. Most of the 'lonely' caches we looked for were waiting there in their hiding spots.

 

Looks like you are in Ohio. Here are a couple 'lonely' caches challenges that might be of interest. Not sure if they close to you or not.

GC5AWR4

GC42RRG

 

Here's a link to the search I performed to find these caches. You can click on "Change Filters" to see which choices I selected...Type = mystery, name contains = lonely, location = Ohio.

[+purpletrumpet]

I love those! I might have to find an excuse to head over that way, maybe a visit to the Air Force Museum.

[+Gill & Tony]

There's no grid for this, but I met a man from Australia at a local event. He was in town for another function. He said he was participating in a challenge to find caches that have sat unfound the longest. Then they add up the lapsed times from one cache to another for a total. So, if he finds a cache that hasn't been found and logged in a year, then another that hasn't been found in 6 months, he is credited with a year and a half and he builds on that. I think that's a great idea. I think he said he's up to 40+ years.

Wow, there's a slight chance you met my son, depending where in Australia you were.

 

He has 3 challenge caches for 5, 15 and 50 years unfound time. He is comfortably over 50 years now, I'm approaching 15 years.

[+Gill & Tony]

There's no grid for this, but I met a man from Australia at a local event. He was in town for another function. He said he was participating in a challenge to find caches that have sat unfound the longest. Then they add up the lapsed times from one cache to another for a total. So, if he finds a cache that hasn't been found and logged in a year, then another that hasn't been found in 6 months, he is credited with a year and a half and he builds on that. I think that's a great idea. I think he said he's up to 40+ years.

Hang on, if this is in Ohio and it was last weekend, then you did meet my son. He is over there doing a guitar course. Tall guy with red hair and a beard?

[+purpletrumpet]

That's him! He was a pleasure to meet and talk to about caching here and there.

[+Gill & Tony]

Small world, to coin a cliché

[+niraD]

Are they trying to get a find in every quadrant of a grid they create of their local caches?

As others have indicated, "filling your grid" usually refers to one of the various statistics grids: Finds for Each Day of the Year, Difficulty and Terrain of Caches I've Found, etc.

 

But their are quadrangle challenges, like the Bay Area Quadrangle Challenge, which are based on map quadrangles. And there are Delorme challenges, which are based on the pages of the specified DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer. And their are county challenges, based on the counties of specified states. And so on. And there are people who set similar goals for themselves, even when there is no challenge available.