Very nicely put, Regan. There seems to be a whole generation of cachers who
think lite pole caches and park bench/playground caches are the norm nowadays. I
had the pleasure of sitting down with Jeff (Team 360) JR (team AJ.JR ) and Dave
Ulmer a few years back, and was a little surprised with Daves take on the
sport of geocaching that he gave birth to. Strangely enough, I remember him
saying that he had no idea that geocaching would have become so big (with the
help of Jeremy) and that he really didn't keep up with the game a whole lot. At
that time he was travelling around the country in his motorhome and must have
driven by a whole plethora of caches everyday. Maybe it was just my take on what
he said, but I got the distinct feeling he wasn't too receptive of the idea of
many of the urban/city caches being placed at that time. I wonder what his
feelings are today? I hear about cachers with physical limitations, and I'm sure
there are quite a few cachers out there with legitimate physical
disabilities, but there's also a bunch of "lazy" cachers out there who spend way
too much time sitting on their butt playing on the computer, by
choice. Some of those cachers have limitations like being way too fat
(bad knees, etc.) or just totally out of shape from sitting on their rears.
Hands-On Cachers have a cache near Montana Mountain that is named "Get off the
Couch, and Cache" (GC1JQY7) which says it all, as far as I'm
concerned. I think many urban park/parking lot/electrical boxes/sprinkler
head cachers use the excuse that these caches are hidden for those who just
can't do the hiking or off-road caches due to physical limitations, wrong
vehicle, or time constraints. That's baloney. I feel empathy for those
who really are handicapped, but that group of cachers is a very small
minority of the total caching crowd. For those who have ventured out in the
desert or mountains to seek a hiking/off road cache, my hat's off to you. The
feeling of actually having to put forth some effort to get to one of these
caches is wonderful, and beats doing 25-50 urban caches, hands down. I
still do a few urban caches, if I'm in the mood, but enjoy the caches placed in
the boonies a whole lot more. AZcachemeister and AZgeckogirl, as well as AJ.JR ,
TEF, 360, ShadowAce,Desert Rhino, Sprocket 1980, Roping-the-Wind, Team A.I.,
Highpointer, Hands-On Cachers, Just Hike and quite a few others
place mostly caches that include some effort to get to, a scenic location,
and a sense of accomplishment. I know the numbers thing is attractive to
quite a few cachers, as we got caught up in it in the "early" days, but do we
need "power trails" such as Redundant #1 thru #100? There seems to be a
rash of cachers placing caches .10 apart, with little, or no value, other than
to pump up the numbers. Just because you have more finds than somebody else
doesn't mean that you're a better cacher, or that folks respect you
more. Arizona Ranger Team has quite a few less finds than I Do, but
I respect their sense of adventure, and the type of caches they
pursue. Anyway, I hope I haven't stepped on too many toes, and want to
thank all of those cachers who place hides that have some true
value...............
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 11:51
AM
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] Why I became a
Premium Member
Ya Know I really didn't want to pay for a Premium Membership,
as for the many years prior Geocaching was about the Geo taking the GPS
putting in coordinates and finding a cache outside..
Now as if a bad
plague I felt it very necessary for me to pay to Ignore armchair caching, Have
all the good stand alone caching locations been taken that you have to add
sitting infront of the computer playing math and phone games before going out
to enjoy the outdoors. Has climate change done so much to ruin wanting to
spend time outside????
When Dave Ulmer hid his cache he said come and
find it, now how many take the trip to see that spot??.. Yes times change but
the principle of here is a cache and go find it should not be
perverted.
I was told by Alex months ago if you do not like that
type of hide why hide one like it? I so want to hide a more devious cache page
cache so all the minority cachers can bitch and moan at their lack of
understanding my logic but will not pervert the game any more. but the lock
and cable will remain....
Just like giving the challenge to a few other
cacher about stepping up their game I will add now Keep it
up.
Thanks ACM for the enlightenment of the Ignore
button
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