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 -----
From: Regan Smith<
mailto:evilfish@cox.net>
To:
listserv@azgeocaching.com<
mailto:listserv@azgeocaching.com>
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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