[Az-Geocaching] The Future of Geocaching

[Farquhar, Larry]

I told you I was bored. And I still have 60 minutes left in the office :(

Here's my thoughts in reply:

Sdrake topic (1): This is subjective. Some people will want to find 15 easy
caches in public parks in a day, some will go 15 times and find 1 cache per
trip, others will only go for the challenging hikes or those caches in very
scenic or unique areas. I think England has over 10,000 letterboxes in ONE
national park. I don't think the SE Valley or the Phoenix Mountain preserve
is saturated, or even has a high concentration of caches. To me, the highest
placement of caches is the ASU area, with 4 caches within .75 mile. Is this
saturated? Maybe for an urban area. I can't think of any place else in
Arizona where there's more than 2 caches within .25 miles apart. There's
plenty of mountain tops in the Phoenix Mountain Preserves, in South
Mountain, and many other places that a cache can still be placed. Nobody has
to hunt down all the caches in one area in a day.

Sdrake topic (2): As above - over saturation is a subjective term. What is a
"poor" cache is also subjective. However, I agree new cacher's should wait
and "find" some cache's before hiding any of their own. They will be better
prepared to offer a higher quality cache experience, hunt, and location.

Sdrake topic (3): I agree that the cache location needs to be considered. As
has been recently discussed, this is a matter of "educating" each other and
a little peer pressure (with tactful comments and Email discussions). If a
cache is placed in a taboo location, cache hunter's could boycott that
cache. What's the use of hiding a cache if nobody goes looking for it?

Sdrake topic (4): Thanks. I wouldn't say I'm kept "busy" each week. More
like "having a blast" each week. Currently, Geocaching is my hobby, in which
I get to take advantage of my other interests - my Jeep and exploring. I'm
thrilled to be enjoying all three interests together!

Sdrake topic (5): Even the "diehard" cacher's in Arizona change. Diehard one
month, a casual cache hunter the next. There's nothing wrong with that. I
was VERY active in a Jeep club until I discovered Geocaching. I'm still
involved with the Jeep club, but not real active.

Sdrake topic (6): Thanks again. Many of us like a variety of cache types. As
I mentioned in topic #1, some like the casual park caches, others want to
hike to the top of Bronco Butte, :) and others like them all. When I started
hiding caches, I originally was going to hide all of my caches in locations
that required a 4WD to get to, since that was my other hobby. But, as I
previously said, why hide a cache that nobody (or few) will go to? I've
changed my ideas, and now try to hide a variety of caches.

Okay - only 20 minutes left at work now !!!!!

Larry Farquhar
Team "Wyle E"
www.azjeeper.com



-----Original Message-----
From: srdrake@srpnet.com [mailto:srdrake@srpnet.com] 
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 1:42 PM
To: az-geocaching@listserv.snaptek.com
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] The Future of Geocaching


Interesting post...  Here are my thoughts:

(1) I am concerned about the concentration of caches.  Will areas get
oversaturated with caches?  Too many caches in an area can take some of the
fun out.  Imagine a day of visiting public parks in Gilbert and doing 15
caches.  Right now I'll suggest that the SE Valley and the Phoenix Mountain
Preserve have a very high concentration of caches.

(2) Will more geocachers mean more caches are created simply because someone
wants to create a cache.  Will this lead to oversaturation in areas?  I saw
recently that someone I've crossed paths with in another interest has
started geocaching and can't wait to start placing caches.  I suggested to
him that he should wait until he's found 20 or so before hiding one so he
can get a better feel how it works.  I admit the "Where's George" cache that
I placed was placed just to see what placing a cache is like.  I guess this
point gets to the issue of do a lot of "poor" caches get placed just because
people have the cache-placing desire.

(3) I'm concerned about caches being placed in inappropriate places.  The
"Cooked" one in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve is hidden in an area
designated as an archaeological site.  I encountered 2 cache placements this
past weekend in San Diego that were hidden well within areas designated as
"do not enter" due to revegetation efforts (one was even in a county park).
Given that geocaching is governed by those who participate, there needs to
be a clear way to deal with caches that are obviously outside of reasonable
guidelines for placing a cache.  As the hobby grows, there will be more
people involved in the hobby who will not care where they place a cache.

(4) Team Wyle E's 200+ caches is impressive now, but a year or two down the
road there will be many people with 1000+ caches.  I think the number of
caches placed will grow.  I bet Team Wyle E is kept very busy just trying to
catch up with the new caches that are place each week.

(5) Look at the AZ rankings now.  How many people are diehard geocachers?
(Maybe 15-20?)  How many are active but not in a race to find as many as
possible (Probably the majority of  the geocachers.)  People's interest in
things wax and wane.

(6) Personally, my hope that new geocachers will add more creative caches.
I've been in it now for 6 weeks and I have some ideas for creative caches
that I haven't seen yet.  I love the creativity that Team Wyle E has put
into several of their caches.  As the hobby grows, I'd love to see the
challenge revolve around creative caches than quantity of caches.

-Stephen (srdrake) _______________________________________________
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