[Az-Geocaching] Food for Thought

[Jim Scotti]

   Well, now that you put it that way, Scott....
   I see what you mean and agree with you.  A cache hide should be expected
to last a reasonable length of time, but sometimes (from personal
experience), a cache might be much more vulnerable than the hider expected.  
I had a cache called "The Moon" which was in a high traffic area near the
Flandrau Science Center.  I hid it under a model of the Moon on a shelf
totally out of sight. I thought it would be safe despite the many visitors,
including the rugrats that often climbed on top of the model during their
visit.  The original cache container disappeared after a couple months and
the 2nd container disappeared twice, being returned once before it was lost
as well.  It was there over a year and was fun while it lasted....  
Sometimes a cache hider has a great idea, but maybe the execution does not
work out as well as one hopes.
   Of course, as you point out, some caches probably should not have been
placed since they have no hope of working out - I don't think I've placed one
of those (though I did have a cammo cache that didn't work out too well....)
and I, for one, try to keep those kinds of issues in mind when selecting a
location for a new cache, and so should any other cache owner.

Jim.

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005, Roping The Wind wrote:

> Ok, this discussion is actually getting just a tad bit sidetracked from what 
> I intended. I am not necessarily saying that caches shouldnt be placed in 
> urban areas. What I am getting at is this:
> 
> I have noticed ALOT of caches in my local area (east valley primarily) that 
> got archived before I had a chance to get to it. Sometimes they lasted a few 
> days, sometimes a couple weeks or maybe a month at most. In the description 
> of many of these caches, the cache owner put in... "please be discrete and 
> use stealth as there are alot of people around"... or something to that 
> extent. Then, the cache shows up missing a week after it was placed. I mean, 
> a cacher can only use so much 'stealth'. I mean, you cant be invisible!!! 
.
. (trimmed the rest...)
.

Jim Scotti
Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA                 http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/