I used to have a lot of fun finding these in geocaches, seeing where they’ve been and where they’re going, and adding my little piece of the story to the TB page.

I’ve entirely stopped doing this, I don’t even pick them up anymore. I think it’s because there’s just so many of them now, it doesn’t feel novel when I find one. Add to that the sky-high disappearance rate, it just doesn’t feel worth my time to engage with it anymore.

Anyone else in the same boat? Any new ways to engage with these that keep it feeling fun?

Clarification by Geodarts18

“This appears every so often. It can be confusing because of the way that HQ restricts the app.

Years ago, there were no apps. Caches were found through the web site and the information was then downloaded to a gpsr. Soon after the web site began, geocaching,com added the ability to designate caches as being premium — available only to premium members.

It was controversial. In response, Jeremy Irish (a founding partner) stated that basic caching would always be free, but premium membership was necessary to pay the bills.

Years later, the internet made it possible to develop caching apps. HQ released their official app, and then allowed developers to use their API. In both cases, HQ placed substantial limitation upon basic members.

HQ honors the original commitment it made. If you use web site it remains open as it always has been, excepting only premium caches. The apps are different.

One of the benefits of premium membership is the ability to access all caches. It really is a worthwhile investment.”

original post:

The “premium” restrictions only apply to the app. On the website you can access any and log them there, then on the app you’ll get a grayed out smiley.

People seem not to know this.

Yes, it’s inconvenient, especially the “hidden” premium ones, but I mean to say that no one needs to be excluded if they don’t have extra budget for premium!

UPDATE:
I feel like people really misread me on this. I was only trying to be helpful to people who are new (like myself) who didn’t know that multi cache, mystery cache, higher level caches etc, are available on the website. I thought it would be helpful to others in the community.

I’m never posting here again.

I’ve tried so many different pens throughout my time as a geocacher, but I still haven’t found one that works for me.

For ballpoint pens, I usually need something to scribble on, until it starts working reliably. Even then, they can struggle with plastic (waterproof logs) or slightly damp logs. It’s also difficult to find one that writes fine text for the tiny logs.

Other types of pens can be too inky, causing the ink to bleed through the paper and show on the other side.

For the more experienced geocachers out there, which pens have you had the best experience with?

Hello,

There is a couple of caches high up on trees in my area that require special equipment - these 8m long rods. I don't know which ones are the best so im asking you: if you're a caching rod owner, then maybe you could recommend me some?

Haven't really tried anything but traditional hides And would like to try something different. Can somebody explain how i start a Simple mystery cache and or how to set one up?

I'm working on a challenge cache that predates the geocaching toolkit checker. I need to use the names of the caches I've found to satisfy the requirements of the challenge. I can only see about 30 or 40 caches on each page on the website. Is there a way to generate a complete list of all the caches I've found, so that I can download it and search for some specific words?

Just something I created. It's a lid to a small cache.

What is your favorite part of geocaching that you feel isn’t talked about often?

Mine is when I find desire paths that other people have made to or around a cache. (Though I can’t could how many times I’ve found these paths on the way out rather than in!)

I just got into geocaching. I haven't hidden anything yet, but I have an idea.

I want to hide a comic book inside a 12" plastic pipe. Does this break any unwritten/official rules? Would the discovery of a hidden pipe scare people? I could decorate with stickers to make it look friendly.

Hey,

So I'm doing a geocaching night for scouts and was wondering what things I need to know for it. Like what stuff do we put in a geocache? Me and my scouts are 15-18. forgot to say but this isnt in the us so I have no clue what a Merit Badge Councilor is

Looking for any good/great Halloween themed geocaches in the US since it is the season. Even better if anywhere near the northeast.

I was out caching today and found this multicache final in the woods. It was a perfect day for caching; the air is crisp, the leaves are falling, and no ticks!

Got this coin from a yard sale. I’ve geocached in the past but I haven’t done so in a long while. Upon looking it up I discovered that it only had 1 log, way back in 2008. The person who logged it seemed to be a very prolific geocacher, with over 12,000 finds since 2003! I believe this person may have died, as the person at the yard sale said they got it from an estate sale that seemed to have been an after death sale. The person also hasn’t been on since 2020.

To me, this seems like it was a sentimental coin for the person as it hadn’t moved at all since the 2008 log. They had plenty of other trackables that did move. I don’t know how I would get in contact with whoever owned it originally (or their family) since it has changed so many hands at this point. My instinct is to put it in a cache for it to travel but I’m not certain if this would be disrespectful. Again, I’m not very well versed in geocache etiquette 😅

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

EDIT: I did some more digging into this person and it seems like they were SUPER active in the Geocaching community back in 2008. They attended GeoWoodstock VI and posted some pictures of themselves so I’m going to post in my local area and see if anyone knows who this is. I really want to make a good faith effort at finding someone who knows the history of this coin and the person who owned it

I was in the state game lands (USA) today and came upon an elaborate bird house. I now know it is a gadget cache that was archived four years ago. It's in ok condition for its age and I can tell the CO put a lot of time and effort into building it. When I found the cache in the system, the last CO log was to archive it after someone reported the lock was malfunctioning. The CO doesn't appear to be active anymore and all their other caches were archived around that time as well. I know archived caches that were never removed are considered geotrash. At the same time, it was pretty fun seeing a festive bird house in the middle of hunting grounds. I'm torn between removing it per caching guidelines and leaving it for others to enjoy as an anomaly. Thoughts?

It‘s my dad’s birthday soon, and he’s really obsessed with geocaching. I figured that hiding caches around ocasions for him is a nice way to give him a present that’s also an activity he really enjoys.

Ideally, I‘d want him to get the FTF of course. I know where I want to hide it and I got the cache (it’s an old but sadly broken analog point and shoot camera that I‘m using as a container) and a location to put it. (Though I haven’t checked with our reviewer if it’s still free - though it’s on a 500m long bridge so I feel like I‘ll find something).

My question is: Is this something that is common/can be done etiquett-wise in general? And if so, how do I go about it?

a) do I ask the reviewer to publish on a certain date (if they acce that) and put in the description to let my dad get the FTF?

b) do I ask to publish AFTER date x and have him find it and get the FTF before it’s even published for everyone else?

c) any other options/ideas?

Edit:

there seems to be a range of opinions on what is still legal/in the spirit of the game and what is cheating/manipulating too much.

I think I‘ll have the reviewer assure me that the cache and location are alright and ask them to publish after date x, and then have my dad get a „found before publishing“ - so as to not mess with the, even if unofficial, FTF.

I found a Geo found hidden next to a creek trail. What to do with it? It has been sitting in same spot for three weeks plus.

I'll be taking a solo hiking/MTB trip later this month to a rural region with well documented areas of no cell phone coverage. I'm confident in my skills navigating trails and paths with a compass and paper maps but I'm not sure how to go about caching while out there. Is it a hopeless cause without purchasing a GPS unit? How have others gone about it successfully? From what others have told me, I won't ever be more than 15-20 miles from areas with reception so I'll be able to get a signal when needed, just not WHERE needed.

So, I am asking for a friend.... solvedjigidi.com lets you look up the coords to a jigidi puzzle geocache, and people can add to the database if the cache isn't there yet, However, for a while now my friend has been unable to anonymously enter a solution for a cache that isn't in the solvedjigidi database. When he or she tries, an error comes up something like "Connect Error (1045) Access denied for user 'u808894958_Eric......"

This has been happening for a while, on different browsers and different connections (i.e. at home, work, phone, etc). Can anybody else here anonymously enter a solution at solvedjigidi or is it just my friend's issue? Does anybody have any info about whether the site will fix that or not?