OKay, so I get four separate emails yesterday from a less experienced cacher about 4 of my caches he/she was unable to find. In each of the four, the cacher is requesting better hints.

Now, two of the caches are what I consider to be more difficult hides from me. They are properly rated as "3" difficulty and I feel that the hints provided are all I want to give. These two caches are not supposed to be super easy.

The other two caches are easy as are most of my hides. And both have been around long enough (years) that I know the coords get you within 20 feet even on a bad day. The hints are also spoilers. If you use the hints on these two caches and check everything remotely like they say, then there is no way you can't find the caches. So I don't think there are better hints I could leave nor do I want to leave better hints.

I know how I have responded to this cacher and will provide that later, but I am curious as to how YOU would respond if in the same situation.

For the harder caches, personally I would still only provide clues. I also tell folks that not all of my caches are meant to be found by everyone and the thrill of the find is working through the difficulty involved. That is the whole point of the cache and the way I designed it. It cheapens the experience for those who stuck with it and got it done to boot.

I agree with your feelings on the easy caches. You could point out that further experience with other caches might help them go back and find your easier caches.

AG, it's your cache(s), so it's your call. A response to a "less experienced cacher" makes the following what I'd call acceptable. The same emails from an experienced cacher might not garner the same response. I have a some newbies email me saying the caches was too easy that when they printed out the hints, that is what made it too simple. Ya can't please'em all.

I have given one cacher about 6 clues. After each visit I'd give them one more little clue until they eventually got it. I wanted them to enjoy the rest of the cache. You know the one...your 3,000th.


Dear Cacher,

Cache A is correctly rated and to give more of a hint, I feel that would change that rating for you. And since you chose to try and find this one, I'm sure you actually want to enjoy the spoils of the find at that level. I Know it's still there. Maybe the Satellites will align upon your next visit giving you a find.
Good luck.

Cache B is correctly rated and to give more of a hint, I feel would be unfair to you since you chose to try to find it at it's currently rated level. I will give one hint though, thump around more.

Thanks Greg and Joe. I'll wait for a few more replies before I tell you anything about what I said to this cacher.

AG,

I have done several of your caches and always find your hints and coordinates to be right on spot. Since they are your caches it should be entirely up to you as to any additional clues that you might give.

It is not a bad thing to have DNFs. I have several and some I keep searching for and hope to find someday when I get good enough. By the way I picked up an AG coin the other day on Chestnut Mountain right up on the GA NC line. What a shock to find one of your first coins sitting on a mountain top still in a cache. Not sure who put it there but it had been there so long it was stuck to the bottom of the container..

I'm an experienced cacher so do I get a hint on a 3 star of yours??

Since the cacher in question is less experienced, for the easy caches I would just respond back and tell them that the answer is in the spoiler. If you used any caching lingo in the spoiler you might have to spell it out for him/her. I know I made some really silly over sights when I was new...and still do! For the harder ones come up with a nice way to tell them to get more familiar with caching before trying such a difficult cache.

Lisa

As for me... well I'm a softie. I will tell them what they want to know. Shoot, if I'm close by I will even drive over and put their hand on it. I've done that more than once. But I'm a softie.

And I'm too fickle. Depending on my mood of the day, I would also go out and put their hand on it. Then again, I might just laugh out loud at the email - and ignore it - with no reponse.
I have done both.

From my point of view there are two things to keep in mind:

1st: If I feel like I really tried (looked at least twice) and feel like I cannot get it unless I have a better hint, I won't look again unless I have an additional hint. So the cache and the cache experience will be lost on me.
As someone who considers themselves a poor finder, a hint is greatly appreciated after failing miserably. Not a big whopping hint, but just a small bone to make want to look again. If you give it away too much it ruins the "wow" factor. Unless of course I am begging for you to throw me a big ol'bone.

2nd: If it is a new cacher you don't want to turn them off to caching. And, since your are a pillar of the local caching community, you need to be more careful than average cacher like myself.

AG, I believe I have been contacted by the same cacher.

quote:

Originally posted by Trez:
As for me... well I'm a softie. I will tell them what they want to know. Shoot, if I'm close by I will even drive over and put their hand on it. I've done that more than once. But I'm a softie.

I have one geocache where I have been there with more than half finders. And it is at the end of a multiple mile hike.

Believe it or not, I've had a few calls like this.
I usually tell them that I'll check the cache to make sure it is still there. Then, after confirming it is in place, I'll tell them that. I might give them some helpful advice that can be applied to geocaching in general such as "don't get so focused on the ground that you ignore what is in the trees" or "when you approach a cache, start walking slowly to allow the GPSr to zero in" or something like that. Or else I might suggest that they simply return the cache to their to-do list and come back to it after they get another dozen or so caches under their belt. It will still be there and they will appreciate the find more if they did it on their own.

Greg, did this cacher have trouble finding your caches too?

Phat & Trez, I call BS ;-)

What I had responded to this cacher was that two of the caches they attempted were what I consider more difficult hides and that perhaps those should be attempted when he/she had found a few more caches. On the other two, I told them that the hints basically told them where the caches were and I was surpsied that he/she was unable to locate them (incidentally, all 4 caches are definitely still there).

These 4 emails arrived on the evening of 2/26. It was the day that we had those severe morning storms blow through. The day was mostly overcast as well.

So I mentioned that perhaps there were not good readings from the satellites as a result of the storms and to try the two easy ones again on a clear day.

Finally, I said that there could be an issue with the GPS and did they have trouble with other caches from other hiders that day as well. This question was never answered.

Bottom line, this cacher was pretty offended and definitely twisted my wording around... this person felt 80 cache finds was sufficent enough experience (I had to chuckle at that) and that there was nothing wrong with their GPS and how dare I say that there was (Um, I didn't say there was, I said there COULD BE).

I corrected this person's misreading of said comments in a second reply and wished them luck in their caching ventures. I also suggested that if it was just my caches he/she was having problems with, that he/she might want to ignore my caches altogether.

Most people know the majority of my hides are really easy. I mean most are designed for beginners and children. So I don't really know what to say.

After I had posted this thread, the cacher emailed me again asking what "Cymbaline Style Hide means." I told him to go find some Cymbaline caches and find out. Again, this hint appears on one of the more difficult placements of mine.

Oh yeah, based on your post... same cacher.

They basically wanted me to tell them which tree - exactly - where it is. I told them that in a heavily wooded area, it would be almost impossible to tell them the exact tree and that frankly I had never even noticed that closely. I told them "within 20 to 25 feet of the posted coordinates". I told them that they were going after two well covered caches, one with pine straw and one with grasses. (One of them is probably gone though for real, but one is most certainly still there.) They also said that all caches should be exposed so they are easy to see. I told them that was dead wrong and that they should leave the cache exactly as they found it. In some cases, leaving the cache exposed may lead to it being stolen.

I did suggest a hiking staff for poking around so they would not be as invasive as a feral hog rooting for grubs. I said that the hiking staff would usually make a distinctive "thunk" sound when it hits the cache.

This is how I hide some my geocaches.

But the only time I told anyone exactly where I have hidden a geocache was a time when I thought the hunter found the spot and I suspected it was gone and it was. Now I have gave hints on my puzzles.

quote:

I did suggest a hiking staff for poking around so they would not be as invasive as a feral hog rooting for grubs. I said that the hiking staff would usually make a distinctive "thunk" sound when it hits the cache.

That's not exactly what I would tell them to do with their hiking stick.

That's what I would have said on the inside.

I used to be warm and fuzzy and would have invited them to a cache hunt so I could show them the ropes ... the ropes that I know. But now I'm a little more grumpy and I probably would have answered the first time and deleted any other inquiries.

quote:

I did suggest a hiking staff for poking around so they would not be as invasive as a feral hog rooting for grubs. I said that the hiking staff would usually make a distinctive "thunk" sound when it hits the cache.

aka an acoustical sounding device.

Well Greg, I can see you probably rolled your eyes alot when reading the email from said cacher. I take it that I handled the situation ok from the prior comments here. I basically did cover most of the suggestions others would have made if they were the recipient of these emails.

I have hidden 2 caches (rookie) and was called by the FTF on both saying he could not find