eCache

Not Good Enough

I placed a cache recently. It was ready to be listed last week. I didn’t list it. There was something about it that didn’t quite feel right. After mulling it over for a week more, I decided this cache wasn’t good enough.

As I mentioned a while ago, I am in the process of a series of caches. All have been worked out, coordinates taken, etc. Walking Tour of Joseph Buck’s Town was going to be the first listed cache in this series. Each cache has something in it to help determine the location of the final cache in the series. Because of some things, I wanted to list Walking Tour first.

The idea was something I had been mulling over for some time. I wanted to combine both geogolfing and shutterspots in a cache. As I worked through the idea, I dropped the geogolfing end of it, although I did preserve 18 locations. I snapped photographs at 18 Millville locations. Each location had a number associated with it. If one could discern where the photograph(s) were taken, he would know the number. Doing some mathematics would reveal the location of the cache.

But after I constructed all this, I decided it just wasn’t good enough. The locations of the shutterspots were fine. But the numbers dance to plug into the formulae to render coordinates is as contrived as everyone else’s who uses the “find the number to render coordinates” method. And after dropping the golfing end of the idea, I was left with a photograph puzzle that while unique to this area, isn’t anything special. I didn’t feel like this was a good enough cache to stand on its own.

In addition, I did something with this cache that I haven’t done before: I hid it with a special purpose. I wanted to place an urban cache that wasn’t a micro and didn’t place the seeker in the eyes of the public. I succeeded in that goal as I had an ammo box hidden in downtown Millville that one would be free from prying eyes.

During this past week as I mulled over the cache, I decided that even though the location of the ammo box has a wonderful view, the location itself was lacking. There is garbage to negotiate. Parties do occur in the area. And, well, it just wasn’t special enough for me to lead seekers to.

I referred to my Characteristics of a Good Hide piece I wrote. After considering that, I decided that there were aspects of the cache that may not positively impress the seeker. There’s always that chance in that some can find fault with anything, but there were too many question marks for me to feel comfortable with this cache.

So, it is back to the drawing board. I have several other caches placed. I may shorten the series by one or develop another puzzle to complement the others that are being used here.

This is not the first time I have pulled a cache that didn’t materialize the way I wanted and I know I am not alone in doing so either. But I wonder what would happen if everyone considered their caches like this. What if everyone strived to positively impress the seeker? Would the kinds of caches that inundate the To Do lists change?

Yes, sometimes despite the best of plans, some caches do not work well. That is bound to happen. But I suspect that if cachers applied a self review process prior to listing the cache that sought to uncover flaws in design of the proposed cache we all would have a more satisfying bank of caches to seek. There will still be some caches that do not appeal to some for a variety of reasons, but “quality” in some general sense would be improved.

Anyhow, the Scratch My Itch series is progressing. I desire to positively impress the seekers of these caches. Stay tuned . . .

Also blogged on this date . . .

• Sometimes Daily - 2008
• Happiness Is . . . - 2007
• Conversion & McGreevey - 2007
• More Hypocrisy from the Frog - 2006
• Pet Wreck - 1992
• Flour Wreck - 1992

Tags: Geocaching, GeoGolf, GPS Games, ShutterSpot