View Full Version : A find or not a find...



Cache Maine
12-07-2004, 08:25 AM
I get a pretty good chuckle out of the logs that cachers write...especially DNF's and the "almost finds."

I've read a few lately that, well, in my HO, pushed the limits.

So I'm wondering, when is a find a find and when is an almost find, a find? :)

A few "find" examples that I have read lately...

"I could see the cache but couldn't get to it. Consider this a find."

"Talked to the owner when I got home, was looking in the right place, but cache was gone. It's a find."

"Thanks for the find, hope to visit the area some day."

Just curious!

WhereRWe?
12-07-2004, 09:31 AM
We've never claimed a cache that we never actually put our hands on, but I was close to doing it on one occasion.

We looked for what we thought was an easy cache for about 1/2 an hour before giving up. We later found that the owner had removed the cache for the winter 5 days prior - after we had downloaded the .gpx file to put on the PDA. Our log entry appealed to the owner to let us log the cache, but they never responded so we claimed it as a DNF.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=aa2ff70b-fb31-4cf8-8425-79609d69e690

(I'm looking for sympathy here...)

:p

Haffy
12-07-2004, 01:31 PM
There was one instance this summer where I found the cache but wasn't able to physically log into the logbook. There were about 3 or 4 muggles sittting on the log that it was hidden under and I waited for over an hour for them to leave but to no avail. I logged it as a find and now am taking all kinds of grief for it too.....lol. From now on I sign the logbook before I claim any find.

Mainiac1957
12-07-2004, 04:10 PM
that I have logged as a find without really finding was one from the Bicentennial Park picnic. After a group of us searched for a long while we were told that it had been found by some kids and turned in to the ranger. Jen of the Geochicks (the owner) said we were in the right place so we could log it. I did. I just last month decided that if I don't physically open it and put my hand on a log book than I will not count it as a find. This was due in part to the pocket caches from the event in Newport. So I removed it from my found caches. I only did this for my own piece of mind, not to cause anyone to feel like they need to follow my lead. This sport needs to b about an individuals prefreneces, unless it is a rule set by Groundspeak. So, "If almost touched it", or "It used to be there" is good for you then it's good for me. I won't judge you and I hope no one else does either. It's meant to be for fun and not a contest, at least that's my perspective.

WhereRWe?
12-07-2004, 04:47 PM
There was one instance this summer where I found the cache but wasn't able to physically log into the logbook. There were about 3 or 4 muggles sittting on the log that it was hidden under and I waited for over an hour for them to leave but to no avail. I logged it as a find and now am taking all kinds of grief for it too.....lol. From now on I sign the logbook before I claim any find.

Sheesh, Haffy! An excellent opportunity to educate 3-4 muggles about geocaching and you let the chance slip by!

I believe I would have talked to the people - unless they seemed REALLY wierd.

It is about the numbers, remember. I'll bet if it had been a FTF, you'd have done SOMETHING! :D

Mainiac1957
12-07-2004, 05:00 PM
If it had been a FTF then he would have paid them to take a hike. :p

parmachenee
12-07-2004, 06:03 PM
So, "If almost touched it", or "It used to be there" is good for you then it's good for me. I won't judge you and I hope no one else does either. It's meant to be for fun and not a contest, at least that's my perspective.

I agree with Mainiac1957. Personally, I won't log a find unless I have physically handled the cache and signed/stamped the log or met the requirements in a virtual.
We took a trip to Swan's Island, at some expense, this summer to do some caching and found all the caches but one. I was at the spot the coordinates indicated but found no cache. After logging a DNF, the owners found they had entered the wrong coordinates and gave me permission to log it as a find. I didn't do that because the fun is in FINDING the CACHE.
There was another cache in Rochester, NY that I waded through a marsh for a half hour to get to. It was on the edge of a swamp in a tree leaning at a 45 degree angle over the water. I could see it and I climbed up the tree out over the swamp and brought back the ammo can, signed the log, and climbed back up and replaced it. Now there are some people who might not be able to physically do that and might claim it as a find by just seeing it. That's a personal thing. I felt I had met the challenge to my personal satisfaction.

Beach Comber
12-07-2004, 06:36 PM
I log everything as a find - regardless of touching it, seeing it, or finding it. I figure the trek to the cache alone is worth something and since it IS all about the numbers for me I claim everything. :p

Jusssssst kidding! I did claim two at a park in Fairfield after looking for them 3 times each. Each time I had increasing information and the third time I actually had a fellow cacher with me that could verify that they were missing. Soooo - I claimed them as finds. A couple of months later my conscience got the best of me AND I was educated about the do and don'ts of finds so felt compelled to take them off my list.

It sure is hard to increase your numbers when you have to keep taking the finds off your stats - hehehe I figure that it is easier to take them off your list than to suffer chastising from fellow cachers ;)

Speaking of which - Haffy - I am shocked!!! :eek:

Haffy
12-07-2004, 07:29 PM
I know ,I know,if I ever get back down to that particular area I'll be sure to sign the log this time. Sheesh!!!! Now I sound like WhereRU?

WhereRWe?
12-07-2004, 07:38 PM
I know ,I know,if I ever get back down to that particular area I'll be sure to sign the log this time. Sheesh!!!! Now I sound like WhereRU?

What??? You talking about me - WhereRWe? - or my "haffy" brother WhereRU?

Sheesh! :confused:

Haffy
12-07-2004, 08:30 PM
LOL ,,,,,,close enough!!!!!

brdad
12-09-2004, 08:45 PM
There was one instance this summer where I found the cache but wasn't able to physically log into the logbook. There were about 3 or 4 muggles sittting on the log that it was hidden under and I waited for over an hour for them to leave but to no avail. I logged it as a find and now am taking all kinds of grief for it too.....lol. From now on I sign the logbook before I claim any find.

I find stripping down to my shorts seems to clear an area of muggles in a hurry, and allows opportunity to check for ticks in those otherwise hard to reach places.

brdad
12-09-2004, 08:55 PM
OK, seriously ... for me:

To log a find you must sign the log. If there is no log, or the log is too wet to sign, you must leave some sort of proof you were there. Either an extra slip of paper, your name scrathed into a pice of bark, etc.

There are always exceptions. The only example I can think of are grandfathered micros, of which some had an ID number inside the cover as opposed to a log book, and the cacher would email the onwer with the code for proof he was there. Geocaching.com now requires log books to be in all caches.

In some other instances, the cache owner may allow someone to log a cache despite him not actually finding it. While I would never do this (Well, there was "What In the World" cache, but don't tell anyone - and I have visited it before and after logging it), If the cache oner and the finder feel ok with logging this as a find, that is between them.

WhereRWe?
12-10-2004, 10:04 AM
brdad said:

"In some other instances, the cache owner may allow someone to log a cache despite him not actually finding it. While I would never do this (Well, there was "What In the World" cache, but don't tell anyone - and I have visited it before and after logging it), If the cache oner and the finder feel ok with logging this as a find, that is between them."

And I gotta agree with that philosophy. In some cases you may not be able to log the cache - I still think we should have gotten credit for that cache that was removed a few days before we got there - but it is between the "finder" and the cache owner.

It shouldn't be the judgement of others as to whether you "found" the cache or not...