View Full Version : Numbers or Experience



lefty
05-07-2005, 07:24 PM
I just wanted to know how every one feels. I am in it for the experience since my daughter told me on the way out of out first cache "now this daddy is great quality time for us" from the mouths of babes. We will have a picnic or snack at a good cache and just enjoy each others company.

How do you take caching? Just curious.

Mainiac1957
05-07-2005, 07:37 PM
I like to look at my numbers but I also like to reflect back on some of my most memorable hunts. Some good and some not so much. It sounds like you have a really great reason to get out there. Don't give that up. Before you know it she will have way more important things to occupy her.

d’76
05-07-2005, 10:33 PM
I like most of the experiances but sometimes it's about the numbers but more than anything it's about being outside

attroll
05-07-2005, 11:16 PM
Yes the numbesr do play into the fun of doing caches. I tell people that I am not in it for the numbers and I truely am not. But when we do a whole day of caching I do like to get as many as I can because I don't know when I will be able to cache again. So when I say I am not in it for the number I mean that I am not out every weekend trying to get as many caches as I can. I do have a life other then caching.

I do enjoy caching though because it gets me out of the house on days when I have nothing else to do and takes me to places that I would never have gone to our known about. I have seen things on caches in Maine that others will never see or experience in their lifetime.

tat
05-08-2005, 06:38 AM
Numbers are very low on the list of things that I enjoy about caching. If they stopped keeping track, that would be fine by me. The places, clever hides, flower, fauna and people - even the weather, are what I enjoy.

Yesterday, I hosted an event and someone asked me if I was keeping a written log. I said no because it was just too wet and windy. He was concerned that someone would try to sneak in 1 extra credit. It turns out that he had nothing to worry about: approx. 100 travel bugs were exchanged; everyone that logged their attendance also came away with travel bugs!

Hiker Twins
05-08-2005, 07:09 AM
It's all about the experience and being outdoors! Caching is fun, but it really is the excuse for getting outside and to places that I have never been to before and probably wouldn't even find out about. It is a great way to get kids to find fun in hiking.

FFFarmer
05-08-2005, 08:59 AM
The numbers really do play a role in it, it is almost like a competition, but who are you competing against other than yourself??? The real thing for me and my family is the opportunity to spend some time together, seeing places we have not seen before and probably would never have seen. We stumbled onto geocaching from a link on an ATV site, we realized there were 4-5 caches within 3 miles of home. We went out the next morning to find them and got hooked.

Geochicks
05-08-2005, 09:16 AM
I look at it as time WELL spent with my mother and my daughter. And I mean that by not sitting infront of the TV or asking her to clean her room. We have our own way (I'm sure others do this too) of hunting for a cache to make everyone feel like they are helping.

It's also good exercise. One is outdoors with clean air and I teach my daughter about things in the woods and we look at tracks in the mud (even if it's just dog tracks), we look at the flowers and marks on trees.

Team2hunt
05-08-2005, 09:27 AM
My navigator and I go out for the time together. Awwwwww. We take time out to enjoy what the caches have to offer. We enjoy taking, (and making up pics). Were happy to be out and about. It's the experience for us. The numbers don't hurt. :p :p

Beach Comber
05-08-2005, 11:19 AM
I have many reasons for enjoying the hobby and numbers is on the list. Not in the typical way that one might think about it though. When I see my numbers increasing I can know that I went to that number of places and almost every one of them was a spot I would likely not have visited otherwise.

One of my greatest motivators is the exercise and opportunity to be outside.

One of my favorite things about caching is the memories that I take away - many wonderful places, sunshine and breezes, the challenge of the hunt and the excitement of the find, and a great opportunity to spend a few moments enjoying a location that I would likley not have seen otherwise by kicking back and relaxing - seizing the moment.

And of course - the people! I now have a new circle of friends who enjoy this great sport and have great passion for it as well. I can't say enough about the people that I have met along the way - either at/on the way to a cache - and at events.

Haffy
05-08-2005, 11:52 AM
I wouldn't have seen probably any of this magnificent state of ours if it weren't for geocaching. Numbers,hmmmm well I like to be FTF but don't think I'll ever get the numbers of those that YOP has...lol.

The friends that I have made is an incredible number,meeting on the trail,enjoying the comraderie in the forums and chat and the many that I have made and met at the numerous events over these last couple of years. Wow ,it's only been 2 years since I first started caching,where does the time go?

Incredible places are hidden all over this state of ours and I am hoping to find many more and to make friends with many more people as well. What's that saying? "Geocaching Maine ,The way caching should be"

parmachenee
05-08-2005, 01:36 PM
In Maine...where it's "the way caching should be" the numbers just indicate how many great experiences you have had. :D Sure, certain plateaus are nice to reach but there is so much more as many of you have stated...the previously unknown places, beautiful views, events, making new friends, meeting for lunch, dinner or just a social drink. And it's something we can do year-round and can turn what might have been a boring day into an adventure. Our natural curiosity and competitive spirit to accept the challenge of finding a new cache will keep the numbers growing so it's hard to separate them.

becket
05-08-2005, 02:50 PM
for me, it's both numbers and experience it's the time spent with friends and my family, time getting much needed exercise (mental as well as physical) and just the fun of geocaching i have wanted to be a treasure hunter since i was a child and feel that i am finally getting my chance! it's amazing that i find anything at all because i can't read a compass, maps are a challenge and i don't know left from right the numbers are important to me, only in that they show me that i am making an effort, doing stuff i wouldn't do otherwise, and getting out there seeing places i never, ever would go to otherwise i am in competition only with myself - i want my numbers to keep going up, to show myself that i can do this and can have so much fun at it it also proves my youngest son wrong - he was always saying that i couldn't have fun if i tried well, yeah - i can!

jeannebee
05-08-2005, 05:10 PM
Numbers are fun -- sort of like accruing Girl Scout badges or any other tangible, but in the end, experiences are the only things really WORTH collecting. :)

Mainepod
05-08-2005, 07:21 PM
Numbers are nice for milestones, but the best part is the great places we've seen around the country, and within 25 miles of our home.

we3beans
05-08-2005, 09:24 PM
The only reason I watch numbers is to make sure I stay ahead of my brother. (just kidding, sort of)

We enjoy getting out for excersize and seeing new things. I've always been a tourist no matter where I go, even my hometown. It sometimes makes the John crazy, but I'm that person that would stop to see the giant walnut anyway.

We do a great deal of our caching on the way to or from someplace. My family all lives out of state and John's is all over the state, so we're always going someplace.

brdad
05-08-2005, 09:33 PM
It's definitely not about the numbers!
Of my 499 Experiences, which consisted of 399 Traditional Caches, 37 Multi-Caches, 49 Virtual Caches, 3 Letterbox Hybrids, 7 Event Caches, 3 Unknown Caches, and 1 Cache In Trash Out Event, it's never been about the numbers. It doesn't matter that I rank 1838th in the world, 1581st in the US, or 3rd in Maine, or that 28 of them were micros, 8 were small, 384 were regular, 15 were other, 42 were virtual, and 22 were not specified. So what if my average find is a 1.8/1.9 difficulty/terrain?

My experiences have taken me as close as .18 mi from my home, or as far as 595 mi, and an average of 94.5 miles, but not once has it been about the numbers. It's all the experience. :D

Tink
05-10-2005, 12:01 AM
hehehehe...numbers does anyone know what mine are anyway?....I have to say I just love the hunt.....well that could be because I am not really sure how you ppl use those dang GPS LOL :rolleyes:

Beach Comber
05-10-2005, 08:36 AM
Donna - I have always just assumed that the finds were all yours and that Rick was tagging along - hehehehe