Maine's 1000th Geocache

[Ye Olde Prospector]

Congrats SteverPH

WOW

Looks like your Pleasant Point Park cache is the 1000th Maine geocache in the official listings for Maine. Now someone should try to beat Mountain Wanderer's (NH) record when he had logged every cache in NH including the cache event he was attending that day.


http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...9-5da99f9c3cc5

YOP

[Haffy]

Hey that's great for Steverph. Do I get a prize for the FTF on Maine's
1000th cache?........

[Hoamdezinahs]

At this point it is true that there there are 1000 listed caches, but, it's not really Maines # 1000 cache. Maine has had over 1400 caches listed, archived, relisted, deleted, etc. not to mention locationless which are no longer avalible. I checked with GPSFun a couple weeks ago on this very topic.
Not to break your bubble or anything, just facts. John

[Haffy]

Awwww, crap, what a bubble buster.

[Sudonim]

It is still a milestone though if Maine has broken 1000 active caches "at the same time" for the first time.

[Ye Olde Prospector]

Hi John,

Just trying to make the members of Geocaching Maine aware of the growth of this activity in Maine. When explaining geocaching to people one of the first questions asked is usually "How many geocaches are there in Maine?"
It wasn't that long ago it was less than four hundred. I think that 1000 is sort of a milestone and should be acknowledged. I have always gone by the GC Com listings by state. After all it's not about the numbers.

Cliff

[Hoamdezinahs]

My sweety and I found our first cache on march 25, a year ago this saturday. At that time there were 650 caches in maine. With the 1000 today thats a 53 % increase in one year. If it continues to grow at that rate we could have 1,500 by this time next year. I'd guess that won't happen, but it would be nice to think it could. Think of all those FTF's. HeHeHe

[steverph]

Maine's 1000th Geocache but my first hide! Thanks for letting me know.

I was excited to accidently be part of a milestone for Maine geocaching when I first started reading this thread, but I am concerned about the posts that follow. Since I have 5 minutes of fame I am going to seize the moment. Here are my feelings about the sport and this site.

I got involved in caching as another way to enjoy the outdoors and play with toys (GPSr). I had only done a few local caches when I went to the 2005 WWWWWW event in Winslow and met some of you. I never became obsessed with the numbers but rather have enjoyed visiting new places and the challenge of finding a well hidden cache. Most of my finds are local but I have been to some nearby places I would have otherwise never seen. I stopped trading items early on as that part of the game does not interest me and I think finding the treasures should be left for the kids.

As a casual participant I delayed placing my first cache until I was sure I would commit to maintaining it for a few years and I found a spot nearby where I could check it easily. Most importantly, I wanted to put it in a place that people would enjoy visiting. I selected a quality container because I have found some cracked plastic boxes with wet contents. I called the Town office and got permission to place the cache. They agreed because they thought people that do geocaching are the kind of people they want to visit the park. No joke, that's what I was told. Coincidently, there was a wire service story about caching in the local paper that day.

Now, about this website. I visit every week or two to catch up on what is happening. I have been troubled by the tone of many posts and how some threads take a left turn into ranting about cache quality, placement and trade items. Although much of this is true, the way it is presented is unfortunate. I don't understand what can be gained by posting stuff like this. I am very disappointed that my five minutes of fame from accidently placing the 1000th cache has a thread that turned left. I agree with others that feel this tone turns people off and I am worried about how first time visitors perceive Maine cachers.

It is not all negative! I have learned much about caching on this site. The Geocoin project was a huge success and I bought 5 for myself. (Another stroke of luck got me coin #9 in the lottery.) I am heading to Georgia in a couple of weeks and hope to leave one in a cache there. Organizing the events on this site seems very successful and the concern some of you displayed for the family that went to this year's WWWWW and felt excluded was admirable. Everyone also seems eager to celebrate individual milestones, birthdays and to welcome new visitors.

I believe that poor quality caches are placed by well meaning people who want to get involved in a new hobby but don't have the experience to make good choices. Instead of ranting about bad caches, perhaps some informational material about quality containers, site selection and trade items could be permanently placed in a prominent area on the site. Perhaps making a practice of always contacting the owner of a cache requiring maintenance should be considered. I would like to see a list of great Maine caches permanently displayed but don't want to make a contest out of selecting them. After all, this site is maintained and supported by a relatively small group of savy cachers who could develop a list. Or, a group of you pick 5 in each category and do a poll. It's your site, make the list.

I think caching is a way to have some fun outdoors. Some of you take it way more seriously than I do but you are also the folks who have placed the really great caches and organized the events. You should celebrate the success you have brought to an "unorganized" sport. If you want to get new folks excited and involved in Maine caching, keep the tone positive. Don't forget, this site is more than a place for a small group to exchange stories about beer, the price of gas and snowmobiling. Those are all great subjects worthy or hours of discussion but this site is the "unofficial" home Geocaching in Maine. You put it on the coin! Stay on topic and stay positive. There are folks all over the world visiting this site and expecting to read about caching. I have seen a few posts by folks from away who are coming to the state looking for advice on what caches to visit. Although you all jump in to help, it sometimes seems like those posts interrupt some of the strange threads that get started.

The biggest geocaching thrill I have yet had is when I read this part of a post by J & D Moore after they found the Pleasant Point Park cache: "My 4 y.o. son found this first, he was nothing but smiles."

Okay, so I took more than my 5 minutes and I guess I put "Geocaching According to Steve" all in one post. Take it for what it is worth and keep it positive. Now, I have 5 new local caches to find!

[Hiram357]

That's a good point that has been brought up in just about every "rant about caching thread" Caches are special to everyone, a 4yr who finds a McToy that was hidden just for him to find is probably the happiest kid on the face of the planet at that time, likewise there was a cache that people were ranting about that was too easy and in a poor location, then someone brought up the fact that the cache was hidden by a child, probably a very excited child that was having the time of his life hiding a treasure for others to find. Just because we might not get a thrill out of a cache, someone somewhere else is having the time of their life seeing who has visited their buried treasure. everyone just has too keep in mind that geocaching is a family sport and that there are lots of diffrent people that participate, not everyone is a mountain climbing indiana jones, there are kids, and people in wheelchairs, and elderly people that love geocaching just as much as we do.

And don't worry steve, you can put a spin on it and consider yourself a conversation centerpeice!

and i still like you (even though i was going to hide a cache at that park next week )

[Hiram357]

okay, i've spent enough time in front of the computer on a sat morning, i'm going caching.