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Thread: Stud Mill Road Run, Equivalents?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Brewer,ME
    Posts
    2,611

    Thumbs up Nice first post

    Quote Originally Posted by Makaruda View Post
    As a new cacher, I have thought a lot about the Stud Mill run and the numbers game. At first, I disliked the run because it seemed to just be a way that some people would get a quick 100+ caches. But, it made me realize that comparing my numbers to others would just lead to disappointment. This is especially true since I don't drive (maybe next year) and thus I have low numbers right now. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the caches I did as much if concerned with the numbers, so in that way the run was a good thing without me ever doing it. But, once I decided that comparing numbers didn't matter, I didn't have much of a problem with the quick numbers the run offered.
    Thinking about it now, I have no problems with the run. If you really play the game for the numbers, the 100+ offered really isn't that much compared to many other cachers numbers and other people have the same opportunity to do the run. So while it may diminish the accomplishment of get those caches, it is still the other caches that will make the real difference in the numbers game. If you don't play for the numbers, you are free to ignore the run. I also wonder if you spent the same amount of time in the Bangor area or other areas with fairly high cache density if you could get similar numbers of caches. (If my speculation is way off, feel free to let me know.) I think the difference that runs like these have made is in how people cache. While people could get large numbers in a similar time in urban areas, most people didn't plan a whole day around those types of areas. Now people are traveling hundreds of miles to get numbers they could get closer to home in urban areas. But, if people want to bring their money to Maine, I welcome them.
    Can't we all get along and just hate the people that log caches they haven't actually been to?
    I myself do them all. The GRC's, the LPC's, the hikes, the paddles, the puzzles, (when I can solve them). This is how Ichoose to play. Welcome to the hobby so many of us enjoy. We all have our own reasons as to why we play. It is an individual game after all. And yes adding numbers to it of course make it a competition for many. Just human nature I suppose. Have fun at it and make what you want of it.
    Happy Trails!



  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Unity, Maine
    Posts
    3,874

    Default

    Random thoughts from a very random mind . . . and this is not directed to any one person or persons in particular.

    There are many different types of cachers. Some prefer hikes. Some prefer grab and gos. Some prefer regular sized caches. Some prefer micros. Some like puzzles. Some like simple caches. For each cacher there is a cache . . . if you don't like a certain type of cache don't do it. End of story.

    Enough on the Stud Mill Road caches. I'm sick of hearing about this. It's done, it follows the GC guidelines and the fact is a lot of folks like it. Again, if you don't like this type of cache, it's simple . . . don't do it. I'm still not sure why folks continue to bring this series up over . . . and over . . . and over. We've talked about this topic to death. It's time to move on.

    Speaking of the SMR cache series. My opinion. If you go on this cache run by yourself it may not be so rewarding. What makes this cache run fun is when you're in a group where you can socialize and have a good time. You go for the comraderie. You don't go for the views. You don't go for the challenge. Some may go for the numbers, but to be honest if you do so, you're really missing out since in my opinion this is the type of cache series where you really want to have a friend, or two, or twelve along for the experience.

    Finally . . . I've said it before, and I'll say it again . . . folks, relax. Contrary to what some folks may believe, geocaching is only a game. There is no great, magical prize for the person with the most cache finds, the person with the most FTF finds, the person who has been caching longest, etc. It's meant to be fun. If you don't find it fun, stop caching and find another hobby . . . or just take a break. When you are dead I can almost guarantee you that no one will be at your funeral talking about how many caches you found or hid . . . because caching is not living . . . it's simply a fun way to see places you might never see . . . even if some of those places are the inside of a guardrail or a lamp post in the Walmart parking lot (although it should be said I can remember being brought to far more picturesque spots than I can remember being brought to parking lots/guard rails, etc.)
    "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realization that there is something more important than fear."

    "Death is only one of many ways to die."

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Belgrade, Maine
    Posts
    963

    Default Well said

    firefighterjake, well said. I don't care what kind of cache we're looking for, my wife and I got into the game/sport/hobby/whatever you want to call it because it gave us something else we can do together. Whether we do it in conjuction with hunting, fishing, camping, yard saleing or just out riding around the area doesn't matter. We're doing something together and having fun doing it. We might even take the time someday to do the Stud Mill run. We've been there many times before we got into geocaching and we will definately go back even if we aren't there to look for caches. We like seeing the country in that neck of the woods, like fishing the streams (primarily catch and release) and if we're there in October/November you can bet we'd have rifles and shotguns along with our GPS's. The only down side I've seen to geocaching thus far is an article someone posted about South Carolina creating legislation against placing caches in their parks because of damage to the flora and fauna. Please, people, let's not be a state that has that happen. Cache safely, conscientiously and, most of all, HAVE FUN!!!

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    china,maine
    Posts
    417

    Default

    Speaking of the SMR cache series. My opinion. If you go on this cache run by yourself it may not be so rewarding. What makes this cache run fun is when you're in a group where you can socialize and have a good time. You go for the comraderie. You don't go for the views. You don't go for the challenge. Some may go for the numbers, but to be honest if you do so, you're really missing out since in my opinion this is the type of cache series where you really want to have a friend, or two, or twelve along for the experience.

    I would agree with you Jake!!! That is one of the reasons that I like caching all together.
    You can't have everything. Where would you put it?-Steven Wright

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    ME
    Posts
    3,529

    Default

    Some good points here. Regardless of the itinitery - I enjoy a cache run with my husband (who does crossword puzzles, seldom gets out of the car except for a smoke, can't navigate, doesn't want to drive and cringes when I hit a pot hole or go off road/which is common) and the dog (who snores and passes gas in the back seat).........they are great - and nice to spend a day with them.......but to spend a day with another cacher or cacher(s) is even more fun. Sometimes my daughter/granddaughter and on rare occasion my son........and then a ton of fun to be with others I consider friends. Thanks to every one of you for the memories!

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Albion, Maine
    Posts
    330

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by firefighterjake View Post
    ... ... ... or just take a break. When you are dead I can almost guarantee you that no one will be at your funeral talking about how many caches you found or hid . . . because caching is not living . . . )
    WhhhhhaaaaaaaaTT!!!!???? Are you serious? So, what you are saying is that it would be to much to ask BrDad to place my ashes, equally distributed between 150-200 film canisters, and placed every 512 feet along Rt 9 starting on the west side of Albion and going toward Calais. Dang! Back to the ole drawing board.

    Dave, no rush on it either, was hoping to go of natural causes before you took to equally dividing me up.

    Cache On!!
    There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.~~Albert Einstein
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest. - Sam Levenson (1911 - 1980)

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
    Posts
    6,343

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CARoperPhotography View Post
    Dave.... so YOU must be the one I was told about, over beers with several other big names cachers over the holiday weekend....

    .... please... between you and I (I'll keep it a secret)... is it TRUE that you only approve of a cache and think it is worthy of the title of "Geocache" if one must bushwack 6 miles in to find it, and 6 miles back out, UP-HILL both ways, in snow, and with only a Garmin eTrex H as your guidance? And that is, as long as it is a .50 cal ammo box?
    Yes, I am sure that's exactly what you were told I was like. You must have left out my desire to rule the caching world and be the sole approver of all caches.

    Unfortunately, that could not be further from the truth. While I may favor the durable ammo box and a nice location, I would be happy if caches have some value, have variety, and can stand on their own. The first GRC or LPC, Lengthy multi, kind of cute. Once you have 50 of them in 500 feet of each other, they lose their value, at least in my opinion.

    Check out my finds, I have done plenty of roadside caches. Check out my logs, you will see I have some nice logs on some simpler caches.

    I'd write more, but lucky you I am in VA and have a busy day planned...
    DNFTT! DNFTT! DNFTT!

    "The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realize it doesn't say anything it's to late to stop reading it..."

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    America
    Posts
    2,578

    Default

    VA. huh, Party at Dave's house.
    I have no enemies, but I'm intensely disliked by my friends.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Freeport, Maine
    Posts
    241

    Default

    Okay, I think everyone has stated their opinion so back to the OP. Chadd, I'm really interested in how this might would work here in Southern Maine. I think the SMR is really unique in that you have such a wide open area to place caches as well as the lack of traffic allowing you to just pull over for each cache. I think we saw 3 cars the whole day we were there and 2 of them were other cachers. I guess my thoughts (if I were trying to replicate the experience) would be parking at each of the caches and if the cache density in this part of the state would allow for such a big series.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    America
    Posts
    2,578

    Cool Holy Crap!

    Since I have a bit of experience on this a few things to think of that I never would have imagined.

    It is a lot of work. Finding good spots to hide caches, naming them, making them and listing the caches. Then in the last 6 months I have had to go back 5 times to fix, replace, or change out logs. People run through them so fast that the covers get lost, the containers don't get put back correctly and the logs get wet when people do them in the rain. Takes a lot of maintenance.

    Once I had those up I feel a huge responsibility to keep them up and going. Naming a cache for someone brings on extra work.

    Email traffic is crazy. Not just the finds either. I get at least 20 to 30 emails a week asking about road conditions, lodging, gas, facilities, other caches in the area and history. I get requests about the weather forecast hunting, bugs and viruses. I have been asked about itinerary's of other cachers, campsites, community events and cell phone coverage. It really has taken over a big part of my life, not just the caching part either. You may want to consider getting a email provider that can handle at least 1 gig. That is how much I have had at one time. It is easy to loose things in there with that much traffic.

    The worst part is the grief. Every since the first day they came out I have a lot of grief coming from all over about one aspect of the series or the other, not just from Maine either. I am a tuff guy and things have got to really punch me right in the nose to upset me, but when people get into arguments over what you have done that really bothers me. I wish people would just let Brdad and everyone else express their feelings an ideas and let it be. Now here is a shocker, I agree with him on most of it. Just let it be. I would really think twice now about putting cacher names on the caches. A lot of pot shots have flown back and forth and people get bent way out of shape over little things.

    Now the good parts that way outweigh the bad. I wanted to see if 100 caches could be placed in a day. I did it and it felt good. Now I find out that the Centum Challenge was to find 100 caches not place them. Oh well, lol. Looking at the finds on the other caches up there I thought that these might get found, maybe 10 in a year. After the first to finders I figured that would be it. The oldest ones have been found 130 times in 6 months. The funny comments, stories, events and pictures has made it all worth it by a long shot. I got to find out a lot about each cacher named out there. I also got to hear of great experiences out on the road. The pictures are great too. Hearing about the actions and interactions out there is funny. Then finding out how far people will come to do your caches is unbelievable.

    I never expected, imagined or could have figured any of this before it happened. No matter what, it sure has been an adventure.
    I have no enemies, but I'm intensely disliked by my friends.

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