I’ve been geocaching for a few years now and as with anything over time we all have the tendency to find that certain things irk us for our own reasons. When something is a pet peeve it’s called that because it may not be a universally shared sentiment. I’ve recently been giving some thought to my geocaching pet peeves. The list below is a few of my own personal annoyances. Feel free to disagree or even to add your own. Who knows maybe something I do will be on your pet peeve list.
- Log length disproportionate to the effort put into the creation of a geocache. This last weekend I found a little more than 15 geocaches. Many were very typical in their execution. there were however a couple that demonstrated a desire by the creator to give the geocacher something interesting. When I find one of these kinds of geocaches I like to make sure that my log entry recognizes the effort put forth in the creation or placement of the cache. There is nothing that bothers me more than seeing just those four little letters TFTC. Yes it is appreciative, that’s nice, but what about letting the geocacher that spent time on the cache know how you felt about their work. I think it’s small price to pay for that added enjoyment of finding a well executed geocache.
- Geocaches that use an inappropriate container for the setting. The number one issue is water damage. Not only can a poor choice of cache container lead to mouldy or otherwise yucky contents it also means a larger time commitment for cache maintenance. The lock n lock in all it’s sizes and the trusty ammo can are some of the best containers for geocaches. The bison tube is a nice container also. Invest a little in the container and you’ll have to invest less of your time maintaining the cache.
- Lack of environmental sensitivity to the placement of a geocache. I just cringe at the site of some of the geotrails I’ve seen. Yes we need to put the geocache far enough away from the trail that is not going to be discovered but does that mean we need to do 100m of bushwhacking to get to the cache? How is it that a well executed urban geocache in a densely populated area can exist for years but people feel the need to hide a cache through metres and metres of bushwhacking? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Maybe these things bug me because I’m getting older. Maybe they bug you, no matter what your age. Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments.
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2 Comments until now
I agree with your rants, especially #1! I take pride in creating well crafted and unusual geocache “experiences,” yet I shake my head when people leave “TFTC” as their log item after visiting my caches. I know, if these people really DID visit my cache(s), that they’d have something more to say about them because of their “uniqueness factor.”
I also have a pet peeve against people who grab trackables and never log them, steal coins, and who log found TBs but don’t bother to place these TBs in different caches. I guess this is because I view geocaching as a community sport, and I try to take into consideration the mindset of others who hide or release trackables into the “wild.” I know how much I appreciate a nicely written log, and so I try to do the same for others as often as I can. But some people who cache seem to be so much more self-centered. I feel many cachers ignore this community element of caching. My 2 cents!
I have bookmarked a few caches that are near some of our cache hides and a few others in town. We’ll sometimes get a nice comment about our cache hide and then the other bookmarked caches’ comments come into our email inbox with exactly the same message (aka cookie-cutter comments). Wow, what a disappointment. It’s a let-down because the message looses its sincerity.
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