Sunday, February 22, 2009

Easy Caches?


It's funny how things change over time. Everything from my childhood seems small now, a lot of my clothing seems to have shrunk (only in the waist), my forehead is getting bigger...You get the idea. It appears that it's the same with Geocaching.

I only started this activity eight months ago, but it has morphed into a full-fledged hobby in record time. It has also changed for me quite a bit. When I began, a hidden container that most considered an "easy find," was very difficult for me. Another, more experienced, geocacher said that it would take time for my "geosenses" to develop. I didn't think I would ever get the knack of spotting hidden containers.

"Easy" geocaches still elude me, while some that others consider very difficult will sometimes just jump out at me. Everybody thinks and solves problems differently, and we each come to conclusions via different routes. Sometimes, we even solve problems differently than the last time we faced such a problem. A few folks call that process "learning." It's an amazing process, and that experienced geocacher really did know what he was talking about. Now, many hiding places just seem to make sense, and the cache containers are pretty easy to locate. That's not always the case, but it's usually the norm now, even after my limited number of finds. Getting to the location where the cache is hidden is an entirely different story...

A fellow geocacher that rotated back to the states told me that the caches there seem to be much easier to find than the caches here. I'm not sure if the lack of jungle terrain makes that so, or if he, like me, is just getting better at it. Maybe his "geosenses" are simply more finely tuned now.

What are your thoughts on it?

1 comment:

Steve King said...

I think we learn a little geosense. I've bounced back and forth from South America and several US states over the last year and a half. I've found that there are some really well-hidden caches in the US. Anywhere you go you'll find some easy caches too.