Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – March 17, 2011
Fun, After the Find!
While the thrill of finding a geocache can make your caching journey a huge success, the geocaching experience does not end once you’ve found the cache. After the find is when the fun of interacting with the global geocaching community begins! You can flip through the logbook, read others’ logs and look for usernames you’ve seen in other logbooks. When you add your own log, it is fun to let people know something about yourself – perhaps where you are from or something interesting that happened to you while searching for the geocache.
Similarly, you can often learn something about geocachers who previously visited the cache based on what they left behind. By sorting through the SWAG (Stuff We All Get) in the cache, you can get an idea of who has been there before. Keep in mind that you are welcome to take an item from the cache as long as you replace it with something of equal or greater value. If you find a Trackable in the cache, you may take it without placing anything in the cache, but you must be willing to keep the fun going by moving the Trackable to another cache within two weeks’ time.
When you are ready to head back down the trail, please take the time to re-hide the cache where it was before you arrived and preserve the experience designed by the cache owner. Searching for a cache hidden as it was originally intended to be hidden is a much better experience than searching for a cache that has been moved or accidentally left out in the open.
Finally, have fun by logging your find on Geocaching.com and uploading photos from your adventure. Be sure to mark any images that might give away the cache location as “spoilers.” Logs that provide a thoughtful description of your experience finding the cache are a great way to thank the cache owner for hiding and maintaining a quality geocache – and a great way to continue the fun after the find!
