KerriAlexa: This was the sole survivor of the Platte River Flood (other than the Mystery Cache, currently up for adoption). I've pulled the container and am archiving it for two reasons:
1 - This whole area has changed. I remember when we placed the South Platte Cacher's Highway in 2005, we were accused of trying to saturate the 4-5 miles with our 10 caches...we had one every half mile or so, roughly. We were told we were taking up the entire trail and others might want to place caches there and it would lead to saturation. Now look at it. We reduced the caches to 5 (and I added a 6th later) and it made no difference. The entire trail is saturated. It's no longer a fun walk with a fun hunt. It's more of a cache-and-dash on foot (or bike, or skateboard, or whatever). Talk about saturation! How can there be any stealth? How can the caches NOT get muggled when people are caching every 525 feet....just to get a bunch of smiley's in a row? I remember when caching was about taking people to a really cool spot so they could see something amazing, wonderful, beautiful, or just plain cool. That's what these caches were about - cool spots, and clever(ish) hides.
Which leads me to reason number ...
2 - The whole game has changed. When I started doing this with my boys, it was for fun and adventure, and to meet cool people. It was about finding some really clever hides, seeing some really cool places, and finding/seeing things we never would have found/seen if someone we didn't know (or someone we did, in many cases...) hadn't "shown" us where to go. Now, it seems like most people are out for the smiley's. If they run into a cache that's a little too clever for them, they whine and complain at the owner. Asking for a hint after the first DNF is standard now, rather than vising 2-3 times and then "phoning a friend" before sending a KIND email, asking NICELY for another hint. I can't tell you how many times I've been told that my cache is not there when it IS, but someone is not willing to put the time into a clever cache. I'm told to move my cache, disable it because "it's too hard for people to find" and I should make room for an easier one. REALLY? No. Well, no until today. Today, with the combination of my move south, the flood's destruction, and rude cachers with 100 EASY caches under their belt that aren't smart enough to look more than once, or kind enough to send a NICE email asking for an additional hint, I am disabling most of my Platte River caches. Too bad for ya'll. Those that found the classics like "Wellhead," "Don't Shoot," and "Just a Hole in the Log" can attest to the fun (and challenge in one case) of early caching.
Happy caching. Good luck. I'll see you out there.