This weekend, I went to visit my daughters in scenic L-Town. Consequently, I had helpers looking for my daily cache. In all truth, I didn’t need them. The cache itself was simple enough to find, and the only real complication was the trees making ground zero bounce around a bit. It took less than ten minutes to find it when it should have taken less than five. Nothing super special: a camo-taped pill bottle with a rope to tether it to a tree. But it was empty, missing both a log and a cap. Now I had spare logs with me, and I could have easily and happily replaced the missing one, but what’s the point when there’s no cap? I checked the digital logs and saw that a few people had noted the missing cap, and it had already gotten a “Needs Maintenance.” Alright, I get that not every cache can be perfect, but this is why maintenance is a thing! This may not have been an “awesome” cache in the first place, but the experience is still a thing.
How would a newbie feel if they found their hidden treasure only to see that it’s empty and open to the elements? What kind of experience is that? And it looks like it’s been that way for at least a couple of months. Killing me, Smalls! Killing me! This is one of the things we promise to do! Sure, sometimes it can be a pain, but isn’t it worth it when someone is able to experience what you created as you created it? Don’t you enjoy finding a well-cared-for cache, not some borderline trash in the wilderness? Let’s keep it all together, people!
On a different thought (and all credit for this photo goes to Groundspeak), weird souvenir question … Have any of you ever seen any sort of repository of souvenirs done in vector graphics? I’ve had a few occasions where I wanted a copy of a souvenir, and the only art was tiny and/or pixelated as all get out. I would love to have the US states (at least the ones I’ve been to), but thus far, no joy. Heck, a couple of the older ones would be nice, too. The ones I have, though. I’m not trying to computer generate any stolen valor or anything.
Otherwise, that’s a wrap for now. Not every weekend gets to be an epic caching adventure.
Geocaching While Black 