Giving something back

I've enjoyed geocaching for almost eight years now and I am looking for new ways to give back to the game. So I know some people want to hide caches of their own or host events so that people can enjoy something in return but I have three ideas that should hopefully help enhance geocaching in my local area. Are you able to do any of the following for your local cachers?

Update your trinkets

It's a really simple thing to do, but stock up on small toys and other little trinkets which can really help put some joy back into geocaching. I tend to cache alone or with other adults but I know children tend to enjoy the prospect of finding "treasure". For me the treasure is the Tupperware, but for a lot of children (and some adults!), treasure is what's inside the cache. Surely you've found some pretty sorry excuses for swag before - used train tickets, sticky boiled sweets, leaking batteries. They may all be well-intentioned but they're not fun to find or clear up. Go to your local supermarket or pound shop and just buy a few really nice new items people may actually want to swap. Also, after Christmas be sure to hoover up all the toys that most people quickly lose interest in. I've acquired a nice big supply of cracker toys which will make someone's day more than my own! Even my toy potato was treasured by a young child, and I couldn't understand why anyone would want that at all!

Keep a supply of maintenance materials

It feels good to perform a bit of cache maintenance when you stumble across a neglected or vandalised container. Sometimes it's just that the rain has got in and made the log impossible to sign or the pencil is blunt. Having a supply of spares is very helpful to both the CO and future finders so I seriously recommend purchasing a Geocaching Essentials Kit - I got mine on Amazon here. This has all the basics including spare small pens, pencils and a sharpener. There are also log sheets of various widths for nanos and micros and sealable plastic bags of various sizes too. Finally there's a pair of tweezers to help extract trapped log rolls. This all comes in a nice compact zip-up case about the size of a pencil case and therefore easily taken with you on caching adventures. Perhaps this is a gift worth giving?

Spare cache containers

This one's a bit harder to achieve for a lot of cachers but I am fortunate in that I keep acquiring ideal cache containers which are otherwise destined for a bin. I initially kept the containers for my own hides but when I realised I had dozens and dozens of nifty containers of various sizes I wondered how I could put these to use. Now I haven't the time or inclination to hide them all, but someone in my area will be thinking about setting a new cache and I want to help them if possible. I've therefore designed a new cache called Cache Stash which is a large tub full of various watertight containers which hopefully other cachers can put to good use! I look forward to seeing some of these again. If you have a regular income of suitable cache containers, perhaps you could explore something similar. 

Help yourself, guys! New cache(s) coming soon!

Conquering my phobia of blue question marks!

I have gotten into the habit of ignoring caches that pop up in my inbox if they come with a blue question mark icon. Now that challenge caches are on hold, I can't even get excited about them. I do not have the right type of mind for puzzle-solving so unless it's really simple or spelled out, I am likely to fall at the first hurdle. I like to think that all of the mystery caches I've published have been relatively easy to work out. I haven't had to give out many hints anyway!

So, I've been getting a bit depressed by my caching map.

I can't keep ignoring this problem, hoping it will go away. There are certain cachers in my area (you know who you are!) who keep hiding puzzle caches and I just look at the map with my head in my hands. Fortunately I think things are going to improve, for I have recently purchased this:

This is a large and easy to navigate book and I am hoping it is going to develop my brain so that puzzle-solving becomes second nature to me. I shall have a read then give the nearby puzzles another stab and hopefully get somewhere this time. I know the icon moves location once you've solved it but does anyone else wish that it would change colour or something so that we can see at a glance which ones have been solved?

Once I've read the book and solved all of Hampshire's mystery caches, I'll come back to this blog and show off some smileys where previously there'd only been blue question marks!!

Make It Snappy Camera Content

The content of my first camera load of snaps from "Make It Snappy" at Thruxton Library (GC5NYXC).