How I Started Caching - Part II

Almost a week after my first caching experience, I got on geocaching.com and used the search by zipcode for the first time to see if there were any caches near me. There weren't many in my area at the time.


One cache I immediately noticed was GCEAF2 - Forrest Park by ArkansasBugman. This cache was less than 200 yards from where I was sitting! At this time, I still had no GPSr, but I was able to use a map on geocaching.com along with the hint provided on the cache page to narrow down where I needed to search. I tried to wait until the end of the work day to go after it, but for the rest of the day I could think of little else but finding the cache! It was an easy find and thankfully no muggles (including the white squirrel) were around. The log was soaking wet so I took it back to my office to dry out. By the time I went back to replace it, it was pitch dark out - not the best time to be in this park. This cache is now archived and the white squirrel that I used to see almost every day is no longer around. There is another cache in the park now though, and several close by.

In my earlier post entitled "How I Started Caching", I mentioned that although I had a lot of fun, I wasn't addicted at that point. This cache (GCEAF2) while a memorable and enjoyable experience, was not the one that I would say triggered the addiction. That story will come soon....

Racing to 1K

Early on in my caching history I noticed that people with big find numbers seemed to garner a lot of respect from their fellow cachers. On our discussion forums, one of the most popular areas for comments is the milestone section. I don't comment in that section much anymore, in part because as much as I like numbers, I don't particularly want to feed the "obsession" in others.

That being said, I didn't feel that way early on. Early on I wanted BIG numbers! When I found out there was a leaderboard that allowed me and others to see where we "ranked" in the world of megafinds, I was off to the races. Around the time I hit 500 finds, I paid attention to the fact the two other cachers, Chibongo and BigDaddyD were around the same point as I was and I created in my mind a friendly competition to see who would reach 1K first. For a while, we three stayed pretty close in the "race" but at some point BigDaddyD leapt ahead and did a good job of staying far enough ahead that he won the race. After that, I had tried to stay roughly 100 or so finds above Chibongo and did so almost to the end. The day I logged my 900th find I noticed she was on a tear and ended up leaving me choking in the dust. I had read her logs as I have read many others and realized that she had gotten together with Yogi and Dolphin for some mega-caching! Cool, I thought! Why didn't I think of doing that?! I edged closer to 1K and when I reached 930 finds I couldn't stand it anymore and made a three-day run to Florence, AL and finished my race. I had two big runs shortly after that - caching with friends, but was glad when my obsession with big numbers faded. Now I just have fun! My fellow "competitors" are doing well, too. Both are closing in on 2K finds and I no longer feel the need to race.

Every once in a while, I hear talk of who will be the next to reach 1K finds and who is close behind and it makes me smile. Friendly competition is one of the many reasons I enjoy geocaching!

It was a dark and stormy night...

We were a group of people united by a common interest - geocaching.

An organization was formed - Geocachers of West Tennessee. Anyone could join, our forums were wide-open and we could discuss other interests besides geocaching. We held events frequently and all over the GOWT area.

We were proud of our fast-growing membership and incredibly active discussion forums.

If there were any internal problems brewing, many members (including myself) were unaware.

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On a dark and stormy night in February 2007 (the 25th, I believe) all heck broke loose on our public discussion forums. Some pretty vicious accusations were thrown out. Since I consider(ed?) myself friends with everyone involved in the "fight", I made an honest attempt to discover the source of the problems and help work out a solution. I actually learned a lot by communicating with others. No two people had the same story although there was some overlap. People who weren't directly involved had more to say than the people directly involved. There were a few people who simply resorted to name-calling and accusation-throwing. Many of this last group became involved with the founding of a new geocaching group, JAG - Jackson Area Geocachers (good luck, guys...) Some of these members of JAG use clever forum signatures like:

"ITS ALL ABOUT THE TRUTH, NOTHNG MORE...."

"GOT JAG? WE CAN TELL THE TRUTH!!!"

"There's a change a coming"

As I said, good luck with that...

Our forums are quiet now, not because anything was solved but rather because folks headed off in different directions. The future of GOWT is uncertain. Negotiations within our Executive committee may be happening but it is unknown to me as to whether progress is being made or not.

As for now, I will stand by GOWT and trust that things will work out. I am not alone.

The purpose of this post is not to necessarily place blame - we may never know exactly what happened, but rather to show that bad things can happen in any group and that there is much we can learn from what happens in other geocaching groups.

I don't want to ever have to say: "Once upon a time there was a geocaching club called 'Geocachers of West Tennessee'" but if that is the way things turn out, at least I know my GOWT geocoins will increase in value!

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Did anything positive happen as a result of this epic battle? For me, I now communicate more with the local geocachers in my area than I ever did before.

How I Started Caching

A more appropriate title might be "How I got myself into this mess!" It was the day after Thanksgiving 2004. I had the day off but like most holidays for me at that time, I was at work. My good friend jbgreer called me up and invited me to go geocaching with him. I had heard of it before but needed to be dragged out of my chair to actually try it. We went to hunt a cache in Overton Park called "Overton Park Magnetic Wood" by spencersb. Since I had no GPSr at the time, we relied on one that jbgreer had recently been given as a gift.

I felt kind of silly looking for something in the woods and since we were both new to this, spent an extremely long time searching. I had newbie's luck and discovered the container, yanking it out of it's location. It was a glorious find and even though we found a few more that day, I was not quite hooked. How that happened - is for later.

That first cache has since been archived and now there are a number of creative hides in that park. These new hides have caused me to explore every trail and nearly every square inch of that park - something I might never have done if not for geocaching.

Uncle Mack?

Uncle Mack is not my caching name so why did I pick it for the name of my blog? I don't have any children, but I've been spending a bit of time recently arguing with people who in some way are like arguing with children. I don't intend to do any arguing here, but would like to basically share stories about my geocaching exploits and those of a few of my friends. I have plenty of stories so hopefully I can keep this blog interesting.