I had to stop myself earlier this week from saying something critical to a new hider in my area. As I was typing out my find log and thinking about my two other DNF logs for these two new hiders it came to me, “Do you remember the excitement of your first few weeks of Geocaching?”
The thrill of your first few finds can cause you to blindly into “OMG I want to hide a cache for others to find and prove I can be one of them” mode. I was lucky enough to know a few seasoned geocachers and I also attended an event early in my geocaching career to learn from them that I need to find at least 200 caches before I hide one. Mind you, I am not known for putting out amazing caches, actually most of my 200 plus hides for myself and Cache Up NB are very plain, easy and basic, no fancy stuff from this guy. I always sit at home thinking about creating a Critter type hide but I never do.
Now there are a couple of new cachers in my area that have gone out to hide their first few caches with only about 30 finds and because of the inexperience the coordinates and containers are not so great but according to the listings sound like they are some of the best and most unique caches around…lol. While I find it frustrating to see the listings that are causing others to go out and struggle and some to avoid them all together, I have to realize that these are new excited geocachers and it also seems like they are teenagers. I guess what I am trying to say is that I need to be more patient with newbies and give them a chance and not discourage them but offer advise and encouragement to learn how to do it better. I do believe that this was done and they did try to fix them but the caches appear to still have problems and I hope that they get it figured out and continue to play the game. One problem that I have seen a few times is a new cacher going out and hiding caches without enough experience and getting discouraged and quitting. I know that in our area there is a plethora of people willing to help out a fellow and especially new cacher, I just wish they would come to an event , this site or even a local facebook page for advice.
I am going to try to keep this mind when going out to find a cache from a new hider and think of a way to politely offer advice.