Geocaching: My Geocaching Profile

One of the reasons geocaching is more fun than waymarking is that the greater user base has caused people to create all sorts of neat statistical tools that generate fun maps and whatnot. I've been generating maps lately with mygeocachingprofile.com.

I've been sharing them via screenshots, such as the one below. The alternative is to include HTML code, which I've done at the end of the post. The problem with HTML code, in my opinion, is that if I am sharing, "Look how I've filled in this map," and then I fill in even more of the map next month, the HTML code will update the map to reflect something that won't match what I'm saying.

The HTML code is good if you have a page where you want to share, "Here's the latest info," but less if you want to tell a story.

My story now is that I'm at 95 caches. While My Geocaching Profile checks various challenges, it does not check the longitude and latitude ones. I'm one step closer, though, as I found a cache in 76° 42', bringing me to 17 of 60 minutes for the 76 West challenge.

One other thing you can do on My Geocaching Profile is compare the average difficulty and terrain ratings of your finds with others who have uploaded their data to that site. I am at 8698 out of 8704. That means I seek out caches that are less challenging than 99.93% of the site's users. I'm strangely proud of that.



 







 

 

 


 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


 


 

 


 


 


 


 

 


 

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 










 

  Profile created using MyGeocachingProfile.com

Geocaching: Earthcaches and Other Virtuals

I recently visited an Earthcache near my allergist. It was another easy find. Thinking about what I like in a cache, it's:

• A little bit of nature.
• Not too hard.
• Not worrying about hiding what I'm doing from "muggles" (non-geocachers).

Most Earthcaches fit the bill. At some point, new virtual geocaches were banned, but Earthcaches fill somewhat the same niche. I suspect as a company that encourages people to go outdoors, Groundspeak (Geocaching's parent company) likes to encourage environmental awareness a) because they like the environment and b) because they want to counter bad PR they sometimes get when people disturb nature to place a (non-virtual) cache.

This cache gives me a cache in 76° 33', so I have 16 minutes for the 76 North challenge (27, 31, 33, 36, 37, 40, 41, 44, 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59).

Speaking of challenges, in 2010, I had 137 virtual caches within 70 miles of home to find. As a parent, it's hard to find the time to head off 70 miles on a whim, so let's see if we can pare down that goal.

First, the query still exists on my account. Let's see what happens when I re-run it. Up to 177! That's a little bit off because my home location moved since 2010, but...I guess people have been placing lots of Earthcaches! Good, but even less likely that I'll knock that down anywhere close to zero. (Compare the 177 unfound virtuals to the 19 I have found within 70 miles.)


So what if I knock it down to 20 miles? That results in 52 unfound caches, mostly because of the ones in DC. (Compare the the 13 found.) If I cut it back to 15 miles, we lose the DC ones and drop down to 8 unfound, 2 found. I'll have to think about whether the 20-mile challenge makes sense; the 15-mile one seems too easy.

But hey, 3 caches already in 2016. I think if I look for easy ones along my routes, I can keep adding to the number with only taking a few minutes out of my day.

Geocaching: Degree 39, Minute 1

While waiting for the Crofton Library to open the other day, I looked for (and found) the cache "Swamp or Pond Or Marsh Thing". It was very easy to find, an attribute I appreciate in a geocache. It was near a lovely little pond, which still had some ice and was adorned by many geese.

This is part of the minute 39° 1' N, so represents my 15th minute for the 39 North challenge. (It is on the same longitude degree as another cache I found, so no progress on that one.) It's my second cache of the year, so there's hope I'll do more than 3 this year for the first time since 2008.