This time I'm sharing another cool matrix you can try to fill, but before that let me show you one of the cool geocaches I came across just recently, while working on this matrix.
 |
| The frog on the branch |
It is early spring here in the Netherlands and the trees and bushes are not covered with leaves, that was helping a lot. The hint for this hide was clear we need to find a frog on a tree, of course all it said was the latin name of the frog... Honestly it is hard to find time to go geocaching on busy days when those days are also short like in winter and early spring and this brings us to the next matrix I want to share.
 |
| Finds by found date |
This matrix is showing you on which day of which month you found and how many geocaches you found; the year does not count. As you can see after a few years geocaching it is still kind of empty on the darker months starting from October till March. January and February was in a worse condition, then I decided to fill as many gaps as I could that is why they both look better now.
So how to fill this matrix, it is fairly simple, go geocaching every day of the year and then it will be full. Easier said than done I hear you all saying, so as there are 366 on this matrix there is only one day that is hard to fill, so focus on that as soon as possible, and it is not easy that is the 29th of February, not happening every year, so when it comes make sure you go geocaching. I was lucky with that day, I just arrived in Memphis or business and right behind the hotel there was a lampposthide you know the one under the skirt. So that was done back a few years ago, now still so many to go. Some of the months when the weather is just on your side, just do your best and it'll have only a few gaps sooner than later and then when you see one or two days as a gap that is a good motivator to get out and find one on those days. The hard will always be those dark and short days when you start working while it is dark outside and finish after the sun already set. There are a few night caches, try to go for those, try those caches that are 24/7 or some park and grab ones. Another method - not the cheapest - is travel to a sunny location during the dark days, that is how I filled more of my January and February, I was visiting Taiwan and Singapore, better weather and good location for some geocaching and some good food.
 |
| The frog opened up |
Let me turn back to the frog... This one was one of those rare magnetic frogs, with really strong magnets first I was not even sure if I should try to open that way. When opened up I saw a pill capsule, now this is for sure waterproof. The color of the frog was matching the branch really good so I have to say it is a really hard one to find when the bushes have all their leaves. In general I do not have good experience with geocaches in bushes or woods, and often we need to go back multiple times. (Each time I log the DNF to help the CO in case it is really missing, but when we see that someoen found after we did not we go back and try again.)
When I meet new geocachers they ask me how to find one that you could not find before, some hint for them:
- Search in a spiral from your 0 point, my phone gets me within 10meters, so it could be in that circle.
- Monitor the logs when you see more than one geocachers logging it on a day go and search right after them, you have a good luck of seeing some footprints and that will help
- Search online for photos of hides in woods and bushes just to get more hints how it could be. You could also follow my pinterest board there I have a nice collection. Or just keep on reading my blog I upload spoilers quite often.
- If you seem to miss the geocache leave it for a while and go back in a different season, like winter or summer depending the location.
 |
| From a bit further away it is already hard to see the frog |
Depending on the goal of the cache owner it can be easy to make a container fold into its background. As you see above it is just one step further and the frog if it was not in the middle of the picture would be gone. After finding it as we walked away we could see it a few steps further, but on the way there it was just not visible, I'm happy we can in this season.
 |
| Dogs are common in the area |
As this geocache is hidden in a park you can expect many many dogs walking around with their owner, most of them will just ignore you and focus on their own business, but some might want to play with you and if you don't want that skip the geocaches in parks.
 |
| Nice and clean pathways |
If you consider this park is in Rotterdam in a very crouded area I have to say it is well maintained and on some better days it could be very very busy here.
 |
| Water all around ... |
As most areas and as Rotterdam is close and below see level you'll find lots of water in every park.
 |
| The bridge to the cache |
One thing about the water it can have any shapes and if you are not looking at the correct map you might end up with walking a lot more than you planned. In this case we parked about 200 meters away from the coordinates and still had to walk close to double and we took the shortest route, guess what happens if we took another path at some crossings. Previously we ended up on one side of some water and we could see the coordinate on the other side on foot it was only a few kilometers to get there.
 |
| More water ... |
Just to show you more water as walking towards the coordinates...
 |
| And some more water... |
This geocache was one of those which gave us more than one fun, the hide was great and never seen before the location is nice and can be nicer in other seasons, and it added to my matrix, not the one mentioned on this page but to another one coming soon...
Many thanks for this hide for the CO.
Comments
Post a Comment