AAR: Hidden Creatures
Now that the dust has settled, and the Hidden Creatures campaign has officially come to an end, I've been thinking about the whole thing. Overall, I think that the pros outweighed the cons - here's my breakdown:
The sheer number of caches that had to be found seemed daunting, because I need to save the caches that would be relatively quick and easy to find after work to fill out calendar days. So where did that leave me? Road trip. But where to go, how many trips did I want to make? Hiking, biking or driving? I'm overweight and out of shape, so we opted for driving. Luckily, we're fortunate enough to have something resembling a power trail that's only a two and a half hour drive away. In retrospect, I definitely preferred the flexibility that the last campaign, "Planetary Pursuit," gave me in how many and what types of caches to find, since they each had different point values. I could find 100 traditional caches or 34 mystery caches, and still achieve the same goal.
I also think that the time frame was reasonable for the average cacher. I had initially considered getting 25 caches each weekend, since going out each night after work wasn't possible. Then, after figuring home life and yard work into the picture, Tom and I decided to attempt to get all 100 caches in a single day. We weren't entirely successful, but there was plenty of time to make up the difference, which we ended up doing the next day.
- Thirteen new souvenirs. I love souvenirs. I'm the kind of person who likes small measurable tasks, and completing each one gives me a sense of accomplishment. Souvenirs are the rewards for completing those tasks. They give me something to look forward to and something to strive for. Definite pro.
- One hundred caches. That's a lot of caches. If you're like me, and I'm only three years in to this hobby, my general area is almost cached out. Finding one hundred caches that are a reasonable distance from my home and/or work is difficult, to say the least. In the end, slight con.
- Four weeks. Let's do the math. One hundred caches in four weeks. That's twenty-five caches a week, or 3.57 caches per day. It's twelve and a half caches a day if you only cached on the weekends of those four weeks. This might seem hectic, but compared to some of the other challenges we've experienced in the past, I'd say this was a pro.
The sheer number of caches that had to be found seemed daunting, because I need to save the caches that would be relatively quick and easy to find after work to fill out calendar days. So where did that leave me? Road trip. But where to go, how many trips did I want to make? Hiking, biking or driving? I'm overweight and out of shape, so we opted for driving. Luckily, we're fortunate enough to have something resembling a power trail that's only a two and a half hour drive away. In retrospect, I definitely preferred the flexibility that the last campaign, "Planetary Pursuit," gave me in how many and what types of caches to find, since they each had different point values. I could find 100 traditional caches or 34 mystery caches, and still achieve the same goal.
I also think that the time frame was reasonable for the average cacher. I had initially considered getting 25 caches each weekend, since going out each night after work wasn't possible. Then, after figuring home life and yard work into the picture, Tom and I decided to attempt to get all 100 caches in a single day. We weren't entirely successful, but there was plenty of time to make up the difference, which we ended up doing the next day.
So, here's the question. What will Geocaching Headquarters come up with next??? Personally, I can't wait to find out.
Comments
Post a Comment