Did Not Find (DNF)

I have an ever growing list of DNF caches and I added a couple more to it over the weekend. Several other people on my friends list also reported DNF's in other places, I feel for you they are very annoying. You spend ages looking around trying to decide if the cache has been muggled or if it's just well hidden then you give up only to have it found the next day by a dog or tiny child according to the logs. Sometimes I swear I am blind on a second visit the cache is right where I'm sure I looked before! Anyway I thought it might be nice to offer up some tips for DNF's from someone who's been there repeatedly.

1. Double check the coordinates, recheck puzzles that have lead you to the coordinates does it fit and make sense? If you are in the middle of a field then maybe you or the owner have got a number wrong ;)

2. Get out of the tree cover and get several accurate readings to zero in on the location

3. Check obvious places near to ground zero - ivy covered trees, stumps, trees in general, piles of stones and sticks all clichés but they are clichés for a reason! Also look for a "Cachers trail" previous visitors to a site will leave their mark some trampled down nettles is often all the sign I need to find a cache.

3. Dig deep and widen the search, get in there and have a root about uncover those leaves. I have started putting together a caching kit one of the most used items is a simple pair of gardening gloves. With these I have braved thorns, glass, nettles you name it which these my hands can boldly go where no sane person would put them, the only downside is the sensitivity to touch is less but it's generally worth the trade.

5. Read the hint if there is one! Sometimes there are hidden hints in the name of the cache for example.

6. Look at the status of the cache live on geocaching.com is it down for maintenance?

7. Read the logs, when was the last time it was found? are there any useful hints in the logs?

8. Look at the size of the cache what are you looking for a nano or micro is going to be in a different place than a bigger cache. A lot of nanos and micros are magnetic so look for metal objects.

9. Look at the difficulty and terrain rating are you looking in the right place, if its terrain is 3 or higher look up the tree rather than around the base of the tree for example. Don't expect a difficulty 5 to be in plain sight and easy to find.

10. Phone a friend who has found it previously, are you looking in the right place?

11. Leave it for another day and come back with fresh eyes preferably when someone else logs a find so you know it's still there.

12. Log that you couldn't find it this is useful for the owner and other cachers. That you couldn't find it means very little. That ten people couldn't find it means it is probably gone. Don't forget that you can notify the owner that maintenance is required or that the cache should be archived if enough people report DNF's or you find the cache in a bad state.

13. Bring some backup, my wife has in the past walked right up to a cache that I've spent hours looking for previously

14. Add a watch to the cache so you get an email when it is found

15. Consider contacting the owner directly

Above all know that you will get better at finding caches. Once you find a particular type of cache you will be more likely to find similar caches of the same type in the future. A lot of people talk about "cachers eye" the ability to spot a likely cache site in the area, which also improves with time.

Do you have any other tips you would like to share?

The Curse of the Hippo

In my short career as a geocacher I have had the pleasure of attempting / completing many caches set by local legends Team Hippo. All of their caches I have done regardless of type have been beautifully set, and inspirational. The downside of these caches is that they are very addictive! I have lost days stuck in mental anguish over some of these caches but there is a warning that comes with doing too many Team Hippo caches a curse of sorts, other caches are just not as fun and sadly often pale in comparison. Dare you try some of the caches listed below?

In Progress:

Postcode Lottery

QRC

 

Completed:

07/23/11 Hew'n'Cry Bruad (Bucks)  I have been working on this one on and off for a month I was determined to do it without any help. Having read the same Simon Singh book as mentioned by Kebabs, and spending many happy hours creating and cracking codes previously I felt I was well in my comfort zone. My confidence soon started to wane however, despite throwing everything at the puzzle I got exactly nowhere and was starting to resort to trying random keywords at it in desperation. In the end after a lot of work, I fired off an email to the owners asking for a small prod in the right direction. The owner was away but still managed to contact me to pass on some correct, incorrect, irrelevant type of answers to a list of things I knew or hoped I knew. When he got back home he sent a further email to further clarify a few things, I could tell I was amusing him with my wild theories. More head scratching and more wild ideas about how to crack it another week passed. I sent another email to the owner to confirm some more crazy theories. It was at this point the owner quite rightly assessed that I was not going to get it without a solid clue and gave me the same clue as he'd given several others. He said I would kick myself and I did all the clues were there from my initial work and the keyword was among the very first I tried and was sat there large as life in the original email. The rest of the cache unlocked easily and I collected the final with no drama with my 4 year old daughter in shorts without an injury or sting to speak of. Really great cache to finish with, it was quite exposed so I have made it a bit harder to spot with the naked eye. Overall an epic mentally difficult cache and a new favourite point easily earned. I just wish I had had that spark of genius at the start I was so close and yet a million miles away. Thanks for the cache and all your help Team Hippo as always amazingly friendly,  helpful and inspiring. One unexpected bonus I have got from doing this cache is the sheer amount of crazy ideas and avenues of enquiry I investigated needlessly will no doubt end up in a cache of my own someday... perhaps I'll call it Hippo Bait 

05/02/2011  Henton Badgers (Oxon)

Nice cache well tucked away. Lots of lambs and foals and all sorts of nature. Why are there no caches in the chilterns near Chinnor hill we had a nice walk but nothing to find up there, shame.
Dropped off Soldier stef TB. TFTC

05/29/2011  Midsomer Murder Meander (Bucks)

After working out the coordinates of the first micro and finding the onward coordinates we headed to them to "quiz Eli and Violet". We found a container easily enough but it did not contain any onward coordinates that we could find, possibly because the log book is so damp. We could not work out the Eli and Violet clue and properly confused we headed back to the car. Signed the log book and put it into a second bag to protect it from the elements a bit better TNLN. Will have a good think about this one and if I notice that people are still managing to do this with the log book in it's current state we might to and have another go sometime in the future.

NOTE: Hi to the second lot of geocachers who we met on the way down. Hope they have better luck than us getting to the final cache

UPDATE: Even more confused now after reading the logs there are people and even some pictures showing the container we found saying they found the final container!? Maybe this should be a "found it" log after all but I thought there was a final stage. I shall hire a detective forthwith

UPDATE2: Thanks for the messages from Team Hippo and Nobblyrob changing this to a found it log. Mental note read the description and don't read too much into things this a simple two stage cache... feel a bit daft for spending so much time examining everything purple in the vicinity of the cache and for searching the internet when I got home . Still it's definitely a memorable cache now

07/10/2011  Past Chilton Old Chapel (Bucks)

I escaped my lab today where I have been working day and night on Hew'n'Cry Bruad. I figured I would do a nearby cache for a change of pace. I started on Bear Huggers nearby but I did it much quicker than I thought I would so I did a search for nearby caches and this one popped up, so without any research I trundled along the road a bit and started it. About half way through I realised that this was another Team Hippo cache! My old nemesis, the Moriarty to my Holmes, the fly in my ointment!!! Surprisingly this turned out to be a very pleasant walk around a beautiful little village as promised with no mental torture in sight, I can only assume this is an early work from the master of terror . As always very well thought out and a wonderful attention to detail. Thanks for the cache, TNLNSL.

06/18/2011  Snakemoor Revisited (Bucks)

We attempted this one while actively avoiding Peter Andre who is opening the Thame carnival today, and the crowds of adoring weirdos / fans who are clogging up the place. No snakes today but lots of dog walking muggles at the micro, this felt harder than a two difficulty but having tried some other Team Hippo caches they are on a different level so knew what I was letting myself in for, even so I still went in shorts with the kids (3 and 5) so it's not that tough. They were a bit scared of finding snakes which turned to excitement once we were there not sure what would happen if they actually saw one. Got a very detailed account of what to expect from snakes including who would win in a fight a BATalisk or a FEEnix I suspect I know the source of this new found knowledge. Must admit I know much more about imaginary creatures than real ones and my kids seem to be the same. Took TB. TFTC.

06/23/2011  Changing Times...

The puzzle was a tricky one that took several weeks to crack I ended up asking my father who is the font of all knowledge. His speciality is History rather than maths so I had to sit through a lecture on what the Romans got up to in the area , (Unless there is treasure I don't care too much!). We realised quickly that we were dealing with an obfuscation cipher and would need some tools that we did not have at hand but a quick shop on Amazon and the items were sent by courier for same day delivery! I'm not sure how much I can say about how to solve it, the hint is useful but you might also want to reflect on the original coordinates and take a good look at the arial photography near the site, I've probably been a bit too bold by telling you this much and will be punished by the owner, but he'll have to catch me first .

Feeling smug about solving the puzzle. I headed off to the cache itself hoping for a quick cache and dash. I think that would have been on the cards if I had not barrelled in with my usual bravado. Half way through a crop field cut to ribbons on arms and legs I started to wish I had taken Dr. Sollys advise on wearing long trousers and then disaster! My phone case was missing I presume I have dropped it somewhere in the field so if you fancy a real treasure hunt feel free to have a go at that. Just got home and got a replacement £22 ye gads! The cache site itself was interesting I circled it looking for easy access and ended up barrelling in again. After a fair amount of time looking in the wrong area and very nearly mistaking a birds nest complete with egg for the cache it was eventually quite an easy find. I headed back doing two more trips through the crop field to try and find the missing case and am now bleeding freely from all manner of injuries. This is certainly a memorable cache for me if maybe not for all the right reasons. As always great stuff Team Hippo, I look forward to the next mystery .

06/21/2011  Lucky Horseshoe (Bucks)

Well lets start the next 100 as we left off the last with a Team Hippo cache! Taking it decidedly more easy today with fairly quick nip up the road to pick up the nearest one to home. Somehow when you are finishing an area and have done the easy ones then the tricky ones and you start to mop up the difficult ones it's always Team Hippo for the very last one 

06/20/2011  Two for the Price of One (Oxon)

A nice easy one! Picked up on the 19th while doing the Thame Town Teaser and logged along with it today, see that log entry for more details

06/20/2011  Chapter and Verse (Bucks)

After three visits and extensive research I have happily found this "easy" Team Hippo Cache. Really great find in the graveyard how do you do it! as always the brilliant Team Hippo never fail to impress and put a smile on my face. This was educational in many ways and was a nice little diversion from the main event (see next two logs!). TFTC

The Ridgeway Ramble (Plus)

This is a series of twelve caches (plus two bonus caches) hidden along approximately 6km of footpaths and bridleways two to three miles north of Nuffield in South Oxfordshire and is best completed in numerical order so as to avoid the fairly steep climb between No1 and No12 although this is only optional. There is a small amount of parking available at Swyncombe Church N51°36.404 W001°00.943.

Part of the walk is on The Ridgeway National Trail which is an 85 mile long path, following a prehistoric chalk ridge route. It runs from Ivinghoe Beacon near Aylesbury to Overton Hill near Avebury. All sections can be walked and others, listed as Bridleways, can be cycled and ridden too. This series of caches was placed to draw responsible cachers to this amazing and ancient right of way.

We completed this series as below in this order on the 17th of July 2011. We being two adults our 4 year old daugher and our 5 year old son.

Ridgeway Ramble No1

Mrs Dornorn arranged to do this excellent series for a family walk on a VERY wet Sunday. I was very much a passenger for the most part of this series letting others find the caches and only helping when they got stuck which made it great fun. This first one was found by the boy. We did a few swaps. 

Church Micro 1266...Swyncombe

We picked this one up as a quick easy find extra on our way to the Ridgeway Ramble series.

Ridgeway Ramble No2

This was quickly found by the boy without using the hint. It was about this time the heavens opened it was literally like being under a power shower. We took cover under the trees for what it was worth. As the rain started to ease off we went to the next one in the series and as we left the tree cover the rain stopped again leading the boy to exclaim that the woods must have been a rain forest! 

Ridgeway Ramble No3

A quick easy find for little miss Dornorn after the boy missed this one completely despite having a good look around the place. We had a break here consisting of tuna sandwiches and "cheesy ball" crisps many of which fell on the floor and were left for the hedgehogs (Who are well known for their love of cheesy balls no doubt). Thankfully it was raining so hopefully there will be no trace of the messy eaters shortly. 

Ridgeway Ramble No4

I had to step in for this one as it was a bit too high for the kids a nice quick easy find. Sadly the kids found the lure of the massive puddles too much and soon there was wet feet all round with 8 caches to go in the series I correctly predicted that wet feet would get really annoying before the end. TFTC nicely camouflaged.

Ridgeway Ramble No5  

Nice long walk to this one with loads of puddles to avoid for the kids. They did a terrible job of avoiding most of them and in the end even threats of I'll stick your face in there if you jump in did nothing to dissuade them. It was a tough call who found this so we'll give it to little miss Dornorn rather than the boy who has already claimed his fair share. 

Ridgeway Ramble No6

Got severely muggled here we pretended to be trying to persuade little miss Dornorn to take her wellies off to empty some of the water out (not far from the truth). Nice little hide this it was in the last place checked by the kids. 

Ridgeway Ramble No7

A combination of wet feet and a steep(ish) hill made little miss Dornorn have a bit of a melt down on the way to this one we left her to her own devices having a bit of a stampy foot moment, felling an equal mix of good and bad parents we walked on trying not to glance over our shoulders in the end she caught us up with a very cross face. The boy found this one after I misled him accidently. 

more Chilterns rambling

Oh yes we like a little bonus cache on a series. This was also found by little miss Dornorn after the boy very graciously let her find it. 

 Ridgeway Ramble No8

A nice easy find for the boy after I confidently sent him in the wrong hedge before Mrs Dornorn had told me the hint he found it anyway with no assistance. 

Ridgeway Ramble No9  

I found this in seconds without the hint and kept quiet while the others with the hint spent ages looking around in the wrong area. In the end I gave little miss Dornorn a point in the right direction but even then it was found by the boy. 

Ridgeway Ramble No10

Mrs Dornorn gave me the hint before we arrived as it didn't make sense to her, I immediately knew where it would be and it was quickly found by the boy. The onward path from here was really pretty the rain had abated briefly and the sun was poking through the clouds dappling the fields with patches of sunlight. I commented that it was rather like that gladiator film. To celebrate this we gave the kids a head start and raced them to the other side, I stupidly decided to have a bit of a jog which I'm now regretting and I didn't even win . 

Ridgeway Ramble No11

After a fairly long walk and everyone a bit wet and tired we had had about enough at this point. I had to find the cache after some unenthusiastic searching from the others. Mrs Dornorn looked ready for a nice hot bath and flaked out on the verge... well it was your idea! not much further to go now surely! 

Ridgeway Ramble No12

Ah done at last the final came as blessed relief and was found by the time little miss Dornorn and I arrived on the scene, Mrs Dornorn and the boy had got their stride on leaving us in a trail of dust (well mud) very nicely hidden micro. A nice downhill slope back to the car we went through a field of vicious looking sheep and little miss Dornorn dawdling at the back of the pack got chased by some "bears" (an elderly couple who thought it was amusing and suggested they dress up next time). All in all a great series and the rain didn't ruin the day although there will be a lot of washing tonight!

The Ring Around Rycote

Just posted a maintenance notice on this very special cache, I really hope it gets sorted out.

07/19/2011  The Ring Around Rycote (Oxon)

  I was very strongly considering asking Ben and Dan if I could adopt this cache, I still haven't ruled it out but this is more than just a maintenance job, boys feel free to contact me if you want to discuss. The cache is currently fully operational but the micros are in a bad state of repair and the final is full of damp mouldy rubbish and has no log book, if there is no maintenance done soon I would recommend that it is disabled / archived.

  As I said the caches themselves need desperate maintenance but that's not the main issue. I expect that people are avoiding this cache as it involves the deathtrap that is Rycote Lane. I am not sure what the lay of the land was when this cache was first set up but now Rycote Lane serves as the main rat run from Thame to the M40. You will find there is no sensible place to park a car these days, there is no nearby location to walk from and as there are no footpaths and only partially cleared verges you are walking on the road much of the time with lots of cars driving at high speed with very little regard for walkers.

  I have wracked my brain to the best of its ability to make this cache doable without having to park on or walk along Rycote Lane and without having to walk the same path twice. Ideally starting from Tiddington to take advantage of the good parking. For the life of me I cannot see how it can be done, it is in the best configuration possible taking into consideration the landmarks the current placement of the micros and the final and the public rights of way.

  In my humble opinion the only feasible safe way to do the cache as written is to get dropped off (quickly!) at the first micro and picked up at the final. This makes it inaccessible unless you have an understanding partner as well as making it very hard to maintain. All that aside, Rycote Chapel itself is just beautiful and more people should see it, the walk is really beautiful in places it's well worth it for that alone. The footpaths are very well maintained and the final is a great little place that was a delight to find, I'm sure in it's prime this would have been a great cache and it is very sad to see no one is visiting it any more.

July 2011

07/17/2011   See Ridgeway Ramble plus post

07/11/2011  GUIDING LIGHT

Revisited this DNF from a while back, without the kids it was a quick easy find. The co-ords are not off by much I made them N 51° 48.094 W 000° 51.638 and it's in an obvious place if you use your geocachers eye. On a positive note I had a nice email from the owner, it sounds like she has her work cut out keeping this one tidy! Took a fair bit of rubbish with me so it's not as bad as it was. Thanks for the cache TNLNSL.

07/10/2011 See The Curse of the Hippo Post

07/10/2011  Bear Hugger's

To say I went prepared would be an understatement although I did go in shorts which was a tactical choice. In the end most of the equipment I had (just in case) was not required. The cache could do with some maintenance the lid is cracked and two clips are missing. I did some repairs in situ i.e. cleaning out the extended family of earwigs and replacing the pen. However the cache itself is not what this cache is all about and the experience was very worthwhile and right up my street definitely want more like this . Thanks for the cache, TNLNSL.

07/09/2011 EVENT You attended Blind obedience - nah (II)

As this was our first event the boy and I weren't sure what to expect,
we turned up just after 1pm and the place was packed! A problem quickly raised it's head, how to spot a group of geocachers in a sea of muggles when you don't know any of them in the flesh. I messaged the organiser but no joy. We ended up having an interesting wander around the microbrewery and enjoyed listening to the band. Beer was free but ginger beer was 50p a can which is shocking racialism We left sad that we didn't meet you all but enjoyed it nonetheless. Many thanks to metal-bijou for organising the event and being gracious enough to let us log our attendance even though we couldn't find the group on the day.

07/04/2011 See "Firsts" Post
07/02/2011 see the "A day in Brill" post

Firsts

Really proud of Geo-serenity77 for setting up her first geocache.
Which was set up in the same week as my own.

Found on the 4th of July 2011

Car booty for Trolls!

FTF Quite a lot of firsts here. My first ever first to find, my first real night cache, and best of all the first cache of the first person I introduced to geocaching. What a great place for a cache I never knew this place existed. I legged it out as soon as I could (i.e. when Mrs Dornorn got home from work... 11pm) and torch in mouth feeling very much like a crim I hopped over a fence into nettles (Why are there always nettles!) Thankfully I had my nettle proof shorts on so all was well the cache was easily found, great stuff (I should have popped in for a cup-o-tea but thought I'd better high tail it back home. Thanks for the cache. TNLNSL

A Day in Brill

I love Brill it's a great little village where we have often taken the kids to play hide and seek in the Hobbit like hills by the windmill. I have been looking forward to doing some caching in this beautiful village for a while. Sadly we started off with a Did not find (DNF) but the day got better.

All of the caches were done in the following order on Saturday 2nd of July 2011

Anti Social

Muggles galore here today we had a few minutes of peace to do a quick search but there was no sign. Not much of an idea what I was looking for, we'll be back I've no doubt.

The "BRILL -IANT !" Cache (Bucks)

This was really fun to get to both for me and the kids and is the second cache I've found recently where I've thought I could really do with a rope and grappling hook... in a good way! The cache itself is huge but sadly there was nothing in it for the kids, they didn't mind they had loads of fun sliding down the bank. I ended up giving the cache a good clean up, removing the rubbish and leaves etc and putting in a few toys and bits we had for the next team. We spent a good hour playing hide and seek in the hills below the windmill which is reward in itself.  

Brill Windmill

My little girl went flying off the stile near the cache right into nettles and thistles I was very proud when she just got up and brushed herself down. Geocaching is really toughening the kids up . This one was a nice easy find, there was some sort of party going on in the school with the windmill Brill seems like a nice place to live everyone is really friendly. 

Brill Tramway - Wood Siding

It's nice to try a new area for caching and notice lots of hides by the same cacher, it gives you a chance to see how their mind works. I've done a couple by Alibags before but they were as different as chalk and cheese so this was a good chance to see if there was a pattern. We started off going wrong wandering off in the wrong direction and seeing some trains wizz past which was cool before checking the GPS, a quick back track and we found the spot one of the pics were taken. I had a good idea what I was looking for so I was heading towards the coords with speed but the kids were lagging behind as there was a concern over bears in the woods (There were no bears in the end but we did see a big frog). I spotted the cache quickly and it made me smile the kids were amazed when they saw it not quite understanding it was the cache at first. Brilliant hide and the best of today's by far. Took the Northern Star TB.