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Your First Cache Hunt
Basic Equipment
Writing Great Online Logs
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Writing Great Online Logs
The 4 T's
The key to effective writing is organizing your thoughts. In longer essays and stories this is absolutely essential and is the difference between coherence and cohesiveness and absolute gobbildygook. In many ways your cache logs are very short stories, snapshots of your search, insight into a small portion of your day spent doing something you absolutely love to do. Even the worst experiences can make the best stories, as many of my own DNF's prove out. Understanding how to organize your thoughts will take you a long way towards getting your experiences across.
With this in mind, here's a handy outline to help you organize your thoughts in your online logs. This is not intended to encourage you to take a "cookie cutter" approach to your logs with every one of them looking the same. Rather it's a simple exercise to keep your thoughts on track and make sure you get the details across as simply as possible. As you become more comfortable writing, your own style will shine through and flesh out your logs for you. Just stick with it and have some fun.
TRIP—Getting There Is Half the Fun
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Of course, the journey to a single cache probably contains more than a thousand steps. You'll probably want to share a few of those with other cachers.
Geocaching is a unique experience in that while we go to the same waypoint as other cachers, we do so with weeks, months or even years between us. We may approach from completely different directions and see the cache in ways that even the owner didn't anticipate.
The "waypoints" feature on cache pages has been a wonderful new addition. It allows cache owners to post waypoints for parking or trailheads or other features on their cache pages. Being a new feature, most caches don't have these extra waypoints added and at times knowing where to begin can be one of the most challenging parts of the cache hunt.
Your log can provide some valuable advice for future searchers as well as record your own frustrations over that road that you shouldn't have taken or the path that led to nowhere.
It's also possible for you to post additional coordinates in your log and include coordinates for trailheads or roads you took. You can also use this feature to post alternate coordinates (if you felt the cache coordinates were a bit off) or post coordinates to various features that caught your attention. Be aware, though, that even the most helpful advice will fall off the cache page after five logs and won't be seen by those who are using pocket queries while out in the field.
You may also want to tell the story of what brought you to the area to cache in the first place. Remember, your log is uniquely yours. Share a bit of your day with the readers and let them know where you're coming from.
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TRAPS—Danger: Bridge Out
If proper attention is paid to them, the terrain and difficulty ratings and cache attributes should alert most geocachers to exactly what kind of physical and mental challenges the cache will present them with. However, many things can happen after the cache has been placed that change the ratings or present cachers with new challenges and dangers. Also, if the path you chose in isn't the same as the one the owner used, you might encounter dangers they never anticipated.
Carefully spell out any dangers you encounter. They might be dangerous animals or poisonous plants, closed roads or angry landowners. Your log could mean the difference between the next cacher having a good experience or something they will regret.
At times it may be necessary to post either a "Needs Maintenance" or "Should Be Archived" (SBA) log. "Needs Maintenance" should be fairly self-explanatory: the cache's condition has changed and it now requires some attention from the owner. This could be due to a full logbook, a soaked logbook, destroyed container, change in environment, or even a muggled cache. The "Needs Maintenance" log places an icon on the cache page that remains until the owner has posted a "Performed Maintenance" log.
Posting a "Should Be Archived" log not only sends a notification to the owner (and anyone on the cache watch list) but also sends a notification to the local cache reviewer to alert them that there's a problem. These should be used sparingly and in situations where the cache either cannot or should not be replaced or where the owner has abandoned the cache due to his or her own lack of attention.
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Geocaching.com
Log Types
There are five log types available when logging a traditional cache. While their uses are sometimes topic for hot debate, here they are with standard definitions for each:
 Found It. Used when the cache has been found and the log signed. Logging a cache in this manner increases your find count by one.
 Didn't Find It (DNF). Used when a search has been made but the cache could not be located.
 Write Note. This note type is often used on return visits to the cache, perhaps to pick up a travel bug or simply check on it. At times this note is used instead of a DNF if the cache hunt is interrupted and you don't want to give others the impression that the cache is missing.
 Needs Maintenance (NM). Use this log type if the cache is in need of attention from the owner (ie. It has become damaged, wet, or in need of a new logbook). Use of this log type places a "Needs Maintenance" attribute on the cache page which remains until the owner posts an "Owner Maintenance" log.
 Should Be Archived (SBA). Use this log if the cache cannot or should not be replaced due to outside forces (new construction, land management, or dangers). When a SBA log is posted the local cache reviewer receives notification of it and may take action to archive the cache. Use this log type sparingly and only in situations where you are certain of the problem at the cache site.
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Human nature being what it is, we're often concerned about offending a cache owner by logging either a "Needs Maintenance" or an "SBA" log, and the reality is at times they are offended. Approach both of these logs carefully. Write them out of your concern for the game rather than your frustration with either the cache or the owner.
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