Dartymoor,
Many thanks for this post. The overwhelming reaction to the DDD series has been very positive and I have been enormously grateful to the very kind comments logged on the series. Yes, there have been a few negative comments (some from those I would have expected better) but generally they have been very good.
Have I changed my views? Yes and no! No, regarding those power trails with a micro dropped in a hedge row every 1/10 mile – absolutely not. But I never set out to place a series like that. When I see the opportunities for some very interesting roadside caches, it makes me so annoyed to see a 35mm film canister shoved in a hedge – why! Just lack of imagination.
I did about 10 visits to the DDD location to plan and place all the caches. Each location was carefully mapped to avoid each other and other caches. The locations were approved long before a single cache was placed. I wanted a wide variety of caches and hides but this is more difficult on the open moor than most would imagine. I also wanted a variety of difficulty. Anybody can make a cache difficult by placing a micro in a clitter field, but I wanted something different and am fairly happy with the result. I will change things in the future though. Difficult hides should not contain bonus information and which caches contain the bonus information should be available. The cacher can then make a better judgement of how much time to spend looking for a cache.
As I have already planned another series, I guess the answer to the question is Yes. But the new series will be about the same length as DDD, but with more caches. It will also be doable both clockwise and anticlockwise. However, the terrain will be more difficult.
A couple of things from the CO’s point of view. I really hate TFTC logs and even worse copy and paste logs. If a CO bothers to place a cache then please think of something unique to say about it. I have had some wonderful logs and this one came yesterday:
“The terrain rating gives an idea of what to expect here. Yes, you will need to climb over boulders to get to this one. I had a bit of an adventure here.
I searched for a while
I thought about giving up
I turned around and lo and behold the cache was staring at me
I do that thing where you punch your fist in the air and shout ‘yes’ (not that anyone is listening out here)
Elation turned to despair when I dropped the cache when retrieving it
At this point the angel and devil appear on my shoulders. Do I rescue it or do I DNF it?
Fortunately for Dartmoor Dave I mounted a daring cache-rescue
Since the cache was in two feet of still water I took off one boot and rolled up the clothes on my left side. Hanging from the tree I managed to recover the cache, sign it and replace it incredibly carefully.
The moral of this story: bison containers don’t float but they are watertight!”
That really made my day AND I thanked them for it. That’s what geocaching is all about 🙂
