u/BirkenstockReport

It just keeps coming up in post here— about quality of caches. You can’t control what people put out but you can manipulate good caches into existence by using the tools at your disposal, which is LOGS!

➡️ leave awesome, super detailed logs, with photos when you can on the caches that you enjoy. Leave favorite points when a cache is one you’d like to see more of in your area. Tell COs they are doing a great job and often times they will be encouraged to hide more and get even more creative.

➡️ for caches you don’t enjoy, it’s very possible someone else loves that type. But if you think a cache is a lame one— say an LPC in a spot where there’s tons of room and permission for an ammo can/gadget cache, or a nano in a field of 1,000 other nanos, simply don’t go out of your way to support that cache. Leave a nice, short message, and don’t do any “community maintenance” on that type of cache. Report owner attention if needed. No one is going to maintain dozens of caches that have no favorite points and need constant maintenance and eventually they will archive it, or it will be archived on the CO’s behalf by the reviewer.

Does this make more work for the reviewer? Maybe, but only if the CO doesn’t respond to the owner maintainence request, and I think most reviewers would prefer a little extra work over zombie caches anyway.

➡️ log all your DNFs. This helps the owner know if they need to check on a cache. In your log, you’re welcome to say “I didn’t have much time to look” so that they know how much effort you put in. I have caches that I know if you can’t find them in three minutes, they are gone and I really appreciate those DNFs!

➡️ lastly, hide the kind of caches you want to find! If you are bummed your area is nothing but micros, do something more creative. If your area is gridlocked and doesn’t have space for new caches, consider just messaging the CO who owns a lot of caches in your area and telling them that you have some big or interesting caches and that you’d love to adopt a space if they ever need to archive. Don’t forget to get property owner permission. Sometimes the reason an area is micro’d out is because property owners don’t want anything bigger or because micros don’t get muggled.

I’m working on a series of Adventure Lab Geo arts in in around Anchorage Alaska. If you have any Adventure Lab credits going bad I would love to send you the information you need to join this project and get it completed. You can message me in the Geocaching app, I have the same username over there.

So I know that the Fly By Night Club had the back end of a very small plane sticking out of its roof at some point, but when I was driving around Spenard the other day and needed to turn around in their parking lot, I noticed that a shaved-off top of the tail of a much larger plane is in the far end of that parking lot. It looks so intentional and permanent-- someone clearly wanted it there and it has stayed long after the other plane memorabilia has left (unless it was added more recently?)

Anyway, I just thought it was cool and wanted to know the history of how it got there and if it was affiliated with Fly By Night, or one of the other many businesses that have been at 3300 Spenard over the years.

Cool article about the history of the building for this parking lot here:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/04/19/drugs-spam-and-vacuum-cleaners-the-history-of-3300-spenard-road/

https://preview.redd.it/i308qngadp8h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=adf9359ed651cd7e68ab373110c2863b882cb57b

Also, if anyone knows the story behind the sculpture down the street and around the corner in a private yard, I'm super curious about that too. Spenard is a gift that just keeps giving.

Edited to add: I think this is resolved. Thank you. Much easier than I thought.

Okay, I have built a cool little series in my hometown of 14 caches that explore the history of the area, but I have two "holes" in the map where people have to walk a ways to get to the next cache and I have no cool history to share. I am not a believer in "put a cache there because there's a spot on the map" but I thought bringing a rarer cache type to what's basically a mini power trail could be fun. Alaska only has maybe a dozen whereigos, so I thought that would be a fun addition to the trail in a spot that is otherwise bald.

I started researching how to build a cartridge, and from my experience, a reverse whereigo is the easiest to complete for folks who are finding and the easiest to make since it's already coded, you just modify. But I'm already over my head. I have a Mac and it looks like the main software is PC only. I think there's a web-based editor, but I can't figure it out. I know reverse whereigos have a little bit of a rap, but we only have one in Alaska so it's not like this is a saturation issue up here.

Is there someone with a lot of experience with whereigos that can make the cartridge for me if I give them the final coordinates?

Thanks!