In the last week I've had a chance to do two full days of caching... One up north, one in Madison. I realize after caching up north how much I miss caching in Arizona (weird thought, but I'll explain in a bit).
The northwoods day of caching was not exactly the best weather. It was about 45 degrees and raining. Of course the target that day was over a mile into the woods with multiple stream crossings... basically no way of staying dry no matter how hard we tried. Overall it was still a great adventure with Hayward Cheesehead and krymdog. We hit GCNMJF - Lost Falls near Cornucopia and then six or seven around the area. Afterwards, I met up with CommanderUSN who happened to be in the neighborhood for work and did 10 more in the Hayward area. Overall a very successful day... great caches found, great area to cache in, and even the weather helped add to the adventure.
Caching in northern Wisconsin reminds me of caching in Arizona. Where I first started caching, there were lots of caches spread out in the desert and a few in town that highlighted special spots in the city. Even the caches in the city were fun to do because they brought you to unique locations. The caches in the desert were an experience to do... never just a quick one without something special. Even in the desert you had great scenery, difficult terrain, or some other feature making it worthwhile.
Now caching the city has started to wear on me. I admit the first time through in Madison it was a lot of fun because it brought be to all parts of town and I hadn't been to many before. Now as I cache more and more in the area, I realize they just aren't nearly as fun. I'm spoiled from caching in AZ and NW WI and like the cache to mean something. I can handle a difficult container in a nondescript location because I realize it's more about the container in this instance, but throwing a cache in a spot just to place one there no longer motivates me to cache down here. Searching for a micro in a location that could have a 5-gallon pail without someone noticing it just isn't fun. Caches in drainage areas don't float my boat... neither does that random guardrail. I still hold out hope when I see a new cache, and there are some really good new ones, but it just feels that four out of five are just not worth the time and effort anymore.
