Since this game is largely run by and for the inmates, it behooves one to place swag responsibly and intelligently. Well, congratulations. You've got your GPS unit and are figuring it out, you've found a few caches near home, you've visited the forums or emailed other cachers about your experience and are now ready to start complaining about stuff you find in caches. Everybody does it eventually, usually about the twentieth cache or so. Somewhere between the near-Nirvana of those first few finds and your development into a true Geo-chronic you're going to stop and ask, "What's with all the golf balls?"
The ground rules of Geocaching.com are fairly straightforward when it comes to the goodies one can place in a cache. No food, no fire, no filth and no pointy things. Since this game is largely run by and for the inmates, it behooves one to place swag responsibly and intelligently. Even if one is not the type to regularly be associated with the word "behoove." Leaving and trading items from a cache is part of the fun for many and allows cachers to add their own personal touch to the caches they visit. Many longtime cachers take great pride in the quality of items they leave and are proud to praise fellow cachers who leave quality items. Here are a few thoughts to help you be on the "Good Bee" team.
THE "NO FOOD" RULE - If It Smells Good, Don't Leave It
Very early on, cachers discovered that food left in a cache was rarely eaten by other cachers. Careful scientific observation and testing by nerdy guys in hazard-orange lab coats discovered that food, when left in your average cache, tended to A: rot; or B: attract vermin. While scarcely earthshaking information, these observations led to the "No food" rule. No matter what they tested; ham sandwiches, french fries, cole slaw, Snickers bars, deep-fried hamster-on-a-stick...same story. Beverages froze and leaked, cough drops melted into gooey syrup, entire ant colonies grew from one pack of Wrigley's Double-Mint in a cheap Tupperware clone, scented pencil erasers were stolen by squirrels and the chipmunks ate the ChapStick. The bottom line is this: If they smell it they will come...and probably soil the logbook in the process. If it can rot, it will rot. Do yourself and your caching reputation a favor; leave the yummies in the backpack. It's better to leave nothing than discover the cache later destroyed by a badger with a Milk-Dud addiction.
THE "NO FIRE" RULE - No Flaming Allowed
No lighters, matches, fireworks, flares, ammunition, explosives, copies of "Gigli" or other bombs allowed. Most folks have no problems with the obvious explosive items but the prohibition against lighters and matches chafes with some. Quite simply, there are plenty of folks, especially park rangers, police, and the anti-tobacco crowd who do not want fire-making devices or equipment just lying about. It's best to keep the peace and move along. Flick your own Bic.
THE "NO FILTH" RULE - Hugh Hefner Don't Hike
Frankly, if you haven't figured this one out, then you're in the wrong hobby. It doesn't matter if it IS a picture of your mother, it doesn't belong in a cache. There have been some who contend that the definition of "objectionable materials" should include religious and political items. A lot of wasted indignation from all sides has been expended arguing about the appropriateness of religious tracts, campaign buttons and similar items. You make up your own mind; it's your reputation.
THE "NO POINTY OBJECTS" RULE - Knives Just Won't Cut It
The prohibition against knives, razors, real arrowheads, and the like grows from the same attitude as the ban on matches and lighters. A safety razor may seem foolproof, but leave one sitting around and, sooner or later, a brilliant fool will find a way to prove it wasn't a "safety" razor after all. Many folks cache with their children and finding a razor knife is a safety concern. Again, keep the peace; it's your reputation.
The bottom line on appropriate booty to leave in a cache is this: use common sense and try to assume that there are those out there with less of it than you. Assume that anything you leave behind will be there for a while and subject to critter inspection, humidity changes, temperature changes, and other environmental factors. Remember that half the people on the planet were in the bottom half of their class. Remember that caches do get muggled and what you drop off may end up going to some grinning 11 year-old boy with a lot of time on his hands. What you leave behind in a cache will tell the other caches something about YOU. Try to make a good impression.
Okay, so we covered what NOT to leave. The question remains: "What's with all the golf balls?" We'll cover that in Part Two next month.