Trackables and why they are...

At my very first geocache I found my first trackable. From there I formed in my mind what these were supposed to do, what their intended purpose was. Like most, I stick with first impressions.

 I received an email this morning about the discovery of a coin dated yesterday and how this person was really amazed at how cool the geocoin was and that they really appreciated the chance to discover it at an event over the weekend. It was more detailed than that but, I don't want to out or embarrass anyone for what I am about to write because it's just my view of what goes on. My opinion.

The geocoin in question is sitting on my desk, as it has been for the past two weeks because I haven't found an acceptable cache to place it in. I am sure that the owner would like it to travel and I want to give it the best opportunity. I will be attending an event on Thursday evening and will probably drop it there.

I know what happened, the dreaded trackables list. I find these ridiculous and they go against everything these coins are for. To show the design and the beauty of these little miniature pieces of art and to log the miles from cache to cache or event to event, this is what they exist for. Not to be hoarded somewhere while someone hands out a list of numbers from a stack of papers they carry around. It just doesn't feel like that's the spirit of the thing to me. Is it that important to get every little icon? You were given a number on a sheet of paper to attain pixels on a screen. What did you end up with?

This is one of the many things that bothers me about caching nowadays, the huge change to a game that is going to nothingness. This game used to mean something so much more than that. It was the thrill of the hunt, going to new places, travelling the back roads. Now it seems that those new places are strip mall parking lots, same old places, sticking to the highway.

The first trackable I ever found was Osmo 1. He was actually in my first official find. I followed him as closely as possible after that. This trackable actually mad a road trip happen for me and the wife. After I had placed him in the next cache we placed him on the watchlist and ended up travelling to Blowing Rock just to track him down again at a cache called Mossy Rock. That weekend led us to caves, scenery, and a trip down a waterfall. (She hated that part.) The point is that there was an adventure and a bonding experience that we would not have had otherwise.

All because of a trackable. That's where the adventure is. The actual physical travel and the sights and sound of geocaching.

You can't do that from a keyboard.

Osmo 1 is gone now but not forgotten. When I hear trackable I think of that first one. This is a part of what caching is to me.