Delawhere

Delawhere

Interviewed November 2007

Our Featured Geocacher is Delawhere AKA Marti Williams. Delawhere's geocache designs are some of the most creative in the state. This is more than just our opinion. In the recent voting for the top geocaches placed during 2007 Delaware had two of hers chosen as winners. You'll need to read the interview to get the details.

Delawhere is a busy person so we're pleased she took time from her busy schedule to answer our questions so that you can get to know her better.

One other departure from our typical interview format - the pictures. Normally we include pictures of the featured geocacher out on the trail. For this interview Delawhere offered us images of various cache containers she has used at her various geocaches. As you will see there's a lot of creativity going on here. We are NOT going to identify which site contains which container. You'll just have to visit each of her sites and find out for yourself.

Your profile on geocaching.com notes that you started geocaching in August of 2005. What attracted you to this unusual sport?
My family and I had attended several orienteering events and enjoyed them. Since there are relatively few orienteering events, I was searching for a similar activity that could be done at anytime. I remembered reading about geocaching and decided to try it since we had an GPS.

As a follow up - what is there about geocaching that keeps you interested and involved?
It gets me out of the house!  I enjoyed hiking when I lived in California but when we moved out here a few years ago I didn't start hiking again because I didn't really know where to hike. Geocaching has introduced me to some terrific hiking areas in Delaware. I have also found that my kids are more likely to join me if I tell them I have read about an interesting cache.  I think they like the idea that there is a definite goal, we are not going to be just wandering around the woods for hours.

I also use geocaching to organize group hikes.   We have some friends, zappadog and Jackson4, that also geocache, so it is easy to call them up and ask them if they want to go on a geocache hike.  A couple of weeks ago we had 3 moms and eight kids on a hike!

Although guard rail and lamp post caches are not my favorites, they at least make running errands more interesting.

Again referring to your profile it notes you have placed a total of 11 geocaches. What caused you to expand your geocaching experiences to include creator of geocaches?
My kids, after about six finds, started asking when we could hide a cache.  I think we had about 25 finds before we finally placed a cache.

Your 11 geocaches represent some of the most creative placements in Delaware. As a result two of your geocaches have just won Delaware Geocaching Awards as best geocache of the 2nd quarter 2007 (Night Creatures) and 3rd quarter 2007 (Where's Billy Bob). What makes your hides special is that they are often a "package" where there is a well defined trail experience to get to the hide area followed by the finding of a specialty container. Tell us a bit about the planning that goes into the making of this kind of geocache.
My caches start from one of two beginnings. I like to have an animal theme so I either have an animal in mind that I want to build a cache around or more commonly, I have the idea for something that I think would be a fun way to retrieve a cache and then try to match an animal to the cache. I  really enjoy figuring out the details of the cache, sometimes it is like solving a puzzle.  Finding animals that are the right size and the right materials can take a while. Discount stores and ebay are good sources. 

I usually set the caches up in my backyard first so I can work out the details and make sure they can withstand the weather. Right now I have a couple of caches out that I am waiting to see if they can be operated in snow. I ask friends and family to retrieve the cache since I have found that most people retrieve the cache differently than I anticipated. For example, when I asked my father-in-law to retrieve Thurston Howell's Treasure, he simply pried open the top and reached in to grab it. Back to the drawing board...

The part I find the hardest is finding the right geographical feature where I can hide a cache.  Often it it can be difficult to find the right location. For Thurston Howell's Treasure, I needed  to find a tree with a branch that I could use as a support ledge and was next to a creek with a steep bank.It took me several months to find an area where I could place my night cache, Night Creatures. I have a DE-sperate Housewives cache planned where I need a pine tree next to the right type of store, hopefully I'll find one! 

I try to place a cache about every month so and it takes awhile to set one up.  At any given time I have three or four caches in various stages of planning and building. It gives me something to do after the kids go to bed or when I can't go geocaching!

Of your 11 hides, have geocachers found any of them more difficult to find than you expected?
I thought that U.S.S. Minnow would be a very easy find but some people have had trouble finding it.

Going the opposite direction, have any geocachers found any of your hides much easier to find than you expected?
I was surprised that someone found one of my caches after I couldn't find it!  Most of my caches are intended to be easy to find.  However, I helped my son hide a cache, "Log-Only Cache (GCZP9W) that is supposed to be hard to find.  A recent log indicated that the cache was no longer in it's original location so we went out one afternoon to repair it but we couldn't find it.  We were surprised when the next day an out of town cacher logged it as a find!  I had to ask the cacher where he found it.  It was less than five feet from it's original location but I never would have found it if he hadn't told me where he found it and if I didn't know exactly what we were looking for. I can't believe that he found the cache as it was hidden!!  It is easier to find now that it has been returned back to its original location.

Have any of them been muggled? If, so how did you handle this?
The cache retrieval equipment for "You Get A Line, I'll Get A Pole" seems to disappear and then reappear.  The cache container itself has not been muggled even though it is usually very easy to see.  When the equipment was first missing, I replaced it and then the original equipment showed up again, very neatly placed next to the replacement equipment.  It has happened a couple of times.  Apparently it is a very thoughtful muggle!

Looking at your geocache hide list a couple of names jump out. One of those is your award winning "Where' Billy Bob". Tell us a bit about how this one came to be created.
I came up with the idea for the final cache first. I had found an object while hiking and thought that I could use it in a cache.  In trying to figure out how to hide the object I came up with idea of the larger outer container.  From there the rest of the pieces fell into place (so to speak!)  Although I like all of the stages, I think that the heart of the cache is at stage 3, with its "Early Finder Feature"  (EFF)   I thought it would be fun to place the object for that stage in a larger container and then, well, why not add the EFF? 

I needed to come up with a character for the cache and thought of MikeOtt's Billy Bob and Bubba's Big Kountry Kash (GC10B7Q). It seemed like Billy Bob was just the guy I needed so I asked Mike if I could use Billy Bob.  He not only agreed but he also worked with me to add some details to his write up in Billy Bob's second cache,  "Billy Bob's Itty Bitty Mountain Kash" (GC15JKV) . The details in his cache help set up my Where's Billy Bob cache. He also supplied me with one of the objects found at one of the stages of my cache.  I enjoyed working with Mike to coordinate the two caches.

There are also two caches in your list from the DE-sperate Housewives series. First, for those who are not familiar with this series, please give us some background. Then tell us a bit about the planning for your two entries in this series.
Oh, I love this series!!  It has opened up a whole new realm in fun containers!.  The series was first started  by the Scrapple-ers with a cache (GC14P4F) in Milford. As they stated on their cache description, "the DE-sperate Housewives series is about the places that the "housewife" has to go to keep life and home in order. The containers used throughout this series will be used to represent these places.The hides are not meant to be difficult, just meant to represent."  Fortunately, the Scrapple-ers invited others to join in the series.  It also  looks like Runfrog has started a DE-Honey-Do Hubbies Chores series which appears to be a male version of the DE-sperate Housewives series.  They all look like fun!!

After reading the description for the Scrapple-ers DE-seperate Housewives - Pampered Pooch Place (GC14P4F) I thought I could make a fun play off of it by having a Puking Pooch cache that could be placed near my office. It didn't start out to be the Puking Pink Pooch, but a pink "cache" was available when I was looking for a container.  I had a lot of fun with the write up for this cache, I  think my cache description would have been very different if I had placed a white or black "cache!"  I love jenniferQp, debchic and Runfrog's logs on this cache. I was pretty pleased that they played along!  ?(???)

I came up with the idea for DE-sperate Housewives Paint The House cache a while ago when I was making another cache. I was originally going to hide it in the woods until the DE-sperate Housewives series started.

With your 11 creative caches you are setting a great example for those planning to create additional hides is there any advice you'd like to pass along to those who have yet to start placing geocaches?
Hide what you enjoy. Are you interested in sports, gardening, art, music, trains, scrapbooking, computers etc.?   In my case it is animals. I think that most people can come up with a container that matches their interests.  Maybe you have some old parts lying around that can be used to make a container.  If you can hide it DE-sperate Housewives style in an area that matches the container, great!  If not, hide it somewhere else!! 

One thing that I have found is that it is hard to water proof these type of containers or that the containers are too small to hide a log book. I add bison tubes to the containers so there is a dry log to sign.  It seems like finders manage a way to swap travel bugs and avoid leaving TBs that aren't weather resistant.

Personally, I like the caches that have either nice location or are an interesting hide.  Before I publish a cache, I ask myself  "Why am I asking people to come to this specific location to find this particular cache?"  and "Would I enjoy spending time here searching for cache?"

Switching the subject - just a bit - to finding geocaches -  which type of cache do you prefer seeking - traditional, multi, puzzle or virtual?
I prefer traditional caches, particularly history caches. As a relative newcomer to the area, I love being taken to an area that is historically interesting. I think it is so cool that you can see a Mason Dixon marker!   I enjoy reading the descriptions for history caches even if I am not able to search for them.  I really enjoyed reading the Delaware Hundreds C.A.C.H.E.  descriptions. The hiders did a terrific job with the historical aspect. MikeOtt has also placed a number of interesting historical caches that I enjoy.

Do you have a your favorite or favorites from among the caches you have found?
Runfrog's Hillside cache. I'm thrilled that I finally found it!   It took me well over a dozen trips to complete that cache!  I was using a new GPS that wasn't working correctly but I didn't know it at the time. I took me about ten trips to find the first stage. I finally found the first stage on my first trip after my GPS was replaced. Of course it was nowhere near where I had been looking with my glitchy GPS.  It is a nice park and Runfrog did a great job with a variety of hides!

What advice would you give to a beginning geocacher?
Don't start with Runfrog's Hillside cache!  Seriously, I recommend starting with a lamp post cache to learn how to follow your GPS and then looking for caches that interest you.  These could be history caches, scenic hikes or even urban micros but keep an open mind and try different types of caches.  I also strongly recommend attending geocaching events.  We are lucky to have an active geocaching community with friendly folks that are willing to help newbie!. Even though I am not a power cacher, I've always felt very welcome when I attend the events. 

What's your best caching story - the one you tell others to let them know the kind of fun and adventures one can have while geocaching?
I have two stories that I share, one about the family aspect of geocaching and the other about the adventuresome aspect. 

This past summer my family and I vacationed in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  As we were driving, I noticed that we were close to a mountain peak virtual.  I also saw cars heading up a fire road towards the peak so I thought it would be a reasonable hike. We followed the fire road to a small parking lot.  The peak, which had a fire look out station on it, look invitingly close.  Off we went... We ended up finishing a six mile hike with more than 3000 feet in elevation gain with a final elevation of over 10,000 feet. The problem was the high altitude and the wind. The wind was so strong that my 11 year old daughter was knocked off her feet a couple of times   I know this sounds hokey but since then, that hike is used to represent what we, as a family, can accomplish.

I tried to find a cache in Idaho that involved swimming across a river to an island and then searching for the cache.  The water was colder than I expected.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the cache but it was interesting because there were hundreds of abandoned goose eggs. It was only after I was finished and was heading back to my car, that I saw the sign that said "Warning, there is a waterfall 500 yards downstream!"  Maybe that's why the cache has only been found by out of town cachers! 

Beside geocaching, what other things do you like to do?
I inline skate several times a week.  As a family we enjoy a lot of outdoor activities: skiing, biking the trails (I can't really call it mountain bike riding), off road motorcycling and a variety of water sports.  About a year ago we started karate lessons, which I really enjoy.

Which Delaware cache site would you'd like to see reviewed  on the Delaware Geocaching web site and why?
Runfrog's Hillside cache.  I like how he used a variety of hides in this multi. It keeps things interesting. As usual for a Runfrog multi, there is a lot of terrain to cover. From reading the logs, I can see I am not the only one to make multiple trips!

What question did you expect us to ask but we didn't?  And, what's the answer?
How did I choose my geocaching name?  When we told friends and family that we were moving from California to Delaware, they all said.... :)

Thanks, Delawhere, for sharing these answers with us